Embracing God's Power: Humility and Faithfulness

Oreal, we welcome you here to join us in praising our God and singing to Him. We encourage you to clap, stand, or whatever you feel comfortable with. We are praising our God together. The mountains bow down, and nothing is impossible for our God. His kingdom reigns unstoppable, and we will shout His praise forevermore. Jesus is forever, and we gotta go foreign, and we don't always understand. But we know that God never will. We know that He is with us and loves us. His love changed the course of history and made the beautiful universe for us to be in. He creates things for beauty and will create things to work it out on our behalf. He is the God who sees the beginning and the end and is faithful. So come before Him and know that He is with you and loves you. Let us worship Him in His presence.

Oh, a party! And then the prodigal son came back, and the father threw a party for him. Last week, we talked about the wedding at Cana and how Jesus turned water into wine and how He crashed that party. This week, we're talking about a party that Jesus crashed, and it's found in Luke chapter seven. It's a party that was thrown by a Pharisee, and it's a party that Jesus crashed, and it's a party that changed the life of a woman forever.

Living God, I take in the goodness of Your love. I lead and who You say You are alive, breathing here in this place, the Living God. I hope to the joy that's found in You alone, like You're the only one who satisfies. God, we're so thankful for that, that You are holding on to us, that You are the one who reached out first. Your covenant stands between us even when we fall short, when we miss the mark. But You, in Your power and Your love and Your grace, You keep holding on. Sweet thank You. God, we rest in Your embrace; we rest in the palm of Your hand. We want to dwell where You are; we want to seek Your presence above all, 'cause in Your presence there is strength, in Your presence there is peace, and You give such good gifts like joy.

So God, we thank You that You've invited us to be a part of Your family. That we can rest knowing that we will never be snatched from Your arms. We rest knowing that You are with us, that You love us, and You're working on our behalf. And all You ask is that we have faith, that we trust and put our trust in You. So God, encourage us, help our hearts to trust that our first instinct would be to lean against You and seek You. We desire to be closer to You and know You better. So speak to us today; let Your Holy Spirit transform our hearts as we worship You. God, we pray this in Your Son's heavenly name. Amen.

Welcome to Thrive Church! We are so happy to have you here with us. If you are in person with us in one of our campuses—Torrington, New Britain, Terryville, or online—we welcome you. My name is Judah, and I'm the lead pastor here at Thrive. We are in a series called "Party Crashers." Throughout this series, we've been talking about different times in the Bible where there have been parties, and they've gotten crashed.

We talked about a gathering where Jesus was preaching in a house, and four friends brought a paralyzed friend in through the roof and brought him to Jesus. The guy was healed and forgiven in that moment. We talked about the prodigal son and how he and his brother had a party, and then the prodigal son came back, and the father threw a party for him. We talked about the wedding at Cana and how Jesus turned water into wine and how He crashed that party.

This week, we're talking about a party that Jesus crashed, and it's found in Luke chapter seven. It's a party that was thrown by a Pharisee, and it's a party that Jesus crashed, and it's a party that changed the life of a woman forever.

Daniel was a prophet, leader, and man of God who was kidnapped by the Babylonians at around 16 or 17 years old. He was taken away from Jerusalem to Babylon, which was the greatest world power at the time. Prophets had been predicting for hundreds of years that if the Jewish people did not repent and turn to God, they would be captured and taken into captivity. Daniel excelled in everything he did and was trained to be an advisor to King Nebuchadnezzar. He went from being a prisoner to being the prime minister of Babylon and served there for over 70 years.

Most people know Daniel from the classic story of Daniel and the Lion's Den. This story happened before Daniel had his encounter with the lions. Last week, we talked about how Jesus was at a party, and a woman came and poured out some expensive perfume on His feet and crashed the party. This story is from the Book of Daniel in the Hebrew Bible, which is the history of the Jewish people before Jesus came on the scene.

Daniel had been a friend and a prime minister to King Nebuchadnezzar, the greatest king that ever reigned over Babylon. But now Nebuchadnezzar is dead, and as a result, Daniel has been forgotten. A new person is on the throne, a man by the name of Belshazzar. He is the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar—young, rich, powerful, and egotistical. He is an egomaniac, and God hates pride.

Belshazzar's father, Nebonidus, was actually the king, but he took off to Arabia for a decade, leaving Belshazzar in charge. Belshazzar decided to throw a party while his father was away. The problem with pride is that it is very hard to self-diagnose. Nobody brags about their humility, and if they do, they probably don't have it. It is important to remember that God hates pride but loves humility.

King Belshazzar gave a great feast for a thousand of his nobles, and he drank wine with them. While Belshazzar was drinking the wine, he gave orders to bring in the gold and silver vessels that Nebuchadnezzar, his father, had taken from the temple in Jerusalem. As the king and his nobles, wives, and concubines drank from the vessels, they praised their gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone.

