I want to invite you to turn if you would to Daniel chapter 3 in God's Word. Daniel chapter 3 and if you're using one of the Bibles in the seats in front of you there you can find the page number listed on the top of the insert for sermon notes if you're can access that Daniel chapter 3 and we return to this chapter to this story about worship about a fiery furnace and about deliverance and it's ultimately a story about the worthiness of God to be worshipped And this story took place around 600 BC when the global tyrant King Nebuchadnezzar of the vast Babylonian Empire made a 90 foot statue of gold and he set it up out in a flat open plain where it would have maximum visibility and dominance. And then, amid a ceremony of great pomp and circumstance, he ordered that all people and nations were to bow down and to worship the king's statue and his gods or be immediately cremated alive. But there were three faithful godly young men who would not bow. And so let's hear the story and I'm going to read it in its entirety beginning in verse one and going to the end of the chapter. And this is God's true and living word. King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold whose height was 60 cubits and its breadth six cubits. He set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. And then King Nebuchadnezzar sent to gather the satraps, the prefects, and the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the justices, the magistrates, and all the officials of the provinces to come to the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. Then the satraps, the prefects and the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the justices, the magistrates, and all the officials of the provinces gathered for the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. And they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. And the herald proclaimed aloud, you are commanded, O peoples, nations, and languages, that when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, you are to fall down and worship the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. And whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be cast into a burning, fiery young men. I'm sorry. My apologies, into a burning, fiery furnace. Therefore, as soon as all the peoples heard the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, all the peoples, nations, and languages fell down and worshipped the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. Therefore, at that time, certain Chaldeans came forward and maliciously accused the Jews. They declared to King Nebuchadnezzar, O King, live forever. You, O King, have made a decree that every man who hears the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music shall fall down and worship the golden image. And whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast into a burning, fiery furnace. There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men, O king, pay no attention to you. They do not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up." Well then King Nebuchadnezzar, in furious rage, commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought. So they brought these men before the king. Nebuchadnezzar answered and said to them, is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up? Now, if you are ready, when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, to fall down and worship the image that I have made, well and good. But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into a burning, fiery furnace. And who is the God who will deliver you out of my hands? Verse 16, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. 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, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up. 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. And 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 fiery furnace. Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished, and he 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 a son of the gods. Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the door of the burning fiery furnace. He declared, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out and come here. And then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out from the fire. And the satraps, the prefects, 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 came upon them. Nebuchadnezzar answered and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who 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 serve and worship any god except their own god. Therefore, I make a decree, any people, nation, or language that speaks 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. This is the word of the Lord. Lead us in prayer once again. Our great God, you alone are the triune God who is holy and righteous and faithful to deliver those who trust in you. And you alone are worthy of our full and our constant worship. And you've gathered us, specific people in a specific place at a specific time right now to hear from you. to hear from your word. Father, please search us and know our hearts. Try us and know our anxious thoughts. Please see if there be any hurtful way in us and lead us in the everlasting way. Father, would you please empower me by your spirit to faithfully proclaim what you have spoken, all for the good of your people and for your glory in Jesus Christ, amen. Well, we introduced this historical narrative last week. Many of you were here. And we saw that the main point of this whole story, the big idea of this truth is this exhortation. Resolve to worship the Most High God who delivers. Resolve to worship the Most High God who always delivers. That's the big idea, the main central truth of this entire story. The Most High God, in the beauty of His holy and unchanging love, His righteousness and His power, He is the only one worthy of our total, constant allegiance and worship. He