Even in the Fire | Pastor Kami Palmer | Faith Church

This week, I felt the Lord drop this word in

my heart right after I had preached the message

on the Trinity, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

And as I have been, because I have been continuing

to meditate, to chew the cud on the unity of

the Trinity and what that means for my life.

And as I've been doing that, he brought me back

to Philippians. chapter 4. And when I read this,

Philippians 4 · chapter mention

you're going to be like, oh, here she goes again.

I've got to rejoice. I've got to give thanks.

We're actually not going to focus on that part

of it, but what we need is context for what I

do feel the Lord is speaking. And so verse 4

begins it, rejoice in the Lord. In fact, I was

going around singing the song. How many of you

know the song? Rejoice in the Lord. We can get

a round going here. Okay, good job. That's it.

That would be kind of fun. You could practice

it in our small groups and then have all our

small groups up here going in rounds. Rejoice

in the Lord always. I will say it again. Rejoice.

Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord

is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but

in every situation, by prayer and petition, with

thanksgiving, present your request to God. And

the peace of God, which transcends all understanding,

It doesn't make sense that you would have peace

in your situation, right? It transcends all human

understanding, will guard your hearts and your

minds in Christ Jesus. So we get, we're supposed

to rejoice and give thanks. And sometimes that's

hard to do. But here's what the Lord just jumped

out at me in the spirit. And I believe that it's

a word for you. The Lord is near. That one little

sentence changes everything. The Lord is near.

And I think when we find ourselves having difficulty

rejoicing and giving thanks, when anxiety begins

to rise in our hearts, what I'm seeing from this

is that we have forgotten something. The Lord

is near. And so this morning, now, here's a little

bit of Bible interpretation. Because you can,

if you have the version, like on my app, I have

my Bible versions, right? And I can click on

it and it will give me all the definitions of

the words, of the original word. And you have

to be careful in that because you could choose

whichever one gives you the goosebumps. And so

this is why we have to know context, we have

to know history and all, and verbiage and grammar

and all that fun stuff. But as I was studying

this, I was like, Lord, all of my points are

just right out of this word right here. I felt

like God was speaking through them. And so today,

that's exactly what we're going to do. We are

going to look at what the word near means. You

say, well, this seems very obvious. Something

is near, it's near. If it's far, it's far. We're

going to go a little deeper than that today.

Because I think what happens is we become very

preoccupied with our problems, our situations.

And suddenly the presence that is known to us

is the presence of our problems. And that becomes

more real to us. Than the presence of the living

God. Who should be near to us. And so here we

go. Ready? This is something that the disciples.

It's a beautiful picture, and I love preaching

the road to Emmaus. It's such an amazing passage

of after the death and resurrection, the disciples

are on the road that day, Resurrection Sunday,

and they're discouraged, and they're disillusioned

because our king has died. So they're going home,

and Jesus appears on the road, and they're so

preoccupied with their problem. Everything we've

lived for for years has fallen into disarray

and scattered. And that's all that they can see.

And when Jesus appears and begins not just walking

with them, but unfolding scripture to them, they

do not recognize the Lord is near. And it's not

until they're seated at the table and, oh, wait

a minute. We've been here before with this person.

We've sat around a table before with a person.

The Lord is near. He's at our table. And their

eyes are opened. And they go and they back to

Jerusalem to tell of Jesus. What happened? They

were preoccupied with their problems and didn't

know Jesus is near. And so when we look at this

sentence, this little sentence will change everything

for us. The Lord is near. The Father, the Son,

the Holy Spirit is near to you. So do not be

anxious about anything, but just begin to lay

your request at his feet. And so what does it

mean that the Lord is near? Here's definition

number one. I just about like went into revival

reading this one because I'm a very work -oriented

person. But the very first definition of nearness

is a Sabbath day walk. How many of you have heard

that phrase? It's used in Acts once to describe

the distance from the Mount of Olives to Jerusalem.

A Sabbath's walk distance. It is a term that

is used within the Jewish people that describes

how far on the Sabbath day they can journey.

