- Hello Saddleback! I wanna say hi to all of our campuses, and those of you who
are joining us online, and thank you as we start this new series. I'm looking forward to it, Nine weeks on one of the greatest lives in history, the great prophet Daniel, who started out as a 15 year old, as a prisoner of war, and went to the top of
the pinacle of success. And we're gonna look at how do you thrive no matter what they throw at you. I don't just want you to succeed in life, I don't want you to just survive in life, I want you to thrive in every area, because that's what God wants you to do. Now, you know, folks today it seems like that all the values that
a create healthy society have been turned upside down. You agree with this? I mean, it's amazing, and everything's turned inside out. And Isaiah, many years ago, thousands of years ago, warned that any culture is headed for collapse when it reverses the values
that created the health of that culture in the first place. Let me show you this,
up here on the screen. The Bible says in Isaiah 5:20, (reading) He said, "You're gonna collapse." That culture is not going to last. That, my friends, actually happened, 2,600 years ago, to the nation of Israel. And that nation had
fallen into immorality, and into injustice, and into idolatry. Any of those sound familiar? Idolizing things that aren't God, treating people unjustly and unfairly, and immorality. And there were a bunch of guys that day, they were prophets. One was called Jeremiah. One was called Ezekiel. One was called Zephaniah. Daniel was just a young teenage boy when all this was happening. And they kept predicting, they said guys, if we don't get our act together, we're gonna lose our freedom. We're gonna lose our freedom. And they were warning
the nation of Israel, that God was ticked, at idolatry and immorality, and injustice in society. And sure enough, about 600 B.C., the emperor of the
powerful Babylonian empire invaded Israel. His name was Nebuchadnezzar, it was the most powerful
empire of its day. And he came in, took over the entire nation of Israel. Destroyed the capital city, totally destroyed the
capital city of Jerusalem. And took 25 percent of the nation, as prisoners of war, back to Iraq. Back to Babylon, and kept them there for 70 years. It was a disaster. They lost their freedom
because they were not paying attention to what God had said. And the collapse of that culture, shook everybody. Now, there was another guy, he was not a prophet, his name was Asaph. Asaph was actually a songwriter. And he wrote 12 of the songs in the Bible. A lot of people think that David was the only one who wrote songs but, Moses wrote songs, Solomon wrote songs, and a guy named Asaph wrote 12 of them. And in Psalm 82, a Psalm of Asaph, he is complaining on God's behalf. Saying the leaders and the judges in your country, are not playing fair. And they're corrupt. Here's what he says, Notice here on the screen... Psalm 82:1-5. (reading) He's talking about those
in Israel that day. How long will you guys... How long will you judges hand down unjust decisions, and show partiality? Remember we talked last week, partiality is the old English word for racism or prejudice. How long are you gonna be prejudice? Give fair judgments to
the poor and orphans. Uphold the rights of the oppressed and the defenseless. And he says there... rescue the poor and the helpless, and deliver them from
heartless, evil people. Because the leaders are foolish, and they lack understanding, people are living in dark times, and, this is the whole
phrase I want you to get, all the foundations of society are shaken to the core. Does that sound familiar? All the foundations of society are shaken to the core. That's sounds like today's news. It seems like everything
is being shaken today. Our economy... And the foundations of our economy are being shaken. The way we've done government in America, for hundreds of years, is being shaken. Our freedom, our freedom
of speech, conscience, religion, being shaken. Marriages are being shaken, families are being shaken. So many things, education is being shaken. The foundations of our
moral and ethical values are being shaken. Now we're living in a
time of great upheaval, where there is a lot
of shakiness going on. But I'm not here to talk
about doom and gloom. Because this book is not
about doom and gloom. It's about the answer. It's about the answer to those. And God says, no matter
how bad the world gets, in a rapidly changing world, and even in a decaying culture, God says I want you to survive, and not only that, thrive, and not only that, I want you to succeed. And so I'm starting a
new series this weekend. We're gonna look at the book of Daniel, great, great book in the Old Testament. About, it's called, Unshakable. And this series on Unshakable is how to thrive no matter
what they throw at you. No matter what comes against you. And it starts with a young boy who was seeing all this happen in his life. His name was Daniel. The Daniel who wrote this book, was not a famous prophet when he starts the story. And it covers 70 years of his life, from age 15 to age 85. He starts off as a prisoner of war, he ends up 70 years later, as the second most powerful man, in the most powerful empire at that time, without losing his integrity. It's an amazing story
of lessons for everyone at every stage and age in our culture, and in our church. So this 15 year old
teenager is named Daniel. And he watches the
destruction of his nation. And he's taken as a prisoner of war, one of the guys taken. They took 25 percent of
the nation to Babylon. He's one of the ones, and he would never see his parents again. Never see his family again, and never see his
homeland in Israel again. He would spend the rest of his life living in a foreign, hostile culture. And the book of Daniel,
teaches how to thrive no matter what they throw at you. We're gonna study his life in detail. The next eight weeks together. But this weekend, I wanna
just set up the theme. And this is how the book of Daniel starts. I'm just gonna read you
the first seven verses, and then we're gonna look at the theme. Here's what the first seven verses of this book say. (reading) In the third year of Judah's King Jehoiakim's reign, King Nebuchadnezzar,
