The King and the Beast: What Nebuchadnezzar’s Fall Teaches Us About Pride

[00:01:23] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Let us pray.

[00:01:56] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
Good morning, everyone.
[00:01:57] It is great to see you again this week.
[00:01:59] I missed you last week, but we had a lot of fun anyway at Fall Fest.
[00:02:03] Speaking of, our goal for Fall Fest was 2,000 pairs of socks.
[00:02:09] You guys, we blew it out of the water.
[00:02:11] We reached 2,153 pairs of socks.
[00:02:15] So good job.
[00:02:16] You did great.
[00:02:17] I'm so proud of us.
[00:02:18] The people around the city are going to greatly benefit from being able to receive this gift from us.
[00:02:24] You guys are awesome, amazing, wonderful.
[00:02:27] Just a few housekeeping things.
[00:02:29] This week for Operation Turkey Blessing, today you were asked to bring in 40-ounce cans of yams.
[00:02:35] If you were not able to bring those in today or you want to stop by sometime during the week, that's totally fine.
[00:02:41] You can definitely still bring those in.
[00:02:42] We will happily accept them for Operation Turkey Blessing.
[00:02:45] On another note for Toperation Turkey Blessing, next week, we want you to please, please, if you are able to, bring in a bag of stuffing.
[00:02:55] It's gonna be great, love it, we're just, you know, we're gonna slowly build that Thanksgiving meal up for our families at Brookstone.
[00:03:02] As a reminder, after that, we will be asking you to bring in 20 bucks for turkeys the following week.
[00:03:11] But next week, bag of stuffing.
[00:03:13] We also have our Trust Again Tour coming up on November 14th with Lisa Turkhurst.
[00:03:19] And we have on December 2nd our Night of Worship, the Emmanuel Tour.
[00:03:23] All of the details on those two events can be found at our website.
[00:03:30] You can follow the QR code, you can follow our links, or go through our app.
[00:03:33] Any of those are awesome.
[00:03:38] Here's the deal.
[00:03:39] My brain just went blank.
[00:03:41] It happens sometimes.
[00:03:42] But that's okay because I just am enjoying being with you guys and hanging out.
[00:03:47] I do have a question though.
[00:03:50] So, please help me settle this in my household.
[00:03:52] In my house,
[00:03:54] My significant other, he says no Christmas music until after Thanksgiving.
[00:04:00] I think that since there are no Thanksgiving songs, that we should be able to have the Christmas music a little earlier.
[00:04:06] Drop into the comments.
[00:04:07] Tell me what you think.
[00:04:08] If you think that we shouldn't have Christmas music until after Thanksgiving, or if we could start listening to it now because it's after Halloween, or if you have some Thanksgiving songs that are actually decent and not just goofy, though I do like the goofy ones, please, please reach out to us.
[00:04:22] Anyway, that being said, we are getting ready to start our worship service today with Pastor Aiken, and it's going to be great.
[00:04:31] We are still studying Daniel, and let's see, we've got some stuff coming up on there.
[00:04:38] Let's see what we've got coming up.
[00:04:39] But for the meantime, let me lead us out in prayer.
[00:04:43] God, thank you for bringing us here today, for bringing us together safely for this nice, cool fall morning.
[00:04:49] We love you so much.
[00:04:50] You are amazing, and we just want to worship you.
[00:04:52] You are an amazing God.
[00:04:54] Amen.

[00:04:57] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
Good morning, church.
[00:04:58] How's everybody doing this morning?
[00:05:00] How good and pleasant it is to dwell in unity together and praise the Lord.
[00:05:05] Stand up.
[00:05:06] Let's praise the

[00:05:31] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
We worship You Hallelujah, Hallelujah We worship You
[00:06:44] You are good and you're mercy and you're effort
[00:07:31] YES YOU ARE YES YOU ARE YES YOU ARE

[00:08:05] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Let us pray.

[00:08:37] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
Lord you are good and your mercy endureth forever People from every nation and tongue From generation to generation

[00:09:17] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
I love you Lord
[00:10:02] Do you love?

[00:10:23] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
So good.
[00:10:25] Well, welcome, church.
[00:10:26] We're so glad to see your beautiful faces.
[00:10:29] Welcome to November.
[00:10:31] That happened fast.
[00:10:32] I could also say maybe Merry Christmas.
[00:10:36] I don't know.
[00:10:36] I was at the mall yesterday, y'all.
[00:10:37] The decorations are up.
[00:10:40] I was in the grocery store, and the eggnog is out.
[00:10:42] And I was like, wow, I guess we're doing it.
[00:10:45] How many of you already have your tree up?
[00:10:47] Let's just be honest.
[00:10:48] Do you have your tree?
[00:10:48] Anybody?
[00:10:50] Okay, you guys are rule followers.
[00:10:51] That's cool.
[00:10:52] I'm the same way.
[00:10:53] I kind of wait till after Thanksgiving.
[00:10:55] But anyway, we are so glad that you are here.
[00:10:58] Maybe greet those around you and just ask them when they're going to put up their Christmas tree.
[00:11:04] Or if they have already.
[00:11:05] Maybe somebody was too afraid to admit it.
[00:11:08] Y'all greet each other for a minute.
[00:11:10] Hello, our online audience.
[00:11:12] We are so glad that you are joining us today, too.
[00:11:15] Maybe you could drop a little comment in the comment section, a little Christmas tree emoji if you're, you know, going to put up your tree this weekend or something.
[00:11:24] But we are so glad you are here.
[00:11:26] Thanks for joining us online.
[00:11:28] We would love to have you in person anytime, but in any case, we're so glad you're here.

[00:11:45] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Let us pray.

[00:12:02] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
As we enter the holiday season, as I mentioned earlier, this is a month, November there, we really try to focus on gratitude, right?
[00:12:13] Just being grateful, and I'm always reminded, I think by the Holy Spirit, that
[00:12:19] What I'm most grateful for is obviously the Lord and not only what He's done for us, but just who He is.
[00:12:29] We just sang about His goodness, right?
[00:12:31] But He's not only just good, He's fair and He's just and He's merciful and He's gracious and He's kind and He's joyful.
[00:12:41] And so I just wanted to, as we enter this month of gratitude, I think probably if we polled the room, we would probably all say what we're most grateful for is the sacrifice that Jesus made for us on the cross.
[00:12:57] That we and our sin could be reconciled with the Holy God through the blood of Jesus.
[00:13:04] So I'm just going to read to you out of Romans today and just let it soak in your heart.
[00:13:09] Romans 5 verse 6 says, You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.
[00:13:19] It's you and me.
[00:13:21] Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die, but God demonstrates His love for us in this.
[00:13:32] While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
[00:13:36] Since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through Him?
[00:13:43] For if we, while we were God's enemies, were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life?
[00:13:56] Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

[00:14:09] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Amen.