So Darla lives in Decatur, and she drives over

every Sunday. That's a 45 -minute drive. And

she's here every week, except when it's icy and

snowy. She would not have been able to come to

church here on the Sabbath because she is more

than a Sabbath's walk distance from this church.

So on the Sabbath, it was intended to keep them

close to home to be at rest on the Sabbath. The

Lord is a Sabbath day walk from you. And so often

in our difficulty, we're striving in our own

strength, in our own understanding to make something

happen in life. And we sang it this morning,

didn't we? I'm just going to sit here. I'm just

going to worship. That's all I'm going to do.

I'm going to worship. I'm going to be still.

Out of the place of rest. Now, here's a verse

in Joshua chapter 3. This is one of the passages

Joshua 3 · chapter mention

in which they get the Sabbath's day's walk. And

the distance is about 2 ,000 cubits. Anybody

out the top of your head know what that is? Anybody?

Far? No looking up. I had to look it up. It's

just over half a mile. So you could not travel

further than half a mile on the Sabbath. And

so we get this from Joshua chapter 3 verse 4.

Joshua 3:4

Now Moses had died. Joshua's leading the Israelites.

And they come to the Jordan River. And what is

on the other side of the Jordan River? The promised

land. They've got to cross this river to get

over to the promised land. And so in chapter

3 of Joshua, they're receiving instruction. When

you see the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord your

God. The Ark of the Covenant was the presence

of God for Israel. And they followed it all through

the wilderness, right? When you see the ark of

the Lord your God and the Levitical priests carrying

it, you are to move out from your positions and

follow it. That was their sign to get up and

go. Then you will know which way to go since

you have never been this way before. but keep

a distance of about 2 ,000 cubits between you

and the ark. Now catch this phrase, do not go

near it. This was not a distance given so they

would be close to the ark. It was a distance

given to separate them from the ark. Think about

it. A million people. And if they were all crowding

around it, would they even be able to see it?

No. So they had to create distance so all of

the community could see the ark when it was moving

with the priest. I think this is an amazing idea,

though, because in the Old Testament we have

this directive. Keep a distance of half a mile.

And this is a circumference all around. A radius,

a half a mile, all the way around. You wouldn't,

you, I mean, in a lot of ways, some of them wouldn't,

even in that half mile, wouldn't be able to see

the ark. They just know, oh, all of those people

are getting up and going. I guess it's time to

get up and go. And here's the power of the new

covenant. Jesus says on the cross, it is finished.

And in the moment he says it is finished, the

veil before the holy of holies is torn. And the

invitation is given. No longer do you need to

keep a distance of half a mile. Come on in. Get

up close. Get into the Holy of Holies. The Lord

is near to you. The Lord is near to you. Praise

the Lord. And so we have passages like Psalm

Psalms 62:5

62 verse 5. Yes, my soul find rest in God. My

hope comes from Him. Truly, he is my rock and

my salvation. He is my fortress. I will not be

shaken. Why? Because the Lord is near. My salvation

and my honor depend on God. He is my mighty rock,

my refuge. Trust in him. I think this is a good

phrase because it goes right along with our Philippians

phrase. Trust him at all times. You people, you

people trust him. Pour out your hearts to him

for God is our refuge. He is near to you. Psalm

46 says the same thing beginning in verse 1.

God is our refuge and strength and ever -present

help in time of trouble. The Lord is near to

you. Though the earth give way. We're not going

to fear. Though the mountains fall into the heart

of the sea. Though its waters roar and foam.

And the mountains quake with their surging. Isn't

that sometimes what your circumstance is feeling

like? God, everything is falling apart. Everything

is in turmoil. Everything is foaming and surging.

Fear not. There is a river whose streams make

glad the city of God. A place where the Most

High dwells. Oh, my friends, you are, say, I

am the temple of the Holy Spirit. Where the Most

High dwells, He lives in us. Oh, there is a river

whose streams make you glad. I feel like we should

be a little more excited by this news. There

is a river. A river of His presence. And you

don't have to come here to find it. It comes

within you because he dwells within you. You

are the river in your workplace. You are the

river in the schools. You are the river in Washington,

D .C., Kathy. You are the river. And everything

you touch should be made glad. For the Most High

dwells in you. God is within her. She will not

fall. God will help her at the break of day.

