Skip to content Stand Alone Messages: Don't Fear the Fire Nov 5 · 45 min ...more
Stand Alone Messages: Don't Fear the Fire
November 5, 2023 · 45 min
Speaker: Jeff Schwarzentraub
Series BRAVE Church November 5, 2023 · 45 min · BRAVE Church
Speaker: Jeff Schwarzentraub ...more Show the full description Show less Speaker: Jeff Schwarzentraub
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Pastor Jeff Schwarzentraub serves as president of Pastor Jeff Ministries, a national and global ministry designed to equip believers and challenge them to take
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0:00 Our father in heaven, we give you all the glory, all the honor, and all the praise for who you are. Jesus, we love you so much. We believe that you're the king of the universe, that you're the Lord of life, and we come0:11 to celebrate you. We thank you for your living and active word because we believe as a people that every time it is faithfully and accurately proclaimed that you are speaking. And Lord, our prayer this morning is speak0:22 Lord for we are ready to hear what it is that you have to say. And so now for all those who have gathered who desire to hear the Lord speak directly to you, who will believe what he tells you and who will by faith put0:32 into practice what he shows you, will you agree with me very loudly this morning by saying the word amen. Amen. Well, for 13 years as a church, I think it's worth celebration.0:44 And anytime that you're celebrating an anniversary, it's a time of reflection, but it's also a time of anticipation. And so as we reflect this morning, I just wanna share a couple highlights for me because as we started0:55 the church, I remember we started from meager beginnings. When my wife and I moved out here in 20 10, our children were 3 years old and 1 year old, and I only knew 1 person out here who was definitely not a believer. We1:06 had played high school football together, we went to college together, and I remember calling him on the phone and asking him, do you even know any Christians that live in Denver that we could talk to? And so he began to1:16 gather some people. We began to meet. Some of these people folded in, became part of our church, but it was really meager beginnings. As a matter of fact, we were living in an apartment in the Denver Tech Center area,1:26 and to come to our launch team meetings, you had to ride up the parking deck, and there were 18 speed bumps going to the fifth floor that you had to get to. Once you got there, you had to come down 5 flights of stairs to1:36 go into a theater room that had 19 seats, and I wanna tell you this, we couldn't fill them. We didn't have them. And I remember 1 time about the third meeting we went home, we had gone around and talked about what we1:46 were looking forward to in the church, and my friend was there, but he had just rolled in off the golf course and had been drinking all afternoon and was totally inebriated and wasn't a Christian and I just remember when1:55 it got to his turn, he's like, don't know Jeff's just gonna be a great speaker. It's gonna be awesome and I remember when I went back up to my apartment that night, I'm like, how do you tell your friend continue to come2:04 to the meeting just don't come drunk? I mean, that was kinda how we got started as a church. And by God's grace by God's grace, November seventh 20 10, we launched. We had 208 people in attendance. My friend was 1 of2:16 those people. He gave his life to Jesus Christ that day. Amen? His 2 children gave their lives to Christ, had a chance to baptize his whole family. He's still part of our church. God's doing great things in and through2:27 them. And what we've seen over the course of 13 years is God starting with meager beginnings and growing what he wants to do because when Jesus Christ is honored and the church stands firm on his word, God does2:39 amazing things. Right? We're now on 3 different campuses. We're in Westminster, we're in Colorado Springs. I just wanna tell you this because I remember we started with 2 0 8 people. We quickly, over 8 weeks, grew the2:50 church to 113 people. And I remember thinking at the time, how is this gonna work out? Because about 60 some of those kids are are in the kids ministry. There's only like 50 people listening to me. 153:02 of those have to be here because they're on our team. So only 40 people are coming on a weekend. Right? So Colorado Springs, I see you. You're way bigger than what we were when we started. Look around in3:14 Westminster right now. 2000 seats. You're way bigger than how we started. Look around here. We're 3000 seats, way bigger than what we started, but it's not about size. Do you know that about 60 percent of churches that3:26 plant, some say 80 percent, don't make it past year 2? Do you realize the average church size in America is 89 people? Now size doesn't mean anything. There's a lot of large churches that aren't being faithful with the3:38 word of God, but God has allowed us to be faithful by expanding campuses. This fall, we launched Brave Academy. We now have a school k through 5. Right? And here's what I3:49 believe. I believe we're just getting started, and I believe God wants us to anticipate what he's going to do in the future. And so God put on