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Now let's dive into today's teaching from Pastor Skip Heitzig. I was thinking back to being a little kid when I learned how to swim. And I was so excited about the idea of learning how to swim. until I got to the actual swimming pool itself. And I remember having to step up onto the diving board and walk out.
And then I was encouraged to Take a step, one step, step out. And my dad was in the pool, my brother was in the pool, and they just said, just take one step, we're here to catch you. But what I remember is The vastness of the swimming pool was more in focus to me than the love and strength. of my father and my older brother. But you know, there's a difference between having passive faith and having active faith.
You can believe that God can do something, but do you believe that God will do something? Daniel the prophet. is on the diving board of a crisis. And there he is standing there, encouraged by God to step out because of the circumstances. He's facing his own death.
And he has to make a choice. And he decides, this prophet decides. To step up. and step out And fall into the everlasting arms of God for such a time as this. He puts his faith on the line.
By placing his faith in the Lord, at a very, very strategic time.
Now, when we talk about jumping or taking a step. We're not referring to what One philosopher named Soren Kiergaard talked about the blind leap into the dark. No, no, this is a very calculated Commitment. That Daniel and his friends make based upon truths they know about God. And based upon those truths, they make that step.
This is real faith. Real faith is betting your life. On Jesus Christ, you might say, betting your eternal life as well as betting your temporal life. And so today's challenge is to step up. to make a step of integrating your Spiritual faith inside, your spiritual world inside, with your actual world going on on the outside.
and to insert yourself into situations That will hopefully bring change because of your faith in the Lord. Faith.
Some people here that were going to go, yeah, yeah, yeah, faith. I'm not really a person of much faith. You know, I'm not into this whole idea of there's a God up there, and I'm just going to trust in him and live by faith in this unseen God. What's funny about that is we're so apt to trust people. People and so unapt to trust the Lord.
We all live by faith in other people. My encouragement is to live by faith in the Lord. the greatest of all persons. You know, it's interesting, you go to a doctor whose name you can't pronounce. Um He has degrees that you don't verify.
He gives you a prescription you can't read. You take it to a pharmacist you've never met. Gives you a chemical compound you don't understand, and yet you don't hesitate to go home and actually take the pill. All the while. God is saying.
Step up, step out, jump. And let me catch you. And we're going, oh no, I can't trust the Lord. I think I'm going to drown.
Now the story before us unfolds into three scenes. The first scene, scene number one, is in Nebuchadnezzar's Bedroom. This king can't sleep. He has insomnia. The second scene moves into Nebuchadnezzar's courtroom.
He's with his advisors trying to figure out what this dream means and what to do about it. And then C number three. Is in Daniel's prayer room as he gets his buddies together at home and they pray for what they ought to do. in light of this crisis.
So we're going to look at the king's insomnia. We're going to look at the Chaldeans' incompetence. And we're going to look at Daniel and his three friends, the captives, intercession. Or as The outline that I've made says The king can't sleep well. The Chaldeans can't see well.
And the captives can't sit well. We're going to look at just part of chapter 2 in the book of Daniel. The first is Daniel chapter 2, verse 1. and notice, as we're in now, the King's bedroom, how the story unfolds.
Now in the second year. Of Nebuchadnezzar's reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams. And his spirit was so troubled that his sleep left him. Then the king gave the command to call the magicians, the astrologers, the sorcerers. and the Chaldeans to tell the king his dreams.
and so they came and stood before the king. And the king said to them, I've had a dream. And my spirit is anxious. To know the dream You know, power has It's price tag. Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown Nebuchadnezzar has made it to the top.
But he's in now a state of anxiety. The cares of the day become the fears of the night. You know, once you're on. Top of the hill once you're king of the hill like this guy is There comes a time where you start wondering how long are you going to be there before somebody else? Tries to make a power grab, come in and take over and get you off the hill and make themselves the king.
So he's worried. It's nighttime. There was a minister who asked a young boy, Young man, do you say your prayers at night? He says, Yes, sir, I do. The minister said, Do you say your prayers in the morning?
