Speaker 1: The stories of the prophet Daniel are riveting, full of adventure and the miraculous.
Speaker 1: But what if we're telling these stories the wrong way?
Speaker 1: Yes, god saved his people and shut the mouths of lions, rescued those thrown into the scalding furnace.
Speaker 1: But maybe it's less about stopping wild beasts and power-hungry, egomaniac kings and it's more about humbly following our God when the world around us laughs.
Speaker 1: Maybe it's more about being faithful and kind when not promised deliverance from every king and executioner who threatens us, because our God never leaves us when the heat is turned up.
Speaker 1: He will never forsake us when the world demands we deny him.
Speaker 1: Daniel was obedient when he expected to die for his faith.
Speaker 1: Jesus obediently chose death for us.
Speaker 1: Today, the word of God challenges us to humbly follow our good and loving God, no matter what happens next.
Speaker 1: You may already be in the lion's den, but God will always be with his children.
Speaker 2: Join us for Daniel and the Upside-Down Kingdom you know, I got here and just nothing, like nothing electronic was working and there was just all kinds of things happening and and when things happen like this, like god is still on the throne, god is still good, he's not super concerned about, like, whether one of the TVs work or any of those kinds of things.
Speaker 2: Um, it's always good to have perspective on these things.
Speaker 2: Um, today we're going to be in the book of Daniel two, 24 is where we're going to be.
Speaker 2: Um, if you don't have a good Bible, we have study Bibles that we would love to give you one.
Speaker 2: We have them on that side and on that side we have them in English, spanish, creole and Tagalog.
Speaker 2: Tenemos Biblias Bilingües disponibles al costado de Solón.
Speaker 2: Bonjour, buen Satin Contar Nueve Avec Buen Isidla.
Speaker 2: Nueve, nueve.
Speaker 2: Bib Creole Aisien Puno Grat.
Speaker 2: I see a puno gratis, not some song or creole, all right.
Speaker 2: So got that out of the way.
Speaker 2: I hope you have a good Bible.
Speaker 2: I really do.
Speaker 2: It's going to come up today in our sermon.
Speaker 2: Okay, so where have we been in this series so far?
Speaker 2: Israel and Judah had turned their backs on God.
Speaker 2: This is a time that Israel had been basically decimated.
Speaker 2: They had worshiped idols.
Speaker 2: They had sacrificed their own children in the fire to a fake God.
Speaker 2: They oppressed the poor and the widow, and God warned them again and again.
Speaker 2: He said if you keep doing this, something's going to happen.
Speaker 2: They mistreated others, they dishonored God's Sabbath, they denied justice to people and they denied God.
Speaker 2: And so God sent the king of Babylon to destroy Israel.
Speaker 2: Yet still there remained a remnant, a people of God that were still honorable and still honored God, and it was good men.
Speaker 2: Well, okay, not men.
Speaker 2: A lot of them were good teens, like teenagers, a remnant of teenagers, and the king of Babylon thought to himself I can train up these teenagers and I can use them for myself.
Speaker 2: When he found Daniel and his friends, they were young.
Speaker 2: They were still wearing Axe body spray.
Speaker 2: That's how young they were.
Speaker 2: They were young, but they were loved by God and they honored God.
Speaker 2: So young men in the Rome, teens who the king of Babylon thought he could train up.
Speaker 2: He couldn't, not in the way he thought.
Speaker 2: Last week, we saw that the king had a dream and he made demands of his magi, his magical advisors.
Speaker 2: He had a dream and his dream needed to be interpreted by these advisors, but the catch was is that he wanted them to tell them what the dream was.
Speaker 2: First Tell me what the dream is and then you can tell me what it's about.
Speaker 2: And they said nobody on earth can do that, man.
Speaker 2: And he's like, yeah, but aren't spiritual people supposed to be able to do that?
Speaker 2: So the king decided that they were all fake, all his spiritual advisors were fake, and he said that they needed to die.
Speaker 2: So he had Ariok, his executioner, go and kill all of his advisors.
Speaker 2: But when young Daniel heard about it, he asked for permission to wait while he asked God about it.
Speaker 2: Then he got his guys together and he had them pray.
Speaker 2: So God answered the prayer, gave Daniel a vision and before he even went to the king, he worshiped God.
Speaker 2: We saw that true wisdom is seeking God and his kingdom first and celebrating him every moment.
Speaker 2: And that's where we pick up in our text.
Speaker 2: There was still a hit ordered on his head and yet, and yet Daniel was worshiping.
Speaker 2: Now he had to go to the king and tell him what God told him.
Speaker 2: And that's where we pick up in Daniel 2, 24 through 49.
Speaker 2: Now I know some of you see this as an old story.
Speaker 2: I know some of you see this as a way that pastors get up front and take your money.
Speaker 2: And if that's you, I just want you to know.
Speaker 2: If you're, if you're here and you're just like man, I just know it's going to be about money.
Speaker 2: I don't ever want you to give us money.
Speaker 2: Okay, if you're here and you distrust this word because of something someone else has done to you, let me just tell you like we want to earn your trust and we understand that a lot of people have hurt you in the past and people who have used this Bible to hurt you.
Speaker 2: And I just want to say to you I just feel in my heart there's someone in here that feels this way and I just want to say to you I just feel in my heart there's someone in here that feels this way and I just want to say to you like we trust God and we believe what we say.
Speaker 2: And if you don't believe us, that's okay, you can stay here, you can hang out.
Speaker 2: I hope that over time, we will earn your trust and respect.
Speaker 2: Here we are in Daniel 2, 24 through 49.
Speaker 2: Verse 24.
Speaker 2: This is a little long not going to lie.
Speaker 2: Therefore, we already told you whether, therefore, is.
Speaker 2: Therefore, therefore, daniel went to Ariok, whom the King had assigned to destroy the wise men of Babylon.
