Jimmy Needham at Linger 2018

remember remember [Music] when I was a kid all I did was forget things right like where are my flip-flops like who hit my he-man I could never find it though I was standing right behind and mom always said if it was a snake it would have jumped up and bit me now I'm 32 and all I do is forget things because somehow I've managed to misplace all those mountains you've moved in my life like what did I put that Kilimanjaro again I know it must be around here somewhere see I suffered from what they call spiritual amnesia a chronic condition affecting the whole of my soul symptoms include mild panic when things don't go as I planned anger when I don't get what I'm owed out about the firmness of the sea beneath my feet though I know I used to walk on this water with you so many times I stiff-arm belief despite the anaconda of evidence coiled around my feet waiting to jump up and bite me you have fed the 5000 of my heart with a sack lunch so why do I panic when my pantry is low you have raised so many Lazarus's in my life I could start my own militia you have happily part of the Red Sea of my sin made the only way into the promised land of your presence through the red I see on him you have piled my past with ebony tzer's so why am i such a Scrooge [Music] because I forget I don't just forget things forget you God have mercy on me make me a historian of your kindnesses make me a memorizer of your Mercy's plant me in the garden of forget-me-nots and graft me into the vine of your promises make me mean what I sing when I sing great is thy faithfulness give me an Alcatraz memory to imprison forever your goodness to me and when my song goes up to you and worship may it not be in vain when I sing o to grace I greeted [Music] TV are constrained to be that I further find my one heart from to wonder you from to leave Oh God here is my heart taken see Seelye for [Music] [Music] let's pray just want to give you a second where you're at [Music] to cry out to him and ask him for Greece this moment right there and see in your heart ask him for grace grace to hear from him today this weekend eyes to see the beauty of Jesus [Music] ask him for an appetite an appetite for the things of God maybe you haven't been hungry for God in a while ask for that [Music] ask him for conviction that the spear would pierce our hearts with the things we need to see and repent of and turn from asking for conviction and now I want you to do that same thing for the person on your right or left just you might not know them that's okay but just just where you're at in your heart would you ask God's grace for them we're here as family wanting to get to know our Father wanting to remember the most important truths and the universe ask him to be kind to them Pelham see Lord you are good you're good and we love that you are eager to answer these prayers and we love that where the news of the gospel goes out your spirit rushes alongside and awakens hard hearts and dead hearts and covers deserts with water that's what you do it's what you do God and so we have a confidence right now when we're praying to you that our prayers are being heard by our Father because the veil has been torn by the land and so we come to you with boldness and anticipation that these next hours and days together are gonna be filled with joy and Jesus and and fresh seeing God we know you want to do that and we're asking you to do that we hope that you'll do that I'm gonna be watching this week these moments right now support your grace on us got a spirit on us we love you Jesus good name amen amen all right well how we doing yeah I'm excited to be here with you guys getting into God's Word and we're just gonna jump in so let's let's do it a few years ago as some of you might remember this a movie came out it was a true story about a fella named Walter Keane now maybe that names not familiar to you if you're a baby boomer in the room maybe the name is familiar to you Walter Keane was a very notable character in the 1960s he was one of the most commercially successful artists in that time period in fact life magazine around 1965 did a piece on him and they were quoted as saying about him that he was the most popular art now being produced in the free world so kind of a big deal Walter Keane that's our guy now what art did he produce well he was known for producing beauties like these I think we got on the screen for you now whether or not you're gonna have nightmares for the rest of your life because you just looked at that is not the point you will but that's not the point the point is that these football eyed creepy looking kids holding emaciated animals was a really big deal in the 60s okay and they sold for tons and tons of money and it was this massive thing that was happening and there was only one problem with it Walter Keane didn't paint on one of them he didn't pay he didn't know how to pay though those paintings a hundred percent of them were produced by his wife Margaret Keane she did all of them and he put his name on him now Margaret went public with this truth in the seven and you can imagine it just went crazy Walter went to the press and he started getting some pieces written slandering her and just making the claim but no it was in fact him that was doing it and so she ended up in the 80s taking him to court over the whole issue and the judge was was interesting he was a creative I guess he decided that the way that they were going to sort out who was telling the truth is they were gonna have an in court real time paint off this thing happened I love