When God Tests You with Success — Part 2

Welcome to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. I'm so glad you're here. Today we're going to continue our series called Unshakeable. Rick is taking us through the Book of Daniel, and that's so we'll be equipped to handle whatever curveball life throws at us, even the most difficult trials. All right, let's get right to it. Here's part two of a message called When God tests you with Success.

If you want to maintain your success, you need to do these two things. First, he says, repent. Now, we've talked about this word. It just means change your mind, change your attitude, change your thinking. The word repent in Greek is meta noia. Meta means change. Noia means your mind to change your mind. I used to think this way about my life. Now I think this way about my life. That's what repent means. You just change your attitude. You got some stinking thinking in your mind. You gotta check up from the neck up. And you need to go, oh, that's the wrong thing. I've been thinking. This is all about me. It's not. It's all about God. And the Bible says, repent, Change your mind. Why? Because humility is a choice. Let me say that again. Humility is a choice. It's something you choose to do to yourself. Did you know that never in the Bible are you told to pray, God humble me. Not once in scripture are you ever told by God to pray, God humble me. God keep me humble. It doesn't say that. It says, humble yourself. It says multiple times, humble yourself. Humility is a choice. Now, let's just define these two words, pride and humility. Pride is when I accept the credit for things that God and other people did through me. And for me, when I accept the credit that doesn't really belong to me. I couldn't have done it without God. I couldn't have done it without other people. But I'm acting like it all came because of my brilliance. Pride is accepting credit for things that God and others did through you. And for you, humility. Humility is not thinking less of yourself. It's thinking of yourself less. A lot of people think humility means. I walk around going, oh, I'm no good. I'm nothing. I'm worthless. I'm just a pile of junk. You're not a pile of junk. Jesus didn't die for junk. You are infinitely valuable to God. Look at the cross. It shows how much you're valuable. Jesus died for you. That's how valuable you are. But you're also deeply flawed and broken. And you have weaknesses and mistakes and sins in your life. Both are true. You're deeply flawed and you're deeply loved. Both of them are true. And pride or humility is just having a realistic estimate of yourself. And it's not putting yourself down. It. It's thinking about others. It's getting the focus off you. Here's the difference. If I walk into a room where they're having a party and I say, hey, how do I look? I'm thinking, how do I look? That's pride. If I walk into a room, a party filled with people, and I say, who needs my help? That's humility. Humility is not thinking less of yourself. I'll say it again, it's thinking of yourself less. The humble person isn't going around going, oh, I'm so humble. I'm so humble. A humble person is so busy thinking about other people and thinking about God, they're not even thinking about themselves. Does that make sense? Humility is other person centered. It's God centered. And the more you think about and care about others and care about God, the more humble you will be. And so he says, you need to repent and you need to humble yourself. That's a choice God. You don't want God to humble you. Cause if you don't humble yourself, God will humiliate you. And there are plenty of ways to do that. You don't want that to happen. And it's a whole lot easier to humble yourself than to have somebody else have to do it in your life. Then he says, the second thing you're gonna do, he says, if you do this, you can avoid the big fall is he says, serve the poor. Serve the poor. Why in the world would God tell the most powerful man in the world to serve the poor? Well, there are many, many reasons for this. First, it gets the focus off yourself. You're thinking about people who have more needs than you do when you are succeeding. Second, it keeps you in touch with reality. You know, in America, we don't realize how blessed we are. We live in a bubble. Let me just put this in perspective. If you have any coins in your pocket right now, any or any coins in a little the dish at home, or you got some in your purse, you are already wealthier than over 90% of the people in the world just even have a thing called money that's just laying around. If you have a refrigerator with food in it, you're wealthier than 50% of the world. See, most people Would love to be poor in America. Everybody is rich in America. Everybody. Even the poorest of the poor in America are rich. Because we have safety nets here. Take care of people. Even the poor have a television or have a phone and things. Like, they have clothes, they have a roof over their head. Most of the world would love to be poor in America. And that's why you live in a bubble. Until, like, you go on a peace trip and you see how the rest of the world