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[singing and clapping]

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Over the last 10 years 
I've been to Ethiopia, now 9 times.

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And it's just amazing 
to see Africa

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and the continent of Africa 
and the people of Africa

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and what Jesus is doing there.

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I just think that you just see

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a beautiful explosion of the love 
of Jesus, what he's doing there.

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To me, you can see it very clearly.

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Many times it just feels

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like we're serving 
the Ethiopian church.

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Actually I think 
it's just the opposite.

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I think that we will learn
and we will grow more as a church

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by serving and loving
on brothers and sisters.

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Jesus is building his church;

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he's absolutely building his church 
and we get to be a part of it.

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I think there's an opportunity
to plant 1,000 churches in Ethiopia

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and 1,000 churches in India

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that we can directly be a part of 
over these next 15 years

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and to me that's just staggering 
to even pray about.

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We're a family.

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Mars Hill Global 
is a family of people

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that are globally planting churches
and making disciples

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and just a great opportunity
for everyone around the world

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to be a part of what Jesus 
is doing through Mars Hill Church.

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Honestly, I don't know

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what Jesus is going to end up 
doing through Mars Hill Global,

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but I'm really excited to find out.

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[people singing]

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All right, Mars Hill.

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Really excited to have
preach for us my friend,

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Dr. Larry Osborne.

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I've known him for many years.

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He is the one who pioneered
and created what's now known as

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multi-site and video churches,
like Mars Hill Church.

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We learned that from him.

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At various points
in our church's history

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as we were growing,

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I have flown down to
San Diego, stayed at his house,

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eaten dinner
with his family,

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asked him questions,
gotten his help.

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He's been nothing but a helpful
blessing and mentor to me.

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He serves on our Board of
Advisors and Accountability.

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He's got one of the largest
churches in America,

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a beautiful family
that all loves Jesus.

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And I'm really, really honored

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that you get to meet my
good friend, Larry Osborne.

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How you doing?
Good.

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Hey, I want to tell you how
honored I am to be here today,

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and I also want to set one thing
straight with this

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Dr. Osborne stuff.

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When our church was real small,
I had just gotten my doctorate,

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and my oldest son was
about 4, and I was helping,

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I think it was, our third
staff member find housing.

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And so the real estate agent
somehow knew that I had received

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the doctorate, and so he was
using it, like a good salesman,

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in every single statement.

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And so the next day, my son,
again about 4 1/2 at that point,

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he's at the top of the stairs
and he's hollering,

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"Daddy, Daddy!"

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And I said, "What, hon?"

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He said, "How come you're
the kind of doctor

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that can't fix anything?"

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So, you'll just all
remember that, right?

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Well, what we can do is we
can open the word of God,

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and here's what I
would like to do today.

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I want to encourage you to find
the book of Daniel in your Bible

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or on your app. Daniel.

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If you're new at
all at this stuff,

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Daniel's toward the back
of the Old Testament.

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God conveniently put
a table of contents there

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right in the front, and it'll
make it a lot easier to find.

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But find Daniel 1, Daniel 1.

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And we're going to look
at the story of a guy

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where his story is really
well-known, but frankly,

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the key to his story is
not very well-known at all.

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If you had the privilege of
growing up in a Christian home

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and maybe going
to Sunday School,

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I can bet you think you
know the story of Daniel.

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It's all about his
three friends,

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Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abedwego--

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is what we said
in our house,

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but Abednego is his real
name--and the fact that

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they would not bow down before
an idol that had been made,

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and they were therefore
cast into a fiery furnace,

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and the end result of being cast
into that fiery furnace

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was God protected them
and they came out alive.

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And then, there's the story
of Daniel in the lion's den.

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As I heard it as a little kid,
he was a strapping young man

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who was defiantly going to
continue his prayer life

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instead of stop praying
for a season

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because the king
had ordered it.

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But actually, when you
read the book of Daniel,

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he's more grandpa
in the lion's den.

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It's quite late in his life.
But at that point, he obeys God.

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He says, "I'm not going to
make a public compromise,"

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and they take him,

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and they put him in a den
of hungry lions.

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Well, lo and behold, they're
all on Medifast diet,

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so the end of the day
is he comes out alive.

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Now, here's what I picked up
as a kid in Sunday School,

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thinking I knew this
Daniel story:

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that if I would stand firm

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and refuse to bow down
before an idol

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or the idols of this world,
and just stand strong,

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and I was thrown into a fiery
furnace, I would come out.

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And if somehow,
I stood for my faith,

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and I was cast as a martyr
into a den of hungry lions,

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they would all be on a diet.

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But the fact of the matter is,
you look throughout history

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at how many people have been
cast into a fiery furnace

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or burned at the stake
and come out alive.

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Little hint: three.

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How many people have been cast
to the lions and they're hungry

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and suddenly they
weren't very hungry.

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As far as we know, one.

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So, the point of Daniel is
not about those stories,

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though they are absolutely true--

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they're genuine, real history--
but the point of Daniel is

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a lesson about our God, about
his provision, about salvation,

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and also about
how we are to live

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no matter
what kind of situation

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we find ourselves in,

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because Daniel found himself
in an incredibly dark time

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and place, and yet he was able
not only to survive

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but to thrive.

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In fact,
in the wickedest of places,

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he led three national
revivals during his lifetime.

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How in the world was he
able to pull that off?

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That's what we're
going to look at today,

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because all Scripture is
given to us for instruction,

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occasionally for rebuke
and correction and training

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so that the man and woman of
God might know how to live

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righteously. And that's
what Daniel teaches us.

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Now today, we only have
time for the first chapter,

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but you might, during
the rest of this week,

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might want to dig deeper
and read through

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the entire rest of his book,

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through the lens of the things
that we're able to see.

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So, with that said,
let's turn to Daniel 1

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and follow along with me.

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Here's what I'm going to do:

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I'm going to walk us
through the passage

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pointing out some things,

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then we're going to come back
and we're going to make sure

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we really grasp how
evil Babylon was,

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how deep the weeds that Daniel
was stuck in--how deep they

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were, and then we're going to
see the three secrets

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of his influence.

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They're written all
over this first chapter,

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and the rest of
his life as well,

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and the teachings
of our Lord Jesus.

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So, we begin.

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Now, North Coast Church down
in San Diego where I have

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the privilege of being
one of the pastors,

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we are always teaching our folks
to treat their Bible

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as a life handbook,
as a textbook on life.

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And if you do that
and you mark up your Bible,

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I want to encourage
you to do something,

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or to mark it up on the app.
There's a key phrase here--

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we're going to see
it three times--

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that I don't want you to miss.

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I think many times, we miss,

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but Daniel also doesn't
want us to miss.

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It's the beginning of verse 2.

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Take a look at it.
"And the Lord gave."

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Underline that, because what
we've got is we've got

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God's people being captured
by a godless king.

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We have young men like Daniel
and his buddies being kidnapped

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and taken to serve
this godless king.

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And we have this godless king
taking the holy vessels of God

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from the temple of God,
carrying them to Shinar,

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where he puts them in the temple
of his demon god

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as a display of the power
of his god

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over the weak, impotent,
powerless God of Israel,

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the God of Abraham,
Jacob, and Isaac--

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our God.

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And yet, who allowed it?

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"The Lord gave."

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Don't miss that.

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From the very beginning,
Daniel wants us to understand

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and Daniel understood
God's sovereign hand

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in the affairs of man.

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And it changes everything about
the way he views

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and the way he responds

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to what happens to him
and to his people.

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Now, I want you to grasp

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how bizarre this would have
been to a Jewish reader,

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because the vessels of God

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were considered
to be incredibly holy.

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You don't mess with them at all.

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There's a story when
the children of Israel

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are coming
into their promised land

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in the book of Joshua,

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and God had laid
out this pattern.

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He said, "When you capture
the land, the first fruits"--

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which is a biblical
principle all the way through

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Scripture; the first fruits
belong to God--"and after that,

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you're stewards of my
stuff, but enjoy it."

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So, they were to take all
the spoils from the first city,

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give them to the Levites to put
in the treasury of the temple.

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After that, the spoils of all
the rest of their victories

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belonged to them.

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Well, God made it so the walls
of Jericho, the first city,

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fell down, so none of
the spoils were even destroyed,

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and they were able to get
the best of the best.

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They gave it to the Levites,
just as they were told,

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and it was put into
the temple treasury,

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except for one idiot,

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a guy named Achan.

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He decided that just
one little indiscretion

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wouldn't really matter.

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There was something
so beautiful, he said,

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"I've got to have it.
No one will miss it."

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So, he took one of the things
devoted to God,

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and he hid it under his tent.

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Now, the children of Israel
next went to capture

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a tiny little town.

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It was called Ballard, and they
didn't really send a whole army

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for it, so the Bible
calls it Ai.

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And they sent just
a small, little group there,

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and they were routed, and over
30 soldiers lost their lives.

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That means wives
without a husband,

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children without a father,
parents without a son,

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not because they
had done anything wrong,

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but because Achan had taken just
a little of the devoted things

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and hid them in the tent.

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Long story short, God says,
"You're not winning

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any victories until this
deal is taken care of"--

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and it's taken care of.

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Now, I've got lots of questions.

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I bet you do, too.

