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Just Show Up: Strenghen Now Because Crisis is Coming
July 15, 2025 · 28 min
John Mark delves into Daniel Chapter 3, emphasizing the importance of strengthening our convictions now, before crisis strikes.
Series "Men's Breakfast" with John Mark Caton Support this leader Liking this video? Support this ministry.
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John Mark is the Senior Pastor of the thriving Cottonwood Creek Church in Allen, Texas, where he has served since 1995.
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Faith Under Fire: Lessons from Daniel 3 0:02 Welcome to Men's Breakfast with John Mark Keaton. Join us as John Mark shares his insights with other men in his ministry rooted in the timeless truths of the gospel. Today's message will encourage you to0:14 inspire, inform, and invest in the lives of others. This is Men's Breakfast with your host, John Mark Caton.0:22 Yeah. I wanna invite you as we get kicked off today. Go ahead and turn in your bibles or your iPhone or your smart device, to Daniel chapter 3, because I want after this morning I hopefully you'll just sit here and maybe0:33 when you get, in your car and you head into the office, just push play. Let Daniel chapter 3 roll over in your mind over and over and over again. You know, last week we did start this series, Just Show Up.0:45 We talked about the reality that, God can overcome your weakness, but he won't overcome your absence. Right? That's what we talked about all last week is, man. We all have weaknesses, we all have0:57 failures, we all have a past, but here's what you need to know. God sent His Son, just what we celebrated, for that simple reason. That He wants to make sure that He was gonna show up for you, and Jesus did1:09 on the cross. And now that you're saved, you want to show up for Him. So God doesn't care about your weaknesses in your past, He just wants your availability in the present. So that was last week, if you missed that, go1:19 to our podcast, you can pick it up. Today I want to talk to you about this idea when you show up, that we just want to have faith even under fire. I mean even if you and I are called to struggle, to hurt,1:31 to go through something, to walk through the fire, we want to show up. We don't want to turn around and walk away, we don't want to hide. I I don't know how many of you, how many of you love to smoke things? You love1:43 to cook things, smoke things? You know I I have found that my sweet spot in, smoke things what are you talking about? Isn't that Tim? Everybody looked at Frasier over there, he's a Colorado kid.1:56 So, you know, I've found that I'm great at ribs. I'm great at ribs. Because really 4 and a half to 6 hours max, I can I can hang in there with my ADD? Now a brisket,2:07 how many of you can do a brisket? I can't. I get bored while I'm waiting around. I do. So I always have a tendency to crank up the heat. So I'll invite my kids over and I2:19 just have to tell them at the end when I start serving it whether we're having brisket or jerky. How many of you know what I'm talking about? Right? I'm like, yeah we're just doing jerky for dinner tonight. I just get2:30 bored. But sometimes when I get bored, here's what I do, I turn the heat up just a little bit. I said this won't matter that much and I found it always does, right? But sometimes you have to go through the fire,2:41 sometimes we feel like brisket, sometimes we feel like jerky, I don't know where you feel right now. But man just think about this last weekend. How many of you watched much of the draft? The2:52 big dialogue was Shador that he was slipping from top 10 to out of the first round, to out of the first day, to the second day, through the second round, through the3:04 third round, through the fourth round. And and I've I've got no dog in that fight, but I don't know about you, but I started feeling sorry for the guy. Right? I really did. I'm like, golly, what is going on here? They3:14 must know something about it. And now here it is, he walked through the fire. Now he can do 1 of 2 things, he could tuck tail and run, he could say, man I'm just done with this, I've had3:26 enough, he's probably got enough money, Deon's probably gonna do quite well, he's gonna do well with his dad, dad told me a few bucks. Or, he could use that as motivation to come back and be better, right? Now I don't3:37 know whether he's gonna be an NFL quarterback or not, but I found myself, this dude's going through the fire. Can you imagine being there thinking you're gonna be off the board in the very least the top 12. Right?3:49 And then you were just watching every pick go by. He's going through the fire. And there might be some guys in here that you're like, how long is this going to go on?4:01 And in Daniel chapter 3, there's a story that most of us are pretty familiar with. It's it's the it's the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. Right? And, they have already been taken away from4:13 their homeland over to Babylon. King Nebuchadnezzar has tried to run them through the ringer, tried to shape them in his image, the kind of boys that he wanted them to be. They stood firm in that moment. And4:24 in Daniel chapter 3, we're gonna see that these guys, although they lived under an ungodly king, in a godless nation, in a godless place that4:36 wasn't where they would choose, they had worked so well and been so faithful and been such good employees that the king