What to Do When God Feels Silent | Jesus Always: Part 2

Alright, so I'm gonna tell you about my week recently. I had one of those weeks. I woke up in a really good mood. Optimistic about the day. I'm unbelievably blessed to be married to Amy. Our marriage is as strong as ever going on 35 years. My kids are all serving. Jesus in the local church, the church is strong and growing. As my dad would say, life is good. Then the day got started. One of my kids went to the ER. One of my grandkids went to the ER for a second time that week. And I was just praying, please God, not again. A young man that Amy and I went and visited in the hospital the week before, we got word that he didn't make it and he passed away. We got a call from a very close friend that had incredibly crushing news. And then we got a diagnosis from a loved one that no one ever wants to hear. And I know that some of you right now, unfortunately, you can relate because what was coming to you, you didn't see, but now you're here. And some of you would say, it's been a week. It's been a month. Some of you say, it's been a year. And sometimes when you're in the middle of a season like that, you wonder like, God, where are you in the middle of all this? And today, I'm gonna tell you, I'm not gonna give you an easy, clean, churchy answer, but hopefully, in God's word, I'm gonna show you something better. Because we're in a message series called Jesus Always. And it surprises some people to know that before Jesus was born in Bethlehem, before we celebrate the Christmas story, Jesus already was the father, son, and the Holy Spirit, Jesus always. In fact, the Bible tells us that Jesus was there in the beginning, that all things were made through him, that nothing was made without him. So Jesus didn't start with the Christmas story, Jesus actually started everything. And if you're with us, last week, we actually saw God provide a lamb in the Old Testament, pointing forward to Jesus, the lamb of God, in the New Testament. And today, what we're gonna do is we're gonna look again in the Old Testament, and we're gonna see that Jesus is not just a shadow, but this time, he shows up in person. Now, I'll teach you a cool word. Theologians call this a theophany. Everybody say, theophany. Theophany is a big word with a simple idea, and I promise this will not be on the test, but it'll make you look really, really smart at life group. What is a theophany? A theophany is when God shows up in a visible way that people can see. And we're gonna see that take place in the Old Testament. We're gonna be in Daniel chapter three today, and we're gonna see Jesus show up, not in a temple, and not in a throne, but we're gonna see Jesus show up in a fire. And his appearance in the Old Testament teaches us the principle that Jesus won't always keep you from the fire, but he'll always meet you in it. God's word, Daniel chapter three, let me give you the context. The year was 605 BC, and the Babylonians, everybody say boo. The Babylonians, the bad guys came in, and they invaded the good people, invaded Judah, and they destroyed everything completely. And they took the best and the brightest of the young adults and took them into captivity to basically indoctrinate them in the Babylonian way so they could train them to become up to hopefully be Babylonian leaders. They took three young boys, very likely teenagers, boys who were named Shadrach, Meshach, and to bed we go. That's an old preacher joke or a dad joke, both of them are bad, I shouldn't do it, but I can't help it. It just happens when you're my age. I'm sorry, please forgive me, I'm old, that's what happens. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. King Ebuchinnezzar was the evil king of Babylon, and he was the most powerful man on earth. And this old boy built a gold statue of himself, 90 feet tall, and told everyone, you have to bow down to the 90 foot tall statue that I made of myself. This has no theological meaning whatsoever, but I can't help from saying it. If you build a 90 foot tall statue of yourself and tell everyone to bow down to it, you might be a little bit insecure. This is the guy who drove a truck with really, really big tires. And if you drove here and the truck with really, really big tires, God bless you, we love you too, but just saying, okay? Just saying, don't build a 90 foot tall statue and tell us to bow down and worship you. So the king does this big old statue, he tells everybody to bow, and one of the leaders said this in Daniel chapter three, verse five. One of the leaders said, as soon as you hear the sound of the horn and the flute and the zither, do any of you play the zither? Don't even know what it is. See, any, if you hear the horn, the flute, the zither, the lyre, the harp, the pipe, somebody would say, I smoke the pipe, that's not what I'm talking about here. Don't smoke the pipe, okay? Sorry, I'm in a good mood today. It's always dangerous when I'm in a good mood. I'm much safer and better pre-surem grumpy, but you gotta watch out because I came in feeling good today. So hopefully next week I'll be grumpy and we'll all be safe. So here we are. So as soon as you hear the music, you must fall down and worship the image of gold that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. When