Into the Fire | Week 7 | Sermon

Pastor Bill Bush · Feb 21, 2024

Big Idea

No matter who you think is driving the car of your life or the world, God is the one in charge, and He calls you His precious — so you can trust the journey.

The book of Daniel proves that history unfolds exactly as God determines, no matter which king or kingdom seems to be in charge. When you truly see God's holiness and His love for you, you can stop backseat-driving your fears about politics and hard days, and instead walk the way of wisdom — trusting the Driver because you are precious to Him.

Key points

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1The whole book of Daniel exists to teach one truth: no matter who is in charge, God is.
Pastor Bill frames Daniel's seventy years in exile under hostile, anti-God kings as proof that God directs the hearts of any king He wants. The narrative chapters show Daniel and his friends thriving in a culture going the other way, which mirrors the anxiety many feel today about who is 'driving' their country or their life.
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2Daniel's prophecies of kingdoms rising and falling have all come true except one, proving the Bible's reliability.
Pastor Bill walks through chapters seven through nine, noting how Daniel named the Medo-Persian, Greek, and Roman empires before they existed, and how the prophecy of the seventy weeks of years predicted the exact timing of the rebuilding of Jerusalem's walls and Jesus' triumphal entry on Palm Sunday, 33 AD. Only the final seven-year period, covered in Revelation, remains unfulfilled.
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3Seeing God's true holiness and power is what strips away our false, casual view of Him.
In chapter 10, Daniel sees a vision of the glorified Christ so overwhelming that his companions flee and Daniel himself faints face-down. Pastor Bill stresses this was Daniel's first real glimpse of Jesus as almighty King and Judge, not merely a friendly figure, and that fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
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4That same holy God calls you His precious and tells you not to be afraid.
After Daniel collapses, the messenger lifts him and tells him he is precious to God, so he can stand and listen. Pastor Bill holds this together with the vision of holiness: you need both the fear of who God is and the assurance that He loves you before you can walk in obedience.
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5A good day is not an easy day — it's a day you stayed faithful, no matter how hard.
Pastor Bill retells his father's story as a 17-year-old machine gunner at Iwo Jima, turning from the carnage of battle to a beautiful sunset and realizing a hard, brutal day could still be a good day because he stayed faithful and lived to fight another day. He applies this to Daniel 12:10, where the wise are refined by trials while the wicked never understand.
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6God's final word to Daniel is simply: go your way, the way of wisdom, and trust Me for the rest.
Pastor Bill lands on Daniel 12:13, where Daniel is told to keep going the way he already had — faithfulness — until the end, when he will rise to his inheritance. He ties this to Proverbs 3:5-6, trusting the Lord rather than leaning on your own understanding of what counts as a good or bad day.

Application

Pastor Bill's charge is to stop asking 'are we there yet?' and instead choose the way of wisdom — trusting the Driver because you are His precious.

Redefine what a good day is
Stop equating good days with easy days; a good day is one where you stayed faithful to God regardless of how hard it was.
Quit backseat driving over politics
Get involved and vote your conscience, but stop fearing that the wrong leader will ruin everything — pray for both sides, since God can direct any leader's heart.
Surrender to the process
In the hard, slow, or annoying stretches of life, stop treating everything as a competition against time and simply surrender to what God is doing in the moment.
Humble yourself before God's holiness
Like Daniel, let the vision of God's holy power bring you low, and let it lead you to obedience rather than casual familiarity.
Embrace that you are God's precious
Reflect at communion on the cross as the place where God's judgment on sin and His love for you meet, and let that truth anchor your trust in Him this week.

Take it into your week

7-day devotional

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

Day 1

There is something jarring about Daniel's encounter beside the Tigris River. He sees a figure whose face shines like lightning, whose voice sounds like a roaring crowd — and Daniel, a man of remarkable faith, collapses. His strength drains away. He can barely breathe. This is not a gentle, approachable moment. It is an overwhelming encounter with holiness itself. Pastor Bill pointed to this scene as the starting point of wisdom: before we can truly trust God with history, with our futures, with the hard seasons, we have to see Him as He actually is. Not a co-pilot. Not a cosmic consultant we check in with when our own plans fall apart. The holy, righteous King of everything. It is easy to talk about trusting God while quietly treating Him as one voice among many we are weighing. Daniel's response invites us to something different — a posture of genuine awe that clears away the noise of our own opinions and assumptions. That kind of awe is not paralyzing fear. It is the honest acknowledgment that He is God and we are not, and that acknowledgment turns out to be the most freeing thing in the world. Wisdom does not begin with more information. It begins right here, on our knees.

For reflection

When you picture God right now, what does that picture look like — and does it leave room for the kind of awe Daniel experienced?

Pray

Pray for an honest, unhurried sense of who God actually is — His holiness, His magnitude, and His complete authority over everything.

Small-group discussion guide

For leading a group conversation about this message.

Open

This message from Daniel 10 and 12 sits with a question most of us carry at some point: does anyone actually have a handle on how this world is going? Pastor Bill argues the whole book of Daniel is God's answer to that question.

Discussion questions

1
In Daniel 10:4-9, Daniel's vision of a heavenly figure leaves him face-down on the ground, completely undone. What do you think it is about seeing God in His true holiness that has that effect on people — and why might that kind of encounter be where wisdom actually begins?
2
Right after the vision levels Daniel, the first thing God says to him in verses 11-12 is essentially: you are precious to Me. What does it tell us about God's character that His first word after revealing His holiness is an expression of love?
3
Daniel 12:10 draws a distinction between those who are wise and those who simply accumulate knowledge. How does this passage define wisdom differently than the way we normally use that word?
4
Pastor Bill used the image of children asking 'Are we there yet?' on a long car ride to describe how we relate to God's control over history. In what ways does that picture capture something true about how people — and communities — tend to respond to uncertainty?
5
Pastor Bill challenged us to redefine what a good day is — not an easy day, but a faithful one. How might that shift in definition change the way a person or a community measures whether things are going well?
6
Proverbs 3:5-6 calls us to trust God completely and not lean on our own understanding. Pastor Bill pointed to the cross as the clearest picture of God's holiness and love held together. How does that picture of the cross give those verses weight beyond just good advice?

Pray together

Thanking God that He is both holy King and loving Father — and asking for the courage to call today a good day if we stayed faithful

Topics

Faithfulness Over Circumstances Fear and Love of God God's Sovereignty Trusting God's Plan Wisdom and Applied Truth

Into the Fire | Week 7 | Sermon

Big Idea

Key points

Application

Take it into your week

Scripture in this message

7-day devotional

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

Day 7

Small-group discussion guide

Open

Discussion questions

Pray together