actually made them leaders in some of the provinces,4:49 around Babylon. And so Nebuchadnezzar looked around, but it created some jealousy between Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and the other satraps, and the other astronomers and astrologers and stuff. So they5:01 started hating them because they stood for something they didn't understand. And guys my, and guys my prayer is, is if you were going through the fire now, that you'd be standing for something that others might5:13 not understand. Your faith in God, your call to, to be the kind of men that God wants you to be. And so, as you think about this, maybe you're maybe you're in the fire, maybe you're not in the fire, if you're not in the5:25 fire yet, you're heading to a fire. How many of you know that? It's going to come. It it it it's it's going to come. Fiery trials are gonna come your way. And so these guys had already made a decision years before5:37 this moment. Way before Daniel chapter 3, they had said we are gonna follow God and no 1 else. And so thought couple of thoughts, as we get started, life is going to test your faith.5:49 Life is flat out going to test your faith, guys. I don't know when, I don't know how, I don't know where, it can be in little stuff, it can be in big stuff. We're gonna see in this 1, it's a big thing. Because they're6:00 about to get tossed into a fiery furnace. Here's another thought, you don't wanna wait until you're in the furnace to develop your fate. How many of you know that? A a lot of times that's what we do. Oh, Lord, get6:12 me out of this situation. And, the reality of it is these guys didn't show up to Daniel chapter 3 and all of a sudden say, we need some faith. They had been building their faith and building their faith6:24 and growing their faith. They had made their commitments over and over again. And so that's the way we wanna be day by day. So you prepare for the fire before the fire. That's what we're doing in here.6:36 That's what we do on Sunday morning, maybe in your life group, in your men's Bible study, wherever else you are, you want to be preparing for the fire way before you end up in the fire. Now as we look at these6:46 characters, these guys were faithful. They were faithful in chapter 1, they were faithful in chapter 2, here we are in chapter 3. Just this crazy king, who's an atheist, says hey, let's6:58 set up this huge image to me, and when we blow the horns, everybody's going to bow down. And they said, yeah, I don't think we're gonna do that. And that's the kind of men that we want to be. We just went through7:11 a couple of years, that I wasn't sure where we were going as a country. Just a couple of years ago, man, it seemed like everybody was told, if you don't bow down to atheist7:22 God, or the gender God, or this God, or that God, you're ultimately gonna be left out, right? And I truly did not know where this country was going. It looks like we've made a turn back, looks like we've we've moved back7:34 towards at least a cultural Christianity in in a lot of areas, but that doesn't mean that you and I individually are not gonna find ourselves in the fire. And so guys,7:46 we wanna be prepared for the fire if it shows back up, if it comes into your family, it comes to your office, that you and I are willing to be like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and say, we're not gonna bow out.7:58 But we've gotta make that choice before we have to make that choice. Did you get that? We have to make that choice before we have to make that choice.8:10 Have you made your made your mind up right now that you'll never bow? That you'll never bow the knee? Are you preparing to stand8:24 if you're told to bow the knee? See, these guys didn't just decide in Daniel chapter 3, we're not gonna bow down. They had been paving the way and preparing the way all the8:35 way through their life, and so let me just open up verse 1, we're not gonna put it up here, a couple of these others we will, but verse 1, King Nebuchadnezzar, made an image of gold, 60 cubits high and 6 cubits8:47 wide. Then it says, and he set it up on the plain of Dur in the province of Babylon. So he sets up this image of himself. Now just so you know, if you ever if you ever worked for a boss who builds a monster8:59 image of himself, that's probably good, a good reason to put your resume out, alright? But here he does, he's the king, he can do what he wants, he puts it out in this plane, he says listen, anytime we blow the horns and9:10 the trumpets and the sound of everything, he says you're going to go bow down. And that's exactly what happens. So they blow the horns, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego say you know, we're not going to do that.9:20 Interestingly enough, if you read all of Daniel chapter 3 and other places in the book of Daniel, is they were good employees. They had earned promotion.9:33 They they were put in charge, of much of what was taking place in, for the King's finances and the provinces and the places where so these guys were good employees. Even in9:45 a with a faithless king in a faithless country, and so you and I, I don't know where you work. You know, a lot of times people say, well I really just want to work for a good Christian company. Well,9:57 that probably means you just need to start that company, right? Because most people, if you're an employee of someone else, they might have some Christian values, but also you need to know, there's sometimes you're