Validated

Well, Daniel chapter two, if you've got your Bible with you and I hope that you brought your Bible, if you will take it out, open it up, turn it on. Daniel chapter two, I have up here with me right now, two pair of Ray-Ban sunglasses. One of them is a fake pair and one of them is a real pair. When I bought both of them, I thought they were both real, but one of them is fake. I don't really know if you can tell a whole lot of difference between them. If I put them on, I would imagine that from your perspective, you're like, you look dumb in sunglasses. I get it. I mean that, but they both look, you know, equally dumb on me.

I don't think there is any one particular one that you could say. So they look very much alike. This is the fake pair. I ordered them from a clearance website which should have been indication number one, they were probably fake.

It was offering a deal that you, if you bought at least three pair, then you could buy them at $25 each. Looking back on it, I'm like, how did I not see right through this? Should have been my first clue that something sinister was afoot.

But the site looked legit, totally legit. And I fall for stuff like this, so I ordered. They took like three months to get to my house. And when they arrived, they were in a box that looked like it had been drugged through rural China by a mule and then drop kick across the ocean, which should have been my second clue that not everything was right. But when I opened the box, they actually looked good. In fact, honestly, in some ways I like the color and the design better than this, this genuine pair. But the moment that I put them on, the moment that I put them on, y'all, I just didn't, it didn't, they didn't feel right.

The metal feels really brittle. The view is not as clear as you expect from a quality pair of sunglasses. I am sure that an expert could pick these up and in a millisecond they could tell that they are fake, but I am not an expert. So, um, I did just a little bit of research to tell how can you tell fake Ray-Bans from real ones. And I found out that one of the little signs is in the upper corner of the non-labeled lens, not the one that says Ray-Ban.

If you look, you got to hold it just right to the light, you can see this itty bitty, teeny tiny RB that is engraved on the, on, I guess that's the right lens. Um, it's a really hard mark to produce because they don't want to scratch the lens. So it's very subtle, but it's also got to be deep enough that you can't just rub it out. And they say that counterfeiters have a really, really difficult time getting it right. And sure enough, upon closer investigation, um, I was able to rub this little guy right out and confirm that these are indeed fake Ray-Bans and I had wasted $75. By the way, if you get a birthday gift from me and it's a pair of Ray-Ban sunglasses, I wouldn't be crazy excited about it right now, but the good news is that PayPal reimbursed me, uh, since they were a fake.

So three cheers for PayPal. Um, I share that because what you're going to see today, what you're going to see today is how God distinguishes his kingdom from counterfeit ones. How does he distinguish his kingdom? Because sometimes his kingdom and the world's kingdom to somebody looking from a distance or to somebody untrained, they might actually look similar. How can you tell the difference in the real one from the fake one to remind you, we have titled this series shining in Babylon. That phrase comes from a phrase in Daniel 12, three, one of my favorite old Testament verses that says, those who have wisdom will shine like the bright expanse of the heavens and those who lead many to righteousness will shine like the stars forever and ever.

What an amazing, amazing promise. You see, unlike most other old Testament books, the book of Daniel, Daniel wrote his book outside of the confines of Israel. Most of it, in fact, I explained to you is, is written in Aramaic, which was the language of Babylon, not Hebrew, the language of Israel. The book is about how to live wisely in a place where God is not respected, how to shine in a culture where everybody around you lives by different values and sees you not just as odd, but as an enemy of, or even a threat to the current regime. And the book is about how not just to survive in that kind of environment.

The book is about how to be a witness there, how to shine there, how to lead many to righteousness. Like Daniel 12, three says, you see, when it comes to living in a hostile culture, many Christians back then, and today, many Christians feel like they got to choose between either assimilation or separation, assimilation or separate assimilation means that you just gradually look indistinguishable from everybody else around you. It means their values become your values. Their, your lifestyle becomes theirs. How you talk is similar to them.

All the kinds of music you listen to, everything about you just looks like the world around you. Well, if that's, if that's assimilation, separation would be the opposite reaction, right? You see the world around you is so evil that you must come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Growing up in my little independent Baptist Christian school environment, we, that was totally where we were. We had a Christian version of everything. And when I say everything, I mean everything with these little things called shepherd's guides.

Anybody remember a shepherd's guide? It's like a little yellow pages where all the business owners were Christian. So you could just do business 24 hours a day, seven days a week with nobody but Christians.

