Disrupted For Purpose

[00:00:01] Speaker A: Thanks for tuning in to the Met Church podcast. Here at the Met, we are all about connecting people to God and one another. If you have any questions or want more information about what's happening here at the church, then head to our [email protected] we would love to stay connected with you throughout the week through social media, so be sure to connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Now, enjoy the message. [00:00:24] Speaker B: All right, good morning, everybody. This series is all about helping us comprehend, understand a little better, and to [00:00:32] Speaker C: grow through whatever it is that we're going through. [00:00:35] Speaker B: Because in life, from time to time, you'll find we're going to experience disruptions. It doesn't matter how spiritual you are or aren't, you're going to go through disruptions. The Bible says it rains on the just and it rains on the unjust. Good things happen to good people. Bad things happen to good people. Good things happen to bad people. Bad. You know, I mean, it's just cyclical. We're gonna go through it. Everybody's gonna go through it. Whether you're in church, out of church, don't believe in church, committed to Jesus, or you're not, you're gonna have disruptions. And in the middle of your life, God is going to use those disruptions, if you'll let him, to help grow you and to help mature you into the people that he has called you to be. In fact, Romans 8, 28, great verse. And we know. We know that all things work together for good. Remember, it didn't say all things were good. It said all things work together for good to those who love God and those who are called according to his purpose. Cause the next verse says, he is now conforming us into the image of His Son. God is using the experiences of life to mold us, to make us, to shape us into what he would have us to be. And ultimately, we are to be a reflection of who he is. And so each weekend, we're kind of looking at different examples, different people in the Bible that God allowed disruptions to come into their life so that it would reveal their character, so that it would strengthen their faith, and. And so that other people could observe what they've gone through and they could, in fact, learn from that experience. There's a Great verse in 1 Corinthians 4, 9 that said, you and I have been made a spectacle unto the world. We're made a spectacle unto the world. Now, the word spectacle in Greek is theatron. Theatron. We get the idea of theater from that Paul Was writing, saying our lives are being lived out on a stage. We're living our lives on a theater. We're being observed by seeing people, people we can see, and by unseen angels. Have you ever thought about your life being lived on a stage? Somebody is observing what you do. Somebody's observing what you say. Somebody is learning from your life. You and I are gonna leave a legacy. I've done a funeral this last week. I'll do another one this week. And one of the things I know about the people when I officiate a service is really we preach our funerals while we're living. We are leaving a legacy today. And it's not just the things that we are good at and not just the things that we are effective at, and it's not just the things that we are successful at. Sometimes our life preaches loudly by the things that we lose and by the defeats that we suffer and by some of the setbacks that we encounter that will tell people as much about us as. As any success that we've ever encountered. And yet, I'm just suggesting to your heart that God will use the good and the bad and the happy and the sad. He will use all that as an example to other people in your life and also as a means of growing us in our faith. You see it time and time again throughout the Bible. That's why Jesus said in Matthew 5:16, Let your light so shine before others that they may see the good works that you do. And as a result, they may bring God glory because of your life. Now, this morning, I just for a few moments, wanna take the lives of three remarkable teenagers. And I wanna talk about how God used their life in the midst of a disruption to encounter an entire kingdom. God used their life in the midst of disruption to shake a king, a pagan king, to bring a pagan king to the point of saying, there is a true God and it is the God of these three young men. Well, what is it that shook a kingdom and what is it that caused a king to acknowledge the one true God? It was the testimony. It was the way in which these three remarkable young men handled the disruption in their life. And you know them, if you've been in church very long, you know them as Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. Now, they lived during the time when Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldeans had conquered Jerusalem. They had taken the Jews as captive. And in the midst of all that turmoil and all that adversity and all that oppression, these three young men along with their friend Daniel, stood out head and shoulders among other people. One of the things that