the band plays, you bow down. Whoever does not fall down and worship will immediately be thrown into the blazing fire. Essentially, this guy says, when the music plays, you bow down or you burn. And so the zither fires up. The music starts to play. The band is playing. And every leader and every official and every one bowed except three teenage boys, which is very on brand for teenage boys. Because when I was a teenage boy, you tell me what to do and I'm doing the opposite. But this was a good kind of rebellion, much like we're seeing in the emerging generation today, which I have to tell you I kind of like because the younger generation is refusing to bow to the cultural lies. They're done performing. They're done pretending. They're done bowing to anything that doesn't deserve worship. And instead they are standing up and speaking out about the name that is above every name. And to every teenager here involved in switch on the front row, worshiping God and bringing your friends and more power to you. We stand with you. You are not the future of the church. You're the church of the day. And we release you to do the work of God. Sometimes you see the most fiery work of God, not from the old people like me with the tell the damn dead jokes, but you watch the kid, the emerging generation rise up and we're seeing that happen. The boys said we're not bowing down. And the king was furious and said, I'm gonna give you one more chance. Verse 15, the king says this, but if you do not worship the statue, you'll be thrown immediately into the blazing firmus. Then he asked the question, then what God will be able to rescue you from the fire? Then what God will be able to rescue you? This is a question that wasn't just an ancient threat. This is the voice that many of you know. Because when your bank account gets low, the voice says, where is your God now? Whenever your marriage is in trouble and the divorce papers are in front of you, the voice says what God can fix this problem? When you're hurting and overwhelmed with pain, that voice says what power does God have in your grief? Because every single difficult season, every fire has a nebuchadnezzar voice telling you, your God's not enough. Your God's not gonna come through for you. Your God may do it for somebody else, but he's not gonna do it for you. After what you've done, after the way you think, after the way you act, your God doesn't love you. He doesn't care about you. If he did love you, he wouldn't let you be here right now. And so King Nebuchadnezzar says, what God can save you? And the boys respond this way in verse 16. King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we're thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it. And he will deliver us from your majesty's hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know your majesty. They're bold and they're even respectful. Our God will save us. But even if he does not, we want you to know that we will not serve your God's or worship the image of gold that you set up. Our God is able. Say it with me. Our God is able. Somebody type that in the comment section and say it again. Our God is able. What is he able to do? Our God is able to heal what doctors can't heal. Our God is able to restore whatever's been broken for years. Our God is able to make a way when there is no other way. Say it with me. Our God is able. We believe it, we believe it, we believe it with him. All things are possible. There is no mountain he can't remove if your faith is in it. Our God is able. All things are possible with him. Our God can do exceedingly and abundantly more than all you can ask, think or imagine according to his power. Does it work within you, the church? Our God is able. That's big faith. But then it gets even bigger. What they say, our God is able. But even if he doesn't, we refuse to bow to a false God. Our God is absolutely, completely, and we know it with every fiber of faith within our being that he can. But if he doesn't, we still trust in our God. And what I want you to see is that is not a contradiction of faith. That is a completion of real and deep and abiding faith. Our God is able. And even if he doesn't, with everything in us, we stand on his word and we still believe. And so that's where I am today. I told you about the week I had a couple of weeks ago. I'll tell you right now, this week was more of it. And it's too early and too fresh and too personal to talk about it. And so if you're there, I get it. And by faith, I declare with everything in me, God, I know you're able. I believe that you can. And I believe that you will hear the cries of my heart. And God, you are so good and I trust you so much that even if you don't, I'll still lift my hands high and praise your name because your name is the only one worthy of praise. And I don't know who it is, but someone needs to hear this because you prayed and you prayed and you prayed and nothing's changed. And someone, you trusted God and trusted God and trusted God and things didn't get better, but they got worse. And I'm not sure if you can hear this, but I'm sure you can hear it. And I'm sure you can hear it. And I'm sure you can hear it. And I trust that God and things didn't get better, but they got worse. And you don't know if you're going to