He said, No, sir, I don't. I ain't scared during the daytime. But Nebuchadnezzar Worry during the day, but petrified here at night, he takes his problems to bed. He's in that dream state where the wild things are. You know what it's like when you're trying to fall asleep, and all those things you have put away and put at bay come to haunt you.
during the night. What should have been a place of rest for the king becomes a place of torment.
Now, who was this Nebuchadnezzar? We've talked about him last week, mentioned a little bit about him, but. Here's a few more details. Nebuchadnezzar was the oldest son of Nabopolassar. You're thinking, that doesn't help me out very much.
Well, Nabopolassar was the guy who founded the Babylonian Empire. And he passed it on to his son Nebuchadnezzar, who was out fighting battles. And he fought a very strategic one that brought captives, including Daniel. to Babylon. For two years, he was the co-regent with his dad, Nebuchadnezzar and Nabopolazar, but then dad died.
Nebuchadnezzar is now in charge. His dad, Nabopolassar, gave him the name Nebuchadnezzar, which means, interestingly, O Nabu. Protect my son. Nabu was one of the chief gods of Babylon. He was called the God of wisdom.
O Nabu, God of wisdom, protect my son. What's interesting about that name, in light of this chapter, is Nebuchadnezzar is going to find out. That his God doesn't have much wisdom. and he is unable to protect him. As he brings in all of these astrologers to help him unlock the meaning.
of this dream.
Now Nebuchadnezzar was known in history for his cruelty. He killed a lot of people. In fact, he did it very slowly. He was the guy who would roast people over fires and watch them burn as they were flayed to death. This is the guy who, in 2 Kings chapter 25, in taking Judah captive, takes King Zedekiah.
Kills Zedekiah's sons before his eyes. puts him in chains and takes him to Babylon so that The last memory he has as a slave is seeing his sons die. Oh and then Nebuchadnezzar gouged out King Zedekiah's eyes, so he would be blind after seeing the death of his sons. He would be blind the rest of his life. This is the king.
Who built that fiery furnace we're going to get to in chapter three and threatened to throw people in if they didn't bow to the image that he produced? There's some people look at this and go, oh, well, you know, this is what kings do, kings are so temperamental. Yeah, temperamental. In Nebuchadnezzar's case, it's 90% temper, 10% mental. He's just a reactionary.
And he's a violent guy.
So the text says, he had dreams and his spirit was troubled. The word troubled means to press. or to beat upon. This guy was disturbed. I believe that God has ways of getting people's attention.
If He can't get your attention during the day, He might just sneak in at night. And here he speaks to him through a dream. A dream we won't get to till next time, but Did you know that everybody dreams? Every night you have dreams.
Now, I've had people say, well, no, I don't dream. No, you don't remember your dreams, but according to dream research, the average adult dreams five times a night. that once you fall asleep 90 minutes in, You start your first dream, and they recur about 90 minutes apart. With Increasing longevity, increasing length.
Now the recall is another story, but you are dreaming as you're dealing with things during the day.
So, what is going on in your brain is the large brain cells in the brainstem are spontaneously firing, sending their stimuli to the brain's cortex, and your brain is trying to figure out. What it all is, and sees those images. In this case, God is directing. That cortical stimulation and speaking to him through it.
Now, if you read the Bible, you know that this is not uncommon. That the Lord, in certain cases, used dreams to speak a message or to direct people's lives, as in the case of Jacob when he runs away from home and he sees in a dream a ladder that goes up to heaven, the angels of God descending and ascending on it. or Pharaoh who sees a dream in ancient Egypt. And Joseph who sees dreams and is able to interpret dreams. Or Solomon, who saw a dream of God, and God said to him, Ask whatever it is, I'll give it to you.
That'd be a nice dream to have, wouldn't it? Especially if it actually turned out to be true. And then one of the most famous dreams is that of Joseph and Mary. As they In a dream at night, an angel appeared to them and spoke to them and said, To Joseph, don't be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For this holy one that is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.
You're listening to Connect with Skip Heidzig. Before we return to today's message, have you ever struggled to study the Bible consistently? or wondered how to really enjoy your time in the word? In his book, How to Study the Bible and Enjoy It, Pastor Skip gives you the tools and insights you need to dig into scripture with joy, clarity, and confidence. This practical guide is our thanks for your generous gift of $50 or more to reach more people with God's Word through Connect with Skip.
