Transcript

Good morning, church. Happy New Year. So thankful you're here. So grateful to be starting 2025 with you this Sunday morning. We're going to be in the book of Isaiah 43 as we finish this little two part series called let's Go.

And we're trying to kind of get prepped, get ready for what I hope will be a very, very powerful, very encouraging, very God filled, spirit filled year for you. Where you see the move of God in your life and the move of God in our church. I pray these things will occur. We're exploring this idea, as you can tell from the slide there from the intro, this idea of what God said to his people. And then we're going to dig in a little deeper about that.

See, when Pharaoh and his chariots were catching up to the people of God there at the edge of the Red Sea, the people cried out to God and they were afraid and they cried out, God, why did you take us all this way only to let us die out here at the edge of the sea? And they heard something from God that they didn't expect. Exodus, chapter 14. It says the Lord said to Moses, why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward, lift up your staff, stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry land, on dry ground.

So last week we talked about this idea of going forward, that, that we need to go. And then this second piece today, as we've entitled it, the Way is Through, he says go through the waters. I don't know if you've noticed this in your own life, but I would promise you this, that throughout most of scripture you'll see that God tells people to go through things and not around them. It's just very, very unusual for God to ever say anything other than, I will be with you. And we're going to go small smack through the middle of an ocean.

I'm going to take you through fire, I'm going to take you through rivers. And don't be afraid because I'm going to be there with you. This is God's tendency with his people. And I got news for you, Church. I don't think he's changed much on this because he wants to show us something about himself and teach us something when we go through things rather than around them.

And that's what he's done with his people here. And that's what we're going to read about when we're in the book of Isaiah today. We though we like to go around it doesn't matter how long it takes. I don't want to have to go through the swamp, Lord. I don't want to have to walk on fire.

I'd rather walk around it, even if it takes me two, three, four times as long and might be a little chaotic. I just don't want to go through it. And I would say that church, we kind of have a unique problem here in America, let's just say a unique problem in the way that we pursue our faith. And the reason is this. And I don't know if you agree with this, but I would say if you consider it, you might agree with it that it's incredibly hard for the American Christian to have a growing spiritual awareness of who God is and what he's doing in their life.

And the reason, I think, is simple but a little surprising. And that is we lack a lot of physical challenge. We just don't have a strong physical difficulty. Now, don't get me wrong. I know some of you have dealt with sickness and injury and broken relationships and job failures and things like that.

And that happens to everybody all around the world. But we have a unique thing here where we don't really have a lot of physical challenge. I woke up this morning and got a hot shower. I had a thing that I could hit a button that made me coffee. We just have some really amazing things in our life that I like.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying we should all go Amish. That's not the point or anything of this message that we should do that. But this thing that we have such luxury when it comes to physical things actually lends itself to some difficulties spiritually. Here's what I think is true, and chew on this with me for a minute.

Where there is great physical challenge, maybe persecution, maybe it's just hard to live in that country and third World places in the world or where it's hard to be a Christian. Where there's great physical challenge, it's a little bit easier for people to turn to God. There's almost. When you have not much else to turn to, you tend to turn to the Lord. I would say where there's great physical challenge, there's less spiritual challenge.

But where there's great spiritual challenge, where there's great abundance physically, there's more spiritual challenge. I think that's where you and I are, that we could go our whole lives and not see God do anything. Because we could go our whole lives and not need him to provide in any way we might cry out to him sometimes in sickness and an injury and those things I mentioned. And that's when we can finally see God move. And that might kind of shake your faith a little bit to go, well, what if the only time that I can pursue God is when things are tough?

Would he allow tough times then if he wants to be with me? I'm not saying that's the nature of God, but I think sometimes he calls us to go right on through our battle church. I think in this place is spiritual way more than it's ever physical. And because of that, God calls us to go through. I don't know about you, but I want to see God move.

Do you want to see God move in your life? Not just something all circumstantial, something that. Well, I could say that was anything. No, I want stuff to happen in my life and in the life of our church, that there's no other way to say it. God did it.

I just want that. I want to see the miracle, power, wonder working God in my life. And I think the only way you and I get to experience that is, is when we say yes and we go through. If the people said to God, are you kidding me? We're not going through the ocean.

We wouldn't have the story. We'd have dead people on the side of the sea. But they said yes with fear and trembling and they walked through. And I'm just saying, I don't know what that must have been like to see the oceans parted and walking through. And the Bible says, on dry land, how is that?

