SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Again, I do want to say welcome and welcome to all of our campuses, everybody online.
SPEAKER_00: And if you're a guest today, I would say you came on a great weekend because this is our summer changes everything wrap-up weekend.
SPEAKER_00: And there's probably a lot of you that are like, what does that mean?
SPEAKER_00: Summer changes everything wrap.
SPEAKER_00: Well, back in February, I stood on the stage and I challenged our parents across all of our campuses and also our students to get our students to camp.
SPEAKER_00: So parents send your kids to camp and then students sign up and go to camp.
SPEAKER_00: And we've got a bunch of students in our services right now that went to camp and just had an incredible time.
SPEAKER_00: And here's what we said: we really do believe that summer changes everything, or camp does.
SPEAKER_00: Like you get your kids out of the regular routine, you get them away from just the regular things they're doing, get them out, even their phones, and just get them in a place with each other where they're worshiping God, having some of the best worship, best teaching.
SPEAKER_00: And we did this not just for our high school students, not just for our middle school students.
SPEAKER_00: It was preschool kids who met here at our campus or elementary school kids all the way through our high school kids that went away to camps and experienced that time away.
SPEAKER_00: And here's what we said: if you send your kid to camp, they will come back different.
SPEAKER_00: And I don't know about you, but it was true for me.
SPEAKER_00: I remember going to camp as a kid growing up, part of my time in Missouri and going to High Hill Christian Camp, which was not like the kid, you know, the camps that our kids go to.
SPEAKER_00: They went out to Biola University, our high schoolers and middle schoolers, they stay in dorms and you know have the best worship you could imagine.
SPEAKER_00: I was in like bunk houses with bugs and mosquitoes and all that kind of thing, you know.
SPEAKER_00: But just the getting away, whether that camp or Winema Christian camp out in Oregon, I remember the people that I interacted with, the youth pastors.
SPEAKER_00: I remember the volunteers that gave a week of their time to come and just get away with us.
SPEAKER_00: I remember names like Jamal Ward and Claire Bueller and Derek Voorhees and Dave Algyre and Jim Puttman.
SPEAKER_00: I remember people who literally changed my life.
SPEAKER_00: I remember Jim Puttman coming up to me as a junior in high school, looking at me saying, Hey, I do all the talks for campfires.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna do them all this week, but I'm not doing Thursday night.
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, Who's doing Thursday night?
SPEAKER_00: And he's like, You're doing Thursday night.
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, they won't come back to camp.
SPEAKER_00: Nobody will make a decision.
SPEAKER_00: I I was scared to death, but I gave my testimony that night.
SPEAKER_00: It was probably the shortest testimony you've ever heard in your life.
SPEAKER_00: But I gave my testimony, and I remember Jim Putman looking at me and saying, Sean, there is something there you should consider being a pastor.
SPEAKER_00: Like God's got some, whether it's a pastor or whether it's going to a job and just being kind of a pastor in your work, God has something in the kingdom he wants you to do.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm telling you, those experiences away with those people are part of the reason that I'm standing here today.
SPEAKER_00: And what was really cool, was incredible, is we made that challenge, and 1,200 of you said yes.
SPEAKER_00: You realize we sent 1,200 of our kids from preschool all the way through high school to camp.
SPEAKER_00: It's awesome across all of our campuses.
SPEAKER_00: And a whole bunch of them at camp made a decision and said, Hey, when I get back, I want to talk to my parents, and I am placing my faith in Jesus and I want to put my faith into action.
SPEAKER_00: And when I get back, I want to get baptized.
SPEAKER_00: And we've got 32 students across our campuses this weekend that made that decision that are getting baptized.
SPEAKER_00: And we had a whole bunch that just came forward on Thursday night that didn't, that weren't prescheduled, that didn't schedule their baptism, just said, hey, I want to make this decision.
SPEAKER_00: So whether you're a student, whether you're a parent, who, whether you're an adult that's just here and saying, hey, I've been thinking about that decision.
SPEAKER_00: When we get done with the message today and we have a time of worship, if you'd like to make that decision, we would invite you to come forward to the baptistry at your campus and make that decision so we can celebrate with you today.
SPEAKER_00: But before we get there, I want you to turn to Daniel chapter three.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what we're gonna do: we're gonna look at a story.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm excited about this story because this story, it almost mimics, it's kind of a picture of what these students did when they went to camp and they stood up and they said, they said, I want to stand for Jesus, I want to follow Jesus, I want to be a Jesus follower, I want to put him first.
SPEAKER_00: Daniel chapter three, I'll give you a little context.
SPEAKER_00: It's a story of three guys.
SPEAKER_00: Three guys who stood for their faith.
SPEAKER_00: They're young adult men that stood for their faith even when they did not know how the story was gonna turn out.
SPEAKER_00: 605 BC, Babylon, Babylon's the most powerful nation in the world.
SPEAKER_00: Nebuchadnezzar is the most powerful king in the world, and his mission was to conquer the world.
