Stand Up, Part 2 - Worship with Courage

By Pastor Greg Byman
St Joe Community Church

​As American Christians enter an increasingly secularized culture, we will do well to observe how men like Daniel lived with conviction in a world at odds with his values and convictions. Today, Pastor Greg Byman delivers the second message a four-part sermon series entitled, "Stand Up - Worship with Courage." Listen to Sunday's sermon on your favorite podcast platform, or at http://www.stjoecommunitychurch.org/sermons/category/s-2019-03-03-stand-up. 

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Of the life of one and Daniel and his three friends who are living in a foreign land and standing up for their faith in the one true God. And the second part of that, and in the midst of that, Daniel interprets the dream, but then beyond that, we also have, where God gave Daniel a vision of the future of the end. The future of how the end of this world will be. Some of those things which have come true, and some which will yet to happen.
 
And we're focusing on four messages, in the beginning of Daniel, to talk about how to stand. How to stand in difficult circumstances.
 
Last week we talked about living with a conviction, that we are living our lives according to the way God wants us to live, not according to the way anybody else would have us to live. And Daniel decided that he and his three friends, that they had a standard of living that was different than the land in which they lived. And they said, "please, let us try this. Let us show you how living this way is a blessing. And as a result, they were honored for the way they lived their lives. In fact, God bless them to be ten times better than any other advisor to the king.
 
That doesn't always happen. Sometimes bad things happen when we live for Jesus on this side of heaven. Sometimes we have consequences. Sometimes we lose jobs. Sometimes we lose freedom. And we’re put in prison, as so many Christians are in prison today in countries where it is illegal to worship Jesus Christ, or any faith, for that matter.
 
Today I want to talk about worshipping with courage. I don't know for sure if this story actually happened, although variations of this story have probably, in reading enough history of communism in the U.S.S.R…. How many of you remember those phrases? It's now Russia. And then you have all these other areas of Russia. But you and I know that communism has not been a friend to Christianity. If you've ever lived long enough, you know of enough about history, communism is antithetical to any kind of a faith. In fact, faith is a rival. It's a competition. It is something that China, right now, is trying very hard to get rid of because they're afraid. Because you believe in the one true God, that means you have a faith and a trust in something above what we say is right and good and pure and true, which we know is not right and good and pure and true, because it's manmade. Anything manmade has got a problem because it's manmade.
 
Nonetheless, there's the story of some Russian soldiers that come into a group of Christians who are worshipping with their guns, and they tell everybody in the worship area room, "all of you are who are true believers are going to be shot dead. You must leave right now if you're a true believer in Jesus Christ. You need to leave right now. And a bunch of people leave.” The soldiers then lock the doors and say to the church, “We too are believers in Jesus Christ and we want to get all the fakers out of the room. We're not going to shoot anybody. We just want to get anybody who might have been a spy out of your midst.”
 
If someone were to come in today and say, "Do you believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? Your life depends on it.” Would you say, "yes my life does depend on it. It depends on whether I go to heaven or hell. I'm trusting in Jesus.”
 
Or, would you say, "Oh, oh, no, I don't really believe in Jesus. Spare my life.”
 
A young girl named Cassie was faced with that very question in her high school. Heaven forbid that would happen to anybody, but it did for her at Columbine. And he said, "Do you believe in Jesus? And she said, "yes.” And at that very moment she met Jesus, face to face. He took her life with his gun.
 
I would hope that there be no teenager, no adults, no child that would ever have to face that test. But would you or I pass that test? And if we say we're believers in Jesus Christ, are we willing to live for Jesus? Well, you'll know how much you're willing to live for Jesus if you know how much you're willing to die for Jesus.
 
This past week we had, Friday, there was a conversation about getting sermons, getting our messages out into the public square. And we were exhorted to say, "don't try to build a platform for yourself. Build some gallows. Build a place for you to die. Because you're not going to be popular in the world’s sense, when you're trying to get the message of Jesus Christ out there.”
 
Very timely words for all of us. We're not here to make Jesus popular in America. We're here to proclaim Jesus, no matter the cost.
 
Daniel and his friends faced a lot of opposition. For some reason we believe that Daniel was left back at the kingdom palace and he attending to affairs, and out in this plane, in this area, away from the palace, away from the central powers of the kingdom, there was a movement going on, a worship event that was about to take place, that was gripping the entire nation and all of those who were gathering around, in that place, were being called upon to worship. The only problem was they were being called upon to worship a false god.
 
