The God Of History

[00:00:01] Of course. You know, I need a little. Oh, this morning I want to say a special thank you to Katie and Sarah for the great job they did. [00:00:22] Couldn't be here last Sunday. You people make me sick. [00:00:29] But I recovered by the grace of God. [00:00:36] I like the church to know when we are doing well. [00:00:43] We actually, this Christmas, we actually broke a church record. [00:00:51] The Christmas Eve services and the Christmas service. If you add all those services together. [00:00:57] Over 6,000 people attended this church. [00:01:07] And out of your love for Christ, this church gave $88,000 to the Christmas offer that will fund our food program, that'll fund a night to shine. [00:01:28] It makes a major difference this year because you included Christ in your Christmas. And I want you to know I appreciate you very much. [00:01:43] Our dear Heavenly Father, I pray that your spirit would convince us that you are the God of history. [00:01:54] History is not randomly unfurling, but it is divinely directed toward your eternal purpose. [00:02:08] And then as we see you as the God of history, I pray that we would partner with you in this moment in history to see Jesus Christ glorified and your kingdom triumphant in the world. [00:02:24] And I ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. [00:02:33] Nebuchadnezzar II became king in 605, his BC. [00:02:43] His father had been king of Babylon before him, and he actually made a name for himself by being a triumphant general. [00:02:55] In 605, he captured Jerusalem. [00:03:00] And as the Babylonian custom was, they took everybody who had potential, so they actually went into the city of Jerusalem and they went house to house. And if they liked your kids, they took them. [00:03:19] And one of the kids that was taken was a young man named Daniel. [00:03:26] And Daniel was put into the school for business administration. [00:03:37] Nebuchadnezzar had to rule over this massive kingdom. [00:03:42] And to do that he had to have literally thousands of administrators. [00:03:48] And so they had a three year college where they sent these kids that were captives and they taught them how to be administrators in the kingdom. [00:04:03] If you have, if you've ever looked at pictures of Babylon, the Ishtar gate is a very. [00:04:12] It's a very famous feature in Babylon. And Nebuchadnezzar built this gate. [00:04:21] It's a baked brick with blue glazing. And it was one of the eight major gates into Babylon. [00:04:34] If you have the imagination, you can imagine Daniel walking through that gate, because he did. [00:04:41] He lived his whole life in Babylon. [00:04:46] So in the second year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign, he had a nightmare and he woke up in the middle of the night and, and he was distraught. [00:05:02] He had this terrible dream. He couldn't remember what it was, but it left him petrified. [00:05:14] So he called in the magi. [00:05:21] These were the most intelligent administrators in his kingdom. [00:05:28] And he said, look, I had this dream and it was bad, and I want you guys to tell me what the dream was and what it means. [00:05:41] And his magi said, well, you see, that's really not the way it works. You tell us the dream, and we'll tell you the interpretation. [00:05:54] Ah, but Nebuchadnezzar wasn't gonna have it. [00:05:59] In fact, this is what he said. [00:06:02] The word from me is firm. [00:06:05] If you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you shall be torn limb from limb, and your house shall be laid in ruins. [00:06:22] It's pretty plain, isn't it? He said, look, I'm not playing games with you guys. You guys have schmoozed me in the past, but it's not gonna happen today. [00:06:33] I've paid a lot of money for you, and you live in nice houses, and you have the best of the best. And now it's your time to perform. [00:06:46] But these magi, they weren't in the king's court because they were dummies. [00:06:53] And they began to negotiate with the king. [00:06:59] And they said to him, what you're asking for is not reasonable. [00:07:06] There is no king who has ever asked his advisors to do what you're doing. [00:07:13] See, what they were looking for is a way out. This is a big problem. The king is upset. Things could get ugly, and if we're not careful, we could be on the receiving end of that. We need to find a way to have this taken off of us. [00:07:36] And they simply said to the king, you're not being reasonable. [00:07:42] And the king said, whether I'm being reasonable or not is not the issue. [00:07:49] I know your game. [00:07:52] I know what you're gonna do. You have agreed to speak lying and corrupt words before me until the times change. You think this is all gonna pass away? You, in a couple of days, I'll