[00:14:25] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
Hear the Savior say Thy strength indeed is small Child of weakness watch and pray Find in me Thine all in all And Jesus paid it all And all to Him I owe
[00:14:54] Sin had left a crimson stain He washed it white as snow Now indeed I find Thy power and Thine alone
[00:15:21] And changed a leper's spots And built the heart of stone And Jesus paid it all
[00:16:09] I stand before the throne I stand in him complete Jesus died my soul to save My lips shall still read
[00:16:41] He washed it white as snow Jesus paid it all All to Him I owe Sin had left a cross unstained He washed it white as snow
[00:17:07] He washed it white as snow He washed it white as snow
[00:20:00] Jesus paid it all All to Him I owe Sin had left a crimson stain He washed it white as snow And what can wash away
[00:20:32] Nothing but the blood of Jesus And what can make me whole again Nothing but the blood of Jesus And oh precious
[00:20:57] is the flow that makes me white as snow no other fount I know nothing but the blood of Jesus and oh precious
[00:21:26] Here's the flow that makes me white as snow No other fount I know
[00:21:43] Nothing but the blood of Jesus
[00:22:30] In the darkness we were waiting Without hope, without light
[00:22:37] From heaven you came running There was mercy in your eyes To fulfill the law and prophets To a virgin came the Word From a throne of endless glory To a cradle in the air
[00:23:08] Praise the Son, praise the sweetly created One God of glory, majesty Praise forever to the King
[00:23:46] All creation, hand in hand, disguise the course For even in your suffering, peace falls to the other side Knowing this was our salvation, Jesus, Lord, our Savior

[00:24:48] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
All of heaven held its breath, till that stone was moved for good, for the Lamb had conquered death, and the dead were stoned.

