God Alone Can Save

Good morning, Maranatha Baptist Church.

Good morning.

It is a privilege to worship with you and to have been worshiping now for two months.

! If we haven't met yet, my name is Luke Fawcett.

My wife is Jana, and I guess it's your left back.

So talk to her and us after the service.

If we haven't met you guys, we'd love to do that.

I just graduated from Cedarville just literally three months ago

with my undergrad and my master's in Bible

and got the privilege to meet Andrew in October

and then come on as a pastoral intern just a couple months ago.

I've been serving in that capacity.

This morning we'll be continuing our study in Daniel chapter 3,

Daniel 3 · chapter mention

focusing on verses 19 to 30.

So if you have your Bibles, you can open to Daniel chapter 3, verses 19 to 30.

Daniel 3:19–30

If you're using a Bible in the pew, that's page 740.

If you could have a superpower, what would it be?

Maybe you'd choose super strength or flying,

maybe invisibility or reading people's minds,

which is kind of weird.

I remember as a young boy being awed by Spider-Man.

I thought he was the coolest thing.

I had the Spider-Man sneakers that lit up,

and I wore the costume, his suit on Halloween.

When I put that suit on, I felt absolutely invincible,

like I could do anything.

Parents, you know what this is like

when your child has a little too much courage for their own good?

That was me.

We live in an age of superheroism.

Just consider the phenomenon of the Marvel Universe.

Many of you no doubt have watched these movies.

In fact, all three movies in the Avengers trilogy

are ranked in the top 10 highest grossing films in modern history.

They've made over $6 billion.

It's undeniable that we live in a culture that glorifies superheroes.

But what does a superhero do for us?

Why are we so fascinated by their powers and their mission?

I think we can't get enough of superheroes

because we know that we need saving.

We know deep down that there's something wrong in our lives.

The curse has had its way in different ways,

and we long for deliverance.

We want someone to take away the difficulties that we face,

the car needing constant repair,

the relational tensions that we feel,

the frustrations at our workplace,

the life-altering decisions,

the shape of our body,

the friendships that disappoint,

and on and on it goes.

Each of us longs for deliverance from something.

We long for deliverance from something.

So what is that for you?

What do you long for deliverance from?

See, the truth is that we will serve

whatever we believe will save us.

We will serve whatever we believe will save us,

whatever delivers us from the thing that we fear.

The message this morning is titled

that God alone can save.

God alone is our deliverer.

It functions something like a part two

to what Andrew preached last week as part one.

Part one focused on God's,

or God alone is worthy of worship.

The golden image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up

for all the peoples and nations and languages

to bow down to

set the stage for three Hebrew boys

who refuse him

and bring about a conflict.

And it's a conflict not primarily

between the three Hebrews and Nebuchadnezzar.

It's actually a conflict between Nebuchadnezzar

and the God of heaven.

This is a showdown of sovereigns.

Who is gonna come out on top?

Who is in power?

Who is in control?

And verse 15 sets the stage for our text.

Nebuchadnezzar asked in chapter three, verse 15,

who is the God who will deliver you out of my hands?

Who is the God who will deliver you out of my hands?

We'll see that the singular message of chapter three,

because it really is one message for one chapter,

is that God alone deserves worship

because God alone can save.

God alone deserves worship

because God alone is our deliverer.

So the main idea for this morning

is serve God who alone can save.

Serve God who alone can save.

Now it's important to note up front

before we get into our passage

that each point of this message

is marked in our text with the transition word then.

So you can see this in verse 19,

verse 24, and verse 26.

And Daniel writes this in a way

that sets up three scenes for us,

three things that make us ask the question,

what happens next?

As the narrative kind of twists and turns,

as Nebuchadnezzar rises and falls,

Shadrach are in and out of the fire,

we're asking the question,

what is going to happen?

So point number one,

Nebuchadnezzar commands the Hebrews' death.

Nebuchadnezzar commands the Hebrews' death.

Follow along with me in verse 19 to verse 23.

Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with fury,

and the expression of his face

was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

He ordered the furnace heated

seven times more than it was usually heated.

He ordered some of the mighty men of his army

to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego

and to cast them into the burning, fiery furnace.

Then these men were bound in their cloaks,

their tunics, their hats, and their other garments,

and they were thrown into the burning, fiery furnace.