my heart this week just a message I wanna share with you. We'll be back in3:58 the book of James next week, Lord willing, but I wanna share with you a specific message that I think is true for us as we continue to journey because I believe as your pastor that my job is to continue to feed you the4:10 word of God so that you can continue to take steps of faith with Jesus so that 1 day you can arrive before him and you can hear these words, well done, good and faithful servant. So this message is4:22 what you can anticipate as a believer in Jesus Christ that wants to live faithfully for him. And I'll give you 2 words I want you to carry out with you today. Don't fear. Don't4:34 fear. If you're gonna walk with Jesus, don't fear. So if you have your bibles with you, wanna encourage you. Open up your bibles to Daniel chapter 3 today. Daniel chapter 3. Now this story is a super familiar story.4:46 If you've gone to church, you've heard this story. If you grew up in church, you've heard this story. Even if you've out of church, you probably heard this story, and that's the reason why I wanna present it to you4:55 because of the familiarity with it. But in this, we're gonna hear 4 truths about why we shouldn't fear in every single generation because I can tell you this, as the world gets darker and5:06 darker, the enemy wants you to be afraid. And I'm here to tell you, do not fear. Do not fear. The Lord is with you. As I'm setting up this story, I want you to know why there was fear at5:18 this time because Israel in about 5 87 BC was sacked by the Babylonians, taken into captivity. They're living in exile. They're in a foreign culture being encouraged to worship foreign gods.5:30 And we hear about Daniel, we hear about 3 other men, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, whose names were changed from their Hebrew names, which were about serving the Lord to serving the false gods of their5:42 culture. And this is where our story picks up in Daniel chapter 3. It says Nebuchadnezzar, the king, he was the king of Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar, the king made an image of gold,5:54 the height of which was 60 cubits and its width 6 cubits, and he set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. That measurement would be this, 90 foot high statue by 9 feet6:06 wide. That's what it looked like. Now whether there was a pedestal for it and it was a face, we don't know exactly what the image was, but there was this image, this shrine that was made by the king of Babylon for the6:16 people to worship. Notice what it says in verse 2. Then Nebuchadnezzar, the king sent word to assemble the satraps, the prefects, and the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the judges, the magistrates, and all6:27 the rulers of the provinces to come to the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar, the king, had set up. Now do you know what satrips and prefects and governors and6:39 advisers and all that stuff is? I didn't. I had to look it up. Think about this. The satrips were the chief representatives of the king, and the prefects were military commanders, and the governors were civil6:50 administrators, and the advisers were counselors to the government authority, and the treasurers administrated the funds of the kingdom, and the judges administered the law, and the magistrates passed judgment on keeping7:01 the law. And all the other provincial officials, they were subordinate of the satraps who were the chief representatives of the king. What is this trying to say? Everybody who was anybody in the government or in the7:11 military was there at the king's command to dedicate this statue. And notice what happens in verse 3. We're gonna talk about them. Says, then the satraps and the prefects and the governors, the counselors, the7:21 treasurers, the judges, the magistrates, all the rulers of the provinces were assembled for the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set7:33 up. So everybody's gathered before this 90 foot structure that's 9 feet wide, and they're ready to listen to what the king has to say. And then the herald loudly proclaimed, here was what was announced7:45 in Babylon to all the peoples. To you the command is given, oh peoples, nations and men of every language. In other words, Babylon's ruling, I'm telling you this is what everybody needs to7:56 hear, that at the moment you hear the sound of the horn, the flute, the lyre, the trigon, the psaltery, the bagpipe and all kinds of music, you are to fall down and worship the golden image that8:08 Nebuchadnezzar, the king has set up. So when you hear the woodwinds, you hear the flutes, you hear the stringed instruments, you hear everything going on, that is your sign. And when you hear8:19 it, you will bow to this image. Can you imagine a culture where the government would tell you who and what you need to worship? Because if you can't, just use your imagination because it's coming. And that's what was8:31 going on here. You will bow down. Everybody, who? All the peoples from every tribe, tongue, and nation. This is how you're gonna worship. When you hear the music, you worship that statue. Notice this verse 6, but whoever8:41 does not fall down in worship shall immediately be cast into the midst