Welcome to Leading the Way featuring pastor and International Bible teacher and evangelist, Dr. Michael Yusef. Growing up in Egypt provides Dr. Yusef with unique insights into God's Word, giving him a voice of practical wisdom beyond many teachers.
Up next on Leading the Way, experience when King Nebuchadnezzar was plagued with disturbing dreams, but God used Daniel to bring him peace, positioning Daniel to not only influence the king, but also the world. Listen with me as Dr. Michael Yusef begins Leading the Way. I read this week about the man who was suffering a great deal of insecurities and he went to see a psychiatrist. He told the psychiatrist, he said, you know, I'm exhausted. I haven't slept in a long time.
I am having sleepless night after night after night. The psychiatrist said, tell me about it. He said, when I go to sleep at night and as soon as I begin to doze off, I wake up thinking that somebody's under the bed. And he said, there's never anybody under the bed.
So I go and look. And then I go to sleep again. I woke up again thinking somebody's under the bed. So I take the pillow and I go to sleep under the bed. And now sooner that I go under the bed and I begin to feel that somebody is over the bed. And he said, so I go under the bed, on the bed, under the bed, on the bed all night. I can't sleep.
I'm exhausted. Doc, can you cure me? And the doctor said, I think I can cure you. He said, what do I do? He said, well, you've got to come and see me twice a week for two years.
It will cost you a hundred dollars a visit. He said, Doc, he said, I'm a working man. That's too steep for me.
I can't afford that. He said, well, that's it. There's no other way to cure you. Well, a week later, a man goes away, calls him, Doc, I'm not coming back.
I'm cured. He said, what happened? He said, my wife cut the legs of the bed.
Smart woman. Now, Nebuchadnezzar didn't have a wife like that who could have helped him. Because in chapter two of the Book of Daniel, and here's the most powerful man in the world was having sleepless nights.
He's up and down until he's exhausted. He was tormented by his insecurities. He was taunted by his anxieties. He was terrorized by his fears. And this torment began, as the Bible said, about the second year he got on the throne. A second year when he became a king, he began to see this dream. Night after night after night.
More like a nightmare. It kept on reoccurring. Until it drove him crazy. In fact, the Bible indicates that he was outraged. And his insecurities turned into anger.
His insecurities turned into rage, as in most cases. And so I want you to look with me in Daniel chapter two under three headings. Verses one to fourteen of Daniel two, you find the fear of the godless. Then in verses fourteen to thirty, you see the faith of the godly. And thirdly, in verses thirty-one to forty-five, you find the fortitude of the kingdom of God. The fear of the godless.
Look at verses one to fourteen of Daniel two. In the last message, we left Daniel and his three friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, graduating from King Nebuchadnezzar school. The three-year college program that was designed to train the cream of the crop. And those four guys graduated from the king's college with summa cum laude. I mean, they were the top of the top. They were the best in the class. They were the best in the whole school.
And consequently, they received the plum jobs in the palace. You see, while Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were going through the king's college, the king was having sleepless nights in his bedroom. This man, who had everything. I'm talking about everything.
There's some people who say, well, I got everything. Well, this man, in the worldly sense, he had everything. He had untold wealth. He had absolute power.
Nobody can question him. He had fame and prestige. He had people by the millions worshiping him, as we see in the next message. And yet, in his bedroom, every night he was miserable. He was terrorized. He was terrified. Look at verse 12. Where you find his fear gives way to rage. His insecurity gives way to anger. So he brings the wise men of his empire, of his court, and the counselors, and he brings them together, and he says to them, he said, if you do not tell me what is that recurring nightmare is, if you do not tell me what dream is, and if you don't interpret that dream for me, I'm going to chop your heads off. Well, try to be one of those. Unrealistic, trying to get men to be God.
Well, you don't have to guess at it. Daniel and his three friends, because the Bible tells us, were among those whose heads were about to be chopped. And so the king's unspeakable torment gave way, gradually, to uncontrollable rage. You know, I couldn't help this week, as I was thinking and reading this passage over and over, I couldn't help but think of how many times through history we see emperors, kings, and despots, who think that if they eliminate Christians, and they allow their insecurity, actually, to lead them into rage against the Christians and against the children of the living God, and they think that they're going to eliminate them. And supernaturally, when they try to do that, they grow in number. I want you to hear me right, please.
Listen to me very carefully. When you have a hostile boss, or a hostile colleague at work, when you have a hostile teacher in school, when you have a hostile neighbor, or a family member even, remember this, that the reason they are hostile toward you is because they have no peace in their lives. And the lack of peace in their life is expressed in hostility toward those who do have peace. And the reason they have no peace in their hearts is because they have a deep-seated hostility toward God.
And that's it. The fear of the godless. Secondly, the faith of the godly.