Because the king's order was urgent

and the furnace overheated,

the flame of the fire killed those men

who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,

fell bound into the burning, fiery furnace.

After Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego

are given a second chance to recant

and to worship this golden image,

the king's rage is fuming.

Notice the way it's described, though.

It says Nebuchadnezzar was filled with fury,

and the expression of his face was changed.

We know from previous narratives

that this is the typical way that Nebuchadnezzar responds

when he doesn't get what he wants.

Look back to chapter two, verse 12.

Because of this,

that is the Chaldean's inability to tell him his dream,

the king was angry and very furious,

and he commanded that all the wise men of Babylon

be destroyed.

Or just a few verses ago in chapter three, verse 13,

that Nebuchadnezzar, in a furious rage,

commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought.

He's done trying to reason with these Hebrews.

Nebuchadnezzar will not tolerate rebellion,

and his face starts to show what's in his heart.

He embodies the kind of worldly anger

that James 4, 2 talks about,

that we desire and we do not have,

and so we murder.

Parents, maybe you've heard your child say

that you have the face,

or that glare.

It's the look that you give when your child rebels,

and they know that if they don't do something,

there's gonna be consequences.

Literally, the expression of your face changes.

The picture here actually reminds me

of something like the figure from,

or the figure anger from Inside Out.

Maybe some of you guys have watched this movie.

It's directed from a young girl's life,

and it's through her emotions

that we actually see the movie play out,

anger being one of them.

He's personified as this big, bright,

no-nonsense, stubby emotion

that always gets grumpy,

and he's just in for a fight.

And there's one scene where Riley, the girl,

comes home after a rough day of work

and starts to get into it with her dad,

and things start to heat up.

Anger, you can literally see him

clenching his fists,

and his teeth start to grit,

and his jaw gets harder,

and the other emotions are like

trying to calm him down

because he's gonna absolutely lose it.

But finally, he just explodes,

and fire comes out of his head,

and he takes control of the situation.

He's had it.

Like anger, Nebuchadnezzar in our story

is trying to take control of the situation

through his anger.

He's gonna show who's in charge.

He's gonna show whose will is final.

And first, we notice that he orders the furnace

to be heated seven times more than it was.

Now, at face value,

this just seems like Nebuchadnezzar

is just heating up the furnace, right?

He wants it to be hotter.

But in Scripture,

seven has a particular significance as a number.

It carries the idea of completion or fulfillment.

You might remember that God rested

on the seventh day of creation,

marking its completion.

Or Elisha telling Naaman

that he had to go wash in the Jordan

seven times in order to be completely healed.

Or Joshua and the Israelites

going around Jericho for seven days

and on the seventh time,

going around seven times,

marking the completion of its destruction.

This symbolic significance

is similar to how the number three

kind of functions in English.

Students, if you've taken speech or rhetoric,

you know that generally,

in a persuasive argument,

you have to have three points.

Why is that?

It's just because it's a number of completion.

It marks something that's memorable

and substantial.

So to heat up the furnace seven times hotter

is not just to make it hot,

but to make it as hot as possible.

It does not matter

whether or not it's seven times

or 70 times.

Nebuchadnezzar wants to incinerate these men.

But why does he increase the heat at all?

Think about this for a moment.

The furnace was literally built

to kill anyone

that didn't do what Nebuchadnezzar said.

He could have just thrown them into the furnace

and they would have died.

That's pretty simple.

But I think here's why.

Anger is power.

Anger is power.

We know this is true in our own lives.

When we raise our voice.

When we speak brutal,

cutting, divisive words.

When we use our hands to hurt people.

When we turn away in our bodies.

It communicates that I'll show you

how much I can hurt,

manipulate, and control you.

That's the heart of sinful anger.

And Nebuchadnezzar's actions

are revealing his heart.

That he is completely opposed

not only to the Hebrews,

but also to their God.

And we know from previous chapters

that Nebuchadnezzar

is basically opposed to God.

It may not seem as messy right now,

but it's still there.

In chapter one,

he took the temple vessels

and defiled them

by taking them into

his own house of worship.

And as the story progresses,

he's happy if God helps him.

Right?

He's happy if God gives him

wise, capable counselors.

Or if God reveals his dreams

that are troubling him.

And we might even be fooled

into thinking that

Nebuchadnezzar at this point

believes based on his blessing

from chapter two.