And you could not get contaminated by all those unbelievers out there in the community. We had your own little Christian sports leagues and Christians were expected to listen to their own kind of music, no drums, of course, at all. We were supposed to style our hair a certain way, right? Because long hair on boys was a sign that demons were at work in your heart. Am I right, John Muller?

Am I right? We had to dress in distinctive ways. Boys in church should always be in ties and girls and well, at least culottes. Anybody remember culottes? You know, they say all fashions come back.

That one ain't coming back, I promise you. But you, the point was you dress like a Christian. And the idea was that the more isolated you were from the world, the more faithful, the weirder, the spiritualer, I guess. Interestingly, real quick, let me show you this. This was actually a controversy in Daniel's day also. Let me give you a little background. I'll show you the controversy, where it comes from.

Stay with me, okay? I'll get you to Daniel 2 in just a second, I promise. The exile actually happened, the exile happened in two stages. Stage one took place around 597 BC and King Nebuchadnezzar carried off about 10,000 Israelites, mostly the elite. Military leaders, government leaders, scholars, teachers, Daniel and all of his friends were in that stage one. Stage two took place about 10 years later and that's when King Nebuchadnezzar brought everybody else.

Well, in between those two stages, that 10-year gap, a bunch of false prophets rose up in Israel and they began to prophesize saying, look, we gotta resist this exile. Babylon is bad, right? I mean, Babylon is bad.

That's easy to say. Babylon is bad. So stay away from Babylon. And if you have to live there, well, keep to yourself, right? Stay in your little conclave and if you pray anything about Babylon, pray against it.

Pray that God would destroy this wicked city. Well, the prophet Jeremiah, whose book is in your Bible, by contrast, he was actually a true prophet of God. He lived in that 10-year window and he said the opposite. He said, no, it is God's will for us in this moment not to stay separate from the culture of Babylon but to infiltrate it and to influence it. In fact, he wrote a letter to all the exiles in Babylon that is recorded in Jeremiah 29 that we actually quote here a lot at the Summit Church. If you come here, you should be familiar with these verses.

Jeremiah 29, verse 4, this is what the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel says to all the exiles. Build houses in Babylon. Don't just live in a tent, build a house there. Live in them. Plant gardens and eat their produce. Have sons and daughters. Multiply there.

Do not decrease. Seek the well-being of the city to which I have deported you. And pray to the Lord on its behalf for when it thrives, you're gonna thrive. Now, y'all, we use that verse a lot at the Summit because like Daniel, we live as exiles in a hostile culture. That's literally what the apostle Peter called us. Remember when we studied 1 Peter a few months ago?

That was the whole theme of the book. We're exiles and that means like Daniel, like Peter explained, we're not supposed to be huddled up in small groups singing Kumbaya, waiting on Jesus to come back and rapture us off this trailer park of a planet and then destroy it. We're supposed to be in Babylon, living in Babylon, seeking the well-being of our city, praying for it.

For as it thrives, we thrive. Most Christians like the Jews in Daniel's day think the options are either assimilation or separation, but there is a third option, transformation. We are called neither to assimilation nor separation.

We are called to transformation. So Daniel and his friends take on Babylonian names. They speak the Babylonian language. They work in the Babylonian palace, but they do so as faithful servants of God. Some of the reason we end every single service here by those three words, you are sent is because we believe this. We gather in here as God's community for just a few precious hours each week in Israel, so to speak. And then most of you, most of you go back out there to Babylon, except for me, I stayed here in Israel, right? But you, you go back out to work in and pray for Babylon. That's why we tell you the church is supposed to feel like a spiritual tornado.

You get drawn in here for a few hours only to get flung back out. It's what we see happening in the book of Acts, right? The majority of the stories in Acts take place outside of the church. Read Acts, you can hardly find them in church that often. I'm not saying you shouldn't come, I'm just saying that's not where all the action takes place. I've told you before, the 40 miracles in the book of Acts, 40, 39 of the 40 happen outside of the church.

What's that tell you? It tells you that's the place where God wants to demonstrate his power today in the neighborhoods and the businesses and the hospitals and the jails. So y'all, that's the context we bring into Daniel chapter two. Chapter two opens up with King Neb. By the way, is it okay for me just to shorten his name?

Because I feel like I'm going to spend about a third of this sermon just working my way through his name. Nebuchadnezzar. What if we just went with Neb, Nebby, the Nebster, something like that. And by the way, while we're talking about this, what Babylonian mom chooses a name like Nebuchadnezzar for their little baby? How do you look at a little infant in a crib and say, oh, Nebuchadnezzar, isn't he cute?