Suddenly, the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall of the king's palace. The king saw the hand as it wrote, and his face turned pale with fear. His knees knocked together in terror, and his limbs lost their strength.

The king called for the enchanters, astrologers, and diviners to interpret the writing. When they could not, the queen suggested that Daniel be called. Daniel was brought in, and the king said to him, "Are you able to tell me what the writing means?" Daniel replied, "No wise man, enchanter, diviner, or astrologer can explain it to the king. But there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries. He has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in days to come. Your dream and the visions that passed through your mind as you lay on your bed are these: As for you, O king, while on your bed your thoughts turned to what would happen in the future, and he who reveals mysteries showed you what is to come."

Daniel then interpreted the writing on the wall for the king. He said, "This is what the writing means: MENE, God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end. TEKEL, you have been weighed on the scales and found wanting. PERES, your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians."

The king was filled with pride and arrogance in his heart, which was disgusting and exceedingly offensive to the Lord. He did not put his trust in God but instead took credit for what God had done. As a result, he was punished, and his kingdom was divided and given to the Medes and Persians. This serves as a reminder to us all that pride is taking credit for what God has done, and it is an offense to the Lord. We should instead put our trust in God and be confident in the abilities He has given us.

Nebuchadnezzar had taken cups, plates, and other items from the temple in Jerusalem when he conquered it. He wanted to drink from them with his nobles, wives, and concubines. These gold cups had been made by King Solomon and were used in the act of worshiping God. Belshazzar, Nebuchadnezzar's successor, not only used them to drink from but also to do toasts to his gods of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone.

While they were having this party, the city was under siege by the Medes and the Persians. The walls of Babylon were considered impenetrable, being up to 85 feet wide and 300 feet tall, with 250 defensive towers. The walls were about 14 miles on each side, and the city had a river running through it, with all the resources needed to support life. Belshazzar and his company were having a party, believing that the walls were impenetrable, and they broke out the cups of gold and silver taken from the temple of God in Jerusalem. They praised their idols, believing that their gods were better than the one true God, as they were in exile.

Our gods are more powerful, so they are toasting. This is a way of mocking the God of Israel. If anyone was trying to stir up the wrath of God, it was this guy. What we do know is that there is only one true living God. They are toasting to these gods made out of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone. These things are not living; they are inanimate objects, just sculptures with no power. Yet, our God is the one God who is truly living.

Do we ever use what is God's to serve our own flesh in our bodies, which is God's temple? We do all kinds of things with drunkenness, addictions, drugs, and all these abuses that we put our bodies through.

Suddenly, they saw the fingers of a human hand writing on the plaster wall of the king's palace near the lampstand. The king himself saw the hand as it wrote, and his face turned pale with fright. They were in there having a party, drinking and having a good time. The king was getting a little bit toasted, and then the hand appeared. He must have gotten sober really quick. Everyone was feeling sober right now. His knees knocked together in fear, and his legs gave way beneath him. He was afraid, and there were a thousand people in the room watching.

The handwriting on the wall was a sign of something that was about to happen. It is like when you are working a job, and it seems like you can't do enough to please your boss, and there is a distance growing between you. Or when you are teaching a class, and you don't think you are going to last much longer. We can see the writing on the wall. A student is not doing so well, and it's like everyone can see the writing on the wall—the telltale signs of something about to happen.

The king calls the astrologers, fortune tellers, and enchanters to come and read the words that nobody can read. He promises them royal robes and to make them the third highest-ranking person in the kingdom. However, none of them can read the words, and they start to get afraid. The king turns to horoscopes, looking at the stars, and reading palms, but it doesn't help. The queen mother comes running in and tells the king not to be afraid because there is a man in the kingdom who is full of the spirit of the gods. She tells him to call Daniel, who is the chief over all the magicians, enchanters, astrologers, and fortune tellers.

Daniel comes in, walking in humility, and the king asks him to interpret the words. The Bible says that God honors those who walk in humility, and Daniel is a perfect example of this. He is able to interpret the words, and the king gives him royal robes and makes him the third highest-ranking person in the kingdom.

Daniel was reminded of his first arm wrestling tournament when he heard the phrase "humble yourself, and you will be lifted up." He signed up for both the amateur and professional divisions but lost in all of them. He went in with a certain level of pride but was quickly brought down to size.

Daniel then told King Belshazzar about his grandfather, King Nebuchadnezzar. God had given him power, honor, and glory, and he could do whatever he wanted. But he became arrogant and proud, and God brought him low and stripped away all of his glory.

Daniel warned Belshazzar that he had not honored God by taking the cups from the temple and using them to praise false gods. God had sent a hand to write a message for him, and the words meant that God had numbered the days of his reign and brought it to an end; he had been weighed on the balances and not measured up, and his kingdom had been divided and given to the Medes and Persians.