that's the Babylonian guy, of Babylon besieged Jerusalem with his armies. Have you ever been besieged? Have you ever felt besieged by all the problems in your life? By all the work that you gotta do and you don't have the time and the money to do it? You ever felt like things
were caving in on you? This is the way Daniel and the people of Jerusalem felt. They were besieged by Nebuchadnezzar and his armies. And it says and God gave Nebuchadnezzar the victory. What! Nebuchadnezzar is not a godly man, he's not Jewish, he's not Christian, he's a total pagan. God gave Nebuchadnezzar the victory. Now I'm not gonna get into this, but I will just say this, God often uses pagan leaders to discipline His own children. He did with Pharaoh. He did it with Cyrus the Persian. He did with Darius the Mead He did it with Nebuchadnezzar. God often uses ungodly
leaders to do His will. And He let Nebuchadnezzar discipline his own children, the children of Israel. And here's what happened. So after the battle, and the whole nation is
taken into captivity. (reading) What's he doing? He's showing off. See, our god is better than your god. There are supposed to be your holy things, we got 'em now. And they're in our foreign temple. And it says he also ordered that the best young men of Judah taken as captives to be
brought to his palace. And one of those happen to be Daniel. And he says this, he told them, select only the best-looking, strongest, and smartest young men. And bring 'em to my palace. Okay, by the way, look up there for just a second. Did you notice the same three values that we value in our culture today? Beauty, brains, and braun, okay. He says, okay, our society is built on, if you're not academically proficient, academic aptitude, and if you don't have athletic ability, and if you don't have great appearance, you're nothing. Well that's what he's saying. This is not a new, this is the culture of the world. That it's all about sex,
and salary and status. It's all about brains, braun, and beauty. It's all about academics and athletics and appearance. And King Nebuchadnezzar said bring me the best guys. So then they put these guys, these young teenage boys, to a three year cultural
indoctrination program. And here's what the Bible says, the rest of the verses. Make sure that they are well versed in every branch of learning, are gifted with knowledge and good sense, and have the poise needed to serve in my royal palace. He's gonna make them his servants. Teach these young men the language and literature of the Babylonian culture. They're gonna be indoctrinated. They were to eat only Babylonian food and they were to be
trained for three years. And then it also says this. Also they were given, these young boys, teenagers, were given
new Babylonian names. So Daniel who's clearly Jewish and Hebrew. And his three best friends were renamed. Daniel was renamed Belteshazzar. Now later we're gonna see in Daniel one of the, the guy who
replaces Nebuchadnezzar, his name is Belshazzar, not the same guy. Belteshazzar is Daniel. Belshazzar is the emperor. Hananiah was renamed Shadrach. Mishael was renamed Meshach. And Azariah was renamed Abednego. Now, what's going on here? What's going on here is
they're systematically reprogramming these Jewish teens. They said you're not
gonna be Jews anymore. We're going, you're not gonna have that ethnic background anymore. They're shaking things up, they're destroying the foundation. They're replacing the
godly values of Israel with the pagan values of Babylon. They have separated
them from their parents, from their loved ones, their families. And they have given them
all brand new names. And new identities. They said your old life, that's over. You're now Babylonian. Okay, question, if
you're a 15 year old kid, would you say that your life had just been shaken up a lot? Yeah, yeah, no doubt about it. You're never gonna see your parents again. And your life has been shaken up. And yet, even though his life was shaken to the foundations, Daniel, this 15 year old kid, grew into a great, great man of God. One of the greatest prophets in the Bible. And while keeping his integrity and his faith intact, in the years ahead, in a hostile culture, he kept getting promoted and promoted and promoted. And he's promoted five different times. And he served and he outlasts three different empires of two different cultures. First the Babylonians had
taken over the Syrians. And then he served under
two Babylonian emperors, and then they're taken
over by the Persians. Cyrus the Great says
you guys are all dead, but I'm keeping Daniel. And so he outlasts three administrations. And he, by the way, leads
two of those emperors, to faith in God. Nebuchadnezzar and Cyrus the Great, both turned to God when
they see Daniel's life. He's just an amazing young man. And at 85, he's now retired, near the end of the book. And they have a big problem in the empire. And the emperor calls
him out of retirement. At 85 years of age. He says we still need you. And he does such an amazing job, that the emperor says, I'm putting you second in command in the entire empire only to me. Now, that's a huge story, that's better than Lord of the Rings. Or Star Wars. This thing's filled with adventure, political intrigue and
all kinds of things. And we're gonna look at it for eight weeks after this week. And it's an amazing story of how you survive and thrive, and actually succeed, when people around you don't agree with what you believe. Are you interested in that? Yeah, well you oughta be. And it tells us how to do that. So what should you do when your world is shaken up? When the foundations become real unstable and unsteady, and you don't know which way is up, what do you do? Well, we're gonna start this journey with just three simple suggestions today. We'll get into the actual life of Daniel next week. This sets up the theme
for the entire series. First suggestion, when your life is thrown into chaos. When your world is shaken up. Number one, don't be
surprised by adversity. That's the first thing we're gonna learn from this young man Daniel. Don't be surprised by adversity. Now although the collapse
