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Daniel 3

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We are live. It's Monday night, and we have a wedding coming up this Saturday for Jocelyn and Christian. And we are going to lay hands and pray for Jocelyn tonight. And just as as you get nervous as the day's approaching and all those all those arrangements and all those things going on, we just wanna pray for protection and for God's perfect will to be done. So, father, we come before you, and we lift up Jocelyn. We thank for the joy and the blessing of getting to know her over the last few years and and for Christian. And what a joy and what a blessing. Just so exciting to see them. Just so excited to be enjoyed joined together in holy matrimony, Lord, to be wed together. And just so thankful that you're the foundation of their relationship, of their of their marriage, that their lives are being built upon you, Lord. They're doing things your way. And, Lord, as the two come together and become one as we do the ceremony on Saturday, Lord, we pray that your holy spirit be poured out just abundantly upon them, that you just undergird and strengthen them, keep your hedge of protection about them, that you keep them healthy and strong, that, Lord, you help their relationship with you to deepen, Lord, as they each of them learn to die to self and and to live for you, Lord. So we just ask for the the wedding arrangements, everything leading up to this, that everything goes smooth, that mama and daddy and everyone else involved, just give them your peace that surpasses all understanding, guard their hearts and minds, and bless Jocelyn Christian's friends and groomsmen and and maidens and all that stuff and just help it all to flow and to go well. We ask for really nice weather on this Saturday, Lord. And, Lord, we just pray that you'd be glorified. That you'd be glorified in in the work you're doing in these kids' lives. And then use it, Lord, for your kingdom and glory. Use it in in an evangelistic way to draw others under yourself, Lord, as marriage typifies our relationship with you. So bless Jocelyn. Thank you for her, Lord. Thank you for Christian, and thank you, Lord, that we get to be a part of all this. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. That's the Lord right there. Guys had so much fun on fourth of July. You came back again. So, Bernie, you wanna open us some prayer? Amen. Sitting in the sun is warming up. Warming up in the sunshine. Take my life. Holiness holiness is what I long for. Holiness faithfulness is what long for. Faithfulness is what I need. Faithfulness faithfulness is what you want from me. Take my heart and foreman. Take my heart informant take my mind transformant Oh. I don't like sun. Sunshine is on my guitar. It is sunshine on my shoulder. Our God. Sing with me how great is our God. And all we'll see how Amen. No worries. Alright. There. Thanks, Rob. Thanks. Alright. Daniel chapter three. How many of you have seen the VeggieTales version of this? Anybody? Yeah. Pretty good. I thought about just playing the VeggieTale video, but but we can do that later. Just watch it with your grandkids and and pretty lot of fun. But when COVID was happening, one of the things that was speaking real strong to me was this is a simple Sunday school lesson, and it was just so simple to me. It's just so incredibly simple. It's the attitude of Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego is the attitude to my heart was we're nonnegotiable. You're asking us you're asking for us to not open the church, to mask up, to take a jab, you know, all these other things, telling us we can't sing, we can't do communion, all these things. And my attitude was out of defiance, like, there's no way I'm gonna dishonor God in that way. It's just can't do it. You know? And it doesn't matter what they threaten, what they're gonna do, or whatever. Can't go along with it. And then there's Calvary Chapel San Jose presently that you continue to play pray for, Don McClure's son. And he I think he still has a $1,200,000 judgment against him because he kept his church open, you know, during COVID. And and so they're they got some good lawyers, and they're trying to especially with president Trump in there, they should be able to get all that reversed and establish a precedent so these guys don't try it again in their two point o attempt to shut the church down. So, anyway, it was just so simple to me. I could see it so clearly. And and as we go through here, there's there's a lot of typology here. There's things for us to learn. And we saw where Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego that they did not they would not eat the king's meat. And, and they negotiated a way to to not defile themselves in chapter one. And then in chapter two, there's this dream that Nebuchadnezzar has and head of gold, chest of silver, and then brass belly and then and and legs and then legs of iron and and feet mixed with iron and clay. And we saw that's a time of the Gentiles and that this dominant Gentile empire that of Babylon was the head of gold. And the next is Daniel chapter five where Belteshazzar, the grandson of king Nebuchadnezzar, he's overcome by Cyrus and Darius, the Medes and the Persians. And then later, we see where Alexander the Great overcomes the Medes and the Persians, and then later, the Romans, dominate. And, and so king Nebuchadnezzar with all that in in place and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego given positions of authority, and Daniel being raised up at at the gate given a great, area of authority. Now, now Nebuchadnezzar, he wants to be a god, and he wants it's not he's showing everybody Marduk. When you conquer when you conquer a people, you would compel the people that you've conquered. They're gonna have to worship your god. And, so that's part of it, But he goes even beyond introducing the gods of the Babylonians, particularly Marduk, and he makes a statue all of gold all of gold and, 90 foot tall and nine foot wide. And, and then he makes a decree that everybody when they hear, the music playing, that, they're gonna have to all bow down and worship, and show, submission on the king Nebuchadnezzar and his image and all that. In chapter four, he gets in even more trouble. This is not great Babylon which I've built. And, and part of the whole purpose of that dream and all was so that Nebuchadnezzar would get to know God. And he's gonna get to know God even, you know, a little bit more here in chapter three and a great deal in chapter four when he comes out of the seven years of eating grass. And so let's pray. Father, we come before you, Lord. We thank you for the sweet place, Rob and Vicky's home that we can meet here. We thank you that we can minister, to folks on Facebook who are watching and just be with those. Thank you that we can gather here for a meal and prayer and and and a time of instruction in your word. And we pray that you'd be our teacher, Lord, that we'd stay on track and that you'd speak to our hearts, and we'd apply these truths to our lives that you'd make us bold. And, Lord, we're reminded that the early church was bold, and then and then they prayed and they had a prayer meeting, and they prayed that they'd have even greater boldness, Lord, because our tendency is to be overwhelmed with fear. And, we don't wanna be overwhelmed with fear, Lord, and we want a purpose in our heart before we're tested that if we are tested, that we know what we're gonna do, Lord. And it looks like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, it was a no brainer for them. There's just no way they're gonna give in, and, and they're ready to die for the truth, Lord, and for you. And so I pray that we would steal our hearts and minds, Lord, that we would be tempered and, that there'd be no frailty, no way that the enemy can get in and and get us to compromise, Lord, because of fear and because of a lack of faith. So we we just thank you for this time. And as James and Sally are going through a terrible fiery trial, Lord, as they're in the midst of that fiery trial, I pray, Lord, just as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego found out, Lord, that you're right there with them. And, Lord, that you minister unto them. I pray that you heal Sally's body as the cancer's gone to her sternum. And I pray that the chemo, all of the protocols, everything would work, and the cancer would go away. And I pray, Lord, that you would miraculously touch her body and heal her. And then, Lord, we also lift up Joe as he's riddled with cancer also. And we pray for his stomach. We pray that they could procedurally do something for him, possibly the chemo, that the tumors would be removed, that you give his immune system the strength to defeat him and beat him and and all that, cause his fate to grow as he's going through all this. And, Lord, we lift up, Linda also, his wife, as she's having heart trouble. And, Lord, she's at the hospital too. And so, Lord, we lift them both up. Boy, are they being hit? And and so tonight as we think of fiery trials as Peter talked to us about these fiery trials that are gonna try us, Lord, your desires that we refine, that we be refined, and your desires that you be glorified, that we we don't faint, that we have no fear, that we're strong, we're your witnesses in these last days. So, Lord, we just lift up these people we love, and you've given them some huge trials with these health issues. And Mark and Shelley, they've had health issues, and we pray same thing. And anybody else here, Lord, and and those that are listening, Lord, we just lift you up and just pray that we keep our eyes on Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith. We fix our eyes on him. We don't look to the left or the right or at the storm or what men are saying, but we we we look upon you, that we focus upon you, our confidence is in you, and help us to learn from Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego and how they respond, to the terror, Lord. In Jesus' name, pray. Amen. Alright. So verse one. So Nebuchadnezzar, the king, made an image of gold. And this is about commentators debate this, but this is about twenty three years between chapter two and chapter, three, that this is happening. And, so he makes an image, an idol. And, basically, as I said, it's an image of self worship. He's deifying himself and, whose height is threescore, and threescore is is sixty. And so Mark's a guy with numerology. So threescore cubits, and the breast six cubits. So sixty and six. Six is the number of man. So then when we think in terms of revelation 13 to see the parallel, you know, the image of the beast, his number, the antichrist is six six six. So Nebuchadnezzar is a type of antichrist in this in this picture here. Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego are a type of what? Israel. Israel. And particularly the 144,000 and the one third remnant that gets through the time of Jacob's trouble, the fiery trial, the tribulation period, and they come through the fire. God says he's gonna refine a a remnant. And so the the the fiery trial is designed to burn off the dross, the impurities of our life, and the metal the metallurgist knows that, it's pure when they can see their face. And so one day, we're gonna see Jesus, and we're gonna know even as we are known when we see him face to face. And so, now Daniel's not mentioned, so Daniel's a type of what? The church. So Daniel's type of the church. Nebuchadnezzar is a type of the antichrist. The image of the beast is, the image that he raises up is is like the image that the beast raised up in in chapter 13 of the book of Revelation. And and so whose height is three score cubits. So a cubit, if you go with 18 inches and his forearm, be ninety foot tall and six cubits wide. So ninety foot by nine, and it's some say it's a bliss, but I don't think so. The the Hebrew is more of an image. It's image of Nebbe with a head, a head of gold, and the whole thing of gold. And, and he said it in the plane of Dura. Now the plane of Dura is, the plane where, Nimrod built the Tower Of Babel. So he's doing it in the area the general area or right at the area where, earlier where Genesis ten and eleven where Nimrod, Babel, Babylon, and, in the center of pagan religions and the idolatry of of Babylon. And so endure in the province of of Babylon. And and it says, then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together the princes, the governors, the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs, and the rulers of the provinces to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. So how many millions of dollars did we spend for president Trump's recent birthday? Didn't everybody go there? $50,000,000, you know? I wasn't invited. Were you guys invited? All the movers and shakers, the important people, are gonna be there, all the government people, but mysteriously, mention of Daniel. So Daniel might have been on a mission, sent out to an an outlying area, you know, on state's business or whatever, but but he's not there. And so, today, we have something that sorta like this whole picture. There's a place out in the