Speaker 2: He came to him and said to him don't destroy the wise men.
Speaker 2: Bring me before the King and I will give him the interpretation.
Speaker 2: Then Ariok quickly brought Daniel before the King and said to him I have found a man among the Judean exiles who can let the king know the interpretation.
Speaker 2: The king said in reply to Daniel, whose name was Belshazzar, because he changed his name, remember.
Speaker 2: Are you able to tell me the dream I had and its interpretation?
Speaker 2: Daniel answered the king.
Speaker 2: No wise man, no medium, no magician or diviner is able to make known to the king the mystery he asked about, but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries and he has let the king Nebuchadnezzar know what will happen.
Speaker 2: In the last days, your dream and the visions that come into your mind as you lay in bed were these, your majesty?
Speaker 2: While you were in your bed, thoughts came to your mind that will happen in the future.
Speaker 2: The revealer of mysteries has let you know what will happen.
Speaker 2: As for me, this mystery has been revealed to me, not because I have more wisdom than anyone living, but in order that the interpretation might be made known to the king and that you may understand the thoughts of your mind.
Speaker 2: About halfway there, guys, your majesty, as you were watching, suddenly a colossal statue appeared.
Speaker 2: That statue, tall and dazzling, was standing in front of you and its appearance was terrifying.
Speaker 2: The head of the statue is pure gold, its chest and arms were silver, its stomach and thighs were bronze, its legs were iron and its feet were partly iron and partly fired clay.
Speaker 2: As you were watching, a stone broke off without a hand touching it, struck the statue on its feet of iron and fired clay and crushed them.
Speaker 2: Then the iron, the fired clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were shattered, became like chaff from the summer threshing floors Chaff meaning that which is discarded.
Speaker 2: When you are a gardening, we'll say.
Speaker 2: The wind carried them away, farming.
Speaker 2: There it is, and not a trace of them could be found.
Speaker 2: But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain, filled the whole earth.
Speaker 2: This was the dream.
Speaker 2: Now I'll tell you what it means.
Speaker 2: Your majesty, you are king of kings.
Speaker 2: The God of the heavens has given you sovereignty, power, strength and glory, wherever people live, or wild animals or birds of the sky.
Speaker 2: He has handed them over to you and made you ruler over them all.
Speaker 2: You are the head of gold.
Speaker 2: After you, there will rise another kingdom inferior to yours and then another, a third of bronze, which will rule the whole earth.
Speaker 2: A fourth kingdom will be as strong as iron, for iron crushes and shatters everything and, like iron that smashes, it will crush and smash all the others.
Speaker 2: You saw the feet and toes partly of potters, fired clay and partly of iron.
Speaker 2: It will be a divided kingdom, though some of the strength of iron will be in in it.
Speaker 2: You saw the iron mixed with clay, and the toes of the feet were partly iron and partly fired clay.
Speaker 2: Part of the kingdom will be strong and part of it will be brittle.
Speaker 2: You saw the iron mixed with clay.
Speaker 2: The peoples will mix together but will not hold together, just as iron does not mix with clay.
Speaker 2: In the days of those kings, the god of the heavens will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, and his kingdom will not be left to another people.
Speaker 2: It will crush all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, but will itself endure forever.
Speaker 2: You saw a stone break off from the mountain without a hand touching it.
Speaker 2: It crushed the iron, bronze, fired clay, silver and gold.
Speaker 2: The great God has told the king what will happen in the future.
Speaker 2: The dream is certain, it's interpretation reliable.
Speaker 2: Now, guys, while we're here, we understand who these kingdoms are today.
Speaker 2: Most people agree, most scholars agree, the head of gold being Babylon.
Speaker 2: The inferior kingdom is the Medes and the Persians.
Speaker 2: The next kingdom was the Greek army, with Alexander the Great.
Speaker 2: Then we see a Roman kingdom that would be crushed by another kingdom, a kingdom of rock built on a stone not formed by human hands.
Speaker 2: Now, let me just tell you one thing about my interpretation that I've just given you.
Speaker 2: I could be wrong about that, I don't.
Speaker 2: I don't know for certain what those kingdoms are, and whenever a pastor gets up front and he tells you he knows for certain something like that, be careful, um.
Speaker 2: Especially when it gets up front and it's always the United States, that great kingdom, that's the US.
Speaker 2: Careful, okay.
Speaker 2: For those of you who read your Bibles, though, you'll know that Jesus describes himself as the chief cornerstone.
Speaker 2: He called himself the rock that the wise man builds his house on.
Speaker 2: Jesus' kingdom is not so easily destroyed by others, and it will never be destroyed.
Speaker 2: See, daniel didn't even ask, though, if this dream was correct, but we know that it was talking about Jesus.
Speaker 2: But he knew this was about God and he went straight to the interpretation.
Speaker 2: He didn't even ask him hey, king, was that true?
Speaker 2: Uh-uh, he went straight to it.
Speaker 2: And then this is what the king said, verse 46.
Speaker 2: I told you it was long.
Speaker 2: Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell face down, worshiped, gave orders to present an offering of incense to him.
Speaker 2: The king said to Daniel your God is indeed God's, god of gods, lord of kings and revealer of mysteries.
Speaker 2: Since you were able to reveal this mystery, then the king promoted Daniel, gave him many generous gifts.
Speaker 2: He made him ruler over the entire province of Babylon and chief governor over all the wise men of Babylon.
Speaker 2: At Daniel's request, the king appointed Shadrach, meshach and Abednego to manage the province of Babylon.
Speaker 2: At Daniel's request, the king appointed Shadrach, meshach and Abednego to manage the province of Babylon, but Daniel remained in the king's court.
Speaker 2: This is God's word.
Speaker 2: Would you pray with me, father?