But faith or acceptance

is easy

when God is working for me.

When God serves me.

What about when God

is opposed to what I'm doing?

What about when God's commands

oppose my self-centered desires

and demands?

You see, faith is not tested

through what God offers me.

Who wouldn't want eternal life?

Who would not want joy and peace?

Faith is not tested

through what God offers me,

but through what I am willing

to submit to him.

If God doesn't own

every area of my life,

then I have not surrendered to him

as Lord in that way.

And I am still in the center.

And anger is often the way

that reveals and exposes

who is at the center of our lives.

The second way that Nebuchadnezzar

tries to show his power

is by ordering his personal guards

to bind and cast Shadrach, Meshach,

and Abednego into the furnace.

He orders the men to be thrown in.

Even though the Hebrews

have been compliant

and peaceful up to this point,

Nebuchadnezzar will not stand it.

He's going to treat them as rebels.

They've been faithful wise men,

but he treats them as criminals.

And the word that's actually

translated here in verse 20,

for mighty men,

he ordered some of the mighty men

of his army to bind them.

This word is also translated elsewhere

as most mighty men

in the KJV

or strongest soldiers in the NIV.

And I actually think the NASB,

the New American Standard Version,

seems to render it best

as valiant warriors.

This is actually significant

because it's the same word

that is used to describe

David's best soldiers.

King David, if you remember,

had soldiers like Abishai,

who killed 300 men in a day.

Or Benaiah,

who went into a snowy pit

to kill a lion.

These, in other words,

are the best,

the SEAL Team 6

of Nebuchadnezzar's army.

So when Nebuchadnezzar

commands his valiant warriors

to bind and throw these men

into the fiery furnace,

he's making a statement.

He's saying that I am on top.

He's doing everything he can

to demonstrate to the officials

and the nations

that he is stronger

than them and their God.

In fact, he's so aggressive

and demanding

that the soldiers

who take them into the fire

die at the hands of the fire.

Notice also the way

that Daniel describes them

being thrown in here.

Here the verb tense shifts

in verse 21

from active to passive.

Then these men

were bound.

And later,

they were thrown in.

Or also in verse 23.

And these three men,

Shadrach, Meshach,

and Abednego,

fell bound

into the burning,

fiery furnace.

These two verses

communicate the same idea.

Shadrach, Meshach,

and Abednego

had no power

to save themselves.

They were at the hands,

they were at the mercy

of Nebuchadnezzar.

And they are ready

to die for their faith.

It's important to note

that though they are confident

that God can save them,

they don't know

if he will.

Look back at verse 17.

They say,

If this be so,

our God,

whom we serve,

is able to deliver us

from the burning,

fiery furnace,

and he will deliver us

out of your hand,

O King.

But if not.

But if not.

This is their

but if not moment.

Can you think about

the gravity of this

in your own life?

Lord, I believe

that you can heal me

of this sickness,

but if not.

God, you can resolve

the financial crisis

I'm in right now,

but if not.

Father, you're able

to save my wandering child

from their sin,

but if not.

Jesus, you can save

my marriage

from the ruin

that I made it,

but if not.

Holy Spirit,

you can remove

the darkness

of my grief

and depression

and restore to me

the joy of salvation.

But if not.

What happens

if God chooses

not to save

Shadrach, Meshach,

and Abednego?

What happens

if God chooses

not to deliver you

in this moment?

For these men,

the point was not

their deliverance.

The point was

whether or not

their lives

demonstrated

that God alone

was worthy

of worship.

Listen to the rest

of their statement.

But if not,

verse 18,

be it known

to you,

O king,

that we will not

serve your gods

or worship

the golden image

that you have set up.

The point was

making known

to the world,

these nations

and officials

and this king,

that the God

in heaven

is deserving

of their worship

and their very

lives.

And there's a danger

in a sermon like this

on deliverance.

We can connect

faith and obedience

with God's deliverance

from the fire

in such a way

that salvation

becomes about prosperity

and longevity

and health

and not about

God's glory.

Let me say that again.

We can connect

faith and obedience

with God's deliverance

from the fire

in such a way

that we look

at salvation

as prosperity

and health

and deliverance

in that way

and not about

God's glory.

If you're faithful,

God will deliver you

from X.

That's the thing

that we could think about.