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When I read through
the Bible, sometimes I go,

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"Man, I don't understand
that one."

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00:11:21,833 --> 00:11:23,458
I've got a notebook
full of things

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I'm anxious to talk to Jesus
about someday.

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And in this one, like, why
did those innocent people die,

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and how does this work,
and the unseen realm

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that we get little glimpses of.

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And boy, I wish I knew
a little bit more,

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but I want to tell you one
thing I understand

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absolutely perfectly.

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You don't mess with God's stuff.

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That part, I get.

244
00:11:42,458 --> 00:11:45,750
Later on, there's
the Ark of the Covenant,

245
00:11:45,833 --> 00:11:51,167
and as it is being transported
to one place, it begins to fall.

246
00:11:51,250 --> 00:11:52,792
Someone reaches out
to touch it,

247
00:11:52,833 --> 00:11:56,167
as all of us would to keep
it from falling,

248
00:11:56,250 --> 00:11:58,042
and he dies,

249
00:11:58,125 --> 00:12:00,333
because you weren't allowed
to touch that thing.

250
00:12:00,417 --> 00:12:02,333
Again, I've got questions,
but I'll tell you,

251
00:12:02,417 --> 00:12:04,125
I've got a lesson I get.

252
00:12:04,167 --> 00:12:07,250
Don't mess with God's stuff.

253
00:12:07,333 --> 00:12:10,500
And yet, what do we see
Nebuchadnezzar doing?

254
00:12:10,583 --> 00:12:13,333
Messing with God's stuff.

255
00:12:13,417 --> 00:12:15,542
And who gave him the victory?

256
00:12:15,625 --> 00:12:17,833
"The Lord gave."

257
00:12:17,917 --> 00:12:20,208
Underline it,
star it, circle it.

258
00:12:20,292 --> 00:12:23,333
Nothing in this story makes
sense if we don't get this

259
00:12:23,417 --> 00:12:25,750
foundational truth.

260
00:12:25,833 --> 00:12:28,458
Well, let's read on
and see what happens.

261
00:12:28,500 --> 00:12:32,625
Verse 3:

262
00:13:06,208 --> 00:13:09,333
Obviously, they had to learn
the language of the Chaldeans,

263
00:13:09,375 --> 00:13:12,000
a new language, and grasp
how hard that would be.

264
00:13:12,083 --> 00:13:14,250
They wouldn't know--there's
no Google Earth,

265
00:13:14,333 --> 00:13:16,458
there's no Travel channel.

266
00:13:16,500 --> 00:13:21,458
The foreignness of one nation to
the other is mind-boggling to us

267
00:13:21,500 --> 00:13:23,917
in terms of what it would be.

268
00:13:24,000 --> 00:13:26,750
But on top of that, he was
to learn the literature

269
00:13:26,833 --> 00:13:28,250
of the Chaldeans.

270
00:13:28,333 --> 00:13:30,333
You know what that was?

271
00:13:30,375 --> 00:13:34,750
Primarily astrology
and the occult.

272
00:13:34,833 --> 00:13:38,042
As we're going to see in just
a moment, for 3 years,

273
00:13:38,125 --> 00:13:41,333
he and his buddies were supposed
to study astrology

274
00:13:41,417 --> 00:13:43,083
and occult practices

275
00:13:43,167 --> 00:13:45,250
so they could be
prepared to enter into

276
00:13:45,333 --> 00:13:47,958
the service of this
damnable, evil king,

277
00:13:48,000 --> 00:13:51,375
a guy named Nebuchadnezzar.

278
00:13:51,458 --> 00:13:54,083
Well, let's read on.

279
00:13:54,167 --> 00:13:56,417
Verse 5:

280
00:14:26,708 --> 00:14:29,542
I want to give a little
hot tip to those of you

281
00:14:29,625 --> 00:14:31,750
that are new in your
journey of searching out

282
00:14:31,833 --> 00:14:33,958
Christianity or just recently
have stepped over the line

283
00:14:34,000 --> 00:14:35,458
to become a follower of Jesus.

284
00:14:35,500 --> 00:14:38,333
At North Coast Church, we have
tons and tons of those folks.

285
00:14:38,417 --> 00:14:40,500
We call them
the "hell of a talk" guy,

286
00:14:40,583 --> 00:14:42,667
because they come up to
church afterward and say,

287
00:14:42,708 --> 00:14:44,375
"That was a hell of a talk."

288
00:14:44,458 --> 00:14:48,875
Right away, we know
they're new, OK?

289
00:14:48,958 --> 00:14:51,000
But here's a hot tip:

290
00:14:51,042 --> 00:14:52,500
Have you noticed
the Old Testament

291
00:14:52,542 --> 00:14:54,167
is full of those names
and places

292
00:14:54,250 --> 00:14:56,375
and you have no idea
how to pronounce them?

293
00:14:56,458 --> 00:14:59,042
Well, when you're in a Bible
study or anything like that,

294
00:14:59,125 --> 00:15:00,625
just say it confidently
and quickly,

295
00:15:00,667 --> 00:15:02,833
and they'll think you got it.

296
00:15:02,875 --> 00:15:05,958
It works, even when
you're a pastor, OK?

297
00:15:06,000 --> 00:15:09,167
But here's what I want you
to catch about those names.

298
00:15:09,208 --> 00:15:11,333
They're not just unusual
names like whatever;

299
00:15:11,417 --> 00:15:13,167
they have meaning.

300
00:15:13,208 --> 00:15:16,500
Daniel means, "God is my judge."

301
00:15:16,583 --> 00:15:19,500
God is my judge.

302
00:15:19,583 --> 00:15:24,125
Belteshazzar means,
"Bel's prince."

303
00:15:24,167 --> 00:15:25,750
It would be like today,

304
00:15:25,833 --> 00:15:28,250
someone who is a follower
of Jesus Christ,

305
00:15:28,333 --> 00:15:32,250
and maybe had even changed
their name to be Christian,

306
00:15:32,333 --> 00:15:34,458
suddenly having their
name changed to be

307
00:15:34,500 --> 00:15:36,542
"Satan's prince."

308
00:15:36,625 --> 00:15:38,833
So, when you catch that
little verse there--well,

309
00:15:38,917 --> 00:15:44,000
his name was changed--that,
folks, was a huge, huge deal,

310
00:15:44,042 --> 00:15:47,167
and clock that in your mind for
what we are going to see

311
00:15:47,250 --> 00:15:49,167
as we go on.

312
00:16:35,417 --> 00:16:38,333
God gave him favor so
the bad guys liked him.

313
00:16:38,417 --> 00:16:42,333
And I'm amazed, and we'll see
why later this is so important.

314
00:16:42,375 --> 00:16:45,500
But I'm amazed at his response,
because I know where I live,

315
00:16:45,542 --> 00:16:48,500
I know in my church, I'm betting
for many of you here

316
00:16:48,542 --> 00:16:51,500
in this church, that there's
kind of this same response.

317
00:16:51,542 --> 00:16:54,750
If somebody in our workplace
demanded that we do something

318
00:16:54,833 --> 00:16:56,792
that was against Scripture,

319
00:16:56,833 --> 00:17:00,833
we get all huffy and puffy
about it.

320
00:17:00,917 --> 00:17:03,833
I think if I was Daniel,
I might have gone and said,

321
00:17:03,875 --> 00:17:05,542
"You don't understand
who my God is.

322
00:17:05,625 --> 00:17:08,042
You don't know how I live"--
and almost like there's

323
00:17:08,125 --> 00:17:10,167
a chip on the shoulder
or something.

324
00:17:10,208 --> 00:17:12,667
But I love--and you'll see
this all the way through

325
00:17:12,708 --> 00:17:15,250
the book--his attitude, his
respectfulness for those

326
00:17:15,333 --> 00:17:16,917
that he dealt with.

327
00:17:17,000 --> 00:17:21,958
He asked if he could be allowed
to eat something different,

328
00:17:22,000 --> 00:17:25,333
and it was that respectfulness
and the way he responded

329
00:17:25,417 --> 00:17:28,208
to all these things that
is, on a human level,

330
00:17:28,292 --> 00:17:32,958
what caused that man
to look at him with favor.

331
00:17:33,000 --> 00:17:36,833
Well, unfortunately,
that didn't work.

332
00:17:36,917 --> 00:17:40,833
Verse 10 says, "The chief of
the eunuchs said to Daniel,

333
00:17:40,875 --> 00:17:43,292
'You know, I fear
my lord the king.'"

334
00:17:43,333 --> 00:17:45,292
"Daniel, buddy,
I really like you,

335
00:17:45,333 --> 00:17:49,667
but you need to understand how
ruthless this place is

336
00:17:49,708 --> 00:17:51,792
and the low value of life."

337
00:17:51,833 --> 00:17:57,375
"Why should he, the king, see
that you were in worse condition

338
00:17:57,458 --> 00:17:59,667
"'than the youths who
are of your own age?

339
00:17:59,750 --> 00:18:01,667
You would endanger
my head with the king."

340
00:19:03,500 --> 00:19:05,917
Now, I want you to look
at that verse again.

341
00:19:06,000 --> 00:19:07,958
It's one of my favorites.

342
00:19:08,000 --> 00:19:10,250
"They were better
in appearance"--and what?

