Love Defined | Week 5

and it's been talking about how how does love really operate. What does it look like? What is our faith like? And today, just wanna ask a question of if anyone's willing to admit this, but if you are this, you probably won't admit it because you'll avoid it. Do you ever avoid things?

I see an avoider go, I'm not gonna raise my hand. I wanna avoid that. You know, I I think honestly we all should raise I bet every one of us has some types of things. Maybe you you're not always an avoider, but there's something that's like, I just I'm gonna avoid that. Even even if it's worse, like, I I avoid every year. I'm doing my taxes earlier.

I'm doing them and I don't. I I I don't. I don't know why because you stress about it the whole time. Then once you sit down, like, how long does it really take? It only takes it's it's not as terrible. And you think you remember, but every year, amnesia, I'm like, don't want, so I stress. Oh, I gotta do it. Gotta do I gotta do it.

Same thing. But, you know, some people can take avoiding to an epic level of just not doing the right thing, and it can get crazy. I I read a story that, happened in 2022 started, but there was a man who, he was living with his mom.

She was older. He's getting older. But but, and they lived on her pension. She had a good pension. And, and then, she died and he couldn't bear the thought of of owning up to that and reporting it and having a funeral because then he would lose her pension.

So he basically hit her, buried her in the backyard, and never reported her death and kept living on the pension.

Well, in 2000, '25, three years later, got a notice that she had to come in and take a new photo for her ID. I don't know if it's like a driver's, like, Italy, it's just some ID you have to have. So he knows if he doesn't do something about that, they're gonna explore what's going on. And so he

did something really crazy. I'll show you a picture of what he did. His mom's on the left. There's how he dressed to go into this place to get his picture, her picture retaken. And he thought that would work. You'd think he would have at least shaved his chin stubble

and covered his Adam's apple on his neck because it became very obvious in the tone of his voice that that they they caught that right away, and now he's in jail. And not facing just trying to falsify a ID, it's hiding, basically keeping a body and not reporting that. That's kind of serious offense.

And so he's in all of this hot water now because he avoided doing something that was right

but uncomfortable because it would cost him. It would it would it would make him a little bit fearful for how am I gonna live? How am I gonna support myself? And I go, and that's true. And you know, we can get rid that picture. It's creepy.

But what about us with our faith? When it comes to, you know, God loved us first. We've learned that in this series. So us loving Him back and loving others is a natural response to truly embracing His love. We don't live for his love. We don't obey to get him to love us. We we obey because he loves us.

When we understand who Jesus really is, as this letter has been stating over and over again, that love and understanding and belief, faith, that faith opens our hearts so now we can love God back. And he says the 10 commandments, love God, love others over and over again. If we unlock our love from God

to be able to have love for God, that'll automatically include loving others. That's just how it works. And out of that will come obedience. So over and over and over again, this letter repeats these three things connected. It talks about faith, love, obedience.

And what he's trying to tell them in the context of these false teachers, you can't say you have a faith that doesn't show love and have obedience because that ain't real faith. That's just believing something. You can believe in God, but true faith, what really happens, I really understand who Jesus is and embrace it.

That's not just believing in. You actually start believing God. And you'll obey and you'll honor because what he's asking us to obey and to love others back should be a natural byproduct. And obedience is not something you do for love.

And a lot of us get confused in that. And we go into a relationship with God and we struggle because we think obeying is I gotta do this so God will love us. No. No. No. No. We don't live for his love. We live from it, is what he's saying. So the truth is when we talk about these things like obedience, it's come up over and over again because it's faith,

love, obedience, and scripture are not three separate things. They're all the same thing. They're all the same thing. And if so I have a problem with obeying God.

We all are gonna all struggle. We get we avoid. We become avoiders at certain times. There's lots of reasons we're gonna unpackage that. But the reality is if I know who God is, I say I believe in Him, and there are things that have been made very clear scripturally of here's what I'm calling you to do. I want you to love others and love me and here's how you do it, and starts unpacking that. And if there's things you're like, I'm just not gonna do it.

I don't want you to hear what I'm not saying. This message is not force yourself, white knuckle it and do it and have a bad attitude about it. You need to stop and ask yourself, why do I not wanna do that?

Because he's saying if you consistently think you can live your life as a Christian and pick and choose and say, I am okay with where my belief is in God and I'm not gonna do these things, you might not be a Christian is what he's saying. You might not even be a Christian.

And you need to look at that. Do I really believe? Because what we're gonna see in the passage today I'm only gonna go through five verses and then one sixth verse, the very last verse of this letter, because it's gonna kinda sum up where he's been going and what we're talking about. And then we're gonna go back to a story in the Old Testament that actually explain when we see it in real time, and it gives us a couple of steps of this is maybe what's missing and for us to really truly engage in

this big idea that we have for today is that this, love doesn't avoid, it overcomes. So love defined, love overcomes. And we know that Jesus loved us so He overcame death for us. And He says we're overcomers too. So what do I mean by that? And and and as I read this, some of you might feel defeated today.

And you might feel defeated like, hey, I'm trying to do what God says. And it just seems like one thing after another keeps happening. And you're either thinking, is there something wrong with me or is there something wrong with God? And you might be even getting angry at God.