lovingly demands worship because that's what He made us for. To know the fullness of joy in knowing and worshiping Him. Now we know that he demands this of us lovingly because of his own words. All the way back in Exodus chapter 20 where we read in the beginning of that chapter the giving of his 10 commandments. And these commandments are the foundation for the resolved worship that we see these three young Jewish exiles, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, giving testimony to in Daniel chapter 3. So hear these words again from Exodus chapter 20 verses 3 through 6. They inform and are the foundation of what unfolds in Daniel 3. God says there, verse 3 of Exodus 20, You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness or anything that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. So in Daniel chapter three, God aims to comfort. He aims to strengthen and he aims to purify our worship and our hope in him. He knows that just like the ancient Israelites who were the first audience of this story in Daniel chapter three, he knows that just like them, we easily default toward idolatry. We easily default toward disobedience and compromise and the adultery of idolatry. If not with physical objects, certainly that can happen in our hearts. And so revealed in this story are four expectations. Four expectations that help us resolve to worship the Most High God who always delivers. Now we looked at the first two of these expectations last week and this morning the plan is to look at the remaining two. Let me just briefly review those first two expectations that we saw last week. The first one is this, that we must expect powerful, satanic pressure to worship false gods. We must expect powerful, satanic pressure to worship false gods. This is what we see in the first part of the story in verses 1 to 15. Now, it's unlikely, of course, that any of us will be pressured to worship a literal 90 by 9 foot golden image. But we must expect satanic pressure and temptations to compromise. And that pressure tempting us to do so in big and small ways. Temptations to disobey God's clear commandments, And any disobedience is idolatry because when we disobey God we're bowing down and we're worshiping the false god of our own desire. So any disobedience is idolatry and we must expect and be ready for satanic pressure to worship false gods. Well, then we saw second of all, the second expectation is that we must expect specific moments of black and white decisions. We must expect specific moments of black and white decisions. And this, of course, was the specific moment that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego faced in what they expressed in verses 16 to 18. It was a black and white decision. Would they cave in to the king's pressure and disobey God and worship the golden image? Or would they obey and worship the God of heaven even if it killed them? They had to make a decision right then and there, and it was black and white. It was life or death. Well, we know their choice. With resolved faith, these three declared their allegiance to the true God and they refused to bow to the golden statue. We saw in this that all too often we are faced with similar black and white decisions. Decisions between obeying or disobeying the Most High God. Decisions between trusting and submitting to God's commands or trusting and submitting to our own desires and ways of thinking, ultimately worshiping ourselves. Now to be sure, not all decisions that we face in life are of such a black and white nature. We face a lot of gray decisions, if you will. Like what job am I going to take? Or what should I have for lunch today? Or what route am I going to take when I drive home today? We understand this, but we can expect to regularly face specific moments of black and white decisions. We're going to obey and trust God, or we're going to obey and trust ourselves. And the Lord knows our hearts. So we must expect to face these kinds of decisions on a regular basis. Well, those are the first two expectations. Let's go ahead and move into the rest of the passage and the third and the fourth expectations that we see. Expectations that help us resolve to worship the Most High God. So here's the third. Here's the third. Expect God to fully control the outcome of your obedience. Expect God to fully control the outcome of your obedience. And this is what we see in verses 19 to 23 as the story moves along. The outcome of the obedience of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. What happens? Well, we're told there in verses 19 to 23 that upon hearing of their resolute and unbending decision to disobey his order, King Nebuchadnezzar completely flips his lid. I mean, he's like an erupting volcano. He explodes with fury. His countenance, we're told, changes towards them, and quite literally, he goes berserk. And so he orders the furnace, which that furnace, by the way, was likely the massive kiln that was used to melt the gold for the statue that he made. And he orders it to be heated seven times more than normal. And then he orders the three young men to be fully bound, cloaks and tunics and hats and everything, to be completely bound and thrown into the burning fiery furnace. And just to emphasize how hot it is, we're told the fire was so scorching that it killed the men who toss these three faithful young men into the flames. And so this description of what happens in verses 19 to 23, it tells us that these three Jewish exiles, these godly obedient men, they had absolutely no control over the outcome of their obedience. They had absolutely no control over the outcome of their obedience. They could not resist. They could not escape. They could not appeal. They could not change what was happening to them. They could not control what the king or any of his minions were doing to them. They were totally out of control and they were completely at the mercy