343
00:19:10,333 --> 00:19:13,250
Help the boy.
"Fatter"--OK?

344
00:19:13,333 --> 00:19:15,833
For all of you, you know,
big and tall shoppers,

345
00:19:15,917 --> 00:19:18,958
just a little bit of
biblical background.

346
00:19:19,000 --> 00:19:23,000
Today, the rich people hire,
you know, special diet,

347
00:19:23,083 --> 00:19:25,458
and a trainer,
and get all skinny.

348
00:19:25,500 --> 00:19:30,667
Back then, if you were skinny,
it meant you were poor,

349
00:19:30,708 --> 00:19:34,000
you had no money for food,
so you walked around saying,

350
00:19:34,083 --> 00:19:37,833
"I'm a Double-X,"
"I'm a Triple-X,"

351
00:19:37,917 --> 00:19:40,833
and you were proud of it.

352
00:19:40,875 --> 00:19:43,292
So, my favorite verse.

353
00:19:43,333 --> 00:19:45,292
Some of you might want
to underline that,

354
00:19:45,333 --> 00:19:48,750
mark it, memorize it.

355
00:21:00,125 --> 00:21:02,792
God gave them understanding,
they applied themselves

356
00:21:02,833 --> 00:21:05,500
to the point that they graduated
as valedictorians.

357
00:21:05,542 --> 00:21:08,167
But on top of that, they were
ten times better than

358
00:21:08,250 --> 00:21:11,167
all the past valedictorians
and ten times better than those

359
00:21:11,250 --> 00:21:15,167
who had even real life
experience of serving the king.

360
00:21:15,208 --> 00:21:19,792
That's pretty impressive, but
what's more impressive is

361
00:21:19,833 --> 00:21:21,750
in the midst of the dark place,

362
00:21:21,833 --> 00:21:23,542
they not only survived,
they thrived,

363
00:21:23,625 --> 00:21:25,583
and they changed it.

364
00:21:25,667 --> 00:21:29,375
The power of their influence
was absolutely amazing.

365
00:21:29,458 --> 00:21:32,000
Now, here's what I want
to do for a moment.

366
00:21:32,042 --> 00:21:34,375
I've walked through the passage.

367
00:21:34,458 --> 00:21:36,667
We've looked at some
of the things here,

368
00:21:36,750 --> 00:21:39,167
but I want to touch
us not in our head;

369
00:21:39,250 --> 00:21:42,583
I want to touch us in our heart
and make sure we didn't miss

370
00:21:42,667 --> 00:21:44,000
a couple things.

371
00:21:44,042 --> 00:21:47,375
In particular, how evil
and bad Babylon was

372
00:21:47,458 --> 00:21:50,333
and how deep Daniel's weeds
were.

373
00:21:50,417 --> 00:21:52,458
So, let's take
a look at each one.

374
00:21:52,500 --> 00:21:54,875
How bad was Babylon?

375
00:21:54,958 --> 00:21:57,083
Well, I can tell you
this about Babylon.

376
00:21:57,167 --> 00:22:00,667
If there's a conversation
in heaven today about evil,

377
00:22:00,708 --> 00:22:03,667
the angels talking to one
another don't go,

378
00:22:03,708 --> 00:22:06,167
"Man, that place is as bad
as Sodom and Gomorrah.

379
00:22:06,208 --> 00:22:07,708
"That place is like Las Vegas.

380
00:22:07,792 --> 00:22:09,542
That place is like
Nazi Germany."

381
00:22:09,625 --> 00:22:11,250
They don't do any
of those places.

382
00:22:11,333 --> 00:22:12,750
You know what they say?

383
00:22:12,833 --> 00:22:15,917
"That place is like Babylon."

384
00:22:16,000 --> 00:22:17,417
Now, how do I know?

385
00:22:17,500 --> 00:22:20,250
I haven't been there,
but here's how I know:

386
00:22:20,333 --> 00:22:25,167
In Revelation 18, we are told
what the angels will shout out

387
00:22:25,208 --> 00:22:28,667
when the time comes for
Jesus to say, "It's over.

388
00:22:28,708 --> 00:22:30,333
"Injustice is going
to be dealt with;

389
00:22:30,417 --> 00:22:35,750
grace and justice are going
to reach their fulfillment."

390
00:22:35,833 --> 00:22:40,833
Here's what they cry out:
"Fallen, fallen is"--guess what?

391
00:22:40,917 --> 00:22:43,833
"Babylon."

392
00:22:43,917 --> 00:22:45,875
Why?

393
00:22:45,958 --> 00:22:48,458
Because in all human history,

394
00:22:48,500 --> 00:22:51,042
Babylon's the worse
of the worst.

395
00:22:51,125 --> 00:22:55,792
It is the biblical
personification of evil.

396
00:22:55,833 --> 00:23:01,042
So much so that it doesn't exist
now and will never be rebuilt,

397
00:23:01,125 --> 00:23:03,333
according to
a prophecy of Scripture.

398
00:23:03,375 --> 00:23:06,708
And with all of these centuries
and millennium having past,

399
00:23:06,792 --> 00:23:09,958
still it is the most evil thing
they can think of when they

400
00:23:10,000 --> 00:23:13,000
cry out, "Thank you, Jesus.
You're coming back.

401
00:23:13,083 --> 00:23:15,167
Fallen, fallen is Babylon."

402
00:23:15,208 --> 00:23:17,458
How bad was Nebuchadnezzar?

403
00:23:17,500 --> 00:23:19,333
Oh my goodness.

404
00:23:19,417 --> 00:23:23,667
I have studied, I have been
around all kinds of

405
00:23:23,708 --> 00:23:27,250
wicked people and leaders,
but no one holds a candle

406
00:23:27,333 --> 00:23:29,208
to Nebuchadnezzar.

407
00:23:29,292 --> 00:23:32,917
You know, every now and then,
our local officials,

408
00:23:33,000 --> 00:23:35,458
city officials, our national
government will fund

409
00:23:35,500 --> 00:23:37,333
some area of the arts.

410
00:23:37,417 --> 00:23:39,917
And you know, one thing about
artistic creativity is it's

411
00:23:40,000 --> 00:23:42,250
all about no boundaries,
kind of no limits,

412
00:23:42,333 --> 00:23:45,167
and they will fund something
that ends up not only being

413
00:23:45,250 --> 00:23:48,042
offensive to Christians, but
absolutely mocking our God.

414
00:23:48,125 --> 00:23:49,958
And my goodness,
when that happens,

415
00:23:50,000 --> 00:23:52,167
it's all over
the blogosphere, the airways,

416
00:23:52,250 --> 00:23:54,833
fundraising letters,
everything like that.

417
00:23:54,917 --> 00:23:58,250
And I'm thinking, "Man, what we
ought to do is go read Daniel 1

418
00:23:58,333 --> 00:24:00,667
and see who this
Nebuchadnezzar was."

419
00:24:00,708 --> 00:24:04,208
He took devoted things--he
carried them off to his temple

420
00:24:04,292 --> 00:24:09,458
as a display piece to show
that our God is powerless.

421
00:24:09,500 --> 00:24:13,542
He is a ruler who raided
God's temple and mocked God

422
00:24:13,625 --> 00:24:16,458
as being weaker than his god.

423
00:24:16,500 --> 00:24:18,625
That's who Nebuchadnezzar was.

424
00:24:18,667 --> 00:24:20,333
And culture?

425
00:24:20,375 --> 00:24:26,000
You know, I'm from the land of
fruits and nuts, California,

426
00:24:26,083 --> 00:24:28,958
and we do some
weird things there.

427
00:24:29,000 --> 00:24:34,250
Our governors, our courts,
our legislature,

428
00:24:34,333 --> 00:24:37,125
our school boards,
our dog catchers,

429
00:24:37,167 --> 00:24:40,458
whatever--I just can't
believe some of the decisions

430
00:24:40,500 --> 00:24:42,958
over my lifetime
that I've seen them make.

431
00:24:43,000 --> 00:24:45,458
I'm wondering, like,
"What are you smoking?"

432
00:24:45,500 --> 00:24:48,792
Sometimes I know.

433
00:24:48,833 --> 00:24:51,875
But as bad as some of
their decisions have been,

434
00:24:51,958 --> 00:24:55,792
some of them even overturned by
the courts so they were so bad,

435
00:24:55,833 --> 00:24:59,292
none of them have ever brought
our culture to this point,

436
00:24:59,333 --> 00:25:04,208
where astrology and the occult
are the government-sponsored

437
00:25:04,292 --> 00:25:08,167
religion and the core
curriculum of the schools.

438
00:25:08,208 --> 00:25:12,833
Do you catch how
bad Babylon was?

439
00:25:12,875 --> 00:25:16,042
And yet, Daniel
thrived, influenced it,

440
00:25:16,125 --> 00:25:19,042
and led revivals
for our Lord in it.

441
00:25:19,125 --> 00:25:23,833
By the way, how
tough was it on him?

442
00:25:23,917 --> 00:25:25,833
Well, Daniel's
dilemma included this:

443
00:25:25,917 --> 00:25:27,625
He was kidnapped, castrated,

444
00:25:27,667 --> 00:25:31,125
and had his name changed
to honor Satan.

445
00:25:31,167 --> 00:25:34,458
I don't know about you, but
for me, that's a bad week,

446
00:25:34,500 --> 00:25:36,208
really bad.

