Looking Forward from Behind Part 2 RDS7B

God has an encouraging word for you and me today through the Bible-based preaching of Dr. Don Wilton and a message on looking forward from behind. It's a unique title and we began with it yesterday already discussing concepts of not only Daniel chapter 2 and the concept of the structure and sequence in which this Bible story is told to us and this teaching and how it applies to us today, but today we dive a little bit deeper about how God speaks to us through godly friends, through God who's placed around us. Right now we believe God has placed us within earshot, so to speak, and we'd love to pray with you and for you.

We can connect keyboard to keyboard on our website at www.tewonline.org or we'd love to have a conversation to pray with you on the phone at 866-899-WORD. That's 866-899-9673 anytime 24 hours a day. And now, Dr. Don Wilton. Number one, don't be in a hurry. I tell you, if you've anything like me, I'm one of these instant coffee generation people.

I want it now and I want it real hot. I'm like that. I tell you what, it's got real bad. I have to check myself. I've got to watch myself when I come to church because inevitably I'll get behind some dummy on the wrong side of the road and they don't realize I've got to get to a meeting and they look as though they've got all week to get wherever it is they're going. I know you've never been there before.

It's amazing. You know, we've got McDonald's and Wendy's and Burger King and we've got Chick-fil-A and we've got everything in between. We've got drive-throughs. Some places have got two and three drive-throughs and everything like that. But it is amazing how my fingers start to wrap when I tell you they've taken longer than 37 seconds to deliver my french fries and my broiled chicken with no mayo and mustard.

And when I get it and it's cold, then I'm really going to be upset. What kind of place is this anyway? You see, folks, we live in a world in which we treat the crises of life in exactly the same way. We rush out the door and we want to act. And sometimes we act too quickly.

We don't stop and think. It seems to me here, this man, Daniel, was in a crisis. He was about to lose his head. And he turns to this man called Arioch and he buys time.

If I could just roughly interpret the Aramaic dialogue that is going on here. He says, cool down, son. Let's not be in such a hurry.

No, no, no, no. Let's not rush out here and execute me right now. Let's sit down and think about this.

Let's talk about this man to man. You see, we live in a reactionary world. Folks, if you want to see reactionary, go to a high school basketball game and just watch some of the parents in the stands.

Now I'm going to stop right there and move on to the next subject. Listen, it's hard, especially when you have a son playing in a game to sit on that seat and behave like a pastor. But you know the reality is, folks, there's some people in the stands of life who explode over the most insignificant things.

I mean, you'd think that that referee down there is the devil incarnate and you'd think that by bursting a blood vessel up here that he's going to change his call down there and actually he's not. And life becomes interpreted like that and we are confronted by crises and we react out of the perspective of our mode of operation. Listen to what happens here. Don't be in a hurry.

Calm down by time. Number two, second step on how to handle a crisis is return to your roots. I want you to notice something in verse 16. The Bible says, at this Daniel went into the king and asked for time so that he might interpret the dream for him. In verse 17, then Daniel returned to his house and explained these things to his friends Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Daniel about to lose his head, first of all buys time in his predicament, then he turns around, walks away from his predicament, and he goes back to his roots. Do you know what he does? He says, you know, I don't know how to handle this exactly. He looks around and he sees people and he goes back to his roots. Could you help me work through this predicament?

Could I share something with you? Folks, sometimes it's a good thing to unload. Go back to your roots, catch your breath, stop what you're doing. You're out of control. When you get out of control, you're going to get into a speed wobble.

And if you get into a speed wobble, you become a candidate for a head on collision. Just stop. Think about what's going on. Return to your roots. Number three, seek godly counsel.

Talk to people. Gather them to yourselves. I was speaking about this this morning, how that God speaks to us through godly friends, through parents, through those that God has placed around us, educators, doctors who not just administered medicine, but they are spiritual people.

They love the Lord Jesus Christ. Our associates in the church, friends, people that we work with, our grandparents, go and sit down and talk to them and share your crisis with them. Number four, pray the prayer of faith. You want to work through a crisis, pray the prayer of faith. Now what is the prayer of faith?

Look at verse 18. He urged them to plead for mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery. Would you pray with me to the God of heaven that God would give mercy from heaven concerning these mysteries concerning this thing that I don't understand? What a prayer of faith. He urged them, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, to plead for mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery. What a way to handle a crisis.