of a blazing furnace of fire. Therefore, at the time when all the peoples heard the sound of the horn, the flute, the lyre, the8:53 trigon, the sultry bagpipe and all kinds of music, who did it? All the peoples, nations, men of every language fell down and worshiped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar, the9:05 king had set up. Here's what I want you to say. Here's what I want you to see. Don't fear the fire. Don't fear the fire. Okay.9:17 Don't fear the fire. In every generation, there will be those that rise up that tell you, you worship our Gods or there's if you don't. Right? In every generation, here's what I would say. Number 1, the gods of the9:28 culture will demand your allegiance. The gods of the culture in every generation always demand your allegiance. Now I've preached literally all over the world and I remember the first time I went to India to preach and I9:39 was trying to learn about the Hindu faith, I realized there's 2 to 3000, maybe even more gods. And if you ride in a rickshaw or a taxi, inevitably, you'll see little shrines to different gods that they have there.9:51 And the reason they have them is they don't wanna offend any of the gods because they're fearful if they offend the gods that something bad will happen to them. And I remember thinking, how can you believe in 2 or 300010:03 gods? So when you preach the gospel in India, the way you preach it is not Jesus Christ as 1 of your additional gods to the other 2 or 3000 you have, it's forsaking all of your gods so that Jesus10:15 Christ alone is Lord. But isn't that what you preach everywhere? Isn't that what we're to preach in our culture? I mean, hear some Americans say, well, we don't have that many gods in our culture. We're not like that.10:26 That's really strange that they would have all these shrines and trinkets and all these other gods. Can I just tell you, and this is not an exhaustive list, can I just walk you through some of the gods of our culture10:34 that are demanding your allegiance right now? Here's 1, humanism. Humanism is mankind is king. Humanism is you are king.10:46 Humanism is you get to choose what you wanna do with your life any way you wanna do it whenever you wanna do it because you know who's in charge? You are. You know who put you here? You did. You know who you answer to?10:57 You. That's humanism. That's 1 of the gods of this age that demands your attention and is pulling you away from the Lord. That's humanism. How about materialism? If humanism11:09 is mankind is king, materialism is money is king. There's a draw to that religion. That religion is it's all about your bank account. It's all about how much money you have. It's all about what you're doing to set11:21 yourself up for the future. It's all about what you're able to do. All your money. It's your money. It's your money. Focus on your money. It's all about money. But the bible says you can't serve both God and money.11:31 Nothing wrong with money, but money is not king. Then there's hedonism. See if you're drawn to this God of the age. Hedonism is pleasure is king. Pleasure is king.11:43 If it feels good, I'm doing it, and I can do it as long as I want, as often as I want, with whomever I want, however I want, as long as it feels good to me, that's my god.11:55 Hedonism. You see that anywhere in the culture? You feel drawn by that God? And then there's pluralism. Pluralism is choice is king. There's no 1 way to heaven. There's no 112:07 religion that's right. We get to choose. Give everybody the freedom to choose whatever they want. Always lead to the same place. You just get to choose whatever you wanna choose, and if you choose as long12:19 as you made the choice, then you're right. All religions are the same. There's no exclusive ism to it. Then there's patriotism. Patriotism is the religion12:31 that country is king. Country is king and I will put country over everything, and Jesus may even be subordinate to that, but country first.12:43 Then there's capitalism, socialism, communism. That's government is king. We just get the right form of government. We just get the right people in government. If we get the right government, then then we're gonna be12:54 governed well. That's that's the religion that draws you in, that's where you spend your time focusing. And how about this 1? There's there's wokeism. Wokeism. Wokeism is culture is13:06 king. The culture we live in is king. Peer pressure, political correctness, diversity, equity, inclusiveness. That's the that's the god of this age. You feel anybody being pulled towards that? All of13:17 these cultural pulls are clearing the path for the coming antichrist. Right? Every single 1 of them. All of these isms should have been wasms.13:31 Amen? Because flying in the face of all of the isms is the gospel, and here's what the gospel says, Jesus Christ is king,13:43 and you have to leave all the other isms to accept Jesus Christ as lord. You can't just add Jesus to your wokeism. You can't just add Jesus13:55 to your materialism. You can't add Jesus to your hedonism. It's Jesus Christ plus nothing. That's why the gospel14:07 calls you to a place of repentance because prior to coming to Christ, you've been wooed by the gods of the day that are drawing you away from Jesus and giving