Hey, happy new year. Aren't you glad the last two years are behind us? I mean, I don't think we could explain it to anybody unless they've been through what we've been through the last couple of years with COVID, the politics, the polarization. And thank God for 2022. Now, I want to talk today about how you can have a vision for your best year if you understand one thing. And that is this: year if you would decide that I'm going to grow spiritually—and not that you're Gandhi, not that you're a foreign missionary, but you're going to say, "Hey, this year I want to work on my spiritual life," because I understand what Jesus said. He said, "If you will seek me first, all these things will be added unto you." So as we go into this year, I want you to just say, "Hey, this year I'm going to work on my spiritual life before I get involved in my social life and all of my goals for myself, and I'm going to get serious about the Lord." Now, I know that sounds kind of bottom line, but I think we roll into a new year every time and go, "Hey, I'm going to lose weight, and I'm going to do this, I'm going to do that." I can tell you that if you're willing to get serious about your faith, you will have a great year.

Now, I think you would agree with me that 2022, we're in a different place than we've ever been. So when you're talking about how to grow spiritually, you're looking at things that you've never seen before. We've gone from a post-modern age to a meta modern age, and I've had to do some research on this because it is so crazy to me. Cryptocurrency, everything that's happening, it's so crazy that Nike has gone to metaverse. And I have found that I can buy some new shoes with—simply, I can buy shoes that I can wear, like in another unibrow, alternate universe. I can wear these shoes and I can pay a lot of money and walk around in something that's not even real. So the reality is, we've done that with our world. And we've changed the price tags. I mean, you know that. When you look around, when you see everything around you with regard to marriage, we've redefined it. When it comes to gender, we've redefined it. When it comes to our kids and what we expect of them, when it comes to all those things, you're like, "Hey man, we're living in a different age, we're living in a different time." And so to grow spiritually, you've got to think differently than you've ever thought about getting close to God.

Now, you're like, "Well, what does all that mean?" Well, religion is not going to work. I mean, just getting more information and going to a church occasionally is not going to work in a society that really is more like Babylon than anything else we've ever experienced. Babylon, if you know the definition for Babylon, it simply means a materialistic, pleasure-seeking community. And I would think everybody would agree with me that we have become that in our country. That when you look around, the price tags have been totally changed. We're a polytheistic, pluralistic, polarized country. Even in south Mississippi, I think you would say, "Hey man, things are changing at a rapid pace." And one of the things we would like to do with our faith is kind of put it in a bubble, like wrap ourself in bubble wrap and not think about it or go to a church where everybody looks like us and live in a community where everybody thinks like us. And the reality in 2022 is that we're gonna have to enter into the world of Babylon, just like Daniel, Meshach, Shadrach, and Bendigo. 2,600 years ago, this happened to the people of God. And that's why I love the Bible. It's true, it's historical, it's salvation history. And when you read about Daniel and you realize that, hey, the people of God were taken into exile all the way from Jerusalem to Babylon, and they were trained in the Babylonian customs. It was like a meta universe for them. It was like something that—like, I can't believe this is happening, we're being taught a different language, we're being taught different values. And in the midst of that, these guys, man, they soared spiritually.

So I'm gonna tell you, I don't want you to get discouraged about everything you see going on around you, because God is still in control. And this year, I'm going to show you from Daniel chapter 2 how you can have more than just a new year's resolution. You can find a way to thrive in the midst of Babylon. Now, Daniel chapter 2, we're going to look at that in a moment, and you're going to see all the things that happened to them. And in Jeremiah, during this same season, was writing about what you're to do in Babylon. Let me tell you what he says in Jeremiah 29:5-7. And this is what he tells the people of God who are in the middle of Babylon. He doesn't say, "You need to kind of retreat and be in a little bubble and kind of learn some information and stay away from society." Listen what he says in Jeremiah 29:5-7. He says, "Build houses and settle down, plant gardens and eat what they produce, marry and have sons and daughters and find wives for your sons and give your daughters into marriage." In other words, live your life. You vote? Yes. Vote. You know, have opinions? Yes. But he says, live your life and be an example to the people around you. He said also—get this—"Seek the peace and prosperity to the city to which God carries you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper." Now, that is anything but a doom and gloom word. And the reality is, as we roll into Babylon, as we roll into a nation in a world that has changed all the price tags, the truth of God has not changed. And this year, as you roll into a new year, I want you to learn some things with me. I'm learning, man. This is brand new. Metaverse and all that stuff is brand new to me. The reality that, hey, we can no longer just go back to religion and get more information and more information and go into a little hole and change the world. It's become more and more obvious.