Man, the Lord is within you. Be at rest. His

nearness is that of rest. Not striving, but rest.

And so some of you just need to take a deep breath.

Yeah, I'm being serious. You really do. You need

to just take a deep breath. Why? We sang it today.

The breath that I breathe, I breathe because

of him. And so we take just a deep breath and

be at peace and be at rest. The Lord is near.

The Lord is near. The second definition here.

Oh, this is good. Are you ready? It is almost

time. It is almost time. I feel like we need

to become with God like my grandsons. Oh my goodness.

I know that parents joke about this all the time,

but my grandkids know how to take it to another

level since... The discovery of Google Maps and

the following of the blue line, they can see

it from the back seat. I'm not kidding you. Like,

I will tell them how much, how many more hours.

And like three minutes later, how many more hours?

The whole way to Springfield, Missouri. Am I

exaggerating, Darren? He's videoing this so he

can send it to my grandkids, aren't you? We got

it. into the vehicle after dropping them off

and driving home alone it's like oh nobody is

asking how much longer listen we need to get

a little bit like that with God God is it almost

time are we almost there I'm imagining the Israelites

in the wilderness are we almost there yet God

are we almost to the promised land it's been

40 years Surely we're almost there by now. The

Lord is near. It's almost time. And some of you

have been carrying things for many, many years.

Promises that God has given to you. And the enemy

would come in and say, hey, see, it's never going

to be fulfilled. It's been 10 years. It's been

20 years. It's been 30 years. There is no expiration.

on the promise of God. God's promises are not

like our refrigerator after food pantry. When

I have to go in and clean out all of the expired

dairy. That is not God's promise. There's no

expiration date. The Lord is near. It's almost

time. And some of you need to kind of rise up

and say, God, is it almost time? Is it almost

time? I have an expectation that it's almost

time. When, God? When is the promise going to

come to pass? The Lord is near. It is almost

time. It is almost time. And listen to what it

says there in Joshua 3, verse 4. The instruction

Joshua 3:4

given is, then you will know which way to go.

Since you have never been this way before. Oh,

man. The Israelites had the promise. They had

the promise back in Egypt of the promised land.

And all that time they lived in slavery. Then

they have all that time of traveling in the wilderness.

And suddenly they're at the gates. of the promised

land. And they've never been here. They hadn't

because remember, they had been here before and

they had sent Caleb and Joshua in for a report

and the spies. And the spies came back and said,

no, those giants are too big. We can't take this

land. And Caleb and Joshua said, no, we can take

it. Let's go. Let's go. And because they went

with the spies' report, they went back into the

wilderness until that generation died off. And

the only two to enter were Joshua and Caleb.

So all of those that Joshua brought had never

been there before. They could have grown up in

the promised land, but their parents did not

believe. Oh, man, we got a huge responsibility,

parents, don't we? They were on the verge of

crossing, but they'd never been this way before.

And so they needed the guidance of the Ark of

the Covenant. They needed the guidance of the

presence of God. And listen, some of us... You've

never been. You've only ever been in the place

of believing for the promise. You've not experienced

the promise. And it's kind of like my grandkids,

when they get out of their, you know, if you

don't know it, they live in this little camper

while they are renovating. And it's been like,

what, three years? I don't know. I've lost track.

And they get to our house. And it's interesting.

Because they have all this space. And what they

will do is pile on top of each other on my couch.

Like they're squashed up in the camper still.

And for a long time, by the end of the month

with us, they're all over my house. But initially,

wherever they go outside the camper, they're

still on top of each other. Because that's how

they sit in the camper. They're watching TV together.

They're scrunched up together. They're eating

dinner together. They're all scrunched on top

of each other. And so often, so often when we

have never entered into the promises, when we've

never walked into the freedom that God has, we

come in living like that. Like we're still scrunched

up and not spacious. And God's word says in Psalms,

I'm bringing you into a spacious place. A spacious

place. In fact, Edmund, when he was here for

the month, gained nine pounds. Nine pounds. It

became a daily thing to check the scale. And

Jeremy joked, oh yeah, we get you out of the

camper and you start growing, you know, like

a plant that you repot. But for some of this,

this is the way it is. We cannot imagine life

that is now identified by the fulfillment of

the blessing. The Israelites had wandered the

desert for 40 years, and they're at the fulfillment

process. And you know what their identity was?

