Rick Warren - Why God Lets You Win Before Testing You Part 3

Human beings are the only animal that God created that

when you pat them on the back, their head swells.

So we want to talk about the danger of pride

and arrogance and ego when you're successful, because it's easy

to forget God. This is just as much a test

as all the tough times you go through, and it's

one that we often don't understand. But Daniel chapter four

tells us how King nebecan Nezer that we've been looking

at for several weeks now, literally lost everything because of

his pride, his arrogance, and his ego. And so his

life just collapses in a very public and humiliating way,

and we see it all the time. In fact, the

news love to cover this kind of stuff. But God

has mercy on nebecon Ezer. And after this period of humiliation,

whether it's two and a half years or a couple

of years or seven years, we don't know, he restored

his mind. I want you to see now the steps

nebucan Azer's hook back to sanity. First, look up to God,

Look up to God. And the Bible says in Daniel four,

verse thirty four, at this time, after this time had passed,

you know when he had lost his mind. I Nebucanzar,

he's given the testimony. This chapter is his testimony. I

nebican Azer, looked up to heaven and my sanity returned. Literally,

it says in the Hebrews, he lifted up his eyes

to heaven. Do you need to do that today? 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. Worshiping me just means

focus on God. Verse thirty four, Neber says, my sanity

returned and I praised and were shipped 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 you know, 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. Are they going to 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 a thousand

years before this event. This happened about two five hundred

years ago. A thousand years for this event, Moses said

the same thing to the Jews, who were coming out

of four hundred years slavery in Egypt. God had promised

for generations, I'm going to save you, and I'm going

to take you out of slavery from Egypt, and I'm

going to give you a land of your own. It's

called the Promised Land, and it's a cool place. And

they spent forty years walking across the desert where God

tests them many times. And Moses 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 going to 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 eight, verse two. Remember how God led you

through the wilderness these past forty years. He's talking to

the Jews have been slaved, enslaved, and 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. I'm gonna 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.

Remember you got two choices. When things are going good

and you're like, 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, you got money in the bank,

your stock portfolio is 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 to strength to produce wealth. That

is a gift from God. That is a gift from God,

and you need to thinking 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, and I turned my boat, and

I turned my career. I turned things that we've created

into idols 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.

Then 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 readers reasons they were

called pilgrims. They're the pilgrim fathers of this jurch. And

for three hundred years, the Bible was taught in every

single classroom in America for three hundred years. It's only

been taken out of schools about the past seventy five years.

And we've forgotten God. And I shuddered to think what

could happen to our nation, to our country. What is

he saying here? Success is dangerous? He saying, be careful.

There is a danger when you experience the blessing of God.

You see, let me just put this perspective for you.

Your greatest test in life not maybe 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. You're great. A 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,

we're this week and 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 w

rec creation. 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 as a god. I realize I wouldn't have any

of this warnt for you. I could have been born

in Sudan or Biafra, Pakistan, me and mar. I could

be a homeless kid on the streets 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 yourself.

If you want to live a life full of purpose

and joy, then you need to transform the way you think.

And to help you do this, Pastorick created a brand

new set of scripture cards with fifty two hand selected

verses from his series Rethinking Your Life. These verses will

guide you into a deeper understanding of your purpose and faith,

and you'll find yourself gaining the strength to overcome temptation

and conquer discouragement. When you allow God's word to transform

your mind, you'll see your life through his eyes, apply

his wisdom, and step into a life of purpose and joy.

This set of beautifully designed cards will help you memorize

scripture so you can recall God's word when you need

it the most. And today, when you give a gift

to help daily hope, take the hope of Jesus to

a world in need, will send you the Rethinking your

Life scripture card set to say thanks.

Now. While while nebican Ezer 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 God is

in control. Write these down. Four things Nebcanzer 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 going to last, but the Kingdom

of God is going to last forever. Verse thirty four.

God's rule is ever lasting 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 of 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 under. You said, make your number one

priority something that's going to last. Not my career, 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 is going to outlast everything I do.

Second thing he learned was this, God's approval matters more

than all the others. Everybody else's may disapprove of me,

but if God approves of me, doesn't really matter. You

only need one person's approval, God's. If God likes you

and you like you, it doesn't matter what anybals thinks.

