[0:00] I agree again in the name of Jesus this morning. It is very good to be here. You know that the verse, the verse on top of that song, Zach 27, 13, the Apostle Paul said, the God whose I am and whom I serve.
[0:34] Paul was saying, he told those people, he said, I belong, there's a God that I belong to and I serve him. Is that our commitment to our God?
[0:50] Do we belong to him and do we serve him? You can turn to Hebrews chapter 10.
[1:06] There's a verse I want to read. The end of 2 Peter, it says, but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
[1:20] Grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. And that has come to me as a challenge.
[1:33] I believe the Lord would have us to grow continually. He wants us to grow stronger. He wants us to grow by perseverance.
[1:45] He wants us to grow by the experiences of life and the trials we go through. He wants us to grow by reading the word and learning to know our God better.
[2:04] grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. The more you know about this Christ, then the closer you can draw to him and you can walk with him and you can fulfill his plan for your life.
[2:24] Now, this morning I want to look at an aspect of faith.
[2:35] I expect I'll be looking at some of these things in various different, slightly different in the next few messages.
[2:51] But in Hebrews chapter 10, you know, I want to look at faith and I want to look at the God that we serve, the one that we put our faith and trust in.
[3:10] You know, I looked up the definition in Webster's. The definition of faith is an unquestioning belief, you know, in whatever you put your faith in.
[3:29] For us, it's we put our trust, our faith in God and a true faith in our God is unquestioning.
[3:41] You know, if we belong to him and we are serving him with all our heart, then whatever comes in life, we will not question him.
[3:53] We will not doubt. We will not draw back. But we will continue on. We will continue on and we will walk with him through whatever trial comes our way.
[4:11] Let me continue with this definition. It's a complete trust, confidence, or reliance. Same as, for an example, children usually have faith in their parents.
[4:27] Faithness, also meaning loyalty or allegiance to. That's the Webster's definition of the word faith. Now, another word that closely ties in here is trust.
[4:46] You know, you can't have faith in a God that you don't trust. You can't have faith in a man you don't trust. So I have the definition of trust.
[5:00] Let me read this. Affirm belief or confidence in the honesty, the integrity, the reliability, and justice of another person or thing.
[5:17] Faith, reliance. So we trust God. We have a firm belief or confidence that God is going to keep his word.
[5:29] This word that he has given us, he's going to stand by it. You know, I didn't write it down, but somewhere I come across the little statement that said, I think it's, I'm not sure where, somewhere in the Old Testament says that God watches over his word to make sure to bring it to fulfillment.
[5:56] It's in my words, it's paraphrased, not the exact words of the scripture, but that is what it means. God watches over his word and he will fulfill his word.
[6:07] So we can trust in God, in his honesty, in his integrity, in his reliability, and in his justice.
[6:22] Do we trust him completely with all of life? With all of life. Now let me give you a sentence, a statement that is a very great challenge.
[6:34] challenge. To put something confidently in the charge of another without fear of the outcome.
[6:53] If you have given your life to God, you belong to God, the way the Apostle Paul wrote, No, it was Peter that I quoted, or that I read.
[7:11] No. I got two different verses here in my mind. I read out of Peter. But Paul said, the God to whom I belong and whom I serve, if we belong to God, if we have given our life to him, we have given him our life, confident.
[7:41] We have confidence in him to the point that we're not concerned with the outcome. We don't fear the outcome.
[7:56] We don't fear what he's going to do with our life. You know, I look back and I see times that I believe I drew back and I didn't allow, I didn't follow, I didn't wholly follow in what God desired.
[8:20] but, you know, we probably all have those things that we can remember. But let's leave those in the past and let's give our hearts and lives to God in such a way that we will follow him with all our heart and whatever the outcome, whatever comes of it, we have trust and faith, we have confidence and hope in God that his will can be done in our life.
[9:00] Now let's read in Hebrews 10, starting verse 32. But called to remembrance of former days in which after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions, partly whilst ye were made a gazing stock, both by reproaches and afflictions, and partly whilst ye became companions of them that were so used.