Speaker 2: We praise you this morning because you have hidden these things from the wise and the rich and the powerful and the intelligent, and you have revealed them to infants.
Speaker 2: Father, we do not understand why we see so much pain and hurt in this world, but we understand.
Speaker 2: You've never ceased to be kind and loving, You've never stopped caring, and as we interact with the brokenness in our world, would you help us to be peacemakers, repairers and voices that bring good news to your kingdom, of your kingdom here on earth?
Speaker 2: God, we thank you for your son this morning.
Speaker 2: We could never fully know you without him and without your spirit.
Speaker 2: Please teach us, please reveal truth to us, show us your glory, help us to love each other and help us to grow in you, not so that we can become arrogant ourselves, but teach us so we might be humble and share your good news with everyone we meet through our actions and through our words.
Speaker 2: May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of our hearts be pleasing to you.
Speaker 2: We pray this all in Jesus name, and all God's people said amen.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 2: So surely by now, if you've been in Daniel with us for a little while, you've started to notice a few consistent themes building God is all wise.
Speaker 2: Integrity matters, even if you may be hurt with your integrity.
Speaker 2: God followers live by a different standard than the world.
Speaker 2: See, worldly wisdom is arrogant, unsatisfying, it often turns mean.
Speaker 2: Godly wisdom builds bridges, blesses our enemies and glorifies God.
Speaker 2: So today I'm going to give you four things followers of God do, and the first one is this Stick up for enemies.
Speaker 2: Stick up for enemies, and that's not like hold up like a stick up, that's like we stick up for enemies.
Speaker 2: Verse 24 said Daniel went to the king's executioner and said to him don't destroy the wise men of Babylon, bring me before the king and I will give him the interpretation.
Speaker 2: See, daniel could have easily said this Bring me before the king and I will give him the interpretation.
Speaker 2: See, daniel could have easily said this bring me before the king.
Speaker 2: He could have left out the part about don't hurt these people.
Speaker 2: He could have just said bring me before the king or don't hurt my friends, bring me before the king.
Speaker 2: He could have said that very easily, but he didn't.
Speaker 2: Instead, he was looking out for the other magi, wasn't he?
Speaker 2: These men are going to try to get Daniel's buddies killed next week.
Speaker 2: In our text, these are the people that he stood up for, and yet Daniel stands up for these people because Daniel loves God.
Speaker 2: Church.
Speaker 2: You may not win over people when you do the right thing for them.
Speaker 2: That is no promise that people are going to treat you right.
Speaker 2: The fact is, is you're still doing what God has called you to and we surrender what God wants.
Speaker 2: Um, you will never see true heart change by just trying to destroy people for God, though.
Speaker 2: That never works.
Speaker 2: That's not how you win people for God.
Speaker 2: See, worldly wisdom is arrogant, it's unsatisfying and it often turns mean, but godly wisdom blesses our enemies and glorifies God.
Speaker 2: Now, dr King said this famous quote darkness cannot drive out darkness.
Speaker 2: Only light can do that.
Speaker 2: Hate cannot drive out hate.
Speaker 2: Only love can do that.
Speaker 2: Friends, we should pray for our so-called enemies.
Speaker 2: We should seek their welfare.
Speaker 2: We should want them to thrive with God.
Speaker 2: But it's difficult, right, can I get an amen?
Speaker 2: It's difficult, yeah, it's difficult.
Speaker 2: This is why we pray for them, though, isn't it Like?
Speaker 2: Because you cannot love them without God's help, and prayer causes us to see them as more than enemies.
Speaker 2: It helps us to see them as made in God's image.
Speaker 2: Now, if someone is abusing you or constantly taking advantage of you, it is good to have boundaries, friends.
Speaker 2: Some of you may need to get away from them.
Speaker 2: Block them on your phone.
Speaker 2: If someone is abusing you physically or sexually, you should call the police, but if someone is annoying or mean, or if their personality grates on you, god may call you to love and care for them.
Speaker 2: You may not know why they are the way that they are, but God knows what they've been through.
Speaker 2: Yes, the king's magicians.
Speaker 2: They didn't like Daniel and his guys, but they were also in a tough situation themselves.
Speaker 2: I don't know if you noticed that.
Speaker 2: You know, I've rarely been attacked by someone who hasn't been terribly abused or mistreated.
Speaker 2: The people who try to hurt me the most are usually hurting the most.
Speaker 2: Have you felt that before?
Speaker 2: They're often broken, they're often insecure and they need grace.
Speaker 2: They're often broken, they're often insecure and they need grace, and some of them need boundaries.
Speaker 2: See, daniel didn't see the Magi as his enemies, though, even though they saw him that way and they did things that would horrify a godly follower of Jesus.
Speaker 2: Daniel saw them, though, as people to be loved.
Speaker 2: Israeli theologian, amir Sarfati he says these were magicians, sorcerers and astrologers who sought divine wisdom using so many methods that the Mosaic law forbade.
Speaker 2: Still, rather than leaving these sinners to their fate, daniel spoke up for them.
Speaker 2: In the same way, we need to remember to love and reach out to those whose beliefs and lifestyles are very different from our own.
Speaker 2: There's a guy.
Speaker 2: When I first came to the neighborhood about 10 years ago, there's a dude that I would see around the neighborhood.
Speaker 2: I'm going to call him Jordy it's a made up name and I would see Jordy on the block and Jordy would start yelling in my face and oftentimes I would get spit on my face when he would yell at me.
Speaker 2: I don't know why that bothered me so much.
Speaker 2: I don't think he was intentionally spitting on my face, but he'd always yell at me and he would call me like a white man, whitey, some other things that I won't repeat.
Speaker 2: I remember one time I was directing traffic at the school, trying to help the cars get through, and he came up to me and he just started laughing at me like, oh, this is what you do, pastor, this is your job, pastor.
Speaker 2: He's just laughing at me.