Let me read it for you in Daniel 3:1 and following.
 
King Nebuchadnezzar made a gold statue 90 feet high.
 
Nine stories tall. Think of the nine stories-tall buildings. I think we have two of them in Fort Wayne. I don't know. We have more than that.
 
“…and 9 feet wide. He set it up on the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon. King Nebuchadnezzar sent word to assemble the satraps, prefects, governors, advisors, treasures, judges, magistrates and all the rulers of the provinces to attend the dedication of the statue King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. So, the satraps, prefects, governors, advisors, treasurers, judges, magistrates and all the rules of the provinces assembled for the dedication of the statue the king had set up. And then they stood before the statue King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. A herald loudly proclaimed, "people of every nation and language, you are commanded, when you hear the sound—the horn, the flute, the zither, the lyre, the harp, the drum and every kind of music, you are to fall face down and worship the gold statue that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. But whoever does not fall down and worship will immediately be thrown into a furnace of blazing fire. Therefore, when all the people heard the sound of the horn, the flute, the lyre, the harp, and every kind of music people of a every nation, and language, fell down and worshiped the gold statue that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.”
 
What would you do if you were faced with that dilemma? This is not a democracy, where we can vote the rascal out of office. This is not a place where we're allowed to have a protest movement, where going to march against the golden statues that are being put up for us to worship. This was a “do-or-die.” The furnace was real, and it was a place where you would certainly go and be put to death, should you choose to disobey the King's orders.
 
I would say that this is an incredibly dramatic moment, wouldn't you say? Not nearly as dramatic as when you go in a public square like, oh, let’s say, McDonald’s. And you decide, in your group of friends, that you're going to just stop and pause and pray for your food before you eat it. Because we know God needs to bless it for the nourishment of our bodies, of it's from McDonald’s. It would be a miracle if we're nourished from the McDonald’s Big Mac.
 
Or, if you're at school and you're in the school lunchroom, and you decide that you're just going to bow for prayer. And I don't mean that you get up and say, “All right students! All you, in my high school cafeteria, I want you to know that I'm going to pray to the one true God, in the name of Jesus Christ. Let's all bow, for those of you who don't believe in Jesus. We’ll just pray for your souls.”
 
I don't mean that you're being pious or uppity or that you are being holier than other around you, trying to show off how Christian you are. I just mean, just, at least publicly acknowledging that you honor God. I had one friend that said he never prayed out loud and never prayed for his food. He would kind of sit there quietly for a moment, but he would really not make a show that he was praying because he did not want people to think that he was showing people he was praying, like Jesus said, don't stand on the street corners and pray out loud, right, you know?  You need to go in the privacy of your home and pray.
 
And I would also say that if the only time you pray is in public, you need to balance that out. Stop praying in public. Start praying in private, and let your private prayer flow into the public, not the other way around.
 
All right, that's just a thought. But what we're saying here is, would you stand up? How much do we stand up and honor God with our lives? And let people know that we're trusting in Jesus, not this world system? What golden statue are you being forced in your day-to-day life, to bow down to and put ahead of God in your life?
 
How many of you trust your 401 (k) over God's retirement plan? I’m not saying never to have one. But if all you're living for is a retirement plan, there's more to life than that retirement plan. Now, I don't want to have to move in with my kids. So, I'm saving for the future when I don't make as much money. And they don't probably want me to, either.
 
Yes, there we go. We got a thumbs-up on the front row.
 
But if all I'm living for is my retirement plan, it’s a pretty sorry life.
 
Nebuchadnezzar may have had the idea of this golden statue because earlier he'd had a dream that was interpreted by Daniel that he was the head of this great big huge statue that he saw in his dream, and the head of it was gold, and it represented his kingdom and his life as the king in that land in the world history of, and that he was just a part of a succession of kingdoms that would happen. And maybe he just got the big head one day, and decided to build this. We don't really know why. We just know that it happened our public worship of God is going to be tested period.
 
Are you going to pray in the name of Jesus? I was tested, even back in college. I was a student volunteer and I was asked to give the invocation somewhere, and I was being pressured not to give an “in-Jesus'-name” prayer because “there are other people who don't believe in Jesus around here, and you don't want to offend them.”
 