made them so remarkable was their absolute commitment to serving God in the midst of a difficult circumstance, in the midst of a very secularized society. They were absolutely determined to live for God and to serve God in the midst of a very hostile world. Because the king Nebuchadnezzar, in the context that we're going to look at, he builds this incredible idol. It was about 90ft tall, probably 10ft wide. He coated it in gold. It was beautiful. They say to observe. But then he called on all of his kingdom and to bow before that idol. You're gonna worship that idol. And in so worshiping the idol, you're gonna worship and glorify King Nebuchadnezzar. And he set a day for the dedication of that idol. He had all of the orchestra there, and he put out the command. When you hear the music playing wherever you are, whoever you are in this audience, you are to bow before this idol. Well, those three young men, they couldn't do that. They love God, they serve God. They could not recant their faith and embrace a new God. And so, under enormous pressure, these young men, they did not bow before that idol. And in the midst of their absolute dedication to God, you're going to see something remarkable that happen in and through their lives. So, number one, the thing that jumps out at me about these young men when they went through that disruption that day, was you see their ability to. To stand. Look in Daniel, chapter three, verse 12, when the music began to play, thousands of people from the context bow before the idol. Except three guys, they're just standing there. They're not bowing. They're not acquiescing to the edict of this king. They're standing now. They're not calling attention to themselves. They're not, you know, protesting. They're not shouting. They're just standing. And they're standing in defiance to the edict of a king because it went against what they knew in their heart they should not do. It went against the edict, and it went against the commitment they had made to their faith. But someone saw them. There were a group of Chaldeans that saw them, and they report it back to the king. So back to Daniel 3, and this is the context, verse 12. There were certain Jews whom you've set over the affairs of the providence of Babylon. Now, these are these Chaldeans reporting to Nebuchadnezzar. He's saying not everybody went along with it when the music played. Not everybody Bowed, sir. They did not obey what you said they are to do. And here's who they are. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. These men, O King, have not paid due regard to you. They do not serve your gods or worship the golden image which you have set up, sir, which when they were supposed to bow, they stood. When everyone else bowed, they stood. And can I tell you, the strength of these young men to be able to stand against the current trend, to be able to stand against the pressure they were under, goes back to Daniel chapter one in verse four. And you read about these young men who had a personal commitment to God. The Bible says they were wise. The Bible says they were committed. The Bible says they separated themselves from the pack because of their faithfulness to God and their willingness to serve Him. Now, let me give you a principle from this as we talk about how this disruption revealed their strength to stand. They had made a decision in private to honor God, to serve God, to. To be committed to God, to basically separate themselves before God. They made that decision in private back in Daniel 1:4, before it ever became public in Daniel chapter 3, in verse 12. Here's the principle that I want you to miss. And the principle is this, that when you and I are called upon to stand before God in public, and one day, eventually you're going to be called upon to stand before God in public, the strength of your ability to stand, stand for the right thing, stand for the right cause, stand for the right reason, will be directly linked to the commitment you've made in private. If you wait until you're called upon to take a stand for God in public to make that commitment, you probably won't stand. You'll probably bend, you'll probably break, you'll probably bow. Because the commitment that you and I make has to begin in our hearts before it's ever revealed in our life. Coaches will say this to their. To their athletes. Coaches will say, you will play like you practice. You ever hear that when you were a kid, you're gonna play like you practice? Meaning the things that you do on the practice field, away from the crowds, before you're on the stage, before you're on the field, before the fans are cheering, before the band is playing. All of the disciplines that you've developed in private will then be demonstrated when you're in public. Let me share that principle with you again through the story of David. Remember David and Goliath? We've always heard of David and Goliath. Well, when David was willing to stand before Goliath with that slingshot and take him on. King Saul looks at him kind of quizzical and says, what qualifies you to take such a stand against