SPEAKER_00: And so he was going around just conquering nation after nation, and Babylon was huge.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, they were massive and massive armies, and they would just flood in and take over.
SPEAKER_00: Well, in 605 BC, they took over Israel.
SPEAKER_00: They exiled some people away, maybe basically just took the best and the brightest young men.
SPEAKER_00: They would literally the first exile to Babylon from Israel was 10,000 people.
SPEAKER_00: 10,000 some of the best and brightest.
SPEAKER_00: Take people from each tribe, and they would take them.
SPEAKER_00: What Babylon would do is they would put these young men in this indoctrination program.
SPEAKER_00: They would take them away from their culture, away from their country.
SPEAKER_00: They would put them in Babylon and they would indoctrinate them with the culture, with the customs, with the ideas, the education, the religion, all of that.
SPEAKER_00: Then what they would do is take the best and brightest of those, pay them a whole bunch of money.
SPEAKER_00: They pay them a whole bunch of money, and then they give them a whole bunch of power, put them over a province in Babylon to train them up.
SPEAKER_00: And then what they would do is take them back to their home countries, put them in charge, and you can imagine what happened because of the money and because of the authority and the power, and then the new education, they began to indoctrinate their people and whole generations would forget who they were.
SPEAKER_00: And that's how Babylon, that's how Rome, that's how just about any empire, if you go back through history, how they did it and then kept the peace and spread their empires.
SPEAKER_00: So this is happening, and there are three guys, actually, four.
SPEAKER_00: Daniel, so Daniel, who writes the book of Daniel, main character, you know, Daniel and the lion's den, that thing.
SPEAKER_00: But Daniel had three friends is Hananiah, Mishel, and Azariah.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if you know the story of Daniel 3, you don't recognize those names.
SPEAKER_00: Those were their Hebrew names, their Babylonian names that were given to them in this program were Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you might recognize those names.
SPEAKER_00: Well, these guys get thrown into this indoctrination program and they rise.
SPEAKER_00: Like they're thrown in as teens, just like our students sitting here at all of our campuses.
SPEAKER_00: They're thrown in as teenagers and they grow up in this program over 15 years.
SPEAKER_00: And they're the best of the best.
SPEAKER_00: We're talking best and brightest.
SPEAKER_00: We're talking the ones who like cream of the crop.
SPEAKER_00: And Nebuchadnezzar takes them.
SPEAKER_00: And what he does by chapter three, Daniel is a governor over the pro a province in Babylon, and the three are his top advisors.
SPEAKER_00: And so they're at the top.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what happens in Daniel chapter three, starting at verse one.
SPEAKER_00: It says, King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold 60 cubits high.
SPEAKER_00: You know how high that is?
SPEAKER_00: That is 90 feet tall.
SPEAKER_00: Like in our measurements, that's 90 feet tall.
SPEAKER_00: This is a massive statue.
SPEAKER_00: He made an image of gold 60 cubits high, six cubits wide.
SPEAKER_00: That's nine feet wide, and set it up in the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, hold up for there for a second.
SPEAKER_00: If you've got to build a 90-foot-tall statue, later it says, of himself.
SPEAKER_00: Like of himself.
SPEAKER_00: If you've got to do that to make yourself feel good, you got problems.
SPEAKER_00: Like there's a little bit of ego there.
SPEAKER_00: And that's actually what it is.
SPEAKER_00: Like Nebuchadnezzar is on an ego trip.
SPEAKER_00: It plagues him the rest of the book.
SPEAKER_00: Pride goes before Paul.
SPEAKER_00: That is the story of Nebuchadnezzar.
SPEAKER_00: It goes on and it says in verse 2, he then summoned the satraps, the prefects, the governors, the advisors, the treasurers, the judges, the magistrates, and all the other provincial officials to come to the dedication of the image that he had set up.
SPEAKER_00: So here's what happens: He brings all these people there, and he's got this 90-foot-tall statue of himself made of gold.
SPEAKER_00: How much gold would that be?
SPEAKER_00: It was a statue or a pillar that was made of large logs.
SPEAKER_00: It would have been made of wood that were put together, then it was carved in his image, and then it was overlaid in gold.
SPEAKER_00: And I think there's something there.
SPEAKER_00: Because what the world offers us, the world offers us gold-plated idols.
SPEAKER_00: Like things that are shiny on the outside, they're tempting, they look good.
SPEAKER_00: And then when you get on the inside, you find out that they're hollow.
SPEAKER_00: Only God is the real thing through and through.
SPEAKER_00: And the question would be for us is just when we think about standing up for our man, what are those idols, those, those gold-plated idols of this world that are drawing our attention away from the God that we should be standing for.
SPEAKER_00: So here's what happened.
SPEAKER_00: Here was the plan.
SPEAKER_00: Nebuchadnezzar gathers everybody together.
SPEAKER_00: It'll be crowds like these, just hundreds of people that are gathered, that are all leaders, and that probably were in a courtyard and it's set up, and there's probably a sheet or something large, you know, covering the image, and all of a sudden you can imagine they would have ripped that covering off.
