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[0:00] The scripture reading comes from Daniel chapter 2. Please follow along on the screen, the bulletin, or on your Bible.

[0:14] Starting in verse 1, we read, In the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams. His spirit was troubled, and his sleep left him.

[0:28] Then the king commanded that the magicians, the enchanters, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans be summoned to tell the king his dreams. So they came in and stood before the king, and the king said to them, I had a dream, and my spirit is troubled to know the dream.

[0:52] Then the Chaldeans said to the king, and Aramaic, O king, live forever. Tell your servants the dream, and we will show the interpretation.

[1:06] The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, The word from me is firm. If you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you shall be torn limb from limb, and your houses shall be laid in ruin.

[1:25] But if you show me the dream and its interpretation, you shall receive gifts and rewards and great honor. Therefore, show me the dream and its interpretations.

[1:40] They answered a second time and said, Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will show its interpretation.

[1:52] The king answered and said, I know with certainty that you are trying to gain time, because you see that the word from me is firm.

[2:04] If you do not make the dream known to me, there is but one sentence for you. You have agreed to speak lying and corrupt words before me till this time.

[2:17] The king changes. Therefore, tell me the dream, and I shall know that you can show me its interpretation.

[2:29] The Chaldeans answered the king and said, There is no man on earth who can meet the king's demand, for no great and powerful king has asked such a thing of any magicians or enchanter or Chaldeans.

[2:49] The thing that the king asked is difficult, and no one can show it to the king except the gods whose dwelling is not with flesh.

[3:01] Because of this, the king was angry and very furious and commanded that all the wise men of Babylon be destroyed. So the decree went out, and the wise men were about to be killed.

[3:17] And they sought Daniel and his companions to kill them. Then Daniel replied with prudence and discretion to Ariok, the captain of the king's guard, who had gone out to kill the wise men of Babylon.

[3:33] He declared to Ariok, the king's captain, Why is the decree of the king so urgent? Then Ariok made the matter known to Daniel.

[3:44] And Daniel went in and requested the king to appoint him a time, that he might show the interpretation to the king. Then Daniel went to his house and made the matter known to Hananiah, Mishael, Azariah, his companions, and told them to seek mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that Daniel and his companions might not be destroyed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.

[4:16] Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in the vision of the night. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven. Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might.

[4:33] He changes time and seasons. He removes kings and sets up kings. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding.

[4:45] He reveals deep and hidden things. He knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him. To you, O God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise, for you have given me wisdom and might, and have now made known to me what we asked of you, for you have made known to us the king's matter.

[5:11] Therefore Daniel went in to Ariok, whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon. He went and said thus to him, Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon.

[5:24] Bring me in before the king, and I will show the king the interpretation. Then Ariok brought in Daniel, before the king in haste, and said thus to him, I have found among the exiles from Judah a man who will make known to the king the interpretation.

[5:44] The king declared to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, Are you able to make known to me the dream that I have seen and its interpretation?

[5:58] Daniel answered the king and said, No wise men, enchanters, magicians, or astrologers can show to the king the mystery that the king has asked.

[6:11] But there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days.

[6:23] Your dream and the visions of your head as you lay in bed are these. To you, O king, as you lay in bed, came thoughts of what would be after this, and he who reveals mysteries made known to you what is to be.

[6:41] But as for me, this mystery has been revealed to me not because of any wisdom that I have more than all the living, but in order that the interpretation may be made known to the king and that you may know the thoughts of your mind.

[6:58] You saw, O king, and behold a great image. This image, mighty and of exceeding brightness, stood before you, and its appearance was frightening.

[7:12] The head of this image was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its middle and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay.

[7:25] As you looked, a stone was cut out by no human hand, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay and broke them in pieces.

[7:38] Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold all together were broken in pieces and became like the shuff of the summer threshing floors, and the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them could be found.

[7:58] But the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. This was the dream.

[8:10] Now we will tell the king its interpretation. You, O king, the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power and the might and the glory, and into whose hand he has given, wherever they dwell, the children of man, the beasts of the fields, and the birds of the heavens, making you rule over them all, you are the head of gold.