Number five, pray specifically. Call your crisis for what it is. Name it for what it is. Don't circumvent the issue.

If you're in the middle of a crisis at the moment, hit the nail on the head. Young people, if you are dealing with issues right now in your life, deal with it directly. If it's sexual in nature, deal with it. If it's something you're putting into your body, deal with it. If it's bad language, deal with it. If it's the way you talk to your parents, deal with it. If it's bad grades at school, deal with it. If it's a choice you have to make, deal with it.

Call it what it is. But by time, return to your roots, seek godly advice, pray the prayer of faith, seek God, plead with God for mercy that he would show you how to understand and work through this great thing that has come upon you. Then of course, six, praise God in advance. Look at verse 19. And Daniel praised the God of heaven. Praise God.

We sang the doxology this morning. We said, wait a minute, God says that we can prove his will. But before we can prove his will, we need to get something sorted out here. We need to understand that whether we're up or down, we must thank God for the blessings of life because all things come from God. God expects us. We need to praise him. Never use prayer as a weapon.

It's not going to work. Wives, you know, don't turn to your husband and say, well, I see you're in a bad mood. I think I'll pray for you. Kind of does something to sour the prayer time a little somewhat, doesn't it? Well, let's look at Daniel's prayer. First of all, Daniel was in a predicament. Second of all, Daniel showed a lot of poise.

I think he teaches us a lot on how to handle a crisis. But third, Daniel's prayer. This prayer of Daniel from verse 19 through 23 focuses in on the sovereignty of God and the sovereignty of God in different ways.

He begins with an absolute affirmation of his sovereignty. He says, praise be to the name of God forever and forever and forever. But then he injects the sovereignty of God into the revelation of God into human lives.

How does this happen? Verse 21, he talks about the sovereignty of God in nature. He changes times and seasons. Then he talks about the sovereignty of God in history. In verse 21, he sets up kings and he deposes them. Then he talks about the sovereignty of God in knowledge. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning. Then he talks about the sovereignty of God in revelation. He reveals deep and hidden things. He knows what lies in darkness and light dwells with him. Then he talks about the sovereignty of God as it is applied to the hearts of individual people like you and me. I thank and praise you, O God of my fathers, because you have given me wisdom and power. You have made known to me what we, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, asked of you. You have made known to us the dream of the king.

Problem solved. What a journey he went through. You know, the most difficult thing for you and for me to see is the solution to our problems before we reach the solution. It's always much easier in hindsight.

It's always much easier to get out front and look back and say, Lord, you've done it for me. You know, this man was praising God and this man was acknowledging the sovereignty of God prior to having reached the apex of the solution. He still didn't know that his head was going to be spared. And so it is that we move into Act 3 from verse 24 through 30. Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar now come together. Daniel tells Nebuchadnezzar how the dream was revealed to him. Two things I want you to note about this manner with which Daniel speaks and replies to the king. Number one, note his confidence in verse 24. Then Daniel went to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to execute the wise men of Babylon and said to him, do not execute the wise men of Babylon. Take me to the king and I will interpret the dream for him. By the way, did you notice there in verse 25, Arioch took Daniel to the king at once and said, Oh king, I have found a man.

Are you with me there? King, let me tell you something. I'm such a trusted and faithful servant.

In fact, I love buttering my own bread. I want you to know that through my genius, I have found a man from among the exiles of Judah who can tell the king what his dream means. It's amazing.

It's amazing how some people want to take the credit away from God. You're listening to Dr. Don Wilton. Oh, what an exciting message.

Still much more to come in this looking forward from behind, actually the conclusion of this message coming up in just a moment. But as we think about Dr. Wilton and his concept of giving thanks and sharing testimonies, you need to know that our testimony personally has been that God has changed us from the inside out. My own personal testimony is that I grew up in and around the church, knew the right things to say, the right things to do, the right things not to do, but I didn't have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Do you know Jesus personally? Is there doubt that you need to have taken care of? Would you like to have someone pray with you about your salvation? We stand ready to connect for any reason that God would lead you to call us to. That's 866-899-WORD.

Jot the number down, store it in your cell. We're available 24 hours a day at 866-899-9673 or online at www.tewonline.org. Now back to today's message. Looking forward from behind, this is the conclusion with Dr. Don Wilton. God was involved in this. Daniel had affirmed the sovereign hand of God in everything that had been said and everything that was done. Daniel, now teeming with confidence begins immediately to think of others.

