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Into The Fire | Week 3 | Sermon · Rewind

Rock Point Church

Pastor Hunter Perry · Jan 24, 2024

Pastor Hunter Perry · Jan 24, 2024 · 49 min watch · 2 min read

Into The Fire | Week 3 | Sermon

Devotional days

Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7

Scripture in this message

Daniel 3
Daniel 3:1
Joshua 1:9
Daniel 3:12
Daniel 3:16
Daniel 3:19

Big Idea Key points Application

Big Idea

Quoting the message: Choose obedience even if, end quote. — obeying God whenever He asks, regardless of what it costs or whether the outcome you want ever comes.

Obedience to God will sometimes cost us loneliness, disappointed people, and real loss, but it is never obedience without purpose. Through Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace, we see that God may free us from our circumstances or free us through them, but either way He shows up in the fire and secures something eternal that is far greater than what obedience costs us now.

Key points

1
1Obedience feels lonely, but you're not alone
Pastor Hunter walks through Daniel 3, noting that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego stood alone among roughly 300,000 people, without Daniel present, and without any of their fellow Israelites joining them. He ties this to Joshua's charge to be strong and courageous because God is with him wherever he goes, and reminds listeners that the Holy Spirit's presence means believers are never truly alone even when it feels that way.
2
2Obedience disappoints people but pleases God
He shows that living obediently while others live for themselves creates unavoidable tension, using Nebuchadnezzar's fury at the three men's refusal to bow. He highlights their reply in verse 16-18 — that they don't need to defend themselves and will not serve the king's gods even if God doesn't save them — calling it some of the most courageous faith in Scripture.
3
3Obedience costs you, but it also frees you
Pastor Hunter traces how the three men were bound and thrown into a furnace heated seven times hotter, yet Jesus (the fourth man Nebuchadnezzar saw) met them inside the fire rather than sparing them from it. He explains that Jesus will either free us from our circumstances or free us through them, because He is more concerned with our eternal freedom than our temporary comfort, pointing to John 16:33 as the promise that trials will come but Jesus has overcome the world.
4
4Our obedience in the fire becomes a witness that points others to Jesus
He notes that when Nebuchadnezzar looked into the furnace, he wasn't looking at the three men but at the fourth, and that their willingness to be lonely, disappoint people, and pay a cost let others see Jesus. Nebuchadnezzar ultimately declares there is no other God who can rescue like this, which Pastor Hunter says is the point of every furnace season believers walk through.

A story from life

Pastor Hunter Perry recounts moving from Oklahoma to Arizona after a job offer, then losing the position and working at Walmart

Application

Pastor Hunter's charge is to choose obedience even if — even if it costs you loneliness, disappointment, or the outcome you wanted.

Refocus on God in lonely obedience
When you find yourself the only one obeying at work, school, or home, shift your attention off the pressure and back onto God, then pray and read your Bible rather than assuming your struggle is bigger than the answer He's already given.
Choose what is right over what is easy
Expect tension when your obedient life runs against others living for themselves, and be willing to disappoint people rather than compromise, trusting that pleasing God matters more than being liked.
Stay in the fire instead of demanding rescue from it
Don't assume Jesus's absence when hard circumstances don't change; let Him meet and free you inside the trial rather than only expecting Him to remove it.
Let your obedience be a witness
Live in a way that costs you something this week — boldness, integrity, a hard decision — so that people around you have the chance to see Jesus through what you're going through.

Take it into your week

Rewind AI contributed study material from the sermon transcript; church-authored wording and verified sermon quotes keep their own source. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI

Sign in to ask Rewind about this sermon

Scripture in this message

From the transcript
“So if you have your Bibles, open up to Daniel chapter three, or if you have the Bible app, click over to Daniel chapter three. And as you do that, I'm gonna tell you a little bit of a story”
From the transcript
“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”
From the transcript
“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”
From the transcript
“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”
From the transcript
“How do these guys respond? In verse 16, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego replied, oh Nebuchadnezzar, we don't need to defend ourselves before you”
From the transcript
“As we continue reading in verse 19, it says, Nebuchadnezzar was so furious with Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego that his face became distorted with rage”
From the transcript
“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”
From the transcript
“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”

Rewind AI contributed study material from the sermon transcript; church-authored wording and verified sermon quotes keep their own source. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI

7-day devotional

A personal reading plan from this message — scripture, reflection, and prayer for each day.

Sign in to track your progress through this devotional.