this, against Goliath and David? When you read 1st Samuel 17, David said that what qualifies me to stand in public against Goliath was the strength that I had in private when I was faced with a lion and a bear. David said, when there was no one around to cheer me on and there was no one around to see me when the lion and the bear attacked the sheep, I stood firm and I was successful killing the lion and the bear. [00:11:06] Speaker C: Here's the point. [00:11:07] Speaker B: He was victorious over little things in his life, and he was victorious then over the big things in his life. Folks, if we lose the battle over the little things in our life, over the private battles we fight in our life, we'll never be able to stand when we're called upon to stand, on the public things in life, when it really matters, on the job, in the neighborhood, in front of the family, in front of friends, when you need to be an example and take a stand for righteousness and doing what is right, that's going to be tied to your personal commitment to and the personal faith you have in God. David said, I can take on Goliath because long before you saw me and long before you knew anything about me, my faith was already challenged, my strength was already challenged out on the hillside when no one was around and the lion and the bear came to take me on. So the principle that I don't want you to miss is the strength to stand is tied to the commitment we make in our heart, in our daily life. The Bible calls upon us to be sanctified as Christians. Now, I've heard people say, well, to be sanctified as a Christian, what does that mean? And I heard a pastor say one time, it means that you're to live sinlessly, perfect, that you attain a status in your Christian life where you no longer sin. Well, that's not what that means at all. Sanctification has nothing to do with an ability of a person to live above the downward pool of sin in their life. In fact, I'll go so far to say as a Christ follower, you never get to a point where you no longer sin. You will never be sinless. You can sin less, but you won't be sinless. In fact, the Bible talks about in 1 John 1:9, if we confess our sin, not you, your we, our John wrote, he is faithful and just to cleanse us of sin and forgive us of all unrighteousness. So Christians sin, Christians will fail. We'll all fail. And I'm just suggesting to your heart that when I talk to you about sanctification and I say these three young men in private were dedicated, they were committed, they were consecrated to God, they were sanctified before God. What that word literally means, it means to be set apart. It means to be different. It means to go against the grain. It means to be unique. If you really want to understand how a word or what a word means and how to define it in the Scriptures, then you apply what is called the Law of first Mention. It is a law of biblical interpretation and biblical understanding. And what the Law of first mention means is you take the first time that word was used in Scripture. How was it used? What was the context? What was the definition? In what way was that word used? And you define it that way. And each time you read the word throughout the Bible, it'll always be defined in that same way. Well, the first time you see the word sanctified, you see it in Genesis, when God created everything. And the Bible says God created the seventh day, and he sanctified it. Sanctified it. Genesis 2, the seventh day was sanctified. A day has nothing to do with sin. But according to the law first mentioned, God sanctified the day, meaning that he made the seventh day different than the other days. It was distinctively different. And that's all sanctification means. I go back to the commitment these three young men made in Daniel 1. Long before it went public in Daniel 2, they had sanctified themselves. They had distinguished themselves. They went against the grain. They said, I don't care if everybody else is doing it. It's not right. I'm not gonna do it. I don't care if that's what common thought is. It's not squaring with what my understanding of God's word is. So I'm not gonna do it. I'm gonna be willing to take a stand, and I've committed to God in private. So now that they're called upon to do it in public, it gave them the strength that they needed to stand. Does that make sense? So these young men had made a commitment to God in private that now they were being tested in public. And so they had this incredible, enormous ability to stand against the common pool of that day. I've told you, the biggest thing you and I face in life today is, sorry, still getting over this stuff is this pull of the world into Secularism. And I've told you that secularism is just a system that does not include God in his thinking. You and I are living in a very secular society. You'll go to work tomorrow, I'll go to work tomorrow in a very secular society. What I mean by that is it is a society that doesn't include God in his thinking. Nobody's gonna say at the light, let's all pray together before the light turns green and we'll move