desert called Burning Man, and they put up all these images and everything, and they have the music playing and all kinds of pagan, you know, heathens, false gods, false deities, false everything. And in in America, it's returned to paganism. And, and they do it every year, the tech giants and people spend millions and millions of dollars to go out there in the in the desert and have their burning man. They have a big effigy put up there and and, there's another thing that takes place, a lot of people forgotten about, but it's along the Russian River in California and Ronald Reagan was there and and Nixon said it's the most baggy thing he ever saw. And there's like a 36 tall 36 foot tall somewhere in that region, huge owl. Right? And Bohemian Grove. And so the elites, the particularly Republicans go there and they have a a just a licentious weird burning. They burn a, you know, big bonfires and stuff, and and there's a whole lot more to it. But in any event, it's some things never change, you know, with what these guys are doing. So satanic, a satanic ritual. So they've got all the, the movers and the shakers, and so they come to the dedication of the image and Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. So Nebuchadnezzar evidently when he's realizing that there's do you remember when the handwriting was upon the wall in Daniel chapter five? The many, many, Nebbe didn't like that idea that his kingdom would end. He wants his kingdom to be forever, to be eternal, and he wants to be eternal. And men want to live forever and never die, and that's why presently the transhumanists and all are postulating the lie, the same lie within the garden. And the same lie that the antichrist is going to preach is that you'll never die. And that's what the devil told Adam and Eve. And so when people reject God, when they reject the truth, they're gonna give be given over to a strong delusion and second Thessalonians two, it says, and they'll believe the lie. The lie is that you'll never die. And so the the satanic trinity of, the devil, the dragon, and the antichrist in place of Jesus Christ and the false prophet in place of the holy spirit, they're going to promote a false hope, a false hope in deifying and worshiping the devil. So the tribulation period at the midpoint, the antichrist goes into the temple, and he he declares himself to be god and demands to be worshiped as god. And so Matthew 24, Jesus authenticates this book in that it's real. It wasn't written after the fact during the Maccabean era. It's not history. It's prophecy. And and so it it blows the critics minds away, but but he's gonna declare himself to be god and demand to be worshiped as god. So in apostate Christianity, religious system starts the first three and a half years and the the the whore riding the beast, Revelation chapter 18. And seventeen and eighteen, we see the political system, the governmental system, and, the religious system, during the, tribulation period. And, and Hitler Adolf Hitler said that he could use the church, that they were rotted wall and that he could topple them over anytime he wants. Well, the antichrist religion, right now, you see a whole lot of people that are against Christianity, separation of church and state and all that, but there's gonna be a return to the the opiate of the people as of religion and the deifying of man. And so the tribulation periods can be a time of intense religiosity, people worshiping. And the hitch is is that they're not gonna have no separation of church and state. They're gonna blend the two. You know, you're gonna blend them together. And so you're going to have an emperor like, like the Roman emperors, a Caesar, where the people would pinch incense in the Roman time and lest they die. 6,000,000 Christians died because they wouldn't do it. They go into pagan temple and they'd say, Caesar is lord. And so that's what Nebuchadnezzar is doing here. That's what the antichrist is gonna do. And, other leaders throughout history wanna deify themselves. And in the last days, the people are gonna, during the tribulation period, the only way they can save their life for a period of time is to take the mark of the beast, six six six on the right hand of their forehead. And, Revelation twenty four twenty verse four talks about how the people refused and they refused and they lost their heads. And then Revelation six and seven, and the innumerable multitude of people said no to king Nebuchadnezzar. Right? Innumerable multitude of people said no to the devil and yes to God by refusing the mark of the beast. So many, many, you've been weighed in the balance. Your kingdom's weighed in the balance and found wanting. The kingdom is is stripped from you or taken from you and given to the Medes and the Persians. So Nebbe, as much as he thinks his kingdom is gonna last forever, it lasts about sixty eight years, less than seventy years. And so the Jews are gonna be in Babylon for about seventy years. Jeremiah taught Daniel that. And then, king Cyrus, when he comes there, then, Daniel's able to get, Isaiah forty four and forty five and show Cyrus the great that god surnamed him. You know? And Cyrus is, favorable toward the Jews and allows Ezra and Nehemiah and, the people to begin to move those that wanted to move back to, Jerusalem and be begin to rebuild. And, and that's the picture there of, of what's happening to Daniel and these guys right here. So Daniel lives to be about a 100 years old, and he sees, the Babylonian empire and moves on into the Medo Persian empire. And then Alexander the Great, when he, defeated the Medes and the Persians, he was very favorable toward the Jews and, treated them well. And, and so they're able to find favor with these pagan kings. So all the people are there and then the princes and the governors and the captains and the judges and the treasurers and the counselors and sheriffs And all the rulers of the province were gathered together under the dedication of the image and Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up, and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. So they're gonna dedicate it. The media's there. When the two witnesses in Revelation chapter 11 fall, when they're executed by the Antichrist, everybody's gonna be able to see them because they have a cell phone, and they're gonna have SpaceX, Elon Musk thing everywhere. So everyone's gonna, in real time, gonna be able to see the two witnesses, and, you know, you know that I know their names, but I'm not gonna tell you. And they they, they stand up. After three and a half days, they stand back up. And, and it's an uh-oh moment for everybody. And they've been, they've been celebrating. They've been having a satanic Christmas giving gifts and all the other, you know, who can war, who can fight with the antichrist. And, but everybody's gonna see it. The media is there. Everybody is able to see the two witnesses, not only come back up from the dead, but then raptured on into heaven, and and, that's a huge moment. That's at the midpoint of the tribulation period. That's where the antichrist so turn to chapter 13 of Revelation. Revelation 13, beginning with verse 11. And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth and had two horns. Like a lamb, he had spoke like a dragon. And he exercised all the power of the first beast before him and causes the earth and them who dwell in it to worship the first beast whose deadly wound was healed. So this is the false prophet, and, the antichrist had an assassination attempt to get him. And so, again, a a false resurrection. They thought he was dead, but he's not. And, trickery. And he doeth great wonders so that he maketh the fire come down. So he's going to mimic the miracles that the two witnesses did. And so if it's Elijah and Moses, they're calling fire down on the earth or a Zerubbabel, who else you might think it is. But, it makes the fire come down from heaven on the earth in the side of men and deceiveth them. So he's able to deceive with lying signs and wonders them that dwell upon the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast, saying to them that dwell on the earth that they should make an image, to the beast. So here's that here's that point in the midpoint where the devil wants to be worshiped, the unholy trinity, the devil's, god the father, the antichrist in place of Jesus Christ, and, and then the false prophet, unholy, holy spirit. So the image of the beast and had a wound by the sword and did live, and he has power to give life under the image of the beast. So we have all the AI technology. We have demons. Paul said that which the Gentiles sacrifice unto in these pagan temples. They're actually sacrificing unto demons. So can we speculate that this image that they're building that it has technology that makes it appear to be alive and or remember the Agadera, the the demon said we're legion for many, and we don't wanna be unembodied spirits. Is it possible that, demons and or plural as they went into the pigs that a demon could come in to this image that's built and whether through technology or the occult, make it appear, you know, to be alive. And, with all the AI technology that's happening and all the moving forward with that, man, culminating with with the time in the tribulation period where they have the image of the beast and they try to, there's a word that they use where they try to, bring about not solidarity, not synchronization, but singularity. Singularity where the AI takes on a life of its own, and and it has the the high IQ and superior knowledge and ability than that of even human beings. And so they envision that, but whether or not they can pull it off, we don't know. So the image of beast that had the wound by the sword and he has powers to give life under the image of the beast that the image of the beast should both speak, so we can see that. Our children's toys are able to speak. Used to be when they're real long time ago, you pull the string and they speak, and and and he caused that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. So Revelation 20 verse four, the tribulation saints, those who refused, they're gonna enter into heaven because they refused the mark of the beast on their right hand, and they refused to worship the beast. So here's part of it as a distinction just for food for thought that if you chip your dog as a job as your dog taking the mark of the beast? No. If you take a chip at work, your right hand or in your skin or under your skin or I think Sweden tried it. They tried it with everybody getting chips. Now they're going back to cash. They don't like the whole chip system. But I believe the tattoo or the mark or whatever it is, it's it's explicit. It's the mark six six six, but it also ties in with worship. You're worshiping. Once you worship, that's where it's it's the demonic aspect of it. So presently, the technology leading up to it, there's no redemption for people that take the mark of the beast. Now personally, I I wouldn't take any kind of ID in any way shape or form in my body. And I wouldn't wanna I wouldn't wanna put in my pet either, I guess. I don't know. But, just because I don't want to. And you could if you want and track and trace and and, maybe a great thing. Now your children, you know, RFK junior is coming out saying that he proposes that everybody have a wearable a wearable ID, and it's gonna help with your health insurance in identifying you as an American and worthy of, you know, do you have your vaccine information in there and all of your medical information? And so he called it a wearable, a whole new idea, whole new we haven't heard the wearable, you know. And, so now we got a wearable. But we're before during COVID, they were wanting to give you a card or a means in Europe where you had a vaccine certificate, you know, and it would have your you know, Bill Gates and all of them wanted to have all the information about you, you know, your financial, everything. So they're moving in that direction. And, again, we're gonna be like Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Now I don't believe we're gonna be here in the tribulation period, but leading up to it, there are decisions we're gonna have to make of whether we're gonna go along or whether we're gonna say no to the to the development of the beast system, the birth pangs of the beast system. We may see the formation of or the beginning of the formation of the global government and the global currency. If the dollar crashes and they have a fed coin for you and it's tied into your phone, you know, it's not the mark of the beast yet, but, we may say, yeah, okay, we'll go that way and others will say no, I that's the beast system and I wanna barter and I wanna be like the Amish and I wanna trade and I got a different gold and silver or whatever. But, there's decisions gonna be made and there's gonna be incentives. There's gonna be an incentive to get that $15,000 in your Fed account, and sign up for it. And they're gonna tell you, hey, Donald Trump loves you and he's got a place online where you go to fed.com and there's $15,000 waiting there for you. Just sign up for it, you know. So they're gonna use the incentives. Nebby