Day 1

Every story of costly obedience begins with a moment of pressure. In Daniel 3, that pressure takes the form of a ninety-foot gold statue and a command that everyone bow. King Nebuchadnezzar wasn't subtle — this was total allegiance demanded in public, with consequences spelled out in advance. Before we ever get to the fire, we need to sit with the setup: the pressure was real, the stakes were high, and the whole crowd was watching. Most of us will never face a literal furnace, but we know what it feels like when culture, a boss, a family member, or a crowd expects us to bow to something we can't. The shape of the idol changes. The pressure doesn't. Pastor Hunter's sermon doesn't let us spiritualize our way past this. The pressure Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego faced was uncomfortable and costly before it was ever glorious. Starting here matters — because if we skip past the pressure, we miss why their obedience was so remarkable. They knew what was being asked. They knew what refusal would cost. And they had already decided who they belonged to. What idols — expectations, approval, security — are quietly asking for your allegiance today? This week, we'll follow three men who refused to bow, and we'll find out what God does when His people stand firm.

For reflection

What situation in your life right now is quietly asking you to bow to something other than God — and have you named it honestly yet?

Pray

Pray for honesty about where you feel pressure to compromise, and ask God to give you clear eyes to see it for what it is.

Day 2

One of the loneliest feelings in the world is being the only one standing when everyone around you has sat down or walked away. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego weren't just in danger — they were isolated. The crowd had bowed. The music played. And three men stood alone in a sea of conformity. Pastor Hunter pointed directly at this: obedience will feel lonely. Not might feel lonely — will. This isn't a glitch in the Christian life; it's part of it. But the sermon didn't stop there, and neither does Scripture. God's word to Joshua — 'Be strong and courageous. Do not be discouraged or afraid, because God is with you wherever you go' — wasn't given in a comfortable moment. Joshua was about to lead a nation into a land full of opposition. The command to be courageous only makes sense when courage is actually required. The promise isn't that God will remove the loneliness immediately. The promise is that you are never actually alone in it. He goes where you go. He is present in the places where obedience costs you company. If you've ever stood for something right and felt the sting of standing by yourself, this promise is for you. The feeling of loneliness is real — but so is His presence. You can hold both of those truths at the same time.

For reflection

Think of a time you chose obedience and felt alone in it — looking back, where do you see evidence that God was with you in that moment?

Pray

Pray for a fresh awareness of God's presence in the specific places where obedience feels isolating right now.

Day 3

These three verses might be the most honest, most courageous words in the entire Old Testament. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego don't negotiate. They don't soften their answer to keep the door open. They say, in effect: God can rescue us — but even if He doesn't, we still won't bow. Pastor Hunter called this 'even if' faith, and it's worth sitting with what it actually requires. Most of our obedience comes with an unspoken condition attached: we'll follow God as long as it works out. We'll trust Him as long as the outcome looks like what we hoped. That's not wrong to want — it's deeply human. But the three men show us something different. Their obedience wasn't contingent on a rescue. It was grounded in who God is, not what He was about to do for them. This is where Pastor Hunter's challenge lands hard: take an honest look at what you want your obedience to produce. If it's primarily about getting a favorable result, obedience has quietly become a transaction. God is not a vending machine, and the gospel is not a contract we sign in exchange for a comfortable life. 'Even if He doesn't' is one of the hardest things a heart can say — and one of the most freeing. It moves us from managing outcomes to trusting a Person.

For reflection

Where in your life right now is your obedience secretly conditional — what outcome are you hoping God will deliver in return?

Pray

Pray for the kind of faith that trusts God's character even when you can't predict or control His answer.

Day 4

Verse 19 is not the verse we want to be in. Nebuchadnezzar's fury boils over, and the furnace is heated seven times hotter than normal. This is the moment between the decision and the deliverance — and it's one of the most important moments in the whole story, because God doesn't step in here to stop it. Sometimes obedience leads directly into the heat. Not around it. Not away from it. Into it. Pastor Hunter was honest about this: obedience costs you something real. The cost might be a relationship, a job, a reputation, or simply the comfort of going along with everyone else. Whatever the shape of it, the fire is real. It's worth noticing that the men who threw Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego into the furnace were killed by the heat from the outside. But the three men — the ones who were supposed to be destroyed — walked through it. What consumes the people on the outside of God's presence is not the final word for those who are walking with Him inside of it. This doesn't mean the fire won't be hot. It means the fire doesn't have the last word. If you're in a hard season right now, sitting in verse 19 might be exactly where you are. Don't rush past it. God meets people in furnaces, not just after them.

For reflection

What does it do to your heart to know that God doesn't always stop the furnace — but that He enters it with you?

Pray

Pray for courage and steadiness for someone you know who is walking through a painful, costly season of faithfulness right now.

Day 5

Nebuchadnezzar peers into the furnace and can't make sense of what he's seeing. He threw in three men — but now there are four, and the fourth, he says, looks like 'a son of the gods.' The men are unbound. They are walking. And they are not alone. Pastor Hunter brought this moment to life: Jesus meets us in the fire, not before it. The rescue doesn't come as a removal from the situation; it comes as a presence inside of it. That is one of the most important and most counterintuitive truths in this entire story. We often pray to be taken out. God is often already present within. There is something else in this verse that deserves attention: the men who were bound are now walking free inside the very furnace that was meant to destroy them. The fire burned away the ropes, not them. Sometimes what the enemy intends as a sentence becomes the very thing that loosens the chains. This is what Pastor Hunter meant when he said obedience costs you, but it also frees you. The freedom isn't always the freedom you expected. It may not look like the doors swinging open and the pressure disappearing. It may look like walking upright, unbound, in the middle of the hardest season of your life — because someone is with you.