So not only did he part the sea, but he dried the floor because it should have been soggy. And I think one cartoon I've seen before, maybe a prince of Egypt or something like, there's images of the fish and the whales and the sea walls. I mean, I think that's possible. How cool would that be? I'd be walking through there like.

But he calls us to go through, and when we go through, then we get to see the things applied that we're going to read today. In Isaiah 43, some of you are asking God today. And I know there's some tough stuff in front of you. Some of you've got some difficulties ahead. And you're asking God, can I avoid these challenges?

Can someone else do it? But he's called you to something that he wants to show up. He wants to reveal himself and change you in a way you could not experience if you don't go through. So I'm asking you church. And I'm asking myself, hey, can we?

Let's go wherever God leads and have no fear and trust that God is ahead and beside and behind. He's our protector. He is with us. We're going to be in Isaiah 43, the prophet here shares this encouraging word from the Lord that the people could fearlessly go through any difficulties ahead if they would just say, yes, and just say, let's go, let's pursue the Lord. We too can do this.

This is an unchanging word to you today that we can fearlessly pursue God and trust him. So let's dig into the text and see three reasons we can go where God leads us. Isaiah 43 Just a few verses starting at verse one. But now, thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel, fear not, for I have redeemed you, I have called you by name. You are mine.

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. And through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you. And 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. God bless the reading of his word.

Amen. I picked this text this week because this idea of the way is through and going through this text. Here we have Isaiah from the Lord, the prophet saying, through, through, through. Look at verse two. We've got pass through the oceans, through the rivers, through the fire.

And those are really the three places that I want to guide you today where we can fearlessly go where God leads us first, because God is with us. God will be with you. God will be with you. Now, we like to say this right? We dig this phrase.

God's going to give us strength to get through this. And we quote Philippians 4, and we love that passage. But I want you to see the heart around this text. God is with you when you go through the oceans. He's called you through.

He may not be with you when you decide to go wherever it is you please. All right, that's not the nature of the word here to the people of Israel. And I don't think it's your word either. When the prophet Isaiah reminds them that it's God who's made them. He's the one who's redeemed them.

He's called them. He then comforts them. So verse one, we've got all this backdrop. Look. O Jacob, O Israel, this is the one who's talking to you, the Creator of the universe, the one who formed you, who knit you in your mother's womb.

And then the only instruction he gives them is the only instruction for you, friends, and that is fear not. When you pursue God, don't be afraid, first of all, because he is with you. He's with you. It says in verse one that he's redeemed you. He's called you by name.

That's even more true now. It was true for them. As God is about to exile his people, and he's going to guide them through this difficulty, he's going to truly redeem them physically, over and over and over again, as you'll see in the Old Testament scripture. But now you and I have been redeemed, both now and forever. This is more true for us than ever was before.

And this idea that we've been called by name, he goes beyond just O Jacob and O Israel. He says he's called you one by one by name. It's more than a corporate calling, my friend. If you've come today, he's called you by name. This isn't just for.

Ooh, Pastor Jonathan. I bet he did call you. No. Every single believer called by name, called to what? To go where I lead and to fear not, for I'm with you.

So the first of the throughs, he says, I want you to pass through waters. And when you do it, I love that. The phrases here notice this church. It's not if some of you want if. I know you want if in verse two.

It's not if when you pass through, I don't know what you want your Christian walk to look like. I don't know what you were hoping this would be. Some of you might be new believers. Some of you might be still uncertain of whether or not you want to follow the Lord. If your hope is that when you come to Christ or that when you walk with Christ, that things will not be deep waters.

Sorry, that's not the life we live. And guess what? Regardless if you come to Christ or follow Christ, the same will be true in your life. You will pass through deep waters. You will deal with oceans and calamities and troubles, and things will happen in your life.

But what's different here is the promise. I will be with you. You don't have that promise outside of the person of Christ. So we come to this with this promise, not if, but when. So, friends, if you're passing right now through waters, he's with you.

Now, this word here in the Hebrew waters means of danger, of violence. In fact, the NLT translates it I think pretty well by saying deep waters. When you pass through deep waters, it's the same word that's used as we read earlier in Exodus 14, of the divided waters of this great ocean which the people walked through. He said, when you face these kinds of waters, you might be asking this question. These are like sub questions, if you will, of the text.

I thought of these after the fact, after I'd already kind of written most of this. But when do I need God to be with me most? Well, all the time. Sure, you could say that I need him all the time. That's true, but especially when things are too big.

So every one of these categories, I think, brings us new light. The first category is this. What do you do when the waters are just way too deep? They're too big. That's where you get the promise of, I will be with you.