This will have hope for you. This will show you what's going on. But then some of us, like, you know exactly what it Like, hey, just don't wanna listen. You need to be challenged to go, do I really believe maybe you just believe in God, but for some reason you refuse to believe God.

And we need to know that, to be encouraged in that. Not to keep doing it, but to encourage to trust God. So here's let me just read these five verses and it'll explain it right here.

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has become a child of God. We already read that up front here. But there's two words in there, believes in Christ, that you gotta understand to understand what this is saying. It's saying we hear that as like, oh, everyone who just you know, I intellectually believe that Jesus is a savior. He's he's he's there for me. He's he saved me. Makes me a child of God.

That word first for Christ, you gotta understand, that's not his last name. People like, you know, that's that the Jesus is not Jesus Christ. That's not his last name. He's Jesus the Christ,

which means that's a title. It's from the Old Testament. The Christ means the anointed savior, the anointed one, the one who is God. So what it's saying is what you're believing is not that He's just someone that saved you, that someone's to be admired, a good teacher, do this. It means that you believe He is truly God,

and He is the only way to life. He's not a way to get some life. He is life itself. And and and and I don't need anything else but Him. He he will provide. He will protect. So I can absolutely trust Him with everything.

That's who the Christ is. If you just think he's a guy that died on a cross, took a beating for me, so I get my my my my free ticket to heaven card punched,

and then, you know what? I try to do some nice things in my life. You don't understand what it's saying you're believing in. You need to believe that you, I'm a sinner. There is no way I can be made right with God. And life only works through faith in Him. And faith in Him also means life only works when I obey Him because He's the author of life and He knows what He built me for.

That's what I'm believing in. That's what I'm accepting. He is Lord and Savior. And he goes, anyone who has that belief and then I already said the belief, that word. When we hear belief, we think I intellectually agree with that in English.

But it really means is it's not just I assent to that. It means more of better like trusts him. Or the way I like to say it because I gotta dumb it down for myself is saying anyone who believes God doesn't just believe in God is a child of God. That makes sense? It means I actually believe him.

And that's what I gotta have. That's the faith that I gotta have. And he goes, when we and then he explains what that looks like. What does it mean to really believe him? And he says, And everyone who loves the Father, because he loved us first, so now we can love him back. And believing him means I will love him back,

loves his children too. If I love God, I will love others. And we know that we love God's children if we love God and obey his commandments. So now it's obedience. Here's faith, love, obedience.

Loving God means keeping his commandments and his commandments are not burdensome. So now he's trying to say, I know. A lot of people when you get it wrong, you're like, well, I obey all his commands, don't turn this into a list, a burdensome list that says, do this and this. He loves you. You're looking at it wrong. It's not burdensome. He even said, for my yoke is light. He says, Come to me when you're heavy and burdened.

He doesn't mean that's easy. He just means that what I've asked you to do is possible because I'm doing it with you. And when you trust me, what seemed harder will be actually better in the end. Doesn't mean we don't have to do hard. Doesn't mean it will be easy to follow Christ. He's just saying, hey, if

it's burdensome to you, you're seeing it wrong, is what he's saying. It shouldn't be a burden. It shouldn't. But it also is gonna be hard. It's only in America where Christians try to sell Christianity to people by saying, put your faith, say yes to Jesus, and life will get easier. Jesus said the exact opposite.

Jesus didn't say, you know, count the cost of following me and take up the keys to the brand new car I'm gonna give you and drive wherever you want and do whatever you wanna do. And if you trust me, you're gonna get this, you're gonna get that, you're gonna get that. That's not what he said.

See, in America, we define blessing by anything we want. The Bible does not define blessing that way. Jesus said, Count the cost and take up your cross and follow me. Obedience becomes a burden when you don't really believe God

and you're trying to do it to impress God because you've turned it into a kind of a contractual relationship.

I did this for you. Now you give me what I want because I wanna be blessed. And I define blessing as something that makes me comfortable or happy or something I think I need. And that was usually those things we think we want from God is what the Bible calls idols. So we're like, I obeyed you, so give me my idol.

And that becomes burdensome. And then if you're trying to obey and you are faithfully really trying to do it, we're gonna see in a minute, you might get confused because if you think that that's what blessing is, what if it's hard?

You're gonna get really confused. Either something's wrong with me or something's wrong with God. And he's saying that's not how it works. It's not how it works. It shouldn't be burdensome to believe me. And if it is, you gotta go back. Do you understand who he is and what he did? Do you understand what faith really is?

Do you understand that Jesus already overcame the world and died for us? Not for our mistakes, but for sins that really separate us from the holy life of God. And that's what he's saying. He says, For every child of God. So I really the faith, the love, the obedience, every child of God

defeats this evil world. And we achieve this victory through our faith. I'll come back to the faith. And who can win this battle against the world? And he goes right back to the very first verse. Only those who believe trust in, engage in, that Jesus is the Son of God. That He is who He said He is.

And you actually don't just believe in it intellectually, you believe it.