this judge they weren't gonna set up two easels both parties show they paint the picture and whoever looks the creepiest I guess wins I don't know I don't know how you judge that but I guess that that was it well wouldn't you know on the day of the paint off Walter said he couldn't do it because he had a sore shoulder and in that just the worst you know when that kind of stuff happens to you God's sovereign but it's crazy so Margaret showed up and she sat down and in 53 minutes she painted one of these paintings and the jury awarded her four million dollars in damages because of that moment because of her husband's plagiarism and that's what we're talking about right now we're talking about this issue of plagiarism one of the most successful artists in the 1960s now one of the most infamous plagiarists of our time what is plagiarism plagiarism in its simplest form is just the act of taking another's work and passing it off as your own that's what plagiarism is it's a it's robbing someone of the credit they rightly deserve and applying that credit to yourself instead you see that and if we're honest this isn't really exclusively a painter problem or an author problem or a publishing problem it's a human problem in fact I might be so bold as to say in some ways it's the human promise problem plagiarism the temptation that we have to sort of sign our name at the bottom of a work that's not ours specifically the work of God plagiarism that's what it is and the reason we're gonna be we're gonna be in the Book of Daniel this morning and the reason we're gonna be there it's because I think it does a great job of framing this particular issue for us because the Book of Daniel and particularly the chapter we're gonna be in Chapter four of Daniel is is an interesting one because it sort of gets at the the heart of one of these key issues that runs throughout the whole sort of meta narrative of Scripture it's it's an issue that the Bible is deeply concerned about and it's this who gets the credit that's that's the question that so much of our Bible is asking who gets the credit who gets the credit for the good in your life like who gets the credit for all the wonderful things that have happened in you and to you and through you who gets the credit for the future good that's coming for us as Christians who gets the credit whose name is on the painting how you answer that question is the difference between seeing and blindness it's the difference between humility and pride it's the difference between gratitude and sort of self glory and what I'm hoping and praying that the Spirit does today for us and this weekend for us is to expose in us those areas of our life where we're sort of signing our name the bottom of the painting that God has made that's what I'm concerned about and I think that's what the text is concerned about and so that's that's where we're gonna be if you have a Bible get it out we're gonna be in Daniel chapter four and we're gonna be looking at the life of a pagan king named Nebuchadnezzar and we're gonna watch as this man who has spent his whole life really taking credit for someone else's work we're gonna watch what that behavior does to him we're gonna watch where it takes him and we're gonna we're gonna watch what it takes to get him to return the credit to where it's rightly due okay that's that's where we're moving right now and so we're in Daniel chapter four and it's a long passage so I'll read some with you I'll summarize some and off we go sound good okay Daniel chapter 4 verse 1 says this King Nebuchadnezzar to all peoples nations and languages that dwell and all the earth peace be multiplied to you okay so Nebuchadnezzar is the author of this story it's a letter that he's writing to a group would be when the group people is every human right that's the letter that he's penning right now and our story actually begins at the end of his story as we'll see so this is him having gone through a series of events and recounting those events for us it's very you know sort of Christopher Nolan of them very memento if that's too hipster it's it's very it's a Forrest Gump intro to this moment right the park bench is there and a little nevi sitting there in the end and the the feathers coming down and and he's just he's just telling us his tale man where he's been what's been going on with him that's how this scene opens Nebuchadnezzar is going to be recounting for us where he's been and what's happening okay that's verse 1 and I want you to notice something as we move through this text notice how he begins his letter here he's gonna begin his letter by praising God I think we're gonna find that to be really interesting so verse 2 and 3 says this he just introduced himself and he says this it has seemed good to me to show the signs and wonders that the Most High God has done for me how great are his signs how mighty his wonders his kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom his Dominion endures from generation to generation so he's telling us what we're in for in this story this story is a story about the marvelous things that God has done for this man and he just right at the beginning right in the first few verses of his letter he just breaks out into song like if you look at in your Bible it's usually sectioned off like in a little smaller thing it's cuz it's a poem it's a song he's celebrating his singing he's saying right here he's he's saying how great are his signs how mighty are his wonders like this dude literally just goes into how great is our God the chorus and just is rocking it right