of the nation of Israel was shock, it shocked everybody, it wasn't unexpected. Because the prophets Daniel and Zephaniah, and others had been saying, guys, we're gonna lose our freedom, we're gonna lose our freedom, we're gonna lose our freedom, if we don't wise up and
stop all this idolatry and other stuff. And so, as a teenager, Daniel had been hearing this. He heard these preachers. He could hear them in the streets. Saying guys, we're getting... We're being warned, if we lose our freedom,
if we don't do this. And here's what the Bible
says in 1 Peter 4:12. (reading) He said, you know, shake ups, are a normal part of
life in a broken world. We do not live in heaven. In heaven, everything's perfect. Everything's done great. There are no tears, no
sorrows, no suffering. But on earth, everything is broken, because of sin. Every relationship is broken. Every body is broken. We don't have healthy minds. The weather is broken, the economy is broken. And so we shouldn't expect
things to be perfect here on earth. And when something bad
happens in your life, instead of going, why me? You might wanna say, why not me? I live here on earth, and this is not heaven. That's coming later. And so there are gonna be sufferings, there are gonna be trials. Don't be surprised by it. Jesus said it like this, John 16:33. Jesus said, in this world, you might experience difficulties. Oh, that's not what he said. In this world you what? Circle that, will. Now if Jesus said it, you can count on it. You will have problems in life. You are gonna face adversity. You are gonna have times where your world is tossed upside down, and everything is shaken
and bakin' and flyin' and you don't know which way is up. In this world you will
experience difficulties, Jesus promised that. But he said, take heart, I have conquered the world. He said I've told you this
so that in trusting me you will be unshakable, that's the theme of our
series, circle that. You'll be unshakable and deeply at peace. Jesus warned us that adversity is gonna be a part of life. Don't let it blow you away. Don't be surprised, don't be shocked. But you need to be unshakable. I'm telling you so you won't cave in. Now do you know that
the typical response is when you go through a crisis? They typical human response, when I or you go through a crisis is this. First thing we do is try to figure out who's to blame. That's the last thing you need to work on. Who's fault is it? As long as you're fixing the blame, you can't fix the problem. The blame is to be lame. That's how you spell blame. And so when you blame other people, you're not, you're just
perpetuating the problem. You're not solving anything. Politicians love to blame each other. This groups and that
groups blame each other. You know what, blame is not, blame is lame. Instead of asking whose fault it is, you need to be asking what should I do? Now just so you'll know, let me tell you, there are four sources of the problems in your life. You might write these down. I'm gonna tell you in just a minute, it doesn't really matter where the source is from, but I'll go ahead and tell you anyway. Okay, there are four sources of every problem in your life. Number one is you. Okay, I am the biggest problem to myself. I cause myself more pain, more heartache from my dumb decisions. I was talking to Kay this afternoon, and I said, honey I wanna talk to you about a character flaw in me I'm just really bugged by. And in a moment of clarity, I was just talking to her about this. And I think it's one of the reasons I'm looking forward to heaven. Because in heaven, I don't have to hang out with me. Okay, when I get to heaven, all of my weaknesses, all those flaws, they're gonna be taken away. So I'm gonna be the new, improved me. So by the way, if you
don't like me right now, you're gonna love me in heaven, okay? I'll have no imperfections. I won't irritate you in any way. Of course, you won't irritate me either. Because all your hangups
will be taken away too. But I think being in
heaven is gonna be cool, so I don't have to hang out with all my faults and flaws, and foibles and weaknesses that I've had live with all my life, and you've had to live
with yours all your life. But the first source of
the shakeups in your life is your own nature, your old nature. Which is your own biggest problem. You might wanna write
next to that Romans 7. Romans 7 is a classic
chapter that explains how you are the biggest problem to you. And I won't go into that. The second source of the
problems in your life is the world. The world. And the world, your nature is within you. The world is around you. It wants to pull you down. And the primary way the world tries to pull you down is through ridicule and through withholding approval. We are desperate for the approval of other people. And so we will lower our standards, and we'll change our convictions, and we'll give in and give up. Simply because we want
somebody to like us. You don't need the world's
approval to be happy. You're as happy as you choose to be. You don't need the world's approval. But the world causes a lot of problems in your life too. The third source of problems is, of course, Satan. The devil is real, evil and carnate. And the moment you wake up in the morning, he's plotting to discourage you, to defeat you, to create doubts. Depression, discouragement, distractions, all these different things. When you get up in the morning, if you don't meet the devil head on, it just means you're
headed the same direction. 'Cause he's been planning
to take you down. He hates you. God has a good plan for your life, he's got a bad plan for your life, okay. So my old nature, the world, the flesh, and me and the devil. They all work on me. But the one I wanna talk to you about this weekend is the fourth source of problems in your life, and it's God. God... yes. Some of the problems and pressures and difficulties you have in life, actually come from God. God will sometimes shake up your life, for very good reasons. And that's why I wanna
cover this in detail, because this is the one that's unexpected. And I want you to look at that. Now, it really doesn't matter where your problems came from. They could be caused by the devil. They could be caused by the world. They could be caused by you. They could be brought
on in your life by God. It doesn't really matter. God will use every one