And there you go. But if you look, so we have this we defeat the world and we have this victory. We If you read this wrong and obey is something I avoid sometimes because it's too hard and obedience just seems burdensome, is because you're reading this all wrong. You're back to, he's making me jump through hoops

to prove that I love him. That's not what he's doing. Obedience, nothing. When he says that we defeat the world and have this victory, that word for victory and defeats are in the present tense participle. That's weird. Teachy stuff. Greek. That means the way it's written is it's not, if I obey and jump through the hoops,

then I'll get this victory. And I usually think the victory is what I really want. He goes, No. That's in the present tense. We already have defeated the world. We already have the victory. And any child of God will live in that victory. And we will overcome is what the words mean. And that word there for

victory is where we get the word Nike, like our shoes. Nike means victory. It means overcomer, conqueror, victorious. That's what it means. And then what's their slogan? Just do it? A lot of us think that's what this is saying. If you want the victory, you have to just do it.

That's not what it's saying. It's saying we already have the victory. So instead of just do it, our slogan see victory Nike because Jesus already did it. Believe Him. And then obedience has nothing to do,

has nothing to do with the outcome, has nothing to do with this contract with God, has nothing to do with His love for us. But you know what it has to do with? He's now inviting us to go with Him where He's going. That's what obedience is. He's like, I love you. I died. I want you to come with me.

What would happen if you viewed it that way to with the things you're struggling with right now? Because then he ends with verse 21. So here's how he ends this whole letter. Cause that makes it sound like, okay, well then for children of God we never sin. No, he says we struggle. We avoid sometimes. We get distracted.

The last thing he said is a warning about that. In verse 21 he says, Dear children,

keep away from anything that might take God's place in your hearts. Keep away from anything. So he knows that even if we get it, even if we believe God, there's we can be distracted and we become avoiders.

We will not go towards where God wants us to go because we're running towards something that's a distraction. Anything that takes God's place in our hearts. You know what he's saying? That's the biblical definition of idols.

And we hear like worshiping idols. I'm not an idolater, but idolaters, you know, they have statues. They have a false religion. No. You can absolutely have all the right theological beliefs about who Jesus is in the Bible and be caught in idolatry. Because all idolatry is is taking anything,

even a good thing, and putting it in the place of the God thing. That who is God supposed to be in my life? How am I supposed to trust him? Who is he really? Anything that takes that place. So if there's something like, hey, I can't follow God with what he asked me to do here because that would mean giving up this

or I won't have enough of this Or or or that would make me uncomfortable because I need to go this. Or I prefer this. Whatever this is, is an idol. Plain and simple. And it can be all kinds of stuff.

You can make your kids your idol. That's pretty obvious because they like to be worshipped. They wanna be God in the home. So they'll they'll they'll take the position if you let them. They're good,

but you could be like, everything's about them. You can ignore God because you think it's because, well, for the sake of my kids, I can't do that. I can't trust God. Idol. Some of you guys are younger adults. One of the biggest idols I see is your own lack of moving forward

because you're paralyzed by wanting to know the whole plan.

You got enough outcomes and plan. You think that, I can't really like, I'll get involved, you know, really got a lot going on. I'm trying to figure out who I am. I'm trying to figure out where I'm supposed to go to school. I need to know I'm asking the God to reveal who I should marry, what career I should have. I'm asking. And you're waiting doing nothing because you think you're just asking for everything. Until I know everything, I don't do anything.

You get caught in this trap. And then you spiritualize it and think, I'm just waiting for the Lord to tell me this. And the Lord's like, Hey, I can't steer a car that's not moving. You know how he said that? Seek ye first the kingdom of God

and I will add all this to you. So if you're a young adult that's trapped in the paralysis of planning and waiting and wondering, start the engine.

Start being an engaged disciple of Jesus. And he already said, no, grow, go. Get to know him. Be in his presence. Worship him. Grow in community. Get with others that are like minded. Learn to be a better disciple and go live intentionally with your time, your talent, your treasure, your testimony. Go do those things. And I guarantee you'll figure out what job, what school, and who you're gonna marry.

Because usually in the process of serving God, that's where you're gonna meet somebody. But we get stuck, and we don't even know it. Some of us are that becomes an idol to us. And so that's what he's saying. He says, you gotta watch out for these things. Because really this real faith is faith

in the love of God because He went first enables us to love. And that love will automatically cause us to obey. Because it's not a burdensome list we're doing to get something. It's a grateful response to the love we already have.

And we will believe that God does know the best way. Every time I say I won't trust God in this, you are saying, I know more than you, God.

I believe in you. I just don't believe you. And so I wanna go to a story that actually shows this and gives us two things. Two things, I think, if you think about it, might help you, of what does it mean to be an overcomer. Because love overcomes.

That's one of the definitions of love. We become we live this overcoming life. And and how does that work? We're gonna go to Daniel chapter three.

And you've probably heard this story before if you've been in church or even heard about it. What's happening is the Babylonian empire has taken the Israelites into captivity. It was a discipline from God. He wasn't punishing them because a matter of fact, they turned back to God while they were taken into captivity. They stopped focusing because they were worshiping idols. It made them focus on that. And God actually prospered them while they were in captivity. He took care of them.