of King Nebuchadnezzar. No. They were completely at the mercy of the Most High God, whom they trusted, worshipped, and obeyed. And that's what we're intended to see and recognize in this story. The living, loving God of heaven was, and He is, in total control. And they trusted God to fully control the outcome of their obedience. And so God ordained, don't miss this, God ordained for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to be thrown into the flames. That was God's will. He ordained it. And you see, beloved, what a lesson this is for us, isn't it? What a lesson it is to trust the sovereign, often mysterious, but always faithful ways of God in our own lives. as it was for these three young men. So we must expect and trust God to fully control the outcome of our obedience. We must expect and we must trust what we sang about earlier. What e'er my God ordains is right. Even if it means we suffer greatly in our obedience. I have a friend from many years ago that I was in seminary with, and he ended up working for an international parcel distribution company, we'll just say it was. It was a massive, big company. You would know it if I say it, but I want to say it for the sake of not being too distracting, but he was in the management. He worked for them for like 20 years and he had moved up into the ranks of management and was a very committed Christian, was very faithful, was very outspoken in his faith, striving to be gracious and gentle, but clear and bold and compassionate. And ultimately he ended up getting fired because of his identification with Christ. He was fired and the Lord led him in a different way. That was an outcome that God ordained because of his obedience. And this is what happened with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. God ordained the outcome of their obedience. And for you and I expecting and trusting God to fully control the outcome of our obedience, here's where it gets hard, means accepting this truth. You and I are not in control. you and I are not in control. Now, if you're anything like me, we don't do not in control really well, do we? When we're suffering in any kind of ways, when we're suffering in the various flames of trials, our usual first impulse is to try and to control the outcome, is to try to change what's happening. And if we don't say it, we're thinking to ourself and we're working, thinking, what can I do to get out of this trial? What can I do to make the pain stop? What can I do to make the pain go away? How can I maneuver and manipulate things to ease my suffering? And what's going on there is we're trying to control the outcome. We're trying to control everything. And when we try to do that, and you and I know this experientially, I sure do, it can lead to great anger, can lead to great frustration and bitterness and complaining, certainly in our souls, if not from our lips. So brothers and sisters, don't bow down to the idol of trying to be in control. Don't bow down to that idol. Beloved God wants us to expect and to trust him to be fully in control of the outcome of our obedience. Even when in God's wisdom our obedience leads to even greater suffering as it did for these three. even when our obedience means that the worst case scenario that we might possibly imagine actually happens. Whatever God ordains is right. He's sovereign, He's loving, He's faithful, He's in control, and He knows what He's doing. He calls us to trust Him, to trust Him, to trust Him. Well, our Lord Jesus Christ, Our loving savior, our good shepherd, our living hope. He perfectly exemplified this trust in God. Jesus expected and he submitted to his father's full control of the outcome of his obedience. And so for instance we hear of this declared in 1st Peter chapter 2 verses 21 to 23 drawing upon the substance and the example and the power of Christ's sufferings so that we would follow in the same. Listen to this 1st Peter 2 21 to 23. For to this you have been called because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in His mouth. When He was reviled, He did not revile in return. When He suffered, He did not threaten, but He continued entrusting Himself to Him who judges justly. And you see, our Heavenly Father did not abandon His beloved Son. and beloved. If you are a child of God through faith in his beloved son he will never ever abandon you. He'll be with you in all that he ordains. Oh in God's wise design there are so many kinds of trials that we often face and perhaps are facing even now. Many of you are aren't there. Yet the death of a loved one, be at the end of a relationship, be it a hard, difficult job, or maybe just a boring job, be it a difficult marriage, or maybe be it the longing for a marriage. Maybe it's ongoing loneliness and isolation. Maybe there's chronic physical pain that you're dealing with or some kind of a permanent disability or a terminal illness. Maybe there's just the ongoing realities of persistent trouble and tension with other people. Maybe you've experienced or are experiencing in some way or form the brokenness and fallout from divorce. Maybe you're feeling the overwhelming pressure of school assignments and tests and all of those demands that just press in on everything. Maybe you're facing financial burdens or maybe you're a married couple longing for children but they're just not coming. Maybe you have children and as a parent you know the demands and the fatigue and the perplexities of raising children. and doing all of that with a constant sense of inadequacy. Well the list could go on and on but beloved you see our sovereign and loving father calls you and he calls me to trust and to worship and to obey him right this very moment and to expect him to fully control the outcome of your obedience. trusting Him with all of it. Do what God exhorts through Peter in 1 Peter 5 verses 6 and 7. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you. And He knows the proper time. Goes on to say casting all your anxieties, casting them all on Him because He cares for you. See that's the hope. Well this all leads to the fourth expectation that we see in Daniel 3 not only to trust that God will fully control the outcome of your obedience but number four expect God to deliver you through the flames. Expect God shall I say always to deliver you through the flames for your good And for his glory expect him to always deliver you through the flames. Now this of course is what we see happening at the end of the story in Daniel 3 in verses 24 to 30. We're told that in astonished amazement King Nebuchadnezzar sees the three young men walking unbound and unhurt in the midst of the fire. And even more bewildering, he sees a fourth man walking with him, whose appearance is like a son of the gods. Well, a little bit later towards the end of the chapter, Nebuchadnezzar identifies this fourth man as an angel. It could be, we don't know for sure, but it could be that this was a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus Christ. But it was an angel from God. Well, seeing this in haste, the king calls Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to come out from the furnace. And so they do, and the king and his officials observe that the fire had no power over them. Unsinged hair, unharmed clothes, and not the faintest smell of smoke. They were miraculously delivered by God. And so Nebuchadnezzar is impressed with their God. And he blesses their God. And then the king then affirms the resolved worship and obedience of these three young men. And then he makes a decree to kill anyone who speaks against their God. He had this fixation with killing people. And so, couldn't happen in the furnace, so we're gonna kill anybody that doesn't worship or says anything bad against your God. And then he gives another promotion to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, which is a wonderful justice to these three men who were maliciously accused by all of the Chaldeans, no doubt out of jealousy that Nebuchadnezzar had earlier promoted them. And so in God's wonderful justice, God promotes them again through Nebuchadnezzar. But in all of this, what a miraculous deliverance we see from the Most High God of Heaven. Now it's very important to note here that while King Nebuchadnezzar is impressed with God, he is not repenting and worshiping the Most High God. And if you doubt that, just read on in to Daniel chapter four, where we'll be next week. It's very evident that he's not repenting and worshiping the one true Most High God. And in this, the king is like so many today, who might be impressed with God, who might be impressed with things they hear about Jesus Christ. And maybe they even give, like the king, a certain amount of lip service to God. But at the end of the day, in their own hearts, they refuse to bow the knee to Jesus Christ. Let me just say, Don't let that be you, because God will conquer you. Well, in the miraculous deliverance of these three young Jewish exiles, the most high God of heaven bears witness to his own greatness, his own faithfulness, and his own sovereign power. The story, again, is ultimately about him. And based on their resolved confession in Daniel 3 as we saw in verses 16 to 18, they clearly expected that one way or the other God would deliver them. That was their expectation. They knew and they trusted in God. They were likely familiar with the promise of Isaiah chapter 42, or I'm sorry, chapter 43, verses 2 and 3, that was given probably some hundred years earlier. They would have known it. And that promise says in Isaiah 43, 2 and 3, When you walk through fire, you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. They trusted that word of God. Maybe they also knew and trusted Psalm 46, which we heard read at the beginning of our service. That Psalm that speaks of God leading his people through, Psalm 66, leading his people through fire, through water, yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance. That's verse 12 of Psalm 66. God was the one leading people into the fire and he's the one leading people through the fire. So they knew one way or another he's going to deliver us. Well while God had put Shadrach Meshach and Abednego to the test in many ways even more he had put himself to the test. You see, in these events and with God's deliverance, he's emphatically and he's unequivocally answering the proud and scornful question of King Nebuchadnezzar back in verse 15, when he mockingly says, who is the God who will deliver you out of my hands? Do you see how through these events, God is powerfully declaring, I am, I am, I am. And proud King Nebuchadnezzar had not learned the lesson that he should have learned from the dream and its interpretation that God had given to him that we read about in Daniel chapter 2. Where God is showing Nebuchadnezzar that God is the one who rules and that his kingdom, not Nebuchadnezzar's or any other human kingdom, will one day conquer all. Nebuchadnezzar had not learned that lesson. And so in Daniel 3, God shows the king again that he is the one true living God who rules and delivers. And so you see, God declares to you and to me today, I will deliver you. I will deliver you. I will deliver you. So trust me. Worship me and obey me and expect me to do and wait for me to do what I have promised to do. That's what he is saying. Now, please understand this. God is always faithful to deliver his children through the flames, but he may not always deliver his children from the flames. We need to understand that. In this historical event in Daniel chapter three, God wisely ordained to deliver these three young men from death at that moment. We don't know what the ultimate outcome of their life was other than the fact eventually they died physically. But in that moment, he delivered him from death. That was his sovereign wise ordained