It just doesn't seem to fit. So Neb, this chapter opens up with Neb waking up in a cold sweat. He's had that dream again. He's had that dream again. Not a dream, a nightmare.

And every time he has it, he gets more and more upset. Chapter two, verse one. In the second year of his reign, Neb had dreams that troubled him and sleep deserted him. So the king gave orders to summon the magicians, the mediums, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans to tell the king his dreams. When they came and stood before the king, he said to them, I've had a dream and I am anxious to understand it.

So they replied, oh, king, live forever. Tell your servants the dream and we will give you the interpretation. You see, Babylonian wise men had this little book and it had, it was like a little interpretive key that had all these explanations of what various elements in dreams meant. A cow meant this, a bird meant this, Puff the Magic Dragon meant this.

If you appeared before the royal court, nothing but your underwear, that meant this. And so when somebody would take a dream, you'd look up all the images in your little book and boom, dream interpretation. And of course they would give their interpretations in these sweeping generalized terms like, like a horoscope or fortune cookie today where you got broad categories that can always in some sense be true.

Like your patients will one day be rewarded or don't trust people who gossip about you or something like that. And then they give the interpretation and they get paid the big bucks. But old Neb, old Neb had started to suspect that this was all a bunch of malarkey, which is a Hebrew word for a bunch of made up stuff. And he said, verse nine, I don't trust you fools. I need you to prove that you got the power of God by telling me first what the dream was. And then I'll know that you have the power to interpret it.

Pretty smart, Neb, pretty smart, Neb. Verse 10, the Chaldeans answer the king, but no one on earth can make known what the king request. No king great or small has ever asked anything like this of any medium. Well, the king is asking this so difficult that no one can make it known to him except the gods whose dwelling is not with mortals. Because of this, the king became violently angry and gave orders to destroy all the wise men of Babylon.

Oh, there is trouble in Camelot. The problem of course is that Daniel and his friends, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, well, they're all counted among the wise men, which means that they're going to be murdered in this purge also. So verse 17, Daniel went back to his house and told his friends Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah.

That's Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego by their Hebrew names. They told him about the matter, urging them to ask the God of the heavens for mercy concerning this mystery. So Daniel and his friends would not be destroyed with the rest of Babylon's wise men.

The mystery was then revealed to Daniel in a vision at night. And Daniel praised the God of the heavens and he declared, may the name of God be praised forever and ever, even in Babylon, for wisdom and power belong to him. He changes the times and the seasons. He removes kings and establishes kings. He gives wisdom to the wise. He gives knowledge to those who have understanding. He reveals the deep and the hidden things. He knows what is in the darkness and light dwells with him. And so Daniel says, Let me see the king. Verse 26. And so the king said to Daniel, whose Babylonian name was Belteshazzar, Are you able to tell me the dream I had and its interpretation? And Daniel answered the king.

Well, let's review. No wise man, no medium, no magician, no diviner is able to make known to the king the mystery he asked about. But oh, this is a great phrase. But there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries.

Now, can we park there for just a minute on that phrase? But there is a God in heaven, because that's really the question behind all these other questions, right? Is there a God in heaven? And has he said something to us on earth? Is there a God in heaven?

And is his power available to us? You see, sometimes like Nebuchadnezzar, you're going to get to a point where all the human strategies fail, where all the wise men and the diviners and the scientists of our age no longer can answer that deep question, that problem you got in your heart. And I feel like my first role is just to stand up here and proclaim to you not kind of rich, complex things of theology, but stand up here and just proclaim to you, but there is a God in heaven.

There is a God in heaven. Would that not change how you saw your problem? You've tried to make that relationship work. You try to fix what's broken, and it's all failed. And you feel like there is no hope.

Friend, I've got good news for you, but there is a God in heaven. And his power starts where yours ends. You've tried to make that kid turn out right. You've told him everything you know how to tell him.

You've tried everything you know how to try to make him choose what is right. There is nothing left for you to do, and you are in despair, yes, but there's a God in heaven. You tried to overcome that addiction. You tried to find that missing piece, and you have failed so many times that you've started to think there's just no point to any of it. That is a huge conjunction, but there is a God in heaven. Death and disease seem so total, so final to you in this year. This year, death and disease have taken things from you that you feel like you could never get back.

What's the point, you're asking, right? Aren't death and disease just going to take away all of us in the end anyway? Yes, but there's a God in heaven. You're disappointed in politics. Me too, dismayed by our leaders. Democrats disappoint. Republicans disappoint. Newsflash, if you were put in power, you'd disappoint us too. Yes, but there's a God in heaven. And speaking of disappointment, let's just talk about you for a minute.

