Knowing the One True God

Jeremiah chapter 9.

Jeremiah 9 · chapter mention

Today we're going to be looking at knowing the one true God.

We've started our series.

If you are here this morning and you do not have a worship guide, raise your hand.

I want to make sure everyone's got a worship guide.

I know you take these home with you.

I hope you do, and especially last week.

I probably had as much response to that message after preaching as any message I've preached in a while.

And uh how to know God through difficult times.

So, and boy was that uh we needed, I needed that.

And uh, but anyway, if you missed the message, go back and go online and stay with us.

When you have to be out of town, stay with us.

I know we got a lot watching.

Sandy said her daughter was watching, or hopefully watching.

We got a lot of college students, hopefully will be tuning us in.

And I think Brent, uh Brant, you know, he that no, there he is.

He's here.

All right, go, buddy.

You tough.

You my hero, man.

You my hero.

And he always has a smile on his face.

I'll tell you what, man.

You you don't know how much you encourage your pastor.

I mean that.

But anyway, uh today we're gonna be looking at knowing the true God.

And by the way, we're very honored to have Samantha with us.

And you ought to seen Tabitha Friday night over there holding that baby.

Every time we'd somebody tried to hold the baby, she'd ease back over there and grab that baby.

But uh be praying for Samantha and Jerry to had a good chance to talk with them Friday night and kind of see where they're headed.

And I've God gave me a direct revelation, Nashville.

Nashville.

No, I'm joking.

We were talking about he's ready to do his PhD, and uh he's finishing up his Master Divinity at one of our great seminaries in Southern Baptist, Southwestern, and he was telling me about possibly wants to teach history, uh, church history, real history, uh, other histories.

Not real history, church history is real.

But uh anyway, and he mentioned Vanderbilt's got one.

I said, oh, that would be awesome.

You have the best of seminaries and the best of universities, Vanderbilt PhD in history there.

It could go anywhere.

So be praying for them as they make their next big move in their journey of God's calling on their life.

And Samantha will be graduating in May too, right?

Or it's Christmas, December, with her Master Divinity.

So she's excited, and uh now they're real excited about that little baby.

And remember how hard we prayed about that little baby that was born prematurely.

But last night when I was holding that baby, she's she's a junk.

She's no longer premature.

So praise God, that's just the answer to God's uh people praying for a miracle, and he performed it.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

And also be praying for John's wife, Reba.

Uh, she's been having some labor pains early.

I think she's 34 weeks, so we need to be really lifting her up as well.

And uh John and his team keep us safe here.

Can we just, let's just give our our, I call it our guard team a hand.

I'm telling you, you just don't know how well protected you are.

But we got some of the best of the best, and they're taking care of your children when they're down there, they're they're they're ready, prepared, and they know what they're doing.

So uh thank God for that.

So I don't have to pack my 44.

But anyway, Jeremiah chapter 9.

Jeremiah 9 · chapter mention

You know, when I first got saved, I pondered the question can I really know this God?

This just radically changed my life?

I knew I had radically changed.

Can I say something?

When you get saved, I don't care if you're an introvert, extrovert, you radically change.

Your want to changes.

Amen.

Somebody said, well, it changes.

Therefore, if any man be in Christ Jesus, he's a new creation.

Old things have passed away, behold, all things become new.

2 Corinthians 5.17.

You change.

No change, no salvation.

You can profess it and not possess it.

Hello, amen.

You can profess it and not possess it.

But I ask myself, can I really know this real, true God?

I think every one of us have pondered that.

I think most Christians feel sometimes a distance from God.

I I, you know, you mean the God of this universe knows me personally?

Have you ever thought about it?

Have you ever thought about that?

I mean he knows every hair on your head.

Mine, my whiskers.

But he knows every hair.

That blows my how can he do that?

How can I know that he knows me that, that personally?

And then for us professional Christians, and what I mean by professional Christians, we that God has called and chosen vocationally to be in full-time ministry, we are, should I say, professional Christians.

We have been taught and we have been instructed on how to know God.

When we go through seminary and we study.

But do we really know Him?

Personally.

So here's the conclusion I've come up in my own thoughts and knowing God.

We can only worship.

You may want to write this down.

I wrote it down, put a big star.

Put it in my Bible.

We can only worship someone we love.

And we can only love someone we know.

Let me repeat that.

We can only worship someone we love.

And we can only love someone we know.

Worship, therefore, begins with a heart that has been touched by the heart of God.

You can't worship a God that you don't know.