[9:33] For ye had compassion of me in my bonds and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance.
[9:47] Cast not away, therefore, your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. For ye have need of patience, that after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.
[10:04] For yet a little while and he that shall come will come and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith, but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.
[10:18] But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of the soul. So here we have a people that he's writing to and they're suffering for the name of Christ and they bear reproaches and afflictions and they're being persecuted.
[10:41] Some of them were being persecuted and he says, you have compassion on me and my bonds. you take joyfully the spoiling of your goods and persecution and all of that, knowing in yourself that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance.
[11:02] You know, in all of life, if we will live to the fullest extent of what God would have of us, then we must keep eternity in view.
[11:18] We must have our treasures set in heaven, knowing that whatever happens here is just, you know, it's just temporary.
[11:29] Heaven is our home. Heaven is our goal. Heaven is what we live for. And someday we will be there. You know, a man is not truly free until he is free from the fear of death.
[11:50] If I give my life to Jesus, I put it on the altar, I say, I give myself, I consecrate my life to you.
[12:02] But if I draw back because I'm afraid of what I might go through, then I can't fully walk out his will.
[12:12] But I will always have this fear of death, this fear of hurt, this fear of persecution, this fear of being mocked. I'm not sure I'm mocked. But when I overcome that and I'm 100% sold out to Jesus, then it doesn't matter when I'm mocked.
[12:33] It doesn't matter when I'm rejected. It doesn't matter what comes my way. What matters is that I'm walking in the will of God. that should he call me home tomorrow or today, I'm ready to go and my hands are clean.
[12:52] Paul, I believe, is telling them here to not be discouraged as they endure a great fight of afflictions and the things they're going through.
[13:19] Don't be discouraged, but take heart. This is not our home. We're only traveling through. We're only ambassadors here.
[13:30] Someday, Jesus will come. He that shall come will come and will not tarry. Hallelujah. Yes, we have in heaven a better and an enduring substance.
[13:45] And he admonishes us. Cast not away your confidence. You know, over the years, we've seen people do that. We've seen people forsake.
[13:58] We've seen people cast away their confidence in the Lord and walk away. Just recently, there was a man I was talking with and he just made the statement.
[14:09] You know, we were talking something and I mentioned something about God or he did. And he says, yes, if there is a God. You know, he's beaten down to the place that he questions whether there is a God.
[14:28] And he's not walking with Him. Why? Because somewhere in years gone by, he departed from the truth. somewhere he wasn't willing to allow God to work in his heart.
[14:46] Somewhere he wasn't willing and so now he's at the point where he questions whether there even is a God. Now the just shall live by faith.
[15:02] The just shall live by faith. How will we live by faith? That's what I want to look at the next while. The just shall live by faith.
[15:17] Keep trusting. Keep walking. You can trust Jesus. You can trust Him with your life.
[15:29] You can trust Him for eternity. You can trust Him with your eternal salvation. You can trust Him with your mortal life, with your physical life.
[15:41] You can trust Him for all of life. You can trust Him in every decision. You can trust Him. But we must be surrendered and given to Him.
[15:55] He must be our Lord if He will lead us. we believe.
[16:10] Do we believe? We are not of them who draw back unto perdition but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.
[16:23] To believe, to cleave and to trust in, to rely on God through Jesus Christ the Messiah. Trust to put something confidently in the charge of another without fear of the consequences.
[16:39] I put my life in the hands of Jesus and I trust Him completely that whatever happens to me is in His will.
[16:51] Whatever I go through is His plan. whatever I go through is what He desires. That is the only way that we can be can be used completely fully as He would desire.
[17:07] I believe most of Christianity is living far below what the level of what God would have and would use them for.
[17:20] you know who was it? D.L. Moody said the world has yet to see what God can do through a man that is totally surrendered and given to Him totally completely on the altar and submitted to our Lord Jesus.
[17:41] Jesus let us be that man. now faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen.