447
00:25:36,292 --> 00:25:38,042
We've already seen kidnapped.

448
00:25:38,125 --> 00:25:39,667
We already saw his name changed.

449
00:25:39,708 --> 00:25:42,125
Some of you are
thinking, "Castrated?

450
00:25:42,167 --> 00:25:44,292
Larry, we don't teach
that in Sunday School."

451
00:25:44,333 --> 00:25:48,667
There's a lot of things we
don't teach in Sunday School.

452
00:25:48,708 --> 00:25:52,042
The Scriptures don't explicitly
say that, but they imply it.

453
00:25:52,125 --> 00:25:54,375
Let me help you see
where I'm going.

454
00:25:54,458 --> 00:25:57,958
In Jewish culture, it was very
important to have children,

455
00:25:58,000 --> 00:25:59,458
particularly sons.

456
00:25:59,500 --> 00:26:01,458
Part of it was to
fulfill legacy,

457
00:26:01,500 --> 00:26:04,833
to carry out the promise of God,
and a whole bunch of reasons,

458
00:26:04,917 --> 00:26:07,917
but there was one that was just
very mundane and very practical,

459
00:26:08,000 --> 00:26:09,333
and it was this.

460
00:26:09,375 --> 00:26:12,750
You needed sons to support
you in your old age.

461
00:26:12,833 --> 00:26:14,500
There was no social safety net.

462
00:26:14,583 --> 00:26:16,250
There was no social security.

463
00:26:16,333 --> 00:26:18,333
You have no sons;
you are dead meat.

464
00:26:18,375 --> 00:26:20,167
And that's why in
the Old Testament,

465
00:26:20,208 --> 00:26:23,667
it's always talking about
lineage and who had children.

466
00:26:23,708 --> 00:26:25,208
And sometimes,
it's very important,

467
00:26:25,292 --> 00:26:28,458
the genealogy of Jesus,
the promise of Abraham,

468
00:26:28,500 --> 00:26:29,833
and all of that.

469
00:26:29,917 --> 00:26:31,833
But there's a whole
bunch of other passages,

470
00:26:31,875 --> 00:26:34,458
to be honest with you,
I read them and I go,

471
00:26:34,500 --> 00:26:37,458
"I don't really care and I can't
pronounce his name anyway."

472
00:26:37,500 --> 00:26:38,833
Well, why is it there?

473
00:26:38,917 --> 00:26:41,042
Well, these are real books
written to real people

474
00:26:41,125 --> 00:26:44,583
in real history, and it mattered
to them big time.

475
00:26:44,667 --> 00:26:47,542
And yet, here's what we
find out about Daniel:

476
00:26:47,625 --> 00:26:51,333
In his entire life
of 70 plus years,

477
00:26:51,417 --> 00:26:56,792
there in Babylon, there's not
one mention of a wife

478
00:26:56,833 --> 00:27:00,458
or a son or a child.

479
00:27:00,500 --> 00:27:03,000
Incredibly rare from the
Jewish mindset if he had one,

480
00:27:03,083 --> 00:27:06,000
but something explains it.

481
00:27:06,083 --> 00:27:09,750
Today, if somebody is
filthy rich or whatever,

482
00:27:09,833 --> 00:27:12,833
they might decide they
want to have a trophy wife.

483
00:27:12,917 --> 00:27:15,833
Well, back then, if you were
a king, you had trophy wives.

484
00:27:15,875 --> 00:27:17,542
You know what they were called?

485
00:27:17,625 --> 00:27:19,458
They were called your harem.

486
00:27:19,500 --> 00:27:22,750
Now, if you were the old king
and you've got a bunch of

487
00:27:22,833 --> 00:27:25,667
really good looking trophy
wives in your harem,

488
00:27:25,708 --> 00:27:28,750
the one thing you don't really
want around your court are

489
00:27:28,833 --> 00:27:31,750
a bunch of young men from cities
you have conquered

490
00:27:31,833 --> 00:27:35,417
that are handsome, witty,
intelligent, and all that.

491
00:27:35,500 --> 00:27:37,542
That's a bad mix.

492
00:27:37,625 --> 00:27:40,333
So, what do you do
to take care of that?

493
00:27:40,417 --> 00:27:43,500
You turn them into what
the Bible calls eunuchs.

494
00:27:43,542 --> 00:27:46,583
We saw the chief eunuch there,
and that's what would happen.

495
00:27:46,667 --> 00:27:50,083
And it's almost
certain that Daniel,

496
00:27:50,167 --> 00:27:53,833
along with everything else, lost
his ability to have a family

497
00:27:53,917 --> 00:27:55,875
of his own.

498
00:27:55,958 --> 00:27:58,542
There's one more thing
about his deep weeds.

499
00:27:58,625 --> 00:28:02,250
He was forced to study
the occult and serve an evil

500
00:28:02,333 --> 00:28:04,833
and godless king.

501
00:28:04,875 --> 00:28:08,625
Not only the 3-year class in the
occult, but the end of the day,

502
00:28:08,667 --> 00:28:12,458
it was the enemy of Israel
that he was serving.

503
00:28:12,500 --> 00:28:14,958
And he served him so well,
he kept getting promoted.

504
00:28:15,000 --> 00:28:17,958
You know, you don't get
promoted when you do a bad job;

505
00:28:18,000 --> 00:28:21,167
you get promoted when you do
a good job that makes a person

506
00:28:21,208 --> 00:28:23,000
more successful.

507
00:28:23,083 --> 00:28:28,000
Again, I don't know how evil
your workplace might be,

508
00:28:28,083 --> 00:28:31,500
your city might be, your
community, your country,

509
00:28:31,583 --> 00:28:36,042
whatever, or how evil we
get--Babylon beats it.

510
00:28:36,125 --> 00:28:39,167
I don't know how tough
and deep the weeds are--

511
00:28:39,208 --> 00:28:42,333
Daniel's situation beats it,

512
00:28:42,375 --> 00:28:45,292
and yet he thrived
and changed it.

513
00:28:45,333 --> 00:28:46,792
How?

514
00:28:46,833 --> 00:28:50,792
Well, what we discover is
he knew the three secrets

515
00:28:50,833 --> 00:28:55,292
of influence, secrets that
we see in Daniel 1,

516
00:28:55,333 --> 00:28:58,542
and secrets that we see
throughout his entire life,

517
00:28:58,625 --> 00:29:00,917
and then repeated in
the New Testament letters

518
00:29:01,000 --> 00:29:02,917
and the teaching of Jesus.

519
00:29:03,000 --> 00:29:05,125
So, let me give them to you.

520
00:29:05,167 --> 00:29:08,625
They're the secrets of influence
in the darkest of times

521
00:29:08,667 --> 00:29:11,458
or the most difficult of times.

522
00:29:11,500 --> 00:29:16,750
The first one is this:
hope or optimism,

523
00:29:16,833 --> 00:29:18,625
hope or optimism.

524
00:29:18,667 --> 00:29:21,750
I like the word "optimism" today
because the biblical word is

525
00:29:21,833 --> 00:29:24,125
hope, but the problem is
in the English language.

526
00:29:24,167 --> 00:29:27,125
"Hope" has come to mean,
"Oh, I hope, I hope, I hope.

527
00:29:27,167 --> 00:29:28,750
I just wish it would happen."

528
00:29:28,833 --> 00:29:31,250
Well, in the biblical sense
of the word, hope isn't,

529
00:29:31,333 --> 00:29:32,750
"I hope, I hope, I hope."

530
00:29:32,833 --> 00:29:36,000
The word "hope" means,
"I know, I know, I know."

531
00:29:36,083 --> 00:29:39,333
Our blessed hope, confidence,
that thing we're banking on,

532
00:29:39,417 --> 00:29:41,333
is the return of our
Lord, for instance,

533
00:29:41,375 --> 00:29:43,292
as it's used in Scripture.

534
00:29:43,333 --> 00:29:45,083
So, Daniel was
a man of optimism,

535
00:29:45,167 --> 00:29:48,000
and that's why I pointed
out to you in verse 2,

536
00:29:48,042 --> 00:29:50,667
right at the beginning, when
all hell is literally

537
00:29:50,750 --> 00:29:52,875
breaking loose,
what does he say?

538
00:29:52,958 --> 00:29:56,375
"God gave Jehoiakim."

539
00:29:56,458 --> 00:30:01,500
He understood the sovereign
hand of the Lord in every bit of

540
00:30:01,542 --> 00:30:05,875
history, and that changes
everything about his perspective

541
00:30:05,958 --> 00:30:10,375
and changes everything
about his personal response.

542
00:30:10,458 --> 00:30:12,500
I like to put it this way:

543
00:30:12,542 --> 00:30:17,667
Even in Babylon, God is
in control of who's in control.

544
00:30:17,750 --> 00:30:21,875
Always has been and always
will be, and he knew that.

545
00:30:21,958 --> 00:30:24,667
He knew that sometimes
the short-term success

546
00:30:24,750 --> 00:30:26,375
of the wicked is God's will,

547
00:30:26,458 --> 00:30:28,375
or things sometimes
happen that we won't understand

548
00:30:28,458 --> 00:30:30,792
until we ask him,
but he knew that God

549
00:30:30,833 --> 00:30:32,375
was involved in it all.

