Into The Fire | Week 3 | Sermon

I got a phone call in May 2019 that would completely change my life. It was my junior year of college, and I was attending Oklahoma Baptist University.

I was going in to take my last final. And during finals week, you really wanna be like steadying up. You wanna make sure that you're not keeping distractions away. So me and my buddies would make sure to hang out at Whataburger till like three in the morning, like doing all of the right things. I go in to take my last final and my phone begins to buzz in my pocket. I take it out and I look and from a pastor out here in Arizona. I had known this guy for a really long time and I had just recently gone to a conference at his church who I was like, maybe he's just calling to see how I am and maybe hear how the conference went. So I had some time so I answered it. And we began talking, you know, how normal conversations work, all the small talk. But about five minutes in, he does something really weird.

He offers me a job. And I'm like,

bro, isn't the job supposed to come after I graduate? Like, what's going on here? But I didn't wanna tell him that because I just got offered a job, so I didn't. But I was like, I don't I don't really know what to do. Let me talk to my family and I'll let you know. So I went in and took my last final of my junior year with no weight on my shoulders, obviously.

And then I drove home and talked to my family. And my family began to talk to me, and I have two incredible parents and talking about all the money logistics and where you're gonna live if you go and how is this really gonna financially work out, like all the stuff. But I'm kinda like, are my friends gonna love me if I leave? Like all this stuff. And I had all these different thoughts of really just anxiety.

The one of the biggest ones was, what about the people who don't really know me super well, but the ones who like know me a little? What are they gonna think of me? Like, this guy just took a job and gonna move out to Arizona. He didn't even finish school. Like, who does this guy think he is? But the one I thought of most is like, I really ever gonna be able to live without my family? As a 21 year old guy, I'd only ever lived in Oklahoma, only ever lived around the same group of people. I didn't know if I could leave and go here.

But I started feeling two different emotions. Whenever I started thinking about staying in Oklahoma, I started getting those feelings of anxiety. But whenever I thought about leaving and coming out to Arizona, I started feeling peace.

Something my nana always taught me was to follow peace. In Psalm 34, that's what it says to do when you're making decisions. So I guess if I felt peace about moving out to Arizona, that's what I was supposed to do. So in the summer of twenty nineteen, I left everything I knew in Oklahoma

and I moved out here to Queen Tucky, Arizona. Or as Bill told me the other day, it's now Beverly Creek because we've gotten a lot fancier around here.

Thought it was gonna be awesome. Like, this was the opportunity you've always dreamed of. Right? Like, I got called out of college. I kinda felt like a guy who was, like, in sports. Like, he gets to, declare for the draft early. Like, that's cool.

I thought it was gonna be rad, but it didn't necessarily end up how I thought it was going to. Within three months, I resigned the position that I moved out here for. I lost my housing. I took an unpaid internship here, and I began working at Walmart. So if the pastor called me and offered me that, probably would've said no.

But he didn't. He didn't offer me that. And I found myself three months removed, four months, five months, six months removed from this decision that altered my life being like, God, why am I here? Why did you do this to me in a circumstance, in a situation that I never wanted to be in?

And you know you've lived life long enough that life takes you places you never thought you'd go, keeps you there longer than you wanted to stay, and changes things about your life that you never wanted to change.

But in my story and in this story we're gonna read today, there is something in our life that should never change regardless of our circumstances, and that's our obedience. The big idea that I learned in my story and the one we're gonna learn today is this, choose obedience

even if. Choose obedience even if. So if you have your Bibles, let's go to Daniel chapter

three. Talking about choosing obedience even if. Obedience in my best definition is this, just doing what God has asked you to do whenever he's asked you to do it. Or when you are parenting kids, I have a lot of friends that have little kids right now, they say something like this. They say, obedience is doing something right away, all the way, and with a happy heart.

In our story today, this king Nebuchadnezzar is going to do something that's gonna put our main characters in the story in a bind. In a moment and in a situation they didn't want,

they didn't ask for, but they had to choose. So let's begin reading. Daniel chapter three verse one. King Nebuchadnezzar made a gold statue 90 feet tall and nine feet wide and set it up on the Plain Of Dura, the province of Babylon. Then he sent messages to the high officers, officials, governors, advisers, treasurers, judges, magistrates, and all the provincial officials to come to the dedication of the statue he had set up. So all these officials came and stood before the statue King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. Then Harold shouted out, people all races and nations and languages, listen to the king's command. When you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes, and other musical instruments, bow to the ground and worship

King Nebuchadnezzar's gold statue. Anyone who refuses to obey will immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace. Something you need to know about King Nebuchadnezzar is he always has a level head. So you'll see that a lot in this story.