How is that comfort? Because I know this. Those oceans, those troubles, this is all in the illustrative. What are these deep waters? These are places I go where it's just too great for me.

I don't know how to deal with this difficulty. Or maybe it feels too big in the sense that God has called you to be something or say something, or be a minister in the place that you work, or to be the one person in your family who knows Jesus. There might be some of you. There's not a single other believer or strong believer in your whole household. And you feel like that is too big.

Friend, Christ says, in this moment, I will be with you. And I'm gathering the sheep to myself. All I'm asking is, will you be obedient? Will you pass through and walk with me, and I'll use you in this. Some of you are facing challenges that are too big.

He says, I'll be with you. The Lord promises to be with his people as they go. Joshua reminds this, reminds his people of this, too. Joshua 1:9. Be strong and courageous.

Do not be frightened. Do not be dismayed. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

This takes on even fresh meaning as we look into the New Testament with this, that Christ makes the same promise when it comes to the Gospel, when it comes to the way in which we minister to the world, the thing in which he's called us to be ambassadors of reconciliation. That's. That's what we were called to do, that we would bring the gospel to the nations and to those people. He says in Matthew 28, inside of the Great Commission. Go, therefore, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

And don't miss this. Teaching them to observe all that I've commanded. And behold, I am with you always, to the very end of the age. He has a theme church that when you go where he leads you, when you go where he's called you, guess where he'll be with you. Do you want to walk in this life?

Do you want to live this life solo? Or do you want to go where God is, where he's leading you and where he says, I'll be with you? I often ask my little girls to run upstairs and get me sodas. We keep the sodas in the upstairs fridge and at dinner time, normally, that's when I want a soda, you know, deal with it. I'm trying to cut back, but, you know, I got a long ways to go.

If I have any addiction in life, it is soda, I think. But anyway, I send them upstairs around dinner time almost every night. And this time of year, it's dark. And when they go, taryn, upstairs, I'll see if it's Kenzie. She'll get about halfway up and go, hey, Brielle, you want to come with me?

You? Anybody want to come with me? Nobody wants to run up there in the dark, right? They want a buddy. They want to run up there with a buddy.

Darkness is a lot easier to face with a buddy. I'm that weirdo that sometimes if I've stayed up a little too late, I'll hear things creak in my house. I'm like, I gotta go to bed, y'all. I need a buddy, and I can't. There's no one to be my buddy.

I'm supposed to be everybody else's buddy in the house, you know, I'm supposed to be the protector. Every once in a while, I go, I'm going to bed now. I got to get out of here. In this life, we're going to go through a lot of those kind of moments of darkness. And some of us are just trying to pass through those moments alone.

We could be more like Kinsey. We could be more like our children who say, I need a friend. I need a buddy for this. I want you to know something. You don't have to go through this.

You don't have to pass through these deep waters alone. If you're going where God has led you, you can trust that he's with you. And you can call him by name. He's called you by name, friend. You can call on him by name.

Lord Jesus, Am I where I'm supposed to be? Have you asked me today and you can do this daily? Have you asked me today to have this conversation with my co worker? I feel a sense that you're leading me in that way, but feels too big for me, I'm afraid.

He says, go, therefore, make disciples of all nations, and I will be with you always. Do you trust that this call of God to pursue deep waters, it's not really just. I'm not trying to go find the hard stuff, all right? That's not at all what he said here. Some of you might walk away and go and be so emboldened to go, I'm just going to go jump into some hard stuff.

No, it's when it happens, the call today is simply, all right, wherever you lead me, God, I will go. And if it happens to be in deep waters, I know you're with me, but I'm not going to, like a knucklehead, just pursue hard things just because. But at the same time, I'm not going to avoid them anymore. Some of you have spent your whole lives avoiding them, and you'd so much like to see God move in your life and he can't do it because he keeps telling you to go through and you keep going around church. Fear not, face the deep ocean.

Here's the second. The second. Through the second way, we can pursue God, knowing that God will anchor you. He will plant your feet. He will ground you.

He will anchor you. The Lord says something in the second verse that might at first look, not seem any different than the first line. He says, through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you. How is this different from waters, waters and rivers? I don't know if you've noticed.

Rivers have water. I mean, I don't quite get it. What is he saying that's different? Or is he just building on the same principle? These waters, it's a different word in the Hebrew.

