When God Tests You with Success — Part 3

This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. I'm so glad that you found us today. And whether you're at home or in your car, we're so glad that you're here. And we pray that God will give you hope in times of difficulty. 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. Alright, so let's join Rick for the final part of this fascinating message called when God tests you with success.

Number one, write this down. Three steps to recovery after failure. First, look up to God. Look up to God. The Bible says in Daniel 4:34, at this time, after this time had passed, you know, when he had lost his mind, I, Nebuchadnezzar, he's given the testimony. This chapter is his testimony. I, Nebuchadnezzar, looked up to heaven and my sanity returned. Literally, it says in Hebrew, he lifted up his eyes to heaven. Do you need to do that today? Some of you have never taken this first step. You're in a heap of trouble right now. You're in a mess. You're in a mess in your life. It's going the wrong way, but you're looking to everything else and everybody else to solve it. You're looking to other people, you're looking to the government, you're looking to yourself. You expect your husband or your wife to solve it. Whatever. You're in a mess. You need to look up to God. You need to get your eyes on heaven, refocus on God, not be looking at anything and everybody else. And by the way, sometimes God has to lay you flat on your back to get you to look up. I hope he doesn't have to do that to you. Just do this now. Look up to God. The second thing he did is he woke up. Here's the second step. Wake up to God's greatness and start worshiping. Wake up to God's greatness, not your own greatness, but God's greatness, and start worshiping him. Worship just means focus on God. When you focus on God's greatness, that's called worship. You wake up to God's greatness and you start worshiping. You get your focus off yourself, off your problem, off your humiliation, and you get your focus back on God. How do you do that? You start worshiping again. If in the past you used to read your Bible a little bit every day, or try to pray every day and read the Bible, that's called a quiet time. You need to do that with regularity. You need to develop that habit and start focusing, worshiping on God every day. If you've been inconsistent in your small group or you haven't been in a small group for a while, you need to get in a small group again. You need to start going every week and be consistent with worshiping God. You see, in good times, you start backing off. Go, hey, I don't need to go to church this week. I'll go once a month. That's cool. Now that we got money, let's buy a boat or a cabin or a condo or an rv and we'll spend three weeks playing. And once a month we'll go to church. Really? Is there anything more important in your life than worshiping God and hearing from him on a regular basis? If you know something that will help your life more than going to worship God, stand up and tell us right now. Because I'll go do it with you. Cause I'm not gonna waste my life. Just tell us. No. Getting in touch with God every week in worship. You know, when the doors are open at a church, I'm gonna be there. Why? Cause I've often wondered, what if that was the week God wanted to speak to me, that was gonna turn the direction of my life, build a career that I never even imagined. And if I didn't go that week, I missed it. I missed it. I don't wanna miss what God says to me. Some of you need to make a recommitment to be at worship every single week. Not like once a month or every two weeks or whenever. It's more important for me to hear from God than to hear from television or hear from anything else going on in life. So I wake up to God's greatness and I start worshiping again. And I'm there. And I worship God all the time. Verse 34. Nebuchadnezzar says, My sanity returned. And I praised and worshiped the Most High. That's God. And I honored the one who lives forever. This is the second step to recovery. My sanity returned when I started praising and worshiping and being grateful for the things God has done in my life. Now, I want you to write this down. I don't know what bad thing you're going through right now, but I will tell you this. We get better. We get better when we replace pride with praise. We get better in any area of our lives when we replace pride in ourselves with praise to God. Now, let me say it again. Every time things are going good in your life, that this is as much a test as the bad times, as the delays, the difficulties and the suffering and the pain. Every time things are going good in your life, God's gonna go, are they gonna become prideful? Are they gonna become praiseful? Are they gonna just think, hey, look how cool we are. I am. Or look how cool God is. I would not have any of this if it weren't for God. You know, about 1,000 years before this event, this happened about 2,500 years ago. A thousand years before this event, Moses said the same thing to the Jews who were coming out of 400 years slavery in Egypt. God had promised for generations. I'm gonna save you, and I'm gonna take you out of slavery from Egypt, and I'm gonna give you a land of your own. It's called the Promised land, and it's a cool place. And they spent 40 years walking across the desert where God test them many times. And Moses is actually more afraid of the success in the Promised land than he is of the slavery in Egypt. He's much more worried. He says, I'm afraid you guys are gonna stop depending on God when things are going good, when you're in the gravy years of your life. And so he says this. He gives this warning before they go into the promised land. Deuteronomy 8:2. Remember how God led you through the wilderness these past 40 years? He's talking to the Jews have been enslaved and then freed. He humbled you while you're out there in the wilderness by letting you go hungry. You know, sometimes God humbles you by letting you go hungry. You're hungry for a relationship you don't have. You're hungry for a need or a job or something that you don't have. And God lets you go hungry in order to humble you. He said he humbled you. And he said he tested you with hardships many times. We're all familiar with that. To test your character and to see if you will obey whatever he commands you to do. Will you obey God when things aren't going good? Now he says, here comes the other test, the test of success. Now God is bringing you into a good land. This is the promised land, a land with plenty of water. You can have all you want, with bountiful crops, with orchards full of fruit, with abundant copper and iron in the ground. So you can build your tools, make your tools, and you will lack nothing. Your bank account will be big enough. You're not worried about paying your bills anymore. So he says, when you're full and you're satisfied. And you're prospering. