Sermon Tone Analysis

Thursday night my neighborhood was ablaze with fireworks.

All up and down the streets people were popping and sizzling, and snapping.

Overhead illegal aerials whizzed by.

When exiting my neighborhood i went widely around a fountain in the middle of the road that seemed to have been finished and it lit up beside me while I past it, and then an aerial came zooming toward my truck when I hit the street.

It was like a combat zone!!!

Add to this the city displayed in the fields next to my neighborhood, and you can imagine the noise and flashing.

Then add in the thunderstorms and lightning and it was intense.

Now imagine being a dog!!! Our doodle - Frenchy - when she was about 2 went out in the backyard while a neighbor was releasing thousands of dollars of aerial noise making fireworks.

She cowered to the ground and ran around the yard on her belly in fear - a fear that has imprinted ever since.

Thursday night she had on a thunder shirt, essential oils and we were contemplating benadryl.

We tried to get her to go to an interior room with lights out and fan on for background noise, but unlike she does when she sleeps at night - she barked with a fearful intensity to be out and just with us.

She slept in our bedroom that night beside our bed in stillness until morning when all the ruckus was over.

ALL SHE WANTED in her world where it seemed like the skies were crashing and a battleground was erupting was to be with her masters!

The ones who protect and shelter and give a sense of calm in the fire!

There is a story in Scripture where we see the exact same thing happening.

Many of us are so familiar with this story!

It is so often used as an amazing example of God’s protection under persecution, and when we choose RIGHTEOUSNESS and GOD’s WAY over the ways of this world - we experience his power, provision, and protection!!!

But there is more!!!

In this historical account, we see a perfect picture of the presence of God in our lives through its most trying, challenging, threatening and discouraging times!!!

:5-6

Hebrews 15:5-6

Interesting, we often think if I have enough MONEY I can be safe and control my circumstances in life --- which is so untrue!

God wants us to realize — our ultimate confidence is in HIS PRESENCE in our lives — in all things!

1.

We Are Not Alone in the Fire

Perhaps the greatest picture here is when a fourth man --- what we call a THEOPHANY - It was Jesus, the Son of God - showing up in the fire with these men… Prior to his coming to earth as a baby, the second person of the Trinity made appearances on earth in times of need — Abraham and Melchizedek - Melchizedek being one of them.

Here in these three Young HEbrew Men’s lives --- the SON OF GOD showed up in the midst of the blazing furnace.

He did not leave them alone or abandoned, but was there in their moment of need.

a. THE FIRES IN LIFE

For these young men, their fire was literal --- it was a blazing furnace — a furnace soooo HOT that it burned the guards disintegrating them as they threw them in the fire.

There is no way any of them should have lived past the point of being in front of the doors of the furnace!

IT was an earthly threat to partake of the idolatry of this world.

We are so challenged these days with simple PEER PRESSURE, SOCIETAL CONFORMITY just like these young men were.

We are threatened to lose jobs, relationships, security, and even health and life if we do not comply.

Right now our society is screaming at the church to conform to their immoral choices or suffer a consequence - even to the point of legislation, imprisonment, fine, and again the societal pressure that we will punish you if you don’t do it our way.

BUT THERE ARE MORE FIRES...

There are more fires that burn in life than just societal pressures...

We can have family dynamics

Health issues

GRIEF AND LOSS

Marital trouble

and external and internal THREATS

The reality is when we feel threatened to lose our faith in Christ — which is something the devil wants to hit each of us with all the time… everyone of us has a different trigger point the enemy will use to get us to cave or weaken to worldly pressure...

Even if that is

doubting ourselves

trashing our self esteem

bringing depression

bringing despair or fear

Our fire is personally those things that threaten our existence and trust in GOD!

WE MUST REALIZE ---

b.

We are not alone!!!

Just like my dog only wanted to be with us in the midst of the fireworks and thunder storm — she needed comfort and assurance --- we have a HEAVENLY FATHER and HIS SON JESUS CHRIST who will not abandon us!

Romans 8.

5-39

God has promised to be beside us in our time of need...

2. Things Get Better After the Fire

Look at what happens when we experience Christ in the fires of life --- when our eyes are fixed on HIM, things improve when we come out!!!

The improvement may be different from our expectations — but they improve

Roma

God wants to use the fires of your circumstances for good...

For Shadrach, Meschach and Abednego when they came out of the fire...

1 Peter 1

they did not even smell like smoke - it is as if it never happened

their persecutors were punished and the battle to stand against the societal pressure removed

the King acknowledged and even passed a law honoring their GOD as the true God and above any imitated God

They won a victory for all who were given into the pressure of bowing to idols

God wants to grow you in every circumstance of life, and He wants the other side of the difficulty to be a better place than before the difficulty.

He will work things out for good in your life if you keep your eyes fixed on Him!

3. Trust Him for the Distance

The amazing thing we see in this picture is the ultimate TRUST of these Hebrew youth.

Not knowing if God would rescue them, they still had confidence in His plan regardless the outcome...

What did Paul say in Romans --- neither death nor life shall separate me from the love of God!!!

This is the key component - to ultimately trust God knowing the eternal promise is greater than anything in this temporary world.

That is the problem with Christianity today --- we are serving God often for the here and now and not in light of eternity.

Do WE REALIZE that ETERNITY is the MOST IMPORTANT ASPECT TO SERVE GOD… the promise of eternal life in heaven...

That promise is to those who follow Christ and attaining ETERNAL LIFE is more important than any

COMFORT

POSSESSION

PLEASURE

HAPPINESS

OBJECT OR PERSON

...that can be attained in this world!!!

DO NOT BE AFRAID TO STAND ON GOD’s WORD in ANY CIRCUMSTANCE --- knowing that when you apply the WISDOM of SCRIPTURE and our HEAVENLY FATHER’s PLAN --- the end result is in HIS HANDS and not OURS — and God loves us more than we even love ourselves ---

God desires good things for us, He desires our faithfulness so He can justly reward us according to our faith!

CONCLUSION

It is all summed up in this Scripture — my life verse… it stands the test of time...

When we trust the Lord, we can REST in the fact that

HE WILL BE WITH US IN THE FIRE

HE WILL NOT ABANDON US

HE WILL TAKE US THROUGH TO A BETTER PLACE

HE CAN BE TRUSTED TO DO WHAT IS BEST FOR US