550
00:30:32,458 --> 00:30:35,375
He was not up there going,
"Oh Gabriel, help me out.

551
00:30:35,458 --> 00:30:37,167
What do we do now?"

552
00:30:37,250 --> 00:30:40,292
And that leads to
an important principle

553
00:30:40,333 --> 00:30:42,000
to understand in our hope:

554
00:30:42,042 --> 00:30:43,792
if we want to
influence our world,

555
00:30:43,833 --> 00:30:47,500
we must be optimistic people.

556
00:30:47,583 --> 00:30:50,125
Now, by that, I don't mean
there's never a place

557
00:30:50,167 --> 00:30:51,792
for hurt or despair.

558
00:30:51,833 --> 00:30:54,417
Jesus, as he looked to
the cross, sweat, as it were,

559
00:30:54,500 --> 00:30:55,833
great drops of blood.

560
00:30:55,875 --> 00:30:58,125
The Apostle Paul talks about
despairing of life

561
00:30:58,167 --> 00:30:59,583
and being discouraged.

562
00:30:59,667 --> 00:31:03,000
There are seasonal things in our
life that can bring us down

563
00:31:03,042 --> 00:31:05,667
and appropriately
be discouraged.

564
00:31:05,708 --> 00:31:07,667
We're told to weep
with those who weep,

565
00:31:07,708 --> 00:31:11,958
not give them a Bible verse and
tell--you know, that's OK.

566
00:31:12,000 --> 00:31:14,250
But you don't live there.

567
00:31:14,333 --> 00:31:16,375
I'm sure Daniel wasn't,
you know, just skipping,

568
00:31:16,458 --> 00:31:19,583
singing a happy tune as
he's on his way to Babylon.

569
00:31:19,667 --> 00:31:23,083
But in the midst of it, he
knew that he served a God

570
00:31:23,167 --> 00:31:25,042
who's going to win.

571
00:31:25,125 --> 00:31:28,667
And a spirit of optimism is so
key to influence because people

572
00:31:28,750 --> 00:31:32,292
don't, and never
will, join a loser.

573
00:31:32,333 --> 00:31:35,750
I catch it in my community among
some of the folks at our church.

574
00:31:35,833 --> 00:31:38,000
When certain things
happen around or whatever,

575
00:31:38,042 --> 00:31:40,000
they get so down,
and I'm thinking,

576
00:31:40,042 --> 00:31:42,750
"If you're acting like you've
lost and the game is over,

577
00:31:42,833 --> 00:31:45,292
"why in the world is anybody
you're rubbing shoulders with

578
00:31:45,333 --> 00:31:48,958
in the community going to want
to follow your loser God?"

579
00:31:49,000 --> 00:31:51,500
We don't sign up
for losing teams,

580
00:31:51,542 --> 00:31:55,000
and we are blown away by people
who have the confidence

581
00:31:55,042 --> 00:31:57,458
to stay strong in the midst
of the darkest times.

582
00:31:57,500 --> 00:32:00,333
We go, "What do they
have that I don't have?"

583
00:32:00,375 --> 00:32:02,458
Daniel had that.

584
00:32:02,500 --> 00:32:05,333
He knew the hand of God.

585
00:32:05,417 --> 00:32:07,333
You might write this
phrase down, then:

586
00:32:07,375 --> 00:32:11,417
Panic and despair
are never from God.

587
00:32:16,125 --> 00:32:19,500
This book we call the Bible is
really a library of 66 books,

588
00:32:19,583 --> 00:32:22,833
and there's one at the back that
they're always asking me

589
00:32:22,917 --> 00:32:24,542
and Chris Brown,
our other teaching pastor--

590
00:32:24,625 --> 00:32:27,667
they always say,
"Will you do a series on it?"

591
00:32:27,708 --> 00:32:29,667
It's called
the book of Revelation,

592
00:32:29,708 --> 00:32:32,167
and they always want--now,
what they really want to do

593
00:32:32,208 --> 00:32:34,833
is they want to know who all
the key players are

594
00:32:34,917 --> 00:32:36,333
and how it all works out.

595
00:32:36,417 --> 00:32:39,542
So, they want to know what the
666 means and this and that.

596
00:32:39,625 --> 00:32:43,083
And I tell them, "I can
make guesses, but frankly,

597
00:32:43,167 --> 00:32:45,292
"I'm on the welcoming committee,

598
00:32:45,333 --> 00:32:47,750
not the programming committee."

599
00:32:47,833 --> 00:32:50,292
But I do know this.

600
00:32:50,333 --> 00:32:53,500
Like some of you who read
the end of a book, you know,

601
00:32:53,542 --> 00:32:56,083
you kind of cheat.
I've done that.

602
00:32:56,167 --> 00:33:01,167
You ought to do it if you
haven't, because guess what?

603
00:33:01,208 --> 00:33:04,250
We win.

604
00:33:04,333 --> 00:33:08,500
Did you know that?

605
00:33:08,583 --> 00:33:14,042
We win, and knowing we win,

606
00:33:14,125 --> 00:33:16,833
I think should kind of change
everything.

607
00:33:16,917 --> 00:33:19,125
When I know my team
is going to win,

608
00:33:19,167 --> 00:33:22,667
I don't care what the score
is in the first quarter.

609
00:33:22,708 --> 00:33:25,458
We win.

610
00:33:25,500 --> 00:33:28,042
Oh, I missed that early on.

611
00:33:28,125 --> 00:33:31,708
I remember as a new Christian,
I heard the promise of Jesus,

612
00:33:31,792 --> 00:33:36,125
that no matter what happens,
the gates of hell would not

613
00:33:36,167 --> 00:33:38,125
prevail against his church
as he built it.

614
00:33:38,167 --> 00:33:39,833
And here's how I read that:

615
00:33:39,917 --> 00:33:43,000
I thought that meant whatever
the enemy throws my way,

616
00:33:43,042 --> 00:33:45,792
that somehow I will be
able to withstand it.

617
00:33:45,833 --> 00:33:50,083
Now, I might be like somebody
that was in a trailer park

618
00:33:50,167 --> 00:33:53,583
in Arkansas during a tornado
hiding in the bathtub,

619
00:33:53,667 --> 00:33:56,333
and it's all gone, and I
peek up, and it's like,

620
00:33:56,417 --> 00:33:58,042
"Thank you, Jesus.
At least I lived."

621
00:33:58,125 --> 00:34:00,833
But I have this promise of Jesus
that whatever the enemy

622
00:34:00,917 --> 00:34:04,167
threw my way, I would
be able to survive.

623
00:34:04,208 --> 00:34:06,833
The problem is that's not
what Jesus was saying at all,

624
00:34:06,917 --> 00:34:09,958
not even close. But I didn't
understand because of

625
00:34:10,000 --> 00:34:11,333
the cultural shift.

626
00:34:11,417 --> 00:34:14,333
You see, gates are not
an offensive weapon.

627
00:34:14,417 --> 00:34:17,250
They didn't go and say, "Hey,
let's go attack that city.

628
00:34:17,333 --> 00:34:22,042
Everybody pick up your gate,
and we'll go after them."

629
00:34:22,125 --> 00:34:26,250
Gates are a defensive mechanism,
and Jesus does not say,

630
00:34:26,333 --> 00:34:29,417
"Whatever the enemy throws
at us, we can survive."

631
00:34:29,500 --> 00:34:32,333
He's saying, "Whatever we
go towards the enemy with,

632
00:34:32,417 --> 00:34:34,750
he can't hold us back."

633
00:34:34,833 --> 00:34:37,458
And that's why whether we're
charging hell with a squirt gun

634
00:34:37,500 --> 00:34:40,458
or we're barely on our last
legs crawling towards there,

635
00:34:40,500 --> 00:34:45,958
the gates of hell cannot
prevail and hold us back.

636
00:34:46,000 --> 00:34:48,667
We win.

637
00:34:51,417 --> 00:34:53,542
Now, you're going to
have to give me grace,

638
00:34:53,625 --> 00:34:58,500
except for the Orange County
campus--you'll understand this--

639
00:34:58,542 --> 00:35:01,250
but the rest of you, promise
you're giving me grace

640
00:35:01,333 --> 00:35:02,833
before I go with this
illustration?

641
00:35:02,917 --> 00:35:05,167
Come on, I can't go
there without it.

642
00:35:05,208 --> 00:35:07,333
OK.

643
00:35:07,375 --> 00:35:11,958
I'm a USC Football fan.

644
00:35:12,000 --> 00:35:14,458
I knew some of you wouldn't
really give me grace.

645
00:35:14,500 --> 00:35:16,500
I knew it.

646
00:35:19,167 --> 00:35:22,542
A few years ago, USC was on its
way to--it looked like

647
00:35:22,625 --> 00:35:25,667
a second undefeated season in
National Championship.

648
00:35:25,708 --> 00:35:29,417
And they were
playing Notre Dame.

649
00:35:29,500 --> 00:35:32,500
Now, if you are a USC football
fan, you understand this.

650
00:35:32,583 --> 00:35:35,333
The most important game to
win is not the UCLA game,

651
00:35:35,375 --> 00:35:36,958
it's the Notre Dame game.

652
00:35:37,000 --> 00:35:38,833
That's the big game.