of them for your good if you will trust Him. You mean, even the bad things in my life? Even my own sins? Yes, even God can use those for good in your life. He can turn cruxifixions
into resurrections. He can bring good out of bad, anybody can bring good out of good. But God can change even
bad things into good, if you will trust Him. So regardless, of the
source of your shaking, what's got you all shaken up. I lost my job, I can't get married. I want this and it hasn't happened. I want this dream and
I'm hitting a barrier. Regardless of whatever is shaking you up, God wants to use it for good. So the source isn't nearly as important as your response. Now, here's the second
step, based on that. Anytime the world, your world, is shaken up, number two, look for ways that God
might use it for good. Look for ways, I look for ways that God might use it in my life, for good. Because he wants to use everything, even the bad things in your life, he wants to bring good out of even those. And if you want to succeed and thrive, rather than just survive
in a hostile culture, you need to look for ways that God takes the
things that shake you up, and can use them for good. Jeremiah 29:11 says this. (reading) The devil has bad plans for your life. And they're for bad and for destruction. God has plans, his plans are always good. They're to give you hope and they're to give you a future. Now I'm gonna give you a sneak peek at where we're going in
the next eight weeks. Because in Daniel's life, God did five things with the problems that he had to face. And they are the same five things that God wants to do in your life, regardless of what kind of problems you're going through. So you might write these down. It's kind of an index to Daniel's life. Number one, sometimes God shakes things up talking about in your life, sometimes God shakes things up in my life to inspect me. To inspect me. What I mean by that, is God will bring a problem in my life that reveals a motivation
that's out of whack. Or a character or a thought, or an emotion or a motive. He examines it, he checks it out. And it does it all the time. And somebody said,
people are like tea bags. You don't know what's in 'em til you drop 'em in hot water. And God will use problems to inspect you, and show you what's
wrong, what's out of whack in your life. You got a fear, you
got a wrong motivation. You got a value, you got a misperception. There's some lie that you're believing. God uses problems to inspect you. Now, of course, God already knows what's going in you. He doesn't need any problems to tell Him, He knows you better than you do. When God allows a problem in your life, it's because He wants you to know what's out of whack. And sometimes when things are just flying off the wall, and you're in a crisis. And you're just, your
whole world is shaken, God is saying I want you to see what I want you to work on in your life. We're gonna inspect this in your life. I remember in the garden of Eden, Adam and Eve sinned and the Bible says one day God comes walking through the garden of Eden, "metaphorically" and says, Adam where are you? Now, let me let you in on a little secret. Anytime God asks you a question, He already knows the answer. It's not like God didn't
know where Adam was, He knew exactly where
Adam was every second of his life. He wanted Adam to know where Adam was. And Adam goes, well God, I was afraid, I felt guilty and I hid. And we've been afraid and guilty and hiding from God ever since. When God asks you a question, it's never for his benefit. He already knows the answer. He's asking you 'cause
he wants you to know. And sometimes God shakes things up to inspect you. Jeremiah 17:10 says this... (reading out loud) Now notice, God examines your motives. Listen to this, why is always more important than what. In life, what you do in life, is not nearly as important to God, as why you do it. Not what you do, but why you do... There are a lot of things
you can do in life, that's fine, go ahead and do that. I made you, you can do that, or that... Then we'd all be fine, but me... I just wanna know, why are you doing it? God looks at the heart. He looks at the motivation. And God inspects us, because He's much more interested in your integrity than
He is in your image. Image is what everybody else can see. Integrity is what you are in the dark. Integrity is what you are when nobody is listening,
nobody's watching. And God says, I want to test you so you can see your own heart. Have you ever thought about the fact why it took the Israelites 40 years to get across the desert? From Egypt, where they were set free as slaves to Israel? You could walk across the Sinai in a couple months, easily. It took 'em 40 years. Are you kidding me? Why did it take 'em 40 years to get from Egypt to Israel? Because the Bible says while they were in the desert, God kept testing them to show them that their
faith was insufficient. And they weren't ready to go into the Promised Land. And the Bible says over those 40 years, God gave them seven tests. Seven, and every time they failed, God would say okay, another lap around the desert. And some of them died in the desert. They spent their entire lives there. They didn't pass the test. Deuteronomy 8:2 says this... (reading out loud) And by the way, when God takes you through a desert, He's doing it for the same reason. When you're in the wilderness of life, what is the desert or
the wilderness of life? It's when you can't feel God at all. It's when you're in that
dry period in your life. You don't have any emotion, you don't feel close to God. God's just gonna go, I'm gonna take away your emotions to see if you're trusting in me or trusting in your emotion. You're not living by faith until you don't have any feelings. And so sometimes, God will take away all your feelings. Will you do the right thing, even though you don't feel it, 'cause it's the right thing to do? This is a test. This is a test. Will you trust me? God is testing you. You see, what matters in your maturity spiritually, is not how high you jump when you feel God in a worship concert. The test is how straight you walk when you don't feel God during the rest of the week. And I have no emotion, I'm in the desert. I'm in dry period, I'm in the wilderness. Will you trust me, will you obey me? You see what God is saying, is the problems that come into your life, they're a measuring tool. And your reactions to difficulty actually measure your faith, and a bunch of stuff. Your reactions to difficulty
