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Andy Stanley - Leading Through Part 1 Leading Through Uncertain Times · Andy Stanley Sermons

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Speaker 1: Hi, everybody.
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Speaker 2: Thanks so much for tuning in, and I sure look
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Speaker 2: forward to being together again. Hey, but until then, thanks
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Speaker 2: for joining us from the comfort of wherever you are
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Speaker 2: joining us from. And for those of you who've allowed
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Speaker 2: us to be your church while your local church is
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Speaker 2: gearing up to reopen. We have certainly enjoyed having you
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Speaker 2: and we will be here as long as you need us.
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Speaker 2: Today we began a brand new four part series entitled
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Speaker 2: Leading Through, and the subtitle is three Essentials for Navigating Uncertainty.
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Speaker 2: Three Essentials for Navigating Uncertainty. Now here's the thing, here's
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Speaker 2: what we all have in common. In light of everything
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Speaker 2: that's happened in the past several months. There's a sense
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Speaker 2: in which we are all picking up the pieces, moving
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Speaker 2: forward the.
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Speaker 1: Best that we can.
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Speaker 2: But many of us, and I bet this includes you,
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Speaker 2: many of us are responsible for helping other people.
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Speaker 1: Move forward as well.
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Speaker 2: Family members, maybe employees, team members, students, members of the community.
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Speaker 2: So if you're a parent, a manager, a business owner,
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Speaker 2: an executive, a teacher, a coach, a mayor, maybe part
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Speaker 2: of a city council, people are looking to you, and
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Speaker 2: they're looking to me for direction. They're looking to us
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Speaker 2: for inspiration, and mainly they're looking to us for hope.
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Speaker 2: And you know this because you're a leader. Leading under
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Speaker 2: normal circumstances and leading in normal conditions is tough enough, right,
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Speaker 2: But leading people through and out of what we've just
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Speaker 2: come through not for the feint of heart. And I
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Speaker 2: won't tell if you won't. But the people who are
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Speaker 2: looking to us for leadership, they have no idea how
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Speaker 2: unprepared we are and how unprepared we feel, right, because
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Speaker 2: come on, we don't have all the answers. We don't
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Speaker 2: have all the answers, We don't always know what to do,
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Speaker 2: and isn't it true we're just kind of making this
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Speaker 2: up as we go along?
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Speaker 1: At least I know I am so.
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Speaker 2: Anyway, having the discipline and I think having the humility
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Speaker 2: to admit that you don't have all the answers, it
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Speaker 2: actually makes you a better parent, a better boss, a
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Speaker 2: better teacher, a better government official, better coach, It makes
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Speaker 2: you a better leader. I mean, come on, there's no
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Speaker 2: point in kidding ourselves, and there's no point in kidding
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Speaker 2: the people who are looking to us for direction. Uncertainty
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Speaker 2: is a permanent part of life, and it's a permanent
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Speaker 2: part of the leadership equation. In fact, uncertainty. Uncertainty is
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Speaker 2: why the world needs leaders. It's why your family, your company,
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Speaker 2: it's why your city needs you. So here's what we're
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Speaker 2: gonna do in this series. We're going to discuss three
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Speaker 2: essentials for leading through times of disruption and leading through uncertainty. Now,
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Speaker 2: I think these are non negotiables. I think to some
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Speaker 2: degree these are irreducible minimums. They're always important, but in
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Speaker 2: times of uncertainty, I think they're more important than ever.
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Speaker 2: But before I give you the three essentials today, I
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Speaker 2: want to spend a few minutes reading a story from
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Speaker 2: the Hebrew Scriptures, our old Testament that draws all of
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Speaker 2: us who are influencers into the broader context of our
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Speaker 2: responsibility as leaders and influencers. So, whether it's at home
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Speaker 2: or work or in the community, this ancient narrative, I think,
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Speaker 2: this ancient narrative reminds all of us of the most
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Speaker 2: important thing we can keep in mind as we think
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Speaker 2: about our leadership and our influence. And it's simply this
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Speaker 2: that leadership. Leadership is always a stewardship. Leadership is a stewardship. Now,
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Speaker 2: we don't use the term stewardship very much. But in
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Speaker 2: ancient times, a steward was someone appointed by a king
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Speaker 2: to represent the king. So a steward had the authority
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Speaker 2: of their authority the king because the king loaned it
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Speaker 2: to them. It was given to them, and it could
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Speaker 2: be taken away. And as we're going to discover, this
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Speaker 2: is true of our influence and our leadership as well.