Belshazzar was proud, violent, and powerful, but he still didn't measure up to God's standard. Do we ever come into a situation where we don't measure up? We have scales at home that tell us the truth about ourselves. It tells us where we really stack up. God said Belshazzar was lacking because of the debauchery of his life, pride, disregard for God, and evil in his heart. We must ask ourselves, if God weighs us, how do we measure up? Are we more concerned with money, power, and pride than pleasing God? Are we walking in humility as Scripture encourages us to do?

While Belshazzar was partying, the Medes and Persians had entered the city. They diverted the Euphrates River, which ran under the wall and through the city, and the entire army came in. As the prophecy said, Belshazzar's days were numbered, and his kingdom would be divided. Even though the enemy came in, Daniel remained and became the prime minister of the Persian Empire. God loves to exalt those who are humble and lift up those who are walking in humility.

See how God can cut down one person because of their pride and honor another person for their humility. Our world tends to have things all backward. We reward pride, and we punish humility. So you gotta have pride; you gotta step on somebody else. We don't value humility, even as we're getting ready for our country to go into an election. See how far humility gets anybody? No, it's all about pride; it's all about arrogance. What does the Scripture say? That God resists the proud, but He gives grace to the humble. He hates the proud; He hates pride. This is not God's way. May God put to death the pride that is in our life. It's so hard for us to see, but it keeps us from God's presence. He resists those who are full of pride.

So can we see that in our own life? Put it to death and instead embrace the humility that Jesus demonstrated.

Father, we come to You now, and we thank You for Your goodness to us. We thank You for Your mercy. We thank You that You lift up those who are humble, and You sent the perfect example of humility in Jesus. God, let us put to death any pride in our own life, any cockiness, any conceitedness, any ego that we have. Lord, let us put that to death, realizing that You are the giver of all good things.

If you're here today and you don't know Jesus as your Lord, don't let another day go by. God is inviting you into His family, and if you believe that God raised Jesus from the dead and you say with your mouth that Jesus is your Lord, you'll be saved. Won't you call on His name now? Say, "Jesus, You are my Lord."

God, let us not let our lives be ruled by pride. Let us see it in ourselves, not just in other people. Let us put it to death and be aware of the times that we speak out of our ego, the times that we brag about things, the times that we think that we're better than somebody else, the times that we look down on somebody else. Lord, just put that to death in our life. Let us walk in humility, Lord, because You lift up those who are humble. Father, just draw us closer to You. We thank You for Your goodness; we thank You for Your faithfulness to us. Let us be like Daniel, one who listens for Your voice, one who walks in humility, and in the end, You honor. Lord, we don't want to honor ourselves; we want to be honored by You. So help us to walk in the humility that You give us in Jesus' name. Amen.

I know that's what you tell me. You get into my Egypt birthday. Oh man, everybody, Hallelujah!

Foreign verse about God punishing the proud. We're like, yeah, none of us really like proud people. I grew up; I had one of my best friends who was a very prideful person. He was the type of person who would go to the gym once, and he's like, "Look how ripped I am! It only took one time, and I have so much muscle!" Everyone was always picking on him because he would bring himself up so high that everyone just felt the need to knock him down to where it was.

In Scripture, we see that it's like when you go to a feast, don't sit at the seat of honor, right? Because then someone more important might show up, and then the awkward situation comes where you're asked to move from that place of honor. But sit in the lowest place and then wait for the host to ask you to the place of honor.

Well, pride looks—it's so hard, like Judah said; it's so hard to self-diagnose pride because it comes across in so many different ways. For me, my pride came across as a lack of self-confidence, and that's the opposite thing that you think of when someone has pride. It's like they don't have confidence; how is that prideful? But because I was so afraid of how people would view me and that they would think less of me, it crippled me and kept me from doing anything. The pride of falling short of perfection crippled me.

So when we look at pride, we can't just say, "Oh, it's the people who talk proudly about themselves, who are always bragging about their lives." We all struggle with pride, and it manifests in so many different ways.

So we look at this feast that he was having; he was surrounded by this army under siege, and he was just, "Well, I don't have to worry about that stuff." But what I got out of this is, what are we surrounding ourselves with in life? And we're just like, "That's not going to affect me. I can watch this, and it's fine. I can hang out with this group of people, and it's fine. I can partake in this activity, but it's fine. I have these walls around me; I have Jesus; I don't need to worry about temptation."

But we see this story, and we see what happens when pride gets in the way, when we think that we're fine in life without taking the teaching seriously, without putting those boundaries in place, without making the right decisions to make sure that we're on the right path.

This week, I want to challenge you to examine your life, to examine yourself for those areas of pride where we think we're too good, where we think we're untouchable, where we're afraid to show our true selves, and to start to make changes in those areas.

With that, hope you all have a great week. Thanks so much.