Craig Groeschel - Anxious Hearts, Fearless Faith
I'd love it if you would raise your hand today at all of our churches. You can type in the comment section online, "This is me". Raise your hand today if every single part of your life is going great right now, raise your hand. Raise your hand. Okay, I've got somebody here. Praise God for you. I'm excited for you. God bless you. This message is not for you. It's not for you. I want to talk today to those of you who may be going through something a little bit more difficult. I want to talk to those who might have something painful in some pocket or maybe even a big portion of your life. I want to talk to those of you that may be in a complicated season for you or maybe with somebody that you love. And I've got a lot of friends right now that are struggling, people very close to us.
One person is praying and praying and praying for a miracle, and God just isn't answering the prayer the way that she believes that He could. There's a couple that we love that's been believing God and trying for a long time to have a child and they finally got pregnant and then they lost their child. I've got another friend that thought that the cancer was gone because it was gone, but then it came back. I want to talk to some people that are going through some things like that. And for many of you, it may be something kind of big like that, or it could be a problem that's not really big, but just an ongoing problem. Like, you know, like life's just okay. Not great. Okay. Job's not great. It's okay. Marriage is not great. It's okay. Finances are not great, and just kinda barely making it. And to make things worse, you're sitting by the guy whose life is going great. Right?
My pastor, Pastor Nick, who I love and honor, he used to say that you are probably going into a hard season or you're in the middle of a hard season or you're coming out of a hard season. I love my pastor. I hate when he said that. Probably because it's really true. I mean, in this broken world, marred by sin, life can be really, really difficult. And Peter, in the New Testament, he calls these difficulties, he calls them "fiery trials". Some of you may be in a fiery trial right now. You're battling with depression or you're discouraged and you might even feel like your faith is being tested right now.
Peter said in the trials, he said this in 1 Peter 1:7. He said, "These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It's being tested as fire tests and purifies gold, though your faith is far more precious than mere gold". Today, I want to continue our message through the Book of Daniel. We're looking at Daniel and his friends, and we're gonna see that Daniel and his friends face the test of a lifetime. They're gonna literally be thrown into a fiery trial, a fiery furnace, and they're gonna discover that a faith that's been tested is a faith that can be trusted. I want to say it again. A faith that's been tested in the middle of a trial is a faith that can be trusted.
So I want to just tell you what we're gonna do. Those of you at Life.Church Online, those of you at YouTube, stay with me. Stay. I'm gonna be with you for the rest of the message. Those of you at the campus, we're gonna do something different. I wanna brag on your campus pastor for a moment. We have 45 campus pastors. These are people who are faithful to the Word of God, committed to loving God's people, filled with integrity, and incredible pastors. And I wanted to give them the opportunity to share God's Word with you today. So the online audience, I'll stay with you. In a moment, I'm gonna hand it off to our campus pastors. We kinda wrote this message together. What I did is I shared my thoughts with them. They're bringing their thoughts to share with you. And I believe God is gonna use your pastor to speak to you today and powerful today at 45 locations.
Would you help welcome your campus pastor? Come on. All right. Now it is just us online and a rather rowdy group who's in the room with me today, so let's have some fun. We're gonna review where we've been in this message series, in week number one in the series Unshakeable. Don't forget to boo if you want to boo. Remember what we're doing here. We talked about the evil King Nebuchadnezzar. Okay. Nebuchadnezzar was wicked. He was evil. He was the most powerful man in the Kingdom of Babylon, the Babylonian Empire. And after he conquered Judah, it was horrible. Just destroyed the temple, mocked their faith. He took the best and the brightest young men, captured them, and deported them from their homeland, from their families, and took them to Babylon to indoctrinate them with the evil Babylonian views.
And Daniel and his three friends were four of the people that were taken. His friends were Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Now, King Nebuchadnezzar, one more time just for fun. King Nebuchadnezzar, he had an inflated sense of importance. He made a gold statue of himself that was 90 feet tall, nine feet wide. This is as tall as an eight-story building. I can't prove it, but he's probably compensating for, he was picked on as a kid. I don't what you're thinking. Like, he was insecure about... He's built this big, old honking... Come on, it's just online. Let's have some fun today. Can we have some fun at church today?