really does live. And when you serve the poor, it keeps you in touch with reality. Let me just show you some other biblical reasons. We'll put them up here on the screen. You might write these verses down. Cause they're not in your outline. Proverbs 14:21. You wanna be happy? Well, the Bible says this. If you wanna be happy, be kind to the poor. It is a sin to despise anyone. You're walking down the street, you see a homeless person. They're sitting there hoping for a buck or something, and you just ignore them. It's a sin to despise anybody. If you wanna be happy, be kind to the poor. Look at this next verse. Proverbs 14:31. Whoever mistreats the poor insults their Maker. God considers it a personal affront when you dis a homeless person. Whoever mistreats the poor. Let me go back to that one. Whoever mistreats the poor insults their Maker. But whoever is kind to the needy honors God. That's how you honor God. God says, you honor me when you honor the people. I made. Proverbs 21:13. Those who shut their ears to the cries of the poor will be ignored in their own time of need. You want God to take care of your need? Well, are you taking care of anybody else's need? This is what happens in small groups. When you care for other people in your small group and their need, they'll be there for you in your need. You're gonna reap what you sow if you don't ever help anybody. Are you doing anything totally unselfish to help other people who couldn't possibly help you back? God says, that's like banking goodwill in the bank of heaven. Let me show you another one. You want to be a leader. Proverbs 29:14. Love this in the message paraphrase. Leadership gains authority and respect when the voiceless poor are treated fairly. You want to be a leader in the community, Leader at work, leader on a sports team, leader at school. Leadership and authority and respect comes when the voiceless poor are treated fairly. You know, most of you know this story that when I wrote the book Purpose Driven Life, it became a huge global success, far more than I could have ever imagined. It was the best selling book in the world for many years, like four or five years. It was number one in the New York Times for over three years. It's the most translated book in the world, except for the Bible. It's in 137 languages. And when that book became the best selling nonfiction hardback in American history, it brought in tons and tons of money to me. And it also brought in tons and tons of influence. And all of a sudden, I'm getting calls from people like Bill Gates and Jack Welch and the President of the United States and the head of the un and I'm getting asked to speak at Davos World Economic Forum and Ted and the UN and Congress. I go, wait a minute, I'm just a pastor. And when you write a book and the first sentence of the book is, it's not about you, then you know, the money is not for you and the fame is not for you. So I'm gonna go, okay. Lord, what am I? Obviously, I know this money's not for me. What do you wanna do with it? I'll just give it away. But how do you want it to be given away? And, you know, I'm a pretty simple guy. If I got a pair of jeans and a good T shirt, I'm happy. I don't need a lot of bling. And so I began to pray through Scripture. And God gave me two passages of Scripture. One from the New Testament on what to do with the money, and one from the Old Testament on what to do with the fame and the notoriety. In 1 Corinthians 9, Paul says this. Those who teach the gospel should make a living by the gospel. In other words, it's okay to pay your pastor. It's okay to pay a missionary, a. It's okay to pay people who serve God full time. That's fine. But Paul says, but I will not accept that right. I have the right to be paid for what I do. I will not accept that right. Because I wanna serve the gospel for free. So I'm a slave to no man. And when I read that, I thought, that's what I wanna do. And so Kay and I made five decisions on what to do with the money. All of a sudden, unexpected success. What are we gonna do with this success, money and fame. What are we gonna do with it? Well, we're gonna use it to serve the poor. We're gonna use it to help other people. And so we made five decisions. First, we said, we're not gonna spend the money on us. I still live in the same house I've lived in 25 years. I drive a 16 year old Ford truck. I bought my watch at Walmart. Actually, this one was given to me. It keeps the same time as your Rolex. Doesn't go any faster, any slower. Okay. You know, I paid 15 bucks for it. Okay. I don't need a whole lot of things. Cause I don't need things to prove my worth. So I said, we're not gonna change our lifestyle one bit. Second, I stopped taking a salary from the church in 2002. Third, I added up all the church had paid me in the previous 22 years. Many of you know this. And I gave it all back. And then we set up a foundation called Acts of Mercy to help the vulnerable and the poor and people with AIDS and children and widows and orphans and all kinds of things like that. And then the last thing most of you know, Kay and I became reverse tithers. Now we had been raising our tithe every year we got married. 