The fiery furnace

jumping into a new sermon series, and You know it so yeah gauge is going to take kids out for junior church. So anyone who would like to go with Gage and Haley can head out for that.

You don't have to be a little young kids. You can be older kids, I guess, too. If you want to go with them, you know. So up Brian yet. You got to stay in sing later but I'm starting a new series and I'm actually it's kind of the messages are all going to be based off of some of the different things we hear mentioned in the song, another, in the fire in Bryan and Jamie will sing that forces are closing song today.

but you know, of the first one that talks about is Daniel and the fiery furnace And I'm going to kind of summarize that passage for the sake of time, cuz it's kind of a long one. But, you know, the gist of the whole story is that King Nebuchadnezzar comes up with this. Great idea to build this 40 ft tall gold statue. And every time you hear the music, you got a bow down to it. Well, some astrologers decide to come in and rat out, Shadrach Meshach in a Bendigo. Now, these are the three top guys for the Jews and Babylon. They are the ones who are in charge of everything there. And these astrologers come in and said, hey, you know, King Nebuchadnezzar. These guys that you really liked this will call him Rack Shack and Benny to make it easier. So I don't have to pronounce it at it. They don't bow down, everytime the music plays just ignore it. Well the thing is Nebuchadnezzar, really like those guys, so he gives him a chance, even though he's mad. He calls them in and he says, hey, Is it true that every time you guys hear the music, you don't bow? They say, yep. We don't and we're not going to And that makes him really mad. So he says, well, I'm going to have you thrown in the fiery furnace cuz you know that's the rule and then we'll see what your God will do. and I love verse 16 here where it says, Shadrach Meshach in a Bendigo replied to him, King Nebuchadnezzar, We do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the Blazing furnace, the God, we serve is able to Deliver Us from it and he will Deliver Us from your Majesty's hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know your majesty that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold that you have set up.

That really made Nebuchadnezzar mad. He did not like that. So he ordered that the furnace be heated to seven times hotter than it's ever been heated to do and it got so hot that the soldiers who bound them and took them to throw them into the furnace. Actually died from the heat as they were throwing them in.

but then, after they're in there, King Nebuchadnezzar notices. Wait a minute. I had to throw three guys in their right.

Monkey prices for in the furnace. It says that he said the other one looks like a son of the Gods.

So that Nebuchadnezzar was like hey why don't you guys come back out? When they came back out of the fiery furnace, he noticed that they weren't even burn their clothes. Weren't even Scorch not a hair on their head was singed and they didn't even smell like, fire. So God had delivered them.

You know, if we think about it, most of the time, we like to try to live our life in obscurity, right? Because of security is better than standing out from the crowd. When you stand out from the crowd you get noticed and you know what made me think about the TV show Survivor, right? You know if you ever watch that. Who are the people that get taken out first in that game? The people who make all the waves, the people who stand out the people who try to do everything their way. So it's better to blend in. Those are usually the people that make it to the end. I also remembered a friend of ours, one time when I was in Bosnia, he had been a sniper during the whole war and one of the missionaries was showing him his new Chrome hiking stick that he had gotten as a gift. But he says I would have loved that as a sniper during the war. He's like what he goes. Bright shiny things, make you a great Target.

And you know what I thought about that. That's what happens when we're in the middle of a battle. You know, anything that sticks out, stands out becomes a Target, However, the problem is, you know, standing out is what God has called us to do. There is no such thing as an incognito Christian even though unfortunately a lot of us try to live life that way. You know, another passage that talks about not conforming. Is Romans 12:2 that says, do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you'll be able to test and approve. What God's will is his good pleasing and perfect will You know, is Christians. We all know that there's a lot of pressure for us to conform and go along with the way the rest of the World Views things and Shadrach Meshach in a Bendigo there. Lives were no different. You know, even though they had a high position, they still were being pressured to conform and do what they were being told by the king. So they had a choice to make. you know, they could choose to bow down and blend in like the others and skate along without any problems. Or they could stand up for what they believed in. And face the consequences which the King has made it pretty clear what the consequences were. And, you know, for all of us, Believers, that's a choice. We have to make each and every day.

Are we going to go with the flow and be unnoticed? Or we going to stand up for what we believe in? And become a target for persecution. You know, going against the flow and having to face the furnace that definitely is something. I think that we all would agree, takes a lot of faith. And I think there's four things that I want to quickly go over that we can learn from their demonstration of faith. The first one is that faith is rooted in God's word.

You know, these three men said that. We don't need to defend ourselves to your king Nebuchadnezzar. We don't need to apologize or try to come up with some way to justify what we're doing.