So at the sound of the musical instruments, all the people, whatever their race or nation or language, bowed to the ground and worshiped the gold statue that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. But some of the astrologers went to the king and informed on the Jews. They said to King Nebuchadnezzar, long live the king. You issued a decree requiring all the people to bow down and worship the gold statue when they hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes, and every other musical instrument on God's green earth. That decree also states that those who refuse to obey must be thrown into a blazing furnace.

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. And Nebuchadnezzar has a really level head. So Nebuchadnezzar flew into a rage

and ordered that Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego be brought before him. When they were brought in, Nebuchadnezzar said to them, is it true, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, that you refuse to serve my gods or to worship the gold statue I have set up? I will give you one more chance to bow and worship the statue I have made when you hear all 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. Who are these guys and why didn't they bow? If you've seen VeggieTales, you might know them as Rack, Shack, and Benny.

If you've been following along in our series, you might know them as Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael. They're Daniel's three friends. They've been a part of every chapter

before this. Now they've been given a really high position in the Babylonian government. They were over the entire province of Babylon. They were over the entire city. They oversaw all the building projects. And so my thought is that King Nebuchadnezzar doesn't wanna kill them. One, because he probably knows them well, but it's probably because they were building like a new Home Depot. He really wanted to see it like come to fruition. He didn't wanna kill them just yet. But how do they do this? How do they really take this stand before the most powerful man in the world?

But I think if you've grown up in church, you've probably heard this story before. And I think what we forget is that these guys have been here before. Now they might not have been on the verge of being thrown into a fiery furnace, but they've been here before.

In chapter one, they were offered to eat the king's food and they had to say no. They said, we're gonna take the veggies and water, not the steak and Doctor Pepper, okay? This is what we're asked to eat, so that's what we're gonna do. But they were the only ones to do that. In chapter two, King Nebuchadnezzar with his level head has this dream, and then he says, if no one can interpret my dream, I'm gonna kill you all. And the only ones who could actually interpret that dream were these three guys and Daniel. And Daniel tells the king the dream. Now here in chapter three,

we have them in front of this entire crowd of people being the only ones who don't bow. They had an affinity with finding themselves in situations where they were the only ones. But they were comfortable being uncomfortable being the only ones.

But I think they realized something through their journey of being obedient that you and I just don't fully understand. In our lives of following Jesus, I really honestly believe that we think when we're obedient, we're gonna get something from it.

I think it looks like life is all sunshine and rainbows when I'm obedient, but if you've been obedient, know that's really not how it is. But I think we get upset by that. I think we get upset by some of the realities that obedience brings into our life, because we just don't realize it. We don't realize that obedience is actually gonna bring some things into our life that we didn't really want from it. But these guys understood it, and the first one said they were the only ones to do it sometimes,

which means, since my first point for today, obedience feels lonely, but you're not alone. Sometimes obedience feels lonely, but you're not alone. Scholars believe that there were 300,000 people in front of the statue that day. That would be like taking the entire city of Chandler, which is 280,000

people, and then you have to add some and putting them all in front of a statue, having all of them bow, and only seeing three people stand. Like this is a crazy scene. Also, you know what the name of this book is called? Daniel. So where's Daniel? Like, I don't know. Well, let me tell you. No one has a clue.

No one knows where Daniel is. Some people some scholars think maybe he was representing Babylon somewhere else. Some, I honestly think some scholars say that the king probably just told him like, don't show up today. Like, just stay home. You don't wanna go through this. You're not gonna bow anyway, I don't wanna kill you, so just stay home. Regardless, Daniel's not here. So this is the first test that they've had to do without their leader.

Also, something you need to know about this crowd, there's 300,000 people, but they're not all just Babylonians. They're Israelites too. They're people of God.

They're the ones who would consider themselves the people that go to church. People that would consider themselves as like the people that put bible verses in their Instagram bios. Like those these are those people. And they find themselves here, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego.

