City Life Church San Diego
Welcome to the City Life Church Podcast, where faith meets action in the heart of Mt. Hope. We are a diverse family of God, united by Jesus, led by Scripture, and empowered by the Holy Spirit, we are committed to caring for both the spiritual and tangible needs of the lost and hurting. Through inspiring messages and practical lessons, we seek to equip and encourage you to live out God’s calling in everyday life. Join us as we grow in faith, serve our community, and share the hope of the Gospel with the world.
City Life Church San Diego
The Writing on the Wall: Wisdom in an Upside-Down Kingdom
In this powerful exploration of Daniel 5's "writing on the wall," we witness the spectacular downfall of King Belshazzar. Hosting a drunken feast using sacred vessels stolen from Jerusalem's temple, the king mockingly toasts false gods until a mysterious hand appears, writing judgment on the palace wall. The once-mighty Babylon, with its seemingly impenetrable walls and moat, falls that very night to the Persian army - fulfilling prophecies spoken decades earlier.
Two crucial marks of wisdom emerge from this ancient story with startling relevance for today. First, wisdom requires sobriety - not just abstaining from substances, but maintaining clear-minded humility in a world intoxicated with self-importance. Second, wisdom comes from seeking the right counsel. Like Belshazzar surrounded by yes-men while ignoring Daniel's godly perspective, we often curate advice that merely confirms what we want to hear, whether through social media algorithms or carefully selected friends.
The prophetic message cuts through our modern facades: "You have been weighed on the balance and found deficient." No human kingdom, achievement, or legacy lasts forever. Even those who reach the pinnacle of success are eventually forgotten, their influence fading with time. What endures is the kingdom of God and the legacy of faithful obedience.
God doesn't want more self-crowned kings. He desires humble servants who recognize their need for King Jesus. Will you wait until you see your own writing on the wall, or will you embrace His transforming grace today? When life's furnace heats up and lions surround you, remember - God may not always deliver you from trials, but He will never leave you alone within them.
The stories of the prophet Daniel are riveting, full of adventure and the miraculous. But what if we're telling these stories the wrong way? Yes, god saved his people and shut the mouths of lions, rescued those thrown into the scalding furnace. 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. 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. He will never forsake us when the world demands we deny him. Daniel was obedient when he expected to die for his faith. Jesus obediently chose death for us. Today, the word of God challenges us to humbly follow our good and loving God, no matter what happens next. You may already be in the lion's den, but God will always be with his children. Join us for Daniel and the Upside-Down Kingdom.
Speaker 2:It's a privilege to always be here with you. I want to remind you that there's sometimes going to be kids that cry. There's sometimes going to be kids that come from different cultures. They're in different situations right now than they're used to, and we always tell the parents that they're welcome. But I need you to tell those parents that they're welcome too when you see them. If their kids are making noise or something like that, let them know that we actually really are glad they're here. It's difficult to come here and feel like you're too loud and there's a lot of things stopping those families, and so we want them to know that we love them, and I hope you will affirm that as well.
Speaker 2:So today we're going to be in Daniel 5. We have great study Bibles on the walls over there. If you need a good study Bible, if you want to throw 10 bucks in the pot, that'll pay for a little bit of it. If you don't have any money, take it. We have good study Bibles.
Speaker 2:So I'm actually going to see if I can start us out by getting everybody to stand up for a second, if you're able. If you are not able to stand, please stay seated and you know, uh, when it's time to raise, you could just raise your hand. Um, so, uh, when I was a kid, one of the greatest songs of all time came out and, um, what I'm going to do is I'm going to ask you to stay standing. If you know who did this, don't shout it out right away, but if you know the person who performed this song, okay, let me see if I got this to work. Okay, sit down. If you don't know who sings this, okay, wow, that's pretty, that's pretty impressive. So, who? Who was that mc hammer? So, a couple people sat down, that's okay, you can stay seated. If you did not know who that person was, um, mc hammer was influenced by someone else, and mc hammer was influenced by, uh, a guy that he actually sampled a song and I'm gonna play you whip, whip, not that one. See, I'm already messing it up uh, and he, uh, sampled this song. And if you, if you know the name of the person who, uh, performed this song, then stay standing, all right. So we got some people sitting, some people that don't know. I was going to stop it there before it got to that part, but then my mic was having problems, so I had to switch. So my bad. So who did that song? Rick James, that's right. Good job guys. Now, rick James, when you ask Rick James who influenced him, I'm going to play you the artist who influenced Rick James, so you can stay standing. If you knew the artist, I'm going to play you the artist who influenced Rick James, so you can stay standing. If you knew the artist I'm about to play for you. All right, this was one of his. This was one of his cleaner songs. So who was this? James Brown, thank you. Now James Brown will tell you who influenced him. So now I'm going to ask you to stay standing if you know who influenced James Brown, this artist here.
Speaker 2:Now, I know some of you might be tired and stuff. I've got to get up. It's always late. I'm going to get tired Now. I know some of you might be tired and stuff, or you might not be able to stand, so you can also raise your hand if you know who this is.
Speaker 2:This song is called Is you Is or Is you Ain't my Baby by Louis Jordan. Now, some of you knew the name of that. That's pretty cool. Is you Is or Is you Ain't my Baby by Louis Jordan. Now, some of you knew the name of that. That's pretty cool. Is you, is or Is you Ain't my Baby? By Louis Jordan?