[8:39] Another kingdom inferior to you shall rise after you, and yet a third kingdom of bronze which shall rule over all the earth.

[8:52] And there shall be a fourth kingdom strong as iron because iron breaks to pieces and shatters all things. And like iron that crushes, it shall break and crush all these.

[9:06] And as you saw the feet and toes partly of potter's clay and partly of iron, it shall be a divided kingdom, but some of the firmness of iron shall be in it, just as you saw iron mixed with the soft clay, of the firmness of iron shall be in it, sorry, and just as you saw iron mixed with soft clay.

[9:31] And as the toes of the feet were partly iron and partly clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly brittle. As you saw the iron mixed with soft clay, so they will mix with one another in marriage, but they will not hold together, just as iron does not mix with clay.

[9:51] And in the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people.

[10:02] It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever, just as you saw that a stone was cut from a mountain by no human hand, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold.

[10:27] A great God has made known to the king what shall be after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation sure.

[10:41] Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face and paid homage to Daniel, and commanded that an offering, an incense, be offered up to him.

[10:52] The king answered and said to Daniel, Truly, your God is God of gods and Lord of kings and revealers of mysteries, for you have been able to reveal this mystery.

[11:11] Then the king gave Daniel high honors and many great gifts and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon.

[11:23] Daniel made a request of the king, and he appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego over the affairs of the province of Babylon.

[11:36] But Daniel remained at the king's court. This is the word of God. Wow. Well done, guys.

[11:48] That was a long reading. Let me put this up here. Great. I think Bernard, you make a good Nebuchadnezzar. Don't take that wrongly.

[12:04] Great. Good morning, everyone. Great to see you this morning. Let me pray for us as we come to getting God's word.

[12:15] It's actually really exciting to be back here. I've been at the community center for a few weeks now. And for everyone who's at the community center, just really pray that God would just be ministering to you as well.

[12:26] I know it's just been a great time at the community center. A little smaller venue, but actually intimate and close. But let me pray for us as we come and get into God's word together.

[12:37] Father, Father, you are sovereign. You're the one who has power and authority and might and wisdom in your hands.

[12:57] And we don't. And Lord, we pray that even today as we get in your word, we pray that you'd speak to us. We pray for each one of us wherever we are.

[13:11] Lord, we know that COVID has taken its effect on many of us. We know that there is many health issues even in our church at this time. We know that people are struggling with work.

[13:22] We know that there are hopes and there are dreams and there are expectations for what this next year is going to hold for us. But Lord, we want to say before everything else, Lord, we want you to be at the center and we want you to touch us and we want you to speak to us and we need you.

[13:41] And so Lord, we don't just want to go through some nice religious ritual this morning. We want to experience and encounter you and we want to be changed by you. So I pray just as Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar encountered you, I pray that we would encounter you this morning in a really powerful way.

[13:57] In Jesus' mighty name. Amen. Great. I was just looking on my phone actually. My phone brought up some memories and actually two years ago on this day about 12 of us from Watermark were in Turkey and we were, some of us remember that.

[14:20] And we were having a conversation at one point with some Turkish believers and I don't know if you know but in Turkey there's 80 million people.

[14:31] It's a very Islamic culture but there is only 5,000 Christians, Turkish Christians in the country and we met some of them and as we were talking to a couple of people there one of them told us this story about someone in their church of about 20 people or so who had just recently become a Christian and she said to us, she said, this person was a really devout Muslim but then one day she started having dreams and for three weeks every single night she dreamed of this chateau, this grand house and in this house she saw this man and this woman and she didn't understand what this dream meant and she went and asked a whole lot of people, no one could tell us what this dream meant and then one day she was, I think it was for work or something, she was in a part of town she had never been to in her life.

