New Hope Notes
The God Who Rewrites Futures
A Spirit of Excellence
Pastor Wayne Cordeiro
November 28, 2004 - W0448
Happy Thanksgiving. Today we are going to take a look at the God who rewrites futures. As we turn back a few chapters in the book of Daniel, we'll go back to a time when Nebuchadnezzar was still king. Well, Nebuchadnezzar had a dream of a huge tree that was chopped down to a stump. It stirred Nebuchadnezzar's soul so much that he called for his advisors and begged them to tell him what the dream meant. None could so he sent for Daniel and asked Daniel to interpret his dream. Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar his dream was a vision about himself, the king. The magnificent tree represented King Nebuchadnezzar and because of pride in his life and the fact that the King had not given God the glory, his kingdom would be cut down and Nebuchadnezzar would go insane unless he repented. Nebuchadnezzar dismissed Daniel, ignoring his words. Twelve months later, Nebuchadnezzar was surveying his kingdom, admiring its beauty, believing that he himself must be a god to have created such a place. His pride filled him up so much that the Bible says while the words were still in his mouth, his mind snapped and he went insane.
Although God could foresee Nebuchadnezzar's future, that's not to say that his future was pre-determined. In fact, God is so gracious that oftentimes He sees which we way we are headed and what our future will be if we continue in our path and He tries to intercede by warning us, just as He did with Nebuchadnezzar. But just like Nebuchadnezzar, we often don’t heed God's warning and we rewrite our future – the future that God had planned for us. "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the LORD , 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future'" (Jeremiah 29:11).
Although God has a plan for all of us, we can choose to cooperate with or reject His plan…that's called free will. However, when we stray from God’s plan, we separate ourselves from Him and although the law demands death for our sins, God's grace overrides or rewrites what sin demands. He tells us that if we will repent, He will rewrite our future. His grace can rewrite our future, and that's what He did with Nebuchadnezzar.
Jeremiah was a prophet and a contemporary of Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar. Jeremiah was telling the people of Israel, "Thus says the Lord ‘…speak to all the cities of
Is this to say that God brings evil? No, but God's laws are set in such a way that the wage of sin is death. However, if we repent and turn, God will rewrite our future with His grace. You see, God’s grace is available but it requires a partnership between us and Him. Let’s say you received a four-year scholarship to Harvard that requires certain things of you: a B average, consistent attendance, and keeping your nose clean. If you do all that is required, the scholarship is yours; however, if you do not, the scholarship is null and void. It's a huge gift but it requires your cooperation. The same is true with God – His Grace is available to us but not without our willingness to repent. It is the combination of God's kindness and our repentance that leads us back to life. That's exactly what happened to Nebuchadnezzar…he repented. So how does that combination work? How do we cooperate?
THREE STEPS TO COOPERATING:
Here are three things that we can do for ourselves to help cooperate with God's grace so the mixture of our effort and His grace will get us a right future. The first is…
1. HUMBLE YOURSELF.
Nebuchadnezzar said at the end of his life,“Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise, exalt and honor the King of heaven, for all His works are true and His ways just, and He is able to humble those who walk in pride” (Dan. 4:37).
God can humble those who walk in pride however He gives us a choice, “…humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time” (1 Pet. 5:6).
So here's the question, "Do you want to humble yourself or be humbled?" You see, Nebuchadnezzar refused to humble himself so he went insane. It wasn’t until he came to his senses many months later that he paused and humbled himself before the Lord. One of the ways to humble yourself is to…
· REPENT OFTEN
To repent means to “change your mind.” It doesn’t mean that God expects you to grovel. It doesn't need to be a big thing but what it does mean is that when God reveals to you something wrong in your life, you need to change your mind. If the way you're thinking is wrong, change your mind. If you're speaking is wrong, change your mind. If you have a wrong attitude, change your mind. Then, when you are quick to repent, you start to quickly develop the mind of Christ and a humble heart that allows God's grace to work to adjust your future. Humble yourself by repenting often.
At times, God will speak to you in private about things you need to change -- just as he did with Nebuchadnezzar through his dreams. Be sure to respond quickly because (just as with Nebuchadnezzer) if you don’t respond to it in private, he will make it public.
· DEAL WITH PROBLEMS PRIVATELY SO IT WON’T BE DONE PUBLICLY.
Deal with problems privately so they won't become things you will have to deal with publicly. If you don't humble yourself and make that change, the grace of God will not work because it has to be mixed with our repentance. Even if it is shameful, it's a lot better than losing your soul. When God starts to deal with you about something privately, make the change because His grace is flowing your way.
“…this is the interpretation, O king…They shall drive you from men, your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field… till you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men. Therefore, O king, let my advice be acceptable to you; break off your sins by being righteous… Perhaps there may be a lengthening of your prosperity” (Dan. 4:24-27).