forward. That's just not gonna be. That's not gonna happen. You're moving into a secular world that doesn't include God in his thinking. And if you aren't careful, as you're in your work pods and as you're in your groups, in school, as you're in your neighborhood, you can get drawn into a way of thinking that doesn't include God in your thinking. And so you have to be intentional. You have to be purposeful in saying, I'm gonna live for God, serve God. I'm gonna do right. I'm going to be right. I'm gonna think right. I'm gonna live right. And this is a commitment you make to God in person before you ever go out into public. Because there is a draw of secularism that tries to pull us away from God. In fact, in Hebrews 2, there's this incredible imagery that's given where it says, be careful, lest the things that you've taught have been taught will slip or drift away. It's a nautical term. And the writer of Hebrews is saying that the things that you and I are learning about in church and the things that we're learning about in our Bible study, if we don't commit to them, if we don't put them into practice, they'll slip away. They'll drift away. As I said, it's a nautical term. It's the idea of bringing a ship to shore and trying to dock a vessel and getting caught by the current because I was not intentional. And I drift past the port, I drift past the mark, I drift past where I should have been to safely navigate the ship to shore. And so I'm saying this is a term the Bible is using, that you and I, as Christ followers, we have to be dedicated and committed in our daily life. We have to be determined and sanctified in our daily walk, or we'll just drift away from God. When the devil begins to work on one of God's children, he doesn't fill their heart with hatred of God, he fills their heart with forgetfulness. Of God. You just forget about your commitments that you've made to him. You forget about the dedication that you have for him. And you don't hate him. You just for that little while, you forget about it. And so it's a subtle seduction that the devil uses on the part of God's people. And I go back to the text. These three young men recognized that, and they had made a determination that we're gonna live for God, we're gonna serve him. And that commitment started in their heart long before it was ever challenged in public. You have that. So it revealed their ability to stand. Here's the second thing I wanted to give you. It also revealed their ability to understand. Their ability to understand. Now go to Daniel 3. Look at verse 17. Here's the response of those young men when the king challenged them. When the king says, you know, guys, I've got a furnace here. I've heated it up. And if you don't bow before me and you don't recant your God and serve my God and serve me, I'm gonna throw you in that furnace and you're going to die. [00:18:55] Speaker C: Now it got real. [00:18:56] Speaker B: And here's what they did. They said, if it be so, our God, whom we serve, is able to deliver us from this burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O King. [00:19:10] Speaker C: No, stop just for a second. [00:19:13] Speaker B: Here's the first thing they understood. The first thing they understood is that their God was able to deliver them. So let's apply that. We've committed. We've said, God, I want to live for you. I want to serve you. I want to. I've dedicated my life to you, whatever that looks like. When I go out into the real world, I really want to serve you. I want to live a distinctive life. I don't want to go with the flow. I want to stand strong and stand firm in my faith. And now all of a sudden, I'm getting challenged. Now all of a sudden, disruption has hit my life. Now all of a sudden, my faith is getting stretched. And the thing that I need to understand, like they understood, is my God is able to deliver me from this. My God is able to take care of me in the midst of this. [00:20:04] Speaker C: Let me color that a little more for you. [00:20:06] Speaker B: Maybe it's a bad diagnosis. Maybe a loved one has a bad diagnosis with their health. And the thing that we pray for is healing. And I believe God is a healer. He is Jehovah, Rapha. He is the God who heals. So we pray for healing. And I'VE seen God do that miraculously and supernaturally. I've known doctors who say there's no explanation for this. Scientifically, it's remarkable, the thing that has happened. So I know that happens. I'm certain that it happens. Maybe it's financially. Maybe you're faced with a challenge, you've got more month than money, Maybe the business isn't going as well. And all of a sudden, man, you're sitting here in this room and you've made a commitment to stand and to serve Jesus. But now all of a sudden, you're hit with something you weren't anticipating. And I'm telling you, you can understand this about God. He is able. There is nothing that he cannot do. In fact, when Israel was wandering in the wilderness, he provided manna for them to eat every day. He provided water from a rock for them to drink. He sustained them to the point that even