handle what's coming. I told God this week, that's about enough. About enough. And some of you, you don't know how you're going to make it work and pay the bills. You don't know what the rest of your month looks like. You don't know, is God going to come through or are you going to continue to be in pain? But if you genuinely know him, like know him, not know about him, but know him, you know his character, his nature, his power, his faithfulness. If you know him like that, then you can stand in faith, postured up with hands lifted high. God, I do know you can. And even if you don't, nothing's going to rock me from believing in you. And so that's why I'm going to just say it right now. In the middle of more news that I did not want to hear with people I love with all my heart, I believe my God hears the cries of my heart and I believe that he will answer the prayers that we are praying. And even if he does not, I will continue to worship and honor him with everything in me. The boys stand strong. They don't bow, they stand, and the king loses it. You're not bowing down to my statue. You saw me driving in that big truck. So he orders the furnace heated seven times hotter and the strongest soldiers go and they tie up the boys in ropes so they're tied up and they throw the boys in. The fire is so hot that the flames kill the soldiers that throw the boys in. And so if you're looking on, you're going like, these boys are dead, dead. The fire is too hot. The king is too powerful. The situation is too far gone. And this pagan king looks into the fire and he can't believe what he sees. Verse 24, King Nebuchadnezzar leapt to his feet in amazement and asked his advisors, hey, weren't there three men we tied up and threw into the fire? They're playing. Certainly, your majesty. Yes, there were only three of them that we threw in the fire. Sir, sir, yes, sir, yes, sir, yes, sir. And the king says, look, he answered, I see four men loose walking in the midst of the fire and they're not hurt. And the form of the fourth one is like the son of God. The king looks in and says, there's not three. There's four and they're not burning. They're walking. And the fourth one doesn't look like the other three. There's something different about this one. This one looks like the son of God. Now think about this. The pagan king didn't know Jesus, Jesus hadn't been born in amazement. The wise men hadn't shown up with their gifts yet. He's looking on and there's something so profoundly powerful about the fourth man in the fire that a non-believing king says he looks like the son of God. And that's why we call this series Jesus Always. Why? Because before Jesus was born in Bethlehem, Jesus was here. And before he walked on water, he walked with three men in the middle of the fire. And before he hung on a cross, he was faithful to show up in the Old Testament to comfort, strengthen, heal, and protect those who needed him, three boys who wouldn't bow. And he could have stopped the fire the same way he calmed the storm. And sometimes he does. And sometimes he lets you walk into the fire. But you never walk into it alone. I want to show you what happened in verse 27. The Bible says, so Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego stepped out of the fire. Not a hair on their head was singed and their clothing was not scorched and they didn't even smell like smoke. Can you imagine? They were in a fire so hot that it killed the men that were close by to the fire. And they walk out, not crawl out, but walk out, not burned, and didn't even smell like smoke. You go to a bonfire. You come home smelling stinky. These boys were in the bonfire. They were not harmed and they didn't even smell like, they were thrown in violently and they walked out free, free and completely unharmed. And here's what's crazy. Is the fire burned the ropes, but the fire didn't burn them. The only thing that was destroyed was what had them bound. So if you're tied up and hurting the fire, what if the thing that's burning you right now isn't destroying you? But what if it's burning off what's been holding you back? Burning the fear, burning the pride, burning the lies that says you'll never make it and God's not there with you. And that's where I've been this week with someone very dear to me, four doctors, four different tests, crazy reports. Sometimes people say, Pastor Craig must be nice to be you, married to Amy, everything's good, you never ever heard. It is a lot of good. And long before I was a pastor, I used to just be a human being. And unfortunately, when you get ordained, you really don't glow in the dark. It's still hard. The week I told you about, I mean, just even this last week, this is not an illustration. We are in the middle of fire. And what I learned again this week, I didn't learn from reading in a book, I learned it from the fire. And here's what I know is that we enjoy God in the good times, we worship God in the good times, we praise God in the good times, we celebrate in the good times, we lift up His name in the good times, we enjoy Him so much in the good times. But we get to know Him intimately in the flames. We worship Him on the mountaintops, we get to know Him in the valleys. And something happens in the fire that doesn't happen anywhere else. There's a