measure your faith, measure your commitment, measure your maturity. They measure your integrity. The Bible often compares problems to a refining fire. You know how they get the impurities out of gold and silver, is they put it in vats
and they heat it all up, and it burns off all the impurities. And when you're going through the fire and when you're suffering, God is burning off the
impurities in your life. In life, God is testing you. And what's He testing? Well He's saying if you really believe what you claim to believe? You say, well God is first in my life. But when the heat's on, is He sidelined? When it's inconvenient and unpopular. You say, I have integrity. But are you willing to
lower your standards because you wanna be popular and approved by the people at work or school? You say I'm totally committed to you God, but when the pressure's on, do you give up and walk away? So I want you to write down a question. I'm gonna give you a question in each of these. Here's the question to ask about when God uses problems to inspect me. What does this problem reveal about me? When your whole life is being shaken, and everything, you're on shaky ground. The foundation is unstable. What does this problem reveal about me? God is inspecting you. Number two, here's another reason. Sometimes God shakes
things up in your life, not to inspect you but to correct you. God wants to correct me. Now, this is exactly what happened in the nation of Israel, 2,500 years ago. I told you they'd fallen
into deep idolatry, and God says you know, I'm gonna cure you of that addiction. We're just gonna get rid of those, there's only one true God, and I don't want you messing around with other gods anymore. And when God allowed them to be hauled off into a foreign country for 70 years. 25 percent of the nation. When they came back 70 years later, they were cured. I mean, they... Israel never again reverted to idolatry. In fact, later on, I'll
give you the seven things that changed in the nation of Israel, after being in that
captivity for 70 years. And they were all good things. And here's a very important verse, Hebrews 12:8-11 God corrects all of His children, and if He doesn't correct you, then you don't really
belong to Him, whoa... So if you can sin and get away with it, you should doubt, am I
really in God's family? (reading out loud) It's never fun to be corrected. How many of you agree with that part of the Bible? (reading out loud) See, ultimately it's for your good, so you can live at peace. I mean, did you benefit from correction growing up? Of course you did. It's how you learned to
walk, talk, eat, bathe, read, write and everything
else you learned, you learned because somebody cared enough to correct you. A parent that doesn't
correct their children, doesn't love their children. And if they don't correct them... Correction is proof that I'm part of God's family. Now how many of you who have been parents would rather not correct your children? Me... okay, I'd rather not. It's no fun. It's not only not fun for the kids, it's not fun for the parents, okay. If you like to correct, you got a masochistic problem, okay. How many of you, even though you don't like to correct your children, you wanna just let them get away with it, would still have to do it anyway? Yeah, we would all do that, you don't have to raise your hand, I know you would. Because sometimes the only way to train, is through pain. Sometimes the only way to train, is the through pain. Now the next verse, Hebrews chapter 12, is an extremely important
verse for your life. When God spoke the Ten Commandments, and Moses chiseled them into the tablets up there on Mount Sinai. When he spoke, the Bible
says he spoke so loud so people down in the
valley could hear Him. Hebrews 12 says this... (reading out loud) Okay, sometimes you're
gonna go through the fire, you're gonna go through a problem, you're gonna go through a difficulty. You are being shaken, it's like sifting when you're sifting
flour or anything else. And what He's doing here, is He's saying, we're gonna get rid of all the temporary stuff. All the man made stuff in your life, and we're only gonna keep in your life the stuff that's gonna last forever. That's why you're going
through that problem. Job chapter 5 verse 17. (reading out loud) He says it's a privilege, it's an honor to be corrected by God because it just means He loves you. Parents who don't correct their kids, don't love their kids. And so He says, God whispers to us in our pleasure, but He shouts to us in our pain. And we only change,
the only time we change is when the fear of change
is exceeded by pain. The only time we change is when our fear of change is actually exceeded by pain. When the pain gets bad enough, then you change. I don't know why, but sometimes God has to
lay us flat on our back. Before we look up to Him. And God wants to teach you about Himself and He wants to teach you about yourself. And some lessons, really, you're only gonna learn through failure. You know, don't touch the stove. (honk) You don't touch it a second time. Because you learn by being burned. And sometimes, you know,
some things in life, you don't learn the value of money, until you've lost it. You don't learn the value of friendship, till you've lost it. You don't learn the value of your health, until you've lost it. And so sometimes God
allows pain and problems and shake ups to inspect us, what's really in you. But sometimes God uses pain and problems and shake ups to correct you. Like He did with Israel. So here's the question, write this down. What is this problem teaching me? Instead of going why me? Instead of asking why,
you should ask what. Don't ask why when you
go through problems. Ask what, what should I be learning? Not why is this happening to me, but what should I be learning? Because God uses problems to correct you. Alright? Now let's look at number three, sometimes God shakes