you see you thought it was Tomlin but it was a it was a pagan Babylonian king speaking of plagiarism what you saying that's how he starts he is celebrating God for the work that God has done in him he says and so now on to his story verse 4 is where he jumps into the what of the story what what did God do he says I never kanessa was at ease in my house and prospering in my palace so that's the scene just pictured in your head Nebuchadnezzar is just sort of kicking it in his house and by house of course I mean this picture that is where he is hanging out affectionately known as the Hanging Gardens of Babylon one of the seven wonders of the world by the way if your house is one of the seven wonders of the world can we just all agree you're doing okay things are good things are good for that guy right there and and and he goes on and he says this I was in my house verse five and I saw a dream that made me afraid as I lay in bed the fancies and the visions of my head alarmed me so he's laying there in the lap of luxury and he has a dream and the dream terrifies him it terrifies him so so so what what is Nebuchadnezzar do well we find out later in the story he he calls up his magicians and his astrologers all of the folks in his quorum and any and he gets them to throw an interpretation out to him of this dream and they can't figure it out so he brings in this Jewish captive named Daniel who's gonna present him with an interpretation he thinks and so he presents his dream to these group of people and essentially here's what the dream is I'm gonna summarize it for you because it's a it's a long section in here essentially what the dream is this he dreamed that he saw a tree right in sort of the middle of the earth and this tree grew and grew and grew and it grew so big that in his dream he saw reaching all the way up to the heavens like to what we would think of this space like that's how big the tree is and it's armed extended out over the whole of the earth and its foliage and its leaves provided shade for the whole earth and it grew fruit and that fruit was feeding all of the creatures of the earth is a big majestic beautiful tree that Nebuchadnezzar saw and then right in the middle of that moment down from heaven comes this angelic being in the in the passage it's called a watcher or a holy one this angelic being that comes down and this being makes a proclamation over the tree and it's this chop the tree down that's that's what Nebuchadnezzar hears in his dream chop the tree down all the way to its stump cut off its branches strip its leaves scatter its fruit bind it with bronze and then cover him it says with Dew let him lose his mind the mind of a man to be given the mind of a beast and let this happen for seven periods of time the voice says and then interestingly within the dream the angel itself gives an interpretation of that moment the angel gives the the reason why this is happening to the tree and he says this verse 17 the sentence is by the decree of the Watchers the decision by the word of the Holy Ones to the end that the living may know that the most high rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will and sets it over the lowliest of men so that's the dream that's the dream that that Nebuchadnezzar presents to these people his crew can't figure it out and then Daniel comes in and by God's grace he's he's able to interpret it and what he tells Nebuchadnezzar in that moment is this you're the tree that's the punchline of this moment King you are the tree your kingdom is massive and epic and big and flourishing and expansive and it covers the earth and you got to remember at this time I mean we're talking about Babylon it doesn't really get any bigger than Babylon at this moment in history Babylon was the name of the Empire and it was also the name of the capital city within the Empire and in the middle of the sixth century BC if this was Babylon kind of at its peak so so the city alone just like within the city walls of the city of Babylon there were over two hundred thousand people in it now that might sound small to us here in Dallas but that would have been the largest city that had ever been made by man ever the hut most densely populated city in the history of the world at this time was Babylon Babylon's military might right they they struck fear into the hearts of everyone around and remember this was the nation that God used to overtake God's people Israel and bring them into into exile remember the Babylonian captivity that's that's this nation this crew of people this military and there were really there's nobody who was sort of as big a deal at that time who had more sovereignty or power or authority than the head of this Empire King Nebuchadnezzar and so right at the top of the food chain you have this man and this nation right Babylon was it it was everything and I find it interesting as I was kind of working through the text you know it's it's interesting to know that the vision and in the interpretation that Daniel gave of the vision that that he was the tree and that all these things were going to happen to him it wasn't actually an indictment on the size or scope of his nation was it did you notice that like that the the indictment wasn't about how powerful he was and I'll show you why um look at verse 25 so Daniel is interpreting this judgment for the King and he says this you shall be driven from among man your dwelling place shall be with the beasts of the field you shall be made to eat grass like an ox you shall be wet with the dew of heaven and seven periods of time shall