the psalmist David even said, can God prepare a table in the wilderness? He was kind of saying rhetorically. He said, yes, certainly he can. He's proven himself. What's my point? The thing you have to understand when your faith is challenged and you go through a disruption is you and I serve a God who is able. There is nothing that he cannot do. God can provide, God can heal. God can make a way when there is no other way. We sing about that all the time. I'm just saying remind yourself of that when you go through this. There's nothing he can't do. Because you're gonna have to remind yourself of it. Because when you go through something and you don't see a way out, and you know you've out punted your coverage, you're gonna have to preach to yourself. Cause I won't be there in your ear to tell you what I'm telling you right now. So you're gonna tell yourself God's able. God's able. He's promised he will not fail. And God can. God can do it. So understand. I'm just wanting you to see what they understood about God. If so be our God whom we serve is able. He's able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace. And he will deliver us one way or another. Out of your hand, O King. But look at verse 18. Here's something else you gotta understand. But if not, that's the other side. That's the side of a lot of teaching that we don't hear oftentimes in churches. That's the side of it that sometimes drives people away from God. Because sometimes we fall into this category that, yes, I believe God is able. I understand that God is able to. And my understanding of God being able takes me to a point of knowing that it is always and forever the will of God for us all to be healthy, wealthy, and wise. [00:23:04] Speaker C: Until it isn't. [00:23:06] Speaker B: And then all of a sudden, this faith that's getting stretched and this faith that's getting strengthened is now getting tested in a way you've never had it tested before. And now what works for one person doesn't seem to be working for you. Now, this thing that you said, God is able to do healing and he's able to do provision, and he's able to do deliverance and all the things that. But now I'm not experiencing the things that I know God is able to do. And here are these three teenagers, so wise, so strong in their faith. Now they're telling this, king, King, you need to know this about our God. Here's what we understand about God. We understand that he's able. He will deliver us. But you also need to understand that even if he doesn't, even if he doesn't do what I know he's able to do, even if he doesn't, we still won't serve your God. We're still not gonna worship the golden image that you've set up. We're still not gonna bend. We're still not gonna bow. And sir, respectfully, we're not gonna break. On one hand, we know God can keep this from happening, but even if he doesn't, we're still not gonna recant our faith. We're still gonna stand right where we've always stood. We don't have a commercial faith. Our faith isn't linked to just good things happening in my life. My faith is strong enough to take me through the bad things that may happen in my life. My faith is strong enough to see God bringing blessings in my life. And my faith is also strong enough to see sometimes when God sends tests into my life. [00:24:52] Speaker C: You remember the Old Testament character Job, [00:24:56] Speaker B: probably the oldest book of the Bible. And one of the things that Job ran into when he was tested and he lost his family, he lost his business, he lost his health. Even his wife looked at him and said, I why don't you just cuss God and die, dude? I mean, your last line of support abandons you. I'd just quit if I was you, Job. And he makes a remarkable statement. He said, even if God chooses to [00:25:23] Speaker C: slay me, yet will I serve him? [00:25:27] Speaker B: He said, I'm still gonna stand. I Trust God. Listen to a beautiful picture that Job paints for us in Job 23, verse 8. I don't know if you've ever seen [00:25:37] Speaker C: this before, but it struck me last [00:25:39] Speaker B: week and I thought, I gotta share this with these guys this weekend. In Job 23, verse 8, here's what Job said. He said, I go forward, but he's not there. I go backward, but I can't perceive him. [00:25:53] Speaker C: And then listen to this phrase. [00:25:56] Speaker B: When he works on the left hand, [00:25:58] Speaker C: I cannot behold him. Now wait a minute. [00:26:02] Speaker B: Let's stop there. How many of you are left handed? [00:26:05] Speaker C: I'm just curious. How many of you are left handed? [00:26:06] Speaker B: God bless you. [00:26:07] Speaker C: I'm left handed too. [00:26:08] Speaker B: Notice we're in the very unique minority in this room. Most people are not left handed. Most people are right handed. And when you study the Bible, when the Bible speaks of God with his right hand, it's an anthropomorphic term to help us understand how God works. When it speaks of God moving with his right hand, it always speaks of authority, power. [00:26:30] Speaker C: He's at the right hand of God, of