Hey, just be real here, right? For some of you, nobody has disappointed you more than you. Every morning I get up and I look in the mirror, I look at the guy who has let down J.D. Greer more than anybody else in his life. There's nobody that has lied to, let me down, broken promises to J.D.

more than J.D. And some of you got no confidence to go forward and create a better future than today because that same person who's messed everything up now is still looking at you in the mirror. Yes, but friend, there's a God in heaven. You believe that?

You believe that? Wouldn't that change everything? Wouldn't that change everything if there actually was a God in heaven who makes power and wisdom available on earth? And so Daniel continues, that God told me what your magicians couldn't come up with. Then Daniel tells old Nebbe what his dream was. He said, King Nebbe saw this giant statue, his head was made out of gold, and the chest and the arms were made out of silver and the belly was bronze and the legs were made out of iron and the ten toes of the feet were a mixture of iron and clay. And while you were admiring this awesome statue, a rock came out of heaven, out of nowhere, and shattered that statue in a billion pieces. And Nebbe and Ezra said, that was it.

That was my dream. And then Daniel gives him the interpretation, which we're going to get to in a second, I promise. But first, let me highlight the significance of how this went down because it's going to give us another important principle for shining in Babylon. I know you're like, just tell us what the things mean in the problem.

I'm going to get to that. But the point here is the principle for you and me that is transferable to how we live. Here's the principle, right? Principle, you almost called principle number two.

Principle number one is you got to be different to make a difference. Principle number two is God validates his message supernaturally in Babylon. God validates his message supernaturally when you're in Babylon. Supernatural confirmation is how God distinguishes his real kingdom from his fake one. Here in this story that happened at the supernatural revelation of a dream. But think about all the other ways this happens in scripture.

Let me take you on a little journey. Do you remember Mark chapter two, where Jesus said to a crippled man, your sins are forgiven? And all the religious leaders were like, you're a fake. Nobody can forgive sins but God. What did Jesus point to as the proof that he had the power to forgive sins? Or after all, anybody can just walk around saying they forgive sins, your sins are forgiven and your sins are forgiven and sin forgiveness for you and look under your chair and I got sin forgiveness for you.

Anybody can do that. We'd never know if you were telling the truth, just like any old wise man in Babylon could fake a dream interpretation. So Jesus said, no, no, no, the proof that I got the power to forgive sins is that I can make this lame man walk. If I got the power to make that lame man walk, then that proves that I got the power of God to forgive sins also.

That's exactly what's happening in Nebuchadnezzar's situation here. Of course, y'all, the ultimate miracle to prove Jesus's power was the resurrection. That was something that no other religious guru or no other wise man or philosopher or doctor or scientist has ever been able to do.

One of the things that you can say that Mohammed, Buddha, Stalin, Charles Darwin, Friedrich Nietzsche, anybody you want to put in that category, one of the things they all have in common is they're all still in their grave. The only one that came out of the grave didn't show his power and his wisdom by putting on display his intellect, it was because he could do something that only God could do. That supernatural kind of verification continued on into the ministry of the apostles. The writer of the book of Hebrews explains that God validated the writings of the apostles. What came to be known as our New Testament, he validated it through signs and wonders.

Here's the way he says it, Hebrews 2 verse 3. The gospel was declared to us first by the Lord Jesus and then it was, watch this, attested to us in writings by those who heard him, the apostles, God bearing witness with them through signs and wonders and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit. How did God distinguish the apostles whose writings we have from all the false prophets of that day who weren't telling the truth?

It was through miracles and signs and wonders. Now today our experience of this is a little bit different because we have a completed Bible, but the apostle Paul still points to supernatural power at work in our preaching that validates that this message is from God and that it's not a counterfeit. Paul said, for example, to the Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 2, he said my preaching and my speech were not with persuasive words of wisdom, not because I had a bunch of degrees hanging on my wall, but they came with a demonstration of the Spirit's power.