It's not meant to be deep oceans, like the rivers that God parted for the people. This is meant to be like strong flowing rivers, which may not be as deep, but they'll take you somewhere there's a current involved. He says, in those places, I will be with you, but I will also not let these things overwhelm you. God promises that you won't be swept away the rivers here. There's an expectation of the people when they hear this term.

The Hebrew word is nahar, which means often with the Nile or the Euphrates. It often signifies these great flowing rivers with heavy current it leads us, I think, to ask the second question. The first question we might ask is, what do I do if it's too big? Okay, God is with me. What do I do if it's too strong?

What if it's just the current is too strong? God says, I'll anchor you. You're not going to be overwhelmed. The word here, overwhelm, literally means not be swept away, not be drowned by that. God will empower you to keep your head above water.

Some of you are like, okay, I'm willing to go do challenging big things that God has called me to do, but I'm worried when I get in there where it's going to lead me. Some of you have got a really strange fear here, let me just go ahead and air it out. You've got this fear that if I do what God tells me to do, he's going to lead me somewhere I don't want to go.

Here's what I know confidently. He's going to lead you somewhere that you might have not expected. But what you don't get is it is absolutely the place you want to go. It's the place you were made to go. He purposed you, designed you for the very thing he's going to guide you towards.

And if you do the opposite, that's when you'll be led somewhere you did not plan A. Oh, go outside of the will of God and you'll find that the current of this world will take you and sweep you somewhere you didn't expect and you won't like. We look at this even as Christians, we look at this idea of saying yes and pursuing God, and we think he's going to do something to us we don't want. As if he's some kind of demented father, that some kind of crazy shepherd. I'm going to lead my sheep right off the side of the cliff.

We think that we need to process that now. We need to air that out before God. Why is it that we keep going around what he's telling us to go through? Why is it that at times we say, I hear you, God, but not right now, and then the current of this world begins to sweep us this way, and that no God will anchor you. The opposite will be true, my friend, when you just say, all right, I'm your man, I'm your woman, God, I'm your son, I'm your daughter.

You take me, you do as you please with me. I'm just going to put my yes out there. Let's go, God, and find that somehow he leads you right through this moving river, this chaotic life. You ever bumped into anybody like this in your life? That just seems like somehow, no matter what kind of crazy waves are crashing on them, they seem to be at peace.

You ever met somebody like this, that no matter how troubling their life seems to be, they still have hope and they'll still tell you something encouraging. You would ask them and say, hey, are you doing okay? You know, you're expecting like a. They say, you know what? God is good.

It's tough, but God's got me. Boy, those kind of people, they got. They got weights on their feet. Those weights are called Christ. They got anchors that they can walk through some terrible things, and all they'll do for you is encourage you in the Lord.

I want to be that guy. Don't you? I want to be that person. I don't want to get out there and go, I'm drowning. I'm going to tell everybody.

I'm going to get on Facebook and tell it on social media and say, I'm drowning. God's not with me. I don't want to be that guy. I'd rather get in there no matter what and go through it and know that God's got my feet anchored. God has given us this kind of assurance that he will be our anchor.

It's a theme throughout Scripture. One place we read some time ago, as we studied Hebrews, Hebrews 6 says, we have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf. This is the idea that our anchor is not just in something in the past, which Christ has done on the cross, but also our anchor is in the future and something he has already done that we haven't yet experienced. So it's like we're going through this crazy rapid. This crazy river, and we got an anchor on both sides, and nothing's going to move us if we'll just focus on that.

I know who I am. I'm redeemed, and I'm called by name. How do I know this? Because Jesus Christ, 2,000 years ago, spent his life on. On the cross for me.

But I also know he rose again and he's up there and he's setting things in motion, and my future is in his hands. You get this. This is why he can tell his people, fear not. I know it looks crazy. I know tomorrow for some of you, I don't even know how I'm Going to get through that.

He says, you can pass through knowing that you've got anchors and we're not going to be led astray. I thought of this scripture as I was first reading the text this week. Ephesians 4. It says, so that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning and the craftiness and deceitful schemes. This anchor we have in Christ is not only against the world, but also against the deceitful schemes and doctrines of all kinds of stuff.

And then he says this wonderful story to his disciples. In Matthew 7, Jesus says, Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who builds his house on the rock. And the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall because it had been founded on the rock. He says, we can pass through these rivers and they're not going to drown us. We sometimes play this game when I go to the beach with my family.

And you are going to think maybe that we're strange. We definitely are. But sometimes we'll go out with some of the kids that have gotten a little bit bigger. Me and my brother, normally not my wife, because she doesn't really like the ocean. I mean, she'll tell you that she does, but I think she just likes sand and sun.