We're doing this because we have faith in God. And the reason that they were willing to stand up and do that was because they knew that the word of God was absolute truth. They knew that they could trust it. You know, they didn't need to debate the matter with someone. They just knew that bowing down to anything other than God was wrong. And they weren't going to do it. They knew that there was only one God and like I said, they knew this because it was written in the Bible. So their faith was based upon God's word. Not the opinion of the king. If you think about it, one of the first songs that we teach our kids is also a Bedrock of our faith. You know, Jesus loves me this. I know why? Because the Bible tells me so,

Sometimes I think we sing that is kids and don't realize the profound truth. That's in that we believe it because the Bible says it, We've talked about that a lot that our faith is rooted in that truth and we don't need to apologize for it. We don't need to, you know, apologize for what is said in the word of God.

Your Jesus understood this and he was tempted. you know, and Luke Chapter 4, verses 1 through 4, you know,

When Jesus is tempted by the devil, he doesn't try to debate theology with him. He just tells him what the word of God says. Matthew Chapter 4, verses 1 through forces. Then Jesus was led by the spirit into the desert, to be tempted by the devil. After fasting 40 days and 40 nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, if you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread. Jesus answered it is written man does not live by bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.

And I found this quote by Oswald Chambers. That said, it is not our trust that keeps us. But the god in whom we trust, who keeps us. Jesus, understood that. Jesus knew that. Why? Because the Bible told him. So, That is why. Another is realizing faith is realizing that life has wounds. You know these three men knew when they chose not to bow down that that would have consequences. They knew what disobeying the king meant. You know, they were living in some type of fantasy world that made them think that nothing bad is ever going to happen to them. They knew that the king had the power to throw them into the furnace and in their life, whenever he wanted to just because

You know, one of the reasons so many people end up turning their back on God is because Unfortunately they get this picture of Christianity. That what it means is, once you come to Faith In Jesus, everything is just going to be wonderful from that day on. You'll have no problems, no stress, you know? They unfortunately come to see God as this magical genie who instantly grants everything that we pray for, right?

That's just not true. Life is full of trials. In fact, Jesus himself promised us. That life would be full of Trials and John 16:33. Since I have told you these things. So that in me you may have peace in this world, you will have trouble, but take heart, I have overcome the world. Paul understood. That hardship was a normal part of Christian Life too and second Timothy 3:12. He says, in fact, everyone who wants to live a Godly life in Christ, Jesus will be persecuted.

You know, Paul also understood that its hardships that turn people away from the faith. And you know, that part of faith is realizing this truth and seeking encouragement and strength in the face of our trials. 1st Thessalonians chapter 3 verses 2 through 4. It says, we sent Timothy, who is our brother and God's fellow worker in spreading the gospel of Christ to strengthen, and encourage you, and your faith. So that no one would be unsettled by these trials. You know, quite well that we were destined for them. In fact, when we were with you, we kept telling you that we would be persecuted. and it turned out that way, as you well know, a big part of faith is understanding that we live in a sinful Fallen World and that, you know, we, as human beings have been born with a sinful nature at all those things together and you get a recipe for a lot of trouble. in the problem in with the world, is that

You do not that people want to be bad, not that people want to follow bad pass, you know. But the mystery of man is that, you know, so often were bad when we want to be good, right? We're trying so hard to be good. We end up being bad.

It's just how it works.

Another point is that faith is remembering God's works. You know, part of faith is remembering that God is willing to save us. God is able to save us and that God is for us. Despite what we might think, sometimes we're going through things, he is on our side, he is working for a good God's power and love for the foundation upon which we can build our lives. Knowing that, no matter what happens, nothing will shake or crack that Foundation. His good goodness, and faithfulness are always there.

Ralph Waldo. Emerson wrote. All I Have Seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all. I have not seen.

another author, Cliff Richards wrote, The More We depend on, God, the more dependable, we find that he is

You know, those things are so true, but it's hard for us to remember those things sometime when we are in the midst of Trials, when we're going through the tough spots. And to me that is what is so important about gathering together as a church family? Because it gives us those opportunities to encourage each other to remind each other. No matter what you're going through. God is here for you. We are here for you.

And the last one is that faith is resting in God's will. That's a tough one. He that goes back to that verse 18.

We're Rack Shack and Benny say, but even if he does not

you're part of faith is recognizing that sometime God's will for our life doesn't exactly line up with what our plan for our life is And sometimes bad things happen, even though we don't know why. Sometimes bad things happen and we can't understand why? Because we had great intentions, for whatever it was, how could have went so poorly.

Your faith is trusting in God, even when everything around, you seems to be falling apart. When every plan you have has just come unravel.

you know, here we see these three men stand firm in their face and declare that even if God did not choose to help them, they still weren't going to bow down to that Idol.