gonna10:08 be working for a godless boss, or a godless company. And what is your call To be 1 of these guys, to stand out and stand up even when your faith is10:20 under fire. And that's what these guys had done, and guess what? They got promotion after promotion after promotion after promotion serving a horrible king. And so if10:32 you're in a job or in a situation or a place when you're like, man, do I need to stay here? Let God determine whether you stay there or not, not whether you serve a godless false or not. Now you don't ever want to be10:42 involved in godless activities, surely they they weren't, but what they had done is said, you know what, we're going to be faithful. So he puts this statue up, and says you're going to bow down. They blow10:54 the trumpets, they don't bow down. Guess what? The other employees, the other astrologers, and astronomers, and and the satraps, go and tell the king. Why? Because they're jealous. Right?11:06 That these guys have set themselves apart as if they are something different about them. Let me ask you a question, in your place, in your office, have you set yourself up in such a way that people look at11:18 you, and they know something's different? Maybe maybe it's that your language is cleaner than everybody else's. That everybody else is just, you know, they'll just drop in this word or that word and all of a sudden11:29 they'll look at you and you don't. See, because you don't have to. Now we don't know what all they did, but they clearly set themselves apart in what they ate and what they drank and what they did. And so these guys,11:42 the other satraps and astronomers and astrologers were jealous of them. So when they didn't bow down, they roll into the King and they say, King, remember, remember that old horn thing and the statue thing?11:54 Well, if you haven't noticed, those 3 eyes, when you blow the horns, they don't bow. And you remember what else you said those that don't bow are going to bow are going to end up12:06 in the furnace. And the king says, yeah I remember that. So notice as he calls them in, pick it up in verse 16, and it says, the king calls them in and says, listen here's what I want you to know guys, you're12:18 gonna get 1 more shot, you're gonna you're gonna bow down. If you don't bow down, you're going into the furnace. And so here it is, verse 16, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied to him the king, King Nebuchadnezzar,12:30 we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the flaming furnace, or a blazing furnace, the God we serve, underline that, mark12:42 through that, the God we serve, they were already doing it. They weren't gonna start. Is Abel, notice, the God we serve, I've been developing my faith,12:54 is able, he's got the power, he's able to deliver us to do what? To deliver us from it. And he will, that's faith, right? And he will deliver us13:06 from your majesty's hand. Now, pick it up in verse 18. But even if he does not, even if he does13:18 not. Now that's real faith. Now notice, they had already been serving God, so let me ask you a question. As you prepare for your furnace, are you13:30 serving God? Notice, they had grown their faith that they believed God could do something powerful. He says, our God is able. So that's13:42 faith. They believe He's able to deliver us, but notice this, but even if he doesn't. I love the end of the story.13:53 Why do I like the end of the story? Well, first of all, they don't get burned up. How many of you know that's the end of the story? It does. And there's a revival in the land, including with the king. But guess14:05 what? There are still other satraps, astronomers, and astrologers that hate their guts when they come through the fire. Guess what? They didn't win them all over. So guys, as you prepare for your fiery furnace,14:17 where are you serving God now? What are you doing to build your faith, and do you have a willingness to say I am willing to sacrifice? And if God doesn't14:29 deliver me, I'm still gonna be faithful. Now notice, I love that, I love those words, but even if he does not, we want you to know, your majesty, that we will not serve your14:41 gods or worship the image of gold that you have set up. That's your final conviction. Even if he doesn't. Even if he does. If God steps in,14:53 if God wants to show off in my life and say, listen, here's what I'm gonna do with John Mark's life or your life, doesn't matter, if God does that, even if he does, I'm never gonna bow down. And guys, that needs to be15:04 the conviction that we have. So as we think about this story, I just wanted to, give you a couple of thoughts. Thought number 1, man, we've got to stand firm before the fire. It starts right now.15:16 You've got to develop your convictions, you've got to know what you know, you've got to study some theology, you've got to be willing to say, listen, here are the lines that I will not cross. There are a lot of gray15:26 areas in scripture, there are there are, or are in life, because scripture doesn't deal with it. But where scripture is very clear, we want to be clear in our convictions. When scripture says I'm not gonna do this or15:38 don't do this, that's where we stand firm. So thought number 1 is we have to stand firm before the fire. We can't wait until we go through the fire to all of a sudden develop a little conviction in our life.15:52 I love this quote. I I forgot to write down here. Faith isn't proven when the sun's out. It's proven