But anyway, me and my brother will go out there and all the girls will stay back under the umbrellas. They won't know part of this goofiness that we're doing. But we'll take as many kids as want to go out there with us and we'll go about, I don't know, chest high and hold hands, lock our feet and close our eyes. All right. And you just hear the waves coming.

All right, can we stand? This scares my brother a lot now as time goes on, he's more scared of Jaws than ever before. I don't know what's up with him. He's terrified of sharks now. And he gets me wigged out, too.

He starts freaking out. I'm like, I get the hair standing up on my neck. Alright, we got it. And then, you know what I've noticed? It gets the little ones first.

The little ones just. They just start. Come on, come back, come on. And eventually a wave will take us all out. Eventually a wave will be big enough to just wipe us all out.

But you know what I've noticed? The little ones get knocked out first because they don't have enough weight. They need a little bit more anchor in the ground. They need a little bit more to keep them from getting carried off. Some of us are walking through life just like that, just eyes closed and we're like the little ones.

Not a lot of weight.

There's people in your life that really love you that could speak into this and say, hey, my buddy. Hey, friend. You're that guy. You're just getting carried here and carried there. Why are you working that job?

Well, you know, this job and that job, and I just kind of got here. Okay, well, let me step back for a second and say, God, is this what you called me to in life? Okay, well, I got there in a wild way, but I think I'm where I'm supposed to be now. What do you want me to do where I'm at? You know, step back for a second and say, am I just this guy that how did I end up in these relationships I'm in?

How did I flow here and there? Ask God, hey, can you anchor me in this? Some of you are so worried about where God might lead you. You need to be a lot more concerned about where you'll be led without him. I want to say yes to him.

I want to decide that the gospel is for me and no longer find myself in sinful and useless places. I think the most dangerous thing for you, believer, is not that you would somehow fall into sin. That's dangerous. Sure. I think there's something more dangerous because it's more prevalent, and that is that you would fall into a useless place that you would say to God enough times, you know what?

I don't want to do that. I'm not going through that. I'm scared of that flow. I'm just gonna. I'm gonna check out and be a spectator.

Somehow. We've done this. This is what I'm saying. As far as our American culture is concerned, we have this possibility that you could be a Christian in this country and just sit on the bench. You can't do this in other places of the world because you couldn't say you're a Christian at all.

The moment you say that, you're in the game. And it's a dangerous one here. You can say it, and people will say, well, I guess that guy goes to church sometimes. I guess maybe he cusses less than the rest of us. We'll find out.

I guess maybe they do a few things. You don't really have to change much. You can just say, sign me up. I'm one of those Christians. But that's never what it was meant to be.

This is supposed to be life altering, life changing. That you come to him and he calls you to things and sometimes they're too big, sometimes they're too strong. But you know he's with you and you know he's not going to let it drown you. Oh, I'm terrified that I would somehow live my whole life and be completely useless.

I don't want that for my church either. Whatever he's called us to do in this city, I pray we do it. We've made it. We're in the 10th year church. Cool.

What are we up to? What are we trying to do now? You know, the vision that I felt God lead me here with was somewhat cloudy, somewhat confused. I just knew, hey, there's a group of people that are currently coming to the Wilson campus from the Nash county area and they seem to want a church. So me and my little family and just a couple of other families that came on board very quickly, we started a church at Rocky Mountain Academy.

And here was our initial plan to try to reach the lost in Nash County. It's very simple, that we would do something about what I had read. And that is about half of the county doesn't go to Church. There's 100,000 people in Nash County. Did you know that?

There's something like 50,000 people that'll tell you they don't go to church. That's insane. We're in the Bible belt, okay? We're in the lost belt. The world is lost now.

We could be about a whole lot of things. There's churches all over our city. There's a lot of them. If you ever just pay attention when you drive around, notice how many churches there are. There's tons.

But there's 50,000 people not in them. So that means all of us need to grow by hundreds, all of us, to reach that lost. And we're not all going to share in the same things that we're into. People have different niches that they're trying to get after. But here's what I, I want confidently, no matter where it is, that God shapes us, that we would do something about the lostness in our community, that we would be the kind of people who are serious about our faith enough to tell others, guess what Christ did for me.

And that's the kind of church we're going to be. That we would simply say, hey, we don't have it figured out. In fact, a lot of us are a hot mess. But it doesn't matter, because here's what God has done and is doing for me. And I just want you to be a part of that church.