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Now, let's get back to today's message from Pastor Skip.
So God speaks through dreams, and here he's getting the king's attention. The king can't sleep well.
Now this is the setup.
Now, the camera turns from scene one, the king's bedroom, into the king's courtroom. This is now the advisors being called in, verse four. Then the Chaldeans spoke to the king in Aramaic, O king. Live forever. Tell your servants the dream, and we will give you the interpretation.
The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, My decision is firm. If you do not make known the dream to me and its interpretation, You will be cut in pieces, and your houses will be made an ash heap. Do you think he meant it? Yeah, I do. Yeah, great.
You know, great boss to have. If you fail at the job, you'll be dismembered and will burn your house down.
However, If you tell the dream and its interpretation, you shall receive from me gifts, rewards, and great honor. Therefore, Tell me the dream and its interpretation. They answered again, and said, Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will give its interpretation. The king answered and said, I know for certain that you would gain time. Because you see that my decision is firm.
If you do not make known the dream to me, there's only one decree for you. For you have agreed to speak lying and corrupt words before me until the time has changed. Therefore, tell me the dream. and I shall know that you can give me its interpretation. The Chaldeans answered the king and said, There's not a man on earth.
Who can tell the king's matter? Therefore, no king, lord, or ruler has ever asked such things of any magician, astrologer. Chaldean. It's a difficult thing that the king requests. And there is no other who can tell it.
to the king except the gods whose dwelling is not with flesh. Interesting insight into their theology. For this reason the king was angry and very furious. and gave a command to destroy all the wise men of Babylon.
So the decree went out. And they began killing the wise men, and they sought Daniel and his companions. to kill them.
So the king can't sleep well. And now the Chaldeans can't see well. You need to understand that Ancient Prophets or prognosticators, people who could tell the future were called seers. Because they could see into the future, and then seeing into the future, they would tell you what those details are. But obviously, in this case, the Chaldeans can't see very well.
Now there's a list of people that are mentioned. First of all, Chaldeans. Chaldeans was an ethnic designation. for people who lived in Babylon or who were of Babylonian origin. Nebuchadnezzar was Chaldean.
But here, as it's in the mix of the other people with their job descriptions, The Chaldeans here seem to refer to those who were in charge of this. Royal court. Also on the list, Magicians are mentioned. Magicians are sacred scholars. Astrologers are mentioned next.
Astrologers were a class of priests called Maggoi, or, as in the New Testament, the Magi. And then we have the sorcerers that are also mentioned on this list.
Now, sorcerers were people who used herbs and uh charms and potions to foretell the future.
So you have the cream of the occultic crop. standing before Nebuchadnezzar. And they got nothing. This sounds like a new age bookstore as you look at the people who are right in front of them, but they can't tell them the future. They even have to admit failure.
There's not a man on earth who can do what the king commands. Many years ago, before I gave my life to Christ, I used to dabble. in the occult. More in spirit writing and astral projection, the paranormal. And I did so because of the sense of empowerment.
That I got from those activities. It really was a powerful thing. Certain things happened. whether it was auto-hypnotic or whatever. I felt empowered and that was one of the big draws for me getting into it.
But though it's always been fascinating these kinds of things to people, a recent Harris poll tells us that though the majority of Americans say that they believe in the basic concepts of the Bible, there's a growing interest In other spiritual ideologies. For example, 51% say they believe in ghosts. 31% believe in astrology. 27% believe in reincarnation. In fact, believe that.
They are reincarnated from some other previous life form. In the United States, that means that 12 Well, excuse me, 125 million people Believe in astrology. And that 70% Of those read their horoscopes every single day for direction. In fact, seven percent have said that they have altered their decisions, made different choices that they were going to do based upon an astrological reading they read. You go, well, 7%, what's that?
12 million people. 12 million people so buying into it that they'll change their decisions based upon what. The stars are supposedly saying. What's most alarming is what a recent Gallup poll has Said That At least 10% of evangelical Christians. Also believe in astrology to some degree.
I can tell you this just by looking at those stats, there is a spiritual high. Hunger. in our country. We've been looking for the American dream, and for a lot of people, the American dream has failed. And people are saying, now what?
All that we wanted and looked to has failed.