And as soon as all these musical instruments play, all of their brothers and sisters and aunts and uncles, their parents, their grandparents all hit their knees and bow. We think this is an incredible moment of defiance before a king, but it's actually an incredible moment of loneliness before people that they love.

They're completely alone. And I can imagine, like, their family members being like, Hananiah, Azariah, Mishael, what are you doing? Like, you need to be bowing. They're gonna see you. You're gonna die. But they knew that they had to stand. Why?

Well, before they got taken to Babylon, they lived with their people. They lived in Israel. And as kids, they would have been taught these stories just like your kids get taught in kids ministry about Abraham and Moses and Joshua. And there's this phrase that was given to Joshua that says, be strong and courageous.

Do not be discouraged or afraid because God is with you wherever you go. This would have been in their minds. They would have known that I don't have to be afraid. I don't have to be discouraged because my God is with me wherever I go. So even though it felt lonely for them, they weren't alone. Even though it looks like it,

they weren't. You and I find ourselves in places like that frequently, and being lonely is really, really tough. But if you've put your faith in Jesus, the incredible thing is you don't have to live another moment alone, because the Holy Spirit, the presence of God now resides within you. You get to live and stuff

will happen to you, sometimes it's great, sometimes it's bad, but it doesn't matter, because the Holy Spirit lives inside of you and empowers you. So from this moment on, you don't have to live any moment alone, even though sometimes it feels lonely.

So what do you do in these circumstances that you find yourself in that you're like, man, I legitimately feel like I'm the only one. I'll be the only one in my family. I might be the only one in my school or my work actually being obedient. How do you get through those moments of loneliness? We have to do what they did. In verse 12, the guy goes and tells King Nebuchadnezzar. He says, they pay no attention to you.

So where was their attention? It wasn't on this king, it was on their king. So in your moments of loneliness and as you're being obedient, you have to take your focus and your attention off of the pressure, off of your current circumstances, and put them back on God. The second thing you have to do is pray.

Like, you can look to God, but the best thing to do is actually talk to him. He'll be there with you. He'll comfort you in those moments. And the third is to read your bible.

I lead our young adults ministry, and I absolutely love it. But sometimes I have some young adults come up to me, and they're just like, I'm so overwhelmed.

Like, my life is so hard and so difficult. I don't sleep well. I feel awful. It's like, it's all just spiritual warfare. And I'm just like, no, you just need to take a nap and drink some water. It's gonna be okay, but there's a simple solution to your problem.

And I think for us, sometimes we give God problems that we think are really, really big, but we don't realize he's already given us the answer to them sometimes. We just don't wanna pick up our Bible and read it. For us, that's what we need to do.

We need to fix our focus on God. We need to talk to him. And I could imagine if you come with his heart posture, if you really wanna see what God is asking you to do in these seasons of loneliness, he'll probably direct you back to his word. He's already given it to you. Obedience sometimes feels lonely,

but you're not alone because God is with you. So when your seasons of feeling lonely, you're not alone. God is with you. That's the first reality we see when we are being obedient. It's the first reality we see to them. The second is this, it might be a little bit harder.

The second is obedience disappoints people but pleases God. King Nebuchadnezzar didn't necessarily love that they were being obedient. He was sort of living his life for himself, and when this came up to like, he wanted everyone to bow to him, these guys were like, no, we can't. They were operating in obedience.

But obedience disappointed the king, but it pleased their king. But even though obedience pleases God, it doesn't mean that every time we're obedient in our lives, it's gonna please everyone around us.

As you're living your life in obedience, it's almost as you're headed this way, and then people who are living their life in disobedience are heading this way. So eventually,

you're gonna be living your lives, and at some point, there's gonna be tension. At some point, you're gonna come into contact, and it might not go well.

So what do you do when you find yourself in situations that in moments with people that aren't being obedient and aren't living your life like Jesus, and they come at you and threaten you? Well, let's see what they do. How do these guys respond? In verse 16, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego replied, oh Nebuchadnezzar,

we don't need to defend ourselves before you. If we are 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, we wanna make it clear to you, your majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue

you have set up. I think these are the three most gangster scriptures in all the bible. These are incredible. They're like, hey Nebby, we don't need you bro. Like, we're good. Like, we don't need to defend ourselves. We know God. Like, we're chilling. You're a clown. Like, relax, bro. But even if God doesn't,

we're not gonna worship you. It's just crazy. This kind of faith is wild. Even if, but even if God doesn't save us. In my time this week, was wondering like, what if God were to come down and be like, hey, Hananiah, Azariah, Mishael. I'm not gonna save you. They'd be like,

alright. Here we are. Let's go through with it. Let's get it over with. Like, how do you have that kind of faith? Like, you're on the verge of being thrown into a fire. This is crazy. Is that even possible? Well, it is possible because this story is about real people in a real circumstance

and happened for a real reason. So that people like you and I, when we find ourselves in these moments, can know that it's actually something that we can do too. You and I are gonna find ourselves in places like this. We're gonna have to choose obedience even if.