If we're not careful,

we can view Shadrach,

Meshach,

and Abednego

as a type for us

of what God will do

if his people

are faithful.

The philosophy

might go something

like this.

If you raise

your children right,

they'll always

follow after God.

But what if they aren't?

If you're giving faithfully,

you'll be good financially.

But what if you aren't?

If you work hard,

you'll accomplish

whatever you want.

But what if you don't?

You see,

my point here

is not to discourage

giving faithfully

or raising your children

in the Lord

or working hard.

I think that those

are good,

godly things

that God has called

all of us

as his people to.

And there are scriptures

that we could no doubt

point to

and demonstrate

that this is the way

that it normally works

in God's world.

that faithfulness

often produces

fruitfulness.

But underneath

our efforts

stands the sovereign

purposes of God

and his will

for his own glory.

It's actually

this truth

that is more

of a comfort to us

than setting our hope

on any kind of outcome

that we could achieve.

Because if our lives

are about his glory,

then deliverance

isn't our ultimate hope

in this world.

his glory is.

Because we have set

our hope

that he will deliver us

in the next.

So he may

or he may not save

our kids.

He may restore us

from this financial difficulty

or he may leave us

in the same condition.

either way,

God really is working

all things

for our good

and his glory.

That's where faith

comes in.

It gives us

sight

beyond what we can see

that God is doing

because we know

that he is up

to good for us.

In these moments

we learn to pray

like Jesus

who was tempted

and tried

in every respect

as we are.

Maybe you remember this,

how he was distressed

and he was troubled

in the garden

of Gethsemane.

He was abandoned

by all of his followers.

He was all alone,

betrayed

by one of his own.

In his hardest moment

he prayed like this.

Abba, Father,

all things are possible

for you.

Remove his cup

from me.

But if not,

or yet,

not what I will

but what you will.

Jesus said that prayer

over and over

and over

three separate times

until he was ready

to receive

God's will.

That is why

it's a good idea

I think for us

to pray habitually

how Jesus taught

his disciples to pray.

Our Father

who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come,

thy will be done

on earth

as it is in heaven.

In our story,

God in his mercy

does in fact

rescue the Hebrews.

And he demonstrates

his power

over Nebuchadnezzar.

His urgency

to destroy them

turns to urgency

to see them.

Follow along

in verses 24 to 25.

It says,

Then Nebuchadnezzar

was astonished

and rose up in haste.

He declared

to his counselors,

Did we not cast

three men

bound into the fire?

They answered

and said to the king,

True, O king.

He answered

and said,

But I see

four men

unbound

walking in the midst

of the fire

and they are not hurt

and the appearance

of the fourth

is like the son

of the gods.

So point number two,

Nebuchadnezzar

observes the Hebrews' life.

Nebuchadnezzar

observes

the Hebrews' life.

Nebuchadnezzar

cannot believe

his eyes.

His fuming rage

turns into surprise

as he observes

five things.

There are four men

instead of three.

They are unbound

instead of bound.

They're walking

instead of fallen.

They're unharmed

instead of incinerated.

And there is

the presence of God

instead of the absence

in the fire.

So he confirms

what he commanded

with his advisors.

We cast three in, right?

Interestingly,

the detail that stands out

to Nebuchadnezzar

is not the fact

that they're unharmed.

It's not the fact

that they're walking

in a burning flame.

The detail that stands out

to him

is that there are

four people

in the fire.

So who is this

fourth person?

Is it an angel?

Is it the angel

of the Lord?

Is it a pre-incarnate

appearance of the son?

And the simple answer

is that I don't know.

And I don't think

the Bible tells us.

What we hear

is actually from

Nebuchadnezzar's perspective.

It's what he sees,

not necessarily

what the author says.

And I think you'll agree

that we don't want

to get our theology

from a pagan king

who hasn't yet

submitted to God.

There are other texts

that we can use

that use the same phrase,

son of the gods,

like Genesis 6-2

or even Job 1-6,

2-1,

and 38-7.

And these all seem

to refer to angels.

Even further along

in the passage,

Nebuchadnezzar refers

to this saying

that God sent

his angel

and delivered him.

But it's still

Nebuchadnezzar's words,

so we can't necessarily

take it on face value.

Whoever this fourth figure is,

I think it's important

to see that he bears

God's special presence.