forget all about it and everything's going back to usual. But he said, this time that's not going to happen. [00:08:10] In fact, he said, I want you to tell me the dream and interpret it right now, or I'm going to start knocking you people off one by one. [00:08:21] Because of this, the king was angry and very furious and commanded that all the wise men of Babylon be destroyed. [00:08:33] And the man in charge of doing it was the captain of guard, a man named Arioch. [00:08:40] So Arioch shows up where Daniel's living and says, you better get your house in order. [00:08:48] The king is going to kill all the magi. [00:08:52] And Daniel hadn't even heard about this yet. He didn't even know what was going on. [00:08:57] So he said to Arioch, what's happening? [00:09:04] What's the hurry? [00:09:06] And Arioch said, the king is furious and he's going to start killing people, and you're going to be at the top of the list. [00:09:18] And Daniel said the most surprising thing. [00:09:23] He said, go tell the king not to worry, but to give me a little bit of time, and I will give him the interpretation of the dream. [00:09:35] Here we have a phenomenal thing. [00:09:38] Daniel is a young man from a foreign country. [00:09:43] All the other magi are looking for a way out of the problem. Daniel is looking for a way into the problem. [00:09:53] Daniel said, God will help me, and I will make a difference in this moment. [00:10:01] I wonder if you can see yourself as Daniel in the coming year when you look around at your life and all the problems people are trying to dodge, all the difficulties people are trying to avoid, the hassles, the extra work, the extra pressure that so many people are looking to get away from. What if you have the Daniel spirit this year and you say, dear God, this year I'm all in for you. [00:10:37] If I have to do more than I've ever done, I'm all in for you this year. If it's riskier than it's ever been, I'm all in for you this year. I'm not dodging any problems this year. I'm partnering with you in every problem you place before me. [00:11:01] Are you looking for a way in to meaningful service with Jesus Christ this year? Or are you just looking for a good excuse not to have to do anymore? It makes all the difference in the world. Church, can you hear me? God is looking for partners this year. People who will take him seriously, people who will engage in life with him, people who will listen to his whispers and be part of what he's going to do to make his name glorious in all the earth. But he needs people with the Daniel spirit that says, you can count on me. [00:11:43] I will address this problem with all of my ability and in the grace of God. [00:11:54] So he said, tell the king I just need a little time, and I'll tell him the dream and the interpretation. [00:12:03] Arioch left to take the message to the king. And Daniel called his three friends, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. They were also young men who had been taken into captivity, and they were also young men who had gone through the administrative school. And they were also young men who were in the king's administration. And Daniel called them together and he said, this is a moment where we can. [00:12:33] This is a moment where we can distinguish our God from all the other gods of Babylon. [00:12:44] This is a moment where our God can be glorified. [00:12:49] And so they prayed together and they sought mercy from the God of heaven. [00:12:57] Ah. [00:12:59] And that night, God spoke to Daniel in a dream. [00:13:04] And Daniel saw the very same vision that Nebuchadnezzar had seen. And God helped him to understand what that vision meant. [00:13:15] So the next day, Daniel was taken before the king. [00:13:20] Now, you know he was an absolute monarch. He could kill you for no reason at all. I mean, he could just say, execute that person. [00:13:31] It was 600 years before Christ, and laws weren't what they are today. [00:13:40] And Daniel came in to the king and he said, I can help you out. [00:13:49] I'm going to tell you what you saw and I'm going to tell you what it means. [00:13:55] He said, you saw, O king, and behold a great image. [00:14:02] This image, mighty and of exceeding brightness stood before you. And its appearance was frightening. [00:14:12] You had a nightmare, and in your nightmare you saw this incredibly huge statue. [00:14:20] And the statue was intimidating and it radiated with brightness and it overwhelmed you. [00:14:33] And then he said, it's important, King, that you know. [00:14:40] I don't know this because I'm smarter than other people. [00:14:44] I know this because there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries. And he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days. [00:14:56] Your dream and the visions of your head