[00:27:03] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
Amen.
[00:27:03] If you have a Bible, go with me to Daniel chapter 4.
[00:27:06] We'll be in Daniel chapter 4 and verse 1 here in just a second as we continue through the book of Daniel.
[00:27:12] Here's what we're going to see in Daniel chapter 4.
[00:27:14] It may not look like it at first blush, but it's actually a very familiar story that you maybe as a child saw something that's based on this or maybe even as an adult.
[00:27:29] Disney
[00:27:31] Basically can't do anything new.
[00:27:34] I'm pretty frustrated with Disney right now because they ruined college football yesterday for anybody who has YouTube TV.
[00:27:41] If you have YouTube TV, you understand what I'm talking about.
[00:27:44] But they don't have any like new ideas and so they just recreate these storylines.
[00:27:49] And so when I was a kid, they had them as cartoons.
[00:27:51] Now they have them as live action movies.
[00:27:54] And the movie that I'm thinking of is actually one of my favorites.
[00:27:58] is Beauty and the Beast.
[00:27:59] If you've ever seen the Beauty and the Beast movie or read the Beauty and the Beast fairy tale, the storyline for that fairy tale is that there's this arrogant, prideful, oppressive ruler, this king, this prince,
[00:28:16] who because of his arrogance because of his cruelty and everything he is he is judged because of the way that he mistreats those that he sees as beneath him and so because of that he becomes he's cursed to become a beast until he learns the lesson to treat people you know with kindness and to love people and and and then once he learns that lesson he's restored to being a man and he's able to kind of rule in his kingdom again and that
[00:28:44] We're going to see in Daniel chapter 4 this is going to be the story that plays out with King Nebuchadnezzar that he's going to be this arrogant ruler this prideful ruler who's going to be cursed to become a beast until he learns to be humble and to treat others the way that he wants to be treated.
[00:29:01] The problem is when we watch movies like Beauty and the Beast or when we read this story like we're going to read here in Daniel chapter 4
[00:29:13] The problem is that we think that this lesson that Nebuchadnezzar learns or that the prince in Beauty and the Beast learned is a lesson that other people need to hear but it's not really a lesson that we need to learn ourselves.
[00:29:28] We think this is something for other people.
[00:29:31] I can tell you this, as a pastor,
[00:29:35] I have over 25 plus years in ministry, I have had people come to me for counseling and to get help to deal with a number of sins.
[00:29:51] It could be marital issues.
[00:29:53] It could be lust.
[00:29:54] It could be bitterness.
[00:29:56] It could be greed.
[00:29:58] There's a number of sins that I've dealt with people over the years.
[00:30:01] They say, Pastor, I need counseling.
[00:30:02] I'm wrestling with this.
[00:30:03] I'm struggling with this.
[00:30:04] I can tell you without a doubt, I've not ever one time in my life had a church member come to me and say, Pastor, I'm really dealing with pride and I need somebody to help me with it.
[00:30:15] Never had that happen.
[00:30:17] In fact, the first time that I ever preached Daniel chapter 4, I preached it at a, I was like,
[00:30:26] 20 years old 21 years old i was asked to preach a sophomore a freshman sophomore retreat for my high school that i went to so i i went to a christian private high school uh from my sophomore year through my senior year i was asked to come back once i was in ministry and do their freshman sophomore retreat and so i was like what am i going to preach on and i thought man when i was a high school student
[00:30:52] I was really arrogant I really dealt with with pride a lot and so I'm sure they're kind of in the similar boat as me so I'm gonna preach on pride so I'm gonna preach Daniel chapter 4 and here's what I said at the beginning of my message yeah I got like a hundred kids out in front of me and I said
[00:31:10] Here's going to be your temptation this morning, all right?
[00:31:14] As I preach this passage to you, you're going to be thinking about all of your classmates sitting around you who need to hear what I'm talking about.
[00:31:24] And I'm not talking to them, I'm talking to you.
[00:31:26] You need to hear this, okay?
[00:31:29] And then I went through preaching Daniel chapter 4, and when I got done, literally,
[00:31:34] When I got done, this young lady came up to me and she said, John, that was such a great message.
[00:31:41] They really needed to hear that.
[00:31:44] I know, I know, I know, I needed to hear it, but they really needed to hear it, you know?
[00:31:49] And why?
[00:31:50] Because we don't think that we struggle with pride.
[00:31:53] We don't think that that's an issue for us.
[00:31:55] We think that's an issue for people outside of us and other people.
[00:32:00] It's really easy.
[00:32:01] Pride is one of those things.
[00:32:03] That it is really easy to spot in other people and really difficult to spot in ourselves.
[00:32:09] But this is in all of us.
[00:32:10] C.S.
[00:32:11] Lewis calls pride the great sin.
[00:32:14] This is what C.S.
[00:32:16] Lewis says, There is one vice of which no man in the world is free, which everyone hates when he sees it in someone else, and of which hardly any people ever imagine that they themselves are guilty.
[00:32:33] There is no fault that makes a man more unpopular and no fault which we are more unconscious of in ourselves.
[00:32:41] The vice I'm talking of is the vice of pride.
[00:32:46] All of us need to hear this message this morning.
[00:32:48] All of us need to learn the same lesson that Nebuchadnezzar learns.
[00:32:54] All of us, you know, the joke is that some people make sometimes in sports organizations or in business or whatever is, you know, I want all of the credit, Michael Scott says this in the office, I want all of the credit and none of the blame.
[00:33:09] right and that's that's the way so many of us are and so many of us operate we want the glory we want the credit we want to exalt ourselves but we don't want to take any accountability we don't want the blame at work we want to be the ones who get the glory we want to be the ones who get the credit we do not want to be the ones who get the blame at church at church we want the credit
[00:33:35] but we do not ever want any of the blame the blame for if things aren't going the way they're supposed to go around here guess what that's somebody else's fault that's not my fault we want the glory we want the credit but we do not want the blame the same thing is true in marriage I'm never at fault it's always her fault it's always his fault when it comes to relationship with our parents so many young people so many teenagers think I always know what's right I always know better than my parents Disney has definitely pushed that message
[00:34:04] On us over the years to have a tendency to think I'm always the smartest guy in the room or the smartest girl in the room and the ultimate pride is honestly the reason why pride is the great sin as C.S.
[00:34:19] Lewis calls it or it's the root cause of all sin is because the essence of sin is to say I know better than God what I should do in this circumstance.
[00:34:28] It's the root of why Adam and Eve rebelled against God and it's the root of every rebellion that we have against God.
[00:34:35] So we live in a day and age where not only is it something that we wrestle with, but we live in a culture that honestly does not see pride as a vice, it sees pride as a virtue.
[00:34:46] If you want to succeed in business, if you want to succeed in politics, if you want to succeed in sports, if you want to succeed in life, then you need to be arrogant, you need to be prideful.
[00:34:57] You need to be somebody who puts yourself forward because if you don't put yourself forward who else is going to put you forward?
[00:35:03] And yet the Bible says pride goes before a fall and if we will take a step back and we will look at culture we will see that that happens over and over and over again.
[00:35:14] I grew up in the city of Dallas.
[00:35:17] There's a documentary that's come out on Netflix back in August about the Dallas Cowboys dynasty in the 90s and how they achieved all the success.
[00:35:27] But they have fallen off the map in the NFL and they've not been successful in 30 years.
[00:35:32] Why?
[00:35:32] Because of pride.
[00:35:35] Because people in the organization wanted the credit.
[00:35:37] They wanted the glory.
[00:35:39] They fought over getting it and they blew it up.
[00:35:42] Pride comes before a fall.