41 years ago when we got married, we gave 10% to the Lord. The next year we gave 11. Next year we gave 12. The third year of marriage, we raised it three. And every year we raised our tithe giving away. Because I just wanted my heart to grow bigger every year. Every time I give, it breaks the grip of materialism in my life. Every time I give, my heart grows bigger. Every time I give, I become more like Jesus. I want to be like Jesus. And so on years that it was very tight financially and the cupboards were bare, we would still raise our giving like a quarter of a percent. And on years I'd get a raise or we'd have a windfall or something and we'd raise it 4 or 5%. Most of you know that today, Kay and I give away 91% and live on nine. I've played this game with God for Now, you know, 41 years, God says, you give to me and I'll give to you and we'll see who wins. And I've lost that for 41 years. I dare you to try that one. The second thing though was what do you do with the fame, the attention? This is the thing that you get, the more successful you become. And I was reading for that and I came upon Psalm 72. Psalm 72 is a prayer by Solomon, the son of David, who was the king of Israel at that time. He's the most powerful man in the world in Israel. He is the king of the United Kingdom, its apex of power. He's the wisest man in the world and he's the wealthiest man in the world. And in Psalm 72, it's his prayer for more influence. When you read this prayer, it sounds so self centered because in this prayer, Psalm 72, Solomon says this. God, I want you to make me more successful than I already am. I want you to make me famous. I want you to spread the fame of my name to every nation. I want everybody to know who I am. I want you to give me more influence, more power, more visibility. It sounds totally self centered until you read the motivation. And then he says so that, here's the motivation. So that the king may support the widow and orphan, the king may release the oppressed, the king may help the poor, that the king may care for the sick, that the king may help those who are in prison and oppressed, that the king may be the defender of the immigrant and the foreigner. Today he's mentioning all the people marginalized in society. And he's saying, today he'd say, so that I can help the mentally ill and the handicapped and the aged and the elderly and all the people that we want to push off to the side of society. And in that passage, I remember tears were coming down my face as I read that passage. God said to me, the purpose of influence is to speak up for those who have no influence. God did not give you success so you can be a fat cat and prideful and buy an island and have drinks with little umbrellas in them. God gives you success not for your benefit, but for the benefit of others. And when you understand that God will give you more, and if you're faithful in little, then you'll be faithful in much. I know some people hear that story and say, well, yeah, Rick, if God gave me millions of dollars, I'd give millions away too. No you wouldn't. Cause you're not doing it now. I had a track record of being generous when I didn't have the money. I had a 36 year track record on that. And the fact is, do you know why God made that? Let me be the author of the bestselling book in American history. He knew what I'd do with the money. He knew he could trust me with the money, that I wasn't going to use it on me, and that the first sentence would be, it's not about you. One of the verses that God showed me when I was Having to go, because it scared me to death. I said, I know what success does to people. A lot of money, a lot of fame can ruin you very quickly. And one of the verses, God gave me this verse on the screen. Proverbs 31, 8, 9. Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves. Ensure justice for those who are perishing. By the way, that would include the unborn, because they can't speak for themselves. And they are certainly perishing. Speak up for those who can't speak for themselves. Ensure justice for those who are perishing. Yes. Speak up for the poor and the helpless and see that they get justice. So we are to repent, change our attitude, and we are to serve the poor. This is the warning that God gives to Nebuchadnezzar. He totally ignores it. And so the third thing that happens right now, and the third problem is we put off doing what we know is right. And this is the third reason that Nebuchadnezzar fell. And it's gonna be the third reason that you might fall in your success if you don't hear the warning. We put off doing what we know is right. We procrastinate, we postpone, we delay, we defer, we dawdle. Daniel 4, verse 28 says this. After he had had this dream, interpreted 12 months later. Oh, wait a minute, 12 months later. What's he been doing for the last year? God says, you're gonna lose your kingdom and you're gonna lose your mind if you don't change. Well, what did he do? What in the world is he doing? He's dawdling, procrastinating, delaying, deferring, ignoring, forgetting, not changing anything in his life. Now, let me ask you this. If God warned you, if God tonight warned you in