So Daniel chapter 2, beginning with verse 17. Let me give you the background, because this is amazing. Daniel, Meshach, Shadrach could have been to go a part of probably about 10,000 people that were taken into exile. And God is using these guys in a mighty way in the middle of a very dark place. And yes, a lot of people have decided to live in the suburbs. They're over here in this area outside of Babylon. We know that. We know from history some people have decided to be acclimated into the culture and be like the Babylonians. When in Babylon, do as the Babylonians. What happens in Babylon stays in Babylon. But Daniel, Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego are in the middle of everything. And God is using them. And the king has a dream, and it's a bizarre dream. And he calls all of his leaders in and he says, "Hey, tell me about my dream." And they're like, "Hey, well, tell us the dream." "There's no, you've got to tell me my dream." You think your boss is tough? "You tell me my dream and interpret. I'm going to kill all of you." And Daniel is the only person that comes forward with an interpretation for the dream.

So Daniel chapter 2, it's a great, great, great passage. In verse 17, "Then Daniel returned to his house and explained the matter to his friends, Hananiah, Michelle, and Azariah, and he urged them to plead for mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery so that his friends might not be executed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. And during the night, the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision. And then Daniel praised the God of heaven, and this is what he said about God: praise be to the name of God forever and ever, wisdom and power are his." Verse 27, he goes and talks to the king and he tells him his dream and the king is shocked. He says, "No wise man, enchanter, magician, or diviner can explain to the king the mystery he has asked about. But there is a God in heaven"—listen to Daniel—"who reveals mystery. And he has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in the days to come, and your dream and visions that passed through your mind as you were lying in the bed are these." He says, "God's reading your mind, God understands your dreams. As your majesty was lying there, your mind turned to things to come, and the revealer of mysteries showed you what is going to happen. As for me, this mystery has been revealed to me, not because I have greater wisdom than anyone else alive, but so that your majesty may know the interpretation and that you may understand what went through your mind. Your majesty looked, and there before you stood a large statue, an enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance. And the head of the statue is made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, it's partly of iron and partly of baked clay, the feet. And while you were watching, a rock cut out—was cut out, not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and it smashed them. Then the iron and the clay and the bronze and the silver and the gold were all broken into pieces and became like chaff in the threshing floor in the summer, and the wind swept them away without leaving a trace. But the rock that struck this statue became like a huge mountain, and it filled the earth."

And then he explains it to him in verse 44: "In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it itself will endure forever." He said, "This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of the mountain, but not by human hands, a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold to pieces. The great God has shown the king what will take place in the future. The dream is true and its interpretation is trustworthy." And then King Nebuchadnezzar fell prostrate before Daniel and he paid him honor in order that an offering and incense be presented to him.