[00:35:44] The Beatles were the most successful band in the history of the world.
[00:35:47] What blew it up?
[00:35:48] Pride.
[00:35:49] Companies that fall, why do they fall?
[00:35:52] Because of their pride, because of their hubris.
[00:35:55] So this is a lesson that all of us need to learn from this story about King Nebuchadnezzar.
[00:36:01] Here's what we're going to see in Daniel chapter 4 this morning is that it's very simple.
[00:36:06] God humbles the exalted and exalts the humbled.
[00:36:12] God humbles the exalted and he exalts the humbled.
[00:36:16] Look what the Bible says there starting in Daniel 4, starting in verse 1, we'll read down through verse 18.
[00:36:21] This is what God's Word says.
[00:36:24] King Nebuchadnezzar, to all peoples, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth, peace be multiplied to you.
[00:36:32] It has seemed good to me to show the signs and wonders that the Most High God has done for me.
[00:36:37] How great are His signs!
[00:36:38] How mighty His wonders!
[00:36:40] His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and His dominion endures from generation to generation.
[00:36:46] I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at ease in my house and prospering in my palace.
[00:36:51] I saw a dream that made me afraid.
[00:36:54] As I lay in bed, the fancies and the visions of my head alarmed me.
[00:36:58] So I made a decree that all the wise men of Babylon should be brought before me, that they might make known to me the interpretation of the dream.
[00:37:06] Then the magicians, the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the astrologers came in, and I told them the dream, but they could not make known to me its interpretation.
[00:37:15] At last Daniel came in before me, he who was named Belteshazzar after the name of my God, and whom is the spirit of the holy gods.
[00:37:23] And I told him the dream, saying, O Belteshazzar, the chief of the magicians, because I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in you, and that no mystery is too difficult for you, tell me the visions that I saw and their interpretation.
[00:37:40] The visions of my head as I lay in bed were these.
[00:37:42] I saw and behold a tree in the midst of the earth, and its height was great.
[00:37:47] The tree grew and became strong, and its top reached to heaven, and it was visible to the end of the whole earth.
[00:37:53] Its leaves were beautiful and its fruit abundant, and in it was food for all.
[00:37:57] The beasts of the field found shade under it, and the birds of the heavens lived in its branches, and all flesh was fed from it.
[00:38:05] I saw in the visions of my head as I lay in bed, and behold, a Watcher, a Holy One, came down from heaven.
[00:38:11] He proclaimed aloud and said thus, Chop down the tree and lop off its branches.
[00:38:17] Strip off its leaves and scatter its fruit.
[00:38:20] Let the beast flee from under it and the birds from its branches, but leave the stump of its roots in the earth, bound with a band of iron and bronze amid the tender grass of the field.
[00:38:31] Let him be wet with the dew of heaven.
[00:38:34] Let his portion be with the beasts in the grass of the earth.
[00:38:37] Let his mind be changed from a man's, and let a beast's mind be given to him.
[00:38:42] And let seven periods of time pass over him.
[00:38:45] The sentence is 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 kingdoms of men,
[00:39:01] and gives it to whomever he will and sets over it the lowliest of men.
[00:39:05] This dream I, King Nebuchadnezzar, saw and you, O Belteshazzar, tell me the interpretation because all the wise men of my kingdom are not able to make known to me the interpretation but you are able for the spirit of the holy gods is in you."
[00:39:22] May God bless the reading of his word.
[00:39:26] We see in this story again, God humbles the exalted.
[00:39:32] God humbles the exalted.
[00:39:34] We see him, he's going to humble and put to shame King Nebuchadnezzar and he does it for three reasons.
[00:39:40] There's three reasons we see in this passage why God humbles the exalted.
[00:39:45] The first is this, God humbles the exalted because they don't recognize his position.
[00:39:52] God humbles the exalted because they don't recognize His position.
[00:39:56] This chapter is unique in the Bible.
[00:39:59] As far as we can tell, this is the only chapter in the Bible that basically was written by as the testimony of a pagan king.
[00:40:07] And I believe personally that this is the testimony of his conversion to trusting in the one true God.
[00:40:14] He becomes a believer in the God of Israel here in this passage.
[00:40:19] And so as a result of what God has done for him, as a result of his conversion, he now shares his testimony, we're told there in verse 1,
[00:40:27] and there's an echo here of the Great Commission he tells his his testimony to his entire kingdom and he says this is for all peoples nations and languages again the Great Commission tells us to go out to all peoples nations and languages tell them about Jesus King Nebuchadnezzar does that here with his testimonies he says I want everybody in the world to know the great things that God has done for me and he starts there in the first couple of verses
[00:40:54] and he shares at the outset with the introduction he says here are the things that God has done for me he's helped me to realize that his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom it lasts forever my kingdom is not going to last forever his is the only kingdom that lasts forever he comes to this realization right my little kingdom is not going to last the kingdom of God is going to last forever that's what I've come to realize and then he goes back after the first two verses
[00:41:22] first three verses really and then tells the story.
[00:41:26] And here's the story.
[00:41:28] at the height of his success okay at the height of his prosperity he's lying in bed at night he has another dream just like he had in chapter 2 another dream that scares him about what is going to happen in the future he brings together all of his advisors his joint chief of staff he brings them all in this time he tells them the dream instead of making them guess what it is he tells them the dream and then says okay I need you to give me the interpretation and they're not able to do it
[00:41:56] Now there's there's a question here like again I don't understand why the advisors don't even like attempt to tell them something you know act like in today's age you know people at least act like they know what's going on even when they don't know what's going on
[00:42:12] and so they don't tell him anything it's very possible that they sensed that this was not good news for him that it was bad news and they didn't want to be the bearers of bad news because they didn't know what he would do to them and so they're like all right he may kill the messenger I'm just not going to tell him that it is bad news I think we're going to see when he when he talks about Daniel okay Daniel he's at this point he's a pagan he's not converted yet he converts at the end of the chapter
[00:42:41] He's a pagan, but he says, I recognize that the spirit of the holy gods is in you.
[00:42:46] So he recognizes the spirit of God working in Daniel.
[00:42:49] And we're going to see the spirit of God in Daniel the same way the spirit of God works in us is not just to give us insight to know what to say, but to give us boldness to actually be able to say it.
[00:43:02] And that's what we're going to see with Daniel.
[00:43:04] But these yes men, they don't want to do it.
[00:43:07] they they don't want to be the bearers of bad news so finally Daniel is brought in after all the lesser guys can't do it they bring Daniel in he recognizes how God has worked in Daniel's life and Daniel says he says Daniel I need you to tell me the interpretation of the dream and he's going to do it and the dream that we were just told is that that Nebuchadnezzar sees this this
[00:43:30] We're going to be talking about this massive tree that's in the middle of the earth and it spreads out so that the tree fills the entire earth and all the birds and all the animals and stuff are finding shelter under that tree.
[00:43:44] They're also finding provision under that tree because they're eating from the tree and what the tree is providing.
[00:43:53] and Trees don't have time to walk through all this trees in the Old Testament are often representations of kings or kingdoms okay kings or nations so that Israel for example can be called a vine or be called a fig tree in the Old Testament okay so it's it's most often symbolic of a king or a kingdom here