him your full allegiance. That's why we need to turn and14:19 repent from whatever God we were following and give Jesus Christ full allegiance. Here's the deal. In our culture today, the gospel is so wrongly preached in so many areas that people will preach a false14:31 gospel which tells you you can hang on to all your isms and just add Jesus to your isms and everything's good. I'm here to tell you because I love you so much. If you don't forsake all your isms and let Jesus Christ be14:41 the Lord of your life, you are not a Christian. Amen and amen and amen. But don't be afraid. Don't don't be afraid. I mean, don't fear. In every culture, it's like this. It's been that way since14:53 Jesus Christ came to this world, became incarnate flesh, died on the cross, and rose from the dead, and offered life to people. It's always been this way where are there are certain people and certain gods of the age15:04 that are trying to pull you away from allegiance to Jesus Christ and to him only. So the question is this, examine yourself. Make sure you're in the faith. I mean, here's 3 things that you can15:16 test. Test your time. Where do you spend your time? What do you give your time and allegiance to? Test your talk. What do you what do you talk about? What comes out of15:27 your heart? Test your treasure. Where do you give your resources and your finances to? Those are just 3 easy ones. Your time, your talking, your treasure. Mean, if you if I could spend time with you, it'd be pretty15:39 obvious who your king is. There's nothing wrong with money. God created us in his image. There's nothing wrong with us being human. There's nothing wrong with having freedom to15:51 choose. There's nothing wrong with being patriotic. 9 generations ago, my grandfather, the governor of Delaware was 1 of 6 people that signed both the declaration of the of independence and the constitution. I love the16:02 United States of America. I don't apologize for that, but Jesus Christ is my king. He's my lord. First and foremost, that's in my life. Right? And that's why we have to hear this word16:14 because when these men are gonna stand before the king and these edicts are given where the culture is saying, this is who you need to worship. This is how you need to worship. This is what you need to do. Then we gotta16:25 be resolved because the only king that culture hates is Jesus. The only king that culture hates in every generation is Jesus. Do you know why? Because Jesus said this,16:37 I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life, and no 1 comes to the father except through me. So when you choose Jesus, you're rejecting all others for the sake of16:48 the gospel. That's Christianity. It's not Jesus plus my culture or Jesus plus my ideals. It's Jesus and Jesus only. In acts chapter17:00 4 verse 12, it says, for there is no other name given under heaven by which men must be saved. And you try this in our culture. Nobody really has a problem with religion. Nobody really has a problem with God. But if you17:11 tell people that you believe that the bible's completely true, that Jesus Christ is Lord, if you don't repent and trust in him alone, you will go to hell forever and ever, and that God loved you so much he sent Jesus17:21 Christ to be sacrificed on a cross for you. He died. He rose from the dead. He's the only way you will ever get to heaven. And if you don't reject all other gods and believe him, you're not a Christian. See what people17:32 say. They won't embrace that. And the reason they won't embrace that is they wanna compete for allegiance to who their cultural king needs to be. And I'm here to tell you as your pastor, there's only 1 king and his17:44 name is the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen? But as you're anticipating where we're going as a culture, the gods of this culture will always demand your allegiance. They always have, but don't17:56 fear. It's true in every single generation. But if that's true, you also need to understand this, that don't fear because in every generation the unrighteous will attack your faith. The18:08 unrighteous will attack your faith. If you stand firm on Jesus Christ being Lord, the unrighteous will attack your faith. Notice what happens. They've been instructed. When you hear the music, you bow down to the shrine.18:19 When you hear a music, you worship this image. When you hear the music and everybody's doing it. Everybody's doing it except for a few. Notice verse 8. For this reason at that time, certain Chaldeans who are18:31 also the Babylonians came forward and brought charges against the Jews. Again, we see the Jews being attacked. They always have been. They responded and said to Nebuchadnezzar, the king, oh king, live18:43 forever. You oh king have made a decree that every man who hears the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, trigon, sultry, and bagpipe and all kinds of music is to fall down and worship the golden image, but whoever does not18:54 fall down and worship shall be cast into the midst of the furnace of blaming fire. So what are they doing? I'm king, I'm reminding you what you said. Remember you said that? Remember you said that was for all people, not19:04 just certain people. Remember you said everybody had to do that? Let