Folks, when God delivers you from the crises of life and you take those steps which are necessary, God is going to immediately enable you to transfer the joy that you have into the lives of others. Not only note his confidence, but note Daniel's conviction from verse 27. Daniel spoke directly. He said, no wise man, no enchanter, magician or diviner can explain to the kingdom mystery, but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries.

Now folks, if you go back to chapter 2 and verse 10, look at the contrast. The astrologers answered the king and said, there is not a man on earth who can do what the king asks. No king, however great and mighty, has ever asked such a thing of any magician or enchanter or astrologer. What the king asks is too difficult. No one can reveal it to the king except the gods and they do not live among the men. Daniel replied in verse 27, you're right.

No wise man, magician or diviner can explain to the king about the mystery. But there is a God in heaven who alone reveals mysteries. Amen. What a statement of the sovereign hand of God.

What an incredible pronouncement. Just some thoughts. Number one, Nebuchadnezzar was looking for answers in all the wrong places.

This man tried to turn everywhere to try and find the solution to his own problems, but he was looking in the wrong places just like many of us. Number two, I submit to you that Daniel, just as we are today, is a mirror reflecting God's truth. God uses people, just people like you and me, to be reflectors of God's truth. What an incredible privilege God gives us.

Number three, I want to submit to you that your extremity and my extremity is God's opportunity. Folks, God is in the business of allowing us to sit on the precipice of life. God wants us to be on the edge. God wants us to be dependent on him totally. And I believe God will do whatever it takes to get us to that point. Folks, one of the fears that I have for our beloved America during these days is that I wonder at what point God is going to take us to the point at which this nation has got no other alternative but to recognize that our extremity is God's opportunity. At the moment, we are playing a game with God. God wants to see us so boxed in that we have only God to trust in, that we have nowhere to turn to, that when we are at a dead end, God moves in.

Number four, I want to submit to you based upon this incredible play here in Daniel chapter 2 that we must always praise God no matter what our circumstances. We are a people who are very prone to forget. We forget very easily. We forget what God has done for us. We forget where we've been. We forget the sacrifice that was made. We forget the men and women who laid down their lives. We forget the incredible things that were done for our freedom. But when it comes to God, we are no better off than the Israelites.

We wander around in the wilderness. God pours down manna from heaven and we forget. And fifth but not finally, the God of heaven has a personal message for each one of us. For each one of us. God speaks to us.

I went to David Wise about three weeks ago. David Wise, who is the chairman of our stewardship campaign this year. And our whole emphasis this year is not to ask anyone to give anything. Our whole emphasis is to thank everyone for being what God has called us to be. But folks, collectively, we need to be thanking God for what he's doing for us. I said to David Wise, I said, David, God has chosen you to be our stewardship leader this year. What has God put in your heart? And he looked at me and he said to me, pastor, there's one thing that I wonder whether you would consider. And I said, what's that, brother? He said, well, I know that it means that you're not going to be able to preach on Daniel for that night like you usually do.

And I guess they're going to be a lot of people disappointed. But do you think that during the month of March that we could have just one Sunday night where all of God's people come back into God's house like we did last year? And all we do is sing praises to him, have microphones, pray to the Lord, give thanks and share testimonies. That's all we do. I looked at him and said to him, what? You're trying to tell me that I have to give up preaching so that we've got to come to church and say thank you to the Lord? What? If I'd known that, I wouldn't have started this study. That's robbing me of an opportunity.

No, not at all. Folks, with great joy in my heart, my spirit meant his spirit, in the spirit of Christ. And I said to him, but after all, David, Daniel, Daniel thanked God.

He took time to thank God. Next Sunday night, all we're going to do is thank God in this sanctuary. If you're not here next Sunday night, you've got something to talk to the Lord about.

You need to have a conversation with the Lord. Next Sunday night, there are going to be microphones up and down these aisles. Steve is going to lead us in a song or two.

Brian's going to be playing for us. And I'm going to stand up here and I'm going to read one verse of scripture. And we're going to ask people to come to microphones just like James Dunn did tonight and say, I want to thank God. I want to ask God. I want to petition the Lord. I want to thank him for my family. I want to thank him for my church. I want to thank him for our budget.

I want to thank him for missions. I want to pray for one another, for our moms and dads and our nursery workers. I want to pray for our young people. I want to pray for our country. I want to pray for the preaching of the word of God. I want to pray for my grandmother.