Friends, if you really wanna live the life that God has called you to live, you're gonna have to live an even if kind of life. Even if you feel lonely, even if you feel like people are disappointed in you, even if on your journey of trying to find a husband and a wife, you don't find one, even if you lose your job,

even if your finances never recover, even if the disease and what you've been diagnosed with doesn't go away, even if you've been praying and praying and praying and praying for someone to get healed and it doesn't happen, You have to choose obedience even if. But that sounds hard, doesn't it?

That sounds really, really difficult. In our lives as we follow Jesus, we are always gonna have a decision to choose what we wanna do and what God wants to do. And those two decisions are what is easy and what is right. And rarely what is right is ever easy, But that's the life we have been called to, to choose what is right

over what is easy. These guys were okay disappointing the most powerful man in the universe that may have ever existed so that they could please God. You guys think they wanted to be taken from their homeland and their identities changed

and like not choose this certain diet? Like they didn't wanna choose this. They don't wanna stand up in front of a king. They wanted to please God. They wanted to please God so much that it was okay even if they suffered for it.

As we continue reading in verse 19, it says, Nebuchadnezzar was so furious with Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego that his face became distorted with rage. Remember, that level head he has. He commanded that the furnace be heated seven times hotter than usual.

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, highlight, circle, underline, so they tied them up and threw them into the furnace, fully dressed in their pants, turbans, robes, and other garments. They love throwing lists into this passage. And because the king, in his anger, had demanded such a hot fire in the furnace, the flames killed the soldiers as they threw the three men in.

So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, securely tied, fell into the roaring flames. They were obedient even though they were lonely. They were obedient even though it was disappointing in the king because they knew God was with them and they knew it pleased him.

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

Nebuchadnezzar says, didn't we throw three in the fire? I see four, and the fourth looks like a god. Some translations say the son of God. Some scholars think it's an angel. I believe it's Jesus. Jesus showed up and freed them from their bounds in the fiery furnace. They had to go there, and that's where Jesus freed them.

The third point, the third reality of our obedience is that obedience costs you,

but also frees you. Isn't it crazy that in the middle of the fire, that's when Jesus shows up?

Isn't it crazy that in the middle of their biggest struggle they faced, that's when Jesus is there? He doesn't save them from standing. He doesn't save them in front of the king. He doesn't even save them on the road to being thrown into the fire. He saves them in the fire. He doesn't save them from it,

but he does free them in it. He gets them through it. Here's what you and I have to wrestle with when it comes to our obedience and this story. Their moment of greatest comfort came in the midst of their greatest pressure. They were most comforted when they were most uncomfortable.

I think some of us are wanting Jesus to save us from the fires of life, and that's why we don't see him. Some Some of us want Jesus to save us from walking through hard things, but that's where he wants to show up in your life. He wants to show you that he can actually get you through it, that he can free you in it.

Because in life, stuff's gonna happen. Like, you get it. You've lived long enough. Furnaces are gonna come. Seasons of life are gonna be hard. Whether you follow Jesus or not, life is gonna happen. Rocky Balboa said it best. Life isn't all sunshine and rainbows.

No one hits harder than life. But what's the important thing? Not how hard you can hit, but how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. That's what this story is about. Obedience is gonna cost you, but it also frees you. For these men, they were leveraging their reputation.

They were putting all their influence on the line. Everything they had, even their lives. That's what it was gonna cost them, but Jesus freed them in it. Sometimes I like playing devil's advocate with these stories though, and so this week I was like, what if Jesus didn't free them? What if Jesus didn't show up?

And honestly, think for some of you, that's your question. Because you look at the story and you're like, yeah, this is great for those guys. But I prayed and I prayed and I prayed and my grandma still died. I prayed and I prayed and I prayed and Jesus didn't show up. Like I needed a job after I lost it and it didn't come.