pass over you and listen to this till you know that the most high rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will so the angel and Daniel are both warning there is a danger here in the greatness of this kingdom but the danger isn't the kingdom the danger is thinking it's your kingdom you see that no problem with the expansiveness of his military or his power or sovereignty the issue is you think it's yours and that's why judgment is about to fall welcome to the threat for every one of us in this room right just whose kingdom do you think this is this is Kingdom do you think this is let me say it another way when you think about your life whose name do you find at the bottom of that painting when you look there is it yours is it that's the issue for God in this text not the kingdom but the hoos you think it is if you're needing like a simple basic sort of capturing summary of Christianity and what it is sort of at its core it's this Christianity is about undeserving people getting massive blessings from a generous guy Christianity is is about undeserving people getting massive gifts massive blessings from a generous God and this is the thread that sort of weaves its way throughout all of your Bible it's gonna tie so much of it together it's not just a Nebuchadnezzar issue or an Old Testament issue this is not just something that's dealt with pre Christ this is like the Bible's issue like like think about Paul Paul in 1st Corinthians 1 listen to this this is him writing to the church at Corinth and he says this for consider your calling brothers not many of you were wise according to worldly standards not many were powerful not many were of noble birth but God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong he chose what is low and what is despised in the world even the things that are not to bring to nothing the things that are listened so that no human being might boast in the presence of God God has and always will be in the business of blessing the lowest ones that's what he does he blesses the lowly the ones who in their estimation of themselves realize that we're not spectacular but we're not grand but in fact when we reflect on ourselves we see our the darkness of our motives the the boastfulness of our heart and we we hate it and and we want to run from that and when we think about what God does want to give to us and we think about what he should want to give to us rather we think wrath makes a whole lot of sense the ones who have a heart posture that can say that are the ones God is so eager to bless it's the ones who finally can own and get I am actually lowly now nobodies hi I'm exhausted in the final estimation it's just some people can finally admit it God loves blessing lowly people and for those of us in Christ I just want you to feel this the blessings that he extends they don't get any bigger right freedom from sin joy in Jesus forever no condemnation the wrath of God removed from us a glorified body in a new heavens and a new earth with the Saints of God's celebrating him forever the promise that all of our suffering is being worked now for our good and our delight in him like the blessings below Nebuchadnezzar's out of the water what we have is better than what he has that's what God offers the Saints and none of it not a single one of these things is our doing it's the Marvel of the gospel in it it's all a gift Christianity is about understanding about the undeserving people receiving gifts from a generous God that's sort of the punchline of the gospel is that how you see things like I know we've probably been taught that a lot but I'm asking like in your heart of hearts is that how you see reality is that how the economy of your Christian walk works I had just the most amazing privilege last month of sitting with a new friend now and and getting to see him come to know Jesus for the first time he is a now former Mormon and as we were talking he talked for over two hours today last month over coffee and as we talked I just got to hear his story and what was the appeal to him of heading in the direction of the LDS Church in the first place you know what he said I just thought it was so fascinating he said that the draw was the fact that he could contribute to his salvation in fact he looked at me after he said that any he just said this at least Mormonism gave me something to do in an honest I love that which is another way of saying I really want to sign my name on the painting do you hear that maybe that's some of your struggle here too maybe you're not verbally boastful like a Nebuchadnezzar is but but maybe if you wrestle with the same things I do you just love having a hand in the deal you love knowing that you have something to do at the end of the day something you can measure and check the height and width of and say look what I made Christians don't make stuff we receive we don't make things happen for ourselves things happen for us in Jesus we don't clear debts our debts get cleared while we gaze in a at this God who would condescend to be kind to us and pardon sinners like you and me like that's what Christianity feels like and when we get this when we start to become just open handed receivers of what God's giving to us listen it makes God look great it makes him look great and so you can understand why God would care so much about his signature being the only one on the painting and sadly Nebuchadnezzar misses it he misses it look at verse 28 all this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar so he just heard the the interpretation of the dream he had by