[18:04] Faith is the assurance of things hoped for the proving of things not seen. Faith is a substance faith is evidence you know the amplified would say it is the title deed you know the same word evidence is in Jeremiah when he bought that land though Israel was going into captivity he still bought it because of the word of the Lord and he got the deed for it he had the deed in his hand it was the evidence that he had this land faith is the evidence of things not seen faith in our hearts is the title deed to our inheritance in the Lord Jesus Christ by it the elders obtained a good report through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of
[19:18] God so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear this God that we put our faith and trust in he is the one that created the heavens and the earth he created it by his word he didn't have he didn't have things that he took and he built it out of no he spoke it into existence this is the God that we serve why do we find it so difficult at times that to trust him with some of the obstacles and the mountains that we face why do we find it so difficult to trust the God of creation the one who created humanity the one who provided the plan of salvation the one that knew that humanity would fall the one who before the foundation of the world he provided his son that he would come and shed his blood for us it says here the things which are seen everything we see all the mountains and all everything that we see it was created and it was made out of things that were not seen
[20:49] God by his word created it verse 6 but without faith it is impossible to please God for he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him you know first of all if we're going to serve him if we're going to walk in faith then we must believe in God we must believe in the author of this book and we must believe that this book is true it is the word of God and it is the word of God every word in this book has the power within it for its fulfillment fulfillment how by the spirit of God the author of this book he didn't write anything that he cannot fulfill he didn't write anything that he cannot create but everything that is written in this book every word when it is when it is when it comes together in faith and in the spirit of God there's a power for its fulfillment but if we will come to
[22:06] God we must believe that there is a God we must believe in this God and I want to look somewhat at the greatness of our God this morning because this is the foundation of our faith is the almighty God the living God the God of creation the Lord God Jehovah the almighty the all present the all powerful the all knowing he is the one that we put our trust in he is the one that we that we walk with he is the one that we that we place our faith in him we must believe that he is and we must believe that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him you know draw nigh draw nigh to him and he will draw nigh to you you know if you if you you know just like the prodigal he came back to the father the father saw him coming a long ways off and he went to meet him you know if we come to
[23:23] God he will come to meet us you don't have to go all the way but if you draw nigh to him he will draw nigh to you oh hallelujah our God is such an awesome God such a God of love and mercy forgiveness us but we must believe that he is and we must believe that he answers our prayer we must believe that he will direct us we must believe that he will reward us when we seek him we must believe in him we must come to the place that we will place our life in his hands you know we we read we quote we we know that verse present your bodies the living sacrifice holy and acceptable unto
[24:26] God which is your reasonable service so if we present our bodies do we give him our life and do we do we give it to him without fear of the consequences without fear of the outcome without fear of where he will take us without fear of what he will do with us than to cause
[25:36] Sociacci ì—° maus is the def att metres mausjas facebook Trevor twitter has a different buna mis ca chor non simplement millions of years.
[26:02] It's literal days. My God created this world and He created everything in it in six days. The God of creation. Now turn to Isaiah chapter 40.
[26:25] There's so much that we could look at this morning. I want to look at Isaiah 40. I want to talk about the greatness of our God.
[26:42] There is none greater. There is none to compare. There is no other God. You know, Satan said, I will.
[26:58] I will. I will be like the Most High. And many are serving Him. But His power is only to deceive.
[27:11] His power is to scare. His power, you know, He has power. But our God has all power. all other gods are as nothing before our God.
[27:29] In Isaiah 40, verse 12, who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance.
[27:50] who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being His counselor, hath taught Him, with whom took He counsel, and who instructed Him, and taught Him in the path of judgment, and taught Him knowledge, and showed to Him the way of understanding.
[28:12] Now, just think with me a minute. God, He measured the waters in the hollow of His hands.
[28:24] The waters, the oceans, the waters upon the earth, and under the earth, and the rivers, and you know, there's, we have no idea how much water.
[28:41] We drill a hole in the ground, and we hit water, and we have a well. The oceans, the lakes, the rivers, says, our God, He has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand.
[29:05] He meted out heaven with a span. The heavens, to us, it's endless. He knows the number of the stars.