Speaker 2:Now, why am I playing super freak in church? I have questions myself, but here's why. Like someone that was popular during my childhood, there were people that sat down. He's forgotten already. There are a lot of people who didn't know his influence. A lot of people didn't know his influence and every one of you didn't know his influence. And I just want to talk to you about what it means to make it to the top sometimes, what it means to get to the place where you have reached every one of your dreams, to only be forgotten. And we're going to say this is what Daniel was going through.
Speaker 2:Daniel, if you remember, in the last several sermons, daniel was coming through big for God and then he was forgotten. And then Daniel did something great for God and then he was forgotten. Just like people will one day forget super freak, somehow, friends, people might not remember you, and I'm just going to tell you that it's okay. It's okay, one day the world will forget you, but when we seek to honor God, we leave a bigger and a better legacy than anything we can do or create Now. It's the same way with Kings.
Speaker 2:Nebuchadnezzar was the mighty King of Babylon, and over and over he forgot the wisdom of Daniel and his friends. Daniel and his friends proved themselves again and again, and in the same way, the mighty King. One day he was gone. Nobody cared what he had to think. He couldn't rule from the grave. Now there was a new king, and he didn't remember Daniel. He didn't care about the Jewish God. He didn't care about Daniel, shadrach, meshach and Abednego and all the great things they did.
Speaker 2:For those of you who are trying to reach the top, remember this okay, even if you reach the top, one day you will be Louis Jordan to people, is you is or is you ain't my baby. I love that title, by the way. For those of you who feel like you're at the bottom right now, god is a great leveler too. Though God can use you now for that great legacy that will last forever. People still might forget you tomorrow, and that's okay, because the kingdom of God will endure long after you're gone. We can still leave a legacy. Though this building might be an Arby's one day, it might, but the legacy of our church and the kingdom of God won't die so easily.
Speaker 2:So Daniel understood the assignment. He was back at square one, basically forgotten. The king Nebuchadnezzar had had multiple weak kings come after him. They were ineffective, they did not last very long and daniel's name became history yet again. Much like lewis jordan, there were some just lingering whispers of his faithfulness, but when the new king suffered, daniel's name resurfaced, and that's what we're going to talk about today.
Speaker 2:When Daniel's name came back, he was ready, and we're going to talk about wisdom today. A lot, and this is a long text and I'm going to try and get through it with you again. I just didn't want to break up some of these stories so much. So we're going to be in Daniel 5. Does anyone have a Bible with them today? Oh, I love to see it. I love to see it, and some of y'all are going to hold up your phones because I know you're like Bible's on here. It is, you're right, I'm wrong. Here we go. Daniel five King Belshazzar had a great feast for a thousand of his nobles and drank wine in their presence.
Speaker 2:Under the influence of wine, belshazzar gave orders to bring in the gold and silver vessels that his predecessor, nebuchadnezzar, had taken from the temple in Jerusalem, so that the king and his nobles wives and concubines could drink from them. So they brought in the gold vessels that had been taken from the temple, the house of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his nobles wives and concubines drank from them. They drank the wine and praised their gods, made of gold and silver and bronze, iron, wood and stone. At that moment, the fingers of a man's hand appeared and began writing on the plaster of the king's palace wall next to the lampstand. As the king watched the hand that was writing, his face turned pale and his thoughts so terrified him that he soiled himself and his knees knocked together. The king shouted to bring in the mediums Chaldeans. Diviners, he said to them, diviners. He said to these wise men of Babylon whoever reads this inscription, gives me its interpretation, will be clothed in purple, have a gold chain around his neck like Mr T and have the third highest position in the kingdom. So all the king's wise men came in, but they couldn't read the inscription or make its interpretation known. The king Belshazzar became even more terrified. His face turned pale. His nobles were bewildered.
Speaker 2:Because of the outcry of the king and his nobles, the queen came to the banquet hall. May the king live forever. She said Don't let your thoughts terrify you or your face be pale. There is a man in your kingdom who has a spirit of the holy gods in him. In the days of your predecessor, he was found to have insight, intelligence, wisdom, like the wisdom of gods. Your present predecessor, king Nebuchadnezzar, appointed him chief of the magicians, mediums, chaldeans and diviners. Your own predecessor, the king, did this because Daniel, the one, the one the king named Belazar was found to have an extraordinary spirit, knowledge and intelligence and the ability to interpret dreams, explain riddles and solve problems. Therefore, summon Daniel, he will give the interpretation. We're still going.
Speaker 2:Then Daniel was brought before the king. The king said to him are you Daniel of the Judean exiles that my predecessor, the king, brought from Judah? He didn't even know him. Exiles that my predecessor, the king, brought from Judah? He didn't even know him. I've heard that you have a spirit of the gods in you and that insight, intelligence and extraordinary wisdom are found in you. Now the wise men and mediums were brought before me to read this inscription and make its interpretation known to me, but they could not give its interpretation. However, I've heard that you can give interpretation, solve problems. Therefore, if you can read this inscription and give me its interpretation. You will be clothed in purple, have a gold chain, like Mr T, and have the third highest position in the kingdom. Then Daniel answered the king you may keep your gifts and give your rewards to somebody else. However, I will read the inscription for the king, make the interpretation known to him.