I'm like, “Well, you're offending me by not letting me pray in the name of Jesus.” And I'm not trying to be bossy or anything, but I don't know any other way to put the stamp on the letter than I’m sending to heaven. He told us to pray in his name. And it's in the authority and the power of Jesus' name that I can even get into the presence of God because he's the one that forgave me and made me right in his sight, so that I look perfect to God, even though I know, and we all know, I'm not. So, I’m trusting completely in Jesus when I pray to him.
 
And it's not about being showy and saying, "oh look at me, and look at you, and oh, boy. No, it's just saying, "I'm trusting, resting my whole salvation, my life, my whole trajectory of who I am is in the name of Jesus. We're going to be tested by that. And here's the test. In chapter 3 verse 8.
 
“Some Chaldeans took this occasion to come forward and maliciously accuse the Jews.”
 
That word, “maliciously accused,” means to devour, to eat up. They were trying to get at them, just absolutely devour them. Chew them up.  
 
And they said to King Nebuchadnezzar, “May the king live forever!” You, as king, have issued a decree that everyone who hears the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, drum and every kind of music must fall down and worship the gold statue.
 
And the king is like, “Oh, yes, I did say that, didn’t I.  I'm a good king.”
 
Whoever does not fall down and worship will be thrown into a furnace of blazing fire and there are some Jews who you appointed to manage the problems of Babylon -- Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.
 
By the way, last week, we learned that they were ten times better at advising the king than any other advisors that he had on his staff. In other words, there was some jealousy going on here. They were mad that these puny little Jews that had been imported in from the land that they had conquered were out-shining all of the other advisors. This isn’t about telling the king how good he was. This is about getting at somebody by getting to the ego of the King.
 
Have you ever had somebody do that to you? You're doing really well, and somebody goes into your boss, and they find a way to get after you, not for how well you're doing, but a belief that you have. You see, your character may be impeccable. But if they can find a way to knock you down in your belief system, they're going to do everything they can to knock you down. I'm not here to be a conspiracy theory. I'm just saying that if you're going to be criticized, be criticized for what you stand for, not for you fall for. If you have got bad character, then they ought to criticize you. Right?
 
Oh me? Or, Amen.  I don't know. Anyway.
 
So here we are.
 
Then, in a furious rage, Nebuchadnezzar gave orders to bring Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. So, these men were brought before the King. Nebuchadnezzar asked them, "Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, is it true that you don't serve my gods or worship the gold statue you have set up? Now, if you're ready, when you hear the sound of the horn, flutes, zither, lyre, harp, drum and every kind of music, fall down and worship the statue I made. But if you don't worship it, you will immediately be thrown into a furnace of blazing fire, and who is the God who can rescue you from my power?"
 
In other words, this morning, you need to expect opposition. Just expect it. Expect that you are going to find people who are not going to like you simply because you believe in Jesus. You really do believe that God's word is God's word.
 
I have gone in many public arenas. I have been in academic arenas. I have been in the company of incredibly brilliant people who absolutely think I am the stupidest person in the world to believe that the Bible is God's word. Now they are respectful, but they just think of me as a country bumpkin that fell off the turnip wagon, that doesn’t know what he's talking about.
 
Now they can’t argue my conviction that leads to a life that seems to be more peaceful than what they're living, and I don't mean that I'm that good. It’s just that God is “gooder,” and he “out-goods” my good. He “out-goods” my bad. Don't quote me on that one.
 
I need all the help I can get. I don't know about you, but I'm still getting over stuff that was handed down to me by past generations, and it's not their fault that I'm still hanging on to it, either, by the way. I'm trying to be better for God and I'm clinging to him for help on that, but as I'm doing so and I'm trying to....
 
You're going to get criticized for trusting in Jesus, because in this “modern age,” there has always been a “modern age” that was against God. Right here, in the ancient age, they were the “modern age” against the holy one true God and we're right in the place of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego today and just as about to hit the fiery furnace as they are in this story.
 
This is pressure from the crowd. They're all doing it. “Well everybody else is doing it. Everybody agrees this is the way we ought to go. Let's all get along. Let's just denigrate the different. Let's just take all the differences and blend them all in a great big soup pot of faith, that every religion is in the same. We're all worshipping the one true God. Everybody's got their own way of traveling the many paths that lead to the same place.”
 