[15:25] It was a big city and as she's walking along she turns around and looks at a building next to her and she goes, my goodness, that's the building in my dream and just totally kind of freaked out but curious at the same time she decides to go up and walk into the building so she goes in and it's a Sunday morning and she doesn't realize but it's actually a church building and as she walks in she looks forward to the front and there's a group of 20 people or so there and the pastor is preaching at the front and she looks at the pastor and it's the very man that she had seen in her dream and then she looks around the congregation and she sees one of the women who that she had seen in the dream just sitting there and she is so freaked out by this she, at the end of the service she goes and says tell me everything about your faith and that day she became a Christian because her world had just been broken through in a culture which was very strong in many ways but actually the sovereign God can break through into people's lives even today as in the days of Daniel and sometimes he can do it through dreams and so we're going to be looking in the second time as we started last week looking in this book of Daniel which I think is an amazing book when you get into it it's a crazy strange book but it's a book which is set in exile with the Jewish some thousands of Jewish believers have been removed from their hometown in Jerusalem which has been smashed by the Babylonians they've been trafficked to Babylon and they are there in exile in the wealthiest most successful most powerful city in the world it's an incredible place

[17:30] I mean it's it's kind of like Beijing, Shanghai, Xi'an, Shenzhen every major city in China all in one I mean they were brilliant the Babylonians I don't know if you know but our system of time you know 60 seconds in a minute 60 minutes in an hour 24 hours in a day and 365 days in a year do you know where that came from?

[17:55] The Babylonians discovered that they could even track there were such great mathematicians and astronomers and astrologers that they could actually track they tracked the planet Jupiter and astronomers even today use some of their calculations that they used back then this is back two and a half thousand years ago these were brilliant people they led the world and Babylon wanted to entice this Jewish people into Babylonian culture so that Babylon could extend its influence further into the world and so Daniel and his friends have got immersed into Babylonian culture they've been learning the language they've been learning the education system they've even taken on pagan names for themselves but they have not let their hearts be captured by Babylon this is what we learned last week you see Daniel right at the beginning he claims that even though they're in exile this tiny minority that it is their God himself who has led them into exile who has allowed

[19:08] Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians to have their power and it is their God who is going to lead them out of exile and that's what we looked at last week because their God is sovereignly in control and they needed to be patient and to faithfully trust that the God of heaven was the one who was going to lead them through this he had a plan but I don't know about you if you've ever tried to swim against the current in the sea it's hard right if you've ever tried to swim upstream that's what it's like being in Babylon because the culture has a tide but actually as you look through scripture Babylon does not just occur in Daniel in fact just like the new Star Wars movies pick up some of the themes from the original movies so actually

[20:09] Babylon is found all the way back in Genesis chapter 11 at the Tower of Babel it's actually in Hebrew the Tower of Babylon because what characterizes Babylon all the way through scripture is self-reliance self-promotion and self-security do you remember in the Tower of Babel what the people did they built this tower and a city to make a name for themselves the tower that could reach to the heavens and to make themselves secure so they wouldn't be scattered that's what Babylon always does you know here's what and Nebuchadnezzar who's the guy we're hearing about is is absolute epitome of this here's actually what Isaiah 47 says about the Babylonians you felt secure in your wickedness you said no one sees me your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray and you said in your heart

[21:16] I am and there is no one beside me that's scripture let me tell you what Nebuchadnezzar himself said from an inscription we have found from Nebuchadnezzar here's what he says I am Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon the exalted prince the favorite of the god Marduk the beloved of the god Nabu the judge the possessor of wisdom do you see how scripture is just telling you exactly how Nebuchadnezzar thought you see the heart of Babylon is relying on yourself elevating yourself making yourself feel secure and in Hong Kong like in Babylon there are a lot of very talented very successful people right even here in Watermark you guys are a talented bunch and many of us have ambitions to be successful in all kinds of ways we have ambitions for our kids to be successful but one of the lessons of Babylon is this success is dangerous because success can blind you to your own fragility you see it can paper over the fatal flaws in your own lives and this is what