The faith of the god, look at verses 14 to 30, Daniel chapter 2. You see, while this was going on, what was Daniel doing? He's been spending time with God. He's being intimate with God. He's been fellowshipping with God. He's been worshiping God. He had grown to depend completely on the power of God, not his own.
And so, when he hears the news, not only the others, but he and his three friends are going to be killed, and goes back home to the apartment with the other three friends, and he said, boys, get in your face. We need to pray. We need to seek the power of God and the mercy of God. And so, verse 17, they go into a prayer meeting. And they go before the Lord and they cry before the Lord. And after this powerful prayer time, listen to me, if you think prayer time is not important in the real life, in the life of your family, in the life of this country, listen, listen, listen carefully. Verses 20 and 21, after Daniel comes out of the prayer meeting, so empowered by God, he comes out of that prayer meeting absolutely covered with a mantle of praise, and he yells out in verses 20 and 21, he said, Praise be to the name of God forever and ever. Wisdom and power are his. He changes times and seasons.
He sets up kings and he takes them down. Man, now with this mantle of praise, he is given more power than Superman. Nothing, nothing can give you power and strength in your life like spending time with God. Nothing empowers you to live above the evil and wicked world in which we are surrounded like being on the knees of prayer. Nothing that is going to give you the faith to do the impossible like daily being in the prayer closet. Nothing will uphold you and give you courage like having an intimacy with God on a daily basis. Nothing can cause you to become an overcomer and live a victorious life when everybody says you can't do it, like the power that surges out of the prayer that surrenders to the will of God. Nothing can give you confidence and grace and favor like the peace that can only come that you receive from his hand in the time of prayer.
Nothing, nothing. And so Daniel comes out of his prayer meeting and is raring to go. Show me the king.
Where is the king's chamber? While others were shivering in their boots. I mean they were terrified, they were frightened.
Most of them probably were writing their last will and testimony. It's all over, it's all over, it's over. Daniel said show me the king. Show me to his chamber.
I love verse 25. I love the chief of staff in the palace. I mean he's taking credit for Daniel. He goes to the king and says, Dang, look what I have found.
I love it, I love it. He's taking credit for the guy. Look what I've done, I discovered Daniel.
Isn't that great? Listen to me. When you have God's favor, forget about people's favor because he's going to give you favor with people anyway. But when you have his favor, when you have his power, everyone wants to be associated with you. This is it.
Everyone wants to get credit for your success. The fear of the godless, the faith of the godly. Thirdly, the fortitude of the kingdom of God. Verses 31 to 45 of Daniel 2. Well, what was Nebuchadnezzar's dream? That only Daniel could actually supernaturally through the power of God the Holy Spirit given to him, can not only tell him what the dream is but also give him interpretation.
What was it? Well, Daniel told the king, you know king, your fears and your insecurities, they really have a purpose. God is using them. This fear and insecurity that have been troubling your heart and giving you sleepless nights. This fear and insecurity that is enraging you. This is God's way of trying to get your attention. And you know what he wants to tell you king? He wants to tell you that he is the one who's in control and you're not. He's trying to tell you that it is his kingdom that endures forever.
He's trying to tell you that he is the one who orders the affairs of men. So what was the dream? The dream was that of a giant statue.
Verse 31. This was a dream. Every night he goes to sleep, he sees the giant thing.
Every time he goes to sleep, he sees the giant, he wakes up in a cold sweat. And he didn't know what it was. This statue represents 600 years of the future. It's history to us, but it was the future to him. This statue's head, represented by gold, represents the Babylonian empire where in the Becket Nasser right now, where he was talking to him, is the king and is the ruler. And to make it easier for you to visualize it, it's most of modern day Iraq. That was Babylon. Just to help you in your geography, in your remembering the map. But by the year 539 BC, the Babylonian empire became absorbed into the Medo-Persian empire. Now that's Iran, modern day Iran.
I mean, rough boundaries, but basically where it is. The Persian empire took over the Babylonian empire and was quite inferior. That is why it's in silver and represented in the arm and the chest. By 331 BC, Alexander the Great would rise to power. He represented in the belly and the thighs of the statue. The Greeks, for nearly 180 years, dominated the world. They defeat the Persians and they become the dominant power in the world and they're symbolized by bronze.
And finally the fourth empire, the Roman empire. As the Greek empire begins to crumble, the Roman empire begins to rise and it's represented by the legs and the feet. And it's a mixture of clay and iron. But the iron and the clay don't mix, so it was brittle because it's about to be destroyed. And so when that stone that comes out of the mountain that is not cut with hands hits the legs, the feet, the whole statue collapses. The stone that is not cut with hands smashes the statue.
That's probably the most important thing I can tell you today. This stone that is not cut with hands appears from nowhere. It's not part of the statue.