That's where we're heading this year. That we would get even more serious about that, that we would be first individually called by name, the kind of people who are reaching others with the gospel. Then as a corporate church, we would be about it. Hey, we're not going to beat every little drum that you might be interested in. But if you can say, I'm on Team Gospel, you can hang out here.

Here's the third. The third way that we can follow God without fear. And that is God will protect you. God will protect you. Now, that's interesting.

Some of you read that and go, I ain't sure. He says in the third piece of verse two that when you walk through fire, you won't be burned, you won't be consumed. Now, I want you to know something. This fire that he's talking about here isn't every deadly dangerous situation in your life. That's not what he's saying here.

To these people, to the Israelites who are about to go again and again to war, this fire, I think, indicates burning cities and military conquest. He says, you know what? There's going to be combat in your future, but I'm not going to allow it to destroy my people. But what is the timeless principle now for us? Where are those places where you take risks for the gospel?

Where do you go in your life that is dangerous? Yeah, I know what to do when it's too big. I know that, okay, God is with me. I can go because God is with me. When it's too strong, the current is just too strong.

I know he's not going to let it drown me, but what do I do when it's too strong, dangerous, when it's risky? This is another thing that's interesting in our culture, because what is it exactly that you can do with the gospel that would actually be fire? The risks you're going to take in this life are not so much physically life or death stuff. Let's just be honest. I can go right out on the street right now and just preach to anybody and tell them anything, and they're not going to kill me for that.

But people might label me an insane person. Or if you go into your workplace and do this, you could lose your job. I'm not suggesting that's how you do this, but I would just say, what would a fire even look like in your life? What would it look like to take a risk with the gospel. I don't think you can even experience the thing that God is speaking of here unless you take those risks he's called you to with the gospel.

There's a lot of risks you could take. Oh, I'm, you know, I'm dating this guy right now, and it's kind of risky, but. No, that's not what he's speaking of here. If you're dating a guy and it's kind of risky, you should break up with him today. What are you doing?

Why would it be risky? No, risks for the gospel is what he's speaking to here when he's talking to his people. And as I lead you and as you go where I'm taking you, I want you to not be afraid when things are so dangerous in front of you. I'm not going to let them burn you. I'm not going to let them consume you.

So, friend, don't just apply this to every little goofy thing you're trying to do. No, this is where you're actually doing something risky for the gospel. And he says two things, and they're not synonymous. He doesn't just tend to. He's not just trying to say burn and burn.

No, he says burn and then consume. The word burn here is kava, which means to brand. He says, I'm not going to let the things you face, those risky, dangerous things you face in your life, scar you and brand you and have dominion over you. You're going to go through some stuff in your life for my name. And I promise you this, I'm going to help you shake it off.

I'm not going to let it be something on you that victimizes you and that's all you'll ever be known for. I'm going to let you move right through it. And even though it's hot and even though it might send some of your arm hairs, I'm not going to let it brand you in a way that you're useless for the gospel. Again, this happens to people all of the time. You know, people like this, they go through some disaster, and they never really go through it for the rest of their lives.

They are. I'm a divorced person. That's who I will always be.

I guess there's a healthy balance here that I don't want to go too far with. But if for the rest of your life, you just say, hey, this is all I'm ever going to be and I can't move forward past it, that's the problem here. Christ is saying. God is saying, I won't let it scar you in a way that you can't continue to move forward. And then he goes on to say something more, that it won't consume you.

I used to hear it said that the safest place you can be is in the will of God. I think that's true in a way. It isn't the safest in the sense that it's the least dangerous. It may be the most dangerous place you could be, but safest in the sense that that's the place in which God is with you and God is protecting. His hand of protection is on you in that place when you go right smack dab in the middle of his will.

And this is where he concludes in verse three. I am the Lord, I am the Holy One. I am the Savior, the Lord. Here is Yahweh, the proper name of God. I am Jehovah, I am the Holy One, I am the Savior.

Those who seek the Lord in this way, those who go where he leads and seek the Lord in everything, they receive his protection. Proverbs 30 says, Every word of God proves true. He is a shield to those who take refuge in him. And this protection is more of a spiritual one than it is anything. More than a physical protection, it's a protection against the flames of the evil one.

2 Thessalonians says, the Lord is faithful. He will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one.

So why don't you have to be afraid? Well, I don't have to be afraid to take the risks that I know God's calling me to. To reach people and do something in my life that's risky. I don't have to be afraid because God's not going to let it burn or consume me. Do you ever wonder to yourself, those three Hebrew children, those three Hebrew young men, those slaves that were thrown in the fiery furnace, do you ever wonder what they were thinking right before that?