SPEAKER_00: And then the the music played, the trumpets sounded, and the music played.
SPEAKER_00: And when that happened, the decree was that everyone was to hit the ground and begin to worship.
SPEAKER_00: So that's what happens.
SPEAKER_00: They uncover the statue, the music begins to play, and everybody hits their knees and begins to worship.
SPEAKER_00: Except for three.
SPEAKER_00: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego stand there and they don't.
SPEAKER_00: They're obstinate, they say, nope, I'm not bowing.
SPEAKER_00: And nobody says anything at the time.
SPEAKER_00: There's probably some people around them that all of a sudden are bowing, and all of a sudden they realize, whoa, these guys are not bowing.
SPEAKER_00: And then what do they do?
SPEAKER_00: Those who see this, they get up and they figure this is their opportunity and they run to the king, walk into the king chambers, they're king, man, that dedication ceremony was amazing.
SPEAKER_00: Man, that statue of you is just perfect.
SPEAKER_00: But, verse 12, but there were some Jews whom you have set over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendigo, who pay no attention to you, your majesty.
SPEAKER_00: They neither serve your gods nor worship the image of gold that you have set up.
SPEAKER_00: You think about life, there's basically three types of people, aren't there?
SPEAKER_00: Stuck up people.
SPEAKER_00: Nebuchadnezzar, 90 foot tall, image of himself, stuck up for sure.
SPEAKER_00: Then you've got suck up people, the people who hit the ground and then all of a sudden see Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego over there, so they see their opportunity.
SPEAKER_00: So they go suck up to the king and they're like, hey king.
SPEAKER_00: And they they rat on these three guys.
SPEAKER_00: But then there's stand-up people.
SPEAKER_00: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego come into this program as teenagers, grow up over a period of 15 years.
SPEAKER_00: Man, they've been giving authority, they've been giving them power, they even had wealth.
SPEAKER_00: And then they're confronted with this moment.
SPEAKER_00: And what do they do?
SPEAKER_00: They're confronted with the moment to bow or to stand, and what do they do?
SPEAKER_00: They stand up.
SPEAKER_00: They were willing to do what other people were unwilling to do, to stand for their values.
SPEAKER_00: And think about it with these three young men.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Like with all that prestige, with all why did they have this strength to step up and to stand for their values?
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because one of the reasons would be because they'd seen God show up before.
SPEAKER_00: You go back to chapter one, they come into this program, and there were some rules immediately that Babylon said they wanted these young men to partake in.
SPEAKER_00: Babylon cared about the strength of their education and their minds, but they also cared about the strength of their bodies.
SPEAKER_00: And so they began to feed them a whole different diet.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if you know the Old Testament, there's certain things that Jewish young men and women were not to eat.
SPEAKER_00: Certain things that they were supposed to and certain things they were not supposed to.
SPEAKER_00: And so these three young men, these four young men with Daniel, look at the Babylonian officials and say, hey, if we do that, we're breaking the laws that we have lived by since we were young.
SPEAKER_00: Babylonian soldiers were like, we don't care.
SPEAKER_00: Daniel goes to them and he says, Look, would you allow us just to try for one month to eat what we we will only eat vegetables and only eat water and not eat these things?
SPEAKER_00: It was some things they were told not to eat in the in the religious law.
SPEAKER_00: And if we are not as strong as the others, we will change and do what you ask us to do.
SPEAKER_00: And what happened?
SPEAKER_00: They came out the best and brightest and strongest again.
SPEAKER_00: And they looked at God and said, Okay, we are willing to stand because here's what we've seen.
SPEAKER_00: We have seen God stand for us.
SPEAKER_00: We have seen God come through.
SPEAKER_00: And here's the thing, here's what they understood.
SPEAKER_00: They stood because they understood that when you put everything in God's hands, you eventually see God's hands in everything.
SPEAKER_00: That's worth writing down.
SPEAKER_00: That's worth remembering the next time you run into a moment because the pressure to compromise is real.
SPEAKER_00: Like when you put everything in God's hands, you eventually see God's hands in everything.
SPEAKER_00: God needed some people in this moment that were unwilling to bow.
SPEAKER_00: And Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were willing to stand up for their values and what they believe.
SPEAKER_00: Are you?
SPEAKER_00: Students at all over campuses.
SPEAKER_00: And the pressure to compromise is real.
SPEAKER_00: Like you know it on Friday nights when you're with your friends, you know it when you go to the party, you know it in the group text, the group chat, you know it in the classroom, when things about your values and your beliefs are being challenged.
SPEAKER_00: Man, the pressure to just be like everyone else is real.
SPEAKER_00: And adults, it's no different for you.
SPEAKER_00: With the friend groups at work, with the expectations and in the relationships you have, it's the same thing.
SPEAKER_00: The pressure is the same.
SPEAKER_00: It may be a different stage of life in a different place, not in a school, but in a workplace or wherever it may be.