me tell you, verse 12, there are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the administration of the province of Babylon, namely19:16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Hey. There's some that aren't doing it. There's 3 that aren't Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Now their names were originally Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, which were their God19:27 honoring names, and then their names got changed to serve the gods of the culture of their age. What was Babylon trying to do? Trying to rob them of their identity and who they honestly were, which is the same thing19:38 culture always does. Tries to rob you of your identity in Christ and who you truly are. Don't be surprised when that happens as what culture always does. And here's how they knew. There were Jews that weren't doing it,19:49 but specifically there's 3, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men, oh king, have disregarded you. They do not serve your gods or worship the golden image which you20:01 have set up. Here's how we know. They've given allegiance to their king and their king is not you and their gods are not your gods and they won't bow and they won't worship. So what happens? Verse 13,20:13 then Nebuchadnezzar in rage and anger gave orders to bring Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. Then these men were brought before the king. Now think about who's been there. The king is there. His entire army leaders20:25 are there. All of the governing officials are there. Everybody's there. And these 3 men know if they don't do what the king wants, they will be thrown into a fiery furnace. That can be scary, here's what I tell you.20:36 Don't fear. It's always been this way. The unrighteous will always attack your faith. Notice what happens. Nebuchadnezzar, verse 14, responded and said to them, is it true Shadrach, Meshach and20:48 Abednego that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image I have set up? Now if you're ready, at the moment you hear the sound of the horn, flute, liar, trigon, psaltran, bagpipe and all kinds of music, this21:00 is about the fourth time we've heard this, to fall down and worship the image that I have made. Well, very well. Like, I'm gonna tell you 1 more time. This is like your final time. When you hear the music, if you're21:10 ready to fall down, all good. We're we're we're good. All's forgiven if you worship the gods that I'm telling you. But if you do not worship, if you do not worship, you will immediately be cast into the midst of the21:21 furnace of blazing fire. And here's his question, and what God is there who can deliver you out of my hands? What's he saying? I'm the king. I'm in control. I can21:33 decide whether you live or die. What God do you have that can rescue you from me? Who's bigger than me? You know what most Christians would do? Yeah. Don't know. That's kinda scary. I still love the Lord, but I'm not21:44 willing to die. Right? Now these men, I'm gonna give you a little secret as to why they were able to do what they're about to do. If you turn back about 2 chapters in Daniel chapter 1 and verse21:56 8 talks about Daniel and you see what happens to him in chapter 6 when he gets thrown in the lion's den. But Daniel made up his mind that he would not defile himself with the king's choice food or the wine in which he22:07 drank. They were resolved. They knew the God that they serve. They they'd already made the decision prior so that when things heated up, they didn't need to become something different. They'd already been resolved as to22:19 who they were and how they serve their God. Here's my question. Are you ready when that happens? Are you ready to stand when that happens? Ephesians 6 tells us to put on the full armor of God and to be strong in the Lord22:29 and in the strength of his might so that what? So that when the day of trouble comes, we'll be able to do what? Stand. Stand. Who's gonna rescue you? Are you ready to stand? Now I'm not talking about you fanatics out22:39 there like, I'm ready to be murdered anytime. You're really not. Right? Because we think of martyrdom as some glorious thing that makes the front page or new. It's not. It's usually off to the side. I mean, Jesus22:51 Christ's death on the cross was with a few people that watched a Jew die on a hillside. It wasn't front page news for everybody. The gospel got told by his people and they saw it with the power that they23:03 lived in their lives. There's nothing about martyrdom that's attractive or I'm ready to go, that kind of thing. Now, if God does lead you to martyrdom, I have good news for you. He will give you the grace needed to23:14 execute that pun intended. And the good news is if you're called to martyrdom, you only have to exercise that gift once and you're home with Jesus. Right? But I don't think everybody's called to23:26 martyrdom. It's certainly not the case. Now there a study in 20 14 has said since the time that Jesus rose from the dead, there's about 70000000 people that they can calculate that have been martyred for the Lord Jesus23:36 Christ. Majority of the apostles were martyred. Majority of the people you read about in your bible were martyred. And here's why they were martyred. They weren't