Oh, that's that group that just keeps wandering

in the wilderness. They just keep setting up

camp out in the... It's like Darren when he goes

to district events. Who's Darren? Who's your

husband? Oh, yeah, he's the camping guy. This

is what the Israelites' ID was, their identification.

They are the people that wander the wilderness

when God was wanting them to be the people of

the promise, the promised land people, right?

And often we allow the illness that has been

a part of us for so long become our identity.

We allow lack that has been a part of us for

generations to become our identity. Unhealthy

relationships have become our identity for years

and years. Whatever your thing is, put it there.

It's become your identity. It's all you've known.

And God is saying, I have a new identity for

you. One that is, one that is given through the

presence of God. Trav, I felt in worship today.

See, when the Lord is near, things happen. And

I felt that that over your wife, that her illness,

If you don't know, Trav's wife, she's bedridden.

But I believe that God has the promise for her,

and it's almost time. It's almost time. It's

almost time. In fact, our next point, the nearness

of God, is going to apply to her illness because

where he is, where his presence is, all these

identities, are subject to his presence. They

cannot withstand his presence. And so the Israelites

needed the ark to guide them in this new way

of living. It isn't for them to figure out how

to become people of the promised land. It is

for them to learn the way from the presence of

God. The Lord is near. It's almost time. It's

almost time. And so this week, I want you to

get a little naggy with God. I want you to get

a little bit, God, are we almost there yet? Are

we almost there yet? I want that to kind of rise

up in you. Because what is that saying? There's

an expectation that something is about to happen.

This past week, Pastor Ben was just pinned as

chief. He got his promotion, and so we want to

rejoice with him today. Yes, give him a big hand.

He worked very hard for that. See, I believe

that where his presence is, there is favor and

that we should continue to become more and more

what God has destined for us to become. And I

believe what he's destined for me to become is

more than what I am now. I believe what he's

destined for you is more than what you are now.

Because we do go from glory to glory to glory

to glory. And as we step into more of his glory,

we become more of the image of the son. Praise

the Lord. It is almost time for you. And so you

got to raise your expectation. I can't even imagine.

Some of us were so close. We're at the edge of

the promised land. And the enemy, even at the

edge of the promised land, wants you to begin

to doubt. To begin to say, I don't know, that

river looks awfully big. I'm not sure if we can

get across the Jordan. Never mind that they came

out of slavery with the Red Sea split. Still,

we have this Jordan River we've got to cross.

The Lord is near. It's almost time. This last...

definition I want us to really get today. The

Lord is near, and so that means that whatever

is in your life is in danger of the nearness

of his presence. Whatever it is, sickness, lack,

whatever it is, when the Lord is near, that means

your thing is in danger. Look at the last verse

there in verse 4 that we read. But keep a distance

of about 2 ,000 cubits between you and the ark.

Do not go near it. Think of this. The ark of

the Lord represented the presence of God, right?

Right? And so they're sending the ark ahead of

all of Israel. They are not sending the ark surrounded

by the men of war. They are sending the ark ahead

with the unarmed Levitical priests. Nothing to

guard the ark. God doesn't need our protection.

He is our protection. Without the ark going ahead,

they would be completely open to the enemy. And

you would think in our own thinking that, oh,

that's our thing. We need to protect it. We need

to put our special forces on the ark. That's

not what God said. You stay back a half a mile.

I only want the priest near. I only want the

priest near. The Lord is near to you, so be anxious

for nothing but pray. Our prayer meetings, I

want to encourage you, where there is prayer,

things happen. We've had one woman who had a

great need financially. And we prayed one night

for her, and the next day she received an unexpected

check to completely pay off the need that she

had. And that was not like, oh, somebody here

knew the need and gave it to her. It was not

that. It was outside of this. Jamie. Jamie has

had neck pain for five years. Received prayer

at one of our healing nights. And that was over

a month ago. She has been pain -free ever since.