Daniel and then verse 29 at the end of 12 months he was walking on the roof of the Royal Palace of Babylon and the King answered or in some translations reflected and said is this not great Babylon which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my Majesty there what one year after he sees the vision he hears the warning the king of Babylon picks up his pen and he's just signs his name across the kingdom of God and immediately the text says after this a voice came out of heaven and announced the judgment on him and in seconds Nebuchadnezzar loses his kingdom his sovereignty all of his authority and his mind for the next seven years I want us to notice something because as we're reading this I think that there's a principle here implied in the text for us hold on - and I I don't I don't want it to be lost on you that there was a really significant time gap between the vision he saw the warning he heard and his sort of eventual collapse back into arrogance like a full calendar year it says twelve months had passed before this moment happened of him boasting in his own kingdom and here's what I think the principle is for us the further we get away from the truth the more we begin to rewrite it let me say that again the further you get away from the truth the more you begin to rewrite it and this is not like a strange thing it's not a weird phenomenon this happens all the time right this this is sort of normal living like you just put a little bit of distance in between any guy in this room and the last time he caught a fish and you just watch what happens to that story well I was off the coast Cape Town South Africa with my buddies my crew when I travel internationally I travel with my crew and we were out there noodling full arm for hammerheads hammerhead sharks we were and I just reached I pulled six of those puppies through minna but it was weighing them down I tell you each one of them was ten feet if it was an inch I don't want to brag but soli Deo Gloria you know but of course you wife walks in the back you know honey the the koi pond in front of the church then have hammerheads has coy so you kind of koi fish Morty right that's that's what we do that is what we do man as time passes and we're not careful we just have a way of sort of reimagining and retelling and rewriting the story and it almost always goes in our favor doesn't it that's what we do this is why folks by the way who are like really familiar with the criminal justice system will tell us not to hang our hat on eyewitness testimony right because it's so horribly unreliable we're discovering like people just forget man they forget really easily in the end the further we get away from the event the further we get away from the reality or the truth the more we begin to rewrite it it's just how it goes and you know some of the saddest examples I've seen of this have been me sitting across the table from guys in my life who are just telling me where they're at and man I'm listening to them just doubt away God and doubt away objective truth and doubt away biblical inerrancy and doubt away any firm footing to stand on just dismissing it the whole thing and and then I will ask them as I usually do after they shared that brother tell me about your time in the word and you know what a hundred percent of those conversations have in common not a one of them is reading their Bible every one of them will look at me and Sam I'm not in the word I'm not reading the Bible anymore and I find it fascinating and heartbreaking they have distanced themselves from the truth source and now are complaining that they can't find truth can I just say this lovingly to us there is very little hope for you to be happy in Jesus if you refuse to be with Jesus some of you are just struggling right now struggling for joy and like you're here cuz somebody dragged you here you found a discount code on the internet and you're you're here but you're just you haven't gone eyeball-to-eyeball with the Lord and a long time and your joy is gone I'm praying for you this weekend we're praying for you this weekend that this weekend would be the time when you would begin to close that gap of distance between yourself and the truth and beauty of Jesus and the gospel this is what this weekend is for for us to shrink the distance between us and the beauty of Jesus we want to get close we want to be familiar we don't want time to pass we want to be with him all the time and so we're praying for you and we're in a very dark part of the story aren't we and really in many ways this should be where the story ends it would make sense the guy got what was coming to him but our God he's kind y'all he's so kind to wicked people like us and pagan Kings like Nebuchadnezzar and and so this story doesn't end here there's a verse 34 and it says this at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted my eyes to heaven and my reason returned to me and I blessed the most high and praised and honored him who lives forever for his Dominion is an everlasting Dominion in his kingdom endures from generation to generation all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted is nothing and he does according to his will among the hosts of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth and none can stay his hand or say to him what have you done now that is the sound of a man who knows his place in the story that's the sound of a man who sees it and I'm just left going as the reader like how did that happen what what happened like how did you go from like crazy Howard Hughes fingernails and bird