Amen. Thank you, Youth Praise Band. To just get up here and do this in front of the youth is already scary to do in front of the entire church.
There's just so much more, the courage you have to do this. Just good job, guys.
Children, you may now go with Miss Savannah to Children's Church.
And even though today is Graduation Sunday, I know that a few weeks ago Savannah had the opportunity to send off some of her fifth graders that will be coming to me.
And as she said, I was the only one not upset that day because it was a great day for me as we get to have new students come in.
And this is just one of the many things as a blessing to children and youth because we get to just see more and more and more come in as the years go on.
And a quick reminder, because I didn't get to say anything that day, fifth grade parents as well as our senior parents,
this is a great summer of transition that your students can try out both the fifth or the children's, the last of the children's events and the youth events this summer.
As well as our 12th graders, you can do the rest of your youth events and then go to the college ministry on Sunday mornings.
This is a great transition time for you to try a little bit of both, to dip your toe in the water.
Because in August, I will say bye-bye to my seniors and welcome in my new coming sixth graders.
So you are encouraged to go and try all the many different things.
Dip your toe in the water, get used to it before the fall.
Well, if I have not met you this morning, my name is Josh Lorenz.
I'm a youth pastor here at First Baptist.
And usually, the youth pastor gets to speak on graduation Sunday and then sometime in December.
But if you remember, I just had a baby and I told Brett that I might not be awake in December to come and preach that day.
And so Brett was totally fine with that.
But now we are here and I'm so blessed to come and get to speak in front of our church this morning.
About a year ago, I was welcomed to First Baptist Church.
And Sarah and I's mindset coming in was to focus on sharing the gospel with all of our students to build relationships.
But also, we had a heart in intentionally preparing our seniors for what is next to come.
Both Sarah and I had the opportunity in youth ministry to experience this, to be prepared for what college may hold.
And so we wanted to do the same for our seniors.
Because senior year, if you remember from when you were a senior,
is just a fast blur of tests and college applications and essays and ceremonies and award banquets and graduation parties
and last-minute planning and packing.
And then all it comes to the first day of freshman year and there you go.
Senior year is over.
And you wonder what happened to the last year of your life.
So as we begin this morning, the thought for graduation Sunday is just simply this.
What is one thing we can say to the seniors to encourage them as they go into the next stage of their life?
So today we are going to read through the entire book of Proverbs to get our seniors ready.
And that is a joke if you don't know.
It's a book on wisdom.
And instead, no, we're not going to go read the whole book.
But seniors, I do encourage you to do so.
But we are going to step away from Hebrews for just one week.
And as Clay likes to mess with Brett, we're going to step away from our favorite character,
Melchizedek, for just one week.
And we are going to step into a story that most of us, if you grew up in church,
or if you've even been around church for just a little bit,
you would know this story.
We are going to turn to the book of Daniel chapter 3.
And if you don't know this story, this is the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
This story tells the story of three men who were faithful to God,
the king of Israel and of the Jews.
This is the same God who had led Moses and the Israelites out of Egypt.
This is the same God who rose up great men in the history of Israel,
such as Joshua and David and Solomon.
And now the Israelites find themselves in Babylon, a foreign land.
And God continues to be the people of Israel, even in their exile.
So as we go through this passage today, there's one big point that I want us to focus on,
and it is this, the fire reveals what we truly believe.
And through this point, we will learn how to be more like the three men who follow God
through their circumstances, through what people will tell them to do,
through what culture tries to convince them of,
and focus our eyes truly on the Lord.
And so what I like to do with our students is I love to hear about the context of the story,
especially in the narrative.
So in Daniel chapter 1 and 2, leading into what we're reading today,
the people of Israel are in exile in this new land of Babylon.
And there's a ruler by the name of King Nebuchadnezzar.
And Nebuchadnezzar does not worship Yahweh, the God of Israel,
though he is seen in chapter 2 of Daniel, this power through the servant Daniel.
And Daniel does something that no one else could do in the land.
He reveals to Nebuchadnezzar a dream that Nebuchadnezzar had,
and identifies its interpretation.
And in doing so, in hearing this dream,
Nebuchadnezzar identifies that Yahweh is truly the God of gods and the Lord of kings.
And in response, the king promotes Daniel to ruler over a province of Babylon,
as well as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
So we're going to read the entirety of chapter 3,
and so we're going to break this into pieces as we go,
but we're going to start with Daniel chapter 3, verse 1 through 7.
And it says this,
And the herald proclaimed aloud,
So as we read into the story,
we're going to break this down into even further points.