Because I didn't want your faith to be based on how smart I was but on God's power that was in the message. 1 Corinthians 14, 25, Paul talks about an unbeliever who comes into a church setting like this one or like one of our small groups where believers begin to use the supernatural gift of prophecy to call out and pray for what is going on in this unbeliever's heart. And as they are doing that, Paul says, 1 Corinthians 14, the secrets of his heart begin to be revealed and as a result he falls down face down and begins to worship proclaiming God is really among you because you know things about me that only God can know. That is supposed to be happening as we are living out gospel witness in the triangle. I tell you, we're not super good at that at this church right now. And that's something that we've got to be open to and say, God, how are you wanting to do this through us? Still today I will tell you, God often validates the message through supernatural dreams and visions. There is nothing in the Bible that says God has ceased that. And listen, if you have spent any time overseas, especially among Christians who work with Muslims, you will be inundated with stories of Muslims who come to faith in Christ through dreams and visions. It's almost spooky, but it is so consistent and so pervasive that it's difficult to dismiss all of it.

It's just made up. Just for me personally, I've seen six Muslims come to faith in Christ personally. Four of the six came through some kind of dream. I've told you about various ones of those.

I mean, here's a really quick cliff notes version of just one just to give you a taste of what I'm talking about. When I lived in Southeast Asia, I was a Muslim, 32 year old Muslim man I'd never met who was a friend of a friend who asked to meet with me. In that meeting he tells him about a dream he's had in which he's walking through this field, this expansive field for days. He said that field represented my life because though I'm a very committed Muslim I feel lost and alone. He said suddenly in the middle of this dream a man in radiant white clothing suddenly appears behind me with a face that shone like the sun. He said he called my name and this man reached inside of his robe and pulled out a copy of the gospel and told me that this was the only message that would get me out of this field of emptiness and loneliness. After telling me about this dream he looks at me and he says now my friend here tells me you are an expert at the gospel. He said can you tell me what my dream means? Now as I noted earlier I was raised in a very conservative Baptist context and dreams and visions and the interpretations thereof were not part of our spiritual repertoire but I am happy to tell you that in that moment without a lick of seminary training I knew exactly what to say.

I was like bro you were selling what? Dream interpretation is my spiritual gift. And I walked that man through the gospel for two hours and he got saved, he got baptized, he corresponded with me several times over the next few years just talking about growing in faith. That makes evangelism easy by the way when that kind of stuff happens.

But it happens out in Babylon. The New Testament writer James tells us that God validates his messengers today through answers to prayer. James 5 he points to the example of Elijah. When Elijah, remember this 1 Kings 18, when Elijah wanted to prove to Israel who the true God was. Was the true God Jehovah? Or was it Baal?

Do you remember what the test was? Which God answers prayer? He says 1 Kings 18, 24, you call on the name of your God and I'll call on the name of the Lord and the God who answers, let's just go ahead and agree, he is God. That's one of the reasons we believe prayer ought to define our ministries here at the Summit Church. We don't just pray in preparation for the ministry. That's why we say prayer is the ministry. It's not just that I'm the one that's ministering or our small group leaders are ministering. The people who are praying, they're actually doing the ministry because Jesus said his house was to be a house of prayer for all nations.

It was supposed to validate our message. It's why I've told you that a lot of times what we do up here at the end of the service and having brothers and sisters ready to pray, that's not like a hey here's a Q&A group for those of you who are too lazy to go to the website. That's a group of people who are here to do what arguably is the main ministry of the church and that is to take our burdens to the Lord and say God would you move and God would you act.

That's why I say that it might be the most important thing we do every weekend. One of our church planners shared this story with me this week and I don't totally have time for this but I'm gonna say it's just too perfect. Literally I got this this week and the guy hadn't even heard the message I'm preaching. He said hey I gotta see a Hindu background Indian man come to faith in South Africa after he lost everything in a bad business deal. When I met him he articulated that this might be happening because God was trying to communicate with him.

Over the next couple of days he struggled with suicidal thoughts and the idea that God could be all good and all powerful and still let this happen to him. Nevertheless I felt compelled by the Holy Spirit to share with him the story of Elijah and the prophets of Baal. I then asked him if I could take a week to pray that in a similar way that God revealed himself to Israel he would reveal himself to this man that he was the one true God.

And this Hindu man said I could do that. The next day I prayed that the Lord would meet his tangible need for clothing. I then got an email randomly from a church asking if we had any ministry needs because they had set some money aside for us. I went back to meet this man and told him about what God had done in providing clothing for him through this church. I took him to the mall to pick out his clothes and then we sat and I explained the gospel to him. I just asked at the end if I could pray for him because I didn't want to be too pushy with him and I just prayed the gospel over him but when I said amen he asked me if he could pray also. He proceeded to pray God over the last week you know that I have yelled at you and not believed in you and thought about ending my life but today you have proven to me that you are real and that Jesus is your son and I just want to say thank you. That's what's supposed to happen as the gospel goes forward in Babylon.