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Speaker 2: And the more successful we are, the more successful you are,
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Speaker 2: the easier it is to lose sight of this.
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Speaker 1: Very very very important component of leadership.
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Speaker 2: To put it bluntly, to leverage kind of modern business vernacular,
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Speaker 2: we don't have people.
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Speaker 1: We don't have people.
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Speaker 2: We have responsibility to people because someone loaned.
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Speaker 1: Us our responsibility. All leadership is a stewardship.
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Speaker 2: And here's the second part. Not only is it a stewardship,
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Speaker 2: it's temporary. It's temporary. The clock is ticking. Time will
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Speaker 2: eventually run out on your influence, Time will eventually run
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Speaker 2: out on your authority. Eventually it'll either be taken away
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Speaker 2: from us or we will simply give it away because
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Speaker 2: it's temporary. And the reason it's temporary is we're temporary
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Speaker 2: and knowing there's an expiration data on our influence should
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Speaker 2: inform our posture and our tone and our humility. As leaders,
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Speaker 2: we should lead with the end in mind, because there's
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Speaker 2: an end. Eventually, our time runs out, and when it ends,
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Speaker 2: your legacy, your legacy will be established. And here's some
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Speaker 2: bad news. Your legacy, your memory will probably be established
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Speaker 2: by your final chapter, not necessarily your finest chapter. Again,
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Speaker 2: it's not fair, but it's true. Leadership is a stewardship.
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Speaker 1: It's temporary. And here's why today's narrative is so instructive.
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Speaker 1: It's a stewardship.
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Speaker 2: It's temporary, and we are a accountable Everybody is accountable
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Speaker 2: to somebody for how they steward or managed their influence.
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Speaker 2: But today's narrative, today's narrative reminds all of us that
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Speaker 2: our accountability, our accountability as leaders, goes beyond a boss,
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Speaker 2: a board, a constituency, or a base. In fact, if
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Speaker 2: you believe, in some way or shape or form, that
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Speaker 2: all men and women are created in the image of God,
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Speaker 2: and that consequently the people you lead and the people
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Speaker 2: that you're raising, the kids that you're raising, are technically
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Speaker 2: or actually your brothers and your sisters, then ultimately we
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Speaker 2: are accountable to God. For how we lead and how
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Speaker 2: we leverage our influence. Jesus taught this Jesus model this
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Speaker 2: and today's text illustrates it. Today's story takes place around
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Speaker 2: five eighty BC. Five eighty b C, and the main
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Speaker 2: character in the story was an extraordinary military and political
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Speaker 2: leader who confuse progress with greatness, which is so easy
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Speaker 2: to do, isn't it, And he was ultimately brought to
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Speaker 2: his senses in a very unusual way. His name is Nebuconezer.
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Speaker 2: Nebucanezer was literally the most powerful man in the world
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Speaker 2: in the day in which he lived. He was the
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Speaker 2: king of Babylon. He resided in the city of Babylon,
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Speaker 2: which is located in modern day Iraq. Now this is
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Speaker 2: super important. About twenty years before the story we're going
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Speaker 2: to look at today. About twenty years before that, Nebucondezer
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Speaker 2: invaded Judah.
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Speaker 1: The city of.
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Speaker 2: Jerusalem was actually spared for the time being, but while
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Speaker 2: he was there, Nebucondezer went in and rounded up members
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Speaker 2: of the nation's elite, their citizens, their best, and their
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Speaker 2: brightest people, and brought them back to Babylon as hostages
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Speaker 2: and included in this number of folks where Shadrak, mishak Abednego,
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Speaker 2: and Daniel. Then a few years later, Nebuconezer returns to Jerusalem.