the majesty on high. [00:26:34] Speaker B: We even use it in our vernacular. He's in his right mind. You get up on the right side of the bed. You never say, get up on the left side of the bed. So we use that in our bed. In other words, the right hand of God always signifies obvious power. But in this case, Job is referring not to the right hand of God. Don't miss this. He's referring to the left hand of God. And how is he describing it? He's describing it as not being discernible. No less powerful than the right hand, [00:27:07] Speaker C: but not as obvious. [00:27:09] Speaker B: No less capable of his right hand. [00:27:14] Speaker C: Just not as obvious. [00:27:16] Speaker B: And Job is saying, man, when God moves with his right hand, I see him at work. Man, my business is great and my family is great, but all of a sudden I don't perceive him. Now I go where I used to go to see him and I don't see. I went to church and I didn't feel him there. I had worship and I didn't sense him there. I read the Bible and I didn't feel anything there. I prayed and I didn't get anything there. Job's saying, I'm going and doing what I've always done, but I'm getting a different reaction. And all of a sudden it hit him. God's still at work. [00:27:45] Speaker C: It's just not as obvious. It's not as visible. [00:27:50] Speaker B: It's not his right hand, Job. [00:27:52] Speaker C: Job said it's his left Hand, you [00:27:55] Speaker B: see, when you see God at work, he's working. And when you can't see God at work, he's working. When you know what God is doing in your life, he's doing something. And when you don't know what God is doing in your life, he's still doing something. When it's obvious that God is moving in your circumstance, he is moving. And when it's not so obvious, he's still moving. And I'm saying Job understood that because of the disruption that is in his life. And that's exactly what these three young men were saying. They were saying he could, with his right hand, he could deliver us from the fire. But if he doesn't, with his left hand, he will be with us and he will not forsake us, and God will still have a purpose for us. [00:28:38] Speaker C: And that's what they understood about God. [00:28:41] Speaker B: When I read that, I thought, man, [00:28:43] Speaker C: I want to share with them, because I really hope you understand that about God, that He's able. And when he's not at work with his right hand where you can see him, he's still at work. It just may be with his left hand. It may be in more subtle ways, [00:28:58] Speaker B: and it may be in more secretive [00:28:59] Speaker C: ways, but he is still at work in your life. [00:29:04] Speaker B: So you have this incredible ability for them to stand, and you have this incredible ability for them to understand. And here's the third thing it brought [00:29:13] Speaker C: them to, and that was the incredible ability for them to withstand. To withstand. [00:29:18] Speaker B: Then King Nebuchadnezzar, after he had thrown him into the fire, rose up in haste and said, didn't we cast three men bound in the fire? [00:29:26] Speaker C: They said, yes, sir. [00:29:27] Speaker B: He said, I see four men loose in the midst of the fire, and they're not hurt. And the appearance of the fourth is like the son of God. [00:29:36] Speaker C: Then the king brought them out of [00:29:37] Speaker B: the fire, promoted Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego [00:29:40] Speaker C: in the province of Babylon. [00:29:42] Speaker B: What did they do? [00:29:43] Speaker C: They withstood it. They withstood it. And as a result, when you read, [00:29:48] Speaker B: the king acknowledged the fact that the God these young men serve is the true God. He made a statement before all the nation that these young men serve a God that is more powerful than any gods we've ever served. [00:30:01] Speaker C: And all of a sudden, on the [00:30:02] Speaker B: stage of life, those young men had [00:30:04] Speaker C: an opportunity to display the power, grace [00:30:08] Speaker B: and glory of God in a way [00:30:10] Speaker C: that they never imagined that they would be able to do. All I'm saying is, folks, God is with you. He's with you to the point that [00:30:22] Speaker B: he can keep you out of some of the things that you go through. And he's with you in the point. Even if he allows you to go [00:30:27] Speaker C: through some of the things that you go through. [00:30:29] Speaker B: One of the beautiful promises of Hebrews [00:30:31] Speaker C: 13 is he said, I'll never leave you. I'll never forsake you. [00:30:36] Speaker B: He can keep you out of the [00:30:37] Speaker C: fire, but he'll go into the fire with you. [00:30:40] Speaker B: Man. [00:30:40] Speaker C: When you read that, their clothes didn't smell like smoke. [00:30:44] Speaker B: You ever sat around the campfire and [00:30:45] Speaker C: your clothes just smelled like smoke? [00:30:47] Speaker B: Well, they were in the fire and [00:30:49] Speaker C: didn't smell like smoke. Not a hair was singed. [00:30:52] Speaker B: God didn't keep them out