[22:36] Daniel 2 is all about first of all I'm going to look at the fragility of Babylon okay so if you've got your passage with you I'm going to kind of go through some of the story with us it's a long passage so I'm just going to pick out some key themes but it starts off that Nebuchadnezzar this great king has a dream and it's a message from God and in Babylonian culture just like in Islamic culture dreams were omens dreams were signs of the gods revealing the future to you and so King Nebuchadnezzar I'll call him King Neb he is the exalted one but his spirit is troubled he's shaken by this message it's a message he doesn't understand but he knows that this isn't good news for him and so he's got this dilemma because Neb reigned on the wisdom of all his astrologers and fortune tellers and the Chaldeans these are guys who looked at the stars and they made all kinds of predictions on that to ensure that they had success with their gods so his future future of Babylon depends on divine favor and these are the guys who are going to help him make sure he's on the right side but Neb like all dictators is a control freak and by the way domineering bosses can be like that as well and they're always dictators are always insecure did you know that anyone who tries to be the strong man is always cripplingly insecure inside and because all of his payroll simply tell him what he wants to hear all the time he doesn't know who he can really trust and so if he shares this dream with them and they interpret it that actually this is bad news for him it could be his downfall they might support a rival so instead what does he do?

[24:53] He tests them with an impossible demand he says okay if you're really in touch with the gods don't just interpret the dream tell me what the dream was you just love that if your boss kind of calls you in and just says hey I've got a strategy for this just tell me what it is that's frightening because power hungry people in their insecurity always make impossible demands not just demands but then threats as well I don't know if you've had a boss like that who's never satisfied and there's always more and so he threatens them and he says if you do not make the dream known to me there's but one sentence for you death you have agreed to speak lying and corrupt words before me till the times change that means until regime changes therefore tell me the dream and I shall know that you show me its interpretation now just imagine you're just one of the astrologers who have just been doing your job you've got a nice cushy kind of civil servant job can you imagine how freaked out they are by this they aren't mind readers that's not how astrology works this isn't in their

[26:16] JD at all and so they are panicking at this moment and you know when we're filled with stress filled panic it's always a sign that we're relying on something that can't take the weight of our lives we're made something into a God which is a no God and they say this they say there's not a man it's verse 10 there's not a man on earth who can meet the king's demand for no great and powerful king has asked such a thing of any magician or enchanter or Chaldean the thing the king asks is difficult I think that's an understatement and no one can show it to the king except the gods listen to this whose dwelling is not with flesh do you see what he's saying he's saying Babylon this great city the foundations of it they thought they were favored by the gods but it's all sand because their gods are distant their gods are not interested their gods don't even care they have no access to them they don't dwell with them you see the whole wisdom of Babylon is just a human enterprise and if the whole thing is human then it's temporary and it's limited and Nebuchadnezzar knows that means his power is temporary and limited and if you have ever experienced that with a boss or somebody else who doesn't get what they want when they're a control freak how do they respond?

[28:04] they respond with anger and fury and he orders the destruction of all the wise men now I'm not a dictator generally but I am a parent and when my son is rebellious and just refuses to eat what I'm asking him to eat and no matter what I try no matter what I google it just doesn't work my rule feels threatened and I feel my control slipping and do you know what happens inside me my frustration levels rise and suddenly my son experiences my rule not as blessing but as harsh and anger and unkind anyone ever been like that?

[28:53] maybe none of you are like me you see why? because we're more fragile than we realize we're more insecure than we realize even the most successful of us because if we try and stay on the throne though like Nebuchadnezzar we'll end up causing more harm and not blessing as God designed us that's the fragility of Babylon but secondly the confidence of Daniel I love this part because Daniel's in the same situation as all the other astrologers okay he's going to die he doesn't have a clue what's going on he's got this impossible demand on him as well but do you notice in this passage in verse 14 he doesn't reply with panic he replies with prudence and discernment like it says you see he's got this kind of calm wisdom and he's got this security right in the midst of the pressure being on him and what he does he looks danger right in the eye and he confidently says hey mate or whatever he said to Ariok the guy who's going to kill him he says listen just set a date in the king's calendar let's have a dream interpretation meeting now that's courage right because he doesn't have a clue but his confidence isn't in himself you see what he does he goes away to his friends and then suddenly