purpose. But we won't go there but if you read Acts chapter 7 in the New Testament God wisely ordained for his servant Stephen to be martyred after he preached the gospel. He was stoned to death. Of course even beyond that God wisely ordained for his own eternal son the Lord Jesus Christ to be crucified at the hands of wicked men in order to bring salvation. and eternal life to all who would trust Him. So beloved, expect God to always deliver you through and not from the flames, to deliver you through and not from the trials and the griefs and the pains and the hard things. Beloved, whether in this life or in the next, if you belong to Christ, He will deliver you. So wait on Him. Wait on His timing. Wait on His way and worship Him and allow Him to be in control. Trust His promises. Trust His presence within His promises. Trust His power and wait on Him. This was the Apostle Paul's confident hope and expectation. Paul who suffered so much, as we're told in many places in the New Testament, in the book of Acts and in 2nd Corinthians and elsewhere, we're told so much about the ways in which the Apostle Paul suffered. We can't even imagine it. And yet near the end of his life, when he knew that his death was imminent because of his union with Christ, And within severe suffering and being abandoned by all of his companions, he says this in 2 Timothy 4 verses 17 and 18. He says this, but the Lord stood by me and he strengthened me. So that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion's mouth." Hmm, wonder where he got that little picture. That comes in Daniel 6 as many of you know. He said, I was rescued. He goes on to say in verse 18 here's his confidence the Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and he will bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom to him be glory forever and ever. Amen Paul says beloved whether in this life or in being ushered into God's presence in the next he will always deliver his children. And so expect him to do so and expect him to control the outcome of your obedience. You might say, well, how do we do this? What are we to do as we expect and wait on God to deliver us? And the answer is this, know and believe God's word and pray, pray, pray. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and Daniel were men of prayer. We're told that in Daniel chapter two. We see other examples of that with Daniel as the book of Daniel continues on. They were men of prayer. So this wasn't about their bravery and their resolve and their confidence. It was about their desperateness and their dependency upon God in their desperateness praying and trusting for his help. And so it means for you and I praying as poor and needy and desperate people, but who belong to the sovereign, eternal, gracious, generous, rich, loving, most high God of the universe through faith in Christ. To the gracious and merciful God who hears and who answers the prayers of His people. So pray, pray for the mercy of God to help you. Pray for the grace of God to help you. Pray for the strength and the courage of God to help you. Pray in specific ways, in specific situations for God to help you and to empower you. Pray, pray, pray. Jesus promises in John 15, seven, if you abide in me and my words abide in you, he says, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you. Hebrews 4 verse 16 promises that because we who are believers have in Jesus a great high priest who sympathizes with our weaknesses because of that, it says in verse 16 of Hebrews 4, let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Expect to receive that because we can expect God to give it because he always delivers his children. Beloved God knows and he ordains the hard things in our lives and God knows how weak we are and he wants to meet us in those things so that he'll be glorified and so we'll know his greatest good in trusting and walking with him and I've already shared those promises from 1st Peter 5, 6 and 7. which regularly bolster and counsel and strengthen and comfort my own soul. Let me just give you a word of very recent personal testimony about how this has played out in my own life. This last week for me, like many of you, was hard in a lot of ways. There were hard things that went on. There were stressful things that went on. There were very tiring and exhausting things that went on. I'm going to mention a few of these things specifically, not because it's about me, but to give testimony to God, to His faithfulness. You know, the song we sang, yet not I, but Christ in me. But I just want to mention this so you see how this plays out. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, these last three days leading up to today, were particularly busy and exhausting. Now currently, as some of you know, I'm preaching now, which I'm doing, you know that, because here I am, here you are, I'm preaching. This is happening. And I'm also teaching an equipping hour. I did last week. I did this morning again. Pastor Tim is gonna teach the next two Lord's Days and I'll be back doing it again, but kind of doing double duty. So, you know, these things, when we're doing this, they don't just pop off the internet. You know, we're not just kind of slapping together something that comes out. We're seeking the Lord. We're studying. We're praying. We're wanting to understand. We're saying, God, speak to your people, help your people, minister to your people. It's a lot of work. It's a blessed work. It's a blessed bondage, if you will, but it is work. And so I've got double duty in preparation and praise the Lord for that. Well, Thursday morning, I'm a part of a Bible study that starts at 545, goes to a little bit after seven in the morning. So that happened and then that was at our house and then eventually came into the office. I think we got here, Lori and I, they have the co-op goes on and Lori teaches there. Anyway, so we were here between 8.30 and 9, and