I'll give you one more real quick. Spirit fueled changes in your life validate that this gospel is from God. How did Paul say that? If any man is in Christ he's a new creation. All things are passed away behold all things are become new. When you get born again God gives you a new heart. A new heart that is characterized by things that no religious resolution no resolve to do better can produce in you. He gives you a heart that has a genuine love for God. It's in your emotions you begin to desire his word you want to be close to him. He gives you a love for his people he starts to give you a hatred for sin that doesn't come through sermons it doesn't come through you resolve to be better. These are things that can't be produced by religion it's proof that that what is happening in you is from God. By the way if that change hadn't happened in you that's a really good indication that you've never actually experienced God you've got a fake religion.

The point is God intends to make you shine in Babylon to distinguish the truth of his message from the counterfeits all around you and he does it by supernatural outpourings of power. Are you experiencing this? Are you? Do you even know to look for it? Friends he is still ready to do this today Jesus Christ is the same yesterday today and forever so let's ask him for it. Let's do it right I don't have music coming out let's just do it right now can we do that why don't you bow your heads. Father before I finish these last few moments here in this message I'm asking God I know that there are people right now who you are Holy Spirit putting something in their heart that you want them to pray for some relationship to be reconciled somebody be healed somebody be brought back Father I pray that this house of prayer right now you would hear these requests and you would answer them and you would teach us to be this house of prayer so that our community could know that there's a God in heaven there's a God in heaven who is as real and as active on earth as he was with Daniel and the days of the apostles and in our day I pray that you would do this and teach this in us I pray in Jesus name if you agree with that say amen all right let's use our remaining time which is not long let's use that time to consider the dream itself because it's an important piece of prophecy and it reveals the core substance of our message to Babylon it's going to begin in verse 31 right Neb as I've explained he's a gigantic human statue and every part of the statue is made out of a different substance the head is made of gold the head is made of gold this verse 38 says Daniel says is going to represent the Babylonian Empire which lasted from 626 BC to about 539 BC Daniel says so Nebuchadnezzar directly verse 38 you are that head of gold Babylon was to note the world's first superpower and it was mightier than anything the world had ever seen up to that point it was impressive even by today's standards Nebuchadnezzar for example built a wall around Babylon a wall that stretched for 56 miles in places it was over 80 feet wide and 300 feet high and his empire historians say was laden with more gold than anybody knew was on earth Herodotus who was a contemporary historian visited Babylon in the middle of this and wrote that never in his life had he seen such an abundance of gold there was gold on the buildings there was gold on the stairs there was gold on the signs Neb's throne was made of solid gold so Neb is that head of gold in the Babylonian Empire after that we had a chest and arms made out of silver that's going to represent we're going to find out the Medo-Persian Empire which is going to conquer Babylon and in 539 BC we're actually going to see that take place in Daniel 5 here we got we got two body parts the chest and the arms representing the two kingdoms Medea from the north and Persia from the east that unite to overthrow Babylon again 539 BC after that we got the belly and the upper thighs made of bronze here let me give you a little warning we got to venture out just a little bit on our own because the text was really clear about the first two parts but they're not really like as clear about the last ones because that's all in the future but what I'm going to share with you is I think basically the way most scholars do but let me just warn you again the point is not who exactly are the various parts of the thing that's not the whole point here the point is what God is saying to all human kingdoms everywhere we're on the same page here because I see some of you already you're getting your charts out you're ready to start identifying which politicians are the anti-cred don't do that okay that's not where we're going here we go most scholars believe that this bronze belly and thighs represents Greece the superpower that conquered Medo-Persia around 220 BC led of course by Alexander the Great interestingly by the way Alexander's armies pioneered the use of bronze and weaponry Greek soldiers wore bronze helmets their chariots were made out of bronze their shields and even their swords are made out of bronze which might explain bronze being the metal that symbolize this dynasty after that we're going to have the legs of iron which likely represent Rome the kingdom that conquered Greece in 63 BC you say why iron well iron was considered to be the strongest of all the metals now was supposed to prophesy something about Rome's strength sure enough scholars say that Rome took military strength to a new level shown by the fact that that they held their empire for several centuries right I mean think about it Babylonians rule only lasted 70 years the Medo-Persia one lasted about 200 and the Greek one lasted another 200 but the Roman Empire lasted for more than 500 years in the West at Rome and more than 1500 years in the east at Constantinople as the scholars say the length of the legs may give you some indication about that finally we got the feet made out of a mixture of iron and clay the Roman Empire would eventually be shattered into different kingdoms and