I mean, we're talking, he's building this eight-story statue and he has all of the government leaders, all the advisors and the judges and the magistrates. And you know, this would be like the city council. All the important people come and to the dedication to the statue that he made for himself. "Look how important I am. Here is my statue. I'm an evil man with a big statue," okay? Daniel 3 says this, "Then a herald," this is kind of like the announcer guy, shouts. "When you hear the sound of the musical instruments, bow down to worship King Nebuchadnezzar's gold statue. Anyone who refuses to obey will immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace". So this guy builds this big statue of himself and says, "Everybody," tells his herald, "tell everybody, worship the statue of me made of gold. And if you don't, you're gonna be thrown in the fiery furnace".
Now, there's some kids there, probably teenagers, maybe a little bit older now, who love God and don't want to worship a false idol. And if you think about it, it doesn't get any more serious than this. Basically the message is, when the band starts playing, you gotta bow and worship the king. If you don't, you're gonna be Christy Critters, and I probably shouldn't even say that sarcastically. Like, literally, you're gonna die. That's what... This is a test. This is a trial. And remember, a faith that's been tested is a faith that can be trusted. Some of you right now, you're in the middle of a test and your faith is being strengthened. Faith that's been tested is a faith that can be trusted. So the King says, "Bow down and worship the statue or you're gonna die".
Now there's all this big crowd there. What do you think they did? What do you think they did? Anybody wanna take a guess? Did they stand up or did they bow? Bow. They bowed, right? They bowed down. Why? They didn't wanna die. Verse 7 says this, "So at the sound of the musical instruments, all the people, whatever race or nation or language, bowed to the ground and worshiped the gold statue that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up". So picture this, there's this big honking gold statue and everybody, there're all the important people. They're bowing down and they're worshiping, "Oh, great statue, great king, you're so amazing. We worship you". And there's three boys not bowing. Three boys still standing. And the leaders were like looking around going, "Wait, they disobeyed the king"! And they're like, "There's no way! We are so telling the king".
This is what they did. These were annoying people. They're like, "Hey, oh, great King Nebuchadnezzar, those Jewish boys that you promoted..." Because remember, they're all jealous of these Jewish boys. "Those Jewish boys that you promoted, they're not worshiping you, king". And the king's like, "That's not right. I built a big statue of myself. I'm King Nebuchadnezzar". And so he screams at the boys and he basically said, "You better bow or burn". And verse 16 tells us what they did. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, watch the respect. Watch the directness and the kindness. They're not arrogant. They're not mean. They're not critical. They're clear, they're direct, and they're respectful. They said, "King Nebuchadnezzar, we don't need to defend ourselves".
We don't need to. We don't need to tell you. "We don't 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 our God will deliver us from your majesty's hand". I don't need to tell you about my faith. I don't need to tell you why your rule's stupid. I don't need to sit back. I don't need to make a big point. I'm just gonna tell you right now, we worship God. We're gonna serve God. We're not bowing down to you, and the God we serve is able. And I want you to think about this, like, that preaches really good. But when your life is on the line, like literally, like if you're about to be thrown into that fire and they say, "Our God is able," and when everyone else bows, they stand, think about it.
They refused to compromise their faith even in the face of death. We need to let that just sink in. That's bold. A faith that's been tested is a faith that can be trusted. And let's just acknowledge for a minute how easy it would have been for them to kind of like, just blend in, right? Think about it. Everybody else is bowing down. They don't want to die. Think about how easy it would be to rationalize and just bow down. They could have just, you know, faked it like, "We're bowing down and we're acting like it, but we got our fingers crossed. You know, we're not..." They could have faked it, and just kinda like, blended in. They could have worshiped just one time like, "Okay, we need to do this and so we're worshiping and then we're gonna ask God for forgiveness. Surely, God will understand".
They could have done that. Besides, you know, like, if they're dead, it's really hard to have a ministry when you're already dead. And so you can see how easy it would have been for them to rationalize and compromise their faith to fit in and to be safe, but they refused to compromise their faith even in the face of death. Now, again, since it's just us online, I kinda wanna be a little unplugged, to be real. It's difficult for most of us to imagine that. I do want to acknowledge that I'm talking to some of you in some countries like, you can imagine it, like, you literally live it. There are those of you that you secretly watch these messages because you're seeking Jesus. And if you proclaimed Him boldly publicly, you'd lose your family or worse.