things up to inspect me. Sometimes God shakes things up in my life to correct me. And number three, sometimes God shakes
things up to direct me. To direct me. He wants to point us in a new direction. He wants to guide us
down a different path. Proverbs 16:9 A person may plan his own journey, you got your own life plan out there. But the Lord directs his steps. So you can have all your plans, but the Lord is gonna direct your steps. Question, how does God direct your steps? Real simple, problems. That's how he directs your steps. Have you noticed that problems often change your plans? Has anybody had that happen in their life? Your problems change your plans, what is God doing? He's redirecting you. He inspects you, He corrects you, and He directs you when things are flying off the wall. Pain is a powerful motivation to change. You've heard me say this before. We don't change when see the light, we change when we feel the heat. And when it gets hot enough, then we change. Proverbs 20:30 says this... (reading out loud) And every one of you can give a testimony on that verse. Sometimes it takes a painful experience to make us change our ways. Sometimes God has to
light a fire under you, so you become uneasy,
you become uncomfortable, it gets hot. I mean, even Aristotle said, we cannot learn without pain. Aristotle, we cannot learn without pain. Somethings, as I said,
you learn by being burned. It's like when the prodigal son, he didn't change until he hit bottom. Ryan Holiday preached
on this two weeks ago. And everything's going great, he's living up his life. But when he hits bottom and he runs out of
friends, money and food. Now he goes, hmmm... And he came to his senses. Maybe this isn't the
way I should be living. God shakes things up to direct us in a new direction. We rarely think about the
direction of our lives when things are going good. When your life is going good. You got it on cruise control. You're not even thinking about your goals. You're even thinking about God. You're not thinking about anything but cruise control. This is fun, I'm in the
driver's seat right now. But all of a sudden,
you have a traffic jam or a car accident, and all of a sudden it
gets your attention. And God gets our attention many times. And He changes the direction. One of the values of
pressure and problems, and crisis in your life, is it forces you to think about stuff you wouldn't normally
think about on your own. You wanna just live in denial. And you would just like to take that part of your life that needs changing, and just forget it. And go on with your life. Oh, I'll just isolate that over here. I'll compartmentalize it, and that'll be just fine. But it doesn't work. When David's life fell apart, he wrote this, Psalm 119:59. I've thought about my life, probably didn't even think about it until the problem came. (reading) What's that? That's the Bible. Your written instructions. He says, I'm redirecting my life. Now that I got problems, God you got my attention. What is a problem in your life, that you're pretending isn't a problem? What's the big problem, the big elephant in your life? In your marriage? In your relationship? That you're just...
well, it's not a problem. I know we've got that there, but we've had it in this relationship all this time. No, it's still a problem. And God will use
difficulty to correct you, inspect you, and redirect you, if He needs to. We would rarely change
unless we had problems. We postpone difficult decisions. We put it off... I mean if you had a disease
that didn't hurt you, you'd never go to the doctor about it. You'd just let it keep taking over your life until you die. Pain gets your attention. We ignore illnesses if they didn't hurt. So God uses problems to prod us and to poke us and to push us, and to prompt us, and He uses things to direct us. Write this down, question, where is this problem leading me? You wanna ask yourself, you wanna get the most
out of your problems. Where is this problem leading me? Problems never leave you
where they found you. You know, Jonah, God
told Jonah to go east. We talked about this the other week, and he didn't wanna go there, he was racially prejudiced. So he went to Spain and Tarshish, headed that direction, went as far west as he could. God arranged a custom made problem. A custom made fish swallowed him up. And sometimes you get swallowed up by a big problem, but when it spits you out, you're headed in the right direction. And sometimes you're going this way, and a problem swallows
you up and spits you out, you're going the right direction. God uses problems to direct us. Number four, sometimes
God shakes things up to protect us. Sometimes God shakes
things up to protect us. Did you know that sometimes pain protects you from something worse? That you're going through a problem, but it's actually preventing you from a bigger problem? It's keeping you from greater harm. You know, you might have
wanted a certain job with a certain business,
and it didn't happen, and God was protecting you because He knew that there was a relationship that was gonna mess you up. And He kept you out of that situation. Sometimes a problem is
a blessing in disguise. Honestly, there will be
times you have problems when you did the right thing. Not the wrong thing. Not every problem is because you did something wrong. Sometimes you have a problem because you did the right thing. I remember one time, there was a guy here at Saddleback who is a good business friend of mine, and he was asked to do, by a corporation, something very unethical. And he said, sorry I just can't do it. I'm a follower of Jesus Christ. I cannot be unethical in that area. And they fired him. And he lost his pension,
and he lost his job. And he lost his... all of that. And it looked bad. But about a month later, the SEC hauled that entire
corporation into court and they're all in jail now and he's not. And he's going, well thank God. Okay, the problem was getting fired. The bigger problem was going to jail for 20 years. Which is the worse problem? Sometimes God, he did the right thing, and he had a problem, he lost his job. But it saved him. Maybe getting fired
might be the best thing that happened to you because it keeps you from a real problem. Job 36:16... God has led you away from danger. God often does this and you don't even realize it. (reading) Problems are the preparation for success. And it really comes down