[30:32] I think he realizes what he's actually just kind of said and he goes my goodness me okay guys we've got to pray he says to his friends his companions he says we've got to seek the mercy of the God of heaven you see the gods of the Babylonians the self-reliant Babylonians were distant in their time of need but Daniel knows that his God is not distant he has access to him as do each one of us in our time of need but man can you imagine him going to bed at night that night with your whole life on the line totally reliant on God to solve the issue totally reliant if God doesn't come through he's going to die that does wonders for your prayer life but you see when we're self-reliant and we feel secure in ourselves we don't pray kind of desperate prayers like Daniel's praying but do you know what

[31:37] I think this is one of the things that God wants to work in my life this is one of my prayers and it's my prayer for myself and for Watermark is I don't want to live self-reliant and safe I want to live with stories of a sovereign gracious God who provides in extraordinary ways I want that security that Daniel has but to be in that place you know we've got to be put in positions where unless God truly comes through we've got nothing else to hold on to I wonder how many of us live like that you know I had a pastor friend of mine he said I used to live I didn't have a regular salary I used to live month by month never knowing where the next paycheck was coming and God always came through and then he said but now actually I've got a regular salary coming in and he said and this really impressed me he said

[32:39] I feel the danger of the security I now have so that I don't have to trust God quite as much I thought wow I've never even thought of it like that you see being in a place of total reliance on God doesn't feel great I much prefer to feel secure I don't know about you but actually in this wrestling place God comes through just look at it's one line then the mystery verse 19 was revealed to Daniel in a vision of the night now just think about that can you imagine Daniel that morning he danced out of bed that morning the joy of God just exploded out of him that morning his vision of God just grew humongous at that point because he knew that his God was the one who was truly on the throne look how he responds he says blessed be the name of God forever and ever to whom belong wisdom and might he's not saying this in theory he knows this he says he changes times and seasons he removes kings and sets up kings he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding he reveals deep and hidden things he knows what is in the darkness and the light dwells with him who is the center of all of this

[34:07] God is his sovereign awesome God you see he sees God for who he truly is his success doesn't blind him and Daniel's a smart guy he sees that God is truly sovereign God is truly true to his promises God is truly the one who can come through for us God is truly who he says he is and that's the true security for our lives every other foundation is sinking sand do you know financial security is a myth it doesn't exist because you never have enough job security is a myth because you can be fired at any moment but God's security is rock solid because there's not one single situation that a sovereign wise God is not capable of handling and not capable of providing for you and Daniel would not have had that revelation of God would not have had that depth of understanding unless he'd run to God and been placing his weight on him for his trust you know

[35:28] I've seen quite a number of people in Watermark just recently have a whole lot of issues with not just recently in the last year or two issues with just work situations financial situations family situations where they felt God was calling them in a certain direction but then the wisdom of everyone else around them told them like just take the easy way out just stay secure stay with whatever's going to be kind of help you to just further your own progression in life and all those kind of things but I've seen those people many of you who've actually said no I'm going to make God my security and I'm going to trust him and you stepped out in all kinds of different ways to actually trust him with situations you didn't know what the future was going to hold and what I've seen in your lives is I've seen that you have seen God coming through for you that you have seen that God is truly a rock that you can trust in and I've seen that there's this been joy that God has placed in your heart in God and I've also seen at times that there are some of us who we've had situations where we know

[36:47] God has been calling us but actually we've tried to take security first my own security first and you've kind of wrestled but you've stayed safe in what you think you can just rely on for yourself and I've seen those of you in that situation and some of my other friends outside of Watermark in that situation and the stress levels have been high and the joy levels of Jesus have been low and you've felt weighed down and burdened and this passage is calling us it's saying that actually you may have Jesus in your mind but don't have Babylon in your soul don't rely on Jesus on a Sunday but then everything else in your life you're just relying whether it's on your NPF on your education on your job on your intellect on all the things which you're actually very talented in because God is saying that those who bank their lives on the sovereign gracious confidence we have in God even though it's tough because swimming upstream is hard sometimes it's not all better roses it can feel uncomfortable but when we do that and I've seen this people who trust in him they're the most secure people you'll ever meet they're people who know that their God is their rock because they don't just sing that wisdom and power belong to God they live it and they know it and they live it like Daniel and there is a joy that is there do you want that