as you lay on the bed. [00:15:02] Ah. [00:15:04] God is telling you how history is going to unfold. [00:15:10] Daniel was humble enough to say in the moment where it really mattered, this isn't about me, it's about God. [00:15:24] I wonder if you look this year for opportunities in your life to say to people, this is a God moment. [00:15:34] I wonder if you'll take this this year with your family, when you are engaging life with your family and you'll just pause for a minute and say, this is a God moment. This is a moment where we have to trust in the Lord with all our heart. [00:15:53] This is a moment where we have to expect God to be our God and show Himself strong. [00:16:01] And when God does bless us, you take a moment to say, can you see what God just did for us? [00:16:10] Can you see what God just did for us? [00:16:17] It is remarkable how much glory God could get if people like you and I in moments where he is with us and blesses us if we'll simply take the time to share with others how he has blessed us. [00:16:36] We just simply say, I was going through this difficulty and God showed up in my life in this way. And that's one of the reasons why I trust him and appreciate him so much. [00:16:50] Church don't miss the opportunities this year to point out to people the goodness of God in your life. [00:17:01] Don't miss the opportunity. [00:17:06] We all have family that isn't as close to Christ as we wish they were. [00:17:12] There are moments when you can say to your family, God was with us, and this is why. This is why God is so important to us, because he's with us at moments just like this. [00:17:27] Or maybe it sounds something more like this. [00:17:30] This is a moment where who God is to you matters. [00:17:36] I'm not gonna give you a lecture, I'm not gonna preach you a sermon. But I want you to know it's in moments like this that our faith in God means everything. [00:17:48] Church When Daniel had the chance, he humbled himself and said to the king, this isn't about me. It's about God. [00:17:59] And it was. It is the beginning of God doing something absolutely changing in the life of Nebuchadnezzar. You say, well, Doc, you don't know the people in my family. You don't know Nebuchadnezzar. [00:18:13] You think those people are tough. [00:18:17] He was one bad man. [00:18:22] And God, in his divine providence, met him in a way that he needed to be met and literally changed his life. [00:18:36] So then Daniel said, I'm going to describe to you what you saw. [00:18:42] You saw this big statue, and the statue had a head that was made of the finest gold in the world. [00:18:55] And then as you looked, his shoulders and arms were. Were made out of silver. [00:19:02] And as you kept looking, his abdomen was made out of brass, and his two legs were made out of iron, and his feet were made out of iron and clay. [00:19:20] And this was very impressive to you. [00:19:23] But while you were watching, a stone that had been cut out of the mountain, not with. By human hands, came flying through the air, hit the statue in the feet and crushed the base. The statue fell over, the gold broke into pieces, the silver broke into pieces, the bronze broke into pieces. The. The iron broke into pieces, and it was so crushed and broken that the wind started blowing it away as chaff. [00:20:01] And while you were watching this happen, all of a sudden, that big rock that hit the statue, it grew into a great mountain. [00:20:11] And Nebuchadnezzar saying, yeah, that's right, I remember it. That's exactly what I saw. [00:20:18] And Daniel said and all of this has a meaning. [00:20:24] This isn't just a dream you had because you ate too much spaghetti before you went to bed. [00:20:30] This dream all has a meaning. [00:20:34] And this is the meaning. [00:20:37] God is telling you how he's going to act in history. [00:20:44] He said the golden head that you saw, that's you and the Babylonian empire. [00:20:52] And your empire is going to be defeated by another empire that has two parts. And sure enough, Babylon was defeated by the Medio Persian empire. [00:21:06] But the Medio Persian empire was never as great as the Babylonian empire. It was the two silver arms Medio Persia. [00:21:17] The Medio Persians were defeated by the bronze wearing Greeks. Alexander the Great invaded Persia and literally subjugated the entire country. And the Greek empire lasted from about 330 until 63 when Pompey the Great marched through Israel and then began the kingdom of iron. [00:21:49] Rome was the iron legions. And of course there's two legs because there was a double capital. The capital was partially in Rome and partially in Constantinople. [00:22:03] And then the Roman Empire gave way to two nation states. Some that were strong, some that were weak. [00:22:11] But the really big part of this