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Speaker 2: He sacks the city, he destroys the temple, but before
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Speaker 2: he destroyed it, he looted it. And then he takes
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Speaker 2: all the contents of the Jewish Temple to Babylon and
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Speaker 2: he places them in the palace vault. Now I need
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Speaker 2: you to log all of that away, because those details
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Speaker 2: become very important toward the end of today's story. Now
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Speaker 2: Daniel and the Judeans exiled in Babylon. For them, the
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Speaker 2: moral of this story was simple, that God was judging
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Speaker 2: the nation of Israel for its disobedience. That basically, God
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Speaker 2: was putting the nation in time out until they got
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Speaker 2: their act together, until they decided to become faithful to
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Speaker 2: the covenant. So for them, that's how they understood these events.
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Speaker 2: But King Nebuconezer didn't see it that way. The way
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Speaker 2: he saw it, it was very simple. His god, Marduke
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Speaker 2: was clearly more powerful than the Jewish god Yahweh, and
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Speaker 2: Israel's god had lost. So consequently, that's just the end
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Speaker 2: of the story, right. But as it turns out, that
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Speaker 2: was not the end of the story. In fact, it's
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Speaker 2: actually why we know this story. Daniel documents these unusual
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Speaker 2: events in the Old Testament Book of Daniel. He'd been
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Speaker 2: in Babylon for about twenty years. By this time he'd
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Speaker 2: become a trusted advisor to King nebucon Nezzer, and according
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Speaker 2: to Daniel, nebecon Nezer had a disturbing, terrifying dream that
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Speaker 2: he was absolutely sure had some kind of significance for
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Speaker 2: him and possibly for Babylon. And so Daniel documents what
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Speaker 2: Nebuconezzer describes as this horrible dream. Here's what he writes.
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Speaker 2: He said, I Nebuconezzer was at home in my palace,
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Speaker 2: contented and prosperous, and I had a dream that made
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Speaker 2: me afraid. And here's what he dreamed. He dreamed that
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Speaker 2: there was this enormous, beautiful tree that was visible to
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Speaker 2: all the Earth, and all the animals of the earth
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Speaker 2: rested under the canopy of this enormous tree, and it
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Speaker 2: provided food for all the Earth's creatures. Then in the dream,
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Speaker 2: he hears this loud voice from heaven that says, cut
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Speaker 2: it down. And in his dream, suddenly this enormous tree
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Speaker 2: is cut down to a stump. And then in the
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Speaker 2: dream the voice says this. It says, let him be
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Speaker 2: drenched with the dew of heaven, and let him live
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Speaker 2: with the animals among the plants of the earth, and
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Speaker 2: let his mind be changed from that of a man,
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Speaker 2: and let him be given the mind of an animal,
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Speaker 2: till seven times pass by for him. And then the
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Speaker 2: voice announces this. The decision is announced by messengers. The
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Speaker 2: Holy Ones declare the verdict, so that the living may
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Speaker 2: know that and here's the bottom line for Nebucinezer, and
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Speaker 2: here's the bottom line for us, that all the world
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Speaker 2: would know that the Most High is sovereign over all
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Speaker 2: kingdoms on earth and gives them to anyone he wishes,
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Speaker 2: and sets over them the lowliest of people. So when
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Speaker 2: Nebukanezer wakes up from this dream, he is terrified, and
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Speaker 2: he knows it has something to.
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Speaker 1: Do with him. So he calls in all the usual
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Speaker 1: suspects to help.
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Speaker 2: Him interpret this dream, and they either can't or perhaps
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Speaker 2: they won't, And eventually he brings in Daniel. And when
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Speaker 2: Daniel hears Nebuconezer's dream, he also is terrified. In fact,
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Speaker 2: Daniel is so terrified when he hears Nebuconezer's dream that
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Speaker 2: Nebuconezzer actually has to comfort Daniel. And here's what Daniel says.