Speaker 2:Your majesty, the most high God gave sovereignty, greatness, glory and majesty to your predecessor, nebuchadnezzar. Because the greatness he gave him, all people's nations and languages were terrified and fearful of him. He killed anyone who wanted he wanted and kept alive anyone he wanted. He exalted anyone he wanted and humbled anyone he wanted. But when his heart was exalted and his spirit became arrogant, he was deposed from his royal throne and his glory was taken from him. He was driven away from people. His mind was like an animal's, he lived with the wild donkeys, he was fed grass like cattle and his body drenched with dew from the sky, until he acknowledged that the most high God is ruler over human kingdoms and sets anyone he wants over them.
Speaker 2:But you, his successor Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, even though you knew all this man. Instead you have the vessels from his house were brought to you as you and your nobles wives and concubines drank wine from them. You praise the gods made of silver and gold, which you did not see or hear or understand, but you have not glorified the God who holds your life breath in his hand and who controls the whole course of your life. Therefore, he sent the hand and this writing was inscribed. This is the writing Mene, mene, teko parsin. This is the interpretation of the message. Mene means that God has numbered your days of your kingdom and brought it to an end. Techo means that you have been weighed on the balance and found deficient. Perez means that your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and Persians. Then Belshazzar gave an order and they clothed Daniel in purple, placed a gold chain, like Mr T, around his neck and issued a proclamation concerning him that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom. That very night, belshazzar, the king of the Chaldeans, was killed and Darius the Mede received the kingdom at the age of 62.
Speaker 2:Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your presence this morning and for your word, and God, I love this story. So thanks for that, god. God, we know that you know our thoughts. We know that if anyone else were to care for us, and if they knew our thoughts and they knew our actions, they would have abandoned us a long time ago. But not you. You fully know us and still fully love us as a people. Humans have destroyed each other. You know that we've terrorized each other and, rather than allow us To blow up the planet Um, you've pursued us.
Speaker 2:Father, would you rescue the people of haiti and sudan and ukraine and palestine and russia and israel? Would you listen to the cries of the orphans and widows in those places of the hungry and the destitute? Would you mobilize your church in Palestine to feed the children and the families, as I have seen you do so far? God, we know that you don't take joy in the death of the wicked, but instead desire that we repent and change. Change us. We sometimes feel so hopeless in our sin and our selfishness, but with the gift of your son, we do have hope. Help us to carry your light to the darkest places in our hearts and then take the light everywhere we go. Protect us from our own decisions. Teach us your way. May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of our hearts be pleasing to you. We pray this, all in Jesus name and all God's people said amen, okay.
Speaker 2:So, man, I've loved going through the book of Daniel. I don't know about you guys, but it has so influenced me and it's influenced our culture in ways we don't even know. It's so common, like when a manager in sports has a good team that's not performed well, he knows that he's probably going to be fired, and so we use a term for that manager's coming downfall. We say the writings on the wall. Guess where that term came from this story? The writing was on the wall for the king. He had not shown humility and he had not listened to God and he was going to suffer for it. Actually, he openly mocked God Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord and he will lift you up. Now I don't know about you, but I don't like being humbled. I don't like it. It's painful, but in James 4, it says that God resists the proud and he gives grace to the humble. See, god doesn't want more kings. There are more than enough in the world already, guys. God wants humble servants who understand their need for King Jesus. When we find ourselves in a low place and we are needy for God, that's where he meets us. We still have to deal with consequences of our former decisions, but we are never alone when we belong to God.
Speaker 2:And today I'm going to give you two marks of wisdom, two marks of true wisdom, and my first one is this wisdom is sober minded. Now, remember, sober doesn't just mean not drunk, okay. Um, it can mean sensible or showing self-control. So, in verse one, king Belshazzar had a great feast for thousands of his nobles and lady friends, and they got drunk under the influence of wine. Belshazzar gave orders to bring in the gold and silver vessels that were stolen from the temple in Jerusalem so that the king and his cronies could drink from them disrespectfully.
Speaker 2:Now let me tell you about alcohol for just one second. It's not evil. Alcohol is not evil on its own, but I want to say too that alcohol leads to evil very quickly. Um, like, I've been to a couple wedding receptions in our church recently and everybody who has like a beer they're like hey, pastor, what's up? And they're trying to like how are you feeling? And I'm like dude, it's all right, it's okay, it's okay. Also, I can see with my eyes and they're just like oh crap, the pastor has seen me drink. Guys, don't feel like. That's what I'm about. I'm not here to judge you, but I am telling you it can be dangerous. Like I'm not there at the wedding to judge any of you guys. I am there to party down with my wife, get down on the dance floor with her Um, and maybe to perform the ceremony. I don't know if we got time.
Speaker 2:Every once in a while, though, I will just have a drink sometimes to calm everyone around me. That's it. That's the only reason I usually won't drink at all, but I just want people to chill and not think I'm judging them. I don't want the calories anyway, man, like, it's not worth it. Um, I'd rather have ice cream any day. But part of it, too, is that I know what I'm like on the inside and and I know, uh, that there's parts of me still here that I don't. I don't want to be Um and I don't want to be unfiltered.
Speaker 2:My wife remembers what I was like without a filter when, um, I was in the hospital. My appendix was removed and they had me on drugs, um, um. It was actually what's kind of funny. It was fentanyl, um, and I was just not in control. Um, like, she took my phone away from me and then, um, one of the nurses gave it back to me and I, like, yelled at one of my friends, I guess Um.