Speaker 2: I thought he was going to hit me a few times.
Speaker 2: He never did.
Speaker 2: Then one day, uh, jordy went to jail for something pretty rough, some something pretty bad that he did Um, and there was no denying what he did.
Speaker 2: And, uh, he was sent nearby to the local jail and I visited him.
Speaker 2: The first time I visited him it was after a few letters.
Speaker 2: He was like, what are you doing?
Speaker 2: I was like, oh, I'm just here to visit you, pray with you, whatever you need.
Speaker 2: Why?
Speaker 2: Because I thought maybe you'd need someone.
Speaker 2: You know, and for those of you who have been in prison, you know that a lot of times your friends can't visit you very easily and I don't often get to go to the state penitentiaries.
Speaker 2: But when someone's in jail sometimes I can go to visit.
Speaker 2: It takes a very long time to get in and out, to get an appointment.
Speaker 2: They make it intentionally rough and I was very early in the ministry and I just started visiting him and every time he would ask me how I was doing and we would pray together.
Speaker 2: And he was a little surprised the first few times.
Speaker 2: But then you know we're okay now and I write him letters.
Speaker 2: Still, he's not in jail anymore, he's in state prison.
Speaker 2: So we still talk, um.
Speaker 2: So then one day I got a con.
Speaker 2: I got contacted by the public defender's office Hi, pastor, we're wondering if you would be willing to go and like go to court and testify on his behalf that he's a, that he's a really good person.
Speaker 2: Well, that was awkward and I was like no, I'm visiting him because I know that God loves him.
Speaker 2: I know that that he's been hurt a lot, but I'm not saying that he's safe and they're like, yeah, but you visit him more than anyone else and I'm just going to be honest, I did not visit him a lot, which is, you know, god tells us to remember our friends in prison and it's why it's good to write letters at least, and it means a lot to them.
Speaker 2: But what they said is they didn't understand why I would visit him so much if we didn't necessarily get along.
Speaker 2: And it's because God calls us to love those people.
Speaker 2: I'm grateful for him and I'm grateful that now we are friends.
Speaker 2: But it took a while.
Speaker 2: Romans 5.10 says while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his son.
Speaker 2: While we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his son.
Speaker 2: Colossians 1.13 says he has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the son he loves.
Speaker 2: In him we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Speaker 2: See, god saw his enemies, us, and he made a way for us While we were still belonging to the kingdom of darkness.
Speaker 2: God made a way for us While we were still belonging to the kingdom of darkness.
Speaker 2: God made a way for us.
Speaker 2: Now, what do you do when someone shares something on social media that is dishonest?
Speaker 2: When you realize this person on social media is acting like an enemy?
Speaker 2: How about this?
Speaker 2: What do you do when your enemy is being slandered online?
Speaker 2: Do you laugh?
Speaker 2: Do you share it?
Speaker 2: I mean, some of you, you'll see an AI of Donald Trump, like giving poison to puppies, and you're like I'm going to share this.
Speaker 2: Some of you, you know, recently, like when the election was happening, there was a video of Kamala Harris who, let me just say, I was not a fan of and she was doing this speech where she was muttering and she sounded super weird.
Speaker 2: It sounded like she was drunk but also sounded a little off.
Speaker 2: You know, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2: Like, um, this seems almost like it's been changed, and so I went online and I searched for it and I found the original speech and it sounded nothing like her original speech.
Speaker 2: So I messaged my friend and I said hey, I'm no Kamala like fan, but like that's not her talking, that's, that's been changed.
Speaker 2: And my friend who was a Christian was like, yeah, but you know what she's awful, so I'm okay with it.
Speaker 2: It's like you know what that's wrong.
Speaker 2: Let me tell you another time I'm not a fan of what some uh call trans women competing in sports.
Speaker 2: Um, I saw a video of a trans woman was what they would call her or him.
Speaker 2: Whatever you want to do, I'm not going to get there, forgive me.
Speaker 2: I saw I'm just a trans athlete.
Speaker 2: There was a trans athlete and what they did is, after this trans athlete beat the other woman up in a boxing match, they interviewed that person and that person was like, yeah, I did so great, I just destroyed them.
Speaker 2: And I was like this sounds like they altered the voice.
Speaker 2: So I went back and I looked I promise you I don't have this much time, but it's important to me and I found out that they changed that person's voice to sound really deep and I messaged that person.
Speaker 2: I said this is wrong.
Speaker 2: What you're doing.
Speaker 2: You're misrepresenting this person, even if you disagree with them.
Speaker 2: I don't necessarily agree with that person in boxing, but what they did is they chose to do something wrong to that person, thinking it's okay because I disagree with them.
Speaker 2: It's wrong.
Speaker 2: Still, it's still wrong.
Speaker 2: So what we do when we misrepresent our enemies is we misrepresent our God because we say we belong to him.
Speaker 2: Don't misrepresent your enemies, even if they do terrible things.
Speaker 2: Be honest.
Speaker 2: The ends don't justify the means.
Speaker 2: With God, and let me say this we do not battle against flesh and blood.
Speaker 2: That person may seem evil, but they're not truly your enemy.
Speaker 2: They're a broken human made in God's image.
Speaker 2: The brokenness of the world has infected them.
Speaker 2: They are infected with sin, Like any of us can be infected with a disease.
Speaker 2: They need grace, like we did.
Speaker 2: We never look at somebody with chicken pox and be like look what you did.
Speaker 2: God wants you praying for ice.
Speaker 2: God wants you praying for five nine brims, lincoln park and in cancel gang.
Speaker 2: God wants you praying for five nine brims, lincoln Park and Encanto gang.
Speaker 2: God wants you praying for Israel and for Hamas and for Palestine and Ukraine and Russia.
Speaker 2: God wants you praying for the people of La Eme.
Speaker 2: I'm serious, we should be praying for them more than anybody else.