different nations now the fullness of this has not happened yet we know that because these same ten kingdoms are mentioned again in the book of Revelation as a part of a future event and I know that saying that makes some of you geek out trying to figure out which nations those are going to be and whether or not the COVID vaccine is the mark of the beast which by the way I am not a medical expert and so I will not speak on the medical ramifications of taking it but I can 100 percent assure you that the vaccine is not the mark of the beast and I don't know who needs to hear that but you just heard it okay talk of prophecy I know for people makes you want to geek out and try to figure all this stuff out but let me encourage you not to go there or at least if you do go there don't don't don't spend long there that ambiguity in the Bible is intentional if God had wanted us to know more specifics he would have given them to us the point is not the specifics of the statue the point is is what happens to the statue watch this right most important part of the dream verse 34 verse 40 as you were watching Daniel says to Nebuchadnezzar a stone broke off without a hand touching it a stone made without hands it struck the statue on his feet and it crushed the feet then the iron the fire clay the bronze and the silver and the gold were shattered and they became like chaff from the summer threshing floors the wind carried them away and not a trace of them could be found anymore they were gone but the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth oh Nebuchadnezzar the great God has told the king what will happen in the future in the days of those kings and those kingdoms the God of the heavens will set up his own kingdom that will never be destroyed and it will crush all these other kingdoms and bring them to an end but that kingdom that God establishes will endure forever all right so the rock is the kingdom of God the text directly says that and when Jesus shows up he makes clear Matthew 21 41 if you're looking for a reference that this rock coming from heaven was actually a picture of him think about it the stone was made without human hands did you see that detail means it came about with no human agency interestingly did you know the stones of the temple Israel's temple had to be made without human hands they couldn't carve them had to pull them right out of the just find the right size and pull them right out of the rivers that was to demonstrate that no part of God's salvation was going to come about by human agency no hand would touch it God would do it all by himself so like this stone Jesus would be made without human hands he was born of a virgin second the rock is the least valuable substance in the dream it's not silver it's not gold not bronze rock is the least valuable thing of all these metals yet this rock comes with the power of God and so it shatters into dust all those more expensive metals this represented how Jesus would not come with all the bling and the shine of the world he was born poor he never owned a home he never raised an army he was no head of gold yet he came with something the gold didn't have and that was the death-defying power of God third in this dream the rock starts small and yet eventually grows into a gigantic mountain that fills the whole earth y'all isn't that the same thing isn't that the exact same thing Jesus said about his kingdom in Matthew 13 he said my kingdom's gonna start small like a seed that you could crush underneath your foot but eventually it's going to multiply so that it covers every part of the earth you guys realize that when Jesus left when he left earth you could have put all his followers into one upper room that was it a bunch of poor blue-collar untrained men and women fishermen he didn't leave an army he didn't leave a fortress he didn't leave a fortune like Nebuchadnezzar or Alexander or Muhammad yet that little tiny movement you could have crushed underneath your foot has today swelled into the largest religious movement in history it literally covers the face of the earth I told you the places the gospel is growing the fastest today the places with the least money Africa Asia Latin America did you know you guys are this listen this two-thirds of all self-identifying Christians two-thirds of all Christians today live in Latin America Africa Africa or Asia by 2050 experts say that number is going to exceed 80% get this today this morning in church there are more practicing Christians in Africa who are in church this morning than in all European countries combined more Christians will attend can will attend church in Kenya this morning than in all of Canada Uganda has more Anglican Christians than Great Britain Canada or the United States combined and Anglican literally means English Ghana has more Presbyterians than Scotland and Scotland is where presbyterianism started Brazil now sends out more overseas missionaries than either Britain or Canada y'all we talked about the villager in Africa who's never heard about Jesus statistically you're more likely to run into a born-again Christian in a village in Africa than you are in Montreal and don't even get me started about Asia in 1970 there were no legally functioning churches in all of China yet today it is estimated that the number of practicing Christians in China exceeds that of the United States experts predict that by 2050 China will be a majority Christian country what's that going to do to global politics people say Christianity is a Western thing that Americans try to impose on everybody else be real Christianity is not a Western thing it has never been a Western thing if anything it's a Middle Eastern thing that graced the West for a while and is now headed around the world just like Nebuchadnezzar predicted and see that leads us to the core substance of our core message to Babylon what you and I are here to testify to to witness to in our Babylon and that is this God sent a rock to earth and that rock was named Jesus and he will destroy every false