You don't need other people's approval to be happy. You

just need God's approval. In Verse thirty five, 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 are God, You

made your life count. Who do you want saying that

God are 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 going to face. In your success verse

thirty five and thirty seven, Nebukanezer says this he God

has the power to do whatever he pleases. He can

do it Among the angels 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 Nebukanazar 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 thirty six. Yeah, thirty

six 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, 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 said.

I'm 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, and 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, 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 in the planet,

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 nebukan Azar 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, it's this is his story. This is this

is his story. This, by the way, is nebucan Azer's

celebrate recovery story. It's his testimony. If nebuc we're here today,

he'd stand up and he's say, hi, my name is

nebucan Azer. I'm a believer who struck with pride. You

realize he Nevks is going to be in heaven. You're

going to meet him there. This Babylonian king is going

to be there because he became a believer and a

worshiper of the One True God. He's going to be

there in heaven and you can meet him. And he says,

I wrote this letter to the leaders of all the

world throughout the nay, 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. I'd

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 many thing? 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

want to talk about God with my friends, with 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

us who have you invited? The 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 going to keep you stable and

keep you humble and keep you from falling. You won't

forget God. That's bow our heads for prayer. So God,

I don't want to get complacent and comfortable in my life.

I want to pay attention to the warning signs and

I want to stop putting off. What I know to

do is write. I don't want to procrastinate anymore. I

want to humb 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 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 ever invited Jesus Christ to

be the Lord, the Manager, the CEO of your life,

say God, I opened my life to you today. Jesus Christ,

you become the manager of my life. And 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. One of the greatest joys of

my day reading letters from our listeners. It truly is

inspiring to see how God is working in your lives,

and it encourages me just as much as I hope

to encourage you. So today I want to share a

note from Heather, who has been discovering the incredible benefits

of studying God's word every day. Heather wrote to me,

she said, Hi, Pastor Rick, a friend of mine recently

sent me your podcast and I've been feeling lost and

helpless and I didn't I wasn't sure what to pray,

or how to pray, or when to pray, and it's

like I hit a wall and I haven't been sure

how to get back on track. Well, your message really

spoke truth to me, and it made me realize the

missing pieces I had in my life because I was

not in God's Word daily. I was basically living my

life without God and I was trying to do everything

on my own. Well, Pastor Rick, it goes without saying

that doing life without God has been miserable failure. So

thank you for stirring the Holy Spirit in my heart

with the words that I needed to hear. I have

now made the commitment to read God's Word every day

and to pray daily, and I even started praying in

the cars I go about my day. Just like you,

it's hard for me to close my eyes and not

fall asleep. You were listening. Please keep doing what you're

doing and reaching people who really need to hear about

Jesus and God's love. Well, Heather, I am so glad

to hear that you're back in God's Word and that

you're making it a part of your daily life. There

really isn't anything more important than deepening your relationship with Him.

And I love the fact that you are praying every day,

especially keeping your eyes open while you're driving. Do you

or somebody know or even feel lost yourself like Heather

once did? Well, the best way to find hope and

strength is by staying connected to God every day. That's

the purpose of Daily Hope, and that's why I started

it to help people like Heather dive into God's Word

and experiences encouragement on a daily basis. Now, our Daily

Hope devotionals and our podcasts are completely free and they're

delivered straight to your inbox every morning. So if you're

not getting these, sign up today and start each day

with biblical wisdom and encouragement from God's Word.

If you want to live a life full of purpose

and joy, then you need to transform the way you think.

And to help you do this, Pastor Rick created a

brand new set of scripture cards with fifty two hand

selected verses from his series Rethinking Your Life. These verses

will guide you into a deeper understanding of your purpose

and faith, and you'll find yourself gaining the strength to

overcome temptation and conquer discouragement when you allow God's word

to transform your mind. You'll see your life through his eyes,

apply his wisdom, and step into a life of purpose

and joy. This set of beautifully designed cards will help

you memorize scripture so you can recall God's word when

you need it the most. And today, when you give

a gift to help daily hope, take the hope of

Jesus to a world in need. We'll send you the

Rethinking your Life scripture card set to say thanks.