Like, obviously, it's a great testimony. It's one of those stories in the Bible we know since we've been little. Those of you have been in church most of your life, have heard of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. We tend to forget their Hebrew names. That's problematic.

Hananiah is one of them. I don't know. I've forgotten them too. And I feel bad about that. You know why?

Because the Babylonian names are actually not good. They're like worshiper of BAAL and things like that. Aku, I think, is one of them. So they actually have terrible names, and those are the ones we remember. So something for you to work on.

You know, Hananiah and his friends. But those three young men, I imagine they do this wonderful thing. Hey, unless you bow and worship these idols, you're going to be thrown in the fiery pit, the fiery furnace. And they just say, hey, burn us. Hey, do it.

We're not going to turn on the Lord. Wow, what a. That's an amazing testimony. Right? But don't you think they were ready to die?

Don't you imagine that they said, all right, well, we're not going to turn on God. And I guess he's led us to the fire. I don't think any of them imagined what would happen.

I just want you to know something. Your story may not look like their story. I've noticed something else about God, at least from scripture. He doesn't do a lot of encores. He likes to do unique stuff.

He gets mad at Moses when he speaks to the rock instead of striking it or whichever one that was, he tries to do the same thing twice. God's about showing off in a new way. He's like my mom a little bit in the kitchen. My mom does not like to do the same dish twice. She always changes it just a little bit.

I think this is God. He likes to show off new things, new characteristics about himself. And so, yeah, this wonderful thing happens where the three Hebrew men, they go in the fiery furnace and a fourth man shows up and protects them. That is so Isaiah put right into display. But that's not how it's going to look for you and I, because guess what?

If someone comes up to you in the streets and said, hey, worship idols instead of God, you can say, no, what are they going to do? Absolutely nothing. It's not the kind of place we live. So what does fire look like for you and I? Where do we take risks for our faith?

Where do you take risks in your job, in your family? I hope that you don't walk away from a message like this and go, well, the only place I can take a risk like that is to try to be one of those crazy missionaries or maybe start a church somewhere. Do you know that's less than 1% of believers? Probably less than 1% of 1% of believers. Most of the world is filled with believers like you.

And I don't feel different from you. Okay. Yeah. He gave me this job. It's cool.

I like it. But you and I are the same in that the things we've primarily been created to do is reaching the people right next door to us, right in our family. And that's what most believers everywhere are doing. So don't just pull away and say, well, I don't know about risks. I bet he's putting some in front of you right now.

I bet. I can almost guarantee it. I bet there's people you work with or family members you interact with, somebody in your community, your neighbor that you've been hanging out with. Some. And there have been opportunities already and you've not seen them yet, but they're coming again.

Opportunities where somebody pulls you aside and what they want you to do is just. Just, you know, cave with them. Do you ever hear people say stuff like this? Man, I had a terrible weekend. I got in a fight with my spouse or my kids are misbehaving or money's tight.

Don't you hear conversations like this all the time? Don't you know every single one of them are spiritual? Where you can just say, yeah, you can do this. Like everybody else in the world say, yeah, no, man, life sucks. You can do that and there's no risk, zero risk.

Or you can say to someone and just be chewing on and think, you know, me and my wife had some of those problems in the past. I tell you what really helped. Start praying together. Uh oh. Now I'm walking through fire.

You see? Now I'm walking through fire. What's this person going to say to me? Are you taking risks like this? You think that calling is for someone else?

I don't work where you work. God's probably not going to send missionaries to your family. You're it. You're the missionary. I'm just wondering where you go.

Okay. It's dangerous at times. Some of y'all got some dangerous families. Oh, if I open up my mouth about that, Woo. Family dinner's gonna be wild for us.

Go for it.

It's in those moments, he'll protect you. I watched my favorite team play a football game earlier this year, and I had accidentally found out the final score and that we'd won before I even watched the game. This ever happened to you? I want you to know something. When I watched that game, I was so relaxed.

I was chill. We're gonna win. My quarterback throws an interception. I'm like, who cares? He could throw 10.

We're gonna win. Somehow I don't care what he does. I'm not saying this is how you should watch games, but it wasn't bad. It wasn't bad. I watched with such peace.

This is your life. Friend. He wins. He wins. And the question is, what are we going to do with the life we're living?

What part are we playing? Like I was saying last week, you have a leg in this race. How are you going to run it? The race is set. Hey, there's nothing you can do about the outcome.