You can't worship a God that, hey, you don't love.

And you can't love of God, hey, unless that God has touched your heart.

When you fell in love with your wife or husband, it was because what?

You fell in love with them with your heart.

Now, if you fell in love with them with your emotions, if you fell in love with them because of their looks, if you fell in love with them because of their money, then guess what?

You're in trouble.

Hello.

Because looks don't last forever.

Amen.

Hello.

I don't care how you try, I don't care how many surgeries you have.

Hello.

Looks don't last forever.

The moment have you ever thought about this?

The moment you're born, you start decaying.

That's not encouraging, is it?

But think about it.

You really are.

So, all these things that you may love in a person, if it's not from the heart, they're not gonna last.

But if you love them from the heart, it doesn't matter what happens, you're gonna be there.

Because you love them with all your heart, soul, and mind.

And isn't that a whole verse for and our purpose statement for this church, church, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all the heart, with all the soul, with all the might, with all the strength.

Hey, hey, and thy brother as thyself?

Luke 10, 27.

Isn't that who we are?

Yes.

Well, that's what he's talking about.

Loving God with all your heart.

If we love him, worship will not be something we do.

Now listen to me.

A lot of times people come in on Sundays and they say, we're gonna worship the Lord, or we're gonna go have a worship.

It's something they do.

I've got news for you.

If you know God with your heart, worship won't be something you do.

Worship will be something that's naturally flowing from you.

In fact, the word of God says in Psalms 33:1, praise is comely to the righteous.

Psalms 33:1

You know what that word comely means?

It means it's natural, it means it's fitting, it means it's beautiful.

It just flows like I was talking about Ace on that morning and the lady that works with you.

You can just tell it's natural.

It's not something you have to work up.

I have people all the time, you gotta work it up, you gotta work it up.

If I gotta work it up, it's not the real thing.

Hello.

You don't have to work up the real thing.

You'll have the can't help it.

I can't help but speak the things that I've seen and heard.

Acts 4.20.

It comes and it flows naturally.

That's why it says in Proverbs 23, 26, My son, give me your heart and let your ways, hey, give me your heart and let your ways and your eyes observe my ways.

And that is so true.

But is this how we know and treat God?

Consider your own relationship with your spouse.

Again, my wife loves flowers.

She loves chocolates.

So when I bring those things to her, it's special.

Okay?

But if all I did was just bring her flowers and chocolates and never communicated with her, never get told her my heart and my and showed her my compassion, my concern, my chivalry, and all those things that I want to do because I love her with all my heart, it wouldn't be a real relationship.

And I'm afraid a lot of us bring the Lord, God, flowers and chocolates on Sunday.

We bring our tithes and we think that we've we're we know God.

We love God because we're bringing him things.

But I got good news for you.

Things aren't where it is.

Now, he says he would rather us love him with all our heart than to bring him sacrifices.

He wants us to love him.

He wants us to know him.

Now listen to this, and I'm giving you the introduction.

This is very important.

If we don't really know the true God, I wrote this down.

I always write when I'm studying, I have a signpost come up, I write it down.

That means stop and look and listen.

If we don't really know the true God, we will be tempted to create a God that is convenient for us.

In other words, we will create a God that does not infringe on what we want to do and who we are and what we want to be.

If we're not careful.

And I thought to myself, huh, when you think about it, is that almost not comical that we would attempt to define who God is on the basis of our own thinking and our own desires?

God is a, hey, God is, I wrote this down and said, yes, God is God and is not affected at all by who we think he is or should be.

God is God.

Amen.

And it really doesn't matter what I think or what you think.

God's God, and he has his, hey, his own standards of who he is.

Far too many Christians' theology is determined by their practice.

Mmm, think about that.

We decide what we want to do, then we invent a theology that allows us to do it.

How many times have I been in discussions and debate with people, and they'll say, Well, I just don't believe that.

This is what I believe.

Now, when they say that, you know what they're fixing to tell you?

They're going to tell you their theology and basically the God that they've created through their theology so that they can excuse themselves without being convicted of what God really said they ought to do.

I was good at that before I got saved.

Hello?

Anyone else like that?

Stephanie, before she got saved, she takes after mama.

She's smart.

Bulldog, she got that from me.

And she said, Well, Daddy, that's just your opinion.

I used to get so mad.

She may be watching this morning.

I'd say, No, it's not my opinion.

It's what the Word of God says.

Well, that's still your opinion.

I said, No, it's not my opinion.

That's your opinion.