to a matter of faith. Will you trust God? You remember the story
of Joseph in the Bible? You know, he had this
vision that one day he'd be a great leader. And literally for the
first 40 years of his life, everything went wrong. He was betrayed by his brothers, he was sold into slavery, he's taken down to Egypt. He gets a job as a slave in a boss's home. The wife of the boss is attracted to him. She comes onto him, offers herself to him. He refuses, he says I have integrity. I'm not gonna have an
affair with my boss's wife. And so she feels spurned, she accuses him of rape, and he's put in prison
for the rest of his life for a crime he never committed. Everything's gone wrong in his life. But it's exactly where God wanted him. And a series of circumstances in the second half of his life is like this, and he ends up second in command, helping Pharaoh save the most powerful
nation of that time. You don't know, sometimes
God is protecting you with a problem in your life. And when it was all over, Joseph said to his brothers
who had betrayed him. Genesis 50:20... (reading) Now there are people in your life, there are people in this world who intend to harm you. Not everybody's nice in this world. There are evil people. There are mean people. There are people who don't like you because you are a Christian. Or because of a moral stance, or an ethical decision you've made. Or because you won't go with the flow. You won't party with the crowd. And they think you're too good and they think you're self righteous, and they misjudge you. And they want to bring you down. They mean it for bad. But God means it for good. God is bigger than your enemies. God is bigger than your critics. God is bigger than the
people who put you down. You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good. Sometimes God shakes things up just to protect you. It's kinda like a fever. When you get a fever
and you feel really bad, the fever is not the problem, friends. Fever is just a symptom. The fever is telling you something worse is going on in your body. And if you didn't have a fever, you wouldn't get help, you know. A fever warns you of an infection that needs to be dealt with, and sometimes a small pain can alert you to a life threatening disease. Now this goes true with your emotions too Sometimes you're feeling really bad. And you're feeling really, really bad. You're down and you're depressed and you're discouraged and... You got all these bad,
negative feelings and you're praying, God take away the feelings and He doesn't take away the feelings. You know, why don't you
take away the feelings? God says the feelings aren't your problem, the problem is what you're thinking about is causing those feelings. You gotta stop believing the lies. And when you stop believing
the lies about you, the lies about me, and the lies about other people, you're gonna feel better. I'm not gonna take away the feelings. The feelings are telling you that your thinking is stinking. You need a check up from the neck up. You gotta get your thoughts right. I remember when we were doing the 23rd Psalm series, and I read about how
shepherds in the Middle East will sometimes intentionally break a leg of a healthy sheep. Why? Because that sheep
is prone to wander. And it will wander off. And in order to protect that sheep, from wolves and bears and other predators, they will break the leg of the sheep, and the sheep walks with a limp so it doesn't wander off. And if God has to break your leg to keep you from wandering off, and getting in a worse problem, He will. He loves you that much. Now it's no fun to hurt somebody you love. But just like a surgeon
will cut you to heal you. God will break you to save you, if that's what it takes. Sometimes God may do that to you. You see those things that you think are disappointments. Disappointments are His appointments. Dis-appointments are
actually His appointments. God has appointed them. And there's a reason behind
it for your own good. Now, sometimes God
removes a harmful person in your life, and it breaks your heart. Don't run after 'em. Some of you that's all you need to hear. You just needed to hear
your pastor say that. Sometimes there's a harmful
person in your life, but you're addicted to them. And God will remove them from your life. Don't run after them. God is shaking things up to protect you. So ask this question, question number four. How could this problem protect me? How could this problem be protecting me? What's being prevented? What could be worse in my life, than this problem? Well there are a lot of things that could be worse. Alright, number five. The fifth way that God shakes things up in your
life, and fifth reason for shaking things up in your life. Is not to correct me, or inspect me, or direct me, but God
uses things and problems to perfect me. To make you more like Jesus Christ. To grow your character, to grow you up. Margaret Carlson, years
ago, wrote a book called Grace Grows Best in Winter. You know, it's possible to grow during the bright, fair weather times. But growth is faster and deeper, often during your darkest days. Like when you lose a child. And that's when you grow deep. I could read you thousands of letters that have been written to me over the last 36 years from people who say, you know I
grew more, Pastor Rick, through that separation. I grew more, Pastor Rick, through that unemployment. Through that illness. Through that tragedy, through that loss, through that storm... Than I ever would have grown, if things were going good in my life. I want you to write this
down on your outline. Pain is the high cost of growth. Pain is the high cost of growth. If you wanna grow up, you wanna be mature, there is no way to do it without pain. Pain is the cost of growing up. You can't grow up on the easy street. And see, we want the
product without the process. It is a cliche, but it is true. There is no gain without pain. There is no maturity
without growing pains. And the very thing that discourages you, is the very thing that God is using to develop you. When you learn this, you're gonna be unshakable in life. Like Daniel was. We're gonna see all