But they turned back to God. And one group that they particularly follows the story of Daniel, he was one of these young men and he had three friends that they talk about in this book, but there was more than them, that they would take bright young leaders. The Babylonians had this smart plan. They would take bright young leaders from the people they conquered, put them into this training program, which was half brainwashing too, and train them up to be leaders.

And then give them real leadership positions. In this story, the three guys we're gonna see were actually in charge of an entire province. Each of them had provinces. So they had raised up in in in leadership.

But part of the training was, you know, you were gonna learn our religion. You're gonna learn our God. Says, hey, Elaine, Elaine. They basically got to the point that, yeah, we believe this stuff you told. We know it, but we're not gonna follow that. And they stayed faithful to God.

And this story, Daniel's not here, but it talks about the three friends he had, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego. And what's happening is the king Nebuchadnezzar

had made this big statue to worship as this this idol. And part of their worship things, he's bringing all the leaders out and says, we're gonna worship this thing. And if you don't worship it, if you don't bow, you're gonna burn. Built a furnace, gonna throw you in there. Kinda brutal.

And and and and so you understand the story, especially if you ever watch Veggie Tales. You know, King Nebbe had Rack Shack and Benny and said, need to bow to the bunny or whatever, the big chocolate bunny or whatever. And and and and and and but that's what's happening. But these three guys chose not to bow,

Which in the end I'm gonna say that's really what John is saying, this type of faith. What it means to be an overcomer. It's not getting what you want. It's not even having lack of problems. It's refusing to bow. That's the victory. That's the win. And we'll see because starting in verse eight.

Pick up the story. It says, but So he's told them all to bow down with the music and they didn't. And now it says, But some of the astrologers went to the king and informed on the Jews. Tattletales. They said to the king, Nebuchadnezzar, long live the king, brown nosers.

You issued a decree requiring all the people to bow down and worship the gold statue when they hear the sound of the horn, the flute, the zither, the lyre, the harps, the pipes, other musical instruments. That decree also states that those who refuse to obey must be thrown into the blazing furnace.

The king then said, yeah, I know that. I just said that like what, five minutes ago? No, that part's not in the Bible. But they said, but there are some Jews, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, whom you have put in charge of the province of Babylon.

They pay no attention to you, your majesty. They refuse to serve your gods and do not worship the gold statue you have set up.

So now they're they're tattling on them and complaining on them. And you know one thing how my brain works is it kinda this kinda reminds me of if you ever in Sunday school, you've been the teacher, you remember, and your kids, you have them all pray, and then the same one of the kids goes, Timmy didn't close his eyes.

And you know what I said? How do you know? Cause if Timmy didn't close his eyes and you know that, you didn't close your eyes either. How do they if you're bowing the way they said to bow down and worship, to kneel down and put your face to the ground,

they only know because they were looking around because they're jealous. They don't like that these guys who had real positions of power. And I think the king liked them. I think that made them mad because

I think that's why the king gives them one more chance. He didn't just order them to burn because they didn't bow. It says the decree said you die. But he did give them another chance. So it says, then Nebuchadnezzar

flew into a rage and ordered Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego to be brought before him. When they were brought in, Nebuchadnezzar said to him, is it true Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego that you refuse to serve my gods or worship the gold statue I've set up?

I will give you one more chance to bow down and worship the statue I've made when you hear the sound of the musical instruments. But if you refuse, you will be thrown immediately into the blazing furnace. And then what God will be able to rescue you from my power? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied,

Oh, Nebuchadnezzar. That's how I always imagined. Oh, Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you. If we're thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, your majesty. But even if he doesn't, what? You

know what? We don't have to defend ourselves. We know our God has the power and can and will rescue us. Maybe he won't. Maybe he won't. Right in the middle of it. Maybe he won't.

But we wanna make it clear to you, your majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you've ever set up. So they act super bold like you'd think bible people would because we think they had a bat phone to heaven. Don't worry. Nothing's gonna happen. You're gonna be great. You're actually gonna get a raise.

Alright. I'll be bold. I already know the outcome. It's like, no. They're like, we're not gonna do this. We want you to know clear as day. Our God can and He will. He might not. This might be the way we actually die. It could be a part of His plan. Not sure. But you know what? It doesn't matter.

Because not only is this not about bowing this one day, they double down. We will never your stinking plan to change us is never ever ever gonna work. Meaning, it's not even about today. You could give me grace for today, but I am never gonna do this. Ever. Ain't that weird?

A lot of us think that having faith in God is, I already know the plan. I already know he's gonna and and we assume, we'll say that, I my God has the power. He will heal me. And then we think it's just all about having that faith, and then we get that outcome. Do you ever say, but even if he doesn't,

that's a different kind of faith. And that's the first point that I think could be leading to some of us why you feel defeated or frustrated right now. Is overcoming faith overcomers

like what John is describing? Overcomers choose obedience over outcomes.

Ask yourself, is your obedience tied to outcomes? In order to listen to God on something his word says, do you have to be convinced that the outcome is just gonna always be better for you?

Is that the only time you listen? You need a good sales speech?

Or do you believe him enough to know it doesn't matter what the outcome is? I think some of us, many of us, I know I do this, I am tempted to tie outcome to obedience because I believe outcome is the victory. You hear it all the time. I'm claiming victory over this disease I have.