Speaker 2:So here's what I'm saying, guys. Here's my deal with substances. Um, I don't trust myself to make good decisions With substances. I don't. So I'm I'm not going to introduce weed or any other alcohol into my system most of the time. I'm not going to ever introduce weed and I'm mostly not going to introduce any alcohol. Now you'll have to decide for yourself what is the wise decision for you. If you have a history of addiction, you probably shouldn't drink. You probably shouldn't. Um, but let me say this too If your pastor doesn't trust himself with substances, shouldn't you at least consider that it's not going to go well for you? Shouldn't you consider staying away from it? I don't know. Now I'm just going to. I'm not going to stay long on that, don't worry.
Speaker 2:Now let's see what happened to King Belshazzar after he got drunk, took the Lord's fine China out and put McDonald's on it and they started doing lines on it. It seems like a solid decision at the time. Verse three so they brought in the gold vessels they had taken from the temple, the house of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his friends drank from them. They drank the wine and praise their gods, made a gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood and stone. The king got drunk and actively insulted God. Good, good, good, this is going good, right, like, it's going well. And the thing is probably at the time you can imagine what's going on right, like can you imagine this party? They're probably like, oh, this would be hilarious, like you've been at that party right where it was like, oh, you know, it would be a great idea when everybody's drinking and they say that it know it'd be a great idea. When everybody's drinking and they say that it's not going to be a great idea.
Speaker 2:There's a word that I like to use here for this, though it's hubris. Um, it's excessively arrogant when you think you are untouchable. The alcohol and the apparent unlimited power of the King had deceived him. The King had decided that he was now untouchable. And and I was the same once, honestly, because I made fun of Christians and I didn't think their God could do anything to me. I made fun of church. I made fun of God himself, but God still had mercy on me. God pursued me with kindness and love and he saved me. And what a mighty, merciful God, I serve because I know what I was like and what I did. Now, church.
Speaker 2:Before we go any further, I just need your permission to just geek out for just a minute on some history here. This is so cool, guys, I just gotta have that permission. Am I good? Can I just geek out for a minute? Okay, here we go. I wanna start with some history.
Speaker 2:The city of Babylon within the nation was massive. This city was massive. It's very impressive. It's basically 15 miles on each side and there are two rivers that go around and through babylon. Does anyone know the names of those rivers from? Like fourth grade tigris and euphrates. Good job, guys, you were paying attention. Um, so you have the tigris and eurates rivers. You also have it surrounded by a massive, massive brick wall. Think about the Great Wall of China, bigger, ok, like. This wall is 87 feet thick, 350 feet tall, with 250 towers that can have weaponized men on the top. They said that you could have, side by side, many horses drawing across the top of this huge wall. So this is, this is impenetrable, and it's surrounded by these two great rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates, which floated also under the city, formed a moat around the city and then there's a giant drawbridge and bronze gates. So, yeah, you could feel pretty confident when you're in there.
Speaker 2:But before we go any further, I would like to read to you a prophecy, a prophecy from the prophet Isaiah about the army that was lined up outside the gates of Babylon. Now it's very confusing because sometimes Cyrus's name is is interchanged with Darius. But don't let that get in the way. We could talk about that another time. I wish I had more time to geek out, actually, but Isaiah 45 says this the Lord says this to Cyrus, his anointed, whose right hand I have grasped, to subdue nations before him and disarm kings, to open doors before him, and even city gates will not be shut. I will go before you and level the uneven places. I will shatter the bronze doors and cut the iron bars in two. I will give you the treasures of darkness and riches from secret places, so that you may know that I am the Lord. I am the God of Israel, who calls you by name. Dude, this is so cool, you guys. This is a prophecy a long time beforehand Some people will say like 70, 80, 90 years, even Now.
Speaker 2:You see, the king of Babylon captured Egypt, as the prophet said he would. And then God punished Israel for their sins for 70 years. Now I'm never 100% I'm gonna say I'm gonna put myself on the line here. I'm never 100% sure what is being reported about Israel right now, because I know Hamas has its own propaganda wing. But let me just say this to you guys If you think Israel cannot be terribly sinful, you are not reading your Bible. You are not reading your Bible. Of course, israel sins. It is mentioned thousands of times in your Bible that Israel can sin, so much so that they were carried away to Babylon for 70 years because God was punishing them. So don't, don't come to me and say Israel's perfect, like, like, I'm not saying that, that, no, I'm just gonna stop there. But in spite of their sin, after their punishment, god was sending a new King who would eventually send the people of Israel back home.
Speaker 2:And here was King Cyrus knocking down bronze doors. He would retake the treasures from darkness, the riches from secret places that sounds like gold from the temple of God that they are feasting on at this moment. Tell me, that's not cool. Now, amir Sarfati he says this for huge bronze gates to effectively block the water entrance to the great city, two things must be true. First, the water must be deep. Second, the gates must be closed.
Speaker 2:Unfortunately for Belshazzar, on the night of Saturday, october 12th, 539 BC, if he had taken the time away from his party to stroll by the water defenses, he would have found that neither of these necessities was the case. So, wait, hold on. I got to set the mood for you guys. Now I got to set the mood, hold on. I still have this music right here with me, so let me set the mood. Okay, is that cool? There's a party going on. Okay, so I try to find what I associate with a party. Yeah, okay, so I was looking for house music. This is what came up. I don't know. The fact is, the party is big and it's going on throughout the whole city.