Speaker 2: Is it easy?
Speaker 2: No, let me tell you this Christians should be the first one to stand up for Muslims, jews, hindus and Buddhists.
Speaker 2: When they want to shut down a Muslim mosque and what happens in that mosque we disagree with.
Speaker 2: But they want to break the law to hurt them.
Speaker 2: Guys, we should be the first to stand up for them, because our God is bigger than that.
Speaker 2: Is it easy?
Speaker 2: No, almost.
Speaker 2: Everyone has a visceral response to a few names.
Speaker 2: You know, I, like I could say a name, like God only knows what your name is, but I could say that name and you got that name in your head right now.
Speaker 2: Right, I could say that name and it would cause you to tense up your jaw, wouldench, right, you would get a fist and you'd be ready, like God wants you praying for that person God does.
Speaker 2: I could name that person to you.
Speaker 2: For me it might be, you know, dodgers coach, dave Roberts, maybe not, but God knows who that is and he wants you praying for them.
Speaker 2: It's a natural response.
Speaker 2: But when we belong to God, we have his Holy Spirit living in us and he can help us respond with grace.
Speaker 2: He's going to tear down some of those walls of anger in your heart and when he teaches us and helps us, we got to tell the world.
Speaker 2: Godly wisdom builds bridges, blesses our enemies and glorifies God.
Speaker 2: Now, the second thing that God followers are here to do they humbly acknowledge the true origins of wisdom.
Speaker 2: They humbly acknowledge true origins of wisdom.
Speaker 2: They humbly acknowledge true origins of wisdom, verse 26,.
Speaker 2: The king said to Daniel are you able to tell me the dream I had?
Speaker 2: An interpretation.
Speaker 2: Daniel said no wise men, medium, magician or diviner is able to make known the king and the mystery he asked about, but there's a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has let the king know what will happen.
Speaker 2: Your majesty, while you're in your bed, these thoughts came to your mind and he said the revealer of mysteries has let you know.
Speaker 2: As for me, the mystery has been revealed to me, not because I have more wisdom than anyone living, but in order that the interpretation might be made known to the king.
Speaker 2: Thank you, mama, but in order that the interpretation might be made known to the king.
Speaker 2: Thank you, mama.
Speaker 2: That's a long text.
Speaker 2: It makes me need a drink.
Speaker 2: We're good, we're good.
Speaker 2: So the dude is so humble right here, right, like he has his opportunity, like the king is like below his foot right now.
Speaker 2: He knows where true wisdom comes from, though, and that is not from learning, it's not from study, it's not from nobility.
Speaker 2: The King knows this.
Speaker 2: Now to wisdom comes from God.
Speaker 2: This thing, right here, this is the closest thing you have to wisdom, the reason why I always encourage you to be in this, and and and and you there are other people in this room that will push back Um instead of your phone.
Speaker 2: It's, this is um, unadulterated.
Speaker 2: There was no notification that will ever come up on this.
Speaker 2: You just get the wisdom and nothing else.
Speaker 2: You have no fear of something changes.
Speaker 2: You have no fear of there being a blackout.
Speaker 2: You have this.
Speaker 2: This is wisdom.
Speaker 2: But knowledge is not meant to puff up, is it?
Speaker 2: It's not made to make us arrogant.
Speaker 2: It's not made to make us feel like we're better than other people.
Speaker 2: It should drive us to service of other people.
Speaker 2: It should drive us to build bridges, to helping people.
Speaker 2: If you have a bunch of knowledge from the Bible but it doesn't cause your heart to break for other people, if it doesn't cause you to care for your enemies or serve others at your own expense, you have yet to experience wisdom.
Speaker 2: The Bible says fear of the Lord is beginning of wisdom, dr Tony Evans says, even though Daniel was the only person on earth who knew the answer.
Speaker 2: He was humble.
Speaker 2: Blessed are the meek.
Speaker 2: What is meek, friends?
Speaker 2: Meek power, under control, right, like it's the difference between a Chihuahua that's trying to front and a bulldog that doesn't need to even say anything.
Speaker 2: It enters the room and you go.
Speaker 2: Yep, we know.
Speaker 2: Meekness is the Dodge Viper on the freeway going 65.
Speaker 2: Everybody knows it can go faster than that, but it doesn't need to do more.
Speaker 2: Meekness is wisdom.
Speaker 2: Now, you may have the information, but how you present it to other people matters.
Speaker 2: Do you blast people?
Speaker 2: Do you blast them on social media or do you kindly engage people with love?
Speaker 2: Only God deserves the credit, not us.
Speaker 2: There are many, many people who give to that food pantry.
Speaker 2: If you have not seen our food pantry, it is beautiful.
Speaker 2: Several churches give to our food pantry.
Speaker 2: If you have not seen our food pantry, it is beautiful.
Speaker 2: Several churches give to our food pantry.
Speaker 2: Many churches give to our food pantry.
Speaker 2: People send me stuff at my house all the dang time and I'll be like oh cool, 10 boxes, thank you.
Speaker 2: I'm really excited.
Speaker 2: But also it's like 8 o'clock at night.
Speaker 2: They don't even want me to know who gave it.
Speaker 2: And sometimes people come, come and they come during the week and they just want to go to our food pantry and they'll be like, pastor, you are amazing.
Speaker 2: And I'll be like why, because of all this stuff you're giving me in this food pantry?
Speaker 2: And I'm like I didn't give you any of this.
Speaker 2: This isn't from me.
Speaker 2: I didn't buy any of this stuff.
Speaker 2: This isn't from me.
Speaker 2: So you can't tell me that I did this awesome thing because I didn't buy any.
Speaker 2: Actually, I take food from the pantry sometimes.
Speaker 2: Here's the thing, guys the glory belongs to God.
Speaker 2: We don't take God's glory.