And boy, we'd go at it, wouldn't we, honey?

Susan said, Oh my goodness.

She got saved, and boy, was that a huh?

Now she's one of me.

Woo! You don't hey, you don't want to take me and Stephanie on.

Guarantee it.

But really, and here's the second thing.

What's this?

The second thing.

If we don't really know the true God, we will tempt to create our own God.

Here's the second thing.

If we don't know the true God for who he really is, we will become very vulnerable for people telling us who God is.

Now that's good, preacher.

Because that's how cults exist today.

They get people that really don't know the true God.

They don't know the word of God.

A Jehovah's Witness, hey, a Mormon, they cannot get me.

Because I know the truth.

I know my God, and I know who God is.

And the God that they say he is is not who he is.

You gotta know the Word of God.

Got to know the book, and we're gonna see that today.

So be very careful.

So, with that said, while those dangers are real, there are four powerful, unbelievable things that we can put our trust in and know that God is a real knowing God.

When we know Him, four things will be very evident in our lives.

Number one, now we're ready.

Get ready.

Number one, four powerful things that happen when we come to know God in an intimate way.

And I believe these four positive benefits will encourage all of us to pursue Him in an unbelievable new way.

Number one, knowing God gives a sense of pride.

Now, Jeremiah 9, 23 and 24.

Let's start and read with me.

Let not the wise man, now watch this, glory in his wisdom.

Let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches.

But let him who, watch, glories, glory in this, that he understands and knows me.

That I am the Lord, exercising loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth, for in these I delight, says the Lord.

So the question is, and to each of us, is this in what do we boast and brag about?

Think a minute.

What do you boast and brag about the most?

Think about that now.

Don't just run that through your mind.

Think about it.

Do you and I brag about our money?

Do we brag about our intelligence, our knowledge, our degrees hanging on the wall?

Our popularity, very strong with the younger generation.

Wisdom.

Do we brag about our wisdom?

Do we brag about our accomplishments?

What do we boast in?

Jeremiah says, don't boast about any of those things.

Now, boasting's not wrong if we boast in the right things.

There ought to be a pride about us in boasting about what God is to us and what God has done, hey, for us and what God is doing now through us.

Is that not true?

Oh, I'm excited about what God has done through this little community church here in Westover, Chelsea.

When you look back there and realize in the last three years they've brought in over a million dollars, paid everything off, we're debt-free, got one of the prettiest soccer fields in the whole region, and you haven't seen anything yet.

God is good?

All the time?

Why?

Because he's a real, personal, intimate, I meant dynamic God.

He's not something, some fictitious figure way up in sky that we can't touch.

He's real.

He's real.

And it's so exciting to see what he does.

Now watch this.

The apostle Paul would boast in nothing except the cross.

Look at Galatians 6:14.

Galatians 6:14

Paul said this: God forbid if I should glory in anything except the cross.

By whom, now watch what he said, I am crucified to the world.

In other words, he wasn't going to boast in anything that this world had to offer.

And if you remember, he was one of the most powerful men of his day.

He had all those things Jeremiah talks about.

He had the money, he had the power, he had the PhD, he was persecuting and killing Christians.

He was the head honcho of the Sanhedrin.

He had it all.

But he said, God forbid if I should glory in anything except the cross.

Listen to what Hosea said.

Hosea said this in Hosea 6.6.

Look, the prophet wrote that God delights.

Now watch this.

For I desire mercy and not sacrifice.

And the knowledge of God, what?

More than burnt offerings.

Here's what he meant.

He said right here that, oh, God gets more excited about you knowing him than anything you can give to him.

Wow.

Did you hear me that then?

He gets more excited about us really knowing him than giving to him.

But you know what?

When you know him, you can't help but give to him.

Because that's part of his DNA.

Amen.

He that is the greatest among you shall be your servant.

You can't help but give.

So we see that.

Paul also writes, now watch this, 1 Corinthians.

This is illuminating right here.

This is eye-opening right here.

1 Corinthians 13, 12.

For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face.

Now I know in part, but then I shall know.

But then I shall know, just as also I am known.

Now I thought for a minute, I started to get excited, but then I remember something.

This requires a serious adjustment when this happens, this will require a serious adjustment for some Christians.

Can you imagine?

In other words, you're going to know, be known then as you knew now.

Whoa, that got my attention for a minute.

Wait a minute.

You mean to tell me if I got saved and stayed a baby, when I get to heaven, I'm gonna still be known as a baby Christian?