And you're like, "Wow, what does all that mean?" Well, there are three things that I want you to think about as you roll into this year if you're going to really get serious about your faith to have the very best year ever. Because if you seek God, Jesus said, these other things will be added unto you. And there's three things we learn from Daniel, Meshach, Shadrach, and Bendigo. The first is this: if you're going to really grow this year and have your best year, you befriend believers and open up to them about your needs. Now, I want to kind of let that sit there for a second, because that is not normal. I mean, can we just be honest? We live in a Facebook culture, Instagram culture, Snapchat culture. I mean, it's your image, it's not really who you are, and it's not really what's going on in your life. I mean, you want everybody to think you've got it made, you're rolling, when you're getting rolled. In Daniel chapter 2, this is what Daniel does. He didn't go the synagogue, okay? He doesn't go to the Torah Bible study. He goes to his brothers and says, "Hey, we got a problem. Hey, we've got a problem. I need you to know what's going on. I need you to pray for me. I need you to plead to the Lord for me and for you, because we need God's help."

Let me ask you something. This year, rolling into 2022, where is that going to happen? Where are you going to befriend people who are believers and share your heart with them so that they know you and you trust them and they pray for you? You say Sunday school? Not going to happen. I'm going to tell you, when you've got a master teacher, you're in a Sunday school class and everybody's dressed up, and you know, you got 45 minutes and you're gonna roll through it. It's not going to happen in a Sunday school class. You say, "Well, is it going to happen randomly?" I mean, do you think just randomly, you know, you're going to begin talking to somebody and tell them your whole story? I mean, is it going to happen randomly? Is it going to happen at a party? You say, "Well, if he's real drunk, he might." Yeah, but he won't remember. Is it going to happen in a worship service? Look, the reality is, you and I have to have a place where we can be known. You can't grow where you're not known. And the one thing the enemy has been able to do to us for years, for really centuries, is separate us with regard to religion. Listen, God is saying in 2022, man, you got to come together, you got to have a conversation. You can't just be acclimated in the culture and say, "Well, I'm going to do religious stuff one day a week or one day a month and then I"—no, no, no, you can't just live in the suburbs with everybody like you. You've got to enter into a relationship. You got to be around people where you can have a conversation, where you can talk. You can't just give God the leftovers.

Listen, listen to me. You can't have a great life if you, like, do your religion at the end of everything else you're trying to do in your life. Can't do it. Paul says you're in the world but you're not of the world. He's not saying, you know, you need to be over here in the suburbs, you need to be over here in this little class and you'll be everybody. Look at him, everybody looks just like you and your neighbor. And he goes, "No, you need to be in the world, but don't act like the world." You say, "Well, how do you do that? Like, how do you grow and have those conversations?" Listen to me, because this is so different it's going to blow your mind. It's house church. We have made it so easy at Venture for you to enter in a conversation with people who may not think exactly like you, for you to get to know people that you don't even realize you're going to need them and they're going to need you as the year begins to unfold. Because you can't grow in rows, but you can grow in a kitchen. You say, "But I need meat, man. I'm a carnivore, I need meat." No, no, no, you need to practice what you already know. "Well, for my kids, you know, I need this, I'm busy." Listen, we know that. That's why we have put your house church in your neighborhood. Listen, we're telling you in 2022, listen, your faith is caught, not taught by strangers. The greatest thing you can do for your kids is not to give them one more memory verse that they don't apply, but for them to see you acting out in your faith on a Wednesday night. If you have to miss a Sunday, fine. Don't miss Wednesday night. Three times a month, 14 times a semester, that could change your life. That could give you the very best life. Listen, in a meta modern world, it has made you a consumer, it has made us lazy, it's made us spectators, it's made us to be needy and clingy and religious. Listen, following Jesus is a lifestyle. It's not an event. And when you realize that, rolling into 2022, that God has a plan for you, that God wants to use you, God wants to kind of pour out his spirit on you to do a powerful thing in the midst of Babylon, man, it will change your whole year.