isn't given any incentives. Nebby is saying if you don't do it, you're gonna die, you know. And so he's just gonna give you the stick. And so we when we go to Disneyland and we see Abraham Lincoln, Robin Vickie are going to Disneyland. They're gonna spend three days there. They might I don't know if Abraham Lincoln's still there, but there's an image of him where he talks to you. Four score and seven years ago, I think that's it. Right? Our fathers is it seven years ago? Four score? Eighty seven years ago? Six? Is it? Yeah. It's what he says. And, so you get to see him. And so that's a prelude. It's a that's been there a long time since we were kids. And, so this this, worship to an image of the Bish, should be killed and he that cause all both small and great, rich and poor, free and enslaved to receive a mark in the right hand or in their foreheads. And that no man might buy or sell, so the technology is already there, chip under the skin and or a tattoo, radiological tattoos, so a barcode on your forehead, a barcode on your hand, whatever. And, and that no man might buy or sell except he, had the mark or the name of the beast of the number of his name. And here in this wisdom of him that has understanding, count the number of the beast for it is the number of a man, which is six, and his number is six hundred threescore and six. So six six six. And, now we come back here. So the devil's a counterfeit, and the devil has been trying to wipe out, the Jews. We talked in our podcast the other day about the nation of Israel. And as soon as the devil hears that the seed of the woman, the virgin born son of God, that a nation's gonna come forth from, first of all, the virgin born son of God, the devil hates all humanity. When he understands this, the messiah is not gonna be an angel. He hates human beings, and he can kill every person on the planet, then there's no Messiah. There's no saving humanity. Then when he finds out that he's not Ishmael, but in Isaac shall thy seed be called, that he's gonna be a Jew, and then narrowed down not through Esau, but through Jacob, then there's this intense desire to kill all of the Jews. So Pharaoh is a type of antichrist, and he tries to kill all the babies and throw them into the Nile. These people are getting too big, and then he tries to destroy, the nation of Israel because the devil's behind it, and the devil needs to eradicate the Jews. So the antisemitism and the holocaust throughout history with Haman, later on and then with Hitler and other points in periods of history. And, so the devil's very, very motivated to wipe out all Jews because Jesus is a Jew. And then in the tribulation period, he wants to wipe out the woman, Revelation 12, which is the nation of Israel, and and and he wants to stop Jesus from returning. So the the the devil, I mean, he's highly motivated. He's a psychopath. He's crazy, but he's very, very much, antagonistic toward the nation of Israel. So here you have Nebuchadnezzar there, and God's allowed him to be an instrument of judgment to destroy the temple in May and to do all this. Now he's a tool in God's hand of discipline. And later, God will come back, and he'll spank Babylon for how they treated, the nation of Israel. And, but there's a picture here that you and I can see of what's up ahead because the devil the devil back to the Tower Of Babel. You know, he's trying they're trying to be God, and they're trying for that singularity. And God confounded the languages and, made nation states out of them and all. So they want to bring this back to to mimic what the Lord's gonna have in the millennium when he rules and reigns. Alright. So, then the herald cried, to you it is commanded, o people, nations, languages. So there's a demand here, to worship that at that time that you hear the sound of the horn, the pipe, the lyre, the sack put, the psaltery, the dulcimer, and all kinds of music, you shall fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king has set up. And, so, forced religion forced upon you. You're gonna bow down, and it's not just a show and submission. It's it's worship. You're gonna worship him as deity just as we said, the Romans did with with, their Caesars. And, so demand by the government to worship, and, and that's the dividing line for the early church. They were great citizens and slaves, and they worked hard and they paid their bills and they didn't, you know, try to overthrow Rome. But when it came down to their belief, as soon as they crossed that line with the early church, they said no way. Nonnegotiable. We're not going to say Caesar is Lord. But if you do, it just takes a second. It just takes a second to go in there and pinch that in and says, keep your house, you keep your good job, you keep everything. And think of how many more people you can help if you're alive to spread the gospel, you know. All the different ways that we can compromise and, tell ourselves that that it's okay. One of the things that I was amazed at was during COVID, the church actually said, love your neighbor. Now I'm told to compromise and take the mark of the beast or not meet for church, not sing because I'm loving my neighbor. Boy, it's hard to argue that one. I love the neighbor. Who who who doesn't wanna love their neighbor? But it's just a rationalization to compromise so that people don't feel bad. So they don't feel bad like they're they're, basically, dishonoring God. It comes down to honoring God above all else. Worshiping the Lord thy God with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul, all your saying, I love god more than I love my neighbor. How about that? So if I if I love my kids, if I love people, my neighbor more than god, then that's idolatry. So I've gotta put god first. I gotta love him first, and that's what's they're being tested here. And so so they got the image up. And whosoever falls not down and worships shall the same hour be cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. And, so this is an apostate preacher, and it's an apostate message, And, and it's basically a proving ground, a testing ground of who really believes in Jesus and who doesn't, who believes in the true living God and who does not. And so, when Jesus is hanging on the cross, one of the things when you when you, refuse to compromise, refuse to go with the flow, the devil will come along with people that love you very, very much, and they'll say, you know, you need to save yourself. You really need to save yourself. You need to come down off that cross, that suffering, and save yourself. It's it's unfair to your wife and your children and your family that you would put them through all this, And, you need to leave the ministry. You need to go get a job and save yourself. And you have to recognize that the Lord's called you to take your cross up and follow Jesus. That this is the calling he's placed upon your life, and it's the most loving thing you can do is to remain in that spot of weakness. Because Jesus is strong enough to call down 12 legions of angels when Peter's wielding the sword in the garden. Right? He's strong enough and able if he wants to come down from that cross. And he prayed about it three times. If you're willing, remove this cup from me, but nevertheless not as I will, but thy will be done. So he remains in that place of crucible, the crucible, willingly. No man takes his life from me. He willingly lays it down. So too with you and I, when we find ourselves in a fiery trial, we could run and get out of there. We could avoid the trial altogether, or we can yield to the Lord in his sovereignty even though we don't understand, and we're gonna experience fellowship as we're gonna see here with the Lord in the midst of that fiery trial. Had we tried to save ourselves, then we gotta deal with Nabi. And we gotta deal with, a weak, insipid, powerless, lukewarm existence in the Laodicean church, a church of compromise. So he cast in the midst of the burning fiery furnace. Now, therefore, at that time when all the people heard the sound of the horn, the pipe, the lyre, the sackclip, the psaltery, and all kinds of music. All the people, the nations, and the languages fell down and worshiped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar, the king, had set up. It sounds to me like they have a pretty hip praise band. Sounds to me like Bethel's there. Bethel Music's there. Right? And, it sounds to me like Bethel's music there with a tunnel, a fire tunnel for people to run through. Right? And to experience an occult experience geared toward your senses, your five senses. And, oh, you got the giggles, and you got the goosebumps, and you just started feeling good, and all that other sort of thing. But it's not a spiritual work. It's not a work of God, the holy spirit. It's a counterfeit. And, a lot of people are attracted to satanic worship today. And they think that or they act like they're worshiping God, but, they profess that they know God, but in works, they deny him. They're denying the holy spirit. And, that whole barking and roaring that the Toronto blessing people did, that's satanic. Laying on the ground and worming around and everything and uncontrollably and all that, that's satanic. But the people were doing it thinking they were worshiping God. And, a lot of the different rhythm and the way that that we do music today in the churches, a lot of it's designed to, you know, picture picture Elijah with the 450 prophets of Baal, and they're cutting themselves, and they're trying to find a rhythm. They're chanting, and they're chanting in their satanic languages and stuff, and they're they're trying to get into the a satanic zone, you know, in in the occult. And the church adopts a lot of that stuff too with a a form of chanting, a form of bouncing, a form of of trying to get your nervous system and everything engaged. And and, when you look at the pagan festivals, burning man or a lot of the concerts and all, it's satanic. It's a satanic, exercise. And the people are moved. They're moved. They're they're definitely, and then they use psychotropics. They use drugs to enhance it and LSD and mushrooms and all of the sorts of things and alcohol. And and that's a picture of the tribulation period, the sorcery, and the worship of the devil, the things that are just gonna be incorporated in the worshiping of him. And, you know, I don't need any foreign stimulants to worship God. When I was fighting the battle, against psychotropic drugs years ago, and everybody was fighting against me, I I you guys can't imagine how loved I am in Kitsap County. I'm one of the most loved pastors there is. But when you when you attack these things and you expose it, the devil hates it. And, and I was asking a simple question to the pastors. Are you guys seeing the church? This is from before COVID. Are you seeing your church, particularly the women, but a lot of the men, given over to antidepressants and the claim that they have serotonin imbalances and, and how it is numbing them out. They're they're they're in a place where they don't feel pain. They don't feel up. They don't have down. They're kinda numb. They're kinda in the middle. And, when we worship, when we're there to worship the Lord, you know, it's, we're being neutralized. And, and then they claim, and I talked to the pastors about it, they claim that there's a serotonin imbalance and then they say, well, are you a doctor? How do you know? How do you know they aren't? Well, tell me the test. Where's the test? Vicky's a diabetic. We can do a test. We can determine that her blood sugar's low. Irrefutable. But you're subjective. You're supposing that there's a serotonin imbalance, and you don't even know why, and you don't even know how to to correct it. You know? And, so it's subjective, but you're selling a sure lot of drugs. So I asked the question, what's the dynamic when I begin to worship the Lord? Strap me to something, and let me start to worship my lord. What kind of chemicals are bursting in my head now when I get my eyes off myself? What kind of dopamine is being excreted and and the joy of the lord and the blessing of worshiping my god? Where's that in the equation? What happened to that? The joy of the Lord's our strength. If you if you negate our ability to worship God and drone us out, they've won. Now so you have to go through a list and you have to say, alright. Let's start physiologically. Am I getting enough sunshine? Am I getting exercise? Am I eating right? Am I getting enough sleep? And then you go to the soul part. Well, what what's happening to you? Well, my my mom just died. Well, you should be depressed. You can't be up. You're gonna grieve for six months. You know? That's natural. Why art thou cast down on my soul? Why art thou disquieted within me? Psalm 42, hope thou in God. It's normal. There's nothing wrong with you. And then you look at the spiritual part. Alright. Spiritually, am I in the word? Am I in prayer? Am I spending time with the Lord? Well, my Lord's a man of sorrows. He meets me in that valley. He meets me in that depression. He meets me in that discouragement. I'm getting to know him more than I've ever gotten to know him on the mountaintops. Right? And he's revealing