when the heat's on. Pretty good thought. Right? Faith Your faith16:04 isn't proven when the sun's out, when everything looks good. It it's proven when the heat is on. And so we have to develop a firm faith even before the fire. Now, here's thought number16:16 2, real men will refuse to bow down regardless of the consequences. Real men will refuse to bow down regardless of the consequences. That you and I need to make a decision beforehand16:28 that our God is able, our God is able to deliver me, our God is able to save me, but even if he doesn't, I am not bound down. And so, have you made that call? Have you made that decision in your life? Doesn't matter16:40 what happens, I am not going to bow down. And it's before the fire, I love Ephesians chapter 6 verse 13. That means you and I, when we leave here today, that we have to put on the full armor of God. He says, therefore,16:52 put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, notice those words, win the day. Yep. Win the day. Not if the day,17:05 it's when the day. When the evil day comes, what are you gonna do? You may be able to stand your ground and have it, after having done everything, to ultimately stand.17:17 Guys, your day of evil is coming. My day of evil is coming. There's gonna be some time that I don't know when it is, they're just gonna show up. So what is my call? That I want to spend time putting on the full armor of17:28 God. Daniel and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, these young men from the early days, even though they were taken away from their moms and their dads and their family, moved into a distant land, put in17:41 put in this education system where Nebuchadnezzar was gonna try to make them into good little Babylonian boys. That they had conviction then to say we're not gonna do it. We're not17:53 gonna do it. And so they were preparing, they were putting on the full armor of God day by day by day by day. They didn't wait until they were going in the fire. And so that's what you do as you get into daily18:05 devotion and daily reading of God's word here in 1 of the Justins or somebody else teaching in here, listen on podcasts, make sure that we are constantly and consistently putting on the full armor of God. How do you do18:16 it? Well, go back to their life. Serve, spend time in God's word, and worship God and him alone. And part of what we do when we do that is we are consistently putting18:28 on the full armor of God. So, real men refuse to bow down. Look back to verse 16, verse 18, but even if he does not, we want you to know your majesty that we will not serve18:40 your gods, Daniel 3 verse 18, your gods are worship the image that you have set up. Now let me tell you what, when those horns blew,18:52 everybody bowed down. It wasn't just that these guys didn't bow down, it was that everyone else bowed down.19:04 God, that's commitment. See it wasn't like there were a bunch of other people that weren't bowing with them. I mean these dudes19:15 stood out because everybody else bowed down. And they said, we are not going to do, are you willing to be that kind of guy? Here's the here's the next thought, real19:27 men will trust God with the outcome. You see it right there. It's the even if he does not. God, I'm gonna trust you. I'm gonna do the right thing. I'm not gonna bow down.19:39 God, I I believe that you can save me and rescue me through the flames and through the fire, but God, I'm gonna trust you with the outcome. Let me ask you a question, is there19:51 is there something going on in your life right now? Is there a fire in your life that you really don't know how it's going to end? Can you trust God with the20:03 outcome? It's what these guys did. There there was no promise from God that, listen, we don't see it in the in the scripture where God whispers to him and says, listen guys,20:15 here's what's gonna happen. He's gonna build this, he's gonna build this big statue of himself, he's gonna have everybody bow down, and God said, here's what's gonna happen, you're not gonna bow down, he's gonna throw20:25 you in the furnace, and I'm gonna preserve you. God didn't give them that promise. See, they didn't find out the outcome until they what? They refused to bow, got thrown20:37 in the furnace, and then came out. So guys, we have to learn to trust God with the outcome. We can't always control it. We're like, there are times in your life and my life where we just look and say, God, this is out of20:49 my hands, this is out of my control. Here is my job, God. You have called me to be a man of faith, and I'm going to choose to be that, and I'm going to let you determine God the outcome.21:01 And that's exactly what we say, even if he doesn't. I love what Job said in Job chapter 13 verse 15 says, though he slay me, yet I will hope in him. Job went through a lot. There came a21:13 time when he just finally said, you know what? God, if you're gonna slay me, I'm still gonna praise you. If you're gonna allow me to die, I'm still gonna praise you. See, that's just simply trusting God with the outcome.21:24 And there might be, some situations with your kids, or or with your parents, or maybe with a relationship, or with your job, that man, I can't control anything, but I'm just gonna trust God21:35 with the outcome. God, I'm gonna be faithful. I'm gonna walk with you. That whole even if he does not, well if we wanna translate that into our vernacular of the day, that means21:47 even if I lose. Even if I lose, I'm