Welcome to Ocean Water. We hope you feel refreshed by the living water of Jesus Christ as we help people receive drinking water from the ocean for free. Thanks for joining us for this week's message and if you enjoy it, please share it with a friend. Hi, I'm Peena. I work for Ocean Water with my grandpa. I do ocean water to drinking water. We're here today at the beach where I live in California. It's already a beautiful day. I'm glad that you can be with us for this week's Beach Talk.
We are spending nine weeks learning from a person in the Bible named Daniel in the Old Testament. We're calling this time Together Waves, like the ones behind me, learning to ride what life brings. Today I want to talk to you about Perfect Waves. And I've said in each of these talks how there's always a blessing that comes with all the tests in our life because God wants to see what we can handle before he gives us more responsibility.
The greater the success, the greater the blessing in our life and God wants us to see what we can handle before he gives us stuff. So success is also a test. We've talked about this every week. Again, God wants to see what we can handle before we get the next thing. Jesus said this in Luke. He said, you must be proven trustworthy in small things before you're trusted with greater things. And if you've not been faithful in what is not your own, how will you trust the more that you've been given?
So so far we've looked at five tests. Today we're going to look at the sixth one, how God tests us when everything's going well, when everything's going right. You say, wait a minute, I know stress is a test. I know suffering is a test, but why is success a test? Well have you ever seen success ruin anybody? Well of course you have. It goes to their head. People get stuck up. They get conceited. They change. They can't handle it actually. Success has ruined a lot of people.
Stress is as much a test in our life as suffering is. In fact, I think more people have been ruined by success than have been ruined by suffering. Because when you're suffering, you go straight to God. But when you're successful, we forget about God all the time. For every nine people who can handle pain, you'll find one person that can handle fame. You know, the number one thing that young people have said they want to grow up according to one study was being famous.
The Bible talks about this in Psalms 27. It says, a hot furnace tests silver and gold, but people are tested by the praise they receive. Did you know that every time you're complimented, this is a test? Compliments and criticisms are kind of like chewing gum. You chew on them a little, but you never swallow it because both of them can really mess you up. Human beings are the only thing God created that when you pat them on the back, they get a bigger head.
Sometimes we want to be aware of the danger of pride and arrogance so that we can continue to be blessed by God. You see, the tough times that we go through, it's often those we don't understand. Nebuchadnezzar was the most powerful man on the planet, but he had a problem and it was his pride. It was his ego. Some people have a problem with anger their entire lives. He had a problem with pride, with arrogance. His entire life had been one success after another. Daniel 4, this story picks up.
He's in his 50s. He's already well into his leadership as the emperor. He's a very powerful man. One night he has a very disturbing dream. This is 32 years after the previous dream that we looked at. He couldn't interpret it, so again he calls on Daniel to interpret it. 32 years later he says, I've got another weird dream. Can you tell me what it means?
And Daniel tells him, well he's sad to be the bearer of bad news, but what this dream means, the one you just had, it means that God is fed up with your arrogance. He's fed up with your pride and he's fed up with your ego. And you'd have nothing if it weren't for God. Everything you've got in life is because God allows you to have it. And if God didn't want you to have it, you might be homeless on the street. See, most of the time we take credit for the things that have done in our life.
And Nevid Knesser should have known better because God had shown him a bunch of miracles since the Jews had been there. Remember by the way that he had built a 90 foot statue to himself? Well that's an ego problem. Anytime you build a 90 minute statue to yourself and every time the horn blew, the people bowed down and worshiped the statue, this went on for 30 years and finally God just said, I've had it.
He says, all this time God gave you all these chances because you haven't humbled yourself and you haven't depended upon God. God is going to remove you as the king of the greatest empire in the world for a season of time. And he says, not only are you going to lose your kingdom sir, you're going to lose your mind. You're going to lose touch with reality. You're going to actually go insane for a little while.