[38:30] I do but for some of us where you know God has provided us with whether it's relatively stable jobs we have food on the table we have relatively comfortable lives in different ways we have our issues but we feel secure how do we live with that kind of God security even in those situations well I think Daniel is going to show you because you see Daniel appears before Nebuchadnezzar and he doesn't go after he's got the dream he doesn't go hey Neb I cracked it I got it do you want to hear it he doesn't say that he doesn't say look at me that's how the Babylonians worked instead he goes in verse 30 he goes but as for me this mystery has been revealed to me not because of any wisdom that I have more than all the living and then he goes this he says none of your wise men they're not really that wise but he says but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries just think about that

[39:49] Daniel in front of the man who could cut his head off at any moment is evangelizing Nebuchadnezzar isn't that amazing you see he tells Nebuchadnezzar about the God he trusts and the God that he knows is the one who's truly sovereign and for those of us who feel the more secure right now and that's a blessing from God let's not downplay that mission and evangelism are the place where God wants to push us out of feeling safe because if you know sharing the gospel with people who intimidate you with people who you feel like my reputation might be on the line here that feels sometimes like an impossible task doesn't it it feels like I cannot change anybody's heart sometimes it feels like life and death are on the line but actually if we want that God sized vision that Daniel has

[40:49] God is going to call us light with loving the city he's called us in little ways he's going to call you into your workplace this week he's going to call you into your families this week and he's going to call you with complete inadequacy because he wants us to get on our knees in desperate prayer saying God unless you come through I don't know how to do this and then sit and watch as we pray that again and again and see how God comes through because let me tell you he will are we ready for that that's the confidence of Daniel we've looked at the fragility of Babylon confidence of Daniel the final thing is the stone of power and we could go on for ages about this image but I'm going to go fairly briefly through because this kind of parallels as well into chapter 7 and we'll spend a bit more time there but in chapter 2

[41:50] Daniel tells him the dream and the dream is of this great image and do you remember in the Bible where image comes Genesis 1 man is made in the image of God this is a deliberate connection and actually a lot of the language of Genesis is found here if you look in verse 37 38 it's the language of Genesis humans ruling over the birds of the air the beasts of the field humans were made to rule were made to rule under God but Babylon has distorted what we were made to do it's made us the rulers and so what do you see about this image it says this image mighty and of exceeding brightness stood before you and its appearance was frightening you see this image is now actually a lifeless statue it's an idol dehumanized and it's a depiction of four successive world empires and there's some debate about which ones they are but Christians have from very early on interpreted like this the gold head we know is

[43:04] Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon the silver is the empire of Cyrus the Great and Medo Persia bronze is Greece the iron and clay is Rome and the point is is this really these empires are glorious that's why they're exceedingly bright they produce incredible culture like even today right just the technology that's available there's just incredible things that are created that's amazing we were made to create culture but you notice the other thing here their rule doesn't bring blessing but it brings fear these kingdoms are frightening they're fear inducing they're powerful we feel threatened by them but then what happens just as if you remember this some of you are not even old enough to remember this but when

[44:06] Saddam Hussein was toppled from power do you remember what happened people came and they pushed over his statue in the same way this these great empires topple over how with one small stone that hits the feet just like David with one slingshot takes out Goliath a stone which seems underrated a stone which everyone goes that's ridiculous how can that do anything but that one stone is a stone of power it's a stone that becomes this huge mountain that fills the earth and he says that actually these kingdoms are broken in pieces and they become like the chaff of the summer threshing floors so not a trace of them could be found and the stone becomes that great mountain do you know chaff is a bit like have you ever seen this dandelion

[45:15] I think there's a picture of dandelion there's actually a lot of this cotton tree cotton at the moment coming out but you ever seen I don't know if you've ever seen this with a kid and you just go like this with them and what happens it just goes Daniel Daniel is saying the greatest most powerful even right now in Hong Kong the people who seem to be most powerful in our lives politically in the lobbies that are going on for different agendas trying to reshape sexuality reshape gender and all these different things the powerful media that kind of comes at us all the time all these things which we feel like sometimes we have no weight and power to fight against they're not on the throne because there's another kingdom that is coming there's a stone there's a stone which looks so small but actually is mighty and that stone is the kingdom of