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord with gratitude for all he has given you. The attitude of gratitude is the first line of defense against falling into ego and arrogance. The more grateful you are, the more humble you will be. The more prideful you are, the less grateful you are. So he says, praise God. Now remember, you got two choices. When things are going good in your life, praise God. Or be proud of myself. He says, when you're full and satisfied, be grateful to God. But he says, be careful. This is a warning. Danger, Will Robinson. Warning. That you do not forget the Lord. That you continue always to obey every command of God. It's so easy to forget God when things are going good. Otherwise, when you have built your fine houses. And your gold and silver have multiplied. In other words, you got money in the bank. Your stock portfolio's doing good. Your heart will become proud. Here's praise and pride contrasted. And you will forget that it was God who saved and delivered you out of your slavery. And gave all this to you. Have you forgotten that? And when you become successful. Do not think I did this all by my own strength. And I became rich by my own power. You know, look how cool I am. I'm Entrepreneur of the Year instead. Remember that it is God, your Lord. Who gives you the ability and strength to produce wealth. Those guys, those of you who are entrepreneurs. You need to write that verse down. And put it in your car and on your desk and in your mirror. That it is God who gives you the ability and strength to produce wealth. That is a gift from God. That is a gift from God, and you need to thank him for it. He says, I warn you, if you ever forget God. And you begin turning things into idols that you worship. I turned my car into an idol. I turned my boat into. I turned my career. I turn things that we've created into. Instead of worshiping the creator of everything, he says, I warn you, if you ever forget God. And begin turning things into idols that you worship. God will destroy it all and your nation. Just as he has destroyed other nations before you who forgot God. I don't know another verse on the Bible that is needed by America than that verse right now. Our nation has forgotten God. Let's just remember this nation was founded by believers. Christians who came to America. They were called pilgrims. To start a new country, a new land where they could worship God freely. They came for religious reasons. They were called pilgrims. They're the pilgrim fathers of this church. And for 300 years. The Bible was taught in every single classroom in America for 300 years. It's only been taken out of schools about the past 75 years. And we've forgotten God. And I shudder to think what could happen to our nation, to our country. What is he saying here? Success is dangerous. He's saying, be careful. There is a danger when you experience the blessing of God. You see, Let me just put this in perspective for you. Your greatest test in life not may be when you lose your job, but when you get a new job and all of a sudden you're so involved in it, you forget God and church and worship and service and ministry and all these other things. Your greatest spiritual test in life may not be when you go into debt, but when you get a raise and you go out and you buy some stuff to keep you from thinking about God. Because you're so busy, you know, out, say, look, this weekend we're not going to church. We're gonna do recreation. We're gonna wreck creation at the lake, at the beach, at the river. We're gonna go recreation. And so you get a raise. Let me just tell you, here's what you do. When God blesses your life, you welcome it. Thank you, God, for this blessing. You celebrate God's blessing in your life. You celebrate the successes. But then you get on your knees and you're humble yourself and say, God, I realize I wouldn't have any of this if it weren't for you. I could have been born in Sudan or Biafra, Pakistan, Myanmar. I could be a homeless kid on the street somewhere. I didn't choose when and where I was born. I didn't choose my natural giftedness. I didn't choose my talents. I didn't choose the freedoms that I have to excel. It all comes from you, God, and you humble yourselves. Now, while Nebuchadnezzar is going through this recovery, he learns four things about God. He wants to tell the whole world about him. And the next four statements I want you to write down, because these are statements that will stabilize your life. Whether you're going through success or suffering doesn't matter good times or bad times. You need to always remember these four things that. That God is in control. Write these down. Four things Nebuchadnezzar says about God that he learned in his fall. Number one, God's kingdom will outlast everything I do. God's kingdom will outlast everything I do. So if you want to make a lasting impact with your life, bet on the kingdom of God, your career is not gonna last, but the kingdom of God is gonna last forever. Verse 34. God's rule is everlasting, and his kingdom is eternal. That's why Jesus said, seek first. Make your number one priority the kingdom of God and all this other stuff that you need. The passion, the pleasure, the position, all the stuff you need, it'll be taken care of. Seek first the kingdom of God, and all these things will be added unto you. He said, make your number one priority, something that's gonna last. Not my career, not. Not my reputation, but God's kingdom. Build your life on God's kingdom. It's far more important than your career. God didn't put you here just for your career. So he says, I learned God's kingdom's gonna outlast everything I do. Second thing he learned was this. God's approval matters more than all the others. Everybody else may disapprove of me, but if God approves of me, it doesn't really matter. You only need one person's approval. God's. If God likes you and you like you, doesn't matter what anybody else thinks. You don't need other people's approval to be happy. You just need God's approval. Verse 35. He says, all the people on the earth are nothing compared to him. Who do you want? When you die, who do you want saying, good job? The people around you or God, you made your life count. Who do you want saying that? God or just a bunch of people? Third thing he learned, God's power is absolute, which means he's big enough for any problem you're gonna face in your success. Verse 35 and 37. Nebuchadnezzar says this. He, God has the power to do whatever he pleases. He can do it among the angels of heaven, and he can do it with those who live on Earth. Okay? His power is absolute. No one can stop him or challenge him, or even question what