kingdom erected by man whether those are large geopolitical kingdoms in the world or that little independent self-centered kingdom you're building on your own y'all the irony is that's not why Jesus came he didn't come first to destroy what did he say John 3 17 I didn't come into the world to condemn the world to destroy I came to save it he came first to save he didn't come to judge us but to die on a cross to save us he came to be the rock of salvation that you and I could build our lives on but see friend if we won't do that what this dream tells us is that rock will crush us and that's the choice I put in front of you today you see what this dream is telling you is going to happen if you oppose Jesus again don't take my word for it listen to Daniel 2 35 when the kingdom when the rock strikes every kingdom in the statue which will include your little kingdom you've built an independence of God well they became like chaff from the summer threshing floors the wind just carried them away not even a trace of them could be found but the stone that struck the statue I became a great mountain and it filled the whole earth that's your choice you can receive Jesus build your life on a rock and last forever or you can be crushed by him 2500 years ago a pagans kings dream tells you the end of history the end of your life receive Jesus as the rock of salvation or be crushed by him submit to him or count him as your enemy what you can't do what you won't be able to do is resist him either submit to him and build your life on him or you're crushed by him those are the only two options Charles Spurgeon compared compared it to a gnat trying to resist the coming of a locomotive he who would place himself listen this he would place himself in front of a fast-moving railway car will be crushed it would be no more foolish than you who are opposing the gospel who are you to attempt to stand against it you will be crushed but let me tell you when the railway car runs over the wheel will not even be raised an inch by your size for what are you a tiny gnat a creeping worm which that will will crush to less than nothing and not leave you even a name as having ever been an opponent of the gospel let everyone in the world know assuredly that the gospel will win its way whatever they may do poor creatures their efforts to oppose the gospel are not even worthy of our notice we need not fear that they can stop the truth they're like a gnat who thinks he can quench the sun go tiny insect and do it if you can you will only burn your wings and die likewise there may be a fly who thinks he could drink the ocean dry drink the ocean if you can't fly more likely you will sink in it and it will drink you friend that's the message of this dream but I remind you again that's not why Jesus came he came first to save Jesus said it was the rock that the builders rejected that became the chief cornerstone for those who put their hope of salvation in him that means the choice is yours you can have a life of meaning and purpose built upon a rock you can have a temporary kingdom that's just going to crush in the powder you choose there's no middle ground with Jesus if you're not for him you're against him where do you stand why don't you bow your heads if you would what's happening right now who's God speaking to who am I speaking to some of you it's time to put the games aside time to quit playing a popularity game the business acquisition game let me do it my way game there's a rock who came from heaven his name is Jesus he didn't come to condemn you he came to save you but if you will not submit to him he will destroy you you say what does it look like to surrender to him you could do it right here right now where you sit Lord Jesus I surrender I acknowledge you you're the Lord I receive you as my Savior I receive you save me now that pray for those in this moment that are beginning that surrender hey summit family let me ask you got some on your mind that you need to pray for right now some requests you need to bring to God right now hey there's a God in heaven who's ready to listen pray right now you take these moments God we believe you're real save our friends save our family use this church to demonstrate not the eloquence of its preacher not the talent of its worship leaders but use it to demonstrate there's a God in heaven who does what no other human can do he brings life back from the dead he gives mercy and grace to those who are dead in sin we ask this God in Jesus name amen if you look up here at me if you prayed with me or you've got business to do with God as I always tell you you can just text the number three three nine three text the word ready r-e-a-d-y to the number three three nine three three somebody will follow up with you I'm gonna ask that right now we're gonna have our prayer teams come down here as they always do this like I said might be the most important part of our service it's a time for you to call me just say I need some I pray for me I've got a burden we got people in here you have physical healing needs that you need to be prayed for you have relationships that are falling apart so we've got a financial strain right now I'm not saying there's a magic thing that's gonna happen down here but I'm saying that that we're here brothers and sisters in Christ just to help take this to God this is a house of prayer let me ask you to stand your feet if you would at all of our campuses I'm going to send you out by reminding you that when the disciples had questions about prophecy Jesus responded by saying it's not for you to know the times or seasons here's what you will know you're gonna receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you you're gonna be my witnesses in Jerusalem Judea Samaria the uttermost parts of the earth and for us that means Raleigh Durham Chapel Hill Triangle the rest of North Carolina the United States the Dominican Republic and the world some of church go and that confidence go with that Holy Spirit go with that Commission in Jesus name you are sent.