It's like, what then? Am I free? How can you say obedience costs you but also frees you in my life? Doesn't feel like it's free. Well, there's something about freedom that you and I need to understand. Is that Jesus will either free you from death or he'll free you through death. He might free you from your circumstances

or he might free you through them. Because Jesus is more focused on your eternal freedom than your temporary freedom. He's more focused on you realizing I have freed you eternally than your current circumstances going away. Now he cares about your circumstances.

That's why we should look at him and bring our request to him, and he will comfort us and free us. But he might free you from what you're going through, or he might not. And that might seem unfair, but honestly, I think Jesus has already done enough for us.

In John sixteen thirty three, he says this to his disciples, I have told you all of this that you might have peace in me. Here on earth, you have many trials and sorrows. What does he say? You will, not if, not maybe, you will. And then he says, have many. I wish it was three, but it's not. We have many trials and sorrows,

but take heart. Friends, if you can get three words wrapped around your life when stuff happens, It's but take heart. Why? Because I have overcome the world.

Jesus has overcome the world. So in our current circumstances, we can actually kinda relax because he's got it under control. And it might cost you here, but the cost here is like using monopoly money.

Like, it feels like we're losing, but we're not. Because right now, when we give our life to Jesus, we start using heavenly currency. And when we pay the cost here, it's only storing up treasures in heaven for us. It seems like it's costing us, but it's actually buying us something in heaven.

Jesus came and he already paid the cost for us. He overcame the world. He already took the cross. He already secured your eternity.

He already paid the cost and took the grave and he already rose again. Your eternal freedom has already been secured. He took the fires of hell so that you might be able to walk through the fires today. Friends, we can be able to get through these things in life because Jesus has already walked so far for us.

This is why we can choose obedience even if, because even though obedience costs us something, eventually we will be able to inherit riches that will be so much greater than anything that's going to cost us today. So

what do we do? What are we doing when we find ourselves in these moments where we actually have feel like we've been put into a fire? We feel like we're burning up. What do we do? Well, Bill says it all the time, and it's so true. If you want what God wants, you'll always get what you want.

So let me do a heart check with you for a moment. What do you want your obedience to produce? What do you want your obedience to produce? If you want your obedience if you want God through your obedience just to give you something, then you've probably missed it. If you just want the blessings from your obedience

and not God to just get glory, then you've probably missed it. Can we ask God for things? Absolutely. But obedience is not just for us to reap the benefits. It's for God to get glory, not you. But take it a step farther. Why is choosing obedience even if so important?

Why is it so important that we do this regardless of what it costs? Well, because of these three men, Nebuchadnezzar looks into the fire and he doesn't look at the three men. When he looks in, he said, didn't we throw three? I see four. He's looking in and he's looking directly at the fourth man in the fire.

Through their obedience, it put them in the fire, but they saw Jesus through it. The reason we're we're willing to be lonely and disappoint people and have our life cost us something is for people to see Jesus.

That is why we live our life, friends. So my challenge to you is if you aren't living your life and it might not be costing you something, people probably aren't able to see Jesus through it. And if you aren't willing to do that, you probably aren't following Jesus.

Obedience costs you, but it also frees you. Why? Because God is most glorified when you're in the fire. Because you can't do anything to get yourself out of it. Our obedience is a witness to people, so they might be able to see Jesus. You never might know what God wants to do through your single active obedience this week.

He might just wanna save God, or he might just wanna save someone in it. He might wanna share Jesus with someone through your obedience in your fire. So don't rob God of an opportunity to save someone because you're too stubborn to stick it out in the fire.

Stick in it. And maybe for you, it's being bold. Like you're following Jesus and not a lot of people around you are. And maybe that's it for you. Or maybe it's making sure your integrity is strong and not moving the decimal point over at work just because your boss told you to.

Maybe it's making a certain decision that you know you don't wanna make but you have to make and sometimes your friends are gonna look at you differently. Or maybe it's saying, even if God doesn't save, I'm praying and praying and praying that he saves my loved one. But even if he doesn't,

I'm still gonna worship him. I'm still gonna obey. I'm still gonna love him. Because obedience will cost you some things in this life, but it also frees you for the life to come. The passage ends like this.

Nebuchadnezzar came as close as he could to the door of the flaming furnace and shouted, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, servants of the most high God, come out, come here.

So Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego stepped out of the fire. Then the high officers, officials, governors, and advisors crowded around them and saw that the fire had not touched them. Now the hair on their heads was singed and their clothing was not scorched. They didn't even smell of smoke.

I grew up in Oklahoma and we had a lot of campfires and we went camping a lot. If you're around a fire from like point two seconds, you start smelling like smoke. You gotta take a shower like immediately. So

how in the world could they be in a fire, not smell as smoke, their clothes were not singed, their hair was not touched, how in the world could they go through a fire like this and not be okay? Well, Nebuchadnezzar knows because in verse 28, he says, praise to the God of Shadrach,

Meshach, and Abednego. He sent his angel, who we know to be Jesus, to rescue his servants who trusted in him. They defied the king's commands and were willing to die rather than serve or worship any god except their own god. Therefore,

I make this decree, if any people, whatever race or nation or language speak a word against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, they will be torn limb from limb, and their houses will be turned into heaps of rubble. Nebuchadnezzar is like this close.

Like, he he gets it, but he's like this close. He's like, yeah. Praise God and I'm gonna tear you apart. Alright. Well, you got a little bit more to learn.

But then he says this, there is no other God who can rescue like this. Nebuchadnezzar at the very beginning had people, all nations, all races, all tongues bow to him, and now because of their obedience, they're bowing to God. And he says, there is no other God who can rescue

like this. Friends, the reason we go through furnaces in life, so we can look back and say, there is no other God who can rescue like this. And it's so other people can look at our obedience and the stuff we're going through in life and say, there is no other God who can rescue like this. But even if he doesn't save you from those circumstances and what you're going through, you can still say there was no other God who can rescue like this because he left his throne in heaven, came down to live a perfect life, was tempted in every way, yet without sin, took your death on a cross, rose from the grave so that you could forever say there was no other God who can rescue like this. So

no matter your circumstances,

friends, you cannot sit on what's currently going on because you haven't been given temporary freedom. You've been given eternal freedom that lasts forever. So don't view your temporary circumstances without viewing the eternal promise.

Even if you feel alone, and even though you feel like people are disappointed in you and even if it feels like it cost you something, because we will find ourselves in these moments. They're not always the easiest. I found myself in one my senior year of high school in my last game of football.

Were going we made the state playoffs, and we were one game away from making it to the state championship game.

And I was really excited. We were the favorites to win the whole thing. We had a really good offense, had a really good defense, and we had to win one more game to face. If you're a Cardinals fan, we were gonna go face Zavin Collins. He's one of the middle linebackers for the Cardinals. He played quarterback in high school, so imagine that.

But we were gonna go face him in the state championship game. We only had to win one more game, but we we were the favorites to win. Everyone thought we were gonna win. We thought we were gonna win. And as we were going through the game, stuff just

wasn't going our way. Like nothing was going our way, which is what Cowboys fans love to say every year. Nothing went our way. Like, every year is your year except for this year and next year.

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and over. So it might just be time to drop jump on the Brock Purdy train. Okay? I don't know. But yeah. There we go. Amen to that. '24, 21, that's all I gotta say. But we went through this game and

legitimately, we all thought we were gonna win, but nothing was going our way. And our offense wasn't working, our defense was letting up really easy things, and we ended up losing the game. I was so disappointed. I was the captain of our team, this was my senior year, I was finally gonna make it to this game and win.

I felt like I just didn't do it. And I felt so alone because I was the one who's like, it was all on my shoulders. I was rallying our team as the leader of our team, and then we lost, and I felt like I was just alone. I felt like I disappointed my teammates, my coaches,

fans and families that came and watched us. And honestly, I felt like I disappointed my family, because for thirteen years of my life, they had been coming to my football games and traveling and paying for stuff. Like, do you know helmets and shoulder pads cost a lot of money?

Like, they were doing that year after year, providing for me to play, and I felt like I just disappointed them and let them down. So I go get dressed and it's a tough locker room, man. It it was hard. I'm crying with my buddies like I never get to play football with them again, and it was hard.

And we walk out of the locker room and walk to my family and ask my coach if it's okay if I don't ride on the bus or ride home with my family, and I just needed to be with them. And I was just waiting for my mom and dad just to like walk up to me and be like, hey, everything's okay. Like, you're good. You did your best.