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Speaker 2: He says, my lord, if only the dream applied to
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Speaker 2: your enemies and it's meaning to your adversaries.
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Speaker 1: But it doesn't. It's all about you.
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Speaker 2: And then I think, perhaps because of what he was
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Speaker 2: about to say, Daniel takes a step back, and he says,
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Speaker 2: King Nebuchonezer, here's what the dream means. The Most High
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Speaker 2: God has decreed that you will be driven away from humanity,
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Speaker 2: that you are about to become like a wild animal,
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Speaker 2: that you're going to humiliate yourself publicly, and that this
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Speaker 2: will go on until you finally acknowledge. And then maybe
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Speaker 2: he takes another step back, until you finally acknowledge that
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Speaker 2: the Most High God, not you and not Marduke, is
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Speaker 2: sovereign over the kingdoms of men. And then he gives
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Speaker 2: him a little bit of good news.
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Speaker 1: He says this.
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Speaker 2: He says, your kingdom will eventually be restored to you,
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Speaker 2: but not until you acknowledge that Heaven rules. Therefore, your
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Speaker 2: majesty be pleased to accept my advice. And then Daniel
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Speaker 2: steps into his role as an advisor to the most
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Speaker 2: powerful man on the planet. And here's what he says.
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Speaker 2: He says, renounce your sins by doing what is right,
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Speaker 2: and your wickedness by being kind to the oppressed. It
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Speaker 2: may be that then your prosperity will continue.
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Speaker 1: Well.
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Speaker 2: Nebuconezzer was terrified by the dream, but apparently he wasn't
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Speaker 2: all that terrified, because nothing changed for twelve months, and
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Speaker 2: then everything changed. Twelve months later, King Nebukonzer was walking
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Speaker 2: on the roof of the Royal Palace of Babylon, and
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Speaker 2: he said to himself, or he said out loud, is
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Speaker 2: not this the great Babylon I have built as the
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Speaker 2: royal residence by my mighty power and for the glory
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Speaker 2: of my majesty. And we can hear the music change,
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Speaker 2: can't we? And we can pretty guess what happens next,
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Speaker 2: can't we. The words were still on his lips when
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Speaker 2: a voice came from heaven and the voice said this,
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Speaker 2: this is what is decreed for you, King Nebucanezer. Now,
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Speaker 2: King Nebucanezer is the one who's accustomed to making the decrease.
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Speaker 2: Now someone is making a decree about him. King Nebucanezer
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Speaker 2: your royal authority has been taken from you. It's been
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Speaker 2: taken because it can be taken, and it can be
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Speaker 2: taken because it was given. It was on loan, It
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Speaker 2: was a stewardship, Nebucannezer, and Nebuconezer, you didn't know it,
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Speaker 2: but you are accountable, and you were being called to account.
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Speaker 2: You made it all about you, and now you're through
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Speaker 2: King Nebucannezer. You will be driven away from people and
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Speaker 2: you will live with the wild animals. You will eat
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Speaker 2: grass like the ox, and seven times, seven times will
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Speaker 2: pass by for you until you acknowledge, and here's the
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Speaker 2: bottom line, until you finally acknowledge that the Most High
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Speaker 2: is sovereign, the most highest sovereign over all the kingdoms
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Speaker 2: on earth, and he gives them to anyone he wishes,
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Speaker 2: and immediately, Daniel says, immediately. Nebuconezer was driven away from
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Speaker 2: people and he ate grass like the ox. His body
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Speaker 2: was eventually drenched with the dew of heaven, until his
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Speaker 2: hair grew like the feathers of an eagle and his
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Speaker 2: nails like the claws of a bird. Nebuconezer lost his mind,
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Speaker 2: possibly stricken with boanthropy, boanthropy is actually a real psychological
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Speaker 2: disorder where the person suffering from it actually believes that
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Speaker 2: he or she is a cow or an ox. So
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Speaker 2: what happens is his attendance or his wife walks in
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Speaker 2: one day and they find King nebukon Ezer crawl around
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Speaker 2: all fours making animal noises. They take him out to
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Speaker 2: a private garden and they try to keep this story private,
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Speaker 2: and he lives there, we don't know how long, but
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Speaker 2: eventually he comes back to his senses, and when he's
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Speaker 2: told what happens, of course, he's absolutely humiliated, and he
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Speaker 2: puts two and two together, and he remembers the dream,
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Speaker 2: and he remembers Daniel's interpretition to interpretation of the dream,
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Speaker 2: and Daniel takes down his confession. And here's what Nebucannezzer said.