hair length feel like how did it happen - this - like I get it like how how did that happen the text only gives us six words six words I lifted my eyes to heaven notice when Nebuchadnezzar fell where was he when he made the big Proclamation about this being my kingdom where was he says he was he was on top of his palace looking down over his kingdom and where did his reason return to him he was as low as you could get he was eating grass with animals he was so low that the only direction he could look was up listen to CS Lewis quote because I think it just does such a great job of capturing a moment like this in in God he says you come up against something which is in every respect immeasurably superior to yourself unless you know God as that and therefore know yourself is nothing in comparison you do not know God at all as long as you are proud you cannot know God a proud man is always looking down on things and people and of course as long as you are looking down you cannot see something that is above you you see that forgetting our place in the story is like constantly staring down over our petty little kingdoms right and never turning our gaze heavenward that's what it's like and and God will not settle for that in us and so what does that mean for us how do we fight back against forgetting our place in God's great sovereign story well the text said it in those six words right we get low and look up to him we get low and we look up to him but okay that's nice and flowery but how does that play out in my life well I think a couple ways and before I say them I just I want to say I hesitated to include these today as I was prepping because for many of us what I'm about to say is just gonna feel so tired and like so played out and I get it I've actually started calling these two things the dead horses because I just keep beating the crud out of these guys right and the thing is though I haven't found anything in my 17 years of walking with Jesus that has been more helpful than these and so I just keep coming back to it and so so here it is how do we get low and look up toward him what does that look like practically what are some things that we can walk in one we fix our eyes on the truth and two we do that next to truth lovers we fix our eyes on the truth and then we fix our eyes on the truth as we stand beside lovers of the truth and what I mean when we fix our eyes on the truth this was this was normative walking with God when you when you look at the scripture when you look at some of the great Saints of the Bible I mean this was David's mentality he says it's one of my favorite moments in the songs he says in Psalm 16 verse 8 I have set the Lord continually before me because he is it my right hand I will not be shaken that language I have set the Lord like like I have chosen to put something before my eyes and the thing I've chosen to put before my eyes is Yahweh I'm setting the Lord before me always continually that's the pattern that's the habit of the Saints we set Jesus in front of us and we gaze in wonder and he's given us such a resource to do that the scriptures are our honey for us and gold for us and I just wonder how many of us in here are saying I want to know God and I want him to have that position of authority in my life and I want him to be a pleasure to me but if we if we get pressed on what our time with the Lord looks like it's just like some of my friends it's just not there or it's it's it's fickle it's and it's aggravated by a text thread that I knew or a Twitter page I'm on aura or some new distraction around me or just the I don't want to Atlas and I have not found a better or sweeter means of grace in all of my years of knowing Jesus than just daily sitting with him in his word and it's just gone hard after him and and as I press into the text the person of Jesus just starts jumping out at me not at first right it takes pressing it takes it takes pinning guys like the Apostle Paul to the ground and and demanding he he show me what he's saying right it takes that but but the pinning happens and then Jesus shows up and I start to see his promises in fresh ways and and I noticed like my appetite for him starts expanding and I'm hungry for you now wasn't I wasn't hungry when I started eating but now I'm eating and I'm starving for more it's this fascinating thing that happens when we sit with the Word of God and it happens for us in Christ he wants to meet us in his word is that something you're leaning into what a what a means of grace for us we fix our eyes on the truth and and he has provided truth in spades for us in his word and we do that right next to the Saints right next to the truth lovers you know it's for me anyways what feels so painfully absent from this story other people like that aren't weirdo astrologers and magicians and and aren't like his slaved and you know like where are the people and Nebuchadnezzar's life who who can help him safely like where are they now I get it he's a pagan King and a pagan nation and you can't you can't tell the King hey because you know he'll kill you but but that's not our problem right that's not the problem we have and so my question is where are our people like how or rather let me say how high of a value do you place on being in community with others people who love you take God's words seriously are faithful to it love Jesus they want to get to know them they're not perfect and neither are you but you've run alongside them as you seek after truth is you close the gap between the last time you spoke with your God and heard from him where are