That's what the author

wants us to know.

He bears God's special presence

in order to keep

these men from death.

But there's a question

that still remains.

Why have a fourth person

at all?

It's the same kind of thing

that we ask with Nebuchadnezzar.

Why heat up the fire

seven times

if it's already as hot

to kill the Hebrews?

Why send the fourth person?

God didn't have to do this.

Right?

If he's the creator,

he could have just

allowed their bodies

not to be burned

by the fire.

And actually,

in Daniel 6,

when Daniel's thrown

into the lion's den,

he doesn't send

an angel in there.

He just shuts the mouths

of the lions.

The reason why I think

God does this

is that by sending

the fourth person

into the fire,

Nebuchadnezzar knows

without a shadow

of a doubt

that God is the one

who delivered them.

God is the one

who delivered them.

He cannot get around it.

It's kind of the difference

between a speed limit sign

and a police officer.

Right?

Both represent

the enforcement

of law and justice.

With a speed limit sign,

you can see it

and you know

that there's the presence

of a legal boundary.

But you slow down

for the police officer.

Similarly,

Nebuchadnezzar

could have realized

that the presence of God,

he could have recognized

the presence of God

by seeing Shadrach,

Meshach,

and Abednego

come out of the fire

unharmed.

There's a shadow

of a doubt

that he could have done that.

But what caught

his attention

was the fourth person.

God was in this place

and God delivered

his servants.

Verse 26 moves us

to our final point.

Point number three,

Nebuchadnezzar

confesses God's deliverance.

Nebuchadnezzar

confesses God's deliverance.

Follow along with me

in verse 26

as we read

the rest of the passage.

Then Nebuchadnezzar

came near to the door

of the burning fiery furnace

and he declared,

Shadrach, Meshach,

and Abednego,

servants of the most high God,

come out

and come here.

Then Shadrach, Meshach,

and Abednego

came out

from the fire.

And the satraps

and the prefects

and the governors

and the king's counselors

gathered together

and saw that the fire

had not had any power

over the bodies

of those men.

The hair of their heads

was not singed,

their cloaks

were not harmed,

and no smell of fire

had come upon them.

Nebuchadnezzar

answered and said,

Blessed be the God

of Shadrach, Meshach,

and Abednego

who has sent his angel

and delivered

his servants

who trusted in him

and set aside

the king's command

and yielded up

their bodies

rather than served

and worshipped

any other God

except their own.

Therefore,

I make a decree.

Any people,

nation,

or language

that speaks anything

against the God

of Shadrach,

Meshach,

and Abednego

shall be torn

limb from limb

and their houses

laid in ruins.

For there is no other God

who is able to rescue

in this way.

Then the king

promoted Shadrach,

Meshach,

and Abednego

in the province

of Babylon.

At this point,

Nebuchadnezzar

has a different attitude.

Notice the title

that he uses

for God.

He calls them

servants

of the Most High God.

He cannot deny

that there is

a God in heaven

who is promised

in chapter 2

to build a kingdom

that will outlast him

and he will

accomplish it.

But think about

this title

in the chapter's context.

Nebuchadnezzar

has set up

a golden image

that all are supposed

to bow down to

and yet he recognizes

that there is a God

who reigns

even over

the idol,

even over

the king

of the universe

or of the known world

at that time.

I wonder

if our lives

reflect this kind

of understanding

of God's character,

that he is

the Most High God.

Do you see yourself

today

as a servant

of the king

or as a king

to be served?

I would commend

to us

Paul's mindset

in 2 Corinthians 5

14-15.

He says

that the love

of Christ

controls us

because we have

concluded this,

that one has died

for all,

therefore all have died.

And he died

for all

that those

who live

might no longer

live for themselves,

but for him

who for their sake

died and was raised.

So let me ask,

what controls you?

Who are you serving?

What determines

how you order

your time?

How you spend

or save your money?

What retirement

looks like?

What kind of spouse

that you're pursuing?

How you treat

your husband

or your wife

or your siblings

or your parent?

And why should

the love of Christ

control us?

I think Paul

gives the why.

He says

that one,

that is Jesus Christ,

has died

for all.

Why did he have

to die for all?

Well,

this is the gospel.

That we all

have sinned

and fallen short

of the glory

of God.

Romans 3-23.

And that the wages

of sin

is death.

Romans 6-23.