And all of this is happening because of your pride, because of your ego, because of your arrogance. He says that your fingernails are going to grow so long they're going to look like claws. You're going to live like an animal because truly you'll actually lose your sanity for a period of time. You see sometimes you can notice who is far from God because they act a little crazy. Daniel says, but here's the good news King, you can avoid it all.
You don't have to go through this humiliating experience if you'll humble yourself and if you'll listen to God and if you'll start honoring God with your success. Get this phrase, if you'll start honoring God with your success, you can avoid the fall. So number one, we get into trouble in life when we get comfortable with success. We get comfortable and complacent. And this happens to all of us when things are going good, we just kind of cruise.
Daniel 4 says, I never could answer was enjoying a time of peace and prosperity in my kingdom and palace. I was taking it easy without a care in the world. Does that sound like somebody who's praying every day? Well, not really. Let me ask you a personal question. Do you pray more in your pain or in your pleasure? Well, there's no doubt that we pray more when we're going through pain. We say, oh God, I need your help right now.
Like when things are going great, we say, let's go to the beach like the one that I'm at right now. And you're not even thinking about God because things are going so well in your life. So it's pleasure that pulls us away. It's the good times when pride creeps in that we tend to forget about God. Proverbs 16 says, the Lord despises pride. You can be sure the proud will be punished. The Bible says in James 4, God resists the proud, but he gives grace to the humble.
Grace is the power that we need to change. And if you need something to change in your life, it starts with humility because God resists the proud. You see, whenever I'm prideful, I'm on the opposite side of God. Now, the second thing is we usually don't pay attention to the warning signs. Often in our life when things are going good, we don't see the warning signs. But in every success, there are the seeds of our own destruction. Often the signs are not seen because pride blinds us.
God warned Kevin Nebuchadnezzar. He didn't just remove him from office. God cared enough about this king to warn him. He gave him a dream. He sends in Daniel to interpret it. Daniel says, this is going to happen. You can avoid it. He gives him a warning, just like he always does in our lives. He's saying, if you'll just humble yourself, stop forgetting God. Do the right thing. God says, I'm going to warn you in advance about everything you're about to lose.
And I'm doing this because I care about you. So what are the warning signs for when we're letting our success blind us? Well, conflict can be a warning sign. If you're having conflict in a relationship, that could be a sign. Chaos in your life, if everything's just disruptive and disorderly, that could be a sign. Or being really confused. I don't know what I'm supposed to do right now. That could be a sign too of just being disconnected, of letting our success and good times blind us.
When we're on our own power, if it's up to us, temptation can be a warning sign. Like I'm being tempted at work or in school or to take a shortcut or with a person. That can be a warning sign as well. God-warm Nebuchadnezzar, you're going to lose it all. You're successful. You're powerful. You're influential. In fact, the most successful, powerful, influential person in the world right now. Daniel says that the king needed to do a few things in 427. He says, here's what you should do.
Repent of your sins and start doing what is right. Begin to show merciful kindness to the poor and the oppressed. God will help you to prosper. If you want to maintain your success, then you need to do those two things. What does repent mean? We've talked about this word before. It just means to change your mind, to change your attitude, to change your thinking. The word repent means metanoia, which means to change, and noia means your mind.
It literally just means to change your mind, which leads to you changing our lives. Change starts in the thoughts first. We're supposed to give ourselves a kind of a checkup from the neck up. That's what it means to repent. It's all about God. It's all about following what he wants us to do. Well, why? Well, because humility is a choice. Let me say that again. Humility is always a choice. It's something that we do for ourselves. Let's define the words pride and humility for a moment.
Pride is when I accept the credit for the things that God has done and that other people did through me and for me. I accept the credit even though it really doesn't belong to me. I couldn't have done it without God and other people, but I'm acting like I did it all because I'm brilliant and because I'm smart and because I have this long resume. Humility, humility is not thinking of less of yourself. It's thinking of yourself less.