himself to me. And and so, anyway, I just I just had to attack it. And then and then years later, the pharmaceutical companies admitted that, no. It wasn't true. We had no clue about their serotonin levels. We just had the doctors push these drugs, push them, push them, push them, push them, push And and it just broke my heart because all the pastors and the pastor's wives were on them, and that's why I couldn't get anywhere. Imagine that. And so if you've been on them or you're on them, I just encourage you to, and and I'm not telling you to go off your drugs because I've I've done this long enough to know that people that are in heavy psychotropics, they can't come off them. Not without huge huge problems. So I would I would refer you to Shannon where she was on 15 of them, and, and the Lord helped her, you know, off of them. But, that's a part of worship. We negate worship. Worship is an integral part of who we are. When we look at the book of Revelation, chapter four, you know, the four and twenty elders are down on their face, and everybody, the angels, everybody's worshiping God. We are and we're made to worship God. And when we can't worship God, it means we're ungrateful, it means our eyes are on our self, it and means we're susceptible to a counterfeit. A counterfeit's gonna come along to try and give you a counterfeit stimulus, rather than allowing the true and living God to speak to your heart and administer unto you. Wherefore at that time so these guys are willing participants. They're loving this worship. That's my point. And there's a lot of counterfeits in the church. So wherefore at that time, certain Chaldeans, these are the priests, came near and accused the Jews. So these guys are jealous. They're jealous because they couldn't tell the dream and they couldn't interpret the dream. And we got Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, and Daniel that are in the upper echelon now. They're rulers, and they have positions of authority. And they spoke and said to the king, Nebuchadnezzar, oh, king, live forever. So here come the politics. Gotta gotta you know, that's what the Nebuchadnezzar wants. He wants to live forever. He wants to be deity. Right? Thou, oh, king, has made a decree, so you did it. It's your fault, oh, king. You did this. That every man that shall hear the sound of the horn, the pipe, the lyre, the sack, but the psaltery, and the dulcimer, and all kinds of music shall fall down and worship the golden image. The golden image. The image of the beast. And whoever falls not down and worships that he should be cast into the midst of burning fiery furnace. There are certain Jews. Here we go. Certain Jews whom you you, Nebuchadnezzar, has set over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego. These men, o king, have not regarded thee. They serve not your gods nor worship the golden image. So three accusations. Revelation 12 verse 10 says the devil is the accuser of the brethren. The devil's running around using people to accuse you, to find fault with you. These guys, you, oh king. And so we see this massive people out there, and the music's playing, and everybody drops immediately to the ground, and there's three guys still standing. That's what we would call transcendent faith. Their faith is strong enough to transcend all the fear, all the doubt, all the everything of everybody else. These guys are like, no. We're not even careful how we're gonna answer. It's an absolute no. They're already dead men walking. They've already crucified the flesh. They already know what they're gonna do. And you and I in our heart, we need a purpose in our heart. What might we do if the state ever got to the point where we didn't have religious freedom anymore, where it's compulsory, and we need to know what we're gonna do. And, you gotta steal that away in your heart because you're gonna be caught off guard like COVID caught so many off guard. And, so one of the favorite verses Cathy has in this situation is Proverbs three five and six. So you're gonna lean on your own understanding. All the reasons why you should comply are gonna be spinning through your head. And the biggest one I heard was, I don't wanna lose my house. Well, the job then the house. I got a mortgage to pay. I got kids to raise. So you mean God's not gonna give you another job? That house that you have, it doesn't belong to God? Haven't you given it to him? The Lord giveth, Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. You mean you're gonna trust the state more than you are God? You can rationalize and come up with all different reasons. Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, it's like, no. Capital n o. No negotiating. We will not. Read my lips. And I love that. And you know when you're around a group of people like that, it's so infectious. It's like Caleb and Joshua. You know, when they're around the unbelievers, the 10 unbelieving report, it permeates, it poisons the hearts of all the people, and you waste time. You gotta spend forty years going in a circle because these guys didn't believe and trust in God. And you gotta wait until you can go in with another generation of people who are willing to trust God to take the land. Right? It's so hard waiting for people to get it. Waiting and waiting and waiting. Spend a lifetime like Jeremiah, and they don't get it. So frustrating. There are certain Jews, which thou has said over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men, o king, have not regarded thee. They serve not your gods. Well, that's good. That's a good indictment against me that I don't serve the pagan gods. Right? Nor worship the golden image which you have which you have set up. Guilty as charged. I'm guilty. And so let's look at some verses in the early church that, they were pressured to not speak in the name of Jesus anymore. Who wants acts, four eighteen through 21? Somebody want that? Anybody? Okay. Acts, five twenty seven through 29. Alright. And acts 40 five forty through 42. Yeah. Chapter five verse 40 through 42. You got it? No. We're up there with you. K. Acts four eighteen. And they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered and said unto them, whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things that we have seen and heard. So they're they're defiant. They're told to be quiet. Don't speak in his name anymore. It's a crime to speak in his name. The religious leaders didn't want them to bring the blood of Jesus on them. You know? Don't speak in his name anymore. And then what happened? How'd they respond? Acts five twenty seven through 29. The apostles were brought in and made to appear before the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest. We gave you strict orders not to teach in his name. And he said, yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man's blood. Peter and the other apostles replied, we must obey God rather than human beings. Obey God. Do you want me to do 40 through 42? Sure. Okay. His speech persuaded them. They called the apostles in and had had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus and let them go. The apostles left the Sanhedrin rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the name. Day after day in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah. Good job, man. Alright. Yeah. Praise the Lord. So we Adolf Hitler and the Germans, they like Romans 13, and they like to try and convince Christians that obeying them is obeying God. And the disciples here let you know we're gonna obey God rather than men. So God's at the top, and he institutes human government, for the place of preserving that which is good. And so for you and I, in our civics lesson, the power that we have that we're holding to is the constitution. And our elected leaders are chained to the constitution. But they will try to convince you that you elected them and given them carte blanche. They have all authority. It's a limited government with limited authority. And when they step outside the balance of the constitution, then, they could take away your free speech, your freedom of religion, all these different things. But they're supposed to be chained to it, and, people lose sight of the fact they they start saying, it's a democracy and they voted. No. It's not a democracy. It's constitutional republic. And there can be even a minority of people who are preserved and protected by the constitution. So you and I, we have no intention of violating the higher power, which is the constitution. We're not the rebels. Right? So so that's us. But a conquered people like the Jews with Rome, even Jesus took the coin. He says, render unto Caesar that which is Caesar, render unto God that which is God. So the sovereignty of God, we obey God rather than men when men are outside the bounds of what the intention of human government is, which is preserve the common good. And when they cease to be good, then you obey god. So in our in our case, they can take stuff from us and take your house and all that other kind of stuff. But when it comes to worship, when it comes to compulsory, you can't worship in this man's name anymore. That's where we say, well, I'm gonna obey god, you know, rather than men. And so then Nebuchadnezzar, in his rage so he's a rager. He needs to go to anger management, and fury commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Then they brought these men, before the king. So this guy is like Nero. Do you remember the stories of Nero, Caesar Nero? Remember how he went insane? So many feel that the apostle Paul, when he was there in Rome, that he had a chance in the book of Philippians, it says many in Caesar's household. So as he's awaiting, many in Caesar's palace in Vegas got saved. And, and some feel that, Paul had an audience with, with Nero. And Nero, in rejecting the gospel, went insane. So later what had happened before, you know, Paul beheaded and all later in this trial after his trial. There's legend that Nero went insane, and what he did was is he had a garden, a huge garden, and he took Christians and he impaled them on poles, and they rolled them in pitch rolled them in pitch and then impaled them on poles and set them up in his garden. And then he rode his chariot naked through his garden with a torch lighting the Christians on fire, shrieking, what's it feel like now Christians to be the light of the world? That's how insane he went. And so, when people resist the holy spirit, they're fighting against God, they do a lot of psychopathic things, you know, reprobate's crazy, whatever, and you'll find out you're not in Kansas anymore. So he knew verses. He yeah. He knew that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And in that in that thirst for blood and to kill, you know, then you got the Colosseum. You got 10 waves of Roman emperors. 10 Roman emperors over two hundred years. The policy of the state was to execute Christians. So the Christians are hiding in caves and the catacombs, and that's where they you guys know what the ixus is? What's what's the symbol? What is it? So how do you verbalize and know that somebody's a real Christian? How do you know? You would write like this and it means nothing like that. Right? But if they're a Christian, you know their one ears. It's a secret way of communicating that. Because you go to work, go to the marketplace, you go places like in Iran right now, they better not find out you're a Christian. Right? And in China, there's legend that Christians in China, when they worship and they sing, if they come into a small home group, they just sing. No sound because the neighbor will turn them in. Right? So they they find ways to to stay alive another day. So Nebuchadnezzar spoke and said unto them, it is true, oh Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, do not you serve my gods nor worship the golden image which I have set up. So think of how indignant it is. I brought you from Babylon from Jerusalem. You come here to Babylon. We give you all the best food for three years for grooming and training you and getting you ready. We gave you Chaldean names and and everything. And then now you defy me? After all I've done for you, is it true? Is it really true? You don't respect me? And that my gods nor worship the golden image which I have set up, and so you're not you're not, he's given them a chance. Now if you'd be ready, so he's gonna give them a second chance. Here's a second chance. Now if you'd be ready, that at that time that you hear the sound of the horn, the pipe, the lyre, the sack, but the sultry and dulcimer and all kinds of music to fall down and worship the image which I have made well. But if you worship not, he should be cast into the same hour in the midst of a burning fiery furnace. And who is that God? Here's a challenge. Who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hand? Well, Nebby, you're about to find out. Right? You're about to find out. Because now it's gone from an affront against, you know, a person, a human being. Saul Saul, why are you persecuting me? Jesus takes it personal when you were touched by these by these guys. But when a guy makes a a direct assault or a challenge to the true living god, he's gonna come out swinging. And and so is it true? And and so these guys are not followers. They are not followers of people, not followers of systems or programs, or they're not trying to build their own following. They're following Jesus. And, the way to success so often is compromise to go with the flow, and, you're guaranteed a hard life and heartache if you go against the grain and you don't go with the flow. And, but what are you gonna do? First John two fifteen. Who wants to read that? First John two fifteen and sixteen. And somebody else can read Romans twelve one and two. Take first John. Yeah. First John two fifteen, and I think 16. And then and then we have friendship with the world as enmity with God. Right? So first John, love not the world. I'm not there. Sorry. Okay. 215 is right. You're getting there. Am I in the right spot? 315. First John 215. 