That means if I stayed a young man, which is better than a baby Christian, but I didn't go to In a father, a young father, I mean an older father.

Am I still gonna be a young man when I get to Christian uh to heaven?

Am I gonna be known as a young man?

Instead of that third stage that we're gonna look at in that third point.

Wow.

You're gonna know as you're known.

Wow.

That, ladies and gentlemen, that ought to get your attention.

Because one day we're all gonna stand before him.

You believe that?

And we're gonna give an account of who we are and what we are and how we've grown like Christ.

Powerful statement there.

Powerful, powerful, powerful.

Dr.

Raymond Edmond.

I read this, this was in one of the commentaries I was studying.

And I remembered Dr.

Raymond Edmund.

He was the former president of Wheaton College, which back in the early 50s was one of the probably the most dynamic Christian school, university in America.

That was before the liberties and the temples and all that.

And listen to what they said about him at his funeral.

Dr.

Raymond Edmond, former president of Wheaton College, said Ray Edmond's translation to glory will be the smoothest thing that's ever happened in the history of people entering heaven.

That is, his knowledge of God was so intimate while on earth that his adjustment to knowing and being known fully in heaven would be minimal.

Wow.

That has challenged me.

That when my step into glory.

I think he'll call me Danny Boy.

He'll say, Welcome that fanatic on in.

He's been a cheerleader for me for 40 years.

He's loved me every day.

He's studied my word every day.

He's witnessed for me every day.

He's been kind every day.

He's helped people every day.

He's part of us.

He's who we really are.

He has brought my kingdom to earth.

Welcome, amen.

Well done.

Thou good and faithful servant.

Enter into the joy of the Lord.

I know that's what he said about David Wilson.

No doubt in my heart, in my mind.

So, knowing God should give us a sense of prize.

Number two, knowing God should give us a sense of purpose.

Turn with me to 1 John chapter 2, verses 12 through 14.

1 John 2:12–14

And a wonderful passage here.

The Apostle Paul, or actually in 1 John, the Apostle John describes stages of spiritual growth and maturity that believers go through.

There are spiritual children, spiritual young men, and spiritual fathers.

Look at the first thing.

A, a spiritual child.

Or those whose sins are forgiven, no doubt about it.

They are people who don't know any more than that they are born again and have eternal life.

Now, what I'm saying is there's a lot of people that have been saved that have been saved 10 or 20 years and they're still spiritual children.

I've had people say, Well, I'm, hey, I know I'm saved.

Hey, and I've literally had them tell me this, they say, you know, I'm the one that's going to get there by the skin of my teeth.

Oh my goodness.

If you understand what I just shared about, you're going to know as you're known.

I don't think I'd be the one wanting to get through the pearly gates by the skin of my teeth.

God help us.

These are the ones that need teaching.

These are the ones that need discipling.

These are the ones that need to be in the Bible studies.

They need to be in church.

They need to be understanding what it means to have a quiet time and a prayer time every day.

To get to know him like he wants you to know him.

You got a purpose.

And remember, the whole purpose is for us as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby, 1 Peter 2.2.

It will be a sad day if all you do is get saved and stay there for the rest of your Christian life.

And why will it be a sad day?

You will never get to know him.

And if you don't know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his suffering, you'll never know, hey, the great God that he is.

I was thinking about that.

Spiritual children.

Then, secondly, becoming a spiritual young man.

Being jealous, hey, spiritual young men.

Oh, I love this.

You know what a spiritual young man is?

He tells us right here.

In verse 14, he's strong.

He's strong.

You know what that means?

It means that he's strong in the power of the word of God.

Because if you go on and read, there's three things.

Let me tell you what they are.

A young man is strong, he's an overcomer, and the word of God abides in him.

Those are the three characteristics in those two verses that explain who a young man is.

In other words, he's in the prime of his life, he's in the heat of the battle for God.

He's here's what that means.

It means he's having more victories than defeats.

Let me tell you when you know you're still a baby in Christ.

You're always running around defeated.

You're a spiritual baby, or you're not saved at all.

Hello?

You okay?

If you're never having any victories, if you're never overcoming temptation, if you're never, hey, seeing God do great things in your life as you're, hey, fighting and attacking Satan in the kingdom of darkness, if you're not seeing victories in your life, in your job, in your family, something's wrong.

Why?

1 Corinthians 15, 57 says, thanks be unto God who always gives us victory through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Nay, hey, hey, in all things we've been made more than what?

Conquerors.

The righteous are bold as a lion.

Knowing God gives a sense of purpose.