[29:16] He calls them by their names. That's our God. That's our God. Who directed the Spirit of the Lord?
[29:31] Well, we didn't, and we won't. God, you know, there's, in the pride of man, men have tried to manipulate the Spirit of God.
[29:49] It does not work. God will not give His glory to another. He will not allow His name to be blemished.
[30:02] You know, even men who have walked under the anointing of the Spirit of God and they've fallen away, I believe God removes His name from that.
[30:16] Yes. Verse 14, With whom took He counsel, who instructed Him and taught Him in the path of judgment, and taught Him knowledge, and showed to Him the way of understanding.
[30:33] Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance. Behold, He taketh up the isles as a very little thing.
[30:48] Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts are of sufficient for a burnt offering. All nations before Him are as nothing, and they are counted to Him less than nothing in vanity.
[31:05] You know, and then humanity, us feeble human beings, we want to rise up in pride, and we want to negotiate with God, or we want to trick Him, or we want to hide our sin from Him.
[31:30] He knows it all. He knows everything that goes on. He knows our thoughts. He knows what we're going to say before we say it.
[31:45] to whom then will ye liken God, or what likeness will ye compare unto Him?
[32:02] The workman meldeth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth silver chains. He that is so impoverished that he hath no oblation, chooses a tree that will not rot.
[32:19] He seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image that shall not be moved. Have ye not known? Have ye not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning?
[32:32] Have ye not understood from the foundation of the earth? It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers, that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in, that bringeth the princes to nothing.
[32:51] He maketh the judges of the earth as vanity. Yea, they shall not be planted. Yea, they shall not be sown. Yea, their stock shall not take rid of the earth, and he shall also blow upon them.
[33:05] They shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble. To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal, saith the Holy One.
[33:21] Lift up your eyes on high, and behold, who hath created these things? Look up in the heavens, and look at the stars, and the hosts of heaven.
[33:34] Who hath created them? that bringeth out their hosts by number. He calleth them all by names, by the greatness of his might.
[33:47] For that he is strong in power, not one faileth. He calls those stars, those stars that we couldn't number. We have no idea how many stars there are.
[33:59] Here it says he calls them by name. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speaketh, O Israel, my way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God?
[34:18] You know, we are an open book before him. We can try to hide. We can try to hide the unbelief in our heart. We can try to hide the sin in our heart.
[34:29] We can try to hide the bitterness in our heart. We can try to hide all those things, and whatever we're trying to do, whatever we're trying to hide.
[34:39] You know, we can hide it from men for a while, but we can never hide it from God. We're an open book before him.
[34:52] Our God, he knows it all. He knows it all, and he remembers until it's washed by the blood of Jesus. Hast thou not known, hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth, he fainteth not, neither is weary, and there is no searching of his understanding.
[35:32] You know, we can, and we need to search, and to grow, and to learn, to grow in knowledge, to grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
[35:47] We need to do that, but we will never attain, we will never get to the point that we know everything about our God. the more we know, the more we see that we don't know.
[36:01] He is infinite, and there's no comparison, there's nothing that we can compare him to. And this great God, it says, he fainteth not, neither is weary.
[36:20] In Psalms, it says, the God of Israel, he never slumbers, or sleeps. He's always on duty. He's always there.
[36:31] He's always ready to hear your prayer. He's just waiting that we come to him. He giveth power to the faint, to them that have no might, he increases strength.
[36:52] even the youth shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. You know, in our own strength, sometimes we think we're strong, sometimes we think we have strength for the battle, but in our own strength, we'll become weary and we will fall.
[37:15] But it says here, he gives power to the faint, and he gives might to us when we need strength. Verse 31, but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.
[37:33] They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. They that wait upon the Lord, I believe many times, many times when we get into a trial, we get into a bad situation, and we might cry out to God, but we don't wait on Him.
[38:01] We don't have patience, like Hebrews said, patience, patient in suffering, patient in whatever God is doing, in whatever situation we find ourselves.