he does. And those who walk in pride, he is able to humble. And Nebuchadnezzar would have said, and I'm exhibit A. Okay? I was the most prideful man on the planet, and God humbled me. Now look at verse the next verse. Verse 36. Yeah, 36. Said, when God restored my sanity, he also gave me back my honor and kingdom. This is true. This is what happened. And all my leaders returned to me and my kingdom became greater than ever. So if you've had a big fall, it's not over. It's not over till you're dead. He said, all my leaders returned to me. My kingdom became greater than ever. So now I praise and I exalt and I glorify. That's called worship. The king of heaven, that's God. He says, I'm a king, but he's the king of heaven. Because everything he does, God does is always right, it's always true, and it's always fair. Now that means here's the fourth thing he learned. Write it down. God never makes any mistakes. We do, but he doesn't. We don't understand why everything's happening, but we do. He does. And we don't have to understand. I'm sure the people in Babylon said, wait a minute, we got a leader who went insane for seven years. God's still in control. All these things are saying, God is in control. So what does he do? He looks up to God, and then he wakes up to his greatness, and he's in control, and he worships God. And then the third thing that the king did, you need to do this when you're going through a failure. He looked up, he woke up. And then he spoke up about his recovery. Tell others how God has saved and changed me. Tell others how God has saved and changed me. Now, I love the fact that this is a pretty humiliating experience to be the most important man on the planet. And now you're, as I said, out there drooling in the desert, and you can't even put sentences together. He's not shy. He's not embarrassed about his fall. He's not embarrassed about how God restored him. In fact, he tells the entire world, he'll tell anybody who listens. And the Bible says, this king Nebuchadnezzar sent a letter to the people of every race and nation and language throughout the world. By the way, that letter, it's this chapter. This is his story. This, by the way, is Nebuchadnezzar's celebrate recovery story. It's his testimony. If Nebuchadnezzar were here today, he'd stand up and he'd say, hi, my name is Nebuchadnezzar. I'm a believer who struggles with pride. Do you realize Nebuchadnezzar is gonna be in heaven? You're gonna meet him there. This Babylonian king's gonna be there. But because he became a believer and a worshiper of the one true God, he's gonna be there in heaven. You can meet him. And he says, I wrote this letter to the leaders of all the world, throughout every nation. He said this. May you prosper that's how he starts his letter. I want to tell you about the wonderful miracles that God has done for me. And then he tells his story to all the leaders of the world through a letter. How'd you like getting a letter from the king of the greatest empire telling you his testimony? He told other people he woke up, he looked up, he spoke up, and he looked up, and he woke up and he spoke up. Now, let me ask you a question. Has God done anything for you? Has God saved you from anything? Has he shown his grace to you in any way? Have you been changed by God in any way? Then who are you telling? Are you telling anybody how good God has been to you? Are you telling anybody how good God has been to you? Well, no. Why not? Why have you not told your story to anybody else? Well, you know, kind of embarrassing to do that. That's called pride. That's your problem. That's the very problem that got this guy in trouble. When you are saying, well, I don't wanna talk about God with my friends or the people I work with. That's called pride. It's saying, I'm embarrassed to say God has been good to me. I'm embarrassed to talk about how he's changed my life. That's pride. You need to think about that one. You need to tell the whole world if God has helped you. One of the ways you show your humility is by telling others. Who have you invited to church recently? Who have you ever brought to church? Who have you ever said, hey, look, God did something for me. I need to tell you about it. That's an act of gratitude. You know, the whole story that we've just looked at today boils down to God is God and you're not. He's in control. And when you remember that, whether you're in success or you're in suffering, it's gonna keep you stable and keep you humble and keep you from falling. You won't forget God. Would you pray the prayer of Nebuchadnezzar? Say, God, I don't wanna get complacent and comfortable in my life. I wanna pay attention to the warning signs and I want to stop putting off what I know to do is right. I don't want to procrastinate anymore. I want to humble myself before you. I first take this step. I look up to God. Some of you, this is the first time you've ever done this. Say God, for the first time, I'm looking up to you. I've looked to myself and everybody else. For the solution. But I'm saying today you are God and I'm not. And I'm sorry for the times I've acted like it. You know what's best and I don't say God, I want to wake up to your greatness and I want to start worshiping you. I want to focus on you, not my problems, not my pain, and not even my successes. I want to replace pride in my life with praise. I want to stop focusing on me and focus on you. I want to recommit myself to being at worship. Nothing's more important than me getting to know you. Because, God, your kingdom's going to outlast everything I do. I want my impact to last. And what you're doing is far more lasting than my own career or anything else. God, forgive me for worrying about the approval of other people. Help me to remember I don't need their approval to be happy, that your approval is all that really matters. Help me to remember that your power is the absolute, that you are in control, that history is your story and you're bigger than any problem I'm going to face. And I'm going to trust you. I'm going to trust you because, God, I believe you never make any mistakes. You're always true, just loving and right. And then, Lord, help me to tell other people, forgive me for my shyness, my cowardice, my embarrassment. Lord, if I'm truly humble, I'm going to tell other people all the good you've done for me. Help me to tell others how you've saved me and you've changed me. If you've never invited Jesus Christ to be the Lord, the manager, the CEO of your life, say, God, I open my life to you today, Jesus Christ, you become the manager of my life. I want your plan and purpose for me, not the one that I've been trying to go on. And I humbly ask you to help me to live with an attitude of gratitude, realizing that everything comes from you. And I pray this in your name. Amen.