It's not part of that history. It comes from nowhere. That stone smashes the feet and the whole thing collapses, becomes into dust, the wind blows and is gone and its place knows it no more. At this point that small stone that is not cut with hands becomes a boulder. And then in the dream that boulder becomes larger and larger and larger. It becomes taller than the tallest building. It becomes higher than the highest mountain.
It becomes larger than the largest kingdom. And finally it fills the whole earth, the whole world. Do I have to tell you who or what that boulder is, that stone is? Do I have to tell you?
I'm going to tell you anyway whether you like it or not. Verse 44, I want to tell you something. If you want to really be blessed, read that verse. In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed. Nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end.
But it will itself endure forever. That stone that is not cut with hand is no other than the Lord Jesus Christ. And Daniel 600 years before Christ saw him, the stone that is not cut with hands. He will be born not according to the will of man or through the seed of a man. But according to the will of God. He is the stone that is not cut with hands.
No human hands had anything to do with him. He is the divine son of God who will be born of a virgin. In the beginning, he looks small, obscure, insignificant.
In the beginning, no important person will pay attention to him. In the beginning, he is despised and rejected. In the beginning, that stone that is rejected by the builders later becomes the cornerstone. That stone that is mocked and laughed at.
That stone that could never even be compared with mighty Caesar. But his kingdom and his rule will be in the hearts of boys and girls and men and women all over the world. First is going to be a persecuted church. Then it's going to grow bigger and take over the Roman Empire. And then it's going to grow all over the hearts of millions of people throughout the world. And the reign of God, the kingdom of God, the rule of God, the kingship of Jesus is going to be in the hearts of millions from every tongue, from every language, from every class, from every society, from every nation, from every people, from every nationality, from every corner of the globe. Millions will gladly die for him. Millions will gladly number themselves as members of his kingdom.
Until one day, he's going to come back and take over the whole universe. Daniel was saying in effect, he said, you know, Nebuchadnezzar, let me tell you a few things about the kingdom that is coming 600 years from now. Let me tell you about that kingdom. That kingdom is going to be the kingdom of God, not the kingdom of man. That kingdom is going to be indestructible and infallible.
That kingdom, the gates of hell, will not overcome it. That kingdom will eternally endure. That kingdom will outlast all kingdoms. That kingdom will endure while others will disappear from sight. That kingdom will stand forever while others will become dead history. That kingdom will be a universal kingdom.
That kingdom will have no geographical barrier. So I could be preaching here today in Atlanta, Georgia. There are people, believers, watching, talking to the television screen and saying, Amen, Michael. The kingdom of God is everywhere throughout the globe. I want you to hear me right. God will always prevail over his opposition.
I want to repeat that. God will always prevail over his opposition. He is the cornerstone that was rejected by the builders. Only a wise builder of a home would build his or her home on the cornerstone of the Lord Jesus Christ. Only a wise builder of a business would build his or her business on the cornerstone of the Lord Jesus Christ. Only a wise builder of a life would build his or her life on the cornerstone of Jesus Christ.
Those who have built their lives on the cornerstone of Jesus Christ. Oh, they have no need to fear the future. They have no need to fear world events. They have no need to fear the opposition.
They have no need to fear anything. Because sooner or later, we're going to see the fulfillment of those words that says of him. That every knee shall bow. Every knee that is in heaven, in the angels, and on the earth, human beings. Under the earth, even the demons are going to bow.
And every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Sadly, Nebuchadnezzar, though ruthless, he was overcome by emotions. He was overcome by the situation. He was overcome by the fact that Daniel was able, supernaturally, to know the dream and interpret the dream.
And he falls on his face, but was only temporary. There are so many people who stand in awe of God, but everything they go through is just emotional, temporary. Their hearts have never been converted to Christ. Jesus had never come and took the reins of their lives in his hands. I pray, Lord, not one person here or watching me right now or hearing me would react in the same way as Nebuchadnezzar, emotionally and temporary. But that you would react with your will, submit it to his will, and become a member of the kingdom of God. Father, we're just so honored, we're so privileged people to be called your children, to know our identity, to know our destiny, to know who we are, to know that nothing can touch us, to know that we are upheld in the very palms of your hands and carried on your shoulders and that he who touches us touches the apple of your eye. Oh Father, I pray that you will wake us up so that we do not take our privileges for granted, but we will serve you with all of our hearts. And for those who don't know you, those who may be members of a church, but not members of your kingdom, that they may place Jesus on the throne of their hearts this very day. In Jesus' name. Thank you for making time today for Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Youssef.
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I made a vow to God that as long as he gives me a breath, that I will proclaim him and his truth of his gospel until my dying day. Join Dr. Youssef in this bold new five-year mission to passionately proclaim uncompromising truth in three strategic areas. It's the Open Door Campaign. Learn ways that you can join Dr. Youssef in the Open Door Campaign when you visit us at ltw.org or when you call us, 866-626-4356. This program is furnished by Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Youssef.