And by faith, I'm gonna cast it out because God promised He's the healer. The prosperity gospel teaches a lot of stupid things. And you know what's sad about it? Sometimes God does heal, but it's always for His glory and His plan. It's not just because I had enough belief.

And the sad thing about that kind of teaching, some of you come from churches like that. You give because God's gonna make you wealthy because He wants you to be rich. That's not scriptural. That's outcome based obedience.

That's I'm gonna do this, so I get that. And then you know what they say when you do that, and even if he doesn't, you don't get rich or you don't get healed. You didn't have enough faith.

The outcome has never been tied to the amount of our faith. Matter of fact, this passage shows that they were they knew it didn't matter what the outcome was because they knew who God was. They knew how he loved them. And they knew even if they died, they're better off because they will spend eternity with God.

And then there will be no more pain, no more struggle, no more suffering. And we're gonna spend a lot more time on the other side of this. And some of us act like this is all there is, even though we're Christians. And so we want to be as happy and comfortable as possible this whole life because we're so afraid.

This overcoming faith understands that there are furnaces that we're called to. It's not just about the bad things that'll happen to us, the unfortunate events or people attacking us. God has actually called that furnace they faced was the cost of obedience. There is a cost. Jesus said, Count it. That obedience

is not always the way that just makes it easier. It makes it better.

It gives us walking in real life in who he really made us to be. There's contentment that comes on the other side. There's peace that comes on it. There's so many things we really long for that come on the other side of that that are good, but we still got to go that scary road. We have to choose the fire.

And that's why we are still tempted to avoid and run after the things that replace God's place in our hearts. We get stuck because we think outcome oriented. If you're struggling and you are obeying and you're getting frustrated, either defeated or frustrated,

the problem you still have does not mean God doesn't love you or doesn't care for you, doesn't have a plan. It's just that this is part of His plan. Because not everybody gets the next verse. So ask yourself,

an avoider needs an outcome often before obeying. That's the other way we'll do it. If I'm an avoider and an overcomer, I tie outcome to obedience, and sometimes I need an outcome before I'll obey. God, when I get more time, I'll serve. When you give me more money, I'll give.

When my wife starts respecting me, I'll choose to love her like Christ loves the church. Or reverse that. When my kids stop being my kids, I'll be happy. In sense of they, just quit acting that way.

Are you a person that demands an outcome before you obey? Are you avoiding? Or can you sit there and say, I have an even if he does not faith? Because that's the faith that is overcoming and defeats the world. Because the victory of defeating the world is refusing to bow.

And that leads to the next, how do I do that? How do I choose that? How is how what do I need to remember and know and embrace in order to to to know that more? And that's the next thing. Starting in verse 19.

Nebuchadnezzar was so furious with Shadrach, Meshach, Ameduel that his face became distorted with rage. I don't even know how your face gets distorted with rage. The only thing I can think of is kids. The way their body language shows everything.

Like, you know, the kid can be super happy and all of a sudden you say something that makes them sad and they literally do this. You know, would be a little bit easier for us as adults if we still our body still couldn't lie.

Hey, guys. We're all good. The sales plan is here's what we're gonna do in your business. You're in the morning. Everyone pumped. Yes, sir. We're ready. And then they're like, yes, sir. We're ready. No. You're not. You're lying. I know. You know, you would just know.

But anyways, he's so mad that he does something crazy. He commanded that the furnace be heated seven times hotter than usual. How would you even know what seven can is that even possible?

They didn't even have they didn't have thermometers back then. How did they even know what how hot it was? Anyways, then he ordered some of the strongest men of his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and throw them into the blazing furnace.

So they tied them up and they threw them into the furnace fully dressed in their pants, turbans, robes, and other garments. And because the king and his anger had demanded such a hot fire in the furnace, the flames killed the soldiers as the three men were thrown in.

So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego securely tied, fell into the roaring flames. Now even though they don't die, they had no idea if they were. They got tied up.

They got led. They felt the heat. I guarantee they felt. Their body didn't shut off feeling. They didn't get burned up by it, but they felt how I bet you they were sweating. And I bet they've and they watch these guys die next to them, and they fell into this thing assuming they're gonna die now. Because anybody who's smart knows that if you assumed the outcome, hey, our God can save us, but even he doesn't, saving him would have probably stopped them from ever being thrown in.

But they went into the fire. But suddenly Nebuchadnezzar

jumped up in amazement and exclaimed to his advisors, didn't we tie three men up and throw them into the furnace? Yes, your majesty. We certainly did. Look, Nebuchadnezzar shouted. I see four men unbound walking around in the fire unharmed and the fourth looks like a god.

Fourth looks like a god. Now later on, Nebuchadnezzar calls it a messenger from the Lord, an angel.

Nebuchadnezzar doesn't know what he's talking about. When it says looks like a god, we know that this is the presence of God. It's God in some form. Most theologians, and I agree, because almost every time in the Old Testament, you see, like, when when God shows up in the form of looking like a person,

it's pre incarnate. It's Jesus before, because he's the one we can see. And so he showed up in a theophany, so Jesus is in the fire. If you don't wanna believe that, because it literally doesn't say Jesus, it is saying God's presence was in the fire.