215. K. Because it just says okay. Alright. I got confused. Alright. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the father, but is of the world. The world passes away and the lust thereof, but neither doeth flow if God abides forever. Right? So when we become Christians in my life, 1980, God radically blessed my life. Gave me a wife, two girls, gave me health, gave me the ability to work and to buy a house and clothes and cars and all the things that we need to function. And sometimes, it hasn't happened in our generation, but sometimes God's gonna test whether we love him or we love the stuff. And Shadrach, Meshach, and Bedingon, no matter what position they have, no matter how much they accumulated, no matter how soft their life was, I can picture them with a really nice swimming pool. You know? And, you know, if they just chill, if they just bow down, then everybody's gonna be able to go do the hot tub Christianity. Get in the hot tub tonight and the barbecue and go swim and the beach and ride bikes and all that other sort of stuff. What happens is it becomes idols in our life, and we wind up loving that stuff and the world and all those things more. When we're tested, it's found out that we've fallen in love with the blessing, and we really don't love the blesser, the one that blessed us. And so, we gotta be careful of that. Romans twelve one and two. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that you that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be confronted to this world conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. So anybody wanna explain those two verses? You've heard me explain it many times. Okay. So Paul, the theme of the book is the gospel, and he spends eight chapters explaining the gospel. And then he's answering the question of someone that may be a replacement theology person or a no millennium allegorical dude, preterist. And he says, Israel, chapter nine, their past election. Chapter 10, presently rejecting. Chapter 11, their future restoration. Yeah. They're gonna be restored one day. So verse 25 of chapter 11, blindness and part is happened unto Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles come in. Now that's all doctrinal. Now he comes to the practical. He comes to the application. What does this mean to you since you are a Christian? How are you to live? So I beseech you, and it's pointing back to all that he said. He's begging. He's asking. I beseech you therefore, they're therefore grammatically pointing back to all that you've learned doctrinally. In your response, I beseech you therefore, brethren, your brethren, by the mercies of God, in light of his mercies, that you, your responses that you present the word present in the Greek is once and for all. J. Vernon McGee said the only problem problem with a living sacrifice is when the fire gets hot, they get down from the altar. Right? So you present yourself as a living sacrifice. What kind of sacrifice? Holy and acceptable. In Ephesians one, we've been accepted in the beloved. So holy and acceptable, well pleasing unto the Lord, which is your reasonable. It's reasonable after all he's done that you would be a worshiper. It's your reasonable service. The word service is worship. It's reasonable that you would be a worshiper in light of all that he's done for you and all that he's gonna do for you. And then in the contrast, be not conformed to this world. That word conform means don't let the world press you into its pattern. So be not conformed. Now we we hear people saying, I wanna be relevant. I wanna reach the lost. I wanna go to the bars, and I wanna share the gospel people at the bars, you know, and then you wind up getting drunk and lose your witness. You know? You don't need to compromise with the world. Get ready for the world to hate you. Get ready for the cross to be offensive. Get ready for the word sin to make them angry. Get ready for the word repentance to make them go crazy against you. You know? And, it's not about being liked by the world. You know? Friendship with the world is enmity with God. Jesus said, won't you when all men speak well with you. They will hate you, and some of them are gonna get saved. But by and large, people are going to hate you if you call them out. If you just live the truth and preach the truth and explain the truth, they're gonna hate you. And so be not conformed to this world, but be transformed. And all the ilamas and all these people are trying to figure out, Peter Thiel, how to transform somebody. Christianity is not reformed. It's not reformation. God is not in the business of reforming sinners. He doesn't make you a better sinner because all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. He transforms you from within. You're a new creation in Christ Jesus. Okay? So we have our our penal system, this idea that we can reform criminals. It doesn't work. They just get smarter at being criminals. Right? So too with you and I. As we get older, we do not get better as we get older. We become better liars. We become more wicked and evil and smarter at wicked and evil. We get better lawyers and accountants and everybody that helps us be more wicked and evil, the more money you accumulate. So there has to be a transformation. So be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. God wants to change the way you think. As a man thinketh in his heart, so does he. And so you go from the natural to the spiritual and, be transformed by the renewing of your mind. So God you know, they talk about all those different things, tracks, the way your brain works and moves this way. Well, God wants to remake a lot of those connections, you know. I spoke too much pop, man. I'm a I'm a I I can't. Well, he can reconnect you. He can get your brain thumping again. He can get you thinking different, you know. Those patterns, those triggers, all that stuff that the psychiatrist said, no. He can make new triggers, new things, you know. And it but it's a transformation from within. So Elon Musk and all these guys with their chips and Neuralink and all that, they're not gonna be able to accomplish that because we're talking about the soul of man. They and the word of God, it's can separate between the soul and the spirit. It's the word of God that can get in there and do the cutting away and the holy spirit, and then they're healing and and changing the way we think. And so be transformed by the renew renewing of your mind that you may prove what is a good and acceptable and perfect will of God. And so Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, they're proving along with along with Proverbs three five and six, they're not leaning on their own understanding. They have enough information from God that they know don't worship idols. Well, what about this question, that question? Don't worry about that question. You've got this one right here. Don't worship idols. It's clear. Don't do it. Under any threat, don't do it. Trust God. See see what's gonna happen. And so we come as a child in childlike faith, and we put our lives in the Lord's hands. Lord, I'm yours to do with as you will. So now if you'd be ready that at that time that you hear the sound of the horn of the pipe, the lyre of the sackbutt, and all kinds of music, and fall down and worship the image which I have made, well, but if you worship not, you shall be cast into the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. And who is that god? That shall deliver you out of my hand. So another Sunday school lesson is David and Goliath. And David went into that battle declaring what? The battle belongs to the Lord. It's not your battle. In the second Chronicles 20, Jehoshaphat overwhelming armies against him. He worships before the Lord, and and they cry out to god and they pray and they say, lord, we don't have the might. We we don't have the strength and the might to overthrow this army. And then he says, and neither know we what to do. We don't have you ever been like that? You ever been a I don't know what to do. Who's the problem solver out there that can solve this problem for me? But he says, but our eyes are upon you. And then as the priest came, the worship leaders, and as began to worship the lord, the lord discomfited the enemy. The lord wiped that host out for Jehoshaphat. It's awesome. Right? You're fighting against flesh, not against flesh and blood, but against spirits and principalities of the air. So it all comes down to faith. So here's your second chance. Bend and bow. Bend and bow, you guys. You got a second chance. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, oh, Nebuchadnezzar, we're not careful to answer you in this matter. I love it. Vicky would say, it's a no brainer. I don't even have to give it another thought. This isn't something the night that we were here and a friend of mine, dear friend of mine called and interrupted the bible study while we were having a bible study, and he said, you're violating the law. Governor Jay Inslee just went on television and said, none of you churches or people are allowed to meet meet together. You're not allowed to meet. And we were in our bible study and this guy was interrupting. You know how the live feed? The guy was interrupting. And so I looked around and I said to everybody, I'm I'm not quitting. I'm not stopping, but it's not my house. Rob, Vicky, what what do you guys think? Because I'll go do this somewhere else. I'll find another house, find another place. I'm not stopping. But I have to respect it's their house, and maybe the governor will take away their house. Right? Maybe they'll lose their house by having a bible study here. And I said, it's up to you guys. And then what did you do, Rob? But something happened in your brain at that moment. The Lord the Lord spoke to you. You prayed, and the Lord spoke to you. I just sat there for a second, and I prayed. The Lord just reminded me, this is your moment. You know? This is this is it. This is a simple moment. And and didn't Vicky start screaming, Rob, we can't lose our house. We can't lose our house, Rob. Did she start screaming, mannequin? No. She looked at me again and said, what took you what took you so long to say that? But it was only just a couple of seconds. So there's a lesson there. You gotta be one accord. You can't force a family member. You know? You gotta you gotta pray about everything and be a one accord. And when you're one accord, the devil can't divide you. Can't get between you. And Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, they prayed, and they already made it up. They made up their minds. So now Kathy and I like a movie, we watched it with, Mike and Dee and Rob and Vicky when we first met them. And we went and we got a thief in the night. Remember thief in the night? And, I like the old one. Right? And there's a part in there that Kathy just freaks her out. Tell them about that part there in a thief in the night about the girl that you thought she was saved, but then she went and turned the others in. You don't remember? She got they got turned in by their own friend. Do you remember that or no? She doesn't remember. Remember, but I don't know what you want me to say. Well, alright. You used to you used to really you used to talk about it. But, basically, when it come down to getting your head chopped or whatever, the girl the girl wound up taking the mark and then turned in her friends. And, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are one accord. They're one of them is not gonna turn to the other ones, and and part of part of the scourging, the Jewish or excuse me, the Roman means of scourging in Roman government, the the lictor would have that kind of nine tails and bring tremendous pain to the person's back. Right? And it would break the skin and go a little bit deeper with the glass and the pottery and the things, not just leather straps, but it's a handle with several different leather straps with at the end of the straps pieces, like I said, of pottery and metal and things. And so Jesus was disfigured by it. He was beaten beyond the recognition of man. But we talk about the Jews bringing 40 stripes less one, but Jesus wasn't whipped by Jews. He was whipped by the Romans. So there's no stopping at, know, 39. But what they would do is they would scourge the criminal, the one accused, and they would try to get information out of them, confession out of them about other crimes, other things they've been doing. And once the person started confessing, they would ease up on the on the the whack a doodle, you know, whacking them. But Jesus, as a sheep before his shearers is dumb, he opened out his mouth because he had nothing to confess and nothing nothing to say. So Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, under pressure. When you're under pressure, you find out who your friends are. You find out in a time of crisis of whether they're gonna stab you in the back like a Judas or a Pence or whatever and, and turn you into the authorities and tell them about other stuff or where you've been meeting. Yeah. Their only friend they got is Jesus. Daniel's somewhere somewhere else right now. And, so he answered and said to the king, o king, we're not careful to answer you in this matter. Can any of you testify that you've had an attitude like that when confronted by somebody in authority that's trying to leverage you? There you go. You did. What'd you do? Well, we met in a guest home and then left, and then the next day is when the health department showed up because the neighbors called the health department because there were more than three cars at that house. Oh. Yeah. Wow. So the Lord provided an escape before they could confront us, but we got turned in. We we had it happen to us as a church with the daycare and, I mean, multitudes of times. Christians in the church turning us in, calling and complaining and the bulging stuff and lying and I mean, I didn't know till afterwards. But they were on a regular basis calling l and I, calling the state, calling the health department, calling the newspaper, calling the IRS, everybody they could to try and shut us down, and and they called themselves Christians. It was so bizarre. It was so bizarre. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. It's coming. I I I hope and pray that, I hope and pray there's a sweetness in the fellowship for us as believers and with our immediate families. I mean, that would be that would be amazing, isn't it? To have access to our grandkids and sing and worship and and be a Christian family. Isn't that a novel thing? You know? It shouldn't be. It should just be so exciting. Thanks for sharing that. So I would say it in a different way, and I'll probably get in trouble because people try to disqualify me as a pastor. So they're saying it and said the king, oh, Nebuchadnezzar, we're not careful to answer you in this matter. For me, it is no, hell no. Right? That's what I'd say. You know? Read my lips. And somehow that word hell is a bad word, isn't it? It's not really. No. It's a real place. Okay. No. Similar thing that happened to me was in the shipyard when I was told that I possibly would lose my job because of the COVID Yeah. Vaccine. That's right. And I told my superintendent, I'm not doing it. I'm not wearing the mask. I'm doing that. And after it was all over, he took me aside and said, and I don't believe the way you believe. He says, but I am in awe at your grit. That's it. I'm in awe at you. You stand up for your principles and you didn't bend. And faith can be infectious. Other people at the workplace begin to gain courage and faith and ask you and Vicky about how they can do that. You know? Right? And it's otherwise, they're just overwhelmed with fear. There's such fear that and these guys are not afraid. There are dead men walking. They're already dead. Right? I'm already crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yeah. I have a Christ live within me and the life that I now live. I live by the faith of the son of god who loved me and gave himself for me. Right? And so it's what are gonna do to me? We're gonna kill you. Well, you kill me. I'm gonna be with Jesus. Ask him the body to be present with the lord. Go for it. You do me a favor. You You do me a favor. You know? Kathy and I were saying the other day, and I'm hearing more and more of you guys say it. We're sick of this world. It's a sick corrupting cesspool. Lord Jesus, come. Take us home. You know? But answer the we're not careful to answer you. So if it be so, our god if it be so so they're appealing to the sovereignty of god. If it be so, our god, they're not being presumptuous. Our god, we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, o king. One way or the other, we're being delivered out of your hand, whether by death or God saving us. So I've got Joe at the hospital. He's got such severe tumors that they're really worried. They can't operate. The tumors are getting close together, and they don't want them to block off his stomach and they don't want them to bleed. So they're trying to get there as soon as they can to put a pick in and start the chemo to shrink the tumors and all. So it's hush. It's like, this is terminal. There's no hope. There's no hope. But our God is able. The stage is set. The stage is set for God to do a miracle. But if not, then he's with Jesus. You can't lose when you have faith. You can't lose when you're trusting in the Lord. So we're praying for him, praying for him, praying for him, and then we're saying, nevertheless, not our will, Lord, but your will be done. We know that God is able to heal. He heals many people. But if he chooses not to they're saying if he chooses not to deliver us from you, we're still not giving in to you. You know? And so, and then we got Sally. Sally's cancer's now traveled over to her sternum. It's like a relentless demonic attack against her, and we need it to stop. We need this to stop. We need it to go in the other direction. You know? And, we need the Lord to intervene. And so, so you ask the question, is anything and you don't use the word to, t o o. You ask the question, is anything hard for God? Can he heal cancer just as easy heals a cold? Yeah. There's nothing too hard for God. Will he? I don't know. That's where faith comes in. But and that's why you add in there, but God. When you factor God into the equation, it doesn't seem so insurmountable. It doesn't seem so overwhelming. You recognize the sovereignty of God. You have the king Nebuchadnezzar. Nobody's stronger, more powerful than him. Yes. There is. King Jesus. And so you looked up you look past Nebuchadnezzar to the Lord. So if it be so our God whom we serve is able, we serve him. We serve a big God. Who's your God that you're serving, Nebi? We serve a big God. So here we are serving you, but really, whatsoever you do, do it heartily as unto the Lord, not unto men. Your job, where you're working, Jesus is your boss. You're serving the Lord Jesus. And that's why you live to a higher standard than, what's required of you by your by your earthly bosses. And he's able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, And he will deliver us out of the thine hand, o king. But if not if not so this confidence they have. But if not, be it known unto you, o king, that we will not serve your gods, little g gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. So in Matthew ten twenty eight, Jesus said, don't fear them that can kill your body, but fear him who what? So fear God. God's gonna determine your eternal destiny. I fear God more than I do you, Nebby. And that's how I am as a as a pastor, as a Christian. I know a big part of church growth is trying to please people, but, man, I'm I fear God. I don't wanna be a people pleaser. And if they don't like me because I'm because I'm stubborn, then that's okay. Because when I stand before God, I don't wanna hear him say, Rick, why'd you wimp out? Why'd you give in to them? Why'd you compromise? Well, Lord, I I I couldn't pay the bills anymore. And if I didn't put them on the board and let them have control and if I didn't give in to all that stuff, then then I'd lose everything. So you're willing to lose the integrity of the ministry for just stuff, Rick? You're willing to be a church incorporated, a business? You didn't wanna protect the sheep and lay your life down for the sheep? So worship the golden image that you have set up. Nonnegotiable. Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and from his was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego. Therefore, he spoke and commanded that the they should heat the furnace seven times more than it was usually heated. So his rage, his anger, he needs anger management, he's losing it. It's seven times hotter. His face he's about ready to have a heart attack or a stroke. Head's gonna pop off. He's so mad. He's spitting as he's saying it. Just spit flying everywhere. And everybody's ducking because he can do capital punishment in a second. Anybody that laughs or whatever. And and Chadwick, Misha, and Benedigo, do you think they wet their pants? Do you think they were afraid? Do you think they said, okay. We need a time out to think about this, you know. Can we have a few minutes? It's it's already done. It's like, do your best. Do do whatever you want, you know. And and so the furnace seven times more than it was usually heated. And he commanded the most mighty men, so not wimpy guys, the most mighty of his warriors that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, the bed to go to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. Hitler used the ovens to cook the Jews. Peter described, first Peter four twelve that we would face fiery trials. In Isaiah forty three one and two, when you walk through the water, who wants to read that? Isaiah forty three one and two. And who wants to read first Peter four twelve? Yes, please. 40, forty three one and two. Four three one and two in first Peter four twelve. Peter's gonna talk about a fiery trial. First Peter four twelve. Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing as though some strange thing were happening to you. So look at it as being normal. It's normal Christianity. It's it's not a strange thing. Thinking not strange concerning this fiery trial. And Isaiah forty three one and two. But now this is what the Lord says. Sorry. He who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel, do not fear for I have redeemed you. I have summoned you by name. You are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. And when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned. The flames will not set you ablaze. Amen. Alrighty. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. So then these men were bound in their coats, their stockings, their turbans, and their other garments. And so they they fitted them with some asbestos clothing and, so that the fire wouldn't bother them. Right? No? Okay. So then these men were bound, their coats and their stockings, turbans, their other garments, and were cast in the midst of the burning fiery furnace. Therefore, because the king's commandment was urgent and the furnace exceedingly hot, the flame of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego. So the safest place was to be in that fire for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. The mighty men are the ones that perished outside of that fiery furnace. Right? And and the three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego fell down bound in the midst of the burning fiery furnace. And so this burning fiery furnace is typical of a trial that you and I go through. It's typical of the tribulation period, the time of Jacob's trouble that the nation of Israel goes through. And and we want to read, I'm gonna have somebody read the revelation two thirteen and then somebody else, Jeremiah twenty nine twenty two. And I'm gonna read this while you guys are going there. There's a bishop of Smyrna named Polycarp. Remember Polycarp? And it says Polycarp reigned as bishop of Smyrna, one of the seven churches of the of revelation, for over sixty years. Throughout, he he imitated the life of Christ to the best of his ability. Even as he became elderly, his limitations didn't stop him from telling others about Jesus Christ. At age 86, he was arrested. He died in the arena. And when told to deny Christ, Polycarp shouted back at the proconsul and his other accusers saying, eighty six years have I served him, and he has done me no wrong. How can I blaspheme my king and my savior? The soldiers gave polycarbonate out. Just recant Christ. Just say you don't believe. We don't wanna hurt an old man. And he's like, no. Eighty six years he's been faithful to me. How could I wimp out now? I'm not gonna blaspheme him now. My king, my savior. Polycarp's faith in Christ never wavered as he was brought into the arena where he sentenced to die. He spoke boldly of his savior. He never once denied Christ, but instead spoke highly of the lord in the arena. He was told to call all Christian and atheists for not believing in the Roman pantheon. He did no such thing, but pointed to the cheer cheering bloodthirsty crowd and called them atheists. Polycarp was faithful to Christ even unto death. Polycarp was a disciple of John the beloved. He was maybe one of the last disciples of John before the aged apostle left the land of the living. He sat under John and learned many things from his teachings. Apostle John became his mentor, and Polycarp continued the work after John's death. Apostle John saw the keenness