Intellectually, that's impossible, and if you were to talk an Imam, and asked him, "Do you honor the same God that the Christians honor?” He would, with absolute, resolute, stone-faced conviction, say, "absolutely not. That is absolutely untrue.” And for you to characterize the Islam of the Muslim faith, that Mohammad was talking to the same God that the Christians are talking to, that is false. And for us to think in the Western world that we can blend all this together and hope for the best is really intellectual dishonesty. We need to expect that pressure from the crowd to continue to increase wherever we are, and then you can expect direct attacks. They directly attacked him. They didn't like him, and they went after him. And you're going to find people who will not like your stand for Jesus Christ. They will do everything they can to knock it down, but when we find this to be the case. We have to openly declare our faith in God. And this is what they did. They declared their faith in God. Let's move on to verse 16.
 
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, “Nebuchadnezzar, we don't need to give you an answer to this question.”
 
In other words, “we've already made it up in our mind. It's already a settled conclusion. The answer is already here. We're not wavering. We've already decided before I even got here that we weren't going to do this,” he said,
 
If the God we serve exists, then he can rescue us from the furnace of a blazing fire and he can rescue us from the power of you, the king, but even if he does not rescue us, we want you, as king, to know that we will not serve your gods or worship the gold statue you set up.
 
Do you hear the different phrases here? 1 Peter chapter 3 actually says that we need to be prepared to share the reason for the hope that lies within us. I’ll read that for you. It's just before the passage that we heard this morning from Pastor Dave.
 
But in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, ready at any time to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you. – 1 Peter 3:15
 
In other words, there’s a moment in your life when you've got to stand up and tell the reason why you're trusting in God. You need be prepared for that moment. You need to be prepared to let people know why you're doing what you're doing. They were refusing to bow down, but there was a reason why, and they openly explained their objections. Not complaining. Not asking for some sort of a of a pass. They're just stating a fact. “We're trusting in God and for this God, loyalty is not an option.”
 
“there's no option here, King. If you're trying to put us against God, God wins every time. He's my plan for eternal life. Not you. What can you do to me that's going to change my future destiny? If God rescues us, great. If he doesn't, heaven. Personal safety is not an issue here, King. Your death threat has no bearing on our decision. We're willing to die in order to obey Christ.”
 
How far are you willing to go in your faith for God? Now let me just be a little more practical. I think sometimes we're willing to say, "Well, I’ll take a bullet for Jesus.” But are you willing to die to yourself in serving people you don't like in the name of Jesus? Are you willing to actually bear yourself a burden of living out a Christian life even though it's harder, more difficult? What if the tax system decides to change things where it is a disadvantage to be married? And you don't get the tax break. In fact, maybe it's more tax friendly if you stay single, and cohabitate, and not be married, and have children. Are you still going to be committed to it, even if it's economically a disadvantage for you to be married?
 
Why do you do what you do? What is your drive? What's the reason why you make decisions? Is it because you're honoring God in His Word, or because it's convenient for your life right now?
 
I think that's a harder question to ask, than, "Would you take a bullet for Jesus?”
 
You might say, “Well, of course I would.”
 
Uh-huh. Are you taking small bullets right now? Are you taking BBs for Jesus? Just a question.
 
Let’s see what happens here. We've got to trust God for the results. That's what we do. At the end of the day, we stand up for what's right and what happens, happens.
 
Now, here's the good story. Here's the good ending.
 
Nebuchadnezzar was filled with rage. And the expression on his face toward Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. He gave orders to heat the furnace seven times more than what was customary, and he commanded some of the best soldiers in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and throw them into the furnace, a blazing fire. And so these men in their trousers, robes, head coverings and other clothes were tied up and thrown into the furnace a blazing fire and since the king's command was so urgent and the furnace extremely hot, the raging flames killed those men who had carried Shadrach  Meshach and Abednego and these three men — Shadrach  Meshach and Abednego—fell bound into the furnace of blazing fire. And then King Nebuchadnezzar jumped up in alarm. And he said to his advisors, "Didn't we throw three men bound into the fire?”
 
“Yes, of course, your Majesty, they replied to the king. “He exclaimed, Look! I see four men, not tied, walking around in the fire, unharmed and the fourth looks like a son of the gods. Nebuchadnezzar then approached the door of the furnace of blazing fire and called Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, you, servants of the most high God, come out!"
 