Speaker 2:This is not just going on in the palace, it's going on in the city, and nobody is paying attention to what is happening right now. This is Mardi Gras, it's Fat Tuesday. I know some of you used to go clubbing some of the sketchier places in Tijuana. This is like beyond that. Okay, um, it might've been like that, but this is a celebration of sin with no consequences. Okay, chill out, um, but now you're hearing this music. Things are going on, crazy things are happening in the temple, but who is sitting outside the gates of this party? Consequences? That's, who's sitting outside? An army built to destroy the Babylonian kingdom, an army sent by God.
Speaker 2:Now, while the Babylonians celebrated themselves, king Cyrus of Persia went upriver with his enormous army and he damned it up. He diverted the great river from the great city and that moat descended and exposed Babylon's weakness. It went down a different path. Now, that's arrogance, that's hubris. They thought that they were too big to fail. Why would you need God when you are God? Too big to fail? Why would you need God when you are God? And as they descended further and further into this Vegas style sin, the enemy prepared Some drunk dude must have left the gates open, or maybe they left it open so people could come and go from the party. Hey, come on into the party, you could go, yeah, but they were still protected by the moat and the river. They thought. But remember what we said Babylon is gonna Babylon. Well, they should have noticed that the water levels were disappearing, but they were too drunk.
Speaker 2:And then one of the largest armies on the planet walked in, just walked in and it must have been like this. The king is having his rager, you know, and they said let's go get the Jewish elements and let's drink some absinthe and some Coors Light from it. Let's smoke a bowl in the Jewish incense bowls. There were definitely lots of naked people there. I'm not making this up Like. This is what was happening, you guys. I made up the weed thing, you know, probably.
Speaker 2:But the party was getting louder and louder, and louder. Now let's drink out of the Jewish cups. Let's drink to our gods, that will be awesome. And louder, now let's drink out of the Jewish cups. Let's drink to our gods, that will be awesome. But then, at that moment, the fingers of the hand of God started writing in the wall in the plaster, breaking it, tearing at it with fingernails. Now, the hand of God. Can you imagine what the room was doing in that moment? No-transcript, so quiet that the people nearby could hear the pea going down the leg of the king and they were staring at him and his knees were knocking together and his face was white.
Speaker 2:The Bible says that being afraid of God is actually the beginning of wisdom. The king was afraid. He had a puddle to prove it and the party died Naked ladies. They were just like covering up now. It was weird. The vibe changed right, like nobody was having fun anymore. Honestly, the concubines were probably never having fun. They had no rights. They had to do whatever this man child on the throne told them to do. And you know, probably some of the dudes were like, hmm, yeah, you know I'm gonna head out Like I got some stuff to do in the morning, you know. But like the thing is that lifestyle of sin and arrogance had now caught up to this king.
Speaker 2:Because sin always catches up to you, especially the greatest sin, which is denial and mockery of God. Can God forgive any sin? Yes, except the sin where we deny the Holy Spirit, when we mock Jesus and say we don't need a salvation anymore. No one can save you from that. If we don't need God, it's a choice to deny God. He won't force himself on you. He offers you a better way, but it's an offer, it's not a demand. If we want to choose sin over God, he won't deny us what we want, but there will be consequences.
Speaker 2:And, friends, you might succeed in fooling me, although sometimes you don't succeed in fooling me, you just think you do you might succeed in fooling the church. You can continue to chase after your sin, thinking there will be no consequences because nobody knows. But God will always know. You can't fool him, even if you hide from him in the darkness. The Bible says he's there with you, he sees.
Speaker 2:And you are one scary moment away from the realization that it's too late. Stop imagining that you are untouchable to God. You could get a text right now from your boss. That's gonna change things. Your doctor, your spouse or anyone else could change your life with one call. Are you prepared for that? Have you given your life to Jesus? Have you committed to following him? Because when the moment comes, you'll want to stand on Jesus goodness, not yours.
Speaker 2:You are not good enough. I am not good enough. That's the beauty of the gospel. We're not good enough. Every all the good works that we do out here, all the things where we try to love, mercy and have compassion on people, that's not to earn anything with God. That's because we didn't deserve anything with God. And now we want to give back to him out of joy, out of love, out of blessing, out of the overflow of our heart, not because we're trying to earn anything when City Life.
Speaker 2:Church tries to do good things, it's because we're loved by God, not for any other reason. It's unearneded. The gospel is unearned, this free gift freely offered to us. Jesus makes this ultimate sacrifice for me and you because he loved you, not because you're some awesome king, and he wants your whole life and he wants your dedication for the same reason, because he loves you and he knows what's best for you. Jesus died from you. He rose from the dead and now he offers you his spirit because he knows what's best for you. Jesus died from you, he rose from the dead and now he offers you his spirit because he knows what's best for you and he kind of likes you still. But but you and I, we're more like the King in the story than Daniel. Right? God doesn't want more Kings, though. He wants humble servants who understand their need for King Jesus. The walls you built for protection around you? They can't keep you safe. It doesn't matter if they're 300, 500, a thousand feet thick. They will fail you when the time of reckoning comes, when the writing is on the wall. Only Jesus saves us from sin, not hard work, not your good deeds. Only Jesus.