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Speaker 2: At the end of that time. He said, I, neb Canzer,
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Speaker 2: I never can azer raise my eyes toward heaven, and
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Speaker 2: my sanity was finally restored. And then then of course
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Speaker 2: he did. Then I praised the most high, I honored
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Speaker 2: and glorified him who lives forever. His dominion is an
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Speaker 2: eternal dominion. Suddenly it's not all about Mardu it's all
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Speaker 2: about Daniels God. His dominion is an eternal dominion. His
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Speaker 2: kingdom endures from generation to generation. This is so powerful
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Speaker 2: no one, no one can hold back his hand or
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Speaker 2: say to him, what have you done? And now I
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Speaker 2: nebu Canzer praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven,
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Speaker 2: because everything he does is.
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Speaker 1: Right, and all his ways are just.
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Speaker 2: And those who walk in pride, those who walk in pride,
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Speaker 2: he is able to humble. So here's the lesson for
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Speaker 2: nebecon Ezrain. For us, leadership, even kingship is a stewardship.
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Speaker 2: It's a gift. It's temporary. Leaders and kings. Leaders and
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Speaker 2: kings are accountable. And so we dare not this is
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Speaker 2: our lesson. We dare not leverage our power. We dare
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Speaker 2: not leverage our influence to oppress. Now, this whole incident
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Speaker 2: with nebucan Azra did not happen in secret. Wherever there
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Speaker 2: were slaves, there were no secrets. And this story eventually
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Speaker 2: circulates throughout the royal family and beyond. Then follow along
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Speaker 2: forty years go by, forty years later. By this time
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Speaker 2: nebucon Neezer dies, there were two or three other kings
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Speaker 2: that lasted for a very short time, but forty years
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Speaker 2: labor later, the new king of Babylon is Nabinidas. He's
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Speaker 2: the brand new king of Babylon, the King of Babylon,
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Speaker 2: but he is no King Nebuconezer. And as the glory
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Speaker 2: of Babylon begins to fade in the east, the Persians,
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Speaker 2: under the leadership of Cyrus the Great, begin to flex
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Speaker 2: their military and economic muscle, and Cyrus the Great sets
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Speaker 2: his sights on the city of Babylon with all of
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Speaker 2: its legendary wealth, and he launches a campaign of conquest
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Speaker 2: and destruction with Babylon the city of Babylon as the
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Speaker 2: ultimate prize. So King Nabonidus, who's the king now in Babylon,
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Speaker 2: he put his co regent bel Shazar in charge of
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Speaker 2: the city. I know, it's a lot of names. Puts
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Speaker 2: Belshazar in charge of the city of Babylon. Then he
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Speaker 2: and the Babylonian army go out to confront Cyrus who's
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Speaker 2: making his way toward the city of Babylon. Well, the
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Speaker 2: Persian army under Cyrus decimates the Babylonian army, They capture Nabonidas,
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Speaker 2: and they march on the city and Cyrus knows. Cyrus
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Speaker 2: knows that the great City of Babylon, the defenses make
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Speaker 2: it pretty much impregnable, but he's going to march on
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Speaker 2: the city anyway. Meanwhile, inside the city of Babylon, bel Shazar,
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Speaker 2: who now considers himself the king, prepares the city for
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Speaker 2: a protracted siege. He reinforces the gates as the Persian
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Speaker 2: army surrounds the city, and he is so confident, he's
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Speaker 2: so confident the Persians will never breach the walls of Babylon.