So the first thing is, you befriend other believers and you're open. Number two, you trust God to do the impossible in your life. What are you asking God to do this year that you can't do in your own power? Do you really believe that God can do supernatural things? I mean, do you really believe that? You know what supernatural means? It's not something you can do naturally. I mean, it's something God has to intervene in your life. Are you trusting God to do anything supernatural? Because friends, listen, that's the only hope we have in a meta modern universe that we live in. Hey, where God kind of breaks in. You go, "What do you mean?" Well, like in your marriage, maybe you've been working on your marriage, and maybe you haven't been working on your marriage. You're like, "God, I need you to do something in my marriage. I need you to make my marriage better. I need you to heal my marriage, save my marriage." Maybe it's your kids. You know, "God, this year, I want to break through with my kids. I want my kids to know what really means something." I was with a guy not too long ago and asked about Christmas and of all the things that impacted him—and this guy's old, it's older than me—he said the thing that impacted him most was going with his dad to someone's home and giving them some food and some presents that they needed. He never forgot that. It changed him, it changed that family. Listen, when you believe God can do the impossible and you expect that he moves—maybe it's your finances, maybe it's habits that you can't break, maybe it's anxiety. Daniel asks God to do the impossible. He pled with him all night long. He said, "God, please show me the dream. God, please reveal this to me." God is still revealing things to people.

Listen, the key to having a great new year, it's not a resolution, it's a confession plus submission that equals worship. In Daniel chapter 2, verse 20, I love what he says when God answers his prayer and he reveals this dream and he does something supernatural—he praises God. You want your worship to be better in 2022? You ask God to do things you can't do, because when he comes through, you will naturally praise him, you will naturally make him known. He says, "You know, you're the great God, you put people in power, God, you're in control of all the kingdoms, God, you are my God." It gave him a sense of assurance, it gave him a sense of confidence. He goes in the middle and it talks to Nebuchadnezzar and he's not even breathing. He's like, "Hey, somebody tell you what God says." It will give you confidence like you've never had before. Listen, God has placed you in places where you have authority, where you're having an impact. I mean, he's put—Daniel is a businessman, he's not a preacher. Daniel's not a prophet, he's an accountant. And God has put you in places of authority to have an influence on people where it multiplies and you see God working in multiplication in all that's going on.

Listen, don't be a mule Christian, but be a mustang. And I love this. I had to find out about mules. I didn't know this, but a mule is basically a cross between a donkey and a horse. Did you know that? I didn't know if you know that or not. But I'm not a big agricultural guy. But mules, meals—mules can't reproduce. Mules are self-centered. You know the reason they use a mule when they're going down the Grand Canyon? Because mules are so self-centered, they're not going to fall. No matter what, they're going to protect themselves. They don't care if you fall off, they don't care if their stuff falls off, but they're not going to fall off because they're thinking about themselves all the time. They have to be fed, they're stubborn. Don't be a mule, be a mustang. Mustangs contribute, mules consume. Mustangs multiply, mules are one and done. Mules have to be coddled, but mustangs have to be throttled. Listen, as we roll into 2022, you've got to realize God wants to do something in you where you are right now. And you've got to have friends around you that know and love the Lord, who are pouring into you and shouldering the responsibilities with you. You've got to say, "Hey, I want to make this happen. Hey, I want God to multiply my faith. I want to see a movement." Listen, Christianity is a movement, it's not a religion. To thrive in a meta-modern world, you can't be a mule Christian. Got to be a mustang.

So number one, befriend believers and be open with them. And that's hard, but man, you can do it. You can do that. Get in a house church and you can sit back for a little while, then before long you'll realize, hey, it's okay, it's comfortable, you know, I'm in a secure environment. Number two, trust God to do the impossible. Listen, everything at Venture that I look at, man, I'm always shocked because God has done things at Venture that, it's not possible. I mean, nobody takes credit for Venture because God did things that we couldn't do. That's why we praise him, that's why we worship. Number three, admit that a self-centered life is a broken life. He had to dig through this to get here with regard to Nebuchadnezzar. But you know the dream that he had of the statue, the dream he had of the statue was the statue of himself. And that's natural. You know, as you go into 2022, you know, "God, bless me with, you know, more money, God, give me, you know, this and God, give me that, and God, hit me with my reputation and God, help me with my looks, and this year I'm going to lose weight and I'm going to look better, and I'm going to get a new car, and I'm going to have more friends." And listen, that is a loser life. And that is the meaning of the dream. In his mind, he's building a life to himself. And it's a statue to himself, of gold and silver and bronze, and but he has feet of clay. And the rock that comes out of nowhere, that's not hewn out of the mountain by human hands—that's the idea that God is the only one going to be glorified. It's like a bowling ball to everything you'll set up to yourself. Selfish life is a failed life. And the sooner you get that, the happier you'll be.