Speaker 2:See the king in his hubris, thought he was king of kings. But when an army dammed the water up river, the gates were left open and the army walked in the front gates. His army was too drunk to defend him and they probably didn't like him anyway. Let's be real. The Lord had pronounced judgment on the king. His time was going to be over soon, and so he peed his pants. That was his solution, and he started to stress.
Speaker 2:But at this point the king didn't really know that the army was walking inside the palace. Yet right, he didn't know, he just knew that he was in trouble. He didn't need a prophet for that, did he? He knew that the hand of God was speaking to him, and the hand of God is a symbol in the Bible. The hand of God is a symbol for immense power and strength that no one can stand against, no one. When the hand of god is against you, nothing, you can do nothing against it. And so the king just needed to ask the right people for help here. And that's what our second mark of true wisdom is. Wisdom is getting the right advice from the right place. Now he lucked into it In verse 8.
Speaker 2:The wise men came in, but they couldn't even read the writing. Sorry, that's loud. There was such a commotion that it probably alerted the queen that something was up and she came into the banquet hall May the king live forever. And you're like man, this guy. Let me just say this guys, wise men, wise men, listen to women.
Speaker 2:Our church has only male elders, but let me just say this If you ever go to a church that doesn't seek input and wisdom from women, they have missed out on some of the best and brightest in the church. Wisdom is to seek advice from wise counsel. If we think that the women in our church are not wise, what are we doing? Women, we value your input. We value your leadership. You know things we don't. Also, ladies, if you are single and looking for a man, look for a dude that listens to God but also is willing to listen and value your input. Don't chase after boys who pretend to be king. Find a man that loves the Lord and cherishes you and your advice. So she said may the king live forever. The queen, don't trip. There's a man in the kingdom who knows what's up. He's wise. He worked for grandfather. Call him, he'll help you. I, he worked for your grandfather. Call him, he'll help you. I paraphrase Daniel had a history of speaking on behalf of the Lord. It was known he was worth listening to. An old lady remembered him, but you know he was. He was kind of old, right, he worked for the King's grandpa.
Speaker 2:That party probably started at like 10 PM. Daniel probably put on his dentures next to the bed and he went to sleep at nine. Now I get you, daniel, right. Like. Sometimes I see everybody in here. They're like hey, we're going to movie at eight and I'm like I'm ready for bed at eight o'clock. I got to get up before five. I'm an old, grumpy man. After eight 30. Last night my wife and I, we actually ate dinner on our date before five o'clock.
Speaker 2:That's called early bird special. There's no line and I'm here for it. I used to make fun of old people for that, but now I love it. There's no crowds, we just eat our food in peace. Yep, that's right. We talk about the way things used to be. It's the same thing for the movies, right? Like you could go to Superman at 7 pm. Great, I'm going to see it at 11 for half price, okay.
Speaker 2:So Daniel was already in bed, hooked up to a CPAP, and he wasn't at the party. Yet to help the King make good decisions, he should have been in the room when it happened. Besides, old people, they're old, they're no fun to a King. Come on, who wants? Who wants to hear this old guy? Old people are outdated, they're grumpy. How can they help? Shouldn't we just seek new and better ideas from young people? But you'll miss out and the king missed out.
Speaker 2:We need to hear from the other people. We need to hear from other ages. We need to hear from other political sides. We need to hear from people of different cultures and ethnicity. We definitely need to hear from experience. I love that my city group is multi-generational. We need people older than us. They have experience. I need to hear from single people and I need to hear from younger people. My daughter needs to get advice from her aunties in our city group. You know who else had experience the queen mother, and I call her the queen mother because she was probably his mom. The queen knew better. Most likely this queen was his mom and she had seen some things. Now she's not going to be invited to a hedonistic, drug fueled rager, is she no? But you know who should have been there earlier in the decision making process. The queen, the king, already knew that there was an army outside his gates because they had been conquering the cities of Babylon for a long time already. It wasn't like it was a surprise. Daniel and the king should have been at the room and he should have been listening to them a long time before it came to that point.
Speaker 2:Friends, be really careful who you take advice from. Be really careful. Don't always take advice from people who you wouldn't ask for advice. First off, people are always giving you advice but you wouldn't ask for it. Don't take it. Don't take advice on your marriage from people who don't believe in marriage. It Don't take advice on your marriage from people who don't believe in marriage. Find godly counsel.
Speaker 2:Every year I have people go from church to church that stay for six months at a time. They struggle with the church. They've been hurt by the church, which is not their fault. They probably hurt plenty of people in church too. Those folks always have advice for me on how the church should be run. They don't want to do any of the work and they don't play nice with others, but they seem to know exactly what our church needs before they leave. But I don't want their advice. Now, I'm not saying our church doesn't need to improve in many areas. We need to improve in many areas. But when I want to improve as a church, I go to the people I want to emulate, not the people who just like to start fires and watch it burn.
Speaker 2:Surround yourself with godly wisdom and you will find yourself making better decisions. Some of you are still running with the same homies. Like still getting drunk with them, still getting high with them, still tagging with them. Is that making your life better in any way? Show me your friends now and I will show you what it'll be like for you later. Like you're not going to get any better if you're hanging out with the same people. Your life is never going to get better until you start spending time with people who encourage you to not sin, people who draw you to god. King belches belches are he was hanging out with suck-ups. King belches are head advisors. That told him all that he wanted to hear.