And my dad walked up to me and he gave me a hug. He said, I'm proud of you, son.

I came in moment of like greatest disappointment to that point. I felt like I'd let everyone down. I felt I was all by myself. My dad stepped into my moment, gave me a hug, said, I'm proud of you.

Regardless of all of it, my father was pleased with me. Why do we choose obedience even if? Because stuff is gonna happen in life. It's not gonna go our way. And in our temporary circumstances, they might not change. But there is coming a day for you and I who follow Jesus, we will be positioned in front of the father.

And what I want for you is for him to look at you and say, well done. Good and faithful servant. I want him to look at your life and say, I'm proud of you. There were so many moments I wanted to rescue you from.

There were so many times I wanted to take you out of those fires in life, but I didn't because I couldn't because I've already freed you and I needed you to stay in it, but I'm so proud of you. You did it. You're here. I'm so glad you're home. Friends, we have to have that mindset when it comes to our circumstances.

Cause even though we go through stuff in life, there's a father in heaven that is waiting to welcome you home. So don't focus on your temporary circumstances in this moment. Focus on the eternal promise that he's already come. He's already paid for it. You know, in, you know, in 2019,

at 21 years old, I thought my life would go a lot differently. I didn't think I'd move out here and then resign the job ninety days later and then be without any money and be without, you know,

all the cool things that I thought were gonna happen. I lost my housing. I had to work at Walmart. What's actually crazy is I had nowhere to live, and Bill and Carrie put me up in their couch. No place to go, but they took me in.

It was very lonely. The next season after that was COVID, and we all remember that.

It was hard. It's difficult. I struggled a lot. I felt like I disappointed my family. We talked about maybe moving home because I was losing all of my savings. Like, this is not wise, but I was like, but I feel like I just have peace being here.

I feel like I'm supposed to be here. I know I'm just supposed to be obedient, but I don't know why. This is not what I want, but I know I'm supposed to be here. And that was in 2020. But now it's 2024. I'm married to a wonderful woman.

I get to be the pastor of our young adult ministry here. I get to be up here with you today. I own a home. I have incredible friends. I wouldn't I wouldn't trade my life for anything. You couldn't pay me enough amount of money to change the season I'm in today. Now if the pastor would have called me with this,

I probably would have said yes. But that's just not how God works, friends.

He doesn't give you all 10 steps. He gives you one, and he's asked you to be faithful with it. So I chose obedience, and I took the step to to move out here to Queen Tuckie, Arizona. And it's been great, and I've loved it, but step three, four, and five, I was like cussing them out. Like, this is really hard.

But now I get to kinda look back at like step one, five, six, and I feel like I'm kind of at 10 in that story now, But I know step one's gonna come again. I'm just gonna have to turn around and be obedient with something else next. But when you get to those moments,

like these guys, when they step out of the fire, do you think they ever looked at furnaces the same? No. They're like, hey, bro. You know what I was sorta the most one time? And I came out alive. That's what you get to do. You get to look at what you went through and show people

and go, there's no other God that can rescue you like this.

Friends, here's what I want you to do. Don't think so small about your current circumstances. Yes. Life can be difficult, and it throws a lot of things our way, but we have a God who has overcome the world. So just relax. Take a deep breath, put your focus back on him, say, I know this is gonna be hard,

but I'm gonna choose obedience even if. Lord, we love you.

God, we thank you for this time just to be together. Lord, I love that for thousands of years, you had men write down stories of your faithful people. And the only reason we know about it is because of that. But God, there's a lot of us in here

that I feel like we're just like the other Israelites who are just bowing and going with the flow, trying to stay out of conflict, trying to stay out of trouble. But we need more Hananiah, Azariahs, and Mishaels. We need more people who are willing to go through their temporary circumstances

because they have an eternal promise that never changes. God, we need to be those people who look at what we're going through and say, it's okay. See, even if I'm here, I'm gonna be obedient because one day we're gonna see you face to face. And let that not be a moment of regret. Let that be a moment of rejoicing

because we've made it home. God, you love us, you meet us where we're at, and you promise to take us to where you are. Love you, and we thank you. Amen. Would you stand with us?

He is with us in the fire. He is with us in our trials. Church, that is our hope. That is what we get to cling to. Thank you so much for joining us for service today. We are so glad you're joining us this weekend. Let us know if we can help you in any way.

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