And they're looking in. They're they're just walking around in there. Why were they walking around? I think I'd be sitting there going, I think it's because they were like conga lining or something. You

know, then he's like, what's going on? They're like in there celebrating. What's happening? And then who's the guy in the front, man?

It says, Then Nebuchadnezzar came as close as he could to the door, probably think, Why'd I make it so hot? And he shouted to them to come out. So it says, They came out, and they saw that nothing had touched them, not a hair on their heads was singed,

and their clothing was in scorched, they didn't even smell the smoke. Chicken, wow, that was nice. Look, God like totally blessed them and took care them. You don't understand why it's saying all this is because God did rescue them. They still went in, they still didn't know, they still felt the fire,

they still had to go through all that. They didn't die. But the reason he did it this way was for his glory and his story and how he used their story. He used their obedience to change people.

He, one, used their story of obedience and by showing up and and saving, he knew that that would change the king's mind. So now the Jews could worship their god. He opened the door that they could worship their god openly. And he started to change the king. The king didn't get it completely

because look what he says. He says, praise be to the God in verse 28, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego. He sent his angel to rescue his servants who trusted him. Now he's calling him this guy that trusted. They defied the king's command and were willing to die rather than the servant worshiping God except their own. Therefore, I make this decree.

If any people, whatever their race, nation, or language speak a word against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they will be torn limb from limb, and their houses will be turned into heaps of rubble. So the king didn't change a whole lot. He's now like, all right, well I was gonna kill you to serve this guy, but that God seems to be more powerful. Look what he did. So if you say anything about against him, I will rip you limb from limb, and then I am so vindictive, I will tear your house apart after you're dead. Why the house is? Interest rates are so high. Why would you destroy the house?

There is no other God who can rescue like this. See, he still says no other God who can rescue like this. He hadn't quite figured out there's no other God yet. But at least they had freedom to worship now.

Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego to higher positions. Think, well, there's the blessing, the fine zone. He gave them more influence in the land. That was about the mission. When you have an outcome based, you assume healing or not dying is all about just I don't have to die.

God is always using our story for His glory, and we get to be a part of that. And they did. But they didn't know if they were going to live or not. So they chose They were overcomers because they chose the obedience over the outcomes.

But secondly, what we learned from this is an overcomer will choose presence over preference.

Meaning this is the why. Why would God want me to do this? Why would He do it?

The reason God calls us to step in the furnaces is because he's in the fire. And we need God's presence more than we need our preferences. And we let our preferences keep us away from the furnaces. And then at that moment, we're not living in the victory, we don't understand the love, because God's in the fire.

And he says, I want you to come with me. And God the Bible says those moments where we step into fires that was the cost of obedience, that's a refiner's fire. They learned something. They grew. Even if you don't get healed, even if you don't, God used that life story. He uses it.

Because it's not about the outcome. The victory is in the obedience. The victory is in not bowing. The victory is that's how you defeat the world. You overcome. But when we do it, it's because you also know that the reason I want to go there is I understand, I believe in God enough that

being with Him in a fire is the safest place to be. It's the most actually, in the end, the most content place, the most meaningful place, the most powerful place.

But we have to understand, I'm gonna choose the presence of God over my preference. And why I called it preference is that's the way I think many of us have in our culture, in our world, that's what especially American Christians, that's how we try to explain our idols.

Don't think anyone in this room that says I believe in God would act as, oh, here's my favorite idols. I love to worship these. We would never blatantly say I'm an idolater. We have a softer way of talking around it because we don't wanna own up to it. And that is, well, I just prefer this.

The only one I can think of that's obvious that's weird is for us men when it comes to being in community. Like men, you know, we won't mind sitting in rows, but we don't like getting in circles. We need circles.

We don't just need to go to a church, we need to be the church. We need to love one another. We need circles because circles is where we help battle each other. Man, there's three of them together. I guarantee it made them a lot easier to stand because they were together.

And and yet some of us, and you know your preferences, you know your personality. I'm kind of a loner.

I'm a quiet person. You know, I talk to my wife occasionally. And then if we talk to your wife, yeah, don't think he really talks to me that much. And and my preference is I don't need to sit in a circle. I don't need to have this group of men. You basically said because of your personality and your preference, I don't need to listen to God.

You could be doing that with your money, with your time. You can use your kids as an excuse to not, you know what? I know God says to do this, but if I do that, it's gonna be hard for me to be a good parent. Where in your mind did it cross disobeying God is the only way you can be a good parent?

If I listen to God on that with our money, I can't afford to pay for my kids for this. How many? So you think you are better at providing for your kids than God? Preferences are just a way we wrap up in a nice little tidy bow to explain idols. And every time we do that, we're missing out on the presence of God

and the refining fire of God. And that's why it never gets easier to follow God. Our faith never grows because we've never tested it. We've never allowed God to show how much He really loves us because we don't believe Him. And many of us are trapped in that. You're trapped by a lie, a fear.

We avoid, we go. And I wanna ask you this question, what is it? What is it? I wanna put a question here before we close down here. What idol is keeping me idle? Took me all week to figure out how to say that that cleverly. That's why I had to put it in writing. That's not a misspelled. There's two different words.