then I'm studying for a few more hours here. Then I had lunch with a brother and had a wonderful time of fellowship together. And then I'm back studying for just a little bit more. Then I had a phone call. Then Gary Francisco and I got together for a little bit before our elder meeting, which was at 3 o'clock. The elder meeting was at 3 o'clock. That went to a little bit before 6 o'clock and then I just needed to stay here to continue to do more study. There was the men's Bible study that night. I skipped that but just stayed here to study and then I left around, I don't know, 8 o'clock, 8.15 or so. and went home and tried to get a little bit of sleep. Then I was up early Friday morning, had breakfast with another brother at 7 a.m., a wonderful time of fellowship and interaction, and then came into the office and then studied basically the rest of the day and into the evening. I think I left around 8, 830 or so and got home Friday night. Once again, a little bit exhausted, of course, you can understand. All the while praying, God help me, God provide, God lead, you promise that you give strength to the weary, help me, I'm tired, and pressing on. Well, we were up early Saturday morning, yesterday morning, Lori and I were, left the house a little bit after seven, drove over to Union City, where one of her sisters lives, that's about two hours away, if you know anything about the distance there. Drove over there, visited with her just about an hour or so, and then drove back. And got home a little bit after 1 o'clock, I did a little bit more study, then I had a counseling meeting at 3 o'clock with a young couple and wonderful time of fellowship and interaction for a while. and then did just a little bit more study, and then we went to the Sacramento Republic soccer game last night. Now, the reason for going to that, it was fun, I enjoyed going to the soccer game, but we really went there because some of you know my son-in-law is a trainer for the team, and my daughter... was bringing her two small children, our grandchildren, Ryder and Ridley, to be there. This was the last home game before the playoffs, and so we wanted to go to help primarily is why we were there. Our son Zach also went, so we had a good time at the game, get to go on the field afterwards and interact with with Dave, our son-in-law, and with others, and then came home, fell into bed a little bit after 10 o'clock, just dead tired. But as I went to bed, knowing what's before me today and still needing to finish up, and this is my habit, usually on Sunday mornings, I get up pretty early. So as I go to bed, Lori and I pray, as is also our habit, and just say, among other things, reflecting on the day, thanking the Lord for what's gone on, praying about a few things, but I just say, Lord, would you please just give me seven hours worth of sleep in about three and a half? Because that's what I had. And set my alarm for 10 minutes after 2 o'clock. But I will tell you, at 10 minutes after 2 o'clock this morning when my alarm went off, I felt like a new man. It was crazy. It was supernatural. I had energy. And then of course I got some coffee and I had even more energy. We call that common grace. But my point in all of that, and I always get up early to just sort of finalize what I'm teaching, what I'm preaching on, pray, go over it and all of that. And then we leave the house a little bit after eight o'clock, we get here for prayer at 8.30, which everybody is welcome. I hope we'd love to have you come and pray for a few minutes before our services on Sunday mornings. Pray for a little bit, then boom, nine o'clock equipping hour kicks off and that finishes and now here we are. Praise the Lord. And of course, in a little while, after I go home, I'll crash and burn and take a nap and then we'll have community group tonight. Why do I share all that? I don't share all of that. I share that to say, yet not I, but Christ in me. And God delivers us and provides for us within all that he calls us to and all that he calls us to be obedient to. And I could tell many other examples. I was talking with a sister here just before the service began who is in a bit of a difficult situation and caring for some other people. And it's hard and it's difficult and it's painful, but she testified to me without me even asking or prompting. She just said, but you know, the Lord is renewing me. He's renewing me. And you see, that's the hope of believers. Not only does God deliver us, always deliver us through the flames, but he is always with us. He's always with us in the flames. It's kind of like the old hymn, Champions. It goes a little bit like this. He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater. He sendeth more strength when the labors increase. To added affliction he addeth his mercy. I almost went too high there. To multiplied trials his multiplied peace. His love has no limits. His grace has no measure. His power no boundary known unto men. Proud of his infinite riches in Jesus, he giveth and giveth and giveth again. And we could also sing, yet not I, but Christ in me. So beloved, may God help us to resolve to worship him who always delivers. We must expect powerful satanic pressure to worship false gods. We must expect specific moments of black and white decisions. We must expect God to control the outcome of our obedience. And we must expect God to always deliver us through the flames for our good and for his glory. Let me pray. Father, may you apply these things to our hearts and help each one of us in the specific ways that you've intended for all that you have now spoken to us to respond in faith and obedience. And in many instances, as I know it often is for me, even in repenting from my unbelief and my tendencies and my actualities toward adultery by way of idolatry. Lord, help us to trust you and to obey you and to show you faithful and worthy again and again in Christ's name. Amen. Amen.