A lot of people think humility means I walk around saying, oh, I'm not good or I'm nothing or I'm just worthless. Well, no, Jesus didn't make you worthless. You're infinitely valuable to God. Look at the cross. It shows how much you're valued. Jesus died for you. That's how valuable you are, but we're deeply flawed and broken and we have weaknesses and mistakes and sins and all of our lives that are true. We're deeply flawed. We're also deeply loved.
Humility is just having a realistic estimation of yourself. It's not putting yourself down. It's thinking about others. It's getting the focus off of ourselves. Now the second thing he says that you're to do is to serve the poor. Why in the world would God tell the most powerful man in the world to serve the poor? Well, first, it gets the focus off of yourself. You're thinking about people who have more needs than you do when you're succeeding. Now second, it keeps you in touch with reality.
Now in America, we don't realize how blessed we are. We live in a bubble. Let me put this in some perspective. If you have any money in your pocket right now or any coins in a little dish at your home or if you've got a purse, you're already wealthier than over 90% of the people in the world just to even have a thing called money. It's just laying around. If you have a refrigerator with food in it, you're wealthier than 50% of the world. Most people would love to be poor in America.
Everybody's rich in America. Everybody. Even the poorest of the poor in America are rich because we have safety nets here to take care of people. Even the poor have a television or have a phone. They have clothes. They have a roof over their head. Most of us would love to be poor here in the United States. That's the bubble we live in. But then you go on a trip to like El Salvador or Bangladesh or Indonesia and you see how the rest of the world lives.
When you serve the poor, it keeps you in touch with reality. Well, that's one of the reasons God is blessing ocean water. Why? Because we're trying to serve the poor and plant churches. It's really simple. It's so simple. Most of us miss it. I'm so proud of Steve and Bella Martinez. They were leading a group of people to Bangladesh to help install a system that turns ocean water into drinking water.
You know, over two million people were just displaced from their homes in a super cyclone about a month ago. So many people says, God, I'm going to help Steve and Bella do that. God will help them. I'm proud of Billy Martinez, who's going to lead a group of people to El Salvador next April to help rebuild a home for a family that lost their home there in the recent flood. God says, I'm going to help Billy Perez do that.
I'm so proud of some Papa who, along with his family, has helped provide water and food daily in Palmecito during the COVID-19 crisis. God says, I'm going to help some Papa and his family do that. I'm so proud of Bobby Ramsey, who's leading a group to Indonesia next March to help install a system that turns ocean water into drinking water for a small island community. God says, I will help Bobby Ramsey do that.
I will God help Billy and Bobby and Steve and Bella because they're trying to help the poor. That's why God is helping us, not because we're good, not because we're awesome, but because our intention is to serve the poor. The Bible says that it's a sin to despise the poor. It says in Proverbs 4, 13, 14, 31, whoever mistreats the poor insults God. It says those who shut their ears to the cries of the poor will be ignored in their own time of need.
God didn't give us success so that we can have a lot and be prideful and buy islands and have little drinks with umbrellas in them. God gives us success not for our benefit, but for the benefit of others. When you understand that God will give you more in your life, because if you're faithful in a little, then you'll be faithful in a lot. So we're to repent. We're to change our attitude. We're here to serve the poor. That is a warning that God gave to Nebuchadnezzar and he totally ignores it.
Now the third thing that happens, write this down somewhere if you can, we put off doing what we know is right. We procrastinate. We postpone. We delay and defer things in our life. Daniel 4, 28 says 12 months later, 12 months later, what was he doing for 12 months? He was procrastinating. He was putting off the necessary changes that he knew that he needed to do, just like you and I do. We procrastinate sometimes. We put things off.
God says, if you really want my blessing, you have to quit procrastinating and do the right thing and serve the poor. Yeah. Nebuchadnezzar was kind of taking it easy. Walking around on the roof of his palace, he looked across the city, started thinking he was great. Probably called himself Neb. He had some self-taught like this saying, you know what, I'm the man, the guy everybody wants to be.