is the rock that comes flying out of the air and crushes all of this. [00:22:21] Daniel says all these great kingdoms, they're only preparing the world for the kingdom of Christ. [00:22:32] Christ is the great rock that comes flying and crushes the cultures before it and becomes a kingdom that will never have an end. [00:22:44] You and I are living in the kingdom of Jesus Christ. [00:22:49] This kingdom doesn't always get the recognition it deserves. This kingdom isn't recognized the way politicians are recognized. [00:23:02] This kingdom doesn't have all the accoutrements that goes along with power politics. But it has a guarantee from the Lord God Almighty that it's going to triumph in the end. [00:23:17] Can you hear me? There is an absolute guarantee from God that the kingdoms of this world will pass away. The world and everything in it is passing away. But he who does the will of my Father in heaven abides forever. [00:23:35] Babylon and the Ishtar Gate. They never dreamed that one day they would be a tourist. [00:23:43] A place where people would go and see the ruins of their kingdom. [00:23:47] The Medio Persians never dreamed that their kingdom would be lost in the desert sands. [00:23:55] You can visit the ruins of Greece today. They never dreamed that all that would be left of their great culture is crumbling ruins. [00:24:08] The Roman Empire believed that it would last forever. [00:24:12] Can I tell you that the cultures of the world are all passing away. But the kingdom of God in abides forever. [00:24:23] We are as arrogant as those who went before us, we look at our country, we look at the beautiful buildings in Washington D.C. [00:24:34] we. We. We deceive ourselves into thinking the way cultures did this will last forever. We look at the great sports stadiums and can't imagine that somebody will be doing archeology there someday. [00:24:51] But the pathway of history is absolutely clear. [00:24:57] The world and everything in it is passing away. But he who does the will of my Father in heaven abides forever. [00:25:05] Church My first loyalty is to Jesus Christ and his kingdom. Everything else comes second to that. [00:25:13] Christ has to be first. [00:25:16] His kingdom is an eternal kingdom. His. His kingdom will know no end. And you as a Christian, you as a follower of Jesus Christ, you as a member of this church, you're part of that kingdom. [00:25:32] And what you do and don't do matters. [00:25:37] What we what. What we give our lives to matters. [00:25:46] All of this had a profound effect. [00:25:50] Daniel and his friends Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, they experienced this all with God. And Daniel left us the worship that followed this experience. [00:26:10] This is what Daniel wrote. [00:26:13] Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might. [00:26:22] He changes times and seasons. He removes kings and sets up kings. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding. He reveals deep and hidden things. He knows what is in the darkness and the light dwells with him. [00:26:41] To you, O God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise for you have given me wisdom and might and have made known to me what we ask of you, for you have made known to us the king's matter. [00:26:59] When Daniel had this incredible experience with God, it came out in worship for God. [00:27:08] Listen how Daniel thinks of God. [00:27:13] Blessed be the name of God forever and ever. [00:27:18] When Daniel participated with God in history, he had this overwhelming sense that God deserved to be blessed and praised forever and ever. [00:27:30] Then he said, you are a God of wisdom and might. [00:27:38] And you use your wisdom and might to change times and seasons. [00:27:44] You remove kings and you set up kings. You give wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding. Listen to what Daniel's saying. [00:27:54] Dear God, in this experience, it became very obvious to me that you are the God humanity needs. [00:28:07] You have both the wisdom we need, and you have the ability we need. [00:28:13] And you use your wisdom and your ability to influence and affect history. [00:28:20] I want to ask you a question that only you can answer. [00:28:24] It's a question of faith. [00:28:27] Do you honestly believe that God is acting in history today the very same way he acted in Daniel's day? [00:28:38] I do. I believe with all my heart. The very same God who was at work in Daniel is at work in the world today. [00:28:49] I also believe that we watch way too much news and we spend way too little time with the God who has real wisdom and might. [00:28:59] If you watch the news too much, you get the message that things are out of control. [00:29:06] You get the message that the earth is a dangerous place. You get the message