SPEAKER_00: But the pressure's still there.
SPEAKER_00: And the question is, are you willing to stand or do you bow?
SPEAKER_00: Are you willing to remember that when you put everything in God's hands, you eventually see his hands in everything?
SPEAKER_00: Shadrag, Meshach, and Abednego were willing to stand because they'd seen God work in the past, but the other reason they were willing to stand is because they had others to stand with.
SPEAKER_00: Guess what did not come out?
SPEAKER_00: It was not homework.
SPEAKER_00: Like homework did not come out.
SPEAKER_00: What did come out was Bibles.
SPEAKER_00: All 12 of them pulled a Bible out of their out of their backpacks and they opened up those Bibles.
SPEAKER_00: And I watched as they began to read scripture together, I watched as they prayed together, and I watched as they talked about what they were learning and they were confident and they were unashamed.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because there is strength in numbers.
SPEAKER_00: Because they had each other.
SPEAKER_00: And my question to all of you, all of you, wherever you're watching from right now is do you have your people?
SPEAKER_00: Because this right here is not enough.
SPEAKER_00: Like this crowd, you can blend in in a crowd.
SPEAKER_00: What people do is they blend in in a crowd.
SPEAKER_00: But when you got a group of 12, or you got a group of three, or you got a group of five or six or whatever, you don't blend in.
SPEAKER_00: You stand out whether you're with those people or not, because you know you will be with them, and they're gonna ask you, How are you doing with that thing you've been struggling with?
SPEAKER_00: How you doing with your marriage?
SPEAKER_00: How you doing with your parenting?
SPEAKER_00: How are you doing with this issue that we've been praying for you about?
SPEAKER_00: Man, my question for you would be do you have your people?
SPEAKER_00: Because if you don't, it is incredibly hard to stand.
SPEAKER_00: Dads, you need other guys.
SPEAKER_00: Men, you need other guys.
SPEAKER_00: Moms, ladies, you you need other ladies.
SPEAKER_00: You need people that are going through the same things and can look at you and say, I've been there.
SPEAKER_00: And you know what?
SPEAKER_00: You can make it through this.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm there for whatever you need.
SPEAKER_00: If you don't have those people, man, that's what we're here for.
SPEAKER_00: You realize across Central, people come every week and they sit in these chairs amidst the crowd and all of our campuses.
SPEAKER_00: But the ones who really see the support and the care and the growth are not the ones who just sit in these seats.
SPEAKER_00: They're the ones who get past these seats and sit on a living room couch at somebody's house or sit at a BlackRock or a coffee shop somewhere with a group of people that have a group of people that are listening and praying together and studying and reading scripture and doing life together.
SPEAKER_00: Like if you don't have that, we start, we start a value series next week.
SPEAKER_00: I'm super excited about it.
SPEAKER_00: And we're starting groups within that series.
SPEAKER_00: And man, the first thing you should do, if you don't have your people, the first thing you should do is sign up for one of those groups.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to wait till that thing starts.
SPEAKER_00: It's on the website right now today.
SPEAKER_00: Just go sign up.
SPEAKER_00: Because some of the best people that are gonna have your back are right here, and you haven't even met them yet.
SPEAKER_00: But you have to have the courage to stand up and sign up and say, I want to be a part of that.
SPEAKER_00: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they had some people and they were willing to stand up together.
SPEAKER_00: Now here's the reaction of the king, verse 13.
SPEAKER_00: It says, furious with rage.
SPEAKER_00: Nebuchadnezzar's furious with rage.
SPEAKER_00: Says he summoned Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
SPEAKER_00: So these men were brought before the king.
SPEAKER_00: And Nebuchadnezzar said to them, and remember, these are some of the best and brightest.
SPEAKER_00: He knows that Daniel's his governor, and these guys are this top officials.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, these are some of his guys.
SPEAKER_00: And he looks at him and says, Is this true?
SPEAKER_00: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the image of gold that I've set up.
SPEAKER_00: And what do you do in that situation?
SPEAKER_00: Because Nebuchadnezzar is not one you want to tick off.
SPEAKER_00: Like he gets, you take this guy off, he gets flaming mad, literally.
SPEAKER_00: Like he's got a fiery furnace.
SPEAKER_00: And when you oppose this guy, he doesn't just, you know, stick you in jail.
SPEAKER_00: What he does, he just burns you up, he just chucks you in.
SPEAKER_00: That's what these guys are facing.
SPEAKER_00: But they're some of the best of the best.
SPEAKER_00: So in verse 15, Nebuchadnezzar's like, I'm gonna give you a second chance.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what he says He says, Now when you hear the sound of the horn, the flute, the zither, the lyre, the harp, the pipe, and all kinds of music, if you are ready to fall down and worship the image I've made, very good.
SPEAKER_00: But if you do not worship it, you will be thrown immediately into the blazing furnace.
SPEAKER_00: Then what God will be able to rescue you from my hand.
SPEAKER_00: When you face your own furnace, what do you do?