Because that's what he's saying. When John says, don't let these things distract your heart from the things of God. Don't let an idol keep you idle. Stop you from going towards where God because you know what? To trust God with some of the things

and I know I say time and money a lot because in our culture, that is the two things that we tend to idolize the most. I will believe God on everything else, but I will not believe him on that. You know why? You will have to get uncomfortable to serve. You will have to get uncomfortable to tithe. You will.

God's not you know, he'll take care of you. He'll bless you. And sometimes the blessing is your preference. Wow. I gave and he gave me more. That does happen. But even if he does not, you'll get refined and you'll be in the presence of God. And it is keeping you idle because you just think, I can't do that.

And it goes back to do you really believe God? Do you really believe what he's gonna do?

I know this, and I go back and forth because I struggle with this. I struggle with, What is my idol? And I could never because when I talk on it, go, Dude, I know people know exactly. I can't really name it. I've got lots of things I run to, and they don't seem to be connected. It's this or that or it's just unhealthy

coping mechanisms. Matter of fact, two of my unhealthy coping mechanisms actually balance each other out, so it makes me not look as bad. I I I like to eat too much when I'm stressed, but I also like to overexercise

when I'm stressed. So they kinda equal out. I go one battle's the other, and I I I I don't obviously look like I have a problem with food.

You know? And so it's like, but I'll go to these things, but I can never. And then a few years ago, I finally was thinking through all the things that'll keep me idle and not move towards when I'm afraid of trusting God. I just don't wanna move. I don't wanna overcome. And and I and I wanna and I realized there is a single connection to all of them. I now know

what my truest they all connect. There is a line in there. And here's what it is. Bill Bush, before you, confesses that Bill Bush likes to be comfortable. Bill Bush does not like to be uncomfortable. So I tend to look at anything that go, wow, that's gonna make me uncomfortable. First response, I don't wanna do it.

Anything that will make me feel comfortable fast and quick, I think I'm gonna do that. And that's why bad food, stupid choices, all this, avoiding work, all these things like, I can put my feet up and feel comfortable right now. But I've learned through life that that doesn't really work. And sometimes I'll

say the mistake of I don't wanna be uncomfortable. So you know what? I'm gonna get around to doing that when my life settles down. Some of you are like, I'll get around to doing this when this happens. When your life settles down. Some of y'all are 70 years old. And if you're honest, when has your life ever settled down?

It doesn't. Ask anyone who's lived a long time. They go, you know what I realized?

I didn't really either they feel bad because they go, I really never accomplished what I should have because I kept saying, when I get the time, get the money, when life settles down, when this happens, then I'll do that. I go, it never settled down. It's not about waiting for this outcome first or settle down. It's about you make the choice to trust God and believe Him.

It's not gonna settle down. But obeying him will settle our hearts down.

And so I thought, you know, I always struggle with that. And then I got called. I'm in ministry. And I'm like, that's a horrible place. I have to be a leader. I gotta go first. So I'm constantly challenging my comfort idol. I am constantly saying, I will not bow to this idol, and I know God will take care of me, but

but even if He does not, yes.

And then this video we just watched about echoes. How awesome was that? It's awesome. I'm so proud of them. When Daniel came and started teaching and he knew, was like, dude, you gotta go. You gotta go start church, man.

We started rallying around it, and I and I had no problem with it. Matter of fact, this is one of the one times that I did not have a problem with being I knew it'd be uncomfortable. I knew it'd be hard.

And I knew this because churches our size, they normally don't do this. Don't send that much and encourage that just to go right down the street and tell people you need to go and you do all that. And and and all the leaders we sent, all the money that went, all this stuff.

We were called crazy. Like Daniel said, it took some crazy, and it wasn't just me that thought that, guys. I am telling you, when I felt and saw and our team saw where where Daniel was and what could do, I was like, this is God's doing something, and I wanna be a part of it. And I said, this is gonna be hard.

But I thought, if there is any people of God, not just I'm talking people of God, that can handle this crazy of faith, it's us.

It's us. I knew, I just knew God had us to do I knew could do this. I knew that you guys would excite. I knew that we'd be people would go. I knew we'd rally around it and people stay wouldn't see. It's like, what's wrong? Those people are traitors. I don't know. It's not gonna happen. I knew that we would do this and embrace it and be generous and and go for it.

And it worked. And I got and I fell because you know what? I went into this normally, I'd be afraid of that. And we saved. We put about $1,500,000

in the bank over the last knowing it was coming. So we knew that the new building payment would come due, and we knew that a lot of money would leave. So we thought this 1,500,000, that should give us a good year, year and a half to catch back up.

And and and I, in my heart though, knew I go, we're not gonna have to spend that 1,500,000. We're gonna have that saved to be able to start the expansion. That's what's gonna happen. I was convinced. I was like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the beginning part. I know that our church can handle this,

and I know our God will resources, and he will. I didn't say the second part. I didn't say even if he does not. You know why? Because we were told we're crazy. I was told by other lead pastors, you are crazy stupid

because it's gonna hurt your church. You're gonna take the wind out of your sails. It's gonna hurt you financially. It's gonna set you back. It's gonna be it's gonna be so difficult that it might be the worst decision you ever made. And then you know what that made me do? I felt like I was more right.