653
00:35:38,875 --> 00:35:40,750
Well, they are playing
a very pedestrian,

654
00:35:40,833 --> 00:35:43,042
not very good Notre Dame team
at Notre Dame.

655
00:35:43,125 --> 00:35:45,458
Any of you who have played
sports know

656
00:35:45,500 --> 00:35:48,083
this simple rule of thumb,
and that is, if you

657
00:35:48,167 --> 00:35:50,042
have a chance to take down
your opponent

658
00:35:50,125 --> 00:35:51,833
and you let
them off the hook,

659
00:35:51,917 --> 00:35:53,333
you are likely to lose.

660
00:35:53,417 --> 00:35:55,375
You better get it
when you can.

661
00:35:55,458 --> 00:35:56,958
And sure enough, they kept
squandering

662
00:35:57,000 --> 00:35:59,042
opportunity after opportunity,

663
00:35:59,125 --> 00:36:01,458
and suddenly,
out in the 4th quarter,

664
00:36:01,500 --> 00:36:04,167
Notre Dame goes ahead, and now
there's 1 minute left in

665
00:36:04,208 --> 00:36:07,250
the stinking game and SC is
about to lose this,

666
00:36:07,333 --> 00:36:10,458
you know, undefeated season,
National Champion hopes,

667
00:36:10,500 --> 00:36:11,833
all this.

668
00:36:11,917 --> 00:36:13,750
And Notre Dame
stadium is going nuts.

669
00:36:13,833 --> 00:36:16,167
It's one of those stadiums
where the stands

670
00:36:16,208 --> 00:36:18,333
go right to the field.

671
00:36:18,417 --> 00:36:22,333
And it is now less than 1 minute
left, 3rd and fairly long,

672
00:36:22,375 --> 00:36:25,458
and I'm just, you know, praying
to Jesus, covering all my bases,

673
00:36:25,500 --> 00:36:30,125
you know, whatever it is,
like, "Come on, help me out."

674
00:36:30,167 --> 00:36:33,708
And SC's quarterback
fades back to pass.

675
00:36:33,792 --> 00:36:37,167
As he looks for somebody to pass
to to keep the drive going

676
00:36:37,208 --> 00:36:40,458
and maybe pull the game
out, nobody's open.

677
00:36:40,500 --> 00:36:43,250
A Notre Dame lineman breaks
through the line and throws him

678
00:36:43,333 --> 00:36:45,875
for a 13-yard loss.

679
00:36:45,958 --> 00:36:48,792
The stands go nuts.

680
00:36:48,833 --> 00:36:51,875
You know how the TV guys let you
hear all the sound

681
00:36:51,958 --> 00:36:54,000
of the stands and all.

682
00:36:54,042 --> 00:36:56,167
The Notre Dame guys are
high-fiving each other.

683
00:36:56,250 --> 00:36:57,958
A few of them are chest bumping.

684
00:36:58,000 --> 00:37:01,708
It's now 4th and a kazillion
yards, no time left in the game,

685
00:37:01,792 --> 00:37:06,333
the leprechaun's doing his
stupid little thing,

686
00:37:06,417 --> 00:37:08,750
I'm dying.

687
00:37:08,833 --> 00:37:11,542
I'm watching this game at home
alone in my library

688
00:37:11,625 --> 00:37:13,250
on the couch.

689
00:37:13,333 --> 00:37:15,750
I get up--first of all, it's
like, I'm really upset

690
00:37:15,833 --> 00:37:19,458
because I've lost my
sanctification like that.

691
00:37:19,500 --> 00:37:22,833
I'm wondering, "Where's
Jesus in all of this?"

692
00:37:22,917 --> 00:37:26,208
and I start marching
around the couch

693
00:37:26,292 --> 00:37:27,958
with all these
Christian euphemisms.

694
00:37:28,000 --> 00:37:30,958
That's what pastors do when
they're upset, you know?

695
00:37:31,000 --> 00:37:34,167
And it's like,
"Life just stinks.

696
00:37:34,208 --> 00:37:38,167
It sucks.
I mean, it's horrible."

697
00:37:38,208 --> 00:37:42,708
Don't look at me that way;
you've been there too.

698
00:37:42,792 --> 00:37:45,875
And then somehow, on
4th and a kazillion,

699
00:37:45,958 --> 00:37:49,667
with the stands just going nuts,
no hope of anything happening,

700
00:37:49,708 --> 00:37:52,458
Leinart fades back,
he looks around,

701
00:37:52,500 --> 00:37:54,583
and he throws a pass
down the sideline.

702
00:37:54,667 --> 00:37:57,375
It just gets over the fingertips
of the defensive back,

703
00:37:57,458 --> 00:37:59,292
nestles in the receiver's arms.

704
00:37:59,333 --> 00:38:02,125
He gets to the 1-foot line,
and his time runs out.

705
00:38:02,167 --> 00:38:04,833
A famous play called
the "Bush Push" takes place,

706
00:38:04,917 --> 00:38:10,333
and God is back on his throne.

707
00:38:10,375 --> 00:38:12,667
I'm right with Jesus.

708
00:38:12,708 --> 00:38:15,833
Everything is good.

709
00:38:15,875 --> 00:38:18,208
Now, here's the weird part.

710
00:38:18,292 --> 00:38:20,833
I have a DVD of that game.

711
00:38:20,917 --> 00:38:22,333
I'm not that kind of fan.

712
00:38:22,417 --> 00:38:26,833
I don't watch it weekly,
but I have watched it.

713
00:38:26,917 --> 00:38:28,667
And you know what happens?

714
00:38:28,708 --> 00:38:32,458
When I come to that play where
he fades back and he's thrown

715
00:38:32,500 --> 00:38:35,333
for the big loss and the game
is essentially all over

716
00:38:35,417 --> 00:38:38,917
in everybody's eyes,
guess what I do?

717
00:38:39,000 --> 00:38:43,875
I play it in slow motion,

718
00:38:43,958 --> 00:38:46,375
and then I play it again.

719
00:38:46,458 --> 00:38:49,167
And I'm watching
the crowd go nuts,

720
00:38:49,208 --> 00:38:51,667
I'm watching the high-five,
I'm watching the chest bumps,

721
00:38:51,750 --> 00:38:55,542
I watch the little leprechaun,
and I play it back.

722
00:38:55,625 --> 00:38:59,750
I go, "Hey, happy leprechaun."

723
00:38:59,833 --> 00:39:04,250
What's different?

724
00:39:04,333 --> 00:39:08,958
Only one thing: I know
how the game ends.

725
00:39:09,000 --> 00:39:13,125
I'm watching the same stinking
plays that had me upset,

726
00:39:13,167 --> 00:39:18,042
and now I'm watching them over
and over again in slow motion.

727
00:39:18,125 --> 00:39:22,625
Men and women, if we're
to follow in Jesus' line,

728
00:39:22,667 --> 00:39:24,542
whether you're
in the front, the middle,

729
00:39:24,625 --> 00:39:26,333
or the very back
in that line,

730
00:39:26,417 --> 00:39:29,833
you are following him
to victory.

731
00:39:29,917 --> 00:39:32,333
All wrongs will be made right.

732
00:39:32,417 --> 00:39:34,542
The gates of hell
cannot hold us back.

733
00:39:34,625 --> 00:39:37,542
And if we want to be used
of God to have influence,

734
00:39:37,625 --> 00:39:42,333
the world we rub shoulders
with must see that optimism.

735
00:39:42,417 --> 00:39:46,750
They can't see the despair;
they've got to see the optimism.

736
00:39:46,833 --> 00:39:50,792
Now, the second thing
that he had is humility.

737
00:39:50,833 --> 00:39:53,875
And I love it because we talk
a lot about being humble,

738
00:39:53,958 --> 00:39:57,042
and not prideful and all that,
but I don't think we grasp what

739
00:39:57,125 --> 00:39:58,458
real humility looks like.

740
00:39:58,500 --> 00:40:03,375
Real humility
looks like respect.

741
00:40:03,458 --> 00:40:07,042
Real humility is Jesus knowing
where he came from, who he was,

742
00:40:07,125 --> 00:40:08,667
and where he was going,

743
00:40:08,708 --> 00:40:11,167
taking a bowl and a cloth
and washing the feet

744
00:40:11,250 --> 00:40:15,583
of his disciples, including
one he knew would betray him.

745
00:40:15,667 --> 00:40:19,000
It's what Philippians calls
putting the needs and interests

746
00:40:19,042 --> 00:40:21,500
of others as more
important than your own.

747
00:40:21,542 --> 00:40:23,667
You know, we love to talk
about servant leadership,

748
00:40:23,750 --> 00:40:25,583
and I love doing
servant leadership,

749
00:40:25,667 --> 00:40:29,500
as long as nobody treats
me like a servant.

750
00:40:29,542 --> 00:40:32,250
What Daniel did, and you'll
find it through the entire book,

751
00:40:32,333 --> 00:40:39,250
is just incredible, real,
genuine respect for everyone.

752
00:40:39,333 --> 00:40:41,250
In fact, you might
write this phrase down.

753
00:40:41,333 --> 00:40:48,000
Everyone deserves respect,
even God's enemies.