Speaker 2:I recently read an article about ai. Um ai. Girlfriends and boyfriends are like a huge thing right now. I'm so in love with this robot right now and you're like why? And they're like because it loves me so much. It tells me every single thing that I want to hear. Well, that sounds like you're in love with you, like. This is what the article says.
Speaker 2:Ai aims to please the user at all costs ensuring they keep using it. Aims to please the user at all costs ensuring they keep using it. Their general design is to be people pleasers. When you ask AI a leading question, the AI infers that the correct answer should be yes, because a yes answer is going to make their friend happy. Yo, like that sounds really, really dangerous.
Speaker 2:When a man wanted to kill the queen of England, he asked an AI chatbot and the AI chatbot said go for it. So he broke into the palace with a crossbow because AI, his girlfriend, who was perfect for him, told him what he wanted to hear. It's toxic, but tell me that's not like the social media algorithm too. It's telling you what you want to hear. Be careful. Why do humans love AI girlfriends and boyfriends? Why do they love our social media algorithm? Because it's tailored for exactly what you want to hear, just like the king's advisors. It's toxic. This is why we need the word of God. This is why we preach entirely straight through books, because sometimes I have to preach things I don't want to preach. I don't want preached to me, but I need to hear it.
Speaker 2:All the king's men were lying to him right up to the point of his death. You have people in your life that are cool with that too. Everyone knew that an army was assembled outside already. Everyone knew the Persians had already destroyed much of the kingdom, but he assumed the great walls of Babylon and the moat and the gates could not be broken or scaled by anyone or anything. He would have had advisors that would have said, yeah, yeah, that's not going to work. Hubris, arrogance. Now, what says a lot to me here is is that the queen wasn't at the party? Is that Daniel wasn't at the party? The two people that the king needed most in his life were not invited or not interested, because he wouldn't listen. He was an arrogant fool.
Speaker 2:Friends, god doesn't want more kings. He wants humble servants who understand their need for King Jesus. True wisdom is putting ourselves in positions and places where we can grow closer to God and be transformed by his spirit. Some of you, though, you don't want Jesus in your life because you think he will wreck things. Some of you, though, you don't want Jesus in your life because you think he will wreck things. He will wreck things. Some of you know this. You gave your life to God, you were baptized, and maybe it felt like things got worse in your life. Of course they did. The devil wants you to think this was a bad decision anyway. Some of you don't want the advice of the church or the Bible, because you are just like King Belshazzar. You know you are wrong, but you just want to keep doing you. You hear the consequences marching outside your door, but I'm just going to do me. You were destroying yourself, though. You're destroying the people who love you and you're breaking God's heart, who sacrificed everything for you.
Speaker 2:Proverbs three five says trust in the Lord with all your heart. Do not rely on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him. He'll make your path straight. Friends, there's an army outside your door that won't make it. Um, uh. You won't make it out. If something doesn't happen. You won't make it out in your own power. That army might be called bankruptcy or divorce or cancer or death, and if I'm facing something like that, I want good advisors. I want King Jesus in my life. I want his Holy Spirit. You do too. Now is the time to say to God your way is better. I trust you more than I trust me. Guys, will you point to your invincibility? Like a king, your throne is surrounded by gold, by liars, by AI sycophants, by your social media algorithm. People keep telling you how awesome you is. Is you is or is you ain't awesome.
Speaker 2:Psalm one, though it warns us. It says how happy is the one who does not walk in the advice of the wicked or stand in the pathway with sinners or sit in the company of mockers. Instead, his delight is in the Lord's instruction and he meditates on it day and night. He is like a tree planted beside and he meditates on it day and night. He is like a tree planted beside flowing streams that bears its fruit in season and its leaf does not wither. Guys, this stuff I'm talking about is not what saves you. It's Jesus. But this is what can give you a life, this is what can help you to thrive. Spend your time with Jesus, spend your time in the word of God, spend your time with the church constantly. That is not sexy, but it's good for you.
Speaker 2:Prayer groups we have prayer groups. We average right now about like 90 people on a Sunday and prayer is usually like 12 to 15 people. City groups we have about half our people in city groups meeting together Just hanging out. You can ask people to do stuff. We have people in our people in city groups meeting together Just hanging out. You can ask people to do stuff. We have people in our city group that are like we're going to go play tennis. Anyone want to join? That's awesome. I don't play tennis, but I like those people. I might want to go hang out with them.
Speaker 2:See these things though they're not going to make you good enough for God, let me just make that clear Only Jesus does that, does that but they will help you. They will help you to thrive. If you make these things a priority over sports, over other things, you're going to be blessed. If you spend time with Christians who encourage your faith and fight for your marriage, your marriage is going to be stronger. If you spend time with people who draw you to God, it won't only make you it won't make you good enough for God. Only Jesus can do that, but it will save you from so much heartache. It's good to read your Bible and pray daily, but you will always still need Jesus.
Speaker 2:So, friends, if you humble yourself before God, if you repent of your sins, if you seek a new, better way, you will find him. But you have to say yes. Don't wait until the enemy is knocking down your door or you see the writing on the wall, or everything's burning down in your health and your relationships. Don't wait until it's too late. Daniel answered the king. You may keep your gifts. Give your reward to someone else. However, I'll read the inscription to you Now.