Okay? That should be good news to you. I don't know if you're thinking, well, that makes things kind of insignificant. No, that's good news because I don't want that kind of pressure, all right? I want to know that God's got this, and he does.

Problem has been solved. He's already redeemed and he's already ahead, waiting. He has anchored on both sides. But how do I run my little piece? He's called me to something.

Would you risk it? Church Christ has already won. He has nailed it all to the cross, and he has sealed the victory. And some of you, he's about to lead you right through fire. And I'm just wondering, will you say yes?

Okay, I'll take that risk. The next conversation I have with that person, I've been kind of feeling like God said, want me to stretch? I'm going to stretch that. We, as a church this year would say, you know what? We're not going to be afraid.

There's about 50, roughly 50 to 60 adults that attend this church. They don't all come at the same time. I don't know how y'all do this. I don't know if you call one another. You got this weekend.

All right, I'm going to chill. All right. I don't know what you're doing. If you all showed up, we'd have a pretty full room. But somehow you time it.

But we're a pretty small church, and we've been given a great opportunity to stretch this year. And that's what we're going to be talking about. We're launching a new series next week called It's Time. And I pray for you, my friend, that you take the risk with us, that you'd start doing the little things. I gotta admit to you, something that's been bothering me, I don't really know all of my neighbors very well.

Would you come on board with me and just. Let's just meet our neighbors this year, Pastor. Let's just have some risky conversations and just say, hey, I'm a pastor. I live next to you and I'm a pastor. What do you do for work?

How can I be a help to you? It's not that hard. We live In a safe place. What a luxury. But again, where there's little physical challenge, the spiritual one is greater.

I want to see God move in my life, don't you? I want to see him move in our church. Don't you?

Maybe this comes from a state of dissatisfaction, but I would say it's what I've heard before, a holy discontentment that for four years we've barely baptized anybody. That for four years we've barely grown. And you're thinking, oh, I don't want to be a church about numbers. I don't either. But guess what?

Numbers indicate life change. Not always, but if no one's coming to Christ, no one's being baptized, I'm not into that. I want to be about a church that's reaching people with the gospel. Don't you? Let's take that risk together.

Let's be a church knowing that God will be with us when we go where he leads. He will anchor us and he will protect us. Let's pray now, together. Church. Heavenly Father, we ask that you would be with us, be before us, be behind us, that you would so be this anchor in our life that only you can be.

I pray for your people individually first, that you have positioned, and this is what's beautiful, God, you have positioned your people in this little church all around this city, in various workplaces, in various neighborhoods, in various places where they shop and they eat. And God, you've done that strategically. And if we would just say yes and take the risks, you've called us to take that little urge, been getting to talk to that person and take the next step in the conversation, that, God, you would encourage us now, that we would know you are with us. Oh, you're with us for sure. That when we act and walk right into in the will of God, we know that you are there.

And not only that, you're excited to see us on board. You've been calling us to that place for years, and we're finally going to get a taste of what it means to really be a follower of Christ, not some spectator, not sitting on the sidelines, that we would get to see people come to salvation. There's no greater joy in this life. There's some incredible moments. Getting married and having children, those are incredible moments of joy.

I'm not limiting them at all. But getting to see another person trust Christ for the first time and knowing that that person will share eternity with you, there's almost no greater joy than that. God, I want to see your people. I want to hear stories about that from your people over the next few months that, God, you would so lead us to take those kinds of risks. God, do that in your people.

I don't want to be a spectator anymore. Lord, it's easy for me too. I have to confess, God, to just be this pastor who takes care of this people and prepares sermons and tries to counsel. Well, those are good things. But God, help me with my neighbors, help me with my friends, people I've lost contact with because I just kind of just moved on.

God, help me to be the man of God in every place I am. Not just in this part of my work, but in the bigger picture of what you've called me to do. That in your people. God, there's a reason we live right where you've put us. It might feel accidental.

We might not even like the neighborhood. But, God, I pray you would use us right where we are. God, we're trusting you with this. I pray for your people that they would be encouraged by this. Knowing that, God, you said it.

You said you'll be with us. You said you won't let it overwhelm us or drown us and you won't let it consume us. God, we're trusting you. Help us now. Embolden us now to take the risk.

Help our church, Lord, over this year to get serious about reaching this city. God, I just know that you want to bring people to the gospel. I know it. It's what you desire. And for.

For whatever wild reason, you want to use your people to do it, you want to use this church. God, I pray we would be fearless, fearless in that endeavor. We pray all these things in Jesus name, Amen.