cleansing, there's a purifying, there's a burning. For me, it's been burning off fear and making me have nothing but I have to have faith because I've got nothing else. It's been burning off my desire to control because I don't know if I told you this or not, but hello, my name is Craig and I'm a control freak. And somebody you need to be in that meeting that I'm in right now. And it's burning off my, the illusion of self-sufficiency that I can work this out and figure this out and make the calls and get it done. It's burning off things that I didn't even know were holding me back. And it's teaching me in the middle of the fire to depend on the presence of Jesus in a way that I would not be able to be aware of when the sun is shining, the birds are singing and everything is good and normal. And some of you are there right now, but I want you to appear and know and feel and believe as you are not alone in the fire. And by faith, I want to declare what I believe is true is that some of you with God's help, you will walk out of this season and you won't even smell like smoke. You won't even smell like smoke. There are people that they may not even know what you've been through because you don't show any scars from the fire that was around you. Why won't you smell like smoke? The reason is because you didn't go through it alone. Jesus was always with you. Jesus always, Jesus always, Jesus always. He will never leave you and he will never forsake you. For some of you, you walked in, you're watching online and it feels like the end. I want to tell you right now, it's not. Some of you, you feel like you're alone and I want to tell you right now, you're not. The same Jesus who stood in the middle of that furnace is standing in the middle of the fire with you. And when you walk out closer to him, stronger in your faith, more dependent on him, knowing him in a way that you wouldn't have known had you not go through it. And yes, you don't ever want to go through it again and you wouldn't want anyone else to go through it. But you learn something in the middle of it that's going to change who you are for the rest of your life and you're going to recognize, I don't smell like smoke because he was with me. He's always been with me. He will not ever leave me. He is faithful, he is good and he's working in all things, even the things that I would never choose to bring about good to those who love him and are called according to his purpose. So I'm going to tell you right now, in some really hard to say out loud way, I'm thankful for the fire because he's with us and I'm aware of it. And I'm going to tell you right now with everything in me, I believe he can. I believe he can. I believe he can heal. I believe that he can set free and I believe that he will do it. And my faith is deeper than just depending on what I want, even if he doesn't. With everything in me, I believe this word is true. I believe the tomb is empty. I believe he's risen from the dead. I believe he's seated at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty making intercession for us right now. I believe if you call on him, your name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life and your sins will not be held against you, but you will dwell with him forever. And I believe that one day, probably soon, the trumpet is going to sound, he's going to return for his church and will dwell with him forever and ever and ever. I believe that he can. And even if he doesn't, I still believe. So I'm going to say it again, Jesus may not keep you from the fire, but he will always meet you in it. Today at all of our churches, let's go before our Heavenly Father in prayer. God, I pray particularly today and especially for those that had a week, had a month, in the middle of the year, that you hear the cries of our heart, God, and we're just going to declare whatever miracle that someone needs, we believe you can. God, we even believe that you will. And even if you don't, God, we do still believe. Here's what I want you to do if you don't mind. You go ahead and open your eyes up and we're going to have kind of what I'm going to call like corporate prayer. The boys were in the fire and they didn't bow, they stood. And so today, if you're maybe in the middle of a fire or there's someone that you love that is, and you're not going to give up, but you're going to stand strong. What I'm going to do is if you need prayer today for you or someone you love, would you just have the courage just to stand around the room if you're able to all of our churches now, every single life church, if you need prayer, maybe for you, it may be for someone that you love to stand. Go ahead and stand wherever you are. Now the rest of you would do mind just standing, everybody standing. And to those who stood before you, maybe just reach out if you wouldn't put a hand on their shoulder just so they'll know. They are not alone. And not only are we in the fire with you, but even more importantly, our Savior Jesus is in the fire with you. And now what I want you to do is the body of Christ, we're going to pray together that the presence of Jesus would be exactly what we need in the fire. I'm going to pray, you can pray quietly if you want, you can pray in your head if you want to, but disagree with