So the first thing that we learn from this passage is this,
is that you mimic what you worship.
In the previous chapter of Daniel,
Nebuchadnezzar is approached by our main character of Daniel,
and through God's power,
Daniel tells the king of his dream
that there is a large statue that will eventually be torn down.
And the head of the statue is made of gold,
and that represents King Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom,
but there would be a day where this kingdom would fall.
And you would think that the king who claims that God is the king of kings
would listen to said imagery, to said interpretation,
and probably not build a statue.
And King Nebuchadnezzar, we would be wrong,
does the exact thing that we don't think he should do.
He builds a statue for himself.
And this statue is listed as 90 feet tall.
And it is something to obviously marvel at from all around the land.
Now I think about when I go to different places,
I love to travel,
and one of the things I love to see is the history of the land that I'm in.
We went to Boston this past year,
and I know that we will start mentioning the Boston mission trip here soon.
If you walk around Boston,
sure enough, you will find statues of the founding fathers
and other important figures of Boston.
Same thing is I've gotten to go to Washington, D.C.,
and if you don't know, you walk around,
you will see founding fathers' statues everywhere you go,
especially Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial.
And I remember being a little freshman in college
and looking at how big Abraham Lincoln was
and obviously thinking,
this guy means a lot to the people of the United States.
This guy has a lot
and is humongous in what we are supposed to be honoring him for.
And so we see in Daniel
that Nebuchadnezzar builds a statue 90 feet tall,
and not only is it 90 feet tall,
he overlays it with gold.
And what this does is this is an image
that would be seen for miles around,
and the main goal of it is to show the power
of the king of Babylon.
And we see early on in Daniel 3
that all the officials are gathered to look at
and worship this statue.
And in verse 4,
it is demanded that when the music is to play,
that you are to fall down and worship the statue
that the king has made,
and whoever does not
will be thrown into the fiery furnace.
And so we are told that there is something
that needs to be worshipped,
an idol of sorts,
and for all of the Israelites
who have been pulled into Babylon
from their land,
you would see,
or you would hope,
that they would identify this
as an idol
and something wrong in which to worship.
Because the Israelites believe
in the teachings of the Ten Commandments,
and in Exodus 20,
we are introduced to this,
and the first two laws,
the commandments are this,
do not have any other gods before him,
and do not make idols in your own image,
nor should you worship these idols.
And yet we see Israel fail time and time again
to follow even the first two commandments,
but people continue to do so
even though it is against the law.
And we see later that there are consequences
to worshipping idols and gods other than Yahweh.
And the people of Israel would know this
as they would be taught this
and held to this standard.
And yet we see all of the land
bowed down to worship the king of Babylon
and his statue.
And the question really is this,
how would you react?
If you were in the face of pressure,
the face of culture looking to you
to do the same as everybody else,
what would you do?
Culture loves to pressure us
and put us into compromised positions
where we must make a choice.
And we have to make a choice
of whether we are going to go against
what we have been taught as right,
or will we bow down
to the authority of the world.
And not only this,
but as we learn,
Shadrach, Neshach, and Abednego
become the central characters
of the story.
And you think about this,
that these men are not only facing
just societal pressure,
they are facing pressures
from different directions.
The first of which is political.
These men are in a place of power
over a province of Babylon.
Everyone is looking to them
and to what they are going to do.
There are pressures religiously
because this is a land
where worshiping Yahweh
is definitely not taken well.
There are pressures socially
because these men
will eventually take a stand
against what everyone else does.
And then there is obviously
the pressure physically
because if you are caught standing,
then you will die in a fiery furnace.
And the question that these men
must face is this,
will they compromise
and seek self-preservation?
Or will they follow the commandments
in which they have been given?
And the question we must ask ourselves
is this, so what would we worship?
What do these men do?
Well, we know the story,
but let's continue in Daniel chapter 3,
starting in verse 8.
It says this,
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
and the pipe and the lyre,
the trigon, the harp, the 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.
And these men, O king,
pay no attention to you,
and they do not serve your gods
or worship the golden image
that you have set up.
So then Nebuchadnezzar,
in a furious rage,
commanded that Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego be brought.
And so they brought these men
before the king,
and Nebuchadnezzar answered
and said to them this,
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, the pipe,
the lyre, the trigon,
the harp, the 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 be immediately cast
into a burning, fiery furnace.
And who is the God
who will then deliver you
out of my hands?
So 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.
The second point
we can learn from this
is that real faith stands
even when it costs.