754
00:40:48,083 --> 00:40:50,167
And Daniel does that
with Nebuchadnezzar

755
00:40:50,250 --> 00:40:51,625
all the way through.

756
00:40:51,667 --> 00:40:53,708
Now, here's
an interesting thing,

757
00:40:53,792 --> 00:40:57,125
because Nebuchadnezzar's
going to get his.

758
00:40:57,167 --> 00:40:59,583
He thinks he's done
all of this on his own.

759
00:40:59,667 --> 00:41:02,375
He's looking around, "Look at
this kingdom that I have built

760
00:41:02,458 --> 00:41:04,792
by my power and my might,"
and God is like,

761
00:41:04,833 --> 00:41:06,167
"Dude, you are done."

762
00:41:06,250 --> 00:41:09,333
"Dude" is in the Hebrew,
but, "You're over,"

763
00:41:09,417 --> 00:41:12,042
and Daniel gets to
deliver the message.

764
00:41:12,125 --> 00:41:14,542
Now, if I'm Daniel, I go
like this--he's no longer

765
00:41:14,625 --> 00:41:17,792
King Nebuchadnezzar, I'm, like,
ready to drop the hammer.

766
00:41:17,833 --> 00:41:22,083
It's, "Hey, Neb, baby, I've been
praying for this day a long time

767
00:41:22,167 --> 00:41:26,292
and you're going to get yours."

768
00:41:26,333 --> 00:41:29,292
That's not what he says.

769
00:41:29,333 --> 00:41:31,667
He says, "O King,

770
00:41:31,750 --> 00:41:36,667
I wish it was
anybody but you."

771
00:41:36,708 --> 00:41:39,500
Wow.

772
00:41:39,542 --> 00:41:44,500
You see, he understood the heart
of God and the heart of Jesus.

773
00:41:44,542 --> 00:41:47,542
Jesus is not into
wiping out his enemies;

774
00:41:47,625 --> 00:41:49,833
he's into winning them over.

775
00:41:49,917 --> 00:41:51,958
That's his heart.

776
00:41:52,000 --> 00:41:54,292
That's why the cross is there.

777
00:41:54,333 --> 00:41:59,500
That's why people like you and I
have received the gift of grace.

778
00:41:59,542 --> 00:42:03,042
And if we want to
influence our world,

779
00:42:03,125 --> 00:42:07,000
they must understand that our
deepest goal is not to see God

780
00:42:07,083 --> 00:42:10,417
sic them, and our deepest self
image is not that we are God's

781
00:42:10,500 --> 00:42:13,333
pit bull or watchdog for poor
little Jesus who needs us

782
00:42:13,417 --> 00:42:17,250
to help him out, but we
are his followers,

783
00:42:17,333 --> 00:42:23,833
his servants who have his
agenda to win over the lost,

784
00:42:24,625 --> 00:42:26,042
not to see them wiped out.

785
00:42:26,125 --> 00:42:29,458
I want you to see with your own
eyes a passage that speaks to

786
00:42:29,500 --> 00:42:32,458
this in the New Testament, so
take your app or your Bible

787
00:42:32,500 --> 00:42:35,208
and turn, if it's a physical
Bible, way to the right,

788
00:42:35,292 --> 00:42:38,042
and find 2 Timothy.

789
00:42:38,125 --> 00:42:41,958
This is a passage that just
rocked my world at one point

790
00:42:42,000 --> 00:42:45,500
in my early days
of being a Christian

791
00:42:45,542 --> 00:42:48,667
because I thought God needed me
as a pit bull,

792
00:42:48,750 --> 00:42:52,167
barking and biting at
everybody who got it wrong,

793
00:42:52,208 --> 00:42:54,792
protecting
poor little Jesus.

794
00:42:54,833 --> 00:42:56,875
After all, I'd seen
those pictures of him.

795
00:42:56,958 --> 00:43:01,792
He looked like he
needed protection.

796
00:44:37,625 --> 00:44:41,250
Daniel wanted Nebuchadnezzar
won over, not wiped out,

797
00:44:41,333 --> 00:44:43,833
as bad as he was,
and guess what?

798
00:44:43,917 --> 00:44:47,333
Nebuchadnezzar was won over.

799
00:44:47,417 --> 00:44:50,083
Pretty amazing, but it would
have never happened without

800
00:44:50,167 --> 00:44:52,875
humility, never happened
with a chip on his shoulder,

801
00:44:52,958 --> 00:44:56,375
never happened with
the blogosphere of today.

802
00:44:56,458 --> 00:44:58,792
Help me out for just a moment.

803
00:44:58,833 --> 00:45:00,833
Now, North Coast
people actually, like,

804
00:45:00,875 --> 00:45:03,000
talk to me when I
ask them a question,

805
00:45:03,083 --> 00:45:06,542
so let's see if Mars Hill
can do this, OK?

806
00:45:06,625 --> 00:45:09,542
How many of you have had
someone in your life who just,

807
00:45:09,625 --> 00:45:12,042
flat out for whatever reason,
didn't like you

808
00:45:12,125 --> 00:45:14,250
or didn't respect you at
a pretty strong level?

809
00:45:14,333 --> 00:45:16,333
Help me out, raise your hands.

810
00:45:16,417 --> 00:45:20,667
OK, have you ever found
yourself inclined to listen to

811
00:45:20,708 --> 00:45:23,750
them when they give you advice?

812
00:45:23,833 --> 00:45:25,625
Not at all.

813
00:45:25,667 --> 00:45:28,833
See, if you don't like me and
you treat me with rolled eyes

814
00:45:28,875 --> 00:45:32,167
or disrespect or whatever,
I put up my defenses--

815
00:45:32,208 --> 00:45:36,625
I don't open my ears.

816
00:45:36,667 --> 00:45:40,042
And it was because of Daniel's
treatment to the chief eunuch,

817
00:45:40,125 --> 00:45:43,083
to the steward, to everybody
throughout all the story that

818
00:45:43,167 --> 00:45:46,667
they were willing
to listen to him.

819
00:45:46,708 --> 00:45:49,292
And when the time came,
they didn't have a wall

820
00:45:49,333 --> 00:45:51,000
that they had built up because,

821
00:45:51,042 --> 00:45:52,667
"This guy doesn't
like me, and therefore

822
00:45:52,750 --> 00:45:54,083
I don't like him."

823
00:45:54,167 --> 00:45:55,792
They had an openness
and respect.

824
00:45:55,833 --> 00:45:59,083
In the real world sense
of how you talk to people,

825
00:45:59,167 --> 00:46:01,833
how you treat people, what
you say behind their back,

826
00:46:01,875 --> 00:46:08,542
that has an incredible impact
on who you can influence.

827
00:46:08,625 --> 00:46:11,208
Optimism and humility.

828
00:46:11,292 --> 00:46:16,833
He had one other thing,
amazing wisdom,

829
00:46:16,875 --> 00:46:18,833
amazing wisdom,

830
00:46:18,875 --> 00:46:22,333
something I wish I had had in
my youth as a follower of Jesus,

831
00:46:22,375 --> 00:46:25,167
because he knew how
to pick his battles.

832
00:46:25,208 --> 00:46:28,667
In light of a sound bite, you
might write this one down.

833
00:46:28,708 --> 00:46:31,667
There's a big difference between
what we don't like and what God

834
00:46:31,708 --> 00:46:35,667
forbids--a big difference.

835
00:46:35,708 --> 00:46:38,333
Now, I want to tell you,
early in my Christian walk,

836
00:46:38,375 --> 00:46:40,333
I did not understand
the two of them.

837
00:46:40,375 --> 00:46:43,500
When I had a non-Christian in
the cubicle next to me who did

838
00:46:43,542 --> 00:46:46,167
things that I didn't like, I
made sure I confronted them.

839
00:46:46,250 --> 00:46:49,167
I also lost all respect for
them, and it's kind of amazing:

840
00:46:49,250 --> 00:46:51,292
none of them came to Jesus.

841
00:46:51,333 --> 00:46:54,250
I love how Daniel picked
his battles so carefully.

842
00:46:54,333 --> 00:46:56,875
Where God has spoken absolutely,
"You cannot eat this,"

843
00:46:56,958 --> 00:46:59,833
he politely said, "Hey, will
you allow us to change it?"

844
00:46:59,917 --> 00:47:03,333
OK, not, then go down the food
chain, "How about a 10-day test?

845
00:47:03,375 --> 00:47:05,625
But whatever, we'll accept
what the consequences are."

846
00:47:05,667 --> 00:47:08,333
But when they changed
his name to Bal's prince,

847
00:47:08,417 --> 00:47:10,208
he didn't care what
they called him.

848
00:47:10,292 --> 00:47:12,667
I'm sure he didn't like it,
but he didn't care

849
00:47:12,708 --> 00:47:15,333
as long as it wasn't
late to dinner.

850
00:47:15,417 --> 00:47:18,958
When it came time to study
the occult and astrology,

851
00:47:19,000 --> 00:47:22,958
he was forbidden to practice
it, but there was nothing that

852
00:47:23,000 --> 00:47:26,208
forbid him to study it, and
if he was going to study it,

853
00:47:26,292 --> 00:47:27,708
he was going to work hard,

854
00:47:27,792 --> 00:47:29,250
and God gave him
great understanding.