And so it's really easy for those of us, especially where I live, kind of in the safer part of the United States, is easy to write this story off as an Old Testament Bible story that doesn't apply to me like, "I'm never gonna be, I'm never gonna have to have my faith, you know, my life in danger". Maybe. Maybe not. But I wanna say right now, your faith is tested in many ways every single day. Every single day. Whether you compromise and laugh at the joke or don't, whether you compromise and join in the gossip or don't, whether you treat people with love and respect and dignity or you don't.
Whether you join in the chaos of all the division or you try to rise above it and keep the mission of Jesus higher than everything else in your life. Every single day, your faith is tested. You have a choice between doing what's right or doing what's easy. Every single day. You have a choice between doing what pleases God or doing what pleases people. And at the heart, I can describe it this way, you have a choice between worshiping God or giving your heart to an idol. Oh, I would never give my heart to an idol. Scroll, scroll, scroll, scroll, scroll. I'd never give my heart to an idol. Oh, football team, football team, football team. I'd never give my heart to an idol.
What do you think of my watch? What do you think of my outfit? What do you think of my purse? I promise you, I promise you, I promise you, if you're committed to serving God, the devil will tempt you to compromise your faith in God. Even in the face of death, they refused to compromise their faith in God. Back to our story. These boys inspire me. I wanna look at their faith again. Verse 17 tells us this. "If we're thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us". I tell myself, I have hard times too. Those of you online, type in a comment section, "I have hard times. I have hard times too". I tell myself, "No matter what I face, my God is able. No matter what I face, my God is able".
You tell yourself when you don't know what you're gonna do, when your faith is getting low, sometimes you have to preach to yourself and you tell yourself, "My God is able. I just wanna remind myself, I serve the God who says with Him all things are possible. I serve the God who has the ability to open up blind eyes. I have the God, I serve a God who can open up deaf ears. I serve a God who can speak to that which is dead and bring up that... My God is able. My God is able". And I don't know what it'll be for you, but somebody, you might get a bad medical report. And so what you say is, "That's bad. I don't like that. I don't want it, but my God is able to heal".
Some of you, you may be in a relationship. You think there's no way God will ever fix them, no way God can save my... No, my God is able to restore broken relationships. You may be struggling financially like right now. I mean, who's not of the way the world is right now? You can't even afford milk, much less buy a house, right? No, my God is able to meet all of my needs according to His glories and riches. My God is able, my God is able. Somebody say it, "My God is able". My God is able. Say it again, "My God is able". My God is able. Type it online, "My God is able". Say it again, "My God is able".
My God is able. My God is able. My God is able, but what if God is able and He doesn't? What if He's able to heal and He doesn't? What if He's able to provide and you find yourself lacking? What if He's able and He doesn't, right? Anybody ever been there? Can we just be real? I mean, you're praying, you're praying, you're believing, you're doing all right. You know, I'm confessing, your Scripture says if I believe in my heart and confess with my mouth, You're Lord, and if you say to this mountain, "Be thou removed and cast in the sea". And if two or three on Earth gather and believe anything, if we pray according to Your will, God, You hear our prayers, God, the prayer of faith will heal the sick, God, and you pray Him and you're believing and you're believing God will and He doesn't.
Can we be that real? If we had all the campuses here, we'd probably be like, all more pastoral, but it's just us. Let's just be real. It is tough. And we see the boys face this very real possibility. Verse 17, they say this, "The God we serve is able to save us". We know He can. We know He can and we believe He will. "He will rescue us from your power, your majesty". But sometimes He doesn't always do what He can and we think He will, right? Let me say it again. Sometimes He doesn't always do what He can and we think He will. And so they say, "He will save us. But if He doesn't..." But even if He doesn't, know what we know He can do and what we think He should do, "even if he doesn't, we want to make it clear to you, your majesty".