Now what? There's a deep spiritual hunger within every person. And as in this court, There's failure. The Chaldeans have failed.
Okay. This little incident of the failure of the Chaldeans, who can't see into the future very well. Serves a few different purposes. It does a number of things. First of all, It rattles the faith of the king.
The king has believed in his pantheon of deities and his worldview of the Chaldeans and the magicians and the astrologers up to this point. I think that his faith in all of that is being rattled because They can't do anything for them. And it gets him thinking about the future because as we'll see next time we're together, next week, the dream is about future world kingdoms. And Nebuchadnezzar now starts thinking about the future of his kingdom and the future of the world after his kingdom. Which is a good thing.
Because a lot of people don't think much about the future. They only think about the present. In fact, for most people, it's all about immediate gratification. What's in it for me right now?
Now there's an old scorn that Is often directed to Christians saying, Oh, you're so heavenly-minded, you're no earthly good.
Well, it's also possible to be so earthly minded, you're really not much good Either for heavenly or earthly purposes, you need to be thinking about what happens after you die. You need to be thinking about the future. Because the future comes whether you like it or not. or not. Jesus in the New Testament told of a very wealthy man who had a lot of goods and he stored them up and He didn't know what to do with it all.
And one night, He died. And the LORD said to him, You fool, this night your soul shall be required of you. Yeah, it's foolish. To only think about the now and not think about the future, Nebuchadnezzar is now. His attention has been gotten by the Lord.
His faith is being rattled. And that's a good thing. Many years ago in Texas, There was a preacher by the name of George Truitt. George Truitt is known in Baptist circles. He was the pastor of First Baptist in Dallas up until the 1940s, and he knew many wealthy oilmen when the oil business was just really kicking off down in Texas.
He was invited over for dinner one night into this Wealthy oil barons' home, and he went up on the upper level of the house, which was a big balcony overlooking fields that he owned. And the oil Tycoon. taking him outside, said to Pastor Truitt, I came to this country. Without a penny.
Now Everything you see in that direction. That direction? That direction And that direction I own. I own everything you see in all of these directions. George Struett put his hand on the man's shoulder and says, How much do you own in that direction?
You've only thought of the temporary. You've been very successful. but you haven't planned very well. Have you thought about your future?
So, this whole incidence of failure for the Chaldeans rattles the faith. of the cane. Second thing it serves to do is it reveals the fraud of the Chaldeans. They can't really produce here. Dreams and omens were supposed to be their forte.
They can't deliver the goods.
So they're saying, well, look, King, tell us what. The dream is, and then we'll make something up. That's really what they meant. We can figure this out. Nebuchadnezzar goes, No, I want you to actually tell me what I dreamt because then I know that you'll be able to tell me the interpretation.
If you're in touch with the gods, Cough it up. They couldn't produce anything. The best they could do is some generic fortune cookie thing. It will rain somewhere today. You will attain wisdom.
Just generic slop. I remember back to the days when I was experimenting with occultic practices. A thought that occurred to me as I was getting involved in some of these practices. I thought I know I'm dabbling in things I shouldn't be dealing with. But there's power here.
And then I thought, if there's this much power. On the wrong side. What kind of power is there on the right side? If I could get in touch with that, with him, with truth. That could be life-changing.
So It rattles the faith of the king. It reveals the fraud of the Chaldeans, and, even more than that, it rallies the fervor of these captives, Daniel and his buddies. This is a setup so Daniel can show them up. To show them, no, there's not many gods. No, it's not like pick your belief because we all Get to the same place because all roads lead to God, He's going to show them there's only one God.
And that God, the God, has revealed these things to me. Thanks for listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before you go, don't forget to request this month's featured resource, How to Study the Bible and Enjoy It. This book from Pastor Skip offers practical, encouraging help to take your Bible study deeper and get more out of every verse. It's our thanks for your generous gift of $50 or more to help share God's Word with more people.
Call 800-922-8888 or visit connectwithgift.com slash offer. and be sure to sign up for weekly devotionals and get your free one-sheet how to approach studying the Bible. It's a great tool to jumpstart your time in Scripture. Come back next time for more verse-by-verse teaching of God's Word here on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Make a connection.
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