You notice the change of heart here.
 
So, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego came out of the fire and when the satraps, prefects, governors, and the king’s advisors gathered around, they saw that the fire had had no effect on the bodies of these men. Not a hair of their heads was singed. Their robes were unaffected and there was no smell of fire on them.
 
I can't come in from burning one twig and a fire in the backyard without my wife saying, “Will you please leave your coat in the garage.” This is a miracle.
 
And Nebuchadnezzar exclaimed, "Praise to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. He sent his angel and rescued his servants who trusted him. They violated the king's command and risked their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God and therefore, I issued a decree that any one of the any that anyone of any people, nation or language who says anything offensive against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego will be torn limb from limb and his house made a garbage dump. For there is no other God who is able to live like this. And then the king rewarded Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the province of Babylon.
 
Wow.
 
What a turn of events. We’ve got to trust God for the results. We declare our trust openly. We declare that our trust does not depend on the outcome. What will be, will be. And for those of us in this room, we need to let Jesus meet us in the crisis. He meets us at the moment of our conviction, of our worship of Him. And for some believers, Jesus is meeting them as they are being taken into prison right now, in our world today. For some, they find God in a fresh new way, and they come out with a fresh new desire to honor and serve Him.
 
I noticed a few of you have green on today. For someone who might be listening to this podcast later on, what is today? This is St Patrick's Day. Somebody noticed that I didn't have any green on, so they gave me a dollar bill.
 
Thank you, anonymous friend, you know that I have teenagers, and that I have no green in my wallet.
 
You know, St Patrick, actually, there's a lot of myths and there's a lot of lore, but when you drill down to the history lesson of who Patrick was, first of all, he was never even made into a saint. There's no canon that says he was in the Catholic Church. And before Catholics became what they what we know Catholics to be today, he was actually kidnapped, and taken to Ireland, and put into slave labor—human trafficking. For seven years he labored as a shepherd for his captors. Found a way through some miraculous dream, maybe, we don’t know, he found a way to escape his captors and he found his way to a ship out on the shore, a British ship, that took him back into safety.
 
But during that time of incarceration, against his will, he did not have much of a faith in God, but suddenly he began to honor God and began to trust in God, and he found a faith in Christ that was real and genuine. And he went back to Ireland to be a missionary to those who had kidnapped him. What?! And he planted churches. He was a church planter!
 
And he shared the gospel so much so that the pagan King of Ireland became a Christian. I don't know how much farther we can go in history to say how exciting and wonderful his life. Or, the effects of his life, but we do know that Ireland was turned upside down with the gospel of Jesus Christ because a person who was just basically, who went in facing certain captivity, “took a chance.” No, no. He followed a call, and a burden on his life to share something that was being rejected resoundingly by the pagan culture of Ireland. And he refused to accept the safety of his home in order to face the danger of people who he already knew were bad people and had done him harm.
 
Wow.
 
When I think about our lives today, and I think about the ways in which we're persecuted here in America, I can't imagine that it's anything compared to what some of our brothers and sisters are facing in other parts of the world or have faced in other time periods in history. Do we see our culture as an opportunity to proclaim Jesus and help others find and follow him, or are we standing up for what we believe is the freedom of religion, and that we have the right to stand up, and all these things, and we have, we are entitled, as United States citizens?
 
I believe under the law, we are entitled to that, and I believe we have a freedom of religion in our country, that is being trampled on by a lot of people today, and I think in the legal sense, we have a greater ability and freedom to worship under the Constitution of the United States of America than most any other country in the world, and I think we ought to let people know that. And I think we have the right to show those, but our rights actually end completely when it comes to the fact that we really are surrendered completely to whatever Jesus wants us to do and be, and no matter what the law says or what they are applying or mis-applying, we are still going to stand up and honor and worship Jesus Christ, and when we do, that's when he meets us in the crisis. That's where he's going to meet us.
 
Do you really think that Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego knew what was going to happen next? They probably thought they were going to die. I mean they did say, "But if we don't endure the furnace, just know that we still worship God anyway. We're not predicting the future. We just know who holds it.”
 