I go, you're crazy. We're gonna do this. Like, you you said I'm crazy. I like crazy. Because you know what? God calls us to crazy. And sometimes we gotta be a little crazy. I mean, you hear down $42,000,000 and judge he says, that's a stupid number. That's crazy. If he gets it, I'm gonna ask that he give us some.

But I think he will. But even if he doesn't, it was crazy. And so I was so convinced. I believe the press clippings that here's what I think. I didn't say even if he doesn't. I went in with the convinced of the outcome, and I knew that I'd get my preference. I go, God is gonna love us so much more.

I was all wrong in my thinking. I just thought this is so big in faith that it was almost like I suddenly said, God, there's no way He's gonna make this hard because of all of our crazy faith. And then he didn't. It got really hard. We'd have a prayer meeting

because we were on pace after we sent them to spend that 1,500,000 in three months. A $500,000 a month, we were behind, which is exactly the add up the amount, the new building payment combined with the the the $250,000 a month in giving that left Added up to 500,000.

And you know what? I got leaders together, and we said, let's stop talking to each other because my go to thing in that moment is roll up my sleeves and solve the problem. And something hit me. God dropped me into this passage, dropped me to my knees.

Dude, he hockey jersey throw punched me, pulled my jersey up where I couldn't even move. And he brought that even if he doesn't to my heart. And I realized my frustration, my struggle, my fears, the ping pong thing back and forth, I started to go I started to doubt

before that prayer meeting. Started to doubt because I was like, did I hear wrong? I'm pretty sure I didn't hear wrong, but maybe I led wrong in this moment. So I feel bad. They go, no. I did everything I knew how to do, God, and you told me to do this. So then I go back and go, God, I'm frustrated. What are you doing?

Back and forth, back and forth. Can you relate? And then he says, but you forgot. But even if I don't, yeah, you're in a fire because that fire is where I am. And I wanna refine your heart, Bill. I wanna take you another step further. I know you believe me, but you can believe me even more.

And so I gathered everyone and we prayed. I said, God, we're not gonna talk about our future. Let's just stop and talk to the one who already knows our future. We started praying, started praying, and instantly everything stayed the same. But we're still here. We didn't spend all the money. Still got close to a million of it.

Many of you have become faithful and started giving. And here's the cool thing, is God did that to grow me and some of the rest of our leaders, and I think to challenge us to grow too.

And yet in all of that, 3,500 people are attending. They had to buy a building because they can't fit any more people on their campus than a year and a half old.

Because we were only averaging 3,000 people when we moved into this building six years ago. Nineteen years it took us to get to that. They did it in eighteen months. God did it. And the 1,500 people that left, we've added 2,000 people since then, and we led over 6,000 people to the Lord since they left. The largest amount.

The largest amount in the history of our church in any period of time.

God put us in that moment for his glory. I got to learn more. I got to be humbled. I got to be reminded of something, and I hope you do too. That's the purpose of the fire. So what about you?

Here's what I wanna do to close this and encourage us. I wanna read one last scripture that should encourage us no matter where you're at on this. Whatever it is, to know that it's not about the outcome. It's just the obedience, and the victory is not found in outcomes or preferences. It's found in not bowing.

Even if it's going tough for you, even if it seems like, why am I constantly in this fire? And we're gonna sing a song. So I love how we've been standing when we read the word of the Lord. Can we stand as I read this last passage? Then we'll be ready to sing also. It's out of Romans eight.

And I just listen to this. Let the word of God encourage you on this. Because this sums up everything we've been saying in this whole series, and especially we've been saying today,

is this. In verse 35, can anything ever separate us from Christ's love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity or are persecuted or hungry or destitute or in danger or threatened with death? As scriptures say, for your sake we are killed every day. We are being slaughtered like sheep.

All of that. And he says, no. Despite all of those things, overwhelming victory. That's that word for victory there is Nike again. The overwhelming is hyper.

So despite all of these things, even if you're going through a time like it seems like I'm not win. It seems like it just gets worse and worse. And it seems like I'm trying to overcome. Overcoming is not getting rid of these problems. Overcoming is faithfulness and trusting in God's love despite these problems.

Because he says then when we do that, we already have hyper victory. Hyper victory. And he says because it's overwhelming victory is ours through Christ who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love. Neither death nor life, neither angels or demons, neither our fears for today

or our worries about tomorrow. Not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love. No power in the sky above or the earth below. Indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. That means if you jump into the sacrifice,

you go into the furnace that is the cost of obedience, and it still is hard, and it's still hurting. It's okay. We still have

remember every time this simple truth.

There is another in the fire.

Rock point, no matter how you walked into this room or whatever your week looks like this week, maybe there's anxiety,

maybe there's stress, maybe there's excitement. I know for me, it's a little mix of all of it. I want you guys to know that God is with you all week long, and I hope when those moments of uncertainty come up that you just remember what we learned today. Yeah? Amen? Amen.

Hey. Well, thank you guys for joining us this weekend. We had so much fun, and we'll see you back here next weekend. Thanks for joining us online this weekend. You can stay connected with us through rockwind.io or our social media.