Speaker 2: In the same way, we have to acknowledge that all of the good in life is from God.
Speaker 2: Proverbs 3, 5 says trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, but in all your ways, acknowledge him and he'll make your path straight.
Speaker 2: Because worldly wisdom is arrogant, it's unsatisfying and it often turns mean.
Speaker 2: But godly wisdom builds bridges, blesses our enemies and glorifies him.
Speaker 2: If you wish to be truly wise, you will have to hear the word of God, read the word of God, interact with the word of God more than you interact with anything else.
Speaker 2: I'll tell you when I'm there.
Speaker 2: You know, every week I actually read, though I read multiple perspectives intentionally.
Speaker 2: I read Fox news several times a week.
Speaker 2: I read BBC, I read Al Jazeera, I read the guardian union tribune news maps every week.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm kind of a saint for that, I'm just saying.
Speaker 2: But I see things from different perspectives.
Speaker 2: I do, and I see how different our perspectives are, guys.
Speaker 2: They rarely agree and often I'm left to wonder what is really true.
Speaker 2: I think all sides have bias, don't they?
Speaker 2: But when I read or listen to the word of God, I don't have to wonder if I'm hearing truth.
Speaker 2: I know it.
Speaker 2: This gives me confidence.
Speaker 2: I can never be fully sure what's happening to Iran, the Ukraine or Gaza.
Speaker 2: I don't know what is AI.
Speaker 2: I don't know what is real.
Speaker 2: I don't know what is biased.
Speaker 2: I don't know what's coming from Israel.
Speaker 2: I don't know what's coming from Hamas, but I know God has called us to be peacemakers.
Speaker 2: That's what I know.
Speaker 2: He's called me to meekness and enduring hope, because I never allow any voice on Instagram or any other social media account to drown out what I know to be truth.
Speaker 2: But, guys, reading books is a good thing.
Speaker 2: Reading history, fiction, biographies.
Speaker 2: These are good things.
Speaker 2: They're good for you.
Speaker 2: The people at Malcolm X Library see my family every week.
Speaker 2: We know their names.
Speaker 2: When we travel as a family and we're in an English-speaking country, we get a library card.
Speaker 2: I love books.
Speaker 2: I'm not saying they're bad, but I have to understand their true place in understanding.
Speaker 2: Books give us advice.
Speaker 2: The Bible gives us wisdom.
Speaker 2: You also might have feelings or dreams like the king of Babylon, but you still got to be careful with those because they go through.
Speaker 2: Some shady persons us.
Speaker 2: Sometimes you'll eat some bad chicken that's been in the fridge too long and you'll have crazy dreams.
Speaker 2: But if you don't check with the Bible, you might do something stupid.
Speaker 2: You might or maybe, um, sometimes someone will try to manipulate you.
Speaker 2: But the longer you're in the word of God, the more difficult you are to manipulate.
Speaker 2: They'll take something out of context and you'll be like I know what comes before that.
Speaker 2: I know who that's actually written to.
Speaker 2: It doesn't mean that I'm supposed to do that.
Speaker 2: And when we're hard to manipulate, we hear the Holy spirit more clearly.
Speaker 2: But when we have that hope, we have to tell them why.
Speaker 2: It's our God and our third thing followers of God do is they build bridges with non-believers.
Speaker 2: In verse 37, he says your majesty, you are the king of kings.
Speaker 2: That bothers me a little bit the first time I read it.
Speaker 2: Where have we heard that before?
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's what the prophet Isaiah.
Speaker 2: Where have we heard that before?
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's what the prophet Isaiah, 700 years before the birth of Christ, called Jesus king of Kings and Lord of Lords, and if you know the song hallelujah that you had to sing in high school, probably most of you did not Uh, it says king of Kings and Lord of Lords, and he shall reign forever and ever.
Speaker 2: That was low, okay, I didn't know where I was going, but that is in the Bible King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Speaker 2: The book of revelation, though, says that when Jesus returns to exact justice on the wicked, he will have a sword in his mouth and a tattoo on his thigh that says King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Speaker 2: So, uh, was this King Nez, king Nebuchadnezzar like, actually a king of kings?
Speaker 2: God's answer is, technically, yes.
Speaker 2: He conquered and killed many kings Assyria had fallen to him eight years earlier, syria, palestine, damascus, tyre, sidon and Jerusalem but he was currently the most powerful king on the earth.
Speaker 2: But even based on the dream he realized his time was coming to an end.
Speaker 2: Theologian CLC.
Speaker 2: He says to be sure, nebuchadnezzar has dominion over peoples as well as other creatures of the world, the wild animals and the air, yet his dominion is derived from a greater king, david Helm.
Speaker 2: He sums it up when he says the king may be virtually all powerful, but he has no authority over even his own sleep.
Speaker 2: Hmm, so basically he's like a king of kings, not the king of kings, kind of like you have a Ohio state university versus the Ohio state university.
Speaker 2: Nez was a king of kings.
Speaker 2: Jesus is the king of kings.
Speaker 2: Then he says in verse 37, your majesty, you are king of kings.
Speaker 2: The God of heavens has given you sovereignty, power, strength and glory, wherever people live, or wild animals or birds of the sky.
Speaker 2: He has handed them over to you and made you ruler over them all.
Speaker 2: You are the head of gold.
Speaker 2: See, daniel had shown deference and kindness to the king who destroyed his home.
Speaker 2: This man had probably murdered his family members and destroyed God's temple, and this is his chance to stick it to the king.
Speaker 2: Daniel could be like look, I even know what your dreams are, bro.
Speaker 2: Why don't you just stay down there and make me king.
Speaker 2: My God can destroy you, bow.
Speaker 2: Instead, he gave respect and honor.
Speaker 2: And what was the to?
Speaker 2: What was the most powerful man in the world at the time?
Speaker 2: Bad mouthing?