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Speaker 2: I mean, from his perspective, the Persian army is gonna,
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Speaker 2: you know, thirst to death, starve to death, or if
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Speaker 2: they stay too long, they're gonna freeze to death. But
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Speaker 2: there was no way they would take the city of Babylon.
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Speaker 2: So with the city's defensive set, bel Shazer decides to
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Speaker 2: throw a party, a huge party. Now, in light of
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Speaker 2: what happens next, it's important to note that bel Shazar
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Speaker 2: bel Shazer was actually the late King Nebuconezer's grandson. In
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Speaker 2: the text, it refers to him as Nebaconezer's son, but
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Speaker 2: that's just the way they talk. He was actually King
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Speaker 2: Nebuconezer's grandson. So here's what happened next. King bel Shazar
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Speaker 2: gave a great banquet for a thousand of his nobles.
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Speaker 2: This was a big party, and he drank wine with them.
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Speaker 2: And while Belshazer, while bel Shauser was drinking his wine,
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Speaker 2: he gave orders to bring in the gold and silver
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Speaker 2: goblets that Nebeknezar, his father or his grandfather, had taken
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Speaker 2: from the Temple of Jerusalem. We talked about that uptop, remember,
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Speaker 2: So they brought in. They brought in the gold goblets
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Speaker 2: that had been taken from the Temple of God in Jerusalem,
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Speaker 2: and the king and his nobles, his wives, and his
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Speaker 2: concubines drank from them. They essentially made a mockery of
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Speaker 2: these sacred things that had been taken from God's temple
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Speaker 2: in Jerusalem. But it gets worse as they drank. As
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Speaker 2: they drank the wine, they praised the gods of gold,
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Speaker 2: the gods of silver, of bronze, iron, the gods of wood,
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Speaker 2: and the gods of stone. And Yahweh had finally had enough.
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Speaker 2: The tech says that suddenly, suddenly the fingers of a
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Speaker 2: human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the
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Speaker 2: wall near the lamp stand in the royal palace, and
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Speaker 2: the party stopped right The king watched. The king watched
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Speaker 2: the hand as it wrote, but he can't read what's
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Speaker 2: being written. In fact, nobody can read it. The text
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Speaker 2: says that his face turned pale, and he was so
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Speaker 2: frightened that his legs became weak and his knees were knocking.
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Speaker 2: And then bell Shazer announces to everybody at the party,
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Speaker 2: anyone who can read this, anyone who can read and
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Speaker 2: interpret this writing, I will make them the third highest
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Speaker 2: ruler in the kingdom.
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Speaker 1: But nobody steps up.
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Speaker 2: Now his queen, who apparently either wasn't invited to the
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Speaker 2: party or who left early. Here's all of this commotion,
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Speaker 2: or maybe she hears a lack of commotion. She steps
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Speaker 2: into the banquet hall. She glances up at the wall
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Speaker 2: and sees this strange riding on the wall, and she
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Speaker 2: comes over to the king and she says, Pumpkin, or
19:51
Speaker 2: however she referred to bell Shazer pumpkins. She says, don't
19:54
Speaker 2: be alarmed, don't look so pale. There's actually a man
20:00
Speaker 2: in your kingdom who has the spirit of the holy
20:03
Speaker 2: Gods in him. King Nebukanezzer actually appointed him to be
20:07
Speaker 2: the chief of the magicians and chanders, astrologers and diviners
20:11
Speaker 2: a long time ago. And this man has in him
20:15
Speaker 2: the ability to interpret dreams, explain riddles, and to solve
20:19
Speaker 2: difficult problems. Call for Daniel and he will tell you
20:23
Speaker 2: what the writing means. Now, Daniel must have been in
20:26
Speaker 2: his seventies by this time. Apparently he'd been forgotten by
20:30
Speaker 2: everybody except perhaps the queen.
20:32
Speaker 1: So they find Daniel. They usher him in.
20:35
Speaker 2: Bel Shazer repeats his promises of wealth and glory and power,
20:39
Speaker 2: you know.
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Speaker 1: Daniel shakes his head.