Hey, if you've just prayed along with Rick to accept Jesus in your life, Rick would love to hear from you. Just email rickstorm rick.com we'll send you free tools to help start your relationship with Jesus. And now let's hear how lives are changing through daily hope. Here's Rick with a letter from one of our listeners.

Today.

I want to share with you a letter that I recently received from Denise, whose son was paralyzed in an accident. But she has seen God work in amazing ways in both her Life and her son's life since that accident. She wrote this. Dear Pastor Rick, I've been listening to Daily Hope for months now, and I finally decided to write you and let you know what these messages have done for me. My son was nearly killed in a car accident two years ago. Our son almost died twice. Once at the scene of the accident and once on the operating table. But he did survive.

But we were hit with the news.

That he was paralyzed from the chest down. And the doctor wasn't even sure if he could move his arms as he was in a coma. The next 19 days were spent in ICU. He was then flown to a rehab facility where he spent three and a half months. And I became severely depressed, and I was so angry with God that I just couldn't see through my grief. But I began listening to your program Daily Hope through your website, and about six months later, this changed my life. I'm now beginning to see all the good things coming from my son's accident and injury. God did protect his brain. He's as smart, he's as funny, he's as witty as ever. His body's broken, but his mind is not. And my son had turned away from God when he was 16, but he's slowly making his way back to the Lord. While I'm not grateful for the accident and I'm not grateful for my son's paralysis, I am grateful for the turn that my son is making back to God because of all what's happened. So have a blessed day. I'm now able to look for and I'm able to find God's blessing even in my pain each day. Denise. Well, Denise, you have learned a lesson that many people never learn, that God's purpose for your life is greater than the pain that you go through. And God's plan for your life is greater than the problems that you go through. In fact, it includes those problems. You know, as a father, I know how hard it is to see your children hurting, but I'm glad to hear how God is at work, not just in your life, but in your son's life, too. We're gonna be praying for you here at Daily Hope. And for those of you who support Daily Hope, it's your gifts that make these kind of miracles possible. So thank you, everybody.

We sure hope you've been encouraged by Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. And if you have, would you consider supporting us? We appreciate so much your prayers, and if you'd like to give a financial gift, just go to pastorrick.com again. That's pastorrick.com be sure to join us next time 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.