in Polycarp and knew he was promising leader in the Christian faith. Hence, apostle John ordained him bishop over the church of Smyrna. Now the other thing to remember about John is they tried to boil John in oil. He's the only apostle that didn't die the death of Martyrdom, but they tried. They put him in oil to burn him to boil him, and he wouldn't he wouldn't die. So then they exiled him to the island of Patmos, which is in present day Turkey, and that's where he wrote the apocalypse, the book of Revelation. Alright. So now this is about this is about another guy, Antipas. So Revelation two thirteen, read read concerning Antipas. I know thy works and word out dwellest even where Satan's seed is, and thou holdest fast thy name my name, excuse me, and hast not denied my faith even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr and was slain among you where Satan dwellest. Okay. So you know the story, Jim? You know that story of what they did to Antipas? Antipas, there was a bowl there, a brass bowl. And they took Antipas, and they put him inside of the brass bowl, and then they lit a fire underneath it, and they roasted them. So Jesus is describing what happened to Antimas. Now there's a distinction there where Satan's throne dwells. So later on, when the Germans, were taking everything during the World War two, one of the things they did is is they took the the altar that was that was for impergamus where Satan's throne dwells. And they brought it back to Berlin, and they reassembled it in Berlin at that big stadium that the Olympics were at and then Hitler, you know, Hitler, did his thing. And, the German the Germans this before the end of World War two, the Germans were looking for power in the occult and all. And so they brought that throne where Satan's throne dwells and they put it there. And there's a name for that place that starts with a z. What's the z? The well, there's a zephyr, but there's anyway, this is whatever the stadium is where Hitler did his speeches, he did it from that where Satan's throne dwells. Okay? Then when Obama became president, he asked if he could go there to Berlin and speak and do a speech from that spot, and they said no. So Obama came back, and you can look this up in YouTube, and he as part as part of the democratic convention when he wins the election, they did a mock Hollywood dress up. A stage was built mimicking where Satan's throne dwells, Pergamon. Ain't that interesting? He's he's he's letting you know. Yeah. He's letting you know. But Rick Warren's up there with him, and he claimed to be a Christian with Rick Warren introducing him. My friend and your Christian faith, he's a Christian, and the evangelicals are the stupidest people on the planet because they voted for him twice. Alright. So there's Antipas. Now Jeremiah twenty nine twenty two. Hey. And of them shall be taken up a curse by all the captivity of Judah, which are in Babylon saying, the Lord make thee like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire. So they like to roast guys. They like to roast them. They like to put them in the fire and and burn them burn them down. And and the early church, throughout church history, putting sticks together and burning people at the stake is a common way of execution of of, Christians. Now one more thing. This freaked me out. You ever you ever you ever heard the term ordeal? I'm experiencing we're experiencing a real ordeal. It's it's been a real ordeal. You heard that? You know what that is? You're gonna like this. An ordeal is people come to you and they say, we don't think you're a real pastor. We don't think you're a real prophet. We don't think you're a man of God. And we're gonna tie you up, and we're gonna throw you into the water, or we're gonna tie you up and throw you where the fire is at the stake. And if God's for you, then he's gonna save you. You're not gonna drown. That's a real ordeal. If you drown, then we got confirmation that you're not the man of God that you say you are. That's an ordeal. And can't you just thank the Christians for that? You know? Can't you just thank them? Because it's the religious people that do that to you. It's the religious ones that, and I don't think they're real Christians. But, the, throughout church history, the, Catholic church, even Protestants throughout the history, the, religious people are many, and the Jews, the religious Jews to Jesus and and the apostle Paul, many of them, it was the Jews that were coming after him. So and they think they do God's service. They think they're serving God by persecuting his church. So Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego given us a a good example of courage, of faith, unwavering faith. And and then here, verse 24, then Nebuchadnezzar, the king was astounded and rose up in haste and spoke and said unto his counselors, did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, true, oh king. True. He answered and said, lo, I see four men loose walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt. So in that fiery trial, as the Lord's purifying you, the only thing that's burned off are the things that bind you. He's freeing you. He's freeing you up. You're free to have fellowship, And the lord is there with you in that fiery trial as we see here. And the fourth the fourth is like under the son of the god, sons of god. So here we have many of us would say that Jesus is there with them in that fiery trial. Long with you always, even the end of the age. I'll never leave you nor forsake you. So the Lord Jesus is there. Others would say technically that, that this is a theophany, a Christophany, an angel in an angel form. This is in, Daniel six. We'll see that an angel is in the lion's den with Daniel. And so, either way, the lord is there represented, if not, hey. You know, the son of god there with you in that fiery trial. So where would you rather be? Outside the trial with pagans, with Nebby, or would you rather be in the trial getting to know Jesus better? You know? Fanny Crosby, she wrote over 5,000 hymns as a gift to the Christian church, and, she's born blind or blind at an early age. And and she was asked, you know, what what a handicap. You know? Do you regret being being blind and all that? And because she said because her realized didn't work, the Lord helped her to, through the eyes of faith, be able to see. And her ears, her spiritual ears became more acute in hearing the Lord speak and giving her songs to share, you know, with the church. So she didn't regret it all. And then she said, no. I don't regret it because the very first thing that I will see is the face of Jesus. Right? Yep. So God using her in a great way. Then Nebuchadnezzar came near the mouth of the burning fiery furnace and spoke and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, you servants of the most high God, come forth and come here. Now would you obey that? Would you obey that? You got the king of the universe in the in the fire with you. Well, king, go chill. We're gonna stay in here a while. We come out of here. We gotta be with your ugly face. You know? In here, we get some time with our lord. You know? What would you obey? Who's he think he is? So you remember in Luke 16, the rich man of Lazarus? What makes that rich man think that he can continue to boss Lazarus around and Abraham around and all that sort of thing, you know, and Nebbe just doesn't get it. Well, Nebbe's gonna be eating straw. He's gonna be eating grass for seven years pretty soon here. And, but I think about that. I think about how how anxious I am to get out of the trials that the Lord designs and gives me. You know? Oh, I wanna get on this trial. If I can just get out of this trial, I did. You know? And many times we we don't pass the test. It's a test. You're tested. And pastor Chuck used to say, one thing about taking a test is if you fail the test, you gotta retake it. So now you're in another trial later on, and and the Lord uses as a means of preparation to prepare Joseph to be second to pharaoh, to prepare David to be king, to prepare Moses to lead God's people, Abraham and Sarah to prepare them, you know, for having, you know, Isaac. And, and so you go through seasons and years of, trials and people lying and unjust things happening and all these other sort of things. And, you know, Jacob meeting his match with Laban, you know, and then later Jacob wrestling with the angel of the Lord, and and Hosea says that he, you know, he's crying and that he he lost the wrestling match. He tapped out, but by losing, he won. And he walked away crippled. He walked away with the sinews of his hip, you know, removed and, walking with a limp the rest of his life. But in that brokenness, God changed him internally from Jacob, which means conniver hill hill catcher to Israel, which speaks of prince of God or governed of God. So his life was yielded to the Lord. So people that don't go through seasons of preparation, proving if they're thrust into place of leadership too quickly, they fail the people miserably because it's too much flesh, and they're not they're not ready. And the other thing is is that the Lord wants to be glorified. He needs a witness. He wants a witness. And his witness in Babylon is Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He's glorified. God will always have a witness. You you may not be the most well known church or Christian or group of people or whatever, but God keeps you there like Jeremiah because he always has a witness. He keeps you there like Elijah and the 7,000 that haven't bowed their knee to the prophet Baal because he always has a witness. Right? And, you just be that witness. Jesus said, you're my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth. And so and so is Stephen, the Lord Jesus there with Stephen, his face shining like that of an angel. And getting to know the Lord, Paul said that I might know him, the power of his resurrection, the fellowship of his sufferings, and he's a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. So in that in that trial, in that difficulty, in that valley, you know, the lord is there with you. He's walking with you through that valley of the shadow of death. He's there with you. I watched my dad die, and and he he died courageously, faithfully. In fact, I would even use the word he was excited. He was excited to go be with Jesus. And they said when Voltaire died, him boasting that he would destroy Christianity in his lifetime, destroyed the bible, all of it as an atheist. And same with Anton LaVey, both of them. The commentary from the hospice nurses that were with him, they said that he was shrieking in terror and screaming, and the attending nurse said she never wanted to attend the death of a of a heathen like that ever again. And then the g Geneva Bible Society bought the home of Voltaire and began to print Bibles from his house. You know? So God always wins, man. He always wins. And so Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, you serve the most high God. Come forth and come here. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came forth in the midst of the fire. So the power the power that god demonstrated there. And the princes, governors, and captains, and the kings, the councilors being gathered together saw these men upon whose bodies the fire had no power nor was a hair of their head singed. So the hair didn't even burn. Their clothes. And I like this one, neither were their coats changed nor the smell of the fire and passed on them. The other day, I was I was here with Rob and Vicky, and they were so gracious to have us over, and we were cooking some steaks, and and and because Rob brings his barbecue to the church picnic every every year, there's a lot of grease down on the bottom of it. And as we're cooking these steaks, the smoke is coming up. Huge amount of smoke. And and Mark says, man, you're you're getting to the point where you've got a burnt offering, buddy. Better flip that thing. And I'm thinking, well, if I get close to these steaks, that smoke's gonna get on my shirt. And I wanna wear this on Sunday. And am I gonna smell like because sometimes when I cook at the sugar shack, I burn everything. Then I come home and Kathy says, you sting. You smell. Your hair, everything's got smoke smell on it. You know? But, fortunately, there's no smell. Nothing I can smell. Worked out good. Good job, man. Yeah. Good job. Yeah. Clean stakes. But these guys are coming out of there, and there's not even any smell of the fire that passed on them. So you got a miracle here. And, let's read some verses. Let's look at some verses. Now the book of Hebrews chronicles this event. And, very, very important portion of Hebrews that I don't want us to miss. So somebody wanna read Hebrews eleven thirty four through 36, and then somebody else read Zechariah thirteen eight nine. And then, who wants Malachi three verse three? And then one last one when I have you, it'll be Psalm seventy five six and seven, and we'll finish up there. Okay. So they've come through the fire. Now in the hall of faith so when we look at this, you have fear or you have faith. They have transcended faith. So we can look in Romans chapter four to the keys of