those people how big of a priority is that for you you know I just can't help but think like in in a Hebrews 3:13 you know encourage one another day after day as long as it's called today so that no one is hardened by sins deceitfulness like do you hear in that text like the author is saying you need to hear the truth of God and you need to hear it out of the mouths of people like you need to hear other people tell you promises warnings attributes of God you need to hear that from them because if you don't there is another promise for you in Scripture and that is that your sin will harden you and it will blind you we have to be people who fix our eyes on the truth do that alongside others who are seeking that same truth and I know this just feels tired to hear like Jimmy told me read my Bible give me time to go to church yeah I did because we don't need something new or sexy to get to know our God we just need to be faithful with the means of grace he's given us already and he's given us some wonderful means of grace hasn't he let's lean into that let's be boring for Jesus amen and you know when we begin to be people who lean into these things who take God's words seriously you've set the Lord continually before us to do that with the Saints do you know what happens in us a couple things gratitude happens and joy happens gratitude and joy you know my favorite part of this this whole chapter my favorite part of this whole chapter is not the end it's not when he gets this sight back and his mind back and all that's not that my favorite part is actually the beginning the first couple verses we read in light of all that we just heard right the fact that now the humbled Nebuchadnezzar can look back over his life and hate and he says remember what he says it seemed good to me to show you the signs and wonders verse 2 that the Most High has done for me has done for me what did God do for him he laid this fool out this guy was walking around like a like a chicken and he was eating grass like no underwear just is happening just stuffs have seven years of crazytown that's what God did for me what humble people celebrate getting humbled though we love being glow because it makes God look so high and great and big and wonderful it reminds me of this moment almost 12 years ago I must have been twenty years old and I was booked to play a show in Florida at a celebrate recovery event did you get anybody heard of celebrate recovery in here yeah okay awesome it's an awesome ministry that works with addicts and people struggle with all sorts of sort of assorted sin issues and and helps them just see Jesus and trust him in a way that allows them to flee from their sin so I was invited as a 20 year old to speak at celebrate recovery and this wasn't just like any celebrate recovery this was the the church that founded celebrate recovery they're meeting there and they say hey hey 20 year old Jimmy would you come and speak with all your wisdom to us about addiction and freedom I was like yeah of course because I have so much to offer and so I I showed up and I just remember this night so clearly I you know I roll up to the church and I'm walking in I'm just seeing like a row of like 45 Harley Davidsons and I'm like what is about to happen and I get in there and I I'm around like nephilim like like 10 foot high Monst leather-clad tatsu spider tattoos big old beard you should have seen the man the man it was it was wild and I'm standing there my little Pew like this and just I mean seriously I was so intimidating guys I'm like I'm gonna speak to these people I live in the suburbs and and I the way they started the event was with worship I wasn't the worship leader I was gonna sing some songs later so the worship started a guy with an acoustic gets up and he starts singing and everything changed I come I'm standing there next to these like rough and rugged and like scary people and when the the words of praise started coming out of the speakers they just melted and just crying out to God we're so thankful you could just see it all over their faces faces covered with tears well why would you do this for me well you you seen my life you know what I'm like you give me grace and I started crying cuz I just I just felt like the Spirit was saying this is what it looks like to really know God it looks like seeing yourself rightly lo seeing him is high and exalted remembering your place in the story I receive I'm not contributing to this deal you've given me everything that's what it looks like to remember the reality of God he's offering trust father what do we have that hasn't been given to us and why do we act as if it wasn't everything is a gift given by a really generous giver and we just want to open up our arms to you and just say thank you for giving it thank you for filling our hands with righteousness not our own but Christ thank you for filling our hearts with tenderness and love we didn't do that you do that and if it's not there in this room for some of us than God we ask that you would give that to us and if you're praying with me right now and and you've heard this and you're processing and you're going on I don't know that I've ever received just taken I pray you take him now ask him for the crises so eager to give because he's eager to give father we need you and we need your name to stay right at the bottom of the painting so God give us eyes to see we love you Jesus name you

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Id: oWDG5OaNkC8

Length: 59min 18sec (3558 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 07 2018