Study.

Oh, I'm so excited about a wanna.

Where's Matt?

And G and Matt.

Oh yeah, the wanna command.

Whoo! I can't wait for wanna.

Right around the corner.

Why?

Study to show thyself to prove unto God a workman that need not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

We want to take those little cubbies.

Three years old, four years, what's a cubby?

Three, three years old, and we want to see these little children come to know Christ and they'll become little children in Christ.

Hey, they'll become toddlers, but we want to see them in the next four to six, seven years growing to be coming young men.

We want our teenagers on Wednesday night.

The reason we have such a fantastic youth program here is we want to see them turn in, hey, from the baby's baby and child stage to a strong young man and woman for God.

That went, hey, hey, if God be for them, who can be against them?

And they have that courage, they have that fortitude.

In fact, there's example after example.

But grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

And then see, watch this.

You become a spiritual adult or a father.

Now notice, why?

Because you have known him who is from the beginning.

Let me tell you what a father is.

One who got saved.

Okay?

And he's gone through each stage, he's steadily grown in the likeness of Christ.

He's the one that put his hands to the plow.

And he didn't look back.

He just kept plowing.

You know, when you plow, I never had to plow with a real plow.

But one thing I knew, you kept your eyes fixed on the mark.

If you didn't, you'd be doing this.

But if you had that mark and you, where it was another fence pole or whatever, you just kept your eyes in that plow on that mark and you kept pressing toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in and through Christ Jesus.

Hey, hey, sometimes it would be faster, sometimes it would be slower, but you never stopped.

You just kept plowing.

And all of a sudden you look up and you're almost about to turn 65.

Still plowing.

Still plowing.

And you look back and you say, wow.

What a row.

What a life.

All to the glory of God.

Oh, I remember when you took me through my wife dying in my arms, my little boy being born dead.

I remember, I remember, I remember, and you were faithful.

You were still faithful.

You were still faithful.

You're gonna do it again.

You're gonna do it again.

You're gonna do it again.

Just keep plowing.

Just keep plowing.

Don't let go.

If you fall down, don't let go, get back up.

Keep plowing.

The righteous fall seven times and they get back up.

But they don't let go of the plow.

Ladies and gentlemen, you don't let go of the book.

You hang on to the book.

You stay true to the book.

You stay true to the word.

That's what we're talking about here.

Whew.

That brings me to the third thing.

Knowing gives you a sense of purpose.

Knowing God gives you a sense of pride, a purpose, but notice it also gives you a sense of power.

This is what I like.

In Daniel 11, 32.

He says.

Boy, what a powerful statement.

Daniel has been captured as a young lad, taken into captivity by Babylon.

Young man, probably in his mid-teens, late teens, in chapter one.

Now he's a lot older when we get to chapter six when he's in the lines to him.

But there he is.

He's made servant in the king's court.

Hard worker.

But you know what Daniel had?

He and his buddies, Shadrach, Meshach, and Nebednego?

I call it the four musketeers of the Bible.

You know what they had?

He had a heart that was radically sold out toward God, and it happened early in his life.

He was that young man by now.

And the Bible says that because of that commitment, we're going to look at it in a minute in Daniel 1.8, he said he purposed in his heart that he's not going to defile himself with the king's meat or the wine.

He had made that commitment.

We see when you get over to Daniel 11, 32, it says, who knew, who knew and, hey, they knew their God and they were strong and carried out great exploits.

In other words, when you go from chapter 1, end up in chapter 11, you see all the great dynamic exploits that God did through Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and even through Nebuchadnezzar in chapter 4, because of the commitment that these young men had for their God.

They were in a culture that was against God.

We're getting there pretty quick in America.

But they didn't let the culture conform them, they conform the culture.

Can I get an amen?

Oh, that's good.

Just a handful.

They were the few.

But now watch.

They found strength in the knowledge of God.

That's what it says.

They found strength in the knowledge of God.

Daniel knew his God and gained strength from the covenant commitment to honor God and his word.

Daniel purposed in his heart.

I want you to see this.

Daniel chapter 1, verse 8.

Daniel 1:8

Listen, first of all, I see Daniel's conviction.

Daniel had a conviction, his heart.

Daniel had a purity that he would not defile himself.

He was not going to give in to the pressure.

Can you imagine him and about 40 other young Israeli young men?

All of them gave in.

They all gave in, but those four did not give in.

And not only did he ever, he had a conviction, and that conviction came from his heart, he was pure.