Abraham's faith. Even though it was impossible, he still believed God. Right? And God imputed that to him for righteousness. And he staggered not the promise of God. He had the promise of God. He's in the crucible. He's in the trial. Ishmael can't live before God. There has to be the promise seed. There has to be an Isaac at some point, and, and he believed God when when Jesus and the two angels came into camp there, and he believed. And, that next year, their tent was gonna be filled with laughter. And, and that's imputed to him for righteousness even when in chapter 22 of Genesis when he's lifting the knife, he's basically saying in Hebrews 11, the commentary from the holy spirit and the hall of faith is that is that, Lord, this is a seed of promise. Ishmael is not gonna live before you. Now if I bring this knife down, you got a problem. You're gonna have to raise him from the dead because there is no other way. And so faith, Hebrews 11 verse six, without faith, it's impossible to please God for they that come to him must believe that he is and that he's a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. Faith is the evidence of things hoped for, the substance of things not seen. And so if you look at chapter 10 of Hebrews, the problem was that the Hebrew believers, Jewish believers, were falling back into Judaism so they could avoid persecution. So there's warnings all through the book of Hebrews and the emphasis upon better promises, better priesthood, you know, better than Judaism. And then in chapter 10, it talks about God takes no pleasure for those who draw back, for those who depart, for those who shrink under pressure, basically. So there's the warning in chapter 10, and you're trampling onto the foot of son of god, there remains no sacrifice for you. Then you get into chapter 11, and it's the lives of people that please God, and the holy spirit edits out Abraham's lying about Sarah. The holy spirit edits out Abraham's lapse of faith saying, tell them you're my sister. You know? The lapse of faith in going into Hagar and trying to help God out. The holy spirit edits out David having adulterous affair with Bathsheba and killing Uriah. On and on and on, the holy spirit edits that out. And what pleased the lord is how they walked by faith, how they trusted god. And then I'm gonna ask this question before we finish this. How many of you wanna be conquerors like Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego? How many of wanna be more than conquerors? K? So we're gonna see a distinction there. I like to conquer. I would have liked to kick butt downtown Bremerton and still be there. I feel like a huge loser. I got my butt kicked. That's hard to stomach. It's hard. I wanna take the ground like like Joshua. You know? And so when I read Hebrews 11, I see these exploits. I see these guys conquering. You know, David snuffing out Goliath and everything. Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego. But then it comes to low lives like Kathy and I. And in verse 36, it says, and others. And others. So watch the flow. Watch the flow. You could read the whole thing. But watch the flow of all this great conquering, conquering, conquering, conquering because they trusted God. And then there's these other guys like Isaiah who got sawn in two. Right? Alright. So go ahead. Yeah. Eleven thirty four. Okay. They quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword. Out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again, and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection. And others had trial of cruel mockings, scourgings, yay, moreover of bonds and imprisonment. Okay. So do you see do you see the how exciting it is to win? It's really exciting to win. It's really exciting when God fights for you. But then that word others, look at this. Verse 36, verse 35. Women received their dead, raised to life again, and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. And then it says, and others had trial of cruel mocking. So that word others is a Greek word that's others of a different kind. So the heteros. I wanna be the others of the of the same kind, the same kind of the conquerors. And I wanna give God the glory for it. But there's these other guys here, others of a different kind. They were stoned. They were sawn asunder. Isaiah was sawn asunder. He didn't give up the faith, though, did he? Manasseh sawed after fifty some years of of being a king, and God gave Hezekiah a sickness, and it could have stopped it right there, but he gave Hezekiah fifteen more years. And Hezekiah had a son named Manasseh, and Manasseh was more wicked than all the other kings combined, sacrificing his own children on an altar to Baal. And it was so heinous, so wrong that God says even when Josiah comes and brings reforms, I'm still gonna judge I'm still gonna judge the nation of Israel. And so Isaiah the prophet was silenced by Manasseh by sawing them in half. And, you know, they didn't have really nice tongues and steel or anything. These are these are really dull wooden saws. You know? It's not pretty. So others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings. They were bonds and imprisonments. They were stoned. They were sawn asunder. They were tested. They were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins being destitute, afflicted, tormented, whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and in mountains and in dens and caves of the earth, and these were all having received witness through faith, received not the promises, God having provided some better things for us that they without us should not be made perfect. So they're gonna have to wait till they get to heaven for the consolation of their faith and the blessings that that come with it. And, so in the case of Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, they were ready for the sovereignty of God to decide, Lord, you want us to be a conqueror? Then deliver us. You want us to be more than conquerors? Then we'll die in this flame. But Romans eight verse 37, Paul said, we're more than conquerors how? Through him that loved us. The cross makes you and I more than conquerors through him that loved us. Neither height nor depth nor principality nor powers nor things present nor things to come. Nothing and no one will ever be able to separate you and I from the love of God that's in Christ Jesus. That's why we're more than conquerors. Okay. So I hope you guys you guys live that, don't you? You live it. It's personal. It's personal. So now we have Zechariah thirteen eight nine, the remnant, the one third remnant that's gonna make it through the tribulation period. I'll do that one. And then Malachi three verse three. Bernie's got that? Okay. Zechariah thirteen eight through nine. In the whole land, declares the Lord, two thirds will be struck down and perish, yet one third will be left in it. This third, I will put into the fire. I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name, and I will answer them. I will say, they are my people. And they will say, the Lord is our God. And what are they gonna say, Vicky? Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. And that's when Jesus comes back for that elect. Right? Amen. In Basra, in That's it. Petra. That's it. I want take a breather. In Hebrew, but I can't. Your daughter can. I know. Alright. Bernie? Bernie, Malachi three verse three. He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver. He will purify the sons of Levi and purge them as gold and silver that they may offer to the Lord an offering in righteousness. So a picture of the nation of Israel through Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego going through the fiery furnace, the nation of Israel going through the fiery tribulation period and being refined. And says, then Nebuchadnezzar spake and said, blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants who trusted in him. Even Nebbe has given glory to God that you guys trusted in your God. One of the things that that's kinda sad is sometimes the world has more integrity than we do as men and women of faith. When Abraham was in the area of the Abimelech, for a second time, just like when he went to Egypt, he lied to the king and said, Sarah's my sister. And then the king says, man, she's a knockout. I'm gonna bring her into my harem. And that night, the king had a dream and, you know, told that don't you even go near her. Don't even touch her and all that. So now the king has to let Abraham know, hey. You lied to me. You lied to me. You're supposed to be a man of faith, a godly man, and you're a liar. That it's so sad when god uses the world to rebuke us. Right? And so, but Shadrach and Meshach and Abednego glorified the Lord, and, you trusted in him and has changed the king's word and yielded their bodies that they might not serve nor worship any god except their own god. Therefore, I make a decree that every people, nation, language who speak anything amiss, so those Chaldeans that were, ratting on them, accusing him. Anything missed against the god of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, later, it's gonna happen to Haman. Haman was saying a lot of bad stuff, and and, Mordecai said to Esther, hey. How do you know you weren't brought up for such a time as this? And then when the hammer came down, it was Haman and his whole family that died upon the gallows and that plot that he had to destroy all the Jews, to genocide all the Jews, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a refugee because there is no other god that can deliver after this sort. But he will. He will continue to deliver. Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego in the province of Babylon. So the, the way up is down. You go through the a prison, you go through a trial before you enter into the palace, before you're exalted. And that's how Joseph, he went in prison first, then he elevated to the palace. And Jesus had to go by way of the cross, and the devil's gonna come to you and say, you don't need to suffer like this. You don't need to go through this fiery trial. You you can you can compromise, and you can have all the things of the world right now. You can have it all right now. And, the devil's always offering these things to us, and Jesus rejected him. He wasn't gonna bypass the cross just to get the crown, and so he went to the cross first. And later, we're gonna get the crown as we take up our cross and follow Jesus. Psalm seventy five six and seven talks about promotion. Where does promotion come from? It come doesn't come from the East, the West, nor North, nor the South. It's the lord. He sets down one and raises up another. Alright. Let's pray. Father, we come before you, Lord, and what's on our heart really heavy is is Sally. We pray for her, Lord, and James, and we pray that you would do a miracle of healing. Nothing's hard for you, Lord, and the cancer is nothing for you. And, God, we pray that as the doctors and all the other things that we've been trying, it just seems the cancer is getting more aggressive. And, God, we pray for your intervention. We pray that as you're the great physician, Lord, just as you preserved, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, Lord, we pray that you would preserve Sally's life. You would deliver her from the trial as you're going with her through it, and that she'd come out the other side healed and totally and completely a strong immune system. The doctors would give you glory and honor and praise and and noting that this is a miracle from the true and living God, the God of Sally and James. And Lord, we also lift up Joe and Linda as, Lord, their backs to the wall, and Joe's got these huge tumors, as you know. And strengthen Joe's faith. Strengthen Linda's faith. Heal Linda's heart. Heal Joe's body, and let them have the best golden years ever, Lord. Let them have a great season ahead as they prepare for your soon return. Just strengthen them, bless them, use their lives, watch over and protect them, provide everything they need for all of this, Lord. And bless Jocelyn as we approach Saturday, her wedding. Thank you, Lord, that we get to be a part of Jocelyn and Christian being married. It reminds us, Lord, all of us of our relationship with you as the bride of Christ, and we thank you, Lord, for family. We thank you for friends. We thank you for the fellowship that we enjoy as Christians, Lord. So pour out your holy spirit and give Jocelyn the wedding she's dreamt of her whole life long. Just let everything flow, and let her mommy, let her mother just enjoy too, Lord, watching her firstborn leave the home through marriage, Lord. Let it be a blessing all that Shannon and Sean have dreamt of in Jesus' name and Christian's family too. In Jesus' name, amen.

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About This Podcast

Calvary Chapel Bremerton - Home Bible Study

Listen to Rick Beaudry, Pastor of Calvary Chapel Bremerton, lead our home Bible Study session in worship and teaching the Word of God. Be edified and built up in your faith with solid Bible teaching. New episodes released on Tuesdays in the Pacific Standard Timezone.

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