Speaker 2:When someone gives you advice and they have nothing to gain from it, that's someone you should listen to a lot of times. Friends, drug dealers don't give you free samples because they're nice. They want something from you and they are playing the long game. Watch out for people who give you advice and have something to gain from it. Even on social media, people have something to gain from it. That was the king's advisors, that was the magi, that was the people getting drunk with him, but Daniel. Daniel didn't want or need any of that stuff, did he? Daniel didn't want riches, he was just trying to speak on behalf of God. Can you tell? Daniel didn't like the king, like the last king when he's like? Oh Lord, let me tell you about this thing. I wish that it didn't happen to you. Oh my gosh, I'm so worried about that. If this were you, this would be so bad. Here he's like this is you fool? Like he, straight up, just says it to him.
Speaker 2:But King Nebuchadnezzar was humbled by it, this dude and humility. He had no shame. He was a product of nepotism. Right, family ties getting you up to higher places, like that dude that is the boss at the company because of his dad. Right, like Dean Spanos, who said that he didn't work. He didn't work for what he had. Like King Nebuchadnezzar, he ruled over people, but he didn't even know what it took to conquer them. But your successor, belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, even though you knew all this. You knew you needed to be humble, but you did nothing. Instead, you have exalted yourself against the king of the heavens. You drank from the cup of God himself and now you will drink from his wrath. King, you have not humbled yourself. Your time is up. Daniel was a good advisor.
Speaker 2:If you have friends that tell you only what you want to hear, they are no friends. Friends find people who tell them what they need to hear, not just what you want to hear. People who will confront you in love and kindness with the purpose of reconciliation. Now you might think even I dislike you, friends, but if you've been confronted by me for sin, it's only because I love you. It's much easier to not talk to you about it. We all need Daniels in our lives.
Speaker 2:Your pastor has people in his life that have permission to be ruthless with me. You need people who will speak honestly to you. Who is that in your life? Who can be honest with you? Who can be honest with you in your life? Do you know who that is? Do you have a name in your head right now? A few names.
Speaker 2:It's not going to be everyone in the church. Like, maybe don't go to city group and say these are all my sins. You might want to like, only talk to a couple of people. If it's like crazy, okay, and it might not be a leader in the church, um, it's probably a neighbor in the church or someone in your city group. And if your advisors aren't believers, you're getting bad Babylonian advisors in your life. You are seeking after scoffers. You are seeking artificial intelligence, artificial friends it won't work out. So after this advice, diligence, artificial friends it won't work out.
Speaker 2:So after this advice, king Belshazzar still gave awesome clothing to Daniel. And that very night Belshazzar, the king of the Chaldeans, was killed and Darius the Mede received the kingdom at the age of 62. If I were Daniel, I would take that stuff off immediately. They'd be like who's the Babylonian? I'd be like not me, like I don't want any of this stuff, the mr T thing hanging from my neck. But daniel would actually become a target yet again. Again, he was forgotten, again like lewis jordan.
Speaker 2:Suddenly, something happens so suddenly, when the writing was on the wall. That word suddenly is important. The party was in full swing when suddenly a hand, like thing from adam's family started writing judgment on the wall. When suddenly happens, it's too late. Guys, don't let suddenly happen to you. Jesus is returning. Jesus said he would return suddenly In Mark 13,.
Speaker 2:He says watch, be alert, for you don't know when the time is coming. Be alert, since you don't know when the master of the house is coming, whether in the evening or at midnight or at the crowing of the rooster or early in the morning. Otherwise, when he suddenly uh, when he comes suddenly, he might find you sleeping. We will have people available to pray for you in the back of the room. If you need prayer, please get it. Don't wait till suddenly. If you would like to give your life to God and be baptized, let us know. Tell the world, let us pray with you. Don't wait till suddenly. If you need help, if you need to rededicate yourself and get back on track, don't wait till suddenly. Go get prayer in the back today.
Speaker 2:Guys, god doesn't want more kings. He wants humble servants who understand their need for King Jesus. And true wisdom is putting ourselves in positions and places where we can grow closer to God and be transformed by his spirit. This rarely happens by accident. You will have to make this choice again and again when isolation, artificial intelligence yes, men and the algorithm tell you what you want to hear, but only Jesus offers true freedom. Only Jesus can offer you forgiveness, his love and his spirit. Take his hand now. Let him be your king. Now is the time you can do this. Let's pray.
Speaker 2:Father, I thank you for this opportunity and, um, I thank you that we can learn from other people's lessons.
Speaker 2:Sometimes I ask that, as we seek you in this moment, that we would bring to you our sins because we would be humble, we would, we would reject our own hubris and arrogance that we would recognize.
Speaker 2:There are things that we should have done, that we didn't do, and there are things that we did that we shouldn't have done. Lord, would you be glorified in our confessions, in our silent confessions, right now. Father, we thank you for forgiving us, not because we hang out with good friends, not if we go to church every day, not if we say all the right prayers and read all the right books. But you forgive us because you love us, because you sent your son to die for us. That is why you welcome us and we thank you that you welcome us into the narrow gate through your son Jesus and that, when you look upon us, you see the righteousness of your son Jesus. And as far as the East is from the West, so our sin is from your sight. God, would you glorify yourself today and we thank you for forgiving us. We love you, lord, and we pray this all in Jesus' holy name, and all God's people said amen, amen.