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Speaker 2: He glances up at the strange script that's you know,
20:43
Speaker 2: written on the plaster, and he says.
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Speaker 1: You may keep your gifts.
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Speaker 2: You may keep your gifts for yourself, Bel Shazer, and
20:49
Speaker 2: give your rewards to someone else. Nevertheless, I will read
20:53
Speaker 2: the writing for the king and I will tell him
20:55
Speaker 2: what it means. And I'm sure you could have heard
21:00
Speaker 2: a pen drop in the throne room as Daniel begins,
21:03
Speaker 2: and he says, this, your majesty, Your majesty. He recounts
21:07
Speaker 2: a little history, puts this in context, Your majesty, the
21:11
Speaker 2: most High God, and here's our word gave your father
21:15
Speaker 2: or your grandfather Nebiconezzer sovereignty and greatness and glory and splendor.
21:21
Speaker 2: It was a gift, because he says, because of the
21:24
Speaker 2: high position he gave him, all the nations and all
21:28
Speaker 2: the peoples of every language dreaded and feared your grandfather, Nebiconezzer.
21:33
Speaker 2: But when his heart, but when his heart became arrogant
21:37
Speaker 2: and hardened with pride, he was deposed from his royal
21:41
Speaker 2: throne and stripped of his glory until until, until, until
21:49
Speaker 2: he acknowledged, and here's the bottom line, until he finally
21:53
Speaker 2: acknowledged that the Most High God is sovereign over all
21:57
Speaker 2: kingdoms on earth, and he sets over them any one
22:00
Speaker 2: he wishes that. I think he paused, and he looks
22:04
Speaker 2: at bel Shazer right in the eye, and he says this,
22:07
Speaker 2: but you, but you, but you, bel Shazer his son,
22:11
Speaker 2: have not humbled yourself.
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Speaker 1: Though you knew all of this.
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Speaker 2: You've heard this story before, you knew what happened to
22:18
Speaker 2: your grandfather. You've been warned you should know better, But
22:22
Speaker 2: instead you have set yourself up against the Lord of Heaven.
22:28
Speaker 2: And then I think Daniel got a little bit angry
22:31
Speaker 2: because as he looked around the throne room and he
22:33
Speaker 2: saw these precious articles that had been stolen from the
22:36
Speaker 2: Jewish temple being used the way they were, And he
22:39
Speaker 2: shakes his finger in the face of the king, and
22:41
Speaker 2: he said, you had the goblets from his temple brought
22:44
Speaker 2: to you, and you and your nobles, and your wives
22:47
Speaker 2: and your concubines drank wine from them. You have made
22:50
Speaker 2: a mockery of Yahweh. And then to make it worse,
22:53
Speaker 2: you praise the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron,
22:57
Speaker 2: wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or understand.
23:01
Speaker 2: He just defends their entire pantheon of God's. But you
23:05
Speaker 2: did not honor. You did not honor the God who
23:08
Speaker 2: holds in his hand your life in all your ways.
23:11
Speaker 1: Therefore he sent the hand.
23:14
Speaker 2: That wrote the inscription to which he could have added.
23:19
Speaker 2: And are you really sure you want to know what
23:22
Speaker 2: it says? Here is what the words mean. Man, A
23:27
Speaker 2: God has numbered the days of your reign and brought
23:30
Speaker 2: it to an end. Belshazzer, your leadership was a loan,
23:35
Speaker 2: and God is calling the loan to kel. You have
23:40
Speaker 2: been weighed on the scales, and you have been found wanting.
23:44
Speaker 2: You are accountable. You've been evaluated peiz. Your kingdom is
23:50
Speaker 2: divided and given to the Means and the Persian. It's
23:53
Speaker 2: been taken away.
23:54
Speaker 1: You thought it was yours. It was never yours.
23:56
Speaker 2: He gives and he takes away, and now he's taking
23:59
Speaker 2: it away.
24:01
Speaker 1: Now.