So here are these men,
these leaders in Babylon
of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,
and they do something
that no one else does.
They stand in refusal
of the demand
of King Nebuchadnezzar.
And the king hears
that these men
refuse to bow down.
And they've been told,
and the king has been told this
by different people
from the kingdom,
and whether these people
had something against the Jews,
we do not know.
But they come to the king
and they say this,
those Jews that you appointed
have ignored the king
and instead stand against your word.
So the king brings them
into the kingdom,
to the throne room,
and looks at these men
and asks this question.
Is it true
that you do not serve my gods
or worship the gold statue
that I have set up?
He says this,
so I can see with my own eyes.
We'll have the music play.
We'll play the music for you.
And in front of me,
bow down and worship,
or you will be thrown
into the fiery furnace.
And I think how hard it must be
for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
to stare at the face of the king,
not just in their own home,
not just publicly,
but to stare at the face of the king
who holds all the power of the land,
and to still disobey his law.
And in that moment,
they have a choice.
Do we bow to the king of Babylon,
or do we stand and worship
the king of all kings?
And Nebuchadnezzar asks a question
that sparks an incredible response.
He asks this,
who is the God who will rescue you
from my power?
And what Nebuchadnezzar is really
giving them two situations,
he says this,
you can either do one,
keep standing for a God
whom I do not see,
who cannot save you,
and you will die in the furnace
in response.
Or,
you can bow to me,
the king who you can see,
can hear,
can touch,
and who has the power
to physically pull you
from the fire,
from the hands of the fire.
Now,
we have all been asked this question
in one form or another,
and maybe not in the chance
of being thrown into
an actual fiery furnace.
If that is your story,
I would love to hear it
because that is
what incredible testimony
that would be.
But instead,
we stare in the mirror
and we ask this,
who is the God
that we will serve?
Who is the God
that we will serve
that will eventually
save us?
And obviously,
if you read ahead
into the Bible
and to the whole theme
of the text
is that there is
an obvious answer,
but oftentimes,
we look in the mirror
and we think things
such as this,
well,
I've lived quite a life
by myself.
I've lived a life
where I've weighed
the good and the bad,
and I've made
some pretty good choices.
I have been able
to get through
some hard times
by myself.
Maybe I'll just bet on me.
Maybe I'll just handle it
by myself
because there is no God
that I can see or hear,
so I will do it
on my own.
Others may look
at the faces of culture
and to people
in our culture
as seen as higher
than others,
and this might be
a singer
or an actor
or a political figure,
and they say,
well,
if I just follow them,
I will find
the same success
that they do.
So I will mimic them
and then I will find
that I will have
the same success
as them.
Others of us
look to our people
in our church
and we say,
well,
if we just mimic
our lives
around our pastor
or around
our small group leader
or around this
or that person
in our church,
then obviously
they have it figured out,
so I'll have it figured out.
And now,
as fun as it is
to have a bunch
of little pastors
in the room,
a bunch of little Bretts
following Bret everywhere
and doing what he does,
humanity
will eventually
fail you.
Following
a human God
will eventually
fail you.
That person
you look to
will eventually
falter in something.
They will eventually
do something wrong
that you see
as such a big deal.
They will eventually
say something
that you might take
as hurtful
in the end of the world
and your whole belief
will crumble.
That they have it
all figured out,
so if I just do
what they do,
I'll have it figured out.
And when they falter,
you falter.
But really,
if you look to this,
the God of the Bible,
the one who has sent
his son down across
so we may forever
look upon his face
in eternity,
the one who lives
within us,
guiding us
to do right and wrong,
only this God
is the God
worth worshiping.
And so what do
these men do?
They give a response
of all responses,
which I don't think
I would have the courage
to say to a king
who is about to throw me
into a furnace.
They say,
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.
They take a stand
against the power
in the room
and say,
you might be
a powerful king,
Nebuchadnezzar.
You might have
a glorious big statue
overlaid with gold,
but guess what?
We serve a God
much bigger,
more powerful than you.
We serve a God
whose robe in Isaiah
tells us that
it fills a throne room.
We serve a God
who will strike down
in literally the dream
you just had
every single kingdom
that comes after yours
and will provide us
with an everlasting kingdom
that we will live
with him in forever.
We will serve that God,
not you.
We refuse to bow
because we would rather
do anything
but bow to you,
O Nebuchadnezzar,
and this is a picture
of real faith.
We as believers
should look at this
and turn to culture
and repeat this.
Yes, culture,
you can mock me,
people,
you can scorn me,
make fun of me,
call me names,
threaten me,
scare me.