these things in his life. The things that discourage you, are actually the things
that God wants to use to develop you. And there is a reward coming. I Peter 5:10 says this... (reading) Why? Because you're not taking your car, or your cash, or your
career, or your clothes, or your China to heaven, you're taking your character. God is not interested in making your life easy on this earth. He's interested in growing your character. The easy part comes for eternity. You're in school right
now, you're in school. And in school God says there are eternal rewards coming, and I'm gonna perfect you. So knowing that God can
even use the bad things in my life to inspect me, to direct me, to correct me, and to even perfect me. What should be my response? Romans chapter 5 tells us... (reading) So here's the fifth question, how can I grow from this problem? You see, the bottom line, your problems are not your problems. All those things that you think are your problems, they're not your problems. Your problems are not your problems. Your real problems are
how you choose to respond to your problems. And if you respond to them in a way where you trust God, and you praise God, and you thank God, and you maintain your integrity, and you don't give up
and you don't give in, and you do the things that we'll see Daniel do in 70 years of his life. You're just gonna get
promoted, and promoted and promoted... into eternity. How can I grow from this problem? Do those problems you
think you got right now? Really, when do problems,
really become problems? When do your problems really become real problems? Well, my problem becomes a real problem when I lose my perspective. My problem becomes a real problem when I give up in important values, and I just say forget it. I'm not gonna waste the
time anymore, I give up. Our problem becomes a real problem, when you lose your sense of humor. Your problem becomes a real problem, when you start feeling sorry for yourself and have a pity party. Your problem becomes a real problem, when you get bitter, and you start blaming everybody else for your unhappiness. That's a problem, that's the real problem. So God is saying, and we're gonna see these, this is an index to Daniel's life. Don't be surprised when
you have adversity. In the world you will have tribulations, Jesus said... Realize that I can use
it five different ways. Okay, I can inspect you,
and I can correct you, and I can direct you
and I can protect you. And I can perfect you, I can use all these different ways in what's going on in your life. And so what's the third suggestion? Here it is... Finally, trust God for
what I don't understand. When there is a problem in my life, this one does not make sense. I don't get it. I don't see the perfection. I don't see the inspection. I don't see the correction. I don't see the protection. I don't see the perfection. This problem does not make sense! Then I trust God for
what I don't understand, knowing that He has my
best interests at heart. Last two verses. Proverbs 20:24... (reading out loud) Hello? Some of us need to memorize that and tattoo it on our arm, okay. If ever you're gonna get a tattoo, get that verse right there, okay. (reading out loud) It's foolish. You trying to understand God's way is like an ant trying to
understand the internet. You don't have the brain capacity. God is God and you're not. So what do you do when
you don't understand? You trust. Last verse, Proverbs 3:5-6 (reading out loud) I want you to be a success in life. God wants you to be a success in life. As your pastor, as your spiritual coach, it is my goal, my job, my role, to help you succeed, in every area of the life
that God has given you. I want you to be a success. Not just survive, when times are tough. Not just survive, in a hostile culture to Christians. But to thrive and actually get promoted and have greater influence, and be used by God in an amazing way. That's what we're gonna
look at in this series. Let's bow our heads. Let me close with a
little self evaluation. Why don't you ask these questions to God in your mind. Here's the first one, say Lord, are you using these problems to inspect me? You know, the ones I'm
going through right now. Are you using these
problems to inspect me? If so, what does it reveal about my life? Is there a weakness? Is there a misplaced priority in my life? Is there someplace I've
compromised the truth? And you're trying to show it to me. And then say Lord, are you using this problem to correct me? If so, what do you want me to learn? I'm not gonna ask why. Why is this happening to me. I'm gonna ask what. What do you want me to learn? What do you want me to know? Lord are you using this problem, not just to inspect or correct me, are you using this problem to direct me? If so, what's the direction? What do you want me to change? What's the new direction? Where do you want me headed? Lord, are you using this
problem to protect me? Did that thing not happen because you knew something that I didn't know? And I was walking into a bigger trap? A bigger problem? A bigger fiasco? A bigger difficulty? And you protected me? If so Lord, then I'm just gonna tell you, I trust you. I know that you know best. Thank you for protecting me. And God I want you to protect me. And when there is something that I want, that would be bad for me, don't let me have it. I want your will more than my will. And then say Lord, are you using this problem to perfect me? See God's at work in your life, even when you don't recognize it or even understand it. God's work in your life is not dependent upon you understanding it. So I want you to pray
this prayer, very simply. Dear God, I wanna trust
you with all my heart. Just say it in your minds, I trust you with all my heart. Not my intellect. I'm not gonna depend on
my own understanding. And God, I wanna honor
you in everything I do. Work, home, anywhere else. And if I trust you, and I don't depend on
my own understanding, and I honor you in everything I do, you promised to give me success. And I'm gonna believe that. Teach me through the life of Daniel in these weeks ahead. Jesus Christ, I wanna trust you with all of my life, as best as I know how. And I'm doing it today. In your name I pray, Amen.