that life is unpredictable and you can be. [00:29:17] Things can randomly change at any moment. [00:29:22] Daniel didn't see the world that way, and I don't see the world that way either. [00:29:27] I do see a world that the one who runs it is wiser than I am. And I can't always explain what he's doing. [00:29:39] But guess what? Daniel couldn't either. [00:29:42] Daniel could not explain everything God was doing, but he was willing to partner with God by faith. [00:29:51] I'm looking at the world, I'm seeing this in my whole lifetime. There's never been a better opportunity for the church to be influential for Jesus Christ. [00:30:04] There's never been a more golden moment when the church can rise up and be the church. When we can distinguish ourselves from the pagans around us by our conspicuous belief in Jesus Christ and our willingness to partner with Christ in solving hard problems. [00:30:25] Can you hear me, church? [00:30:27] If we're going to be God's partners in the coming generation, we have to be willing to solve hard problems with God. And by the way, this church has a history of solving hard problems with God. [00:30:41] I was remembering this week, and some of you can remember this with me, when this was just a field. [00:30:51] This was just a field. [00:30:54] And the pond was twice as big as it is now. We reduced the size of the pond. [00:31:00] And we used to come out here and we would huddle together in groups, probably right here where I'm standing, and we would pray to God and say, you are the great God. We are trusting you and we are following you. [00:31:20] We didn't have the millions of dollars we needed to build this building. We didn't have. We didn't have many things that people said we had to have. But I'll tell you what we did have. We had an unshakable faith in the Almighty who makes history happen. [00:31:46] We had an unshakable faith that if we just obeyed God and walked with him challenge by challenge, he would. He would show us the way step by step, by step by step by step. [00:32:01] And he did. [00:32:02] And he did. [00:32:06] And then we built phase two. [00:32:10] Probably most of you don't know that Phase two is completely paid for. We don't know a penny on phase two, step by step. The God who creates history created history here. [00:32:28] All right? But this is about more than a place. [00:32:32] I'm looking out at this congregation. I'm remembering when some of you were far from God. [00:32:40] I'm remembering some of you when you weren't really interested in going to church. [00:32:47] I'm remembering when. When you. Your worldview was very different than it is today. [00:32:57] I'm remembering some of your friends and relatives said, you'll net that person. They'll never be a Christian. You're wasting your time. [00:33:05] But the God of history found you. [00:33:11] The God of history spoke to you the exact way your heart needed to be spoken to. And you are here this morning not because somebody drug you here against your will. You. You're here because you want to be here. There's something about Jesus Christ that is compelling to you. You. You have an open heart toward him. You have an inclination to serve him in some way. You were one of the ones who were generous this Christmas. The God of history has acted in your life and changed your history. [00:33:46] All right. [00:33:47] What are we expecting God to do in our future? [00:33:51] I can make this very, very simple. And you've all heard it before. Our expectations of God haven't changed. Here's what we're expecting. We're expecting the God of history to use us to attract people to the excellence of Christ. [00:34:10] Can you hear this? Here's an example. [00:34:14] Del Webb is building a neighborhood right down the street. I understand they're going to be 600 new homes there. [00:34:22] You know, that's 600 families that in some way or another, Christ loves. [00:34:31] That's 600 families that by divine providence, God is placing them within walking distance of this church. [00:34:43] You don't have to be Daniel to figure out. God wants us to do something to reach those new families for Jesus Christ. [00:34:53] God wants us to solve problems, to figure things out, to create ministries to do what we can do so that as family after family moves in there, they don't just move into a new house, they move into a new relationship. And perhaps God changes their lives and prepares them to abide with him forever. Because we accepted the challenge and we created the ministries to attract them to the excellence of Christ. Can you hear me? [00:35:26] Every Sunday, I see children come into this building and I whisper the same prayer to God when I see these children. Help us to bless these kids. [00:35:37] Dear God, help us to bless these kids. Could this be the best hour of