Kind and respectful. "We want to make it clear to you, your majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up". Our God is able. We know He can. We believe He will. Whatever you're facing right now, if you're in a fiery trial, and I know that many of you are and you're asking God to deliver you right now. One of the greatest faith statements you could ever make goes like this. "God, I believe You can. And God, I believe You will. But even if You don't, I still believe". That's good. Good. "God, I believe You can. God, I believe You will. But even if You don't, I still believe".
Someone might want to say that with me. "God, I believe You can. God, I believe You will. But even if You don't, I still believe". "God, I believe You can. God, I believe You will. But even if You don't, God. I still believe. I still trust You. I'll still serve You. I'll still honor You. I still believe". There's some of you that God didn't do what you thought He would do and so you walked away from Him. Can I just say very lovingly, that's not real faith. Faith is believing He can, but faith is also believing He's King. Faith is believing that He can, but faith is still believing that He's sovereign. Real faith, a faith that's been tested is a faith that could be trusted. Real faith believes on the other side of disappointment. Call Him, "I'm mad, God. I wish You had, You hadn't".
But at some point you have to determine is He God or are you? Ooh! Come on. I believe You can. I know You can. I believe You will, but even if You don't, You're still God, and I still believe. So the king ordered the furnace turned up seven times. He's ticked. He's mad. He's got a big statue and they're not worshiping him, okay? So he orders the strongest soldiers, "Go get the guy that looks like, you get the strong guys. And get these three boys, tie 'em up, and throw 'em in". Well, those soldiers shouldn't have been so strong because the three guys that were throwing 'em in, the strongest guys throwing 'em in, they actually got burned by the fire. It was so hot they got burned.
And so these three boys that chose to worship the true God and not the false God, they're in the middle of the fire and the king looks on and he's shocked. He's like, "Wait a minute. Didn't we throw three men into the fire"? And this guy's, "Uh, yes, King. Yes, Your Honor. Yes, we threw three guys in the fire". And he goes, "I see another one. Didn't we throw three in"? And the king says, "'Look,' he answered, 'I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they're not even hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.'" This just got crazy. This just got powerful. Our God is able. Three men are thrown into the fire and a fourth man appears.
Who is the fourth man in the fire? Well, Bible scholars tell us that the fourth man is most likely Jesus. They call it a Christophany or a theophany. Christophany, Christ is Christ, ophany means appearance. Scholars would say that this is an Old Testament appearance of Christ or a pre-incarnate vision or visitation from Christ because in the beginning, there was God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. There's always been God the Son and the Holy Spirit. Jesus has always been there. He wasn't just here when He became flesh. He was here before He was flesh, pre-incarnate. And so they would say, "This is very likely a Christophany".
Jesus comes with the boys in the fire. And this is where the story goes to a whole nother level. The boys were in the fire, and Jesus met them in the fire. Jesus met them in the fire. Hold that thought. We're gonna come back to it and it's gonna get personal. Fast forward to the end of the story. The story tells us, did the boys die or did they survive? They survived, right? They miraculously survived. Not only did they survive, there's no harm on their body. Their bodies didn't even smell like smoke. There's someone here, you're going through a trial right now, a fiery trial. And I wanna tell you right now, by the power and the grace of God, for some of you, not only are you not gonna get burned, but you're gonna come out not smelling like smoke. Your God is gonna be faithful. He can prove Himself faithful to you. You're gonna walk through the fire and not smell like smoke.
And the next thing you know, the King Nebuchadnezzar who resented these boys' faith in God, the king who resented these boys' faith in God promoted the boys and decided on the spot to put his faith in their God. "If any God can do that," the king says, "I want to put my faith in that God". Verse 28 tells us this, "Then Nebuchadnezzar said, 'Oh, praise be to the God.'" He's worshiping. A moment ago he was doubting. He saw the presence and the power of God. Now he's worshiping, "Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who sent His angel and rescued His servants. They trusted in their God and defied the king's command and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any God except for their own God".