Speaker 2: is easy though guys.
Speaker 2: Pulling people off pedestals is easy.
Speaker 2: Making fun of people oh, that's easy.
Speaker 2: Gossip, that's super easy.
Speaker 2: Saying I told you so to someone ooh, so, so easy.
Speaker 2: You know what is difficult Choosing to see the good in someone Standing up to people when you have no audience to cheer you on.
Speaker 2: Seeking to build bridges with people who are different than you and don't like you, that's not easy.
Speaker 2: I've noticed the part of the job of being a politician is allowing anyone who wants the right to yell at you and make fun of you.
Speaker 2: Part of being a musician, being on TV or a big screen personality is allowing people to yell at you.
Speaker 2: Even as a pastor, there are times when I'll put in a decade of work into something.
Speaker 2: Someone comes in on their first Sunday and they're like you're a fool to do it this way.
Speaker 2: And I'm like, dude, you didn't even know about us if we didn't do that thing.
Speaker 2: But okay, dude, you didn't even know about us if we didn't do that thing.
Speaker 2: But okay, yeah, I guess I'm a fool.
Speaker 2: It's just a part of what things.
Speaker 2: It's just the way things are.
Speaker 2: It's just the way it is.
Speaker 2: Now I'm not telling you to stand to, not stand up to abuse.
Speaker 2: Okay, don't hear that.
Speaker 2: But don't waste your chance to show grace by taking a cheap shot is what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: And just because the person has no integrity doesn't mean that you get to act without integrity.
Speaker 2: See, worldly wisdom is arrogant and satisfying and often turns mean, but godly wisdom builds bridges, blesses our enemies and glorifies God.
Speaker 2: The king of Babylon had done terrible things, but it didn't give Daniel a free pass to act badly.
Speaker 2: Daniel had integrity.
Speaker 2: Daniel stood up for pagan wise men who didn't deserve it, and he spoke kindly and honestly to a dictator who oppressing his people, and it worked.
Speaker 2: The king listened to him.
Speaker 2: Friends, if you see yourself as a mighty king in your own castle, if you see yourself as an autonomous being capable of anything you want, just know your season will end and one day you will discover how small and how fallible and broken you are.
Speaker 2: You'll discover it deep down.
Speaker 2: I think you already know that, though, don't you?
Speaker 2: But if you need to be reminded, let me say this to you Muhammad is dead in the ground.
Speaker 2: The Buddha currently has people fighting over his glory right now, and he can't do anything to stop it.
Speaker 2: Julius Caesar, genghis Khan, ramesses II, shaka Sulu, simon Bolivar, haile Selassie, george Washington and Nebuchadnezzar have one thing in common they were once at the top of the world, but now they are powerless.
Speaker 2: It doesn't mean that they can't give their lives to God.
Speaker 2: They could have done that, but they have all died.
Speaker 2: There was only one person who overcame death, and he is king of kings and Lord of Lords.
Speaker 2: Maybe you feel strong today, but one day your muscles will weaken.
Speaker 2: You may feel rich today, but things can change in an instant.
Speaker 2: You may feel like God is a small part of your life, but you're going to need him soon.
Speaker 2: You might get that text today that says please call me ASAP, and everything changes.
Speaker 2: You are small, you are limited for a good reason, but there is only one person who has the power over death that can save you, and his name is Jesus, and we call him King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and he encourages us to follow him while we still have time.
Speaker 2: This is the beauty of the gospel he made a way for us, his enemies, to belong to.
Speaker 2: His family, says that he came to this earth, lived a perfect life that we could never live, died for us on the cross because he loved us.
Speaker 2: He conquered sin and death rose again, showing that his sacrifice was enough to make a way for us.
Speaker 2: And now he builds his kingdom with us broken people.
Speaker 2: A new, better kingdom with the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Speaker 2: The beautiful thing about this gospel is not only that it brings Kings down to earth, though, but you might feel worthless yourself.
Speaker 2: Guess what it does.
Speaker 2: Our gospel lifts us out of the gutter too.
Speaker 2: You might feel like you're always sick.
Speaker 2: Maybe you feel like you don't contribute to anything.
Speaker 2: Our God is the lifter of heads.
Speaker 2: He wipes away our tears.
Speaker 2: When you belong to Jesus, he uses you even in your weakness, matter of fact, because in your weakness he shows his strength, he likes it.
Speaker 2: He offers you his kingdom.
Speaker 2: When you walk with Jesus, you have the opportunity to bring his hope, his justice, his mercy.
Speaker 2: Wherever your feet take you, you take his kingdom.
Speaker 2: Wherever you go, it becomes holy ground.
Speaker 2: You're an ambassador for his kingdom here on earth.
Speaker 2: He may use you to speak truth and mercy to power.
Speaker 2: And here's the crazy thing Some people might actually listen to you.
Speaker 2: And this is the last thing followers of God do.
Speaker 2: They speak and are recognized for wisdom and integrity.
Speaker 2: For a season, for a season, the king fell face down and worshiped Daniel and gave orders to present an offering and incest to him.
Speaker 2: Just because it says that and push back against the worship doesn't mean it didn't happen.
Speaker 2: Verse 47,.
Speaker 2: The king said to Daniel your God is indeed God of gods, lord of Lord, lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries.
Speaker 2: Since you were able to reveal this mystery, then the king promoted Daniel and gave him many generous, made him ruler over the entire province of Babylon and chief governor over all the white Babylon.
Speaker 2: And Daniel didn't forget his friends either.
Speaker 2: The king was relieved right, he knew this interpretation was true, because he he had a supernatural way of knowing what the dream was.
Speaker 2: And he was relieved because he saw himself in the statue, and to see it toppled in his dream was scary.
Speaker 2: Was he going to be murdered?
Speaker 2: Now Daniel could help.
Speaker 2: Let him know that his kingdom still had time.