He wasn't gonna a little meat, a little wine, it's not gonna hurt.

Nobody's gonna know.

No, he said, My God will know.

And then I here's the part I like.

Not only did he the place, his conviction was his heart, his hey, the conviction was to stay pure, but then he had a passion about it.

He said, I'm not gonna do it.

Let me tell you how you keep from, hey, having sex before marriage or or or all kinds of sins before they happen.

You purpose in your heart way before it happens that you're not gonna do it.

And you don't put yourself in the position and place to be compromised.

Now, Daniel couldn't help where he was.

But he didn't give in.

Why?

Folks, let me tell you something.

If you've got a true conviction, you won't give in.

And he was passionate about it.

You would not give in.

Now, what about Shadrach, Meshach, and Nebedekah?

Remember then?

They refused to bow down before the statue of the king, Nebuchadnezzar.

In fact, look at Daniel 3.18.

I love this.

But here's what they said to the king when they said, remember?

And they were their three best workers too.

Daniel was the best worker.

They were all the best of the best workers.

And by the way, because Daniel didn't give in, remember what happened?

The Bible says at the end of Daniel chapter 1, I love this.

Daniel 1 · chapter mention

They were 10, you remember what Daniel did?

He turned around and he challenged the jailkeeper who had he had found favor with the jailkeeper because of God.

Remember, Joseph found favor with the jailkeeper.

Now Daniel finds favor with the jailkeeper.

Why?

Because he's true to God.

When you're true to God, he'll be true to you.

Can I get an amen?

Whoa, that's good, that's good.

And when he's true to you, he'll give you favor where you need it.

And sure enough, by the way, I've never asked for a job since I've been in ministry.

I never sent a resume.

You know when they got my resume in the two places I was hired?

Well, actually, three counting open door.

After I'd been there working, then I said, Oh, we do need a resume.

Oh, okay.

I never sent a resume.

I never asked what they were paying me.

And every time I moved, I took a cut and pay.

So don't say I did it for the money.

Never.

That wasn't my first thing I asked.

I did ask David after he said he was going to start church.

I said, Are you gonna feed me?

He said, I'll take care of you, preacher.

And he did.

Poor did he.

When you know God, you don't need anybody to help you promote you.

Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time.

Amen.

Amen.

But you have this power.

Shadrach, me and Shech and Abendnego, listen to what they said.

Our God, whom we serve, is able to deliver us from the, hey, burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us from your hand, O King.

But if not, now guess what?

They weren't praying for them to be delivered.

That, have you ever seen that?

Most of us don't see that.

They were not praying for them to, oh, don't burn me up, let me live.

They were prepared to die.

But they did say this.

They let the king say, We're not worried about you.

You want to burn us up, burn us up.

But if my God wants to deliver me, he's gonna deliver me.

If he's not, I'm gonna burn up for the glory of God.

Oh man, I want that kind of power.

I want that kind of courage.

But if not, let it be known to you, O King, that we do not serve your gods, nor when we worship the golden image which you have set up.

They didn't bow, they didn't bend, and they didn't burn.

Amen.

Christians are guilty of sometimes we are playing the role of victims.

Ladies and gentlemen, let me encourage us.

We're not victims, we're victors.

We're victors.

Let me tell you what happened to Daniel.

Now, God gave me this after I'd done the outline, but get ready.

You might want to jot this down.

Remember what we were talking about?

Joseph, God gave me this.

Daniel and the Hebrew boys had God's four five things they had.

Well, four things.

What's this?

They had God's purpose.

Daniel 1.8.

They purposed in their heart.

Number two, they had God's protection.

See, when you got God's purpose in your life, this is why you want to find out God's will for your life and serve Him.

Because when you have His purpose, you, number two, you have His protection.

They didn't burn in the furnace, and Daniel wasn't eaten in the lion's den.

And his protection.

You got that?

And then they had his power.

You have his power.

Do you realize with the Shedrach, Meshach, and Abednego, not one, do you know, not one hair, not in the clothing, was burned off of burned on them and all.

There's only one thing, watch this, that was burned off of Shed, Rat, Meshach, and Abednego.

This is worth you being here.

Only one thing that was burned off, the ropes.

And you know why they were burned off?

Because that's what the world put on them.

So why do we go in the furnace to get all the worldliness burned off of us?

That's good, preacher.

That's it.

That's it.

That's why you go in the furnace.

Got to get all that worldliness out of us, burned off of us, burned out of us.

So we see that.

Hey, and then are you ready?