[00:44:16] We see a glimpse of a problem.
[00:44:18] Daniel's gonna give the problem when he gives the interpretation here in just a second.
[00:44:22] But the glimpse of the problem that we're told with the language of the text is it says that the top of the tree is in the heavens.
[00:44:30] That's language that comes from Genesis chapter 11 in the Tower of Babel.
[00:44:34] When humanity had united themselves against God, they tried to build a tower with its top in the heavens.
[00:44:41] And it was an oppressive kingdom that Babel was trying to create.
[00:44:45] and so now Babylon which has come as a descendant of Babel is Nebuchadnezzar has this kingdom that's mighty and that's filling the earth but it's an oppressive kingdom it is not a it is not a godly kingdom and so because of that the next portion of the dream is a watcher comes down from heaven most likely an angel
[00:45:05] and this he's called a watcher because this is giving the idea that the Bible tells us that God's eyes are roaming throughout the earth and that God sees the actions and sees the even the thoughts and the hearts of men and he evaluates what he sees okay and so this watcher comes down and
[00:45:26] As a messenger from God, he sees what is happening, he is evaluating what is happening.
[00:45:32] Nothing that we do, whether in public or in secret, or even that we think or that we feel, is hidden from God.
[00:45:39] And so this watcher comes down, he evaluates Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom, and he says, chop it down.
[00:45:47] but leave the stump, okay?
[00:45:50] Chop it down but leave the stump, which means there's gonna be judgment, there's gonna be a chastening of Nebuchadnezzar, but the leave the stump means it's not a total judgment, that there is hope after the judgment.
[00:46:02] Then he switches the metaphor in the dream.
[00:46:04] So the first part of the dream is this tree that gets chopped down and then the metaphor switches from a tree to a man and it says, let him be wet with the dew of heaven and let him be given the mind of a beast and let him graze around on the grass.
[00:46:21] This is the dream that Nebuchadnezzar has, this man who becomes a beast
[00:46:25] and he's crawling around and he's grazing on the grass for a period of some period of seven to in order to humble him and in order to cause him to learn okay that's the dream that he has and what is he supposed to learn verse 17 tells us what he is supposed to learn it says to the end that the living may know so that Nebuchadnezzar may know and there's three things that he wants Nebuchadnezzar to know
[00:46:54] He says that the Most High rules the kingdom of men, that He gives them to whom He will, and that He sets over it the lowliest of men.
[00:47:03] The goal here, the reason why Nebuchadnezzar is going to be humbled is because God wants him to learn that God is the one who is sovereign and rules over the world.
[00:47:15] He holds the whole world in His hands.
[00:47:18] That he wants him to recognize that the kingship that he has has been granted to him by God.
[00:47:25] He didn't do it.
[00:47:26] He doesn't deserve any credit or glory.
[00:47:28] And then the third thing is that God will give the kingdoms of the world to the humblest of men.
[00:47:36] And so he wants him to recognize his position.
[00:47:39] Recognize God is the one who is sovereign, who rules, who decides who's gonna be on the throne, who's not gonna be on the throne.
[00:47:46] That's what God does and you are somebody who is in a position of receiving from God.
[00:47:53] And so he humbles him because he doesn't recognize his position.
[00:47:57] He thinks he is the one who deserves the glory and the credit.
[00:48:01] Pride essentially often is just putting ourselves in the place of God.
[00:48:06] Not thinking that He is the one who is in control, but thinking that we are the ones who are in control.
[00:48:11] We struggle with position.
[00:48:14] We struggle with the fact that God is not answerable to us, but we are answerable to God.
[00:48:23] All of us have this in us.
[00:48:24] All of us struggle with
[00:48:26] Position and with Obeying Authority.
[00:48:28] It reminds me of a story my dad told me when I was little about a young army private who was in training on a base in the army and he had been going through weeks and weeks of really difficult training and there was kind of a
[00:48:42] Light at the end of the tunnel because they were coming up on a break where they were going to get the entire weekend away from the base and away from training and he had this whole thing planned out he was going to meet up with his friends they were it was during a warm season they were going to go out on the lake get out on the boat have a great time on the lake and was really really excited about man I need this break I need this this chance to kind of reset
[00:49:06] And then the word came down on Friday right before they got ready to leave the base.
[00:49:10] Nobody can leave this weekend.
[00:49:12] The break is canceled.
[00:49:13] There's a mandatory inventory that has to take place and everybody has to be part of counting the different things on the base.
[00:49:21] And so this young man, you know,
[00:49:25] And then all of that was taken away from him and you know as you can imagine he was pretty he was pretty angry about that he was pretty miffed about what had happened and was very frustrated that his weekend was ruined and so Saturday morning he didn't find himself out on the lake he didn't find himself fishing or skiing or any of those things he was counting vehicles on the base and
[00:49:49] He was sitting there counting all these vehicles and then as he did that for several hours it became time to take a break for lunch and he was walking to the mess hall and as he was walking through the offices towards the mess hall a phone began to ring and there was nobody else in there.
[00:50:09] Okay, and he thought, well, I probably shouldn't bother it.
[00:50:13] But then he just got curious and he was like, okay, I'm gonna go over and answer this phone.
[00:50:16] So he goes over and he picks up the phone and he says, hello.
[00:50:20] And the voice on the other side of the phone says, well, I'm calling to see how the inventory is going.
[00:50:26] And the young man said, well, it's going fine, I think, but I can only tell you about my portion of it, but you know, it's going okay.
[00:50:34] And the man said, okay, well, tell me about your portion of it.
[00:50:37] And he said, well,
[00:50:39] I counted 100 trucks, I've counted 70 jeeps, I've counted 10 tanks, and there's three of those big fancy cars that all the big fat generals ride around in when they come on the base.
[00:50:53] And there was a long pause of silence and the voice on the other end kind of changed and said, young man, do you know who you're talking to?
[00:51:05] And he said, no, I have no idea.
[00:51:07] And he said, well, this is General Robinson and I'm the one who ordered the inventory.
[00:51:14] And there was another long pause and the private kind of softly and sheepishly said, well, General, do you know who you're talking to?
[00:51:28] And he said, no.
[00:51:31] He said, well, good, goodbye, fatty.
[00:51:33] And he hung up the phone, okay?
[00:51:36] Now, it's a funny story, but it shows how prone we are to not valuing authority, to not liking not being in control and being in charge.
[00:51:49] But Nebuchadnezzar here, just like us, needs to realize you're not in control.
[00:51:54] you don't call the shots God is the one who is sovereign so God humbles the exalted because they don't recognize his position secondly that God humbles the exalted because they don't repent at his patience they don't repent at his patience verse 19 tells us that Daniel let's read it here let me read verse 19 and
[00:52:18] And it says this, Then Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, was dismayed for a while, and his thoughts alarmed him.
[00:52:26] The king answered and said, Belteshazzar, let not the dream or the interpretation alarm you.
[00:52:32] Belteshazzar answered and said, My lord, may the dream be for those who hate you and its interpretation for your enemies.
[00:52:44] May the dream be for those who hate you
[00:52:46] and its interpretation for your enemies.
[00:52:48] It's amazing here.
[00:52:50] Daniel's about to have to deliver bad news to this king.
[00:52:55] And Daniel is reluctant to do it because it spells disaster for the king.
[00:53:00] And this is the man.
[00:53:03] This is remarkable.
[00:53:05] This is the man who gave the order to send an army into Daniel's hometown, burned the temple to the ground,