these children's life? You know what? [00:35:45] I can't predict the future, but we can make the future. [00:35:50] You teach children to love God. You show them the way. You model what it means to treat people well and, and raise them in the way God wants them to be raised. These kids are going to grow up and do something for God. [00:36:09] This week, 20 somethings took time out of their week and spent two days in a room upstairs watching a conference that's targeted for 20 somethings. And. And it was at a football stadium. The place was packed. There's. There are already 20 somethings in this church who are saying we want to be in. We want to be intimately involved in what God is going to do in our generation. [00:36:46] What does God. How does God want us to partner with him this year? He wants us to partner with him and attract people to the excellence of Jesus Christ. [00:36:57] From people who are moving into a retirement community to the, to the youngest child in the nursery. We have a willingness to partner with God and nurture the life of God in everyone. [00:37:15] What is that God wants us to do? He wants every single one of us to serve. [00:37:22] It is God's will for every Christian to serve him in some way. [00:37:27] It's God's will for you to serve him in some way. Now, in our church, we call this the joy of ministry. God doesn't want you to serve him in a way that makes you miserable. Oh, brother, it's Sunday. I gotta go up to the church. Why did I volunteer to do that? You've missed it. [00:37:49] If you are feeling like that, you're in the wrong ministry, you're in the wrong place. There is a place for you to serve God where you are literally saying, I'm looking forward to being there this Sunday. [00:38:07] I'm looking forward to doing this. [00:38:10] I'm looking forward to being with my team. And there is a place for you to serve God. [00:38:18] And you can. And when you do, you serve him in the right place. You have this inner sense of. This makes my life meaningful. [00:38:28] If you're not serving God, if you're sitting in the chairs Sunday after Sunday, this is the Sunday you need to make a new commitment to God. [00:38:38] Jake's gonna tell you how you can sign up. Ah, all right. [00:38:45] And when you do, it is unpredictable. Whose life might be changed because you served. [00:38:55] Do you hear this? [00:38:57] I can't predict whose life will be changed because you serve. But I can absolutely guarantee you when you serve, lives will be changed. Yes. [00:39:11] And God also likes life to be edgy. [00:39:14] God did not create us to live boring lives. [00:39:19] God did not create us to leave a permanent Butt dent in our couches. [00:39:26] He created us to make an impression on the world that matters. But to do that, Church, we have to live the adventure of faith. [00:39:37] That means God always asks us to do things that are too hard for us. Can you hear me? God asked Daniel to do something that was too hard for him. The king was terribly intimidating. The king was. [00:39:52] The king was enraged. And God said to Daniel, you volunteer and I'll help you out. [00:40:00] I would have liked to be Daniel and said, you help me out and then I'll volunteer. [00:40:05] Huh? Church but that's not the way God does it. God says this is an adventure of faith. And without faith, it is impossible to please God. [00:40:15] We, all of us this year have to say, dear God, I'm willing to live the adventure of faith with you. I'm willing to do something that you asked me to do that I acknowledge is too hard for me to do right now. But I'm believing that you will develop me and grow me so that by doing this difficult thing, I will be more of the person you want me to be. [00:40:39] Church My Christian life hasn't grown in the easy times. My Christian life grew in the hard times. [00:40:48] My Christian life didn't grow when everything was going smoothly. My Christian life grew when I was desperate and I was on my knees with my forehead on the floor saying, if you don't come through, this is all gonna collapse. Church But I would not trade those holy moments for anything when the presence of God was tangible and he reassured me. And I felt, ah, Ah. [00:41:20] God is at work in ways I can't see right now, but he is at work. And I'm just expecting God to do exceedingly and abundantly above what I can ask or think. Can you hear me? Church? [00:41:36] Could I remind you we built a house in the middle of COVID Church in the middle of COVID We built a house we couldn't buy. Plywood. Everything got more expensive. [00:41:52] Okay, guess what? But God was with us every single step of the way. And that family is thriving because this church does hard things. [00:42:04] Finally, our future is based on us being a culture of generosity. [00:42:17] Church Here, I'm telling