I love her so much. I just want to stop and I just want to thank God for what he's done. It seems to me most remarkable, ladies and gentlemen tonight, that standing on the threshold of his own execution, that this man took time to thank the Lord. Would you bow your heads with me tonight?

Every head bowed and every eye closed. Father, you have spoken through your word and you've spoken through the public testimony of baptism tonight. You have spoken, our Father, so deeply within our hearts that we have no alternative than to recognize that without him, we are nothing. Without you, Lord Jesus, we have nothing. Without you, we are nothing. Without you, we can go nowhere. Without you, Lord, we are sentenced to death. We are to be beheaded publicly.

We are going to lose everything that we have without you. And so, Father, tonight we come before you in your presence. We cry to heaven. We plead for the God of heaven to have mercy upon us.

Help us to understand these mysteries. Help us in our moments of crisis. Help us to know, O God, that it is only in you that we live and we move and we have our being. Build up our character. Give us strength. Give us determination.

Give us the power to be able to stand up in this world. O God, we need you. We need you in our homes and on our campuses. We need you in our churches. We need you in our state capitals.

We need you in the White House. We need you, Lord Jesus, in every aspect and avenue of the very fabric of our being because we are a people who are lost without you. Lord, teach us your ways. Write your song upon our hearts and prepare each one of us to be thrown into the lion's den so that, Lord, in advance we might claim the victory because we know that you will close the mouths of even the most vicious of roaring lions and you will deliver us because you are our God, Jehovah. And we worship you tonight in spirit and in truth. In Jesus' name, Lord, with thanksgiving we pray. Amen.

Turn in your hymn books to hymn 300. Without him I could do nothing. Without him I'd surely fail. Without him I would be drifting like a ship without a sail. Without him I could be dying. Without him I'd be enslaved.

Without him life would be hopeless, but with Jesus, thank God, I'm saved. Aren't you glad to be here tonight? Aren't you ready for the week? Aren't you ready to go and to stand and to be prepared? Aren't you ready to be mom and dad, businessman and business lady? Aren't you ready to go out and stand tall for the Lord? That's what God does for us.

See, without him we're nothing. I'm going to come and join some of my brothers down here at the front. There are some who need to come tonight to join this church. Put your roots down.

Say this is where we want to grow spiritually. Come tonight. Don't wait. Do it now. Make that decision. Be firm.

Be resolved. Some who need to come and say, pastor, I want Jesus Christ in my heart. Without him I'm nothing. Let us show you tonight what Jesus Christ has done for us. He make all the difference in your life.

He'll turn you around and write a new song upon your heart. Amen. If the Lord has stirred your heart through today's preaching from Dr. Wilton or his prayer even then, and you know it's time to make a decision, to make a course correction, let us echo that with you. Let us put resources in your hands that will help you grow. We stand ready to connect right now at 866-899-WORD.

That's 866-899-9673 or online at tewonline.org. These are important thoughts that God has stirred in your heart. And perhaps coming up next from Dr. Wilton, the most important concepts of the day. Are you ready to give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ? Let you pray this prayer with me right now. Dear God, I know that I'm a sinner and I know that Jesus died for me on the cross. Today I repent of my sin and by faith I receive you into my heart. In Jesus' name. My friend, I welcome you today into the family of God.

This is exciting news. Have you given your heart to Christ? Have you come back and rededicated your life to Jesus today?

That's what God's done in the broadcast today. You're joining many, many that the Lord has used the pastor's teaching and more importantly, the Spirit of God through the living Word of God, the Bible itself, to change our lives. We'd love to speak with you.

Put some great resources in your hands. You can call us right now at 866-899-WORD and share what God's doing. That's 866-899-9673 or if you'd rather go keyboard to keyboard, let's connect now at tewonline.org. A great place to discover what it is to become an encourager of our ministry as well. Hello, my friends. I want to speak to you personally today from my heart to yours. I don't think there is ever a better or more important time for us to respond to our world by standing up for righteousness. Now with this in mind, I would like to invite you to become an encourager ministry partner. You see, together we can impact lives both now and for all time and all eternity. The Encouraging Word is a viewer and listener supported ministry. And to know that you are standing with me financially enables me to move forward with confidence to do the work God has called me to do. So please call the number on your screen and just simply say, I want to become an encourager. Thank you so much for helping me. The number to get more information about becoming an encourager is 866-899-WORD. That's 866-899-9673 or discover more as well online at tewonline.org.