[38:18] We must be patient. We must be patient. There's a verse in James says to take the prophets of old for an example in patience.
[38:35] Those men of old, and Hebrews 11 goes on to talk about many of them. Many of them gave their life literally killed for God, for Jesus sake.
[38:54] But patience in tribulation, patience in trial, patience in the situations of life.
[39:08] Wait upon the Lord. Lord, you know, sometimes just holding still and waiting is the hardest thing to do.
[39:20] It's so much harder than trying to work and trying to work things out. Sometimes there's things we need to do, yes, not taking away from that.
[39:31] but there is the time that God wants us to wait.
[39:47] You know, just think of Lazarus. His sister said, oh, Lord, but you're too late. You're too late.
[39:59] if you would have come right away, Lazarus would not have died. But now he's already four days in the grave.
[40:13] Master, you're too late. Our God is never late. He's always on time. He's always on time.
[40:26] They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. Isn't that what we need so many times? We need God to renew our strength, to fill us with his spirit afresh and anew, and his power, his strength to flow and to work through us.
[40:53] They shall mount up with wings as eagles. eagles. You know, have you watched the eagles soar? They're such a heavenly bird.
[41:10] They love to fly, and they love to fly high and fast. they shall mount up with wings as eagles.
[41:23] They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. The promise to those who wait upon the Lord.
[41:37] There's no searching. verse 28. There is no searching of his understanding. You know, we can learn more and more about our God, but we will never arrive.
[41:56] We will never know it all until maybe someday in heaven. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
[42:07] Hallelujah. So who can we compare this God with? You know, maybe I'll just turn to chapter 14.
[42:23] I'll just read here a couple of verses about our enemy. In verse 12, it says, How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning?
[42:44] How art thou cut down to the ground which didst weaken the nations? For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven.
[42:57] I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north.
[43:10] I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the most high. You know, Satan, he said those things and that was his goal.
[43:27] And he's been working for these thousands of years to bring that to pass. And yes, he rules in the hearts of maybe the majority of humanity.
[43:40] But the kingdom of God is alive and well. The kingdom of God can overcome the powers of darkness. We have victory over our enemy.
[43:52] Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil. And as we abide in him, and as we walk with him, as we belong to him, we have victory over our enemy.
[44:13] We see, yes, Satan has accomplished much, and he rules in the hearts of much of humanity.
[44:25] glory. But someday, he will be totally defeated. He will be brought down and cast into hell.
[44:46] Isaiah 40 and verse 8 says, The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but the word of our God shall stand forever. forever. Like I said before, God, the Spirit of God watches over his word to fulfill it, to fulfill every word that is in this book, to fulfill every word that is spoken by the mouth of God.
[45:13] Man shall not live by bread alone. We don't live by the physical things. Yes, we eat the physical food, and we need it, but that is not our life.
[45:27] Our life is the word of God. By every word spoken by the word of God. Yes. Chapter 41, verse 10.
[45:43] Fear thou not, for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee, yea, I will help thee.
[45:53] Yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. If we, if we will wait on him, if we will walk with him, if we will allow him, he will strengthen us and he will uphold us.
[46:14] Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Chapter 42. verse 8 and 9.
[46:26] I am the Lord, that is my name and my glory. Will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images? Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare.
[46:41] Before they spring forth, I tell you of them. Verse 8. I am the Lord, Lord, that is my name and my glory.
[46:54] I will not give to another. God will receive the glory from our lives or he will not work through us. Yes, might his glory be upon us.
[47:08] Might his glory be upon us that we can walk in his power and in his strength in the spirit of God. Isaiah 44.
[47:26] Is there a God beside me? Yea, there is no God. I know not any. They that make a graven image are all of them vanity, and their delectable things shall not profit.
[47:43] They are their own witnesses. They see not nor know that they may be ashamed. You know, and there's another place where he talks about idols and how a man will go and he'll cut down a tree and he'll use part of it to build a fire to cook his meal and he'll take part of the same tree and he'll take it somewhere and get somebody to carve an idol out of it.