gonna stand faithful. And that was what these guys did. They said listen, even if I lose, God we21:59 are not gonna back down, we're not gonna walk away. So here, trust God with the outcome. Here's number 4, real men will walk with God through the fire. We have to be willing to go into22:11 the fire, get a little messy, go through a little struggle. See I think a lot of times we want I know in my life I I would always prefer to be on this side of the fire. How many of22:23 you know that? Are you just like me? I mean, yeah, it's okay to talk about a fire, or talk about trials, or talk about difficulties. I want you to know, I would rather I would much rather preach to you about the trials22:34 you're going through than me actually have to go through them. I just want you to know. It's just your pastor, right? I'm a little weak that way. I'm like, God, let me say something today to prepare them for the the22:45 trials they're going to go through. But God, yeah, I'm this man of God. I shouldn't have to go through. That's not the way life works. Is that we22:57 really don't find out much about ourselves and even about God, and certainly about our friends until we go into the furnace. Did you get that?23:09 You and I really will not fully understand God, ourselves, and our friends until we walk through the23:21 fire. So, guys, if you're in a fire right now, if you're heading into a fire, if you just came out of 1, how you doing?23:34 Do you need to strengthen up spiritually to be ready for the next fire as you journey through? Because we're all gonna go through. Let me tell you what, it's in the furnace23:46 that you will know God the most. Sometimes he will draw you through, sometimes life will burn you up. But we need to have that23:57 same faith that they did even if he does not. Look at Daniel chapter 3, jump down to verse 24 and 25, notice the outcome of24:09 their faith. And, guys, as you and I walk through difficult situations or hard situations, man, the way we handle them will ultimately impact others. Look at Daniel chapter 3 verse 24.24:21 Here it is, then king Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet in amazement and asked his advisors, those, a lot of those people who said, hey heat it up heat it up 7 times hotter. Weren't there just 3 men we tied24:33 up and threw into the fire? They replied, certainly your majesty, there were 3. And he said, look, I see 4 men walking around in the fire unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like24:45 the son of the son of the gods. Alright. Now, here's the incredible thing, the king would have never been impacted that way had they not been willing to go into the fire. Does that make sense? He would have never seen24:57 this, he would have never seen, because clearly, he was promoting them and not worshiping their God. Clearly, he had acknowledged that they stood head and shoulders above his other satraps, and astronomers,25:09 and astrologers and governors and leaders, so much so that he put them in charge of the provinces right there in Babylon. But even because of their good work, their faith, their25:21 character, he still never worshiped their God. What changed? What changed? He saw him go through the fire.25:34 Guys, I strongly believe that God has put you in contact and me in contact with someone that when I go through my fire, all my words, all my encouragement, all my invitations to church, they won't25:45 matter as much as when my friends, those people I work with, watch me walk through the fire. Does that make sense? See, this king, there there was no impact on him until he saw them go25:57 in the fire. He says, weren't there 4 guys? They go, yep, looks like a fourth one's in there. It looks like the Son of God. See, I think others will truly see your faith when you go through the26:09 fire. I know people in my life, it's 1 thing for them to see me preach or or or or hear me preach or or sleep while I preach and someone else listens to them. Right? When it really matters,26:21 when I'm walking through the fire. When I'm going through some tough stuff or difficult things. I love Isaiah chapter 43 verse 2 and 3, we'll close with these verses. When you pass through the waters,26:34 I will be with you God says. Notice again, when not if. When you pass through the waters, that's when you knew God was with you. When you pass through the rivers, they will not26:45 overwhelm you or sweep over you. When you walk through the what? The fire. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned, the flames will not set you ablaze. Now here it26:57 is, notice, you've got to go through the water, you've got to go through the river, you've got to go through the flames, that's when God is gonna show up the most. And so I love this, why he says, for I am the lord your27:08 God, the God of Israel. So the question is, is he your god? Alright, let me pray for you. God, thank you so much for this day. God, I pray that we as men would be the kind of guys that27:20 stand firm in our faith. We let our character shine even in those seasons when we have to walk through the fire. In Jesus name we pray, amen and amen.27:31 Thank you for tuning in to Men's Breakfast with John Mark Cayton. For more information on John Mark's ministry and resources, please visit johnmarkkayton dot com. Until next time, remember, we're27:43 on this journey of life together.In this video 0:00 Faith Under Fire: Lessons from Daniel 3
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