Speaker 2: It will end at the end of time, but likely he wasn't going to be poisoned tomorrow is what he knew.
Speaker 2: Now he could take a breath and consider how Daniel knew this information.
Speaker 2: It was supernatural and it seemed Daniel's God was superior to his God Marduk.
Speaker 2: But the king here didn't suddenly become a follower of our God, not the Jewish God, not the God we call Yahweh.
Speaker 2: Most likely he was like some of our Hindu friends who convert easily because they just add him to a pantheon of gods.
Speaker 2: How do we know this?
Speaker 2: Because we got the next chapter.
Speaker 2: Now, some people in the room.
Speaker 2: We do this too, don't we?
Speaker 2: Like money is your God, but you sprinkle God into sports is your God.
Speaker 2: But Jesus can chill with you if he wants.
Speaker 2: Uh, he's like a lucky rabbit's foot.
Speaker 2: Give him an hour a week, that can't hurt.
Speaker 2: Or maybe you're super committed to the church, but religion is your God.
Speaker 2: You wouldn't actually sacrifice yourself for others If God asked you.
Speaker 2: But you're all about religiously Sundays, right For some of you.
Speaker 2: Jesus wants you to stop destroying yourself with pornography or sex outside of marriage, or sherm or alcohol a bunch of other things he wants to have.
Speaker 2: And you're saying to him no, no, no, no, I want this and I'll have you.
Speaker 2: And he's like no, no, no, I want all of you.
Speaker 2: I got something better for you, way better for you, but you, but you got to be willing to say yes, jesus wants all of you, just like King is here.
Speaker 2: He gives some lips, lip service, but not much changes.
Speaker 2: That can't be us friends.
Speaker 2: That King is going to have to learn the hard way.
Speaker 2: He's going to have to hurt a lot of people in himself to get there too.
Speaker 2: I hope you don't have to have the same experience.
Speaker 2: I hope you're not, like me, stubborn.
Speaker 2: I hope you're not, like me, needing things to be so difficult that that's when you'll turn to God, because he can arrange that.
Speaker 2: I hope you can finally realize God is the true king of kings and he wants to be king of your whole life, everything.
Speaker 2: He doesn't want that thing that you're hiding from him, because you can't hide anything from him.
Speaker 2: He doesn't just want your Sundays.
Speaker 2: He wants everything.
Speaker 2: He doesn't just want your sexuality.
Speaker 2: He wants everything, not just that your movie watching habits.
Speaker 2: It's nice that you're switching to watching the chosen instead of like some of those nasty shows on HBO.
Speaker 2: But Jesus wants everything in return.
Speaker 2: He offers you something much better.
Speaker 2: He offers you healing, he offers hope.
Speaker 2: He offers you himself.
Speaker 2: He offers you his kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.
Speaker 2: Finally, in verse 44, in the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed.
Speaker 2: Whose kingdom is that?
Speaker 2: Jesus and his kingdom will not be left to another people.
Speaker 2: You saw a stone break off from the mountain without a hand touching it.
Speaker 2: It crushed the iron, bronze, fired clay, silver and gold.
Speaker 2: That's Jesus' kingdom moving on earth now and we have the honor of getting to see it in person.
Speaker 2: There's a final kingdom and it's broken off with no hand.
Speaker 2: The origins are not from man.
Speaker 2: We are watching this happen unfold in front of us.
Speaker 2: That is the kingdom of God.
Speaker 2: It's moving forward on earth today.
Speaker 2: It's already here.
Speaker 2: It's already working.
Speaker 2: It's the reason why market street and Encanto can worship side by side.
Speaker 2: Jesus' kingdom is not of this world.
Speaker 2: He has overcome the world.
Speaker 2: If you have not given your life to follow Jesus, why not today?
Speaker 2: Why not join him?
Speaker 2: Why not say okay, I'm in.
Speaker 2: Come, find one of us during communion.
Speaker 2: We'll pray for you, or find me after the sermon, and we will pray for you to receive Jesus.
Speaker 2: And After the sermon, and we will pray for you to receive Jesus, and we will baptize you and help you figure out what it means to follow Jesus for you in 2025.
Speaker 2: And, who knows, god's Holy Spirit may end up using you to speak truth and mercy to kings, Because City, life, church, worldly wisdom is arrogant, unsatisfying and it often turns mean, but we have the Holy Spirit of God and his word.
Speaker 2: We have his church to encourage us to live in truth.
Speaker 2: Remember godly wisdom built bridges, godly wisdom blesses our enemies and godly wisdom glorifies God.
Speaker 2: Let's pray, father.
Speaker 2: We thank you that you are present here today and that your kingdom is moving forward, that you are doing something amazing that we could neither ask for nor even imagine.
Speaker 2: God, the miracles we've seen in healing, but also healing across racial divides, healing across different people, groups.
Speaker 2: God, we know it's only from you, it's only possible in you, and so we praise you, we glorify you, but we also come to you knowing that we're not good enough.
Speaker 2: And so, in this moment, in this moment of silence in our hearts, we confess our sins to you, knowing that if we belong to you, you are good for loving us.
Speaker 2: Thank you that, when everything seemed wrong, when we couldn't get it right, that you cared, that you wanted to stand up for us, to stick up for us.
Speaker 2: God, we ask that you would help us to do the same thing for others.
Speaker 2: God, we know that there are things that we have done that are wrong, and there are things that are right that we have left undone.
Speaker 2: Thank you for forgiving us.
Speaker 2: Thank you that as far as the east is from the west, so our sin is from your sight.
Speaker 2: That when the father who look upon us, father, you see the righteousness of your son, jesus, we thank and praise you for this beautiful morning that we get that kind of forgiveness.
Speaker 2: We love you and pray this all in jesus name.
Speaker 2: Amen, amen, praise god for that word.