For reflection

In what area of your life do you most need to stop looking for God to show up after the fire, and start looking for Him in it?

Pray

Pray for eyes to see where God is already present with you in something that feels like a furnace right now.

Day 6

Jesus doesn't promise His followers a smooth path. He promises something better: 'I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.' This is not the kind of comfort that says your problems aren't real. It's the kind that says the problems don't win. Pastor Hunter used a vivid image here: compared to what God has stored up for eternity, our present costs are like Monopoly money. That's not a dismissal of real pain — it's a reframing of proportion. The trials are real, the sorrows are real, and Jesus Himself names them. But they exist inside a story that is already decided, and the one who decided it is the one standing with you. This is why Pastor Hunter's application is so personal: shift your focus off your circumstances and back onto God. Not because circumstances don't matter, but because when we fix our gaze on the fire long enough, we forget there's someone in it with us. Returning to prayer and returning to Scripture aren't religious performance — they're how we reorient our eyes. Jesus spoke these words to His disciples the night before the cross. He knew what was coming for Himself, and He still said, 'Take heart.'

For reflection

How does it change the weight of what you're carrying to remember that Jesus has already overcome the world you're walking through?

Pray

Pray for a shift in perspective — that God would help you see your current circumstances in the light of what He has already secured.

Day 7

The end of Daniel 3 belongs to a pagan king. Nebuchadnezzar — the same man who built the statue, who cranked up the furnace — is now standing in public, blessing the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He isn't converted in this moment, but he is undeniably moved. He has seen something he cannot explain, and it has changed what he says in front of his entire kingdom. Pastor Hunter made this point plainly: your obedience in the fire is a witness. When you are the only one standing — at work, in your family, in your school — your willingness to stay faithful may be exactly what someone near you needs to see Jesus. You may never know whose Nebuchadnezzar moment you are part of. As you close this week, bring the whole story together. Obedience felt lonely, cost something real, and required trusting God before knowing the outcome. But it also produced freedom, presence, and a public display of God's glory that no amount of programming or persuasion could manufacture. That is the life we are invited into — not easy, not without cost, but never without Him. One day, Pastor Hunter reminded us, you will stand before the Father. And He will say, 'Well done.' Live this week — and every week — with that moment in view.

For reflection

Looking back over this week, what is one specific way God is calling you to choose obedience — even if it costs you, even if He doesn't rescue you the way you hoped?

Pray

Pray for the courage to take one concrete step of obedience this week, and ask God to use your faithfulness to point someone near you toward Jesus.

Rewind AI contributed study material from the sermon transcript; church-authored wording and verified sermon quotes keep their own source. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI

Small-group discussion guide

For leading a group conversation about this message.

Open

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were given a clear choice — bow or burn — and they chose the fire. This message asks what it really looks like to obey God when we can't control what obedience will cost us.

Discussion questions

1
In Daniel 3:16-18, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego tell the king that God 'is able to save us' — but then add 'even if He doesn't.' What do you think it would have taken for them to say those words out loud, and what does that 'even if' reveal about how they understood their relationship with God?
2
Pastor Hunter pointed out that obedience will sometimes make us the only one standing — at work, in a family, at school. What does it look like, practically, for people in situations like that to hold their ground without feeling like they have to go it alone?
3
The message drew attention to the moment in Daniel 3:24-25 when the king looks into the furnace and sees a fourth figure walking with the three men. What do you think that moment was meant to say to Nebuchadnezzar — and what might it say to us about where God shows up?
4
Pastor Hunter challenged us to ask honestly what we want our obedience to produce — and whether we've been treating it as a transaction rather than an act of trust. What's the difference, and how might that distinction change the way we follow through when the outcome is uncertain?
5
By the end of Daniel 3, Nebuchadnezzar's response to what he witnessed is to declare that no one should speak against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. What does that outcome suggest about who is watching when people choose costly obedience — and what might that mean for how we think about those moments?
6
In John 16:33, Jesus says, 'In this world you will have many trials and sorrows' — and then tells His followers to take heart. Pastor Hunter described present hardships as 'Monopoly money' compared to what is stored up eternally. How does holding both of those ideas together — real present cost and real eternal hope — shape the way communities of faith encourage one another through the fire?

Pray together

Courage to choose obedience even when the outcome is unclear, and gratitude that God is present in the fire with us

Rewind AI contributed study material from the sermon transcript; church-authored wording and verified sermon quotes keep their own source. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI

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Topics

Cost of Discipleship Eternal Perspective God's Presence in Suffering Radical Obedience Standing Alone

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