Listen, the Lord is near, so be anxious for nothing

and pray. Think of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

Let's just think about them for a moment. In

Daniel chapter 3, King Nebuchadnezzar, you know,

Daniel 3 · chapter mention

he thinks, oh, I'm such a great king. I'm going

to build a golden image. And when you hear the

music begin to play, everybody's going to bow

down and worship this image I've created. Whoever

doesn't fall down and worships is going to be

put into the furnace. And so in verse 12, it

says there are some Jews. He gets this report

from his men. King Nebuchadnezzar, there are

some Jews that you have put into authority. They

are rulers over the provinces. You've put them

into authority and they refuse to bow down. And

so verse 13 says, furious with rage. That just

did King Nebuchadnezzar in. He becomes enraged

in fury. And he summons Shadrach, Meshach, and

Abednego. And says, if you do not worship it,

you will be thrown into the blazing furnace.

Then what god will rescue you from this land?

As I was actually preaching this last Sunday

in Petersburg, I read this verse and it was like

I could see. See, we live in a time, the spirit

of the world, if you do not come into agreement,

it stirs up furious rage. You see it in conversations.

If we don't come into alignment with the world's

philosophy, they become enraged and furious with

you. And this is exactly the response of King

Nebuchadnezzar. I love, I love their response.

They don't get all heated up in defense. They

just simply say, you know what, Nebuchadnezzar?

We do not need to defend ourselves before you

in this matter. We don't need to defend ourselves

in this. If we are thrown into the blazing fire,

the God we serve is able to deliver us from it.

How much confidence do we have in our God that

we are so completely at peace? He is able to

deliver us. And then they go on, though, to say

this. If we are thrown into the furnace, God

is going to deliver us. And here's what King

Nebuchadnezzar did. He ordered the furnace heated

seven times hotter. And then he commands his

strongest guys, his military guys, tie them up.

We're throwing them into the fire. And so these

men in verse 21, wearing their robes, their trousers,

their turbans, and other clothes, were bound

and thrown into the blazing fire. The furnace

was so hot that it killed the soldiers that threw

them in. That's how hot it was. Firmly tied up.

And then something happens. In verse 24, King

Nebuchadnezzar is looking in. And he leaps to

his feet in amazement. And he asks his advisors,

okay, I need to just clarify the numbers. Because

three is very confusing. Were there three men

that you threw in? Yes, king. There were three

men. Certainly. And Nebuchadnezzar says, look,

I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound

and unharmed, and the fourth looks like the son

of the gods. All scholars agree that this is

the pre -incarnate Jesus. I find it interesting

that Nebuchadnezzar can see the fourth man in

the fire. It does not say that Shadrach, Meshach,

and Abednego saw the fourth man in the fire.

Maybe they did. Maybe they didn't. They knew

they were free in there. They were walking around.

But it doesn't tell us if they saw him or not.

But King Nebuchadnezzar sure did. He saw Jesus

in there walking around. They're just taking

a stroll around the hot furnace. The only thing

it had consumed was the bonds, the ties on their

hands. And so it says, they saw that the fire

had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of

their head singed. Their robes were not scorched,

and there was no smell of fire on them. There

was no aroma of fire. We used to, at my previous,

actually the first church we pastored in Petersburg,

we had the women would do like a secret Santa

thing. You remember back in the day when we used

to do that stuff? And I knew from the get -go

who had my name because every gift had this aroma

on it of fire. And I knew Sukastelik has a wood

-burning stove. And so every gift smelled like

her wood -burning stove. Afterwards, I said,

you might want to be careful for future reference.

Can you imagine being within and coming out,

not one scorch, not one bit of aroma of fire?

They were so completely free from their situation.

So free from it. Listen, when the Lord is near,

the things in your life are in danger of his

presence. In danger. And so it says in verse

29, therefore I decree, the king, that the people

of any nation or language who say anything against

the goddess Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be

cut into pieces and their houses be burned into

piles of rubble. He really did go for the dramatic,

didn't he? For no other god can save in this

way. Listen. When the people see you in your

life coming through the fire, and you don't come

out being stinky and scarred up, but they see

that your God got into the fire with you, what

kind of God does that? He gets right into your

mess. And he doesn't just sit in the mess with

you. He pulls you out and cleans you up so you

don't even smell like it. So you don't even,

you weren't even scorched by it. This is what

happens when the Lord is near. This is what happens.