24:02
Speaker 2: While all of this is going on, while they're having
24:04
Speaker 2: the party, you know, while you know Daniel's interpreting, you
24:06
Speaker 2: know what's been written on the plaster. Unbeknownst to anyone
24:09
Speaker 2: in the room, Persian engineers were actually diverting a portion
24:13
Speaker 2: of the Euphrates River into a swamp outside the city. Now,
24:17
Speaker 2: the Euphrates River actually ran under the wall of Babylon
24:21
Speaker 2: and through the city. That's why they had an endless
24:23
Speaker 2: water supply, and that's why they were not afraid of
24:25
Speaker 2: a protracted siege.
24:27
Speaker 1: But here's the thing.
24:28
Speaker 2: By diverting the water supply, the Persian engineers caused the
24:32
Speaker 2: level of the Euphrates River to drop, and when it
24:35
Speaker 2: was low enough, a Persian seal team swam under the wall,
24:39
Speaker 2: killed the Babylonian guards guarding the gates, and then dragged
24:42
Speaker 2: those enormous steel girded doors open, and the Persians took
24:47
Speaker 2: the city. In fact, Daniel tells us that that very night.
24:52
Speaker 2: That very night, Bel Shazer, king of the Babylonians, was slain.
24:59
Speaker 2: The Hie is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth, and
25:05
Speaker 2: he gives them.
25:07
Speaker 1: To anyone he wishes.
25:10
Speaker 2: Now, I'll be honest, I'm not sure how all of
25:12
Speaker 2: that works, But if it's true, and I think it is,
25:16
Speaker 2: there's something there for all of us who have any
25:18
Speaker 2: measure of influence. Your talent, your education, your family connections,
25:23
Speaker 2: your hard work, your discipline, or maybe just your plain luck,
25:27
Speaker 2: you know, put you in a place of influence. But
25:30
Speaker 2: what you do with that influence determines whether or not
25:33
Speaker 2: you are a leader worth following, a leader worth emulating.
25:38
Speaker 2: And this is what's so catalytic about this idea. Unlike
25:42
Speaker 2: Nebekonezer in his early years, and unlike Bill Shazer, when
25:46
Speaker 2: we view our influence, when we view our influence, however
25:50
Speaker 2: great or small, when we view it as a temporary
25:52
Speaker 2: stewardship for which we are accountable, we will be far
25:57
Speaker 2: less likely to spend it all, focus at all, or
26:01
Speaker 2: leverage it all on our self, and we will be
26:04
Speaker 2: far more inclined to leverage our leadership and our influence
26:08
Speaker 2: for the sake.
26:09
Speaker 1: Of those we have the privilege to lead.
26:12
Speaker 2: We won't need to be reminded that greatness is more
26:16
Speaker 2: than progress. When we embrace this definition of leadership that
26:19
Speaker 2: incorporates the idea that it's a stewardship, that it's temporary,
26:23
Speaker 2: and that we're accountable, we won't have to be reminded
26:26
Speaker 2: that people matter, that people matter most, that what's best
26:29
Speaker 2: for people is always what's best. We won't need to
26:32
Speaker 2: be reminded that people matter to God, because we will
26:36
Speaker 2: live with the understanding that it's God who loaned us
26:39
Speaker 2: our temporary opportunity to begin with. So, whether you're leading
26:44
Speaker 2: a family, a business, a nonprofit, a division, a department,
26:48
Speaker 2: a team, a city, a state, or a nation, remember
26:52
Speaker 2: this leadership leadership at every level. Leadership is always a stewardship.
26:58
Speaker 2: It is always temporary, and you are accountable. And here's why,
27:06
Speaker 2: because the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men,
27:12
Speaker 2: and he gives them temporarily to anyone he wishes. Now,
27:19
Speaker 2: all of that is simply the setup or the context
27:21
Speaker 2: for where we're going over the next three weeks and
27:23
Speaker 2: next time, we're going to tackle the first of these
27:25
Speaker 2: three essentials for leading through times of disruption and uncertainty,
27:29
Speaker 2: so please, please please don't miss part two of Leading
27:33
Speaker 2: Through