You say, "What do you mean what?" Your looks—no offense, but, you know, it's going to leave you. I mean, you're going to look in the mirror one day like I do and go, "Whoa, who is that person in my body?" With your kids—I mean, if you live and die by your kids, every time they strike out, you're going to die. And one day when they get a little bit older, they're going to leave you. Your money—let me just tell you, in 2022, you're going to lose some money. You say, "I'm going to put it under my pillow." You're still going to lose it. I mean, because we don't know what's going to happen. Do you know what Jesus's goal was when he came to earth? You. Jesus goes not to make much of himself. Jesus's goal was to save you, to love you. You know what he said on the cross? This is astounding. He said, "Father, not my will but your will be done." In the Lord's prayer, he says, "Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Why? Because a wrecking ball is coming. Everything in our world is winding down. There's only two things that last forever, and that's the souls of men and the word of God.

Listen, God has a plan for you this year. Jeremiah 29:11 is in that same passage where in Jeremiah 29 where he says, "Hey, settle down, hey, build homes, hey, go about your life, hey, just make me known, just seek the peace of the city." In verse 11 it says, "Hey, I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, their plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future, if you'll only call on my name." Listen to me, 2022 should be the best year for the church of the living God because the battle lines have been drawn. I mean, the metaverse is going crazy, and maybe for the first time since the first century. Now when you really stand up for Christ, it's going to cost you something, but he's going to come through.

Now, I'm going to show you a couple of graphs that we have, and that I've kind of put together to help explain how you can grow in 2022 if you're a part of Venture. And one is, look in the very militant concentric circles, look at the personal part. This is just you. Let's just start with you. And the idea is how you invite people into your life. You know, like when you're somewhere and somebody begins talking to you, you think, "Well, maybe God's using this, maybe he's going to do something." You invest through reading, like we have an app, and we have devotions on there, we have scriptures for you to read. And you invest in the word of God, man, it begins to grow you up and develop you. And then you impact—you see a need, you meet a need, you make an impact in somebody's life. You give—when you see there's something that needs to be done, you ignite your giving. Now let's go to house church, because this is really important. And you can sign up in just a week or two, you can begin to sign up. But you invite people to house church. It's so easy, your neighbors, you know, people that live in your neighborhood, you invite them. And you invest in them. And it's so organic when you've got somebody in your house church you want, like a guy that you want to spend more time with, is a guy or a lady with a lady, and you meet them for lunch and you develop a relationship. You begin to kind of work and encourage them. And then you make an impact through serving the community and meeting a need. You ignite through giving. There have been people in their house churches that have given cars to people that needed them, that they have paid, you know, for stuff that they needed. There are people that have helped people with their funerals. And then corporately, we get all the way to the end and you invite people to come to worship. And you invest, okay, in the word of God. And then you impact—you're impacted and you engage. But by the end of the service, we're going to have opportunities for you to come down and engage with the Lord in personal worship. And then you impact through serving the community, and you serve the body. And then you ignite through giving. Now, you say, "Why is that so important?" Because of multiplication. Look at the multiplication that comes on the screen with regard to how it began in the first century with regard to just like a thousand people that came to know the Lord. Look: a thousand Christians in 40 A.D., 10,000 in 100 A.D., all the way into two and a half billion by 2020 A.D. And we're just beginning. In 2022, if you want to have the best year, it's seek God first, grow in your faith, and watch God do some amazing things.