[00:53:18] Kidnap him from his parents and bring him into captivity in Babylon.
[00:53:25] And yet Daniel genuinely loves Nebuchadnezzar.
[00:53:31] He genuinely loves his kidnapper and he's reluctant
[00:53:36] To tell him, King, this is really bad news for you, but Daniel is no yes man.
[00:53:42] Again, the Holy Spirit doesn't just give him insight into the dream, but the Holy Spirit gives him boldness to tell the truth.
[00:53:48] And we must be willing to tell the truth kindly to people and call them to repentance.
[00:53:56] Love requires warning even when that's going to make things uncomfortable.
[00:54:02] We don't love people by allowing them to continue in behavior that is self-destructive and just say, well, let's just let them be
[00:54:12] And let's be tolerant and let them continue to do what they're going to do that's going to cause them harm.
[00:54:17] No, love requires that we warn people, that we speak the truth in love, and that we call them to repentance.
[00:54:25] And that's what Daniel does here with his enemy.
[00:54:28] And the truth is only the gospel of Jesus Christ, only what Christ has done for us, as Lindsay read earlier, taking us from being enemies to being those who are saved and are children of God, that's the only thing that can cause us to love enemies because we have been loved when we were enemies.
[00:54:46] So Daniel loves Nebuchadnezzar.
[00:54:49] He calls him to repentance.
[00:54:52] He boldly speaks the truth in love to him and he gives the interpretation.
[00:54:56] He says, King, you are the tree in the dream.
[00:55:00] You're the tree.
[00:55:02] Your kingdom is huge.
[00:55:03] It's prosperous.
[00:55:06] You're basically a new Adam.
[00:55:07] The language you use, you have dominion over the entire earth, over all the birds and all the beasts and all the people.
[00:55:13] You have dominion over the entire earth.
[00:55:15] But your kingdom is not a godly kingdom.
[00:55:18] It's an oppressive kingdom.
[00:55:19] He says later to him, you're oppressing those who are lowly.
[00:55:24] Your kingdom is characterized by injustice.
[00:55:28] You're taking advantage of those beneath you and you are exalting yourself.
[00:55:34] and so he says because of that you must be humbled and here's the humbling that's going to happen you're going to be exiled from your kingdom and you're going to be given the mind of a beast okay because you're prideful and because you're not using your blessing to bless others and that's going to happen to you until you realize verse 17 that God is the one who's in control that he's graciously granted you everything that you have
[00:56:02] and that he can put the lowliest of men in charge of the kingdoms of the entire world.
[00:56:07] He says until you learn that, you're not going to escape the chastening and the humbling that is coming.
[00:56:13] And so Daniel, he pleads with him.
[00:56:16] Look down in verse 27.
[00:56:19] Daniel pleads with him after he gives that interpretation.
[00:56:23] He says,
[00:56:25] Let my counsel be acceptable to you.
[00:56:27] Break off your sins by practicing righteousness and your iniquities by showing mercy to the oppressed that there may perhaps be a lengthening of your prosperity.
[00:56:41] Because you're going to learn this lesson because you're prideful and because you're not using the blessing that God has given you to bless other people.
[00:56:49] But here's the deal.
[00:56:51] Please repent now.
[00:56:54] It may not have to happen.
[00:56:55] God may stay his hand if you will just repent of your sins.
[00:57:01] We need to heed God's warning and we need to repent because God is patient with us and God gives us time to repent.
[00:57:11] He gives Nebuchadnezzar here.
[00:57:12] We're going to see he gives Nebuchadnezzar an entire year to repent.
[00:57:17] And yet, Nebuchadnezzar does not repent at his patience, so he needs to be humbled.
[00:57:23] Number three, God humbles the exalted because they don't acknowledge His provision.
[00:57:29] They don't acknowledge His provision.
[00:57:31] Look what the Bible says there in verse 28.
[00:57:33] All this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar.
[00:57:36] At the end of 12 months he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon 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 my majesty?
[00:57:50] While the words were still in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, O King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken, the kingdom has departed from you, and you shall be driven from among men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and you shall be made to eat grass like an ox, and seven periods of time shall pass over you, until you know
[00:58:07] that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom He will.
[00:58:11] Immediately the word was fulfilled against Nebuchadnezzar.
[00:58:13] He was driven from among men and he ate grass like an ox and his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hair grew as long as eagle's feathers and his nails were like birds' claws.
[00:58:25] Nebuchadnezzar does not acknowledge what God has provided him.
[00:58:29] Not only has God given him time, God gives him a year to learn the lesson without God having to force him to learn the lesson.
[00:58:36] A year, right?
[00:58:37] 12 months, 365 days, 8,766 hours.
[00:58:45] And yet all of that time passes.
[00:58:48] Nebuchadnezzar's fear about this happening goes away just like our fear goes away oftentimes when we don't learn the lesson in the moment.
[00:58:57] And Nebuchadnezzar, we're told, walks out on the balcony of his palace.
[00:59:00] He surveys his kingdom and he brags and he says, look what I did for my glory.
[00:59:07] Look what I've accomplished.
[00:59:10] He thinks that he's the one who did all this.
[00:59:14] One massive evidence of pride in our lives is not only that we want control, but we want credit.
[00:59:22] Why be prideful?
[00:59:25] Why would we ever be prideful?
[00:59:28] Like Nebuchadnezzar, everything that you have is a gift from God.
[00:59:34] Everything that you have is a gift from God.
[00:59:36] Even the ability to achieve it or keep it is a gift from God.
[00:59:41] I don't know if you've ever just taken a moment to think about this.
[00:59:46] Whatever it is that you take pride in in your life, you didn't do it for yourself.
[00:59:56] Your looks, your intelligence, where you live, how much money you have, the opportunities that have been given to you, you didn't do or create any of those things.
[01:00:08] Athletic achievement, success, all of it, all of it was given to you by God.
[01:00:16] And if you think you're the one who should get credit for it, that is an illusion.
[01:00:21] It is an illusion.
[01:00:22] You didn't pick any of those things.
[01:00:25] God did.
[01:00:26] Yes, we have the opportunity to take the things that God has given us, be good stewards of them, work hard, try to increase them, try to improve upon what God has given us, but don't be so ungrateful to not recognize He gave you those things, He gave you the ability to get those things in the first place, and He can take those things away from you.
[01:00:48] Don't be so arrogant and so ungrateful as to not recognize everything that we have is a gift from God.
[01:00:55] Nothing that we have has been accomplished by us.
[01:00:59] And so the voice of judgment falls from heaven.
[01:01:02] Nebuchadnezzar is stricken with
[01:01:04] A malady that's called Boanthropy, okay?
[01:01:09] Where this is a malady where people who are humans think that they're animals and they act like animals, okay?
[01:01:16] This is where kind of the werewolf mythology comes from, is humans who think that they go out and they eat grass and those kinds of things.
[01:01:25] And that's exactly what happens to Nebuchadnezzar.
[01:01:29] And this is obviously troubling, right?
[01:01:31] This causes all kinds of upheaval in the kingdom.
[01:01:35] His counselors, they distance themselves from him.
[01:01:38] We don't know exactly who is ruling in this time period.
[01:01:42] And you're like, how come they didn't write about this in the Babylonian history books?
[01:01:45] Well, would you write about it, right?
[01:01:48] If you're writing the history books about how great your nation is, this is one of those things you're probably gonna put to the side.
[01:01:53] I mean, even like, how disturbing would it be if you went into work tomorrow
[01:02:00] And your supervisor, when you walked into work, was outside clawing in the dirt and eating grass, what would you think to yourself?
[01:02:10] Probably time to make sure the resume's polished up, okay?