SPEAKER_00: You bow or do you stand?
SPEAKER_00: We've all been there.
SPEAKER_00: You know, this week we talk about our students a lot and uh and our kids.
SPEAKER_00: And I remember when I was a freshman in high school, I had an English teacher.
SPEAKER_00: She went to my church, she knew I was a person of faith, and uh I walked into her English class one day, and we were doing this thing where we were working on persuasive writing or giving persuasive pitches.
SPEAKER_00: It was not a speech class, but for some reason she had this exercise she wanted to do where she wanted us, each kid, had to give a persuasive pitch, only 90 seconds, on why they thought this was right and this was wrong.
SPEAKER_00: So, okay, all right.
SPEAKER_00: Um, honestly, we all sat there, we heard her saying this, and we're like, 90 seconds, maybe we can handle that, but we were shaking our boots because none of us had ever given a speech anywhere before.
SPEAKER_00: So to get up in front of your peer here's like how many of you at your age to get up here on this stage for 90 seconds would be like, I would do anything else.
SPEAKER_00: Like, just don't make me do that.
SPEAKER_00: That's a death sentence for me.
SPEAKER_00: Well, that's a little bit how we felt, but they were topics that weren't that hard.
SPEAKER_00: So this is over a three-day period, first day, somebody gets up there and they get something like Adidas or Nike.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, give me that one.
SPEAKER_00: I'm a sports guy.
SPEAKER_00: It was back in the 90s, you know, 80s and 90s, where it was like, you know, Michael Jordan and just do it and all that.
SPEAKER_00: I was like, give me that one.
SPEAKER_00: And they would get all these different topics, and we went through the first day and I didn't get called.
SPEAKER_00: I was like, went through the second day, I didn't get called.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: Third day, I knew it was gonna be be me.
SPEAKER_00: Went through every single person.
SPEAKER_00: We get down, I am the last one she calls up to the desk.
SPEAKER_00: I walk up to the desk, she's got her little bowl there that's got all the different topics in it that you reach in and pull out.
SPEAKER_00: And I went to reach in and she reaches out and grabs my hand.
SPEAKER_00: She has not done this for anybody.
SPEAKER_00: She did that and then motioned me closer.
SPEAKER_00: And I thought, I am cooked.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
SPEAKER_00: She hasn't done this to anybody.
SPEAKER_00: So I lean down, she knows me.
SPEAKER_00: She knows my family, all that.
SPEAKER_00: She says, Sean, you're a person of faith.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what I'm I picked the topic for you.
SPEAKER_00: Sean, you do, I need you to understand this.
SPEAKER_00: You do not have to, and she's whispering this.
SPEAKER_00: She says, you do not have to do this topic.
SPEAKER_00: But I'm gonna give it to you.
SPEAKER_00: And if you don't want to do it, you just put it back into the bowl and you pick a different one.
SPEAKER_00: But Sean, I gave you this one on purpose, and and I just want you to choose.
SPEAKER_00: I open it up.
SPEAKER_00: It is not Nike versus Adidas, it is abstinence.
SPEAKER_00: Is abstinence before marriage right in your eyes?
SPEAKER_00: And I looked at my teacher and thought, I am a freshman in high school.
SPEAKER_00: Like, do you know what you're doing to me right now?
SPEAKER_00: I don't care if I'm a person of faith or not.
SPEAKER_00: What do you know what you're doing to me?
SPEAKER_00: And I all the what-ifs ran through my mind.
SPEAKER_00: What if my buddies don't, you know, what if my buddies laugh at me?
SPEAKER_00: Like, what if what if I do a terrible job?
SPEAKER_00: Well, like what?
SPEAKER_00: But I looked at that thing and I had a choice to make in that moment.
SPEAKER_00: Do you stand or do you bow?
SPEAKER_00: And what do you do?
SPEAKER_00: Because most of us in those moments, man, the fear of being uncomfortable, man, the fear of not knowing what to do overwhelms our commitment to stand firm for our faith in those difficult moments.
SPEAKER_00: Like every single one of us has been there.
SPEAKER_00: Like students, you've been there.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it whether it's a Friday night and you're in somebody's basement and some stuff's going on and you're faced with do I do this or do I not?
SPEAKER_00: Do I drink with my friends?
SPEAKER_00: Or do I not?
SPEAKER_00: Do I allow things to go too far physically when I know I shouldn't, or do I not?
SPEAKER_00: And I stand up and say that's wrong.
SPEAKER_00: And a lot of times what happens is the fear of being uncomfortable or the fear of what we will lose, our friends, our status, our ability to fit in causes us to say yes to things that we know we should say no to.
SPEAKER_00: And adults, it's no different for you.
SPEAKER_00: Adjusting the numbers, somebody's adjusting the numbers at work a little too creatively, but you don't say anything because you don't want to be the momentum killer, but you know it's wrong.
SPEAKER_00: Or the texts that come in after hours that you know shouldn't be coming in after hours from the person at work of the opposite sex.
