Summit Life with J.D. Greear

Today on Summit Life, we come to another story of God taking down a prideful, rebellious, selfish king. You’re like, wait, didn’t we JUST hear this story on the program? Hang on, today we come to Belshazzar, the grandson of King Nebuchadnezzar. We’re going to see that this problem is much bigger than just one king.

Last week on the program we talked about the roots of pride. The first root is the failure to recognize everything—everything, every breath you take—is a gift of God; and the second root is, the foolish assumption that it will last forever. In this message, we’ll take a look at what God has to say about pride’s fruits and pride’s cure. It’s something we all need from time to time, so let’s dig in.

It’s a tricky thing, pride. Just when we think we’ve overcome it, we’re super proud of ourselves for accomplishing it! In fact, scripture is pretty clear about it when it says, “Pride comes before a fall…” Just when we think we’ve nailed it, it creeps in and can destroy us. Just ask the character in our teaching. He learned some pretty serious lessons about the sin of pride and its consequences. Where are the roots of pride in your life?

GOD IS BIGGER. It’s one of the most basic principles of our faith that we’re going to dive much deeper into. We’re going to talk about bold faith—faith both for when God delivers us, and faith for when he chooses not to. Will we be bold enough to ask ourselves the question, “Is God enough?” Will you follow him even when the answer is “no”? That type of courage takes a deep level of trust in God. Grab your Bible, and let’s walk through the “Courage in Babylon.” It’s a message we all need to be reminded of today.

Through the famous story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, we will see an example of courage that could only come from faith in God. These three young men knew that God was bigger than anything life can throw at us. And more importantly, that God was better than anything death could take away. So what does courage look like in your life right now?

We learn that what was true for Daniel is still true now: “There is a God in heaven.” Where human strategies fail, God begins to work. Don’t you want to be part of what God is up to in your community, in your family, in your world?

As we continue our teaching series through the book of Daniel, we’re walking through Nebuchadnezzar’s confusing dream in Daniel, Chapter 2. Through this wild and startling story, we learn to view our culture the way Daniel viewed his—not through assimilation, not through separation, but through transformation. We’re called to participate in what God is doing in culture, not shrink back or isolate.

The world we live in, like Daniel’s, is often very dark and hostile to the message of God. But thankfully, he doesn’t call us to escape this world. He calls us to transform it. We’ll learn that the power to make a difference is only found in the commitment to be different. And one thing that definitely describes Daniel is he was different. So let’s put ourselves in his shoes as we travel back to the ancient near east and are dropped in the middle of Babylon.

We begin working our way through the Old Testament book of Daniel–and it’s about a lot more than just lions. This book is about how to shine, how to thrive, in a very dark and hostile world. Unlike most of the other books in the Hebrew Bible, this one is not set in Israel, but in the heart of an enemy, pagan empire where God’s people have been taken captive.

Today, we conclude our series called, Instead of Me. Every message in this series, Pastor J.D. has shown us how Matthew places people in the story of Jesus that give us possible ways we might respond. Which ones describe you?