But what happened in the middle of that fiery furnace? Someone showed up. We don't have an exact interpretation, but there are some that believe that it was Jesus Himself that entered into the fiery furnace and stood and walked and talked with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. It might have been an angel of God, a representation of the Lord, it might have been the Lord Himself, but we know, that in one way or the other, God showed up in the fiery furnace.
 
You'll never know God more closely then when you're going through the fire. When you're tested for your convictions, and you stand through that test and say, "Whatever happens I'm still trusting in God,” you will find God in ways you've never found.
 
Until your faith is on the line and you've got to stand up for something that's actually going to cost you. You're going to find God in so many fresh ways, your faith is going to soar. God's going to work in you live in your life in ways you never thought was possible. Saying no to peer pressure when everybody else is doing it? We're not going to do it that way. Every other person is out and doing whatever they ought not to be doing. No, I'm not just being a “goody two shoes.” I just know that God called me for something different. I can't do that.
 
I had a friend that was divorced, and his wife decided that she liked another man better than him, in the church and swapped. And it was a horrible thing, and it rocked the whole church, and it destroyed his life in many ways. A very good friend. He actually participated in my wedding. He came all the way up from Texas and gave his big Texas Southern drawl on everything he did. Everybody kind of laughs about that moment when he stood up start speaking. He was an evangelist. He's now in ministry again somewhere else. He's married to a fine lady. But in his dating life he experienced that many people who call themselves Christians, that wanted to just absolutely abandon themselves to do whatever they wanted to do, because you just can't help yourself. And he says, "No, I just had to explain to everybody, I can't help myself to whatever I want to do. Because God called me to something higher, and he had a different pace of how to live life as a single, than everyone around him, and he lamented about the fact that he didn't have anybody. He had very few people. Who were even agreeing with him, even in Christian single circles.”
 
But God honored his life, and it has enabled him to find another person that shared his convictions and he's moved forward, and great blessings have occurred.
 
“Everyone else is doing it. I mean, come on, God doesn't expect us to be perfect, does he?”
 
God knew we weren't and that's why he died on the cross for us, but he gave us a way out to save us from the very thing he forgave us of, so that we could live a life that honored him and glorified him, that was more of a blessing than it was a curse on ourselves or future generations, that we might have in our families.
 
I don't know what your fiery furnace is today. I don't know what line you have to put in the sand, and I hope you actually don't put a line in the sand. Put it in something a little more permanent. So that line doesn't keep changing.
 
You say, “I just can't go there. I have got to do this for Jesus. It's not a matter of trying to be better than you or try to show off. It's just, I can't do that. I have got to do what God wants me to do, and if it means, it costs me relationship, it means it cost me financially, if it means it cost me my freedom, I’ve got to do it, because honoring God is more important than the consequences that this world might give me for doing so.
 
Jesus will meet you in the moment.
 
So, this morning, as we close, sometimes he's going to rescue here sometimes to rescue you later, but I just pray that this morning we will worship God with courage. That we’ll have courage in the name of Jesus, to do what's right, even when nobody else is doing it. Even when, and especially when, we don't know the outcome of our decision.
 
You know, the luxuries of the stories of the Bible is we kind of know the ending. How many of you get a book and you read the ending before you read the beginning? I'm never going to the movie with you, because I don't want to know the ending until I get there.
 
But the Bible, we know the ending. I don't know the ending of my life, nor do you of yours. What's your golden statue? How are you being asked to compromise your faith? And will you, today, place your whole security and hope on the name of Jesus Christ?
 
Let's stand our feet. I'm working on this, day by day, in my life. I'm praying that you will join me in learning how to do that in this culture that keeps shifting. The foundations that I thought were secure aren't so secure anymore. The things I thought I could hope in or trust in, they’re not a trustworthy as they used to be. I want to honor God. I want to be a good citizen of our country. What does that mean? Join me in worshipping God with great courage, refusing to bow down to what God identifies in my life as a golden statue that I ought not ever bow down to, and trust Him for the results, whatever they may be.
 
Maybe this morning, your line in the ground is that you've got to cross that line to put your faith in Jesus Christ, and it's time for you to come through and say what you know is true. Jesus is Lord, and I want to make him my lord, my Savior, my boss today. I'm done playing games. I'm done hoping for heaven. You know, it says, "Are you covered?”
 
Stop knocking on wood, like that insurance commercial. Know that you know. Jesus has saved you from your sins by putting your faith in him today. Stop wondering and begin knowing.