me. Just Heavenly Father, it burdens me to know how many people are in the fire. But God, we thank you that we're not in the fire alone. We thank you that Jesus is with us, that He is for us, that He is powerful, that His love is real, and that every word of yours is true. And so God, we pray for miracles. We pray for miracles of provision and protection. We pray for children to come back to Jesus. We pray for relationships to be healed and restored. God, we pray for miraculous forgiveness. We pray for supernatural physical healing, God. We believe that you're a God that heals. God, we believe that all things are possible, unique miracles, things that no one would believe would be possible. We believe that they're possible with you. So God, we just ask and say, would you show up? Would you do what only you can do? God, we believe that you can. God, we believe that you will. And God, our faith is even deeper than just depending on what we see. God, our faith is on what you say and who you are. We believe that you can and we believe that you will. And God, even if you don't, we still trust you, God. And we still believe. Just say it with me. We believe you can. We believe you will. And even if you don't, God, we still believe. Holy Spirit, do a work that only you can do and will give you the praise, God, forever and ever for your power, your goodness, your glory. In Jesus' name. Keep praying where you are. If it feels awkward to have your arm around the strange, you can take it down now if you want to. We want you to feel comfortable until we don't. And so now we want you comfortable again. Let's just keep praying today. There are some of you right now that you're in the middle of furnace, but you don't have the fourth man in the fire with you. Maybe you heard about the Son of God. You know about the Son of God, but you don't know Him personally. That was me growing up in church. I knew about Jesus, but I didn't know Him. Let me tell you about who He is. He is the Son of God. And God so loved the world that He sent His one and only Son 2,000 years ago, Jesus. You can say this, but He walked into the fire for you. He didn't come for the healthy. He came for the sick. He didn't come for those who were doing okay. He came for those who needed help and healing and wholeness and forgiveness. And He went to the cross and died in our place for the forgiveness of our sins. He died and God raised him from the dead so that anyone, and this includes you, can have Him in your life. When you call on Him, He hears your prayers. He makes you brand new. He will forgive everything you've ever done. The secret sins, the things that you're ashamed of, I think He could never love you. He loves you and He came for you. He died and He rose again. And when you call on Him, He hears your prayers. He forgives your sins. He makes you brand new. Today, we saw hundreds of people baptized. The old sinful life is washed away. They come out forgiven and changed. You see it on their face. You can feel it in their stories. They are not the same because the Son of God has made them new. All of our churches are there. Those of you who are not here by accident, you are here because God loves you. He's a good God. He brought you here for this moment. If you're in the middle of a fire and you don't have the fourth man in the fire, His name is Jesus. He is the Son of God. He is ready to forgive you, fill you, and make you new. If you need Him today, we're stepping away from our sinfulness. That's called repentance. We're turning from our sins. We're surrendering our life to Him. He's not just our get out of hell free card. He becomes our Savior and the Lord of our life. We exist to live for Him. If that's you today, you need His forgiveness. You need His grace. You need His salvation. We're stepping away. Hey, you could even get baptized. Hey, we'll do it even more because guess what? He's about to make you new. All of our churches, you need Him. You're ready for His forgiveness. You need Him in the fire. You want Him in the good times. You need His presence. You're stepping away from your sin. Jesus, make me new. That's your prayer today. Lift your hands high right now. Lift Him up all over the place right there. God bless you here as well. Right here, others today. Right back over here. All praise God back there. Others today say, yes, God bless you. Others today say, yes, Jesus. Right back over here. Bless you, sir. Others today say, I need His presence. Be the Lord of my life. God bless you as well. Oh, come on, sir. Come on, man. God bless you. I see it in your eyes. I see it in your eyes. Online, type in the comment section. I'm surrendering my life to Christ. Pastor Sam, hey, could you come on up here? What I want you to do is I need you to lead your campus in prayer today. You pray, and we're all going to pray and believe for salvation. Come on, we'll just have your heads in prayer. Help me pray with those making that decision. Say, Heavenly Father, Almighty God, I give you my life. I surrender to you. Today I repent of all my sins. I turn towards you. Fill me with your spirit so I can follow you, serve you, and love others like you love me. Thank you for new life. Now you have mine. In Jesus' name I pray. Somebody get a little loud. Somebody celebrate today.