Navigating Through Fire

Good Morning

Good Morning Everybody! We are so thankful you are here in worship with us this morning whether you are joining us in person or online we want to welcome you. My name is Terry I Serve here as a the Lead Pastor. We have an amazing team of people here at Freedom Chapel that work so diligently to help this church family live up to our Mission of Bringing Hope to our Community by being a Place to Belong a Church for the Whole Family.

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House Keeping

We Start selling Fireworks Tomorrow. This is why it matters.

Freedom Fest is just two weeks away.

Roe v. Wade: This is a tremendous change. My deepest struggle with politics has been the play on Christian Values without results. This week we saw results. The Supreme Court of the United States ruled that there is not a Constitutional Right to Abortion. This putting the right to make laws back into the hands of the the voters in the individual States of our Union. That is where we are as a State. I am about to show you a video talking about the Value Them Both Amendment Vote that is Scheduled for August 2. Before I do I want to understand where I come from on my stance on abortion.

Chaelie Starnes

My Story.

I am going to switch gears for a couple of weeks. We are going to detour from Romans and I am going to speak in a different direction.

Hannah and I met this week. She shared with me the songs she had picked for this week and all of them had something to do with Fire.

The first song we sang today was call Another in the Fire. If you don’t have much of a biblical background you probably have no idea what this song is about.

If that is you I want to apologize. Church can be difficult especially when we use insider speak. Today I want to talk about the relevance of this song.

If you have your Bibles turn with me to Daniel Chapter 3.

In 605 B.C. God became frustrated with the sin of the Jews and exciled them into the captivity of the Babylonians. Daniel along with several young men were chosen to serve in Nebuchadnezzar’s court. Daniel 1:3 tells us how they were selected

Daniel 1:3–7 ESV

3 Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family and of the nobility, 4 youths without blemish, of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding learning, and competent to stand in the king’s palace, and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans. 5 The king assigned them a daily portion of the food that the king ate, and of the wine that he drank. They were to be educated for three years, and at the end of that time they were to stand before the king. 6 Among these were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah of the tribe of Judah. 7 And the chief of the eunuchs gave them names: Daniel he called Belteshazzar, Hananiah he called Shadrach, Mishael he called Meshach, and Azariah he called Abednego.

Today we are going to talk about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

If you read through Chapters 1 and 2 you will find that these three men along with Daniel served God with everything they had. When adversity came they stood their ground and stuck to their belief system and their faith. They stayed faithful to God in spite of what was being enforced around them.

Now move with me to Chapter 3. Here we find that the King has made a golden image and has made a decree that every time a rag tag band of strange instruments start playing every one has to stop and bow down to this golden image. If you didn’t bow down you would be thrown into the furnace that was used to make the golden image.

So here we are in Chapter 3 verse 8.

Daniel 3:8 ESV

8 Therefore at that time certain Chaldeans came forward and maliciously accused the Jews.

This very scripture helps me to understand that no matter how well I am serving God there is always going to be somebody that is trying to make sure I fail. Jealousy is a powerful thing and it causes people to do some pretty jerkish things.

Daniel 3:12–26 ESV

12 There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men, O king, pay no attention to you; they do not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.” 13 Then Nebuchadnezzar in furious rage commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought. So they brought these men before the king. 14 Nebuchadnezzar answered and said to them, “Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up? 15 Now if you are ready when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, to fall down and worship the image that I have made, well and good. But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?” 16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. 17 If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. 18 But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.” 19 Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with fury, and the expression of his face was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He ordered the furnace heated seven times more than it was usually heated. 20 And he ordered some of the mighty men of his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. 21 Then these men were bound in their cloaks, their tunics, their hats, and their other garments, and they were thrown into the burning fiery furnace. 22 Because the king’s order was urgent and the furnace overheated, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. 23 And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell bound into the burning fiery furnace. 24 Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up in haste. He declared to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?” They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.” 25 He answered and said, “But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.” 26 Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the door of the burning fiery furnace; he declared, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out, and come here!” Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out from the fire.

This is where the song came from. This is a beautiful display of God’s faithfulness when we serve and follow his direction.

This is a beautiful song. However sometimes we sing songs and have expectations from God in our lives without putting in the effort see those results. We end up going through the fire of life wondering why God isn’t present in the fire.

These are very uncertain times we are facing. Sin and Lawlessness are rampant. Supply Chain, inflation, financial security, and our general way of living are all troubling. I would say in a way we are facing a fiery furnace.

The question we must ask ourselves is who is in the fire with us. The Fourth Person in the Fire for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego is Jesus. Why was he there. Well quite frankly he was invited. Their lifestyles seperated them from the world and distinctly invited in the Favor of God for their lives.

Daniel 1:8–20 ESV

8 But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king’s food, or with the wine that he drank. Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself. 9 And God gave Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs, 10 and the chief of the eunuchs said to Daniel, “I fear my lord the king, who assigned your food and your drink; for why should he see that you were in worse condition than the youths who are of your own age? So you would endanger my head with the king.” 11 Then Daniel said to the steward whom the chief of the eunuchs had assigned over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, 12 “Test your servants for ten days; let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink. 13 Then let our appearance and the appearance of the youths who eat the king’s food be observed by you, and deal with your servants according to what you see.” 14 So he listened to them in this matter, and tested them for ten days. 15 At the end of ten days it was seen that they were better in appearance and fatter in flesh than all the youths who ate the king’s food. 16 So the steward took away their food and the wine they were to drink, and gave them vegetables. 17 As for these four youths, God gave them learning and skill in all literature and wisdom, and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams. 18 At the end of the time, when the king had commanded that they should be brought in, the chief of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. 19 And the king spoke with them, and among all of them none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Therefore they stood before the king. 20 And in every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters that were in all his kingdom.

If you want God to be with you in the Fires of your life you need to invite him there.

Today for the sake of time I am going to pick on 4 areas that are the most burned up areas I am approached with as a Pastor. Most of these areas that are burned up in our lives are because We refuse to invite God into the situation.

Relationships.

Finances

3. Work Experiences

4. Illnesses