[48:10] No life. No life in that, a dead tree. You know, we don't have that kind of idols in our day, but what are we turning to instead of God?
[48:27] You know, those people, they had drifted away from God. That is why they even allowed people to build, to make idols, to carve them or to make them out of gold and silver.
[48:46] If they would have been obedient to the word of God, they would have stoned those, but they didn't, and so now they had people that were making idols.
[49:02] But what do we turn to instead of God? if we belong to God, if we are the servant of God, He bought us, He bought us, He paid for us with His blood, He created us, and now we say we give ourselves to Him.
[49:33] have we given our all? Or are we holding back? Are we still going down to Egypt for strength?
[49:47] Or for our needs? Are we totally committed to our Lord and Savior? Now I want to look at, we already heard this mentioned, Daniel chapter 11.
[50:13] Three young men that were totally, actually it's not 11, it's chapter 3, but there's a verse in chapter 11 I want.
[50:25] Turn to Daniel 3. Three young men, that were totally sold out to their God. And they didn't flinch, they didn't bow, and they didn't burn.
[50:41] Hallelujah. But in Daniel 11 verse 32, it says, such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries.
[50:55] But the people that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits. My question is, do you know God?
[51:09] Do you know God the way that these three Hebrew young men knew God? We're going to go, we're going to read that story. But as we do, just ask yourself the question, do you know this God the way they knew him?
[51:30] Daniel prophesies here by the Spirit of God that in the end time, in our day, the people that do know our God, they will do exploits, they will do mighty works, they will do great things for God.
[51:52] Chapter 3, verse Nebuchadnezzar, he made this image of God. And he set it up in the plain of Dura, the province of Babylon, and he called all the rulers and everybody in.
[52:08] He called them all together, and he said, you all come, you all come, we're going to dedicate this image, and we're going to worship this image, you all come. You're not all the people, but all the rulers, they were all required to come, and here come Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they had been put in charge of the province of Babylon.
[52:34] After Daniel had interpreted the dream, he requested that they be given position, and so they were given this position, and now here we are.
[52:50] According to the word of the king, they're required to bow to this idol. Let's start reading in verse 12.
[53:04] There are certain Jews whom thou hast set over the affairs of the province of Babylon. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, these men, O king, have not regarded thee, they serve not thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.
[53:26] Then Nebuchadnezzar, in his rage and fury, commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Then they brought these men before the king, and Nebuchadnezzar, he spake to them, Is it true that you do not serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have set up?
[53:48] Now, if you, I'm going to give you one more chance, I'm going to give you one more chance, and if you bow, fine, but if you do not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of the burning, fiery furnace, and who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?
[54:09] Don't you think God was just waiting on that challenge? Hallelujah. You know, if you, if this was you, could God depend on you to be faithful in this situation?
[54:29] Facing the fiery furnace, there it is. There it is. It's hot already. Well, they answered.
[54:43] We're not careful to answer thee in this matter. They said, we don't even need to answer you, king. We won't bow. That's settled.
[54:54] if it be so. Our God, whom we serve, is able to deliver us from the burning, fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.
[55:12] But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou has set up.
[55:28] We will not bow. You know, they could have out in the multitude. They could have halfway bowed, and, you know, isn't that what a lot of people today would do?
[55:43] You know, I've heard people say, well, I can do this, and then just ask for forgiveness afterward. You know, what heart is that to deliberately do something questionable?
[56:02] It's not the heart that is committed to our God. But here, they answered the king, and they said, we will not bow.
[56:19] If God delivers us fine, and if he doesn't deliver us from the furnace, we know he's going to deliver us from your hand. Hallelujah.
[56:30] Then the king was full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against them. And he said, heat the furnace seven times more than it was wont to be heated.
[56:45] And he commanded the most mighty men that were in his army to bind them and to cast them into the burning, fiery furnace. Then these men were bound in their coats, and they were thrown in into the burning, fiery furnace.
[57:01] And because the king's commandment was urgent and the furnace exceeding hot, the flame of the fire slew those men that took them up and cast them in.