In other words,

we all earn death

by setting ourselves

up as our own gods,

calling attention

to ourselves

and making ourselves

out to be

the center.

And someone

has to die

because that's

the penalty

for sin.

But instead

of us,

Jesus Christ

stood as a substitute

in our place.

Instead of us

bearing the fire

of God's wrath,

Jesus stood

on a cross

and bore it

for us.

And by repenting

of our sins

and turning

to the God

who is most high,

who is Lord

and Savior,

we are united

to him.

This is what we

sang about

in the third song.

We receive

his righteousness

and he takes

our sin.

Gone.

As far as the east

is from the west,

so far

has he removed

the sin

of those

who love him.

the question

is not

do we need

saving?

The question

is who

do we turn

to for

deliverance?

Is it Jesus

or is it

something else?

Jesus gives

a warning

to those

who have not

yet turned

from their sin

in Matthew 13,

41 to 42.

He says

that the Son

of Man

will send

his angels

and they

will gather

out of his

kingdom

all causes

of sin

and lawbreakers

and throw

them into

the fiery

furnace.

In that

place

there will

be weeping

and gnashing

of teeth.

You see

in the end

it's ultimately

the unfaithful

who are in danger

not the faithful.

Shadrach,

Meshach

and Abednego

were ready

to go in the fire

because they

had already

been delivered.

It had no

danger for them.

They knew

where they

were going

but there

is a danger

for those

who remain

in their sin

and yet

for us

who believe

Colossians 3,

1, 13

or sorry

Colossians 1, 13

reminds us

that he

has delivered

us from

the domain

of darkness

and transferred

us into

the kingdom

of his

Son

in whom

we have

redemption

the forgiveness

of our sins.

That

is good news.

That's good news

for us.

The physical testimony

of the witnesses

who see God's power

in verse 27

draw our attention

to the fullness

of God's salvation.

Look at what

the king's court

sees

in verse 27.

The fire

had no

had not

had any

power

over the

bodies

of those

men.

Isn't that

an amazing

verse?

No power

because God

was with them.

The thing

that threatened

death for them

God was able

to deliver them

from.

So Nebuchadnezzar

has nothing

left to do

but to bless

God

and his

blessing here

is actually

the interpretation

of the whole

of the events

that we just

heard.

He answers

the question

who is the

God of Shadrach

Meshach

and Abednego?

And he says

he's the kind

of God

that can

deliver.

No other

God

can deliver

in this way.

God alone

can save

those

who trust

in him

and put away

sin

and serve

him.

so serve

God

who alone

can save.

Serve God

who alone

can save.

He alone

is worthy

of it.

I realize

now looking

back at my

five-year-old

self

that

my ambition

to save

the world

wasn't about

the world.

It was really

about me.

I wanted

to be

my own

savior

and everyone

else's.

I wanted

to be

the one

who rose

above the

mundane

messy

realities

of life

as a

five-year-old.

Sibling

fights

and desert

restrictions

and other

things like

that.

And in

some ways

not much

has changed.

I still

struggle

with the

desire to

rise above

the mundane

things of

life.

The

marital

needs,

the financial

questions,

the relational

tensions,

the house

chores,

the traffic

issues,

the spiritual

conflict

and the

like.

I'm

tempted

to look

to myself

as my

own savior

or to

look to

another

comfort

to deliver

me from

what only

God is

able to

do.

But

praise God

that Jesus

rescued that

self-centered

five-year-old

year-old at

the age of

twelve.

Praise God

that he

still rescues

me through

his word

and through

the ministry

of others.

So let's

continue to

seek the

God who

alone is

able to

deliver.

Let's

pray.

pray.

Father,

thank you

that you

are a

God who

can

deliver

us.

Thank you

that you

have become

our Lord

and Savior

through the

death and

resurrection

of Jesus.

Lord,

we're still

tempted to

trust in

ourselves.

We're still

tempted to

turn to

other

things.

We still

struggle to

be our

own gods

and look to

ourselves as

the center.

But God,

you are able

to continue

to rescue

us and

keep us

and hold us

fast in

Christ.

And I

pray that as

we go from

here,

Lord,

you would

use your

word and

the ministry

of others

to continue

to do

that work.

Thank you

for your

word.

Thank you

for your

church.

In Jesus'

name,

Amen.

Amen.