And while his words are still on his lips, the voice comes from heaven and it says, this is what God decrees for you, Neb. Your power is being taken away and you're no longer ruler of this kingdom. In fact, you're going to be deposed from the palace. You're going to be ostracized. You're going to be forced to live with the animals. And it all happened like that. He lost his kingdom and his mind.
Have you ever seen a friend who all of a sudden decides they want nothing to do with God and they just walk off a cliff and do something self-destructive and you go, what in the world? Why would you do that? Why would you do something so crazy? Your wife and your kids, are you losing your mind? You're going to leave this godly scenario and walk into something else? We've all seen that. People do this all the time. They're running from God and don't want that anymore.
There are three steps to recovery after a failure. One you want to look up to God. Daniel 434 says, after the time had passed, I Nebuchadnezzar looked up to heaven and my sanity returned. Literally it says in the Hebrew, he lifted up his eyes to heaven. Do you need to do that today? Maybe you've never done that. Maybe you're in trouble right now. You're in a mess. I have great news. God is here right now and wants to reach out to you. Just open up your heart and say, God help me.
Other people can't solve our problems. We have to look to God. God helps us. The government, our friends, our spouses, whatever it is, whatever mess you're in, refocus on God. Stop looking at anything and everything and start looking up to God. He'll help us every single time. All you have to do right now is look up to God and say, God help me. I ask that you give me your grace. The second thing that he did is he woke up. Wake up to God's greatness and start worshiping God. What does that mean?
Well, you start worshiping him. Worship just means that we focus on God. When you focus on God's greatness, that's called worship. You get your focus off of yourself and off of your problems and off of your humiliation and get your focus back onto God. Well, how do you do that? Well, starts with God's word. We have 15 days left in our Bible reading plan that we started on July 19th of 2019. 57 people signed up. 51 people are still in the group.
I think eight people are going to complete the Bible reading. That's awesome. That's eight people that have never read the entire Bible cover to cover before. That's great. We're going to start this again on July 27th. I'd like to encourage you to start it and finish it next year so that you can worship God in a greater way in your life by knowing everything that he's saying to you and trying to apply it into your life. God will see your heart.
He'll see your intention and he will help you do that. Now, some of us need to make just a recommitment to worship every single day. I have a worship playlist that I'm going to email out with this week's beach talk. I listen to it every single day when I ride my bicycle, ride my motorcycle around town doing my errands and it fills me with the Holy Spirit. He says when we get successful, we tend to rely on our own strength and our own riches.
We tend to think, oh man, I'm cool and I'm so self-motivated. It's God that gives us the ability and the strength to produce wealth. Those of us who are entrepreneurs, we need to write that down. We need to put that somewhere where we can remind ourselves that it's God who gives us the ability and the resources and the strength to produce wealth. That's a gift from God. God wants us to steward it and use it wisely.
He says, I warn you, if you ever forget God and begin turning things into idols that you worship, we can turn our cars, any material possession into an idol. God gives us things to bless us, not so that we can worship them. We use them for His kingdom. We don't worship them for our own benefit. God says, I'll destroy it all just like I've destroyed nations who forgot God. What is he saying here? He's saying that success can be dangerous. So be careful.
There's a danger when you experience blessings in your life. Now God's kingdom will outlast everything you do. So I want you to make a lasting impact with your life and bet on the kingdom of God. Our careers aren't going to last. Our jobs aren't going to last. Our homes aren't going to last. Daniel 4 says, God's rule is everlasting and His kingdom is eternal.
That's why Jesus said, seek first, make your number one priority the kingdom of God and all this other stuff, the passion, the pleasure and the positions and all the stuff that you need, it will be taken care of. Seek first to the kingdom of God and all these things will be added to you. Make it your number one priority to build God's kingdom, not our kingdom. It's far more important than our career. God didn't put us here just for a career. He put us here to build His kingdom.
Now God's approval matters way more than other people. Now people may disapprove, but if God approves of your life, it doesn't really matter what everybody else thinks. The only person's approval you need is God. If God likes you and you like you, it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks. You don't need other people's approval to be happy. You just need God's approval. God's power is absolute, which means that He's big enough for any problem that we're facing right now in our lives.