SPEAKER_00: And then the scheduled meeting, the invitation to come and hey, let's just have the lunch to talk about the work stuff, but you know, really the temptation to.
SPEAKER_00: But you don't, for whatever reason, stand up and say, no, man, these guys, they had values they stood for, they had people that they stood with, and they understood that they made a decision, they made a decision on a principle that they understood that you need to choose the hard right over the easy wrong.
SPEAKER_00: Like, how many of us are willing to do that?
SPEAKER_00: The right decision is usually the hard decision.
SPEAKER_00: The wrong decision is usually the easy decision, but the easy decision usually you leads to more difficult responses, more difficult consequences in our lives.
SPEAKER_00: They chose the hard right decision over the easy wrong decision.
SPEAKER_00: And do you?
SPEAKER_00: So here's what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_00: If you don't, what you do is you put yourself in a place where you don't allow God's miraculous power to step in and do something miraculous in that moment.
SPEAKER_00: Look at what happens.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied to him, King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter.
SPEAKER_00: If we are 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.
SPEAKER_00: But even if he does not, we want you to know, your majesty, that we will not serve your gods nor worship the image of gold that you have set up.
SPEAKER_00: Man, I think that may be the most powerful sentence uttered in the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_00: Our God is able to save us.
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna throw us in the fiery furnace, our God's able to save us from that.
SPEAKER_00: But even if he does not, man, that's faith.
SPEAKER_00: There's three kinds of faith or trust in this world.
SPEAKER_00: There's the I'll trust you if.
SPEAKER_00: I don't even think that's trust at all.
SPEAKER_00: Because that kind of trust is I'll trust you if you answer the prayer, if you show up, if you do the outcome, if you give me the outcome I want.
SPEAKER_00: That's not faith.
SPEAKER_00: Then there's I'll trust you because that's a step up.
SPEAKER_00: I'll trust you because for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, we saw you come through back here in chapter one.
SPEAKER_00: For you, it may be, hey, I've seen you answer prayers before, so I'll trust you because.
SPEAKER_00: But if you want to level up, if you want to level up and you want to just pave the way for God's miracles in your life, man, that is verse 18.
SPEAKER_00: I will trust you even if, even if you don't answer the prayer, even if you don't provide the person I'm looking for, even if you don't heal me, I will trust you even if.
SPEAKER_00: Man, do you have that kind of faith?
SPEAKER_00: Because that kind of faith invites God's power.
SPEAKER_00: That kind of faith caused David to walk down into the valley and fight Goliath.
SPEAKER_00: That kind of faith caused Esther to walk into the king's palace where he could have said, Nobody walks in here, even though you're my wife, nobody walks in here without asking first.
SPEAKER_00: And she confronted the king and he saved a whole people group because of her and her courage.
SPEAKER_00: That kind of faith is Moses walking into Egypt where he had been kicked out of 40 years earlier and looking Pharaoh in the eye and saying, saying, God says, Let my people go.
SPEAKER_00: Man, where do you need to stand up for your faith and have an even if trust in God?
SPEAKER_00: And then leave the results to whatever God can actually do in our life.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what happens they stand up, but if you know the story, they get thrown in.
SPEAKER_00: Like Nebuchadnezzar looks at the guards and he says, All right, stoke the fires seven times.
SPEAKER_00: Seven times hotter than they've ever been before, and then throw these guys in.
SPEAKER_00: And so the guards actually take them over, they throw them in the furnace.
SPEAKER_00: And if you know the story, what happens is the guards who throw them in get burned alive.
SPEAKER_00: It's that hot.
SPEAKER_00: These guys get thrown in.
SPEAKER_00: And here's Nebuchadnezzar's reaction.
SPEAKER_00: He watches, it says, Then King Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet in amazement, and he asked his advisors, weren't there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire?
SPEAKER_00: They replied, Certainly, your majesty.
SPEAKER_00: He said, Look, I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed.
SPEAKER_00: And the fourth looks like a son of the gods.
SPEAKER_00: Nebuchadnezzar then approached the opening of the blazing furnace and shouted, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abinigo, servants of the Most High God, come out.
SPEAKER_00: Like, like come here.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what gets me.
SPEAKER_00: These guys are young adults.
SPEAKER_00: I you just kind of wonder what young adults would do in that moment.
SPEAKER_00: These guys, they get thrown in, like the ropes get burned off, their clothes are fined.
SPEAKER_00: After they get over the awe and the craziness of what's going on, I can imagine Nebuchadnezzar's like, guys, come out.
SPEAKER_00: And I can see Shadrach, like, how about you come on in?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you threw us in here.
SPEAKER_00: Why don't you come get us out?
SPEAKER_00: And he's got his big guy right here, the one that looks like a son of the god standing right behind him.
SPEAKER_00: I think in that moment, the only thing they saw, thought about was the one who was standing there with them.
SPEAKER_00: And here's the truth that we've got to understand in these moments.
