Leadership

We don’t have all the answers

We don’t always know what to do.

We are making it up as we go along.

Having the discipline to admit that we don’t know

Uncertainty is why the world needs leaders.

Leadership is always a stewardship

We don’t have people.

We have responsibility to people.

Its temporary

We are accountable

580 BC

Nippzy

Nebuchadnezzar

Marduk

YHWH

Daniel

Daniel 4:4–5 NLT

4 “I, Nebuchadnezzar, was living in my palace in comfort and prosperity. 5 But one night I had a dream that frightened me; I saw visions that terrified me as I lay in my bed.

Daniel 4:15 NLT

15 But leave the stump and the roots in the ground, bound with a band of iron and bronze and surrounded by tender grass. Now let him be drenched with the dew of heaven, and let him live with the wild animals among the plants of the field.

Daniel 4:16 NLT

16 For seven periods of time, let him have the mind of a wild animal instead of the mind of a human.

Daniel 4:17 NLT

17 For this has been decreed by the messengers; it is commanded by the holy ones, so that everyone may know that the Most High rules over the kingdoms of the world. He gives them to anyone he chooses— even to the lowliest of people.”

Daniel 4:19 NLT

19 “Upon hearing this, Daniel (also known as Belteshazzar) was overcome for a time, frightened by the meaning of the dream. Then the king said to him, ‘Belteshazzar, don’t be alarmed by the dream and what it means.’ “Belteshazzar replied, ‘I wish the events foreshadowed in this dream would happen to your enemies, my lord, and not to you!

Daniel 4:26–27 NLT

26 But the stump and roots of the tree were left in the ground. This means that you will receive your kingdom back again when you have learned that heaven rules. 27 “ ‘King Nebuchadnezzar, please accept my advice. Stop sinning and do what is right. Break from your wicked past and be merciful to the poor. Perhaps then you will continue to prosper.’

Daniel 4:29 NLT

29 Twelve months later he was taking a walk on the flat roof of the royal palace in Babylon.

Daniel 4:30 NLT

30 As he looked out across the city, he said, ‘Look at this great city of Babylon! By my own mighty power, I have built this beautiful city as my royal residence to display my majestic splendor.’

Daniel 4:31 NLT

31 “While these words were still in his mouth, a voice called down from heaven, ‘O King Nebuchadnezzar, this message is for you! You are no longer ruler of this kingdom.

Daniel 4:32 NLT

32 You will be driven from human society. You will live in the fields with the wild animals, and you will eat grass like a cow. Seven periods of time will pass while you live this way, until you learn that the Most High rules over the kingdoms of the world and gives them to anyone he chooses.’

Daniel 4:33 NLT

33 “That same hour the judgment was fulfilled, and Nebuchadnezzar was driven from human society. He ate grass like a cow, and he was drenched with the dew of heaven. He lived this way until his hair was as long as eagles’ feathers and his nails were like birds’ claws.

Boanthropy

Daniel 4:34 NLT

34 “After this time had passed, I, Nebuchadnezzar, looked up to heaven. My sanity returned, and I praised and worshiped the Most High and honored the one who lives forever. His rule is everlasting, and his kingdom is eternal.

Daniel 4:35 NLT

35 All the people of the earth are nothing compared to him. He does as he pleases among the angels of heaven and among the people of the earth. No one can stop him or say to him, ‘What do you mean by doing these things?’

Daniel 4:37 NLT

37 “Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and glorify and honor the King of heaven. All his acts are just and true, and he is able to humble the proud.”

King Nabonidus - Belshazzar

Cyrus the Great

Belshazzar - Nebuchadnezzar’s grandson

Daniel 5:1 NLT

1 Many years later King Belshazzar gave a great feast for 1,000 of his nobles, and he drank wine with them.

Daniel 5:2 NLT

2 While Belshazzar was drinking the wine, he gave orders to bring in the gold and silver cups that his predecessor, Nebuchadnezzar, had taken from the Temple in Jerusalem. He wanted to drink from them with his nobles, his wives, and his concubines.

Daniel 5:3 NLT

3 So they brought these gold cups taken from the Temple, the house of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his nobles, his wives, and his concubines drank from them.

Daniel 5:4 NLT

4 While they drank from them they praised their idols made of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone.

Daniel 5:5 NLT

5 Suddenly, they saw the fingers of a human hand writing on the plaster wall of the king’s palace, near the lampstand. The king himself saw the hand as it wrote,

Daniel 5:6 NLT

6 and his face turned pale with fright. His knees knocked together in fear and his legs gave way beneath him.

Daniel 5:10 NLT

10 But when the queen mother heard what was happening, she hurried to the banquet hall. She said to Belshazzar, “Long live the king! Don’t be so pale and frightened.

Daniel 5:11 NLT

11 There is a man in your kingdom who has within him the spirit of the holy gods. During Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, this man was found to have insight, understanding, and wisdom like that of the gods. Your predecessor, the king—your predecessor King Nebuchadnezzar—made him chief over all the magicians, enchanters, astrologers, and fortune-tellers of Babylon.

Daniel 5:12 NLT

12 This man Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar, has exceptional ability and is filled with divine knowledge and understanding. He can interpret dreams, explain riddles, and solve difficult problems. Call for Daniel, and he will tell you what the writing means.”

Daniel 5:17 NLT

17 Daniel answered the king, “Keep your gifts or give them to someone else, but I will tell you what the writing means.

Daniel 5:18 NLT

18 Your Majesty, the Most High God gave sovereignty, majesty, glory, and honor to your predecessor, Nebuchadnezzar.

Daniel 5:19 NLT

19 He made him so great that people of all races and nations and languages trembled before him in fear. He killed those he wanted to kill and spared those he wanted to spare. He honored those he wanted to honor and disgraced those he wanted to disgrace.

Daniel 5:20 NLT

20 But when his heart and mind were puffed up with arrogance, he was brought down from his royal throne and stripped of his glory.

Daniel 5:21 NLT

21 He was driven from human society. He was given the mind of a wild animal, and he lived among the wild donkeys. He ate grass like a cow, and he was drenched with the dew of heaven, until he learned that the Most High God rules over the kingdoms of the world and appoints anyone he desires to rule over them.

Daniel 5:22 NLT

22 “You are his successor, O Belshazzar, and you knew all this, yet you have not humbled yourself.

Daniel 5:23 NLT

23 For you have proudly defied the Lord of heaven and have had these cups from his Temple brought before you. You and your nobles and your wives and concubines have been drinking wine from them while praising gods of silver, gold, bronze, iron, wood, and stone—gods that neither see nor hear nor know anything at all. But you have not honored the God who gives you the breath of life and controls your destiny!

Daniel 5:24 NLT

24 So God has sent this hand to write this message.

Daniel 5:26 NLT

26 This is what these words mean: Mene means ‘numbered’—God has numbered the days of your reign and has brought it to an end.

Daniel 5:27 NLT

27 Tekel means ‘weighed’—you have been weighed on the balances and have not measured up.

Daniel 5:28 NLT

28 Parsin means ‘divided’—your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”

Daniel 5:30 NLT

30 That very night Belshazzar, the Babylonian king, was killed.

Daniel 5:31 NLT

31 And Darius the Mede took over the kingdom at the age of sixty-two.