Hey, when you have his purpose, you have his protection, you have his power.

Are you ready for this?

This is so good.

This is it.

I need to just preach this message.

You have his promotion.

They were ten times better.

And they were all promoted.

After the furnace, after the lion's then.

Promoted.

No?

Hey, unless you go through the fire, knowing God through the suffering, you'll never be promoted.

Hello?

Why?

Because you can't be, hey, hey, how can he know that you're real?

What's the old saying?

Faith has to be tried before it can be trusted.

See if it's if it's real.

Brings me to number four.

Knowing God not only gives us a sense of power, a sense of purpose, a sense of pride, but the last thing, it gives us a sense of peace.

It's easy to read the paper, watch the news, and get discouraged.

I've quit watching it other than I'll turn it on for about 10 minutes to kind of get an overview.

I used to read my little thing on my Facebook, but now it's so discouraging.

I just why?

Because it's all negative.

All negative.

I can remember when I grew up, there were only three stations, ABC, NBC, and CBS.

And there was as much good on the news as there was bad.

Sometimes more good than bad.

You don't see that anymore.

You have to go to one of those stations that's 638 on the channel to even get anything decent.

But anyway, look right here.

Daniel.

In Daniel 4.

Are you ready for this?

King Nebuchadnezzar thought he was something.

He built a statue.

I believe the statue that he had built was of him.

Maybe not, but I think it was.

He was so prideful, he thought, everybody's got a bout of me, I'm a God.

He literally, literally had made himself a God.

So all of a sudden, God says, okay, you want to see who God really is?

Chapter 4, verses 34 and 35.

He says, I'm going to show you who God really is.

You know what he did to Nebuchadnezzar?

He took him and put him out in the wilderness.

I'm going to really get you going and get you thinking.

Full moon, what do you think of?

Barbecue.

That's good.

Who said that?

Paul, did you say that?

No.

Who said that?

Full moon.

I wasn't talking about that moon.

I was talking about the real moon.

The big bright moon, you know.

What's the theory?

What comes out when full moons?

What do we call them?

Werewolfs.

We were talking the other day, Susan.

I forgot who we were with, and I said, Do you know werewolves are in the Bible?

Well, yeah, it was Stephanie and Jeremy.

Stephanie, you know, Stephanie.

Stephanie said, uh-uh.

I said, Yeah, they are.

I'm gonna prove it.

Go to Daniel 4.

Nebuchadnezzar was cast out into the wilderness.

The Bible says his fingernails grew.

The Bible says he had hair all over him.

And that he walked on all fours eating grass.

Like a werewolf.

Actually, there's a Hebrew word there if you go through and do a word study.

Look at that.

Look at David.

Oh, let me go.

I'll go.

And Lithion, though the Hebrew word there was one of the synonyms, was he became a beast.

Yeah.

I just added werewolf.

Yes.

I mean, you know.

So, but with that said, they throw, they, hey, he made him for seven years.

Seven years.

Lost his mind, everything.

Seven years.

But then God brought him back.

God restored him totally.

And here's what he said.

I love this.

Watch what he said.

At the end, he says, He really realized who was in charge of the world.

He said, I bless the Most High and praise and honor him who lives forever.

For his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation.

All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing.

He does according to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth.

No one can restrain his hand or say to him, What have you done?

Nebuchadnezzar praised God for his God's person, verse 34, God's power, verse 35, and praise God for his permanence, verse 34.

Now let me give you this and I'll be through.

When Daniel and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego purposed in their hearts, I went back and saw because I've been following this theme, knowing God in difficult times.

And let me show you what God gave me.

God gave me this Thursday morning.

So I I couldn't put it in the outline.

But let me show you what God gave me Thursday morning.

Daniel and the boys purposed in their heart, and they learned because they had set their hearts on God how to conquer a difficult situation and bring total glory to God at the same time.

I'd never seen it before.

Watch what they did.

Here it is.

Number one, their heart was totally centered on Christ.

Totally.

Daniel 1.8, I purposed in my heart.

Proverbs 23, 26.

My son, give me your heart and let your eyes observe my ways.

Okay?

Number two.

Their life was filled with character.

Character.

Proverbs 27.

Blessed is the man who walks in his integrity, his character.

Watch this.

His children shall be blessed after them.

Their church shall be blessed after them.

Their work shall be blessed after them.

If we walk in our character.

You know what character is?

Let me tell you what character is.

Character is who you really are when nobody's looking but God.

You with me?

Character, true character, is who you really are when nobody's looking but God.