855
00:47:29,333 --> 00:47:30,833
He graduates as
the valedictorian,

856
00:47:30,917 --> 00:47:33,833
and because of that, he has
a standing from which to say,

857
00:47:33,875 --> 00:47:36,250
later on to Nebuchadnezzar,
"This is a bunch of junk.

858
00:47:36,333 --> 00:47:38,458
Let me tell you about
the most high God."

859
00:47:38,500 --> 00:47:41,042
Because there comes a time when
the magicians and enchanters

860
00:47:41,125 --> 00:47:42,458
can't answer anything at all.

861
00:47:42,500 --> 00:47:44,792
Daniel comes forward
and says, "You know, I passed.

862
00:47:44,833 --> 00:47:47,667
"Remember, I was really good.
I was ten times better.

863
00:47:47,708 --> 00:47:52,250
Let me tell you why this
doesn't work and why he does."

864
00:47:52,333 --> 00:47:56,792
He has no platform, no ability
if he decides to avoid all that

865
00:47:56,833 --> 00:48:00,500
that he doesn't like, fight
all that that he doesn't like.

866
00:48:00,583 --> 00:48:03,458
He picked his battles wisely.

867
00:48:03,500 --> 00:48:06,750
Even serving a godless king, I'm
sure that wasn't the great joy

868
00:48:06,833 --> 00:48:09,833
of his life to get up every
day and help the one

869
00:48:09,875 --> 00:48:14,667
who had ransacked the temple
and who mocked God succeed.

870
00:48:14,708 --> 00:48:18,042
But he understood that's where
God put him, and like a Joseph,

871
00:48:18,125 --> 00:48:19,833
another guy in
the Old Testament,

872
00:48:19,917 --> 00:48:26,208
he did it so well he developed
the right to speak of our God.

873
00:48:28,708 --> 00:48:32,125
Let me tie this all together
with a story from

874
00:48:32,167 --> 00:48:37,167
a family vacation.

875
00:48:37,208 --> 00:48:41,958
My wife is claustrophobic, not
ridiculously claustrophobic,

876
00:48:42,000 --> 00:48:44,667
but close to it.

877
00:48:44,750 --> 00:48:47,167
And so, you know,
you go to Europe,

878
00:48:47,208 --> 00:48:48,875
she won't get in those
little elevators.

879
00:48:48,958 --> 00:48:51,875
You go a lot of places where
you've got to go through

880
00:48:51,958 --> 00:48:53,292
a tunnel that's more than,

881
00:48:53,333 --> 00:48:55,292
like 4 feet long,
she won't go there.

882
00:48:55,333 --> 00:48:57,292
Well, one year when
our kids were little,

883
00:48:57,333 --> 00:49:01,667
we went to a place called
the Carlsbad Caverns.

884
00:49:01,708 --> 00:49:03,333
Now, here's what I assumed:

885
00:49:03,417 --> 00:49:06,417
She would stay up on top in
the gift shop reading for

886
00:49:06,500 --> 00:49:09,333
a few hours while we took
the tour, then we'd finish.

887
00:49:09,417 --> 00:49:11,750
But instead, when we got
there--and maybe it's

888
00:49:11,833 --> 00:49:13,958
the really big elevator,
if you've ever been there,

889
00:49:14,000 --> 00:49:15,833
that's at the top
that takes you down,

890
00:49:15,917 --> 00:49:17,333
with people coming in and out.

891
00:49:17,417 --> 00:49:19,542
She said, "I think
I'll go down."

892
00:49:19,625 --> 00:49:23,333
I'm like,
"Sweet, family memory!"

893
00:49:23,417 --> 00:49:26,458
So we go down.

894
00:49:26,500 --> 00:49:28,167
And if you've ever done it,

895
00:49:28,208 --> 00:49:30,750
it opens up
into this massive cavern.

896
00:49:30,833 --> 00:49:34,250
And you can just feel the
tension just disappear from her.

897
00:49:34,333 --> 00:49:39,167
And then she said, "I think
I'll go on the tour with you."

898
00:49:39,208 --> 00:49:41,333
I'm like, "Thank you, Jesus!

899
00:49:41,375 --> 00:49:44,167
This is, like, so cool."

900
00:49:44,250 --> 00:49:47,833
So, we get in line
to get our tickets.

901
00:49:47,917 --> 00:49:50,458
And as we're standing in
line to get our tickets,

902
00:49:50,500 --> 00:49:51,958
people are coming out.

903
00:49:52,000 --> 00:49:53,458
And one guy says to another,

904
00:49:53,500 --> 00:49:58,167
"That was so cool when they
turned the lights out."

905
00:49:58,208 --> 00:50:00,042
Now, I've got a moral dilemma.

906
00:50:00,125 --> 00:50:02,375
Do I shoot straight
with my wife or just,

907
00:50:02,458 --> 00:50:05,500
"La la la, la la la la,
you know, didn't hear it."

908
00:50:05,542 --> 00:50:09,167
But before I had to solve that
moral dilemma with the Lord,

909
00:50:09,208 --> 00:50:12,375
she heard.

910
00:50:12,458 --> 00:50:17,500
So she goes,
"They turn out the lights?"

911
00:50:17,542 --> 00:50:21,833
And I said, "Oh, for
just a second or two.

912
00:50:21,917 --> 00:50:25,167
Trust me, I'm a pastor."

913
00:50:28,000 --> 00:50:29,667
So we go on the tour.

914
00:50:29,708 --> 00:50:31,667
Everything is cool.

915
00:50:31,750 --> 00:50:34,292
At the very end, they
set you on these logs.

916
00:50:34,333 --> 00:50:35,750
So, we sit on the log,

917
00:50:35,833 --> 00:50:38,250
and they give this talk
about how dark it is,

918
00:50:38,333 --> 00:50:41,000
and you could wave your hand
in front of your face

919
00:50:41,042 --> 00:50:43,000
and not see it,
and all that stuff.

920
00:50:43,042 --> 00:50:45,167
And the guy reaches
out, he takes the plug,

921
00:50:45,250 --> 00:50:47,000
and he unplugs it,
and it's dark.

922
00:50:47,083 --> 00:50:49,333
One thousand one, one thousand
two, one thousand three,

923
00:50:49,375 --> 00:50:54,917
one thousand twelve, and
then suddenly, a bat bit me.

924
00:50:55,000 --> 00:50:57,292
I was like, "Ahh!"

925
00:50:57,333 --> 00:51:00,667
and I feel this cold,
like, what is it,

926
00:51:00,750 --> 00:51:05,375
and realize it's blood
running down my arm.

927
00:51:05,458 --> 00:51:08,750
And the bat talked.

928
00:51:08,833 --> 00:51:13,542
It was a talking bat,

929
00:51:13,625 --> 00:51:17,792
and here's what it said:

930
00:51:17,833 --> 00:51:23,458
"I will never trust you again."

931
00:51:24,833 --> 00:51:27,875
And I'm thinking, "Great, there
goes my marriage, probably,

932
00:51:27,958 --> 00:51:31,750
since I'm a pastor, my
career," and all of this.

933
00:51:31,833 --> 00:51:37,750
And then I remembered, my
youngest son had one of those

934
00:51:37,833 --> 00:51:41,750
Timex Indiglo watches on, like
the one I'm wearing right now,

935
00:51:41,833 --> 00:51:45,583
but it was first iteration
and you would push the button

936
00:51:45,667 --> 00:51:48,958
and a little light would come
on, early LED kind of light,

937
00:51:49,000 --> 00:51:52,542
and you could supposedly tell
what time it is at night.

938
00:51:52,625 --> 00:51:56,375
But that light was so weenie and
weak that in reality, at night,

939
00:51:56,458 --> 00:51:59,083
when you pushed the button
to see what time it was,

940
00:51:59,167 --> 00:52:01,958
you had no clue unless you
got a flashlight to look.

941
00:52:02,000 --> 00:52:04,333
It was pathetic.

942
00:52:04,417 --> 00:52:07,667
But I'm desperate, I'm about
to lose my marriage

943
00:52:07,708 --> 00:52:10,042
and my ministry,

944
00:52:10,125 --> 00:52:14,042
and the Lord reminds me,
"He's got his watch."

945
00:52:14,125 --> 00:52:19,042
So I said, "Nathan, push
the button on your watch!"

946
00:52:19,125 --> 00:52:23,833
And he does, and suddenly
we can see the ground,

947
00:52:23,917 --> 00:52:26,667
and we can see feet.

948
00:52:26,708 --> 00:52:32,542
The bat lets go, and somebody
over here--it messes

949
00:52:32,625 --> 00:52:34,958
the environment up enough--
says to him--he says,

950
00:52:35,000 --> 00:52:37,208
"Turn that light out."

951
00:52:37,292 --> 00:52:42,708
And I said, "If you do, I will
kill you," so he kept it on.

952
00:52:45,458 --> 00:52:48,375
But here's the lesson I learned:

953
00:52:48,458 --> 00:52:51,958
The darker it gets,
the more powerful

954
00:52:52,000 --> 00:52:54,583
the tiniest of lights is.

955
00:52:54,667 --> 00:52:58,000
See, some of you think, "Well,
if I know a lot more Bible,

956
00:52:58,042 --> 00:53:00,625
if I get this together, if
I get that--" Listen, folks.

957
00:53:00,667