martyred because they were going around just telling23:44 people, God loves you no matter what you do. They were going around saying, you need to repent, and you need to change from all your isms and the cultural things that you're following, and you need to make Jesus Christ23:54 the Lord, and you need to serve him and his word and honor him and live holy, and if you're not willing to do that, you will experience judgment. That's why they were killed. God loved you so much, and here's how much he24:05 loved you. He gave you a way out of all of your cultural wokeness. He gave you a way out of all of your isms. He gave you a way out, and here's what he did. He sent his son who died on the cross, who took all the wrath24:16 that was intended for you, and he died in your place. And then he rose to life so you can have life, but the only life you can ever have is in Jesus. Will you turn from the gods of this age24:28 and turn to Christ? That's why they were all killed. They weren't killed because they were walking around saying, God loves you. If you tell the world God loves you, most would say, of course, he does. Why wouldn't he?24:39 I'm a pretty good person. But you tell people, yeah, God loves you, but he loved you so much he had to send his son to die because your sin is so disgusting. He's angry with it every single day and his wrath is all over24:49 your life. And if you don't repent and come to Christ, you will experience a crisis eternity in hell. That's why they were killed. I'm sharing the same message that they shared cause I love you. It's why the Bible25:01 says you better examine yourself and make sure you're in the faith. You better look at it and make sure there was a time in your life where you were serving other gods and then you repented and you made Jesus Christ the25:11 Lord, Jesus Christ the king, that you wanted him to be lord over your life. This false gospel, it's like, I'm ready for him to be my savior, just not ready for him to be my lord yet. Just find me 1 scripture that talks25:21 like that. Jesus Christ is lord. It's the lord who saves. It's the Lord who died. It's the Lord who rose. It's the Lord who does a work, but don't be afraid. The Bible says in second Timothy25:33 3 12, indeed all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. So here's the King. He's telling them, Hey, you ready? I mean, we're gonna play25:45 some music and if you're ready to get down on all fours and you bow before me, all good, very well. It's all forgiven, but if not, you're gonna die. I will throw you into the furnace, you're gonna die. And what25:56 God is there that can save you? Don't you love that challenge? Don't fear in every generation, the gods of this culture will demand your allegiance in every generation. The unrighteous will attack your faith. If you're26:07 gonna live for Jesus, that's gonna happen. I'm telling you right now. If Jesus Christ is the lord of your life, just let Jesus be king in every area of your life. Be let Jesus be king with all your neighbors. Let Jesus26:18 be king in the workplace. Let Jesus be king in the school. Let Jesus be king in the church. And you're gonna upset all sorts of people that are uncomfortable with that. I'm not uncomfortable with that because Jesus26:27 Christ is Lord and I would give my life for that. Amen? That's what he's saying. But it gets even better. Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid because in every generation you will be given26:39 opportunity to bear witness to Christ. You will be given opportunity to bear witness to Christ. If Jesus Christ is really your king, I promise you God will give you opportunity to make sure you can show others that he's26:48 your king. Notice what happens next. Verse 16, this is how they're gonna respond to the king who promised to kill them if they don't do what he says. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, oh26:59 Nebuchadnezzar. Don't you love that? It's almost like their I mean, everybody else calling him king. They're like, oh Nebby. We do not need to give you an answer concerning this27:11 matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire. Let me tell you about our God. He's more powerful than you. He created you. We're not27:23 afraid of you because he's bigger than you. He's stronger than you. He's better than you. He holds your very life in his hands. So if he wants to deliver us, he's gonna deliver us. But even if he does not,27:35 let it be known to you, o king, that we are not gonna serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up. Is that resolved or what? Hey, government, we're not27:46 serving your gods. Hey, culture, we're not serving your gods. Hey, people, we're not serving your gods or any gods you tell us we need to serve. We've already made up our mind. We're serving the Lord Jesus Christ. You27:57 deal with that. That's the gospel. Right? You see people that are resolved in their faith do it all the time. You love the story of David and Goliath. Right? Where David kills Goliath. Why does he28:09 do that? Because he's standing in Israel saying to the giant that they're afraid of, what is this uncircumcised Philistine doing in our land? This land belongs to God. Picks up 5 smooth stones, goes28:21 to slam, and Goliath taunts