One way God intercedes is through your daily devotions. The daily devotions is approximately 60 verses – 59 of them you may not understand. But within those 60 verses, is a verse God wants you to understand. It will ignite something in your heart and He will make sure that you understand it. If you don’t do daily devotions because you don't understand 59 out of 60 verses, you are not giving the Holy Spirit a chance to speak to you through the one verse God wants to use to change your future. Doing daily devotions to receive that word or passage is worth it.
You have to get at least a B average in this…in humbling yourself. The second thing you have to do for yourself that nobody is going to do for you is…
2. DISCIPLINE YOURSELF FOR GODLINESS.
Discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness. What that means is when you humble yourself and change, you've got to put discipline in your life so you remain changed. “…discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness…[for] godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come” (1Tim. 4:7-8).
Godliness defined simply means the change that comes through repentance. When I humble myself and repent, the change that comes is called godliness. For someone who does this, s/he is now walking in a more godly lifestyle. It is the discipline that moves me to a life of godliness because you're always going to have the magnets of the flesh and the world that are going to pull you here or there. When you focus your eyes on the Lord, rather than the world, it's like you're polarizing the magnets and they're repelling one another. So when you focus your magnet on the Lord, it starts to repel the world.
To discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness is not just to admit or be honest about it but to recognize it, repent (change your mind), and stay clean; otherwise, you just fall back in. Will God forgive if you fall back in? Absolutely, but forgiveness is to keep you from falling back, not to give you an excuse to do it again. If you ask God to forgive you 7,000 times, will he? Yes, He will but you won't get anywhere. You can be forgiven but it's not an excuse to stay in it, it's to free you from it! Discipline yourself for the purpose of Godliness…to be where God wants you to go and the future that He's planned for you. You have to do at least a B in that.
Well, will we mess up sometimes? Yes. So then what? Well here's number three: if God's grace is to click in and rewrite your future, you must learn to...
3. STRENGTHEN YOURSELF IN THE LORD.
There are going to be times when you mess up and there'll be nobody around to encourage you. Nobody's going to be around to pat you on the back and say, "That's okay." You're going to find yourself all alone and you must learn to strengthen yourself.
Nebuchadnezzar did that. He strengthened himself. “But at the end of that period, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever…” (Dan. 4:34)
Strengthening yourself in the Lord means worshiping God even when you don’t feel like it. This is, in fact, the best time to give thanks that our God is on the throne. Sometimes you may feel that worshiping when you don’t feel like it is hypocritical but let me suggest another way to view this. Isn't hypocrisy believing in one thing but doing another? Do you believe that God is worthy of worship? If you do believe God is worthy of worship but you don't worship him because you don’t feel like it, isn't that really hypocrisy? Be sure your faith is not determined by your feelings, but rather, the truth: God is worthy to be praised. When you worship God, even when things are going wrong, God will strengthen you and you should strengthen yourself in the Lord, regardless of how you feel…then God will change the way you feel.
That's what Nebuchadnezzar did. In spite of being insane, he stood up and blessed God and his reason returned.
In 1 Samuel, David returned from war and found his home burnt to the ground and his loved ones kidnapped by the enemy. His own soldiers want to stone him so David turned to God, “..David was greatly distressed because the people spoke of stoning him, for all the people were embittered…But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God” (1 Sam. 30:6, see also Ps. 42:5).
There are going to be times when there'll be no one to strengthen you; you have to strengthen yourself. You have to do at least a B grade in that to have God's grace help you because if you refuse to strengthen yourself, you're always going to blame other people or depend on others for their help. And if it doesn't come, you'll blame God. You have to learn to strengthen yourself and when you get there, you will start to graduate into the things of God and God's grace will start to become very powerful in your life because you'll be able to recognize it and start to move with it. You have to do at least a B in that… to strengthen yourself.
David talked to himself to strengthen himself, "Why are you in despair, my soul? Why are you disturbed within me. Hope in God! For I shall still praise Him: my Savior, my helper, and my God" (Psalm3 43:5). David learned to strengthen himself in the Lord. When we do that, God's grace begins to change our future.
Humility. Discipline. Strength. When you encounter the grace of God and you add to it (humility, discipline, and strength), you will create a partnership with God that will change your future. Be a person of grace and understand how to rewrite the future by activating Christ.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Tell about a time when God spoke to you in private and you did not humble yourself so God humbled you in public. What happened? What eventually caused you to humble yourself?
2. How has God touched your life and reminded you of His love and power?
3. Think of a difficulty or disappointment in your past. In what ways did God provide you with His Grace? What would your life be like right now had God’s grace not been there for you?
4. Share about a challenge you are currently facing. How will you use today’s message to respond so that you can partner with God to change your future from a probable future to a preferred future with Him?
Thanks to Phyllis Unebasami, a woman of God who is humbling, disciplining, and strengthening herself daily in His service and through His grace.