[46:24] God a kingdom that will not fail fail it cannot be toppled you see this kingdom has a different kind of king than Nebuchadnezzar you see when Jesus he came in he started talking about the kingdom of God right do you realize the back story of what he was talking about he was saying there's a stone that is coming and I am that stone he was saying that as he came before the power of Roman rule with King Herod and Pontius Pilate people who were desperately insecure rulers who were trying to manipulate and use their power to crush people do you know what Jesus did he didn't play their game he looked at them and he said my kingdom is not of this world he didn't choose to grasp and hold on to power to rely on he said he said I'm only going to do the will of my father he's the one who though he was sovereignly on the throne he sustains the universe with one word he was crowned king at

[47:32] Calvary on a cross no one would do things like that in Babylon but this is how the kingdom of God works the one who had no beauty to attract us to him the one who had nothing to desire with him is the one that God has placed all the rule and authority and power and dominion on and he died and he rose again and is exalted to the right hand of God and he's reigning right now and he's going to come again and his kingdom will know no end do you know where Babylon is right now they couldn't find it until the middle back then but look in every corner of every continent around the world and you'll see the worship of Jesus and we're an example of that and that should give us this supreme confidence as we go out into our city this week and it's going to feel like

[48:45] Babylon at times you may feel the weight if you're a parent if you're a mother and you feel the weight of just how do my kids live honoring Christ in the midst of this culture you can feel the weight in the workplace well know this I'm going to end with this we are those like Daniel who have had a mystery revealed to us do you know the new testament picks up this idea of mystery all the time and it's a mystery that is not based on our own self reliance it's not based on how clever we are it's not based on how smart we are it's actually a mystery which is a matter of life and death and it only comes as we seek the mercy of the God of heaven it only comes by revelation from God not by perspiration from man Paul puts it like this to them to us

[49:48] God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles we're Gentiles guys are the riches of the glory of this mystery it's the same word in Greek which is Christ in you the hope of glory we once lived in Babylon with access to the gods denied left to manage your affairs whatever is going on in your world to fix it by your own self but Christ has come and has brought us access into the throne room of the one who's truly on the throne so as you are going to go into your workplace this week you're going into your family or wherever you're going this week you're going with the one who has come to dwell with us you go with him going with you therefore we can go with a confidence that we can place our security in him let's not rely on ourselves let's trust him and let's be on our knees in prayer because we don't have all the wisdom there's going to be stuff that happens this week you have no idea how to handle but he does so let's run to him because he is the one whose kingdom will know no end let's pray we need just to stop and reflect on where really is your security at the moment what is it that just makes you feel safe as you think about what's going on in your lives right now maybe some of you are discouraged some of you feel just the weight on your shoulders of life whether it's the busyness of work or all the other things that are going on in your world

[52:00] God's wanting to come speak to you this morning he's wanting to lift your eyes up off of Babylon onto a greater king and some of those things that are going to happen this week just as you seek to follow him it's often going to be small stuff things which look insignificant things you wonder whether anything is really happening or not but God says if you rely on me and trust me I take mustard seeds and I make full grown trees out of them so just do some business with God right now I'm just going to give you a minute for you to respond to him for you to pray to him for you to repent where maybe there is self reliance in your own heart maybe there's fear maybe you're just tired just come and pray to him and express what's on your heart right now knowing that he comes to dwell with us if you're not a believer

[53:17] God wants to call you to himself that you would seek mercy don't rely on your own fragile ways come to him and you will find mercy and grace this morning s remember Father, we just pray that you would forgive us where we have allow the wisdom of Babylon to be what shapes our thinking.

[54:19] We pray that you'd help us to live with your wisdom, to rely on you. Lord, we struggle with that. It's so much easier to cling to the things that feel so much more tangible at the time.

[54:32] But Lord, I pray that you'd help us to see, Lord, your goodness and your faithfulness, and that we'd be a people of real faith, Lord, I pray. Let us be a people who know the joy of Jesus, just as Daniel knew that joy in you.

[54:49]  We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.