you again, Evil's fully funded in the world. [00:42:23] Good is underfunded. [00:42:26] Okay, but God is rich. Now, please listen to me. [00:42:34] God wants to partner with generous people because ministry costs money. [00:42:42] Do you understand that? God's looking for generous people to partner with, and this is how it works. When we are faithful to God, he's faithful to us. [00:42:55] I want to tell you this. It just happened in my Life. [00:43:00] I have to have oral surgery tomorrow. [00:43:09] It wasn't in our budget. [00:43:17] We gave double what we normally give to the Christmas offering. [00:43:24] We were going to have to take some money out of our savings to pay for this oral surgery. And then we got a check in the mail this week from some residual from when we sold our house. And it is almost exactly what the oral surgery cost. [00:43:48] God partners with us. Can you hear this God? When we are generous, God is our partner. He meets us in our generosity. All right, I want to talk to some of you who God has blessed with means. [00:44:08] Listen, that blessing is as much a gift of God as singing is, right? [00:44:18] That blessing is as much a gift of God as anything else we do in this church. [00:44:24] All right? If God has blessed you with means, he has an expectation that he can count on you to partner with him in means. [00:44:34] If he hasn't blessed you with means, he just doesn't have the same expectation of you. I know some of you have it really tight and things aren't going well for you. You trust God and be faithful. But listen, for us who God has blessed, we can make a difference in the world, but we're going to have to be generous. Can you hear? Generosity makes a difference in the world. [00:45:00] This is something that I'm noticing. [00:45:03] Even atheists who make it really good in life, they start thinking about their life differently. [00:45:15] And when they reach a point where they have to say, what is the meaning of my life? [00:45:22] They make a transition from the meaning of my life is what I have accumulated to the meaning of my life is what I am giving. [00:45:31] And they found foundations and everything else. Bill Gates doesn't want to be remembered for how much he made. He wants to be remembered for how much he gave you this. [00:45:43] It is a core understanding of life. [00:45:47] The, the, the value of my life is not what I consumed. The value of my life is what I invested. [00:45:58] All right. [00:45:59] And now I come to the. To. To the king. [00:46:06] Daniel was. Wasn't the only one who worshiped. The king worshiped. The king had a holy moment. Listen what the king did. Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face and paid homage to Daniel and commanded that an offering and incense be offered to him. Listen. The king answered and said to Daniel, truly your God is God of gods and Lord of lords and a revealer of mysteries. For you have been able to reveal this mystery. Listen. This hardened worshiper of idols, this hardened, self indulgent man had a divine moment where he said, daniel, your God is the true God. [00:46:57] I believe if we will attract people to the excellence of Christ, I believe if we will all join in the joy of ministry. [00:47:05] I believe if we say yes to the adventure of faith and do things that are too hard for us, I believe if we partner with God in generosity, we will lead people in our generation to say the very same thing. The God of that church is the true God. Look at the things that he accomplishes in the world. [00:47:27] Our dear Heavenly Father, I call upon your name. [00:47:36] I pray that we would have a sense that you are the God of history. [00:47:44] And I pray that it would change how we live our lives. [00:47:48] I pray that this would just not be a replica of last year and the year before. [00:47:54] I pray that we could start a new adventure with Jesus Christ. [00:47:59] Pray that we could start a new adventure in our homes, in our businesses. I pray that our faith would be different. I pray that our expectations would be different. [00:48:11] I pray that this church would be the kind of church that causes the kingdom of Christ to grow and expand. [00:48:22] I pray that there'll be people here this time next year who. Who aren't here now because the gospel of Christ reached them. I pray people be serving in ways they've never served before because the call of Christ reached them. [00:48:36] I pray families will be more loving than they've ever been because the call of Christ reached them. [00:48:42] I pray that we would all be different in our workplace and people would see something of the amazing goodness of God because the call of Christ reached it. [00:48:52] And then I pray that you will receive the glory, the majesty and the honor, both now and forever. Amen.