Although they didn't know exactly what God's plan was. They didn't know if he was going to save them when he was going to save them, how he was going to save them. They knew that he was in control. They knew that balling down to that idle was wrong. And that was all they needed to know. You know, none of us has the luxury of knowing every twist and turn that is going to come at us. And this journey we call life. A lot of times things, get thrown at us that we never expected. We all have to face Trials of one sort or another some of them big, some of them little, some of them life changing. and God made Deliver Us from some of them and others for reasons, we will never know he chooses for us to face and we wonder why there's one thing that we do know though, That wherever we go or whatever might happen to us, that God is with us, and he is the one still in control. Even in the most chaotic, bizarre circumstances, it is all still under God's control.

Because, you know, when Nebuchadnezzar looked into that furnace and he said, hey, there's a fourth person in there. That looks like the son of the Gods. It wasn't son of the Gods. It was son of the one true God. Jesus Christ. He was the one who was with them there in the fiery furnace. He is the one who is with us. Whenever we go through the fire, we know that whatever may happen to us, that Jesus will never leave us that he'll never turn his back on his. He'll never walk away from his, he'll never do anything to separate us from him. you know, this story and I encourage you to go read it if you never have your King, Nebuchadnezzar tried to do his worst to He did that furnace up as hot as he could throw them in there.

but, you know, even though they face the worse, nothing happened to them outside of what God wanted to happen to them. Cuz they went into that fiery furnace and came out without one single hair singed. didn't even smell like, smoke, the story tells us, And to us, that should be an encouragement. Cuz we should know that we clean out, the devil can throw whatever he wants to add us. And nothing is going to happen. That is outside of God's will. Nothing is going to happen. That's outside of God's control. So the devil chooses to throw the very worst that he and everyone else with him and he'll has at you, you can face it with confidence knowing even if God does not, I still will serve the one true God.

You know, cuz no matter what might be throwing at you by this Fallen World?

It can't touch you unless God has a reason for it to touch you. You know, you can lose your job, you can have things happened in your family. You can even lose your own life, but Jesus still walks beside you and you will be with him no matter what the circumstances are.

I've said this a million times and I'll say it again. God's primary concern is not how happy we are. His primary concern, is how holy we are. And, you know this, I Was preparing for this. There is a lot of different things I read by different commentators talking about how fire is used to refine different precious metals and things.

You know, sometimes we have to go through the fire to get to where God needs us to be.

Luke chapter 11 verses 4 and 5 says, I tell you my friends do not be afraid of Those Who Kill the body. And after that can do no more. But I will show you whom, you should fear. Fear Him, who after killing of the body has the power to throw you into hell. Yes. I tell you fear Him.

Young scriptures telling us the only thing as Believers in Christ that we should really fear is God himself.

I think that's what gave Rack Shack and Benny the strengths that they needed to stand like they did cuz that was the only person they fear, they didn't fear the king.

They knew the worst thing that the king could do to them. Was kill them, right? which sounds like a pretty bad thing, but he could only kill this temporary mortal body that they were in. He couldn't impact where they spend eternity. Only God can do that. And that's what was more important to them, where they were going to spend eternity. Not what this body they were in right now went through. Sometimes we forget that we get too focused on the now too focused on. I want life to be easy, I want life to be comfortable. Well, those are nice things. God blesses us with those things. There are more important, focus should be, what does God want, for my life, what needs to happen to help me be more? Holy Please bear with me in prayer.

heavenly father as we come to you Lord, we pray that you will be with us and guide us, Lord, and Lord, give us the strength and the courage to stand. When everything within us tells us to just blend in to just go with the flow to just tuck tail and run. Lord help us to have the courage to stand up for what we believe in. No matter what the consequences might be. Lord, knowing that. Nothing is happening in our lives. That's outside of your control. Nothing is happening in our lives. That is a surprise to you. Lord, everything that we face. Is a part of your plan for our lives Lord, your plan to shape us into the holy person that we need to be. In order to spend eternity in heaven with you. Lord, give us the courage to face those things and to stand up for what we believe. We pray this all in your most, holy name. Amen.

If y'all will stand as we first be other.

The nearest raceway in her heart is on fire.

when I look at speed,

He's reminding.

Where is the reason now?

Home out there left.

Shut up.

And I know why.

Not in the dog at the dog pound boxing used as a space between.

There is no other name by the name, Jesus.

He who was answering me.

Come, what may?

Econo Lodge.

Calvin Johnson.

Cuz I know that's way.

Cuz I know this way.

Carrollton. Georgia.

Carrollton. Georgia.

I forgot to share at the end of my You know, I put that up there as are benediction that there are some things that are only learned in a fire.