him. He's like, what am I? A dog that you're gonna come at me with some sticks? He's like, it's not with javelin or spear that I come at you, but I come at you in the name of the Lord Almighty28:31 and today you will know that he's the king. I'm coming at you in the power of God. I'm not afraid of you. I'm not afraid of your ideology. I'm not afraid of who you are. I'm not afraid of your strength.28:43 I'm not afraid of what you can do to me because my God is greater than what you stand for. And we love the story. He knocked him out and cut his head off. Right? I mean, where are the people that are standing up like28:55 that? I mean, in the book of acts, they said, hey, you decide for yourself, but we cannot stop speaking about what we've seen and heard. And then when they beat the apostles, they went away as worthy. They were29:05 celebrating. We are worthy to be beaten for the name of Jesus. They stood firm. The reason we gather as a church is because people stood firm in the face of tyranny for the sake of the gospel. They did it in love.29:17 They did it in confidence, and they did it because they knew the truth of God. Or how about Stephen in acts chapter 7? Where after giving them a history of all Israel and how all of the fathers had killed29:29 all the prophets that came before them and then they had murdered the Messiah and their blood was on their own heads. He's like, you stiff necked people. How long is it gonna take until you repent? And so they murdered29:41 him. I mean, you have people standing up all the time, even Jesus. Are you the messiah? Are you the messiah? Mark 14 62. I am. And the next time you see me, I'll be coming on the clouds of heaven in29:52 judgment. Do you not get it? Jesus Christ is Lord, whether you like it or not. And when you stand before him, you'll hear 1 of 2 things, either well done, good and faithful servant, or depart from me, you worker of30:04 iniquity. I never knew you because I've never been your king, and I'm certainly not gonna be your king now. That's the gospel. And God loves you so much, he doesn't want anyone to perish. He does not take any delight in30:15 the death of even the wicked people. He wants all to repent. That's why he sent his son in love so you'd never have to experience the wrath of God. But what it takes is Christians that are willing to stand30:27 up in the face of tyranny in every generation. That's what happens. That's why in every generation, there are some that are martyred. In every generation, there are some that are mocked. In every generation, there are30:37 some that are beaten. And in every generation, there are some that are mistreated. Why? Because that's what culture does to those who stand for Jesus Christ. And I'm here to tell you, no matter who you are, you will be30:46 given opportunity to bear witness for Christ. That will cost you something. I don't know what it will cost you, but it will cost you something. They were saying, we don't care. You can take our life, but you can't take30:58 away our relationship with God. You can do whatever you want to us, but we're not intimidated by you. We're not scared by you. You know, when I read these stories during 20 20, I'm just here to tell you, it was a31:09 confusing time for me and for a lot of people because we didn't know what was going on with the planned Emmick that happened, right? We didn't know. I31:21 didn't know, but I'm watching stuff and things aren't adding up and it looks like lies. But then I start reading the word and I'm like, now why is it we can only have 50 people and why is it we can only have 10? And I31:32 remember talking to our governor on the phone on a conference call and asking him questions. How come Home Depot can do it? How come King Soopers can do it? How come Walmart can do it? Please help me understand why our31:43 church can't do it. And it was blah, blah, blah, blah, blah for 5 minutes. And I remember reading these texts, and I'm gonna meet these men someday in heaven and I didn't want them to ask me, hey, tell me what it was31:53 like for you. Well, Steven, I know you were murdered for standing up and Daniel, you were thrown into a lion's den and Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, you went in a fiery furnace, but we had COVID. So32:06 so we shut down because we were really scared. You don't understand. I mean, nonsense. The word tells us to continue to meet, so we opened our doors to continue to meet. We will32:18 always keep our doors open, and this is why because the word of God dictates and mandates that we do. And here's what the thing is, courage begets courage. If somebody will stand up and just32:29 say, we're living for principles of Jesus, he's our king, it doesn't matter. You can kill me. It doesn't matter. I'm standing up for Jesus. That begets courage. And there's too few people in our culture, not only in my32:41 profession, but Christians in general, that refuse to step up and are stepping back in passivity saying, you you have all your other gods. Do whatever you want. Just don't bother us. 1 day, you won't get a choice. And32:53 I'm here to tell you better decide now who your God is because the day's coming. The day's coming where whatever's in your bank account, it may not be there 2 hours from now. Whether you're