[57:13] Now these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they fell down bound into the midst of the burning, fiery furnace. Then king Nebuchadnezzar was astonished, and he rose up in haste, and he spake, and he said unto his counselors, did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?
[57:36] They answered and said unto the king, true, O king. And he answered and he said, lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.
[57:52] Oh, hallelujah. Hallelujah. You know, if we will stand for truth, and if we will walk with our God, he's going to walk with us.
[58:12] He's going to walk with us through those fiery trials. He's going to walk through us through the valley of the shadow of death.
[58:26] He's going to walk through us whatever we face. He's going to walk with us right through that furnace. yes, he will.
[58:39] He will never leave us or forsake us. And this turned out to be such a great testimony.
[58:51] The king said, then, in verse 28, King Nebuchadnezzar said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king's word, and yielded their bodies that they might not serve nor worship any god except their own gods.
[59:29] Therefore, I make a decree that every people, nation, and language which speak anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill, because there is no other god that can deliver after this sort.
[59:52] Hallelujah. What if God wants to use you for a testimony of his power in this dark world?
[60:04] they entrusted their lives into the hands of God have you entrusted your life into the hand of God yes let's turn yet to Matthew 6 Matthew 6 verse 33 but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you what's he saying here you know we all have our jobs we have our homes our families we go to work to support our families and to pay our expenses and all of that but you know it says here to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you what are these things that he's talking about well he talks about food and water and raiment and the things that we need for our physical needs you know if we will seek first the kingdom of God if it if it takes us away from our job if it takes us into situations that are not comfortable but we're following him because we have committed our lives to him we can know that he will provide as long as we follow him as long as we are seeking first his kingdom you know I
[62:38] I've I've seen people you know they oh I you know I want to seek first the kingdom and so you know they whatever they do they they barely make enough money to scrape by and I mean years ago I remember a man that was that way and but finally the day came that he saw that he needed he needed to do more to provide for his own needs but the apostle Paul says that we should work that we have to give to those that are in need but again if God if God calls you if you are seeking first the kingdom of God and it takes you away from your labor your physical labors then trust him and he will provide seek first the kingdom of God seek him first and his righteousness his will for my life his will in what
[64:08] I should walk walk in his will and where I should go every decision we make must be made in the light of eternity and in the light of what God's will is for my life where your treasure is there will your heart be also you know where is your treasure is your is Jesus your treasure or is gold your treasure if Jesus is your treasure then he will be on top of the list on the first priority when we make decisions well how is this going to affect God's will for my life is this what he wants for me or will this take me away and hinder me in what he has for me what is
[65:08] God's will for your life I believe God has a plan for each one of you he has a work for each one of us yes he does no man can serve two masters you know if you're a slave if you're a slave to material things then you can't be a slave to our God you can't serve him with all your heart if you're a slave to earthly things seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness that is what Shadrach Meshach and Abednego did that is why when they were brought up face to face with the fiery furnace the decision was already made they didn't even have to answer the king the decision was already made we're not bowing to your idol we're going to stand firm and if it costs our life it costs our life is that our commitment do we trust
[66:33] God in that way let me go back again have you can you confidently put your life in in the charge of our Lord Jesus without fear of the outcome that is trust that is faith in our Lord is to just surrender everything to him lay my life on the altar and not worry not fear but trust him trust him with our life second
[67:37] Corinthians 4 18 says the things that are seen are temporal the things that are not seen are eternal all these things the things that we work for so much we work so hard for they're all going to pass away it's the unseen things that will stand and live in eternity yes let's stand for prayer Lord we thank you for your word Lord we thank you that you have promised to be with us to the end of the age you will go with us through the fiery furnace you will go with us through every fiery trial that we face through persecution through mocking through despising through through whatever we face you will go with us
[68:59] Lord we thank you but Lord help us that we will do our part that we will lay down our lives a living sacrifice unto you that we will trust you with our life that we will not draw back we will not draw back into perdition but Lord that we will walk with you until the day you call us for us Lord might you find us faithful yes Lord find us faithful in that great day we pray in Jesus name Amen