a dream, you're gonna lose everything you've ever worked for in your life if you don't change, would you wait 12 months? Let me ask you that personally. If God warned you, the truth is he has warned you. It's right here in this book. And he says, if you'll do these things, I'm gonna bless you and you're gonna succeed in life. If you don't do these things, you're gonna fail. You're gonna hit the wall. You're gonna have dead ends, delays, difficulties, and things are not gonna go the way you want them to go. There's a way that seems right unto man, but the ends thereof are the ways of death. So we put off doing what we know is right. He knew what to do. And it says here 12 months later. Cause he hadn't done anything. All of what Nebuchadnezzar dreamed did actually happen to him. He lost it all. He's taken a walk on a flat roof of his royal palace in Babylon. And as he took looked out across the city, and I'm sure it was quite magnificent, the skyline. He boasted to himself, he's talking to himself. I'm sure he's going, man, Nebby, you know, he calls himself Nebby. Nebby, you are the man. You're the dude. You're number one. You, you, I mean, everybody wants to be you, you know, gotta be good looking. He's so hard to see. He's like, you are the man. And as the words were still on his lips, a voice came from heaven. This is what God declares to you, decrees to you, King Nebuchadnezzar, your power's being taken away. You're no longer the ruler of this kingdom. You're gonna be deposed from the palace, ostracized by everyone, forced to live with the wild animals. And immediately it all happened. He lost his kingdom and he lost his mind. He literally went insane. History confirms this, that there was a period of time, now we don't actually know how long he was in this loss where he lost his mind, lost his kingdom. Because the Bible says you're gonna lose it for seven periods. And some scholars think that means seven seasons, which would have been a little bit less than two years. And some people think it means seven years, which would have been a long time, but it wasn't like a month or two. He has a major CEO burnout and it's public and it's embarrassing. And the guy who was the most powerful man in the world is now drooling on himself and acting like an animal in the desert and can't even make sense. That's humbling, that's humiliating. He's out of touch with reality, becomes a fool, he's unreasonable, he acts like an animal. By the way, you haven't ever seen it like this, but have you ever seen a friend who all of a sudden decides to not do what God wants them to do, and they walk off a cliff and do something self destructive and you're going, what in the world? Have you lost your mind? You go, wait a minute, tell me you're gonna leave your wife and kids for her. Have you lost your mind? Wait a minute, you're gonna leave your husband and you're gonna break up your marriage for that guy? Have you lost your mind? People do this all the time self destructive behavior because they're running from God. And so his life just collapses in a very public and humiliating way. And we see it all the time. In fact, the news loves to cover this kind of stuff. But God has mercy on Nebuchadnezzar. And after this period of humiliation, whether it's two and a half years or a couple years or seven years, we don't know, he restored his mind. And I want you to see now the steps that Nehemiah took back to sanity. This is the road to recovery. And he did three things. When you have a major failure in your life, you need to do these exact three things. He looked up, he woke up, and he spoke up.

Hey, thanks so much for listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. I hope you were as blessed as I was from today's show. And now here's Rick to tell you about today's offer.

I know many of you use the Daily Hope devotionals as part of your regular Bible study. And so I want to share some exciting news. We've put 365 of the best devotionals into a brand new book that we're calling the Daily Hope Purpose, Peace and Promise for Every Day. This devotional book is designed with clear, practical biblical teaching to help you make knowing God your number one priority. And what does that mean for you each day? It means you'll be able to conquer your fears and overcome temptations. You'll be able to let go of your worries and to shake off stress. And by starting your day focused on God, you'll be prepared to face any conflict as you build healthy relationships within your family, your neighborhood and at work. This book is a great way to share the hope you have in Jesus with your friends, co workers and relatives. I hope you'll get a copy for everyone you know.

Just go to pastorrick.com to get your copy. That's pastorrick.com or just text the word hope to 70309 again, the word hope to 70309 and thanks so much for your support. Your gift to Daily Hope means so much to us because it helps us share the hope of Jesus Christ to people all around the world. Be sure to join us next time as we look into God's Word for our Daily Hope. This program is sponsored by Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and your generous financial support.