Our God is able. And our God showed up and did this. And I want to slow down for a moment and point out to you exactly what God did and exactly what God didn't do. Notice, when did God deliver the boys? When did He deliver them? God didn't deliver them from the fire. God delivered them in the fire. And this is so important, I hope you'll hear this. Embrace the truth that God doesn't always deliver us from our trials, but He is always with us in our trials. In the middle of the worst fiery trial of their lives, Jesus met them in the fire. Jesus met them in the fire. And that's all, I want to talk to those of you that may be in a difficult season. I have, we have, our family has.
Past three years, different kind of things have been three of the more difficult years, three of the more difficult years. Some of the most difficult seasons in 35 years in ministry. Some of the most difficult, most painful seasons. And in the middle of the fire, we have never been more intimate with the presence and the goodness of God. He's with us in the fire. He's with us in the fire. And I hope you'll see that, that when you put your faith in Him, Jesus will always meet you in the fire. And I want you to think about these boys, if you will. They're in the fire and Jesus appears. And they're surrounded by flames everywhere and everybody else, these other guys are dead. And they're still alive and Jesus is with them and they're like, "We're..." They're beside themselves and Jesus is there.
I just wonder, I just imagine, I bet He just didn't go like. Right? I mean, He's Jesus. "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and God spoke". I just think our God is a God who speaks. I bet Jesus talked to 'em, and it's so emotional to think about. Like, I wonder what He would have said, if Jesus would've looked at the boys and said like, "Your Heavenly Father is so proud of you. You consistently and faithfully chose to worship Him. You didn't give in. You stood strong for your faith". I wonder if Jesus would've said, "Hey, because of your faith, in a few moments, King Nebuchadnezzar is gonna come to worship God". Maybe Jesus would have said, "Hey, because of your faith, I know you don't care now, but your names would be remembered throughout history".
I wonder if He would've told them that one day, people all over the world who are suffering and going through horrific trials and those who are persecuted, even those who are martyred for their faith will be strengthened by hearing your story. I wonder what Jesus said when He met them in the fire. And when you think about it, the fiery furnace looked like the place where, that would be the end of their lives. And it turned out to be the place where they met Jesus. And whatever you're going through, you can hold onto that same hope. No matter what you're going through, Jesus will meet you in the fire.
And when He does, if you listen, He'll speak to you. He'll speak to you through His Word. He'll speak to you through His sermon. He'll speak to you by the power of the Holy Spirit. Some of you know what I'm talking about. And He may tell you, oh, He'll tell you He loves you. And He may tell you He's proud of you for keeping your faith in God. And He may tell you He will never leave you and never forsake you. I want you to believe me when I tell you this because I have lived it, because I have lived it, because I have lived it. He is always with me in the fire. And He's always with you. And He's with you now. And Jesus will meet you in the fire.
So Father, we worship You. We worship You for who You are. With every bit of faith, God, we praise You. We believe You are the God that can and You are the God that will. And we declare that You are God, and no matter what, God, we trust You.
Today at all of our churches and those of you online, I want to pray for those of you that maybe it's you, maybe it's someone that you love, but you or someone close to you is in the middle of a fiery season, a trial. It could be big. It could be just that ongoing, life's hard. If you need prayer today for you or someone you love, would you lift up your hands right now? Just lift them up high. Online, you can just type in the comment section, "Would you pray for me today? I'm in the middle of a trial. Would you pray for me"?
God, in a strange way, I thank You for the trials, like God, that we would never choose them. We don't really want 'em. We don't enjoy 'em. But God, thank You that we get to know You in a different way in those trials. And so Father, I ask right now for whatever those in our church family, those around the world are going through right now, that they would sense that You're good. That Your peace that goes beyond all understanding, in this moment, would guard their hearts and their minds and their souls in Christ Jesus. And God, we thank You that You're a miraculous God. And we believe for miracles, God.
We believe for supernatural healing, God. And we believe for provision, God. And we believe for the salvation of those that need You, God. And we believe for restoration and broken families, God, and marriages and relationship with kids, God, You're a supernatural God. And we believe by faith You can move mountains, God. We ask for miracles. And God, we know You can, God. And God, we believe You will. We're like the persistent widow that comes back and keeps praying and praying and praying. And we'll never stop praying and never stop believing. And ultimately, God, even though we know You can, and God, by faith, we still believe You will, if you don't, God, we still worship You. Would You meet those who are hurting in the fire? God, show them Your love. Show them Your goodness. Show them Your grace. God, we thank You that a faith that has been tested is one that can be trusted. God, draw us close. Teach us to depend on You. God, help us to know You in the fire.