SPEAKER_00: You can wonder whether or not you're with God in that moment, but don't ever wonder whether or not God's with you.
SPEAKER_00: Because he was in the fire with them.
SPEAKER_00: And what's amazing is they did not see him.
SPEAKER_00: They stood strong for their faith, and they did not see him when the music played.
SPEAKER_00: Yet they still stood.
SPEAKER_00: They didn't see him when they were standing in front of Nebuchadnezzar and he was spitting mad.
SPEAKER_00: And they said, Hey, our God can save us, but even if he does not, they didn't see him till they were in the fire.
SPEAKER_00: Till they were in the fire.
SPEAKER_00: And when they were in the fire and had made the decision, they realized that the one who looked like a son of the gods, you know who that was?
SPEAKER_00: It's Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus was standing there, the one who for us was there at the cross, the one who went to the cross and stretched out his arms so that your sin could be paid for, so that if you place your faith in him, if you believe in him, if you were baptized in the waters into the death, the burial, and resurrection of Jesus, not be saved because of the waters of baptism, but be saved because of what Jesus did on the cross 2,000 years ago, and you're placing your faith in that.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, that same Jesus who was in the furnace with them, is in the furnace with you that you face every single day.
SPEAKER_00: He's with you because of his Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, not Jesus standing by your side, but his Holy Spirit indwelling in every single person who's placed their faith in Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: First of all, have you placed your faith in Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Because if you have not, the Bible says that you can only be saved from your sin because of the perfect one who died for your sin, which is Jesus, and you can only receive his Holy Spirit by placing your faith in him and proclaiming him as your Savior and the Son of God, the creator of the world.
SPEAKER_00: If you have not made that decision, then you don't have that.
SPEAKER_00: And the thing you ought to do today is stand up with all these kids.
SPEAKER_00: And when we have that, you should be heading to that baptistry saying, I want to place my faith in Jesus and have him stand with me every single day.
SPEAKER_00: Here was the result.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 26 So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out of the fire.
SPEAKER_00: The satraps, the prefects, the governors, the royal advisors crowded around them, and they saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair on their head singed, the robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them.
SPEAKER_00: Then Nebuchadnezzar said, Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
SPEAKER_00: Man, he switched his tune, did he not?
SPEAKER_00: Who has sent his angel to rescue his servants?
SPEAKER_00: They trusted in him 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.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore I decree that the people of any nation or language who say anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that they be cut into pieces and their houses be turned into piles of rubble, for there is no other God that can save in this way.
SPEAKER_00: Is that not incredible?
SPEAKER_00: It's incredible.
SPEAKER_00: Then I love this, verse 30.
SPEAKER_00: Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon.
SPEAKER_00: Incredible.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because when you put things in God's hands, when you put everything in God's hands, you eventually see God's hands in everything.
SPEAKER_00: I remember standing in front of that desk, literally looking at my teacher, saying, thinking, What are you doing to me right now?
SPEAKER_00: And I had a choice.
SPEAKER_00: Do I put it back or do I take my 90 seconds of preparation and figure out what I'm going to say about what I believe?
SPEAKER_00: And here's what I believe.
SPEAKER_00: Man, I believed in that moment.
SPEAKER_00: I knew what I believe.
SPEAKER_00: I believe that God created marriage and he also created sex.
SPEAKER_00: And what the Bible says very clearly that his best, he says his best for us is that marriage is to be or sex is to be saved within the context of marriage between a man and a woman.
SPEAKER_00: And if God's the designer, then God gets to define what's best for that.
SPEAKER_00: And some of you sit there today and say, I don't know about that.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, all I'm saying is God cares about us and he wants the best for us.
SPEAKER_00: And so I turned around and I took my 90 seconds and I gave my persuasive pitch for what I believe about sexuality, sex, and marriage.
SPEAKER_00: And I got done and I shared that, and kid gets up in the back of the room and he walks down the aisle and he gets down on his knees, tears in his eyes, and repents, and we baptize him right there.
SPEAKER_00: And then there was like a revival through the school, and oh, that didn't happen.
SPEAKER_00: I stood there and probably said something like this Hey, I'm a Christian.
SPEAKER_00: I was probably shaking like crazy.
SPEAKER_00: I'm a Christian, and uh I believe God says to save sex for marriage, and um so I believe that's what he says, and so that's what I'm gonna do.
SPEAKER_00: And I sat down.
SPEAKER_00: And luckily, like 10 seconds later, the bell rang, and that was it.
SPEAKER_00: And there was nothing.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, nobody liked fist bump.
SPEAKER_00: Great job standing for your faith, nothing.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, the teacher said something to me after, good job, Sean, but there was nothing except for four years ago.
SPEAKER_00: Four years ago, I got a Facebook message from a girl that was in that class that was a friend of mine who grew up in a Catholic background, but her family was not practicing their faith.
SPEAKER_00: She went through a divorce, she'd gone through all kinds of things, and she sent me a message and said, Sean, I just want you to know God's totally transformed my life over the last few years, went through a divorce.