[01:02:15] Like this is not gonna go good, all right?
[01:02:17] And so that's what's happening here because he doesn't acknowledge God is the one who's done this, so God is humbling him.
[01:02:25] God is showing him what,
[01:02:28] what he can do and what God can do but ultimately this is God's goodness and kindness to drive Nebuchadnezzar to repentance and so God he humbles the exalted
[01:02:42] because they don't recognize his position because they don't repent at his patience and because they don't acknowledge he is the one who's provided this for us but the second thing the last thing just really quickly we see god exalts the humble he he lifts up those who are humble look what the bible says there in verse 34
[01:03:01] At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored Him who lives forever.
[01:03:09] For His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom endures from generation to generation.
[01:03:14] All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and He does according to His will among the hosts of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth.
[01:03:23] And none can stay His hand or say to Him, What have You done?
[01:03:28] The same time my reason returned to me, and for the glory of my kingdom my majesty and splendor returned to me.
[01:03:33] My counselors and my lords sought me, and I was established in my kingdom, and still more greatness was added to me.
[01:03:39] Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven.
[01:03:46] All his works are right, and his ways are just, and those who walk in pride he is able to humble.
[01:03:53] God exalts
[01:03:55] Once he learned the lesson, his kingdom was restored to him.
[01:04:00] And here's the lesson that we're seeing in Daniel 4.
[01:04:05] You will either humble yourself or God will humble you.
[01:04:09] You'll either humble yourself or God will humble you.
[01:04:12] The Bible talks about the strong arm of the Lord and it talks about the strong arm of the Lord in two ways.
[01:04:18] It talks about God lifting up, gently lifting up the lowly and it talks about God smashing the prideful to smithereens.
[01:04:28] And so the question that we have to ask ourselves is which hand of God do you want?
[01:04:33] Do you want the gentle lifting up hand or do you want the smashing hand?
[01:04:39] because he will humble the exalted but he will also exalt the humble.
[01:04:44] We see this chastisement that he gives to Nebuchadnezzar as God's kindness to him to humble him and he does the same thing to us
[01:04:52] He humbles us.
[01:04:53] Why?
[01:04:54] So that He can exalt us.
[01:04:56] He exalts Nebuchadnezzar, and Nebuchadnezzar begins to praise Him as the sovereign, as the one who holds the whole world in His hands, as the one who is in control.
[01:05:04] He says He does whatever He wills, and we don't get to question Him.
[01:05:09] He's not answerable to us.
[01:05:11] We are answerable to Him.
[01:05:12] But His conversion comes.
[01:05:15] because he recognizes that his little kingdom is subservient to the eternal kingdom of God and it's not my will be done but it's your will be done God and so his kingdom is restored he is now a true convert who admits that God is right he says God is right in all of his ways that's one of the ways we talk about repentance
[01:05:36] Repentance is agreeing with God.
[01:05:39] That's what basically the root of the word repentance means.
[01:05:42] It means to agree with God.
[01:05:44] You're right, I'm wrong.
[01:05:45] Your way is right, my way is wrong.
[01:05:48] At the end of the story, his confession is all of your works are right.
[01:05:54] That's what he confesses.
[01:05:56] And so God is right.
[01:05:58] God humbles the exalted, but then he lifts up Nebuchadnezzar and he restores him and he can do the same with us.
[01:06:08] And the way that he imprints this lesson
[01:06:16] In a way that is so much better than even what Nebuchadnezzar was able to experience and to see happen is through what he's done for us in Jesus Christ.
[01:06:32] Because what does the Bible say about Jesus?
[01:06:34] The Bible says about Jesus in Philippians 2 that having the mind of Jesus is this recognition that Jesus
[01:06:46] who was equal with God, did not consider equality with God something to hold on to, but he humbled himself by becoming a human and he emptied himself and he became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
[01:07:06] And so because Jesus emptied himself and humbled himself to the point of death on the cross, what happened?
[01:07:12] God has highly exalted him.
[01:07:15] and given him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
[01:07:25] This is the picture that we see in Jesus Christ, the King of heaven,
[01:07:31] became a man.
[01:07:32] He was born in a manger.
[01:07:34] He had no place to lay his head, and yet the King of heaven who became a man was stripped naked.
[01:07:41] He was whipped until his back was bloodied.
[01:07:44] He had a crown of thorns
[01:07:46] Pressed onto his head, he was nailed to a cross and he drowned in his own blood on the cross in humility and in shame while they spit on him and they said, if you really are the Son of God, you will come down off that cross.
[01:08:04] But on the third day when Jesus was raised from the dead, guess what the lesson was that was learned?
[01:08:10] The kingdoms of the world belong to the Most High, and He will give them to whomever He will, and He will set on the kingdoms of this world the lowliest of men, and His name is Jesus of Nazareth.
[01:08:23] And so if you want to be lifted up by God, then you have to have, we have to have
[01:08:32] the mind of Christ a mind that says I do not need to lift myself up I will humble myself and I will trust that in the end God will exalt me God does not value the things that this world values you can have everything Nebuchadnezzar had everything that the world had to offer and he lost it all Jesus gave it up freely so that you and I could be with him for eternity
[01:09:02] And so, if you won't humble yourself, if you won't bow your knee to Jesus as King, then the Bible tells us one day God will humble you for you.
[01:09:13] But if you will voluntarily humble yourself and bow your knee to King Jesus,
[01:09:18] Then God in due time will lift you up.
[01:09:24] Let me ask you to bow your heads and close your eyes.
[01:09:26] I'm going to pray and then we're going to stand and sing and have a moment of invitation.
[01:09:31] I'm going to ask our band to come back up.
[01:09:35] And here's what I want to challenge you with here when we have this moment of invitation.
[01:09:37] I'm going to be down here at the front.
[01:09:40] We're available.
[01:09:41] We have pastors available to talk to you.
[01:09:43] If you need to give your life to Jesus, we'd love to talk to you about that.
[01:09:47] If you need to humble yourself and become obedient in terms of baptism, we'd love to talk to you about that.
[01:09:54] Maybe there's something going on in your life that you need to surrender to God, not my will, but your will be done.
[01:10:00] You want us to pray with you about that, or you want to come and pray at these steps, we'd love to pray with you about that.
[01:10:04] Whatever it is that God is laying on your heart, whatever you're convicted by, whatever you need to wrestle with, this is a time for us to respond.
[01:10:14] We're available here to talk, to answer questions, to pray with you, but let's do business with the Lord and whatever it is that the Lord wants and that He's calling for in our lives, let's be sensitive to that.
[01:10:28] Let's not buck against Him.
[01:10:30] Let's not try to rebel against Him.
[01:10:32] He wants our best.
[01:10:36] He wants what is good for us.
[01:10:39] So help us to
[01:10:41] Help us to submit ourselves to him.
[01:10:43] Father, I pray in the name of Jesus.
[01:10:45] I thank you for Christ, and I thank you for everything that he's done for us.
[01:10:51] He is the ultimate picture of humility, and he is the ultimate picture of exaltation.
[01:10:58] So Father, I pray that you would help us, First Baptist Church Charlotte, to have the mind of Christ, to be those who humble ourselves,
[01:11:09] who don't think that we're better than other people, who bow down, who kneel down, and who serve others because you have served us.
[01:11:20] Lord, in a world filled with pride that is heading to destruction, help your people to be a people of humility that shows the world a different way.
[01:11:33] We ask all this in Jesus' name.
[01:11:35] Amen.
[01:11:35] Would you stand to your feet?
[01:11:36] We're going to sing.
[01:11:36] If you have a decision to make, you come right now while we sing.