And then following the fire, verse 30, the king

promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the

province of Babylon. They came out. Man, we got

to quit just sitting in our fire, woe is me.

We need to let Jesus into our messes. We need

to invite Jesus into our fires and say, Jesus,

I want to walk around in this fire with you.

I want to be in your presence, even if I'm in

the fire. If I perish, I perish, as long as you

are with me in the fire. And when the Lord is

near, man, nothing can stand. Nothing can stand.

We need to raise our expectation to what Jesus

can do, not what our circumstance can do. We

often promote our circumstance. We often, we

want to one -up everybody on how bad we have

it. You think you have it bad? Listen to my story.

Oh man, come on, I want to one -up what God does

through my life. I want to one -up, yeah, it

was bad, but look at what my God did. Oh yeah?

Look at what he did for me. What if we sat around

the tables just doing that? Look at what God

did for me. Oh no, but look at what he did for

me. Let's one -up what God does in and through

us. Amen? Yeah. And so I love, I'm going to ask

the worship team to come back up. I love... this

whole chapter, because we have this verse, the

Lord is near at the beginning, and then we have

the command, so rejoice, be anxious for nothing,

pray. We then go on in the chapter, and he tells

us all of the things that we should think about.

And there's nowhere in the list of things we

should think about that has listed all of our

woes and problems. He says, here are the things

you need to think about, the praiseworthy things.

He then goes on in the chapter to talk about

how to be content in the lack and in the abundance.

And so he concludes this sandwich of a chapter

with this verse in verse 13. And you know it

well. And some of you really need to start believing

it today. I can do all things through Christ

who strengthens me. I can do all things through

Christ. Why? Because the Lord is near. Christ

is near to you. And so you can do all things

because he strengthens you. And so this morning,

as I was concluding this, what I feel is this

sense of repentance. We hear the word repentance

and we think, I must have sinned and I need to

repent for my sin. But that isn't always the

case. Because sometimes our repentance is needed

when we've been living in a way that he doesn't

want us to live. Maybe it is... You've been in

the fire and you've been in woe is me. And we

need to repent and we need to begin to believe

that the Lord is near to you. And so I've been

complaining. And so I've been anxious. So I've

been worrying. And my prayers, they don't really

have faith. They're just full of worry. Today

we need to repent. The Lord is near. We are not

recognizing his nearness to us. And we need to

align ourselves to his presence. Just as the

Israelites aligned themselves to the Ark of the

Covenant, we have to align ourselves because

you just maybe haven't been on this road before.

And you need to do a little bit of a course correction

in your life of where God is taking you. That's

okay. That's what repentance is. It's a change

of mind. It's a change of direction. And we want

to get behind the presence of God and where he

is going. He is near to you. He is near to you.

And so this morning, I'm going to invite us to

stand. And the team is going to lead us. And

as they're leading us, some of you need to come

to the altar and you need to respond. Some of

you need to repent because you have let the situations

rise above the nearness of his presence. And

you're no longer seeing his presence. And you

need to repent. Need to come into alignment with

where the presence of God is in your life. And

so, Father, this morning, as we come to this

moment, as we come to this moment, of realigning,

of repenting that we have ceased to see your

nearness in our life. God, I ask that you would

come in like a flood, that your presence, Lord,

you've given the invitation. There is nothing

to hinder the nearness of God in our lives. You

are here. You are waiting for us to draw near

to you. You've already... cross. You've already

been resurrected. You've already torn the veil.

And so you've just made an invitation and you're

waiting for us to step closer. You're waiting

for us, even as you have drawn near to us, you're

waiting for us to draw near to you. And this

morning, we make that fresh commitment. We make

just a course correction that we're not going

to let things, we're not going to let life get

in the way of your presence. You are our Your

presence is our priority. And there is nothing

in life that is greater than your presence. There

is nothing that we need to make more room for

in life than your presence. So we draw near to

you. We draw near to you. We draw near to you

today. Thank you, Lord.