of the fire. [00:30:54] Speaker C: He protected them in the middle of the fire. [00:30:57] Speaker B: God may not keep you from walking down that hard road. God may not keep the disruption from happening in your life when what he's [00:31:03] Speaker C: promised to do is walk with you every step of the way. And if you'll stay faithful and committed and you'll continue to stand, what you're [00:31:11] Speaker B: going to see is people are gonna see a difference in your life for [00:31:14] Speaker C: what you've gone through than they would've ever seen in any other way. Sometimes the greatest sermons that you preach will be preached in your own home. They'll see it. Your kids will see it. Not just how you handle the good days, mom and dad, but how you [00:31:30] Speaker B: handle the hard days. And that may speak louder to your [00:31:33] Speaker C: children than anything you could ever imagine. How you handle the hard days. [00:31:38] Speaker B: And God knows what he's doing. [00:31:40] Speaker C: He's got a purpose and a plan in every life. [00:31:43] Speaker B: And while on one hand we pray, God deliver us, and I pray God heals us, and God takes care of us, and he will. [00:31:49] Speaker C: But on the other hand, I want [00:31:51] Speaker B: my faith to be big enough to [00:31:52] Speaker C: say God, if you choose not to go that way, I still trust you. [00:31:57] Speaker B: I still will not bow and I will not bend. And I know I'm not gonna burn [00:32:01] Speaker C: because you're gonna be with me. In the midst of what I go through, I'm gonna withstand. [00:32:06] Speaker B: You're gonna take care of me every [00:32:09] Speaker C: step of the way. The words of an old hymn said be not dismayed whate' er betide God will take care of you Beneath his wings of love abide God will take care of you. And friend, he's got you. He's got whatever you're going through, he's got that too. There's nothing that you. Nothing will happen to you. [00:32:35] Speaker B: Nothing that you can go through. [00:32:36] Speaker C: In life that he can't handle. He can be trusted. So just bring that before him today. [00:32:42] Speaker B: Just say, God, give me the strength [00:32:44] Speaker C: that these young men had to stand, [00:32:46] Speaker B: to live for you, to love you, to serve you. Because sooner or later, I'll be called upon to take a stand. [00:32:52] Speaker C: And so, Lord, I wanna understand that you're able to deliver me. But even if you don't, you're able to take care of me. Because at the end of the day, I wanna be able to withstand, I wanna have a testimony. [00:33:03] Speaker B: I wanna be a shining example. Jesus said in Matthew 5, Let your [00:33:07] Speaker C: light so shine before others that they may see your good works. And as a result, glorify your Father who's in heaven. People need to see Jesus. And sometimes the only Jesus they see is the Jesus they see in me. [00:33:23] Speaker B: I've told you, your life may be [00:33:24] Speaker C: the only Bible somebody ever reads. The only picture of Jesus somebody may ever see is the picture they see lived out in your life. So let's determine this morning to say, lord, whatever comes our way. We're gonna love you, serve you, be committed to you. We're gonna stand. Even if we don't understand, we're gonna stand. Let's pray together. Father, thank you for the truth of your word. Thank you, Lord, that you've given us example after example of people who have weathered the storms that have gone through the disruption. [00:34:00] Speaker B: And you've used the example that they've set before us to encourage us. [00:34:05] Speaker C: Father, thank you for these three young men who took such a stand in the face of adversity, of pressure, of just demonic oppression. And they stood firm and stood strong. And as a result, a pagan king had to acknowledge the one true God and an entire nation had to acknowledge the fact that there is a God and you are that God. So, Lord, help us in our own way to realize that we're going to have an example and be an example to someone. Help us to be good examples of good examples. I pray for our families, our businesses, for the students that are in the room. [00:34:47] Speaker B: I pray, Father, as we go back [00:34:49] Speaker C: out into this real world to realize, Lord, that our lives may be the only hint of Jesus somebody may ever see. So help us, Lord, to represent you [00:34:59] Speaker B: well, to bring you honor and glory [00:35:01] Speaker C: in all that we do, and to stand. Father, finally, I pray for my friends who may not have trusted you as their savior. I pray this might be the moment where they humble their heart right where they are and say, lord Jesus, with everything I know about me, I now trust all that I know about you. Come into my heart. Forgive my sin. I trust you as my Savior today. In Jesus name I pray. Amen. [00:35:30] Speaker A: Thank you so much for tuning in today. If you have any questions or prayer requests, please contact us by visiting metchurch.com so that we can follow up with you this week. We look forward to seeing you next week.