The eyes of the Lord in every place, beholding the evil and the good.

Proverbs 15, 3.

And then, number three, protest must be courteous.

Daniel said to the jailkeeper, remember?

When he said, we can't do this.

You know what the jailkeeper said?

He said, he didn't get mad at Daniel and say, oh, well, I'll chop your head off.

He said, Daniel, don't you understand this?

The king will have my head if you don't obey.

Daniel said, Well, I've got a proposition.

Why don't you for the next 10 days let all the other guys eat the meat and drink the wine?

And me and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, we'll eat vegetables and drink water for 10 days.

And at the end of the 10 days, you be the judge.

Sounds like a pretty good deal.

Just 10 days?

Just 10 days.

After that, after that, we'll do what we know it's supposed to do.

But give us a chance to prove to you that my God is real.

At the end of the 10 days, they were ten times better.

I'm not talking about a few times better, ten times better.

Let me ask something.

You want to just be a little better?

You want to be ten times better.

You want to be ten times better?

Do it God's way.

They were courteous.

They were not obnoxious.

You know what Daniel did when they said, Hey, if you pray to that God anymore, we're going to throw you in lines then.

He wasn't belligerent.

You know what he did?

He went to his apartment, went back to his apartment.

Now, I don't know about you, but I know what I would have done.

I would have closed the gate.

I meant the doors where nobody could see me praying and say, God, you know I'm still praying.

Nobody's looking, and God, I wouldn't be any good to you if I was dead.

I would justify why I closed my doors and went on about my godly business.

He flung them open.

And he prayed.

They were courteous.

And the last thing?

They were courageous.

They were courageous.

They didn't bow, they didn't bend, they didn't burn, they didn't, he didn't quit praying, and he prayed openly.

They were courageous.

Knowing the you know what a courageous person is?

God just gave me this through this message.

I mean, I know what I look up the word courageous, I know what that means.

But here's my what I saw in this, God taught me.

Courageous Christian is a person knowing it may cost them everything they've got, but they still stand.

These guys knew it could cost them their lives, everything they had.

But they stood.

Amen?

So as I close, the prophet Daniel foretold a time when God will establish his kingdom on the earth.

We just went through the book of Revelation, and destroy all other earthly kingdoms in the process.

The certainty of that future reality should also translate into a certainty about the present day.

Here's what I put to me.

Just as God knows the future, he knows the presence as well.

Can I get an amen?

There's nothing you can experience that he's not fully aware of.

Everything you're going through right now, he knows.

And I wrote this to myself.

God is never taken by surprise and he never goes on vacation.

Never, never, never.

What a blessing.

There's no reason for you and me to live, hey, to not live in perfect peace when we know our God.

Be careful for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplications, let your requests be made known unto God, and the peace of God that passes all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4, 6 and 7.

Here's the invitation.

Do you know God?

Or do you just know about Him?

The answer can be determined by the sense of your pride, your purpose, your power, and your peace.

Well, that's good.

That others see in our life.

When we know Him, not only are we prepared to live each day, but we are preparing ourselves for a seamless transition into eternity.

Think about that.

I have known people that were serving God wholeheartedly.

I've known preachers die in the pulpit.

What a seamless transition.

Bam.

In heaven.

It's no difference.

You know why it's no difference?

They were living it here, Benji.

Ah, but they were living it here.

They were being who they really were, here.

Bringing God's kingdom here.

When they went to be with the Lord.

I close with this verse.

Jesus said it this way.

And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, in Jesus Christ whom they have sent.

Do you know him?

Or you just know about him.

You may be here this morning watching online.

You've never received Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior.

You don't have that purpose.

You don't have that pride.

And I mean that pride in a good way, not in a bad way.

You know that.

I mean you're you're you're courteous, but you're courageous.

The righteous are bold as a lion.

But you stand, you're not gonna waver.

You got your convictions through the Word of God, you're overcoming Satan.

Where are you?

If you're living a defeated life, listen to me.

If there's no wins in your life, you need to examine yourself whether or not you're in the faith.

That's the first step.

And then if you are in the faith, you're saved, but you're still being defeated constantly.

Then I can help you.

You're just not growing.

You're not letting Christ be Lord of your life.

You're not presenting your body a living sacrifice wholly acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service, but you're not, hey, you're being conformed to the world.

You gotta, you gotta take a stand and say, Oh God, let me start being like you.

Let me start growing in the word.

Let me start being faithful in my church and in my Bible study and in my youth group and serving you.