[01:11:42] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
I love you Lord
[01:12:01] Oh Your mercy never fails me And all my days I've been held in Your hands From the moment that I wake up Until I lay my head Oh I will sing of the goodness of God
[01:12:33] I am faithful And all my life you have been so, so good With every breath that I am able I will sing of the goodness of God I love your voice
[01:13:03] You have led me through the fire In the darkest night You are close like no other I've known You as a Father I've known You as a Friend And I have lived in the goodness of God
[01:13:54] Oh I will sing of the goodness of God Your goodness is running out, it's running out
[01:15:13] All my life you have been faithful And all my life you have been so, so good With every breath I am able Oh, I'm gonna sing of the goodness of God
[01:15:47] All my life you have been so, so good With every breath that I am able Oh, I'm gonna sing of the goodness of God

[01:16:22] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
Amen.
[01:16:24] Amen.
[01:16:26] Amen.
[01:16:27] Amen.
[01:16:28] Please be seated just for a brief second.
[01:16:31] Ask our deacons if they would to come forward and get ready to take up the offering.
[01:16:35] And just want to just remind you, we do this as a part of the worship service, as an act of worship.
[01:16:42] To God and to thank Him again that all the provision that we have is from God and we want to take the blessing that He's given to us and use it to be a blessing to others.
[01:16:53] If you are prepared to give in the room then the baskets will come around.
[01:16:57] Here in just a second, you can put that in there.
[01:16:59] If you don't want to give that way, you can give online.
[01:17:02] You can use your phone and use that QR code and give online.
[01:17:07] And I just want to say this real quick.
[01:17:09] If you are a guest here with us today, we are so glad that you're here.
[01:17:13] We have no expectation.
[01:17:14] We do not want you to give anything.
[01:17:16] Your presence here is a gift to us.
[01:17:18] But for our members, this is a time for us to fuel and to fund the ministry and mission of our church.
[01:17:25] And we just want to say,
[01:17:26] Thank you for the way that you give so faithfully and allow us to do all the ministry and mission that we do and so we are we are grateful to you for doing that and here's just real quick I want to maybe issue a challenge that many of you are giving so
[01:17:46] Continually and consistently and faithfully and we're so grateful for that I know that during a time of transition like we have here at First Baptist can be times of kind of upheaval and uncertainty and and some things that people are wrestling with and so during those times sometimes people choose not to give or maybe to hold on to their giving or those kinds of things I want to challenge you again if you're a member of the church
[01:18:12] to not do that, okay?
[01:18:14] Now, I get nothing for saying this.
[01:18:16] I'm an interim pastor, all right?
[01:18:18] I wanna encourage you not to do that because the Bible tells us in Galatians chapter six, for example, that generosity with what God has given us is a command in the Bible.
[01:18:30] And it tells us in Galatians chapter six that we are supposed to, as best we can, do good to everybody, for everybody, but it says, especially the household of faith.
[01:18:40] that the priority of our charitable giving should be the local church that we are a part of and so I want to challenge you if you maybe aren't giving to just prayerfully consider starting or if you're holding on to your giving then to start back and if you have concerns about again transition uncertainty any of that stuff
[01:19:00] I just want you to know I would love to talk to you I'd love to answer any questions that you have talk to you about any concerns that you have you can call the church office they can get you in contact with me and I'd love to be able to again just help with anything because I want to make sure that you are confident in what we're doing confident in our mission and and that's why we give like one of the things that that my family and I have been talking through and praying through is
[01:19:26] We are going to, in addition to
[01:19:43] Let's start giving to our church.
[01:19:44] Start giving some to First Baptist Church Charlotte because we believe in the mission of First Baptist Church Charlotte.
[01:19:50] We want to help to be part of that.
[01:19:53] And so hope that you'll jump in with us, not just with, again, just not just with in terms of resources,
[01:19:59] but also in terms of time there's all kinds of areas where you can give of your time to serve in the ministries that we have going on in our church that would be a huge blessing to children to youth to all kinds of people and so i want to encourage you again to jump in on what god is doing here because god is doing some really incredible things last week our fall fest
[01:20:24] of the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit of the Holy Spirit.
[01:20:53] Yeah, lives are being impacted by the gospel of Jesus Christ through our church and so we're grateful to you for the way that you fund that and we get a chance right now to celebrate what God is doing by seeing a video from Fall Fest and so thank you for allowing us to do and be a part of really incredible things like this.
[01:22:43] I'm telling you it was uh it was a really really awesome time and we're grateful grateful for it would you please stand to your feet um we need next week uh i know we're trying to work towards uh these thanksgiving dinners and so we need everybody to bring bags of stuffing next week and you get information about that in your bulletin thank you so much for being here hope you have a great week and we'll see you next week you are dismissed