SPEAKER_00: I I'm remarried now.
SPEAKER_00: Incredible man.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to church.
SPEAKER_00: We have a blended family.
SPEAKER_00: I've got a blog now that I'm sharing about my faith.
SPEAKER_00: And I just want you.
SPEAKER_00: And what does that say?
SPEAKER_00: That God can even, when you put everything in God's hands, eventually you see God's hands in everything, that God can eventually use even your most feeble, weak tries, like shots at just trying to stand up for your faith.
SPEAKER_00: God can use that with his miraculous power to do something.
SPEAKER_00: And she said, Hey, I just want you to know I was always watching.
SPEAKER_00: I was watching your wife, and I was watching you throughout high school, and it meant something to me.
SPEAKER_00: Man, for you.
SPEAKER_00: Where is God calling you to have an even if faith and to stand for what you know is right?
SPEAKER_00: Parents, I'd also say this to you.
SPEAKER_00: What's really interesting is you go throughout the book of Daniel and you never see, you never see the parents of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego mentioned.
SPEAKER_00: You don't see it, but they're there every page because nobody stands like that on their own.
SPEAKER_00: We don't know if it's if it's a mom and a dad.
SPEAKER_00: We don't know if it's a single parent that raised them, we don't know if it's grandparents that raised them.
SPEAKER_00: We don't we don't know who it is, but somebody raised those kids not to be passive, not to be people pleasers, but to be willing to stand up when faith called for it.
SPEAKER_00: Now, parents, those of you who say, hey, I've done everything I can, I've tried so hard, I'm not perfect, but I've done everything I can, and my kid has gone away from faith.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, that is their choice.
SPEAKER_00: You need to understand and believe that God is after them and prodigals do come home.
SPEAKER_00: But we need to know as a church and center, you need to understand that's what we're here for as a church to help you raise kids that don't just go to church, but kids who come to church and who kids who hear about faith in their family and they grow up to know who they are and they grow up to know whose they are when they're facing the furnace.
SPEAKER_00: And a whole bunch of them at camp stood up for their faith and said, Hey, I want to make a stand for my faith.
SPEAKER_00: I believe in Jesus and I want to go home and I want to get baptized.
SPEAKER_00: And I just want to say, super excited.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna celebrate that in a moment, but I want to encourage, because in this culture, God needs some stand-up people.
SPEAKER_00: And if you notice, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abinago were not stand-up angry Christians.
SPEAKER_00: They were respectful of the king and just said, Your Majesty, Your Majesty, Your Majesty, but Your Majesty, we're not gonna stand.
SPEAKER_00: Or we're not gonna bow.
SPEAKER_00: We are gonna stand for our faith.
SPEAKER_00: And I think in our culture, God doesn't just need students, He doesn't just need young adults, He needs adults that are setting the pace, that have accepted Jesus as their Savior, and are going after Jesus first, living our values of people always, realizing they're made for more, but it begins with a decision to place our faith in Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna pray for us, and here's what's gonna happen.
SPEAKER_00: There's a bunch of students in the back and some adults in the back that are already ready to get baptized, and they're gonna, at all of our campuses, if you are a person sitting there, whether you're a student that says, Man, I I wanted to make that decision at camp, but I didn't, you feel that urge today, that's the Holy Spirit, today's your day.
SPEAKER_00: If you're an adult who says, My kid made that decision, but I haven't made that decision, man.
SPEAKER_00: Follow your student's example and go make that decision today.
SPEAKER_00: Or if you're just an adult sitting here today, man, that urge inside of you that you may feel to say, Hey, I need to stand with Christ, I need to accept him as my savior, that's the Holy Spirit nudging you.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to it.
SPEAKER_00: And you come forward today.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna pray, we're gonna stand and sing, and I would encourage you at all our campuses, your campus pastor is gonna be right down there.
SPEAKER_00: There's gonna be people down there to receive you.
SPEAKER_00: Man, you if you want to make that decision, you come forward today.
SPEAKER_00: Let's stand and we'll pray together.
SPEAKER_00: Father, as we as we get ready to worship, God, I know there's people who have decided to make this decision, but there's also people who came today that feel something right now.
SPEAKER_00: Try some what ifs, what if I didn't bring clothes?
SPEAKER_00: What if I didn't and God help people to just know we've taken care of all that.
SPEAKER_00: We got clothes, we got towels, we got the whole nine yards.
SPEAKER_00: All they need to bring is a is an even-if decision to you and to stand up for their faith.
SPEAKER_00: And so, God, as we worship and we just declare before you who you are and we praise you for being the God that stands for us.
SPEAKER_00: Help those who need to stand for you to stand up today and head of that baptistry right now to make that decision.
SPEAKER_00: So, God, we love you.
SPEAKER_00: We thank you for Jesus and his grace, and we thank you for your forgiveness and for second chances.
SPEAKER_00: Father, we just celebrate today with all those that are accepting you.
SPEAKER_00: It's in Jesus' name we pray.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.