a billionaire, you have 10033:04 bucks, it's gone. You don't give allegiance to the antichrist, it's gone. They're already doing that with some banks. They're already doing that with some Christians. Do you not see all that coming? You better make a33:15 decision now because in the moment, it's too late to decide where your allegiance is. Give your allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ now and watch him take you through. Now it's really it's 1 thing to stand firm.33:28 It's another thing to not know the outcome because we don't know the outcome. We don't know what's gonna happen, but I wanna give you some really, really good news. Really, really good news. Number 4, don't fear. In33:39 every generation, you are never alone when you choose Christ over culture. Don't fear. In every generation when you choose Christ over culture, you are never alone. Jesus promised us in the great commission in Matthew33:50 28 verse 20, I'll be with you always to the end of the age. Hebrews 13 5 says, I will never leave you or forsake you. If you're in a mob of thousands of people and you're the only Christian,34:02 I wanna tell you something. You are not alone when you choose Christ. You're not alone. Now notice what happens. Verse 19, then34:13 Nebuchadnezzar was filled with wrath and his facial expression was altered. I wonder what that facial expression look like. Can you imagine it? It was altered. He had never heard anybody stand up to him before. It was34:24 altered towards Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego. And he answered by giving orders to heat the furnace 7 times more than it was usually heated. Now there's hot and then there's hot hot. I mean, I I don't even understand 734:36 times more what that would have done. Think it was just enraged, like, make it as hot as we possibly can. He commanded certain valiant warriors who were in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in order to34:46 cast them into the furnace of blazing fire. Now can you picture the scene? These 3 men are standing all by themselves with all the government officials and all the military commanders and they're being tied, you know,34:57 hand and feet by these men who were super strong. Then these men were tied up in their trousers, their coats, their caps and all their other clothes and they were cast into the midst of35:09 this burning fire that was now 7 times hotter. Notice how hot it was. For this reason, because the king's command was urgent and the furnace had been made extremely hot, the flame of the fly fire slew the men who carried35:20 up Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. Here's how hot the flames were. The guys that tied them up, went to throw them in, they burned to a crisp. Like they burned just getting close to the flame. That's how hot35:32 God wants you to know that the flame was. That's how difficult the trial was. I mean, there's no chance for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. There's no chance. Even the people throwing them in the fire that aren't going35:43 into the fire, they're being burned alive. They're dead. They're dead. They're done. Right? But I love this. Don't you love this? But these 3 men Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego fell into the35:55 midst of the furnace of the blazing fire still tied up. Now watch this. Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astounded. He had been seated and he stood up in haste and he said to his high officials, he asked a36:07 question, was it not 3 men we cast bound into the midst of the fire? They replied to the king. Certainly, okay. We threw 3 in. That's it. That's it. Watch this. He said,36:18 look, I see 4 men loosed and walking about in the midst of the fire without harm and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.36:30 Nebuchadnezzar said, I have all power. I have all authority. I have all might. I will kill you. It's so strong that when I'm throwing you in, the people that are throwing you in, they're gonna die. And he's watching and36:41 he stands up. He's like, time out. Where are there not 3? I thought we threw 3 in. Because I'm looking right now and there's not 3, but there's 4. And that fourth 1 looks like a son of the gods. Who is in the fire with36:51 them? The pre incarnate Jesus Christ. And what are they doing? I don't know, but they're like doing the first fire walking. There's walking around, chatting it up, doing all these things. And king Nebuchadnezzar is37:01 astounded because the ones who threw him into the fire were burnt to a crisp. Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego are fine. They're just hanging out talking with Jesus. So here's what happens. Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to37:12 the door of the furnace. He didn't want to get by the fire because it's too hot. He came to the door of the furnace of blazing fire. He responded and said, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, come out you servants of the37:21 most high God and come here. Can can you picture that? Can you picture his facial expression that went from rage and anger to throwing them in where he's kinda coming up? He's like, hey. Shadrach, Meshach,Show more
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