Daniel 4 says, He has the power to do whatever He pleases among the angels of heaven and with those who live on the earth, no one can stop Him or challenge Him or even question what He does. And those who walk in pride, He is able to humble. Wow. God's big enough to handle everyone, every country, every person, every problem. God is sovereign and over all of it. He is the King of heaven, the King of glory. So what does He do?
So He looks up to God and then He wakes up to His greatness and He says, God, you're in control and I worship you. And then the third thing that He did that we need to do is that when you go through a failure, you have to look up and you have to speak up. You have to tell other people how God has saved you and changed you. You know, in 2007, I went through a divorce, I lost everything a man can lose. Since that time, I had to repent.
I had to own all my mistakes, every single one and accept responsibility, no excuses. And every year since 2007, life has gotten a little better for me. Now it's 2020 and God brought me my loving, beautiful wife who's on the beach with me here, Maria. We have a home here. I have my motorcycles and my surfboards and my stuff and it's awesome. I have a highest level of education. Well, why?
God did it because I just try to keep pointing people to the Bible, keep pointing people to simple church planting and keep pointing people to serve the poor. That's it. It has nothing to do with me. But if we love God and try to love people, try to plant simple churches and serve the poor, God says, I will help you do that and you'll have my favor and my blessing. You know, a lot of us are caught up with trying to be cool and wanting to be accepted. Let me ask you a question.
Has God done anything for you? Has God saved you from anything? Has he shown his grace to you in any way? Have you been changed by God in any way? Then who are you telling? Have you been telling anybody about how good God has been to you? Are you telling anybody how good God has been in your life? You know, God's been good to all of us. God blesses all of us. Sometimes our pride just keeps us from sharing that.
So when you're saying I don't want to talk about God with my friends or the people that I work with, well, that can be our pride. It's saying I'm embarrassed to say that God's been good to me. I'm embarrassed to talk about how he's changed my life. Sometimes our ego can get in the way. You know, we need to tell the people in our lives what God has done to help us. And that shows humility because it says, you know, God's been gracious to me and God's given me a chance to do life differently.
You know, it's so easy to send a text message to someone and send them the ocean water message and encourage them. You know, I want you to think about somebody this week who you think might need to hear what God is trying to say. That shows our gratitude because we just really want people to be friends with Jesus. It's really that simple. And all you have to do to be a friend with Jesus is say, God, will you forgive me and eliminate my shortcomings? Cover me with your grace.
Give me a second chance. If you do that, Jesus is, of course, I'm going to help you. I'd love to be your friend. I'd love to turn your life around. We have people do that every week who pray together. Jesus come into my life, change my life, guide me today. Amen. You know, if you're friends with Jesus, you're in God's family. If you prayed today that I'd like you to message me at ocean water. I'd love to get you a worship list, invite you to read the Bible with us, help you find a group.
Some people are starting other ocean waters. That's a beautiful thing. Now I want to thank those of you who support ocean water as part of your worship each week. You know, giving is a part of our worship. God doesn't care about how much he just watches the sacrifice behind the amount. God knows it's worship when it costs us something. You see, if it doesn't cost you something, it's not worship. The Bible says we must worship in spirit and in truth. Only you and God know what it really costs.
That's why it's between you and him. I'd like you to go online today at oceanwater.com and click on give and pray about what God would have you give as part of your worship. Be faithful in that way. You know, in the next 12 months, we'll be doing work in four different countries as we talked about, four different languages. God always grows our perspective until it becomes global just like his. And the more we have here at Ocean Water, the more we can serve people.
Thank you so much for being with us today. And have a great week. More information about Ocean Water Church, how to join us on an upcoming trip, how to be part of one of our clean water projects, how to financially support our movement, or even information on how you can start an ocean water church yourself. Please look us up at Oceanwater.com.