We believe for supernatural healing, God. And we believe for provision, God. And we believe for the salvation of those that need You, God. And we believe for restoration and broken families, God, and marriages and relationship with kids, God, You're a supernatural God. And we believe by faith You can move mountains, God. We ask for miracles. And God, we know You can, God. And God, we believe You will. We're like the persistent widow that comes back and keeps praying and praying and praying. And we'll never stop praying and never stop believing. And ultimately, God, even though we know You can, and God, by faith, we still believe You will, if you don't, God, we still worship You. Would You meet those who are hurting in the fire? God, show them Your love. Show them Your goodness. Show them Your grace. God, we thank You that a faith that has been tested is one that can be trusted. God, draw us close. Teach us to depend on You. God, help us to know You in the fire.
Now, as you keep praying, those of you online all over the world, some of you are gonna recognize like going, "Yeah, I'm kinda doing life without Jesus". Let's just call it what it is. I'm doing life without God. Who is Jesus? What does He mean to this whole thing?
Let me just tell you about how good God is. Our God is a loving God, and He loves you. And you're not watching this message by accident. You're watching because God loves you and He loves you so much that His Word says that He sent His one and only Son Jesus. God loves you so much that He sent Jesus, the Son of God, the perfect sinless Son of God. And Jesus didn't come into the world to make people feel guilty. He didn't come in the world to condemn the world. He came here to save you. He came here to save me. What does it mean to be a follower of Jesus? Well, we recognize He is the Son of God. He gave His life so our sins could be forgiven, and God raised Him from the dead.
So, because of who He is, the Son of God, the King of kings, we decide we're not King, we're not Lord and we just turn away from our selfishness. We turn away from our sinfulness and we say, "Jesus, we wanna know You. We wanna serve You. We wanna follow You. You are the King of all". Today, all over the world online, there are those of you watching. You may be in a place where you would be persecuted for your faith. You may be in a place where you grew up around the church and you even know all the Jesus stuff, but He's not your King, He's not your Lord. And you recognize today, when you're in the fire, you're alone in the fire. You don't have to be. You're alone in your sin. You feel guilty for, you don't have to feel guilty for your sin.
When you call on Jesus, He hears your prayers. He forgives all of your sins. He doesn't hold 'em against you anymore and He makes you new. The old is gone and He makes you new. Then He fills you with the power of the Holy Spirit, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He's with you always. He'll never leave you. He'll never forsake you. You have the promise of eternal life, and you have the promise of His presence in this life today.
All over the world, online, those who say, "I need His grace. I'm stepping away from my sin. I'm turning towards Jesus. I wanna make Him my King. He's my Lord. He's my Savior. I give my life to Him," that's your prayer, lift your hands high right now, all over the place. Lift them up online. Type in the comment section, "I am surrendering my life to Jesus today". Type it boldly. Put an exclamation point. I am surrendering my life to Jesus today. And hey, I got a lot of people here who are praying for you today online as your life is being changed by Jesus so we don't want you to pray alone. We're gonna pray aloud together. Would you just pray right where you are, right in front of your phone, computer, whatever it is, just pray this. Just pray:
Heavenly Father, I need You in my life. I'm broken. I'm sinful and I need a Savior. I trust Jesus to save me from my sins, to make me brand new. God, would You fill me with Your Holy Spirit so I could know You intimately and so I could serve You for the rest of my life? My life is not my own. You are my King. You're my Savior. You're my Lord. Thank You for new life. I give You all of mine. In Jesus' name I pray.
Those of you online right now, we're gonna cheer for you in just a moment. I wanna tell you that we have small groups that meet every single week. There's hundreds of them. We've got pastors around the world. We've got volunteers, got people just like you that are hurting, broken, afraid, kind of messed up and meeting with other people that are being changed daily by the grace of Jesus. And we want you to know that wherever you are right now, God is with you. He loves you. We love you. These people love you. We celebrate your life in Jesus Christ.