Devil,
you may throw everything
in your arsenal
at me,
and yet I serve
a bigger God
than you
who that one day
in my text,
in my Bible,
says that he will
defeat you forevermore
and you will be nothing.
And these men
show us the key
to a resilient faith.
These men
show us the key
to true obedience
to the Lord
in the face of danger.
These men
show us what it looks like
to live more like God
in any situation.
And so you're like,
well, how's the story end?
Well, if you grew up
in church, you know,
but let's continue
in verse 19.
It says this,
and Nebuchadnezzar
was filled with fury
and the expression
of his face
was changed
against Shadrach,
Meshach,
and Abednego.
And 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
and 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
was overheated,
the flame,
the fire,
killed those men
who took up
Shadrach,
Meshach,
and Abednego.
And these three men,
Shadrach,
Meshach,
and Abednego,
fell bound
into the burning,
fiery furnace.
And then king Nebuchadnezzar
was astonished
and 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,
Oh, true.
He answered and said this,
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,
and he declared,
Shadrach,
Meshach,
Abednego,
servants of the
Most High God,
come out
and come here.
Then Shadrach,
Meshach,
and Abednego
came out
from the fire.
And the satraps
and 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
had come upon them.
And Nebuchadnezzar
answered and said this,
Blessed be the God
of Shadrach,
Meshach,
and Abednego,
who has sent his angel
and delivered his servants
who trusted 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 anything
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.
And the king promoted
Shadrach,
Meshach,
and Abednego
in the province
of Babylon.
The third and final thing
we see from the story
is that God meets
his people
in the fire.
So in response
to them telling
King Nebuchadnezzar
that they will not
bow down to him,
he tells his guards,
he says,
make it hotter,
turn it up,
turn the flame
seven times hotter.
And you know what?
Just for extra measure,
tie them up.
Make sure that they
experience this
to the full.
And he throws them in
and in doing so,
sacrifices some of his own men
in throwing Shadrach,
Meshach,
and Abednego
into the flame.
And what we see is this,
is that King Nebuchadnezzar
says what he is going to do,
does what he says
he is going to do.
He throws these men
into the fire
and in doing so,
church,
we see a hard truth
that we must face.
Standing against Babylon,
standing against the world
that we live in
might have earthly consequences.
You might stand
and find that the result
is less than lovely.
You might find
that in defiance
of the world
that you get thrown down
into your own
fiery furnace.
But there is something
that is so great
is this,
that no matter
what the world
throws at you,
no matter how hot
the flames of culture are,
nothing can separate us
from the love
and the power of God.
Nothing can take away
our faith
in the almighty
saving God.
And what this fire does
is it doesn't snuff out
God's presence,
it reveals God's presence
in our lives
and to all of those
who may see it.
Seniors in the room,
you will have hard times.
If you haven't heard
from your parents
or from any adult
in the room,
we can tell you
hard times will come.
You will face something
that you are not prepared for.
And oftentimes,
people make this decision
in the times of hardship.
Obviously,
because I am suffering,
the Lord must not be present.
The Lord must have left me.
The suffering leads us
to find this place
of loneliness.
And circumstances
such as this,
well,
I just failed this big test.
I must not be loved by God.
You must not want me
to succeed
in this path.
Lord,
this relationship ended.
Lord,
you must not want me
to be happy
to find everlasting peace
in a marriage.
God,
you took away
this person in my life,
this loved one,
or this hardship
is happening,
a disease
has taken root
into one of my family members.
God,
you must want me
to be miserable.
And in response,
God,
you must not be there.
You see,
what Nebuchadnezzar
was hoping
is that this fire
would destroy
the believers in God.
But what we just said
is this,
is that the fire
does not do that.
It instead reveals
that God is present
and is not just
the Son of God,
all lowercase
as we see in Daniel,
but is the God
who stands with us
in the fire,
capital G.
and these men
were called out
to you by the king
and Nebuchadnezzar says,
come out,
men,
I see you standing there.
What do you do?
Come out of the fire.
And they come out
and one of my favorite
details is this,
is that none of them
smell like they've even
been near a fire.
Now,
I've been on a lot
of campouts growing up.
I've been camping
with my parents
because that is
what they love to do.
I was also in the Cub Scouts
and the Boy Scouts,
so we went on
playing campouts
as well as
I was in college
and what do a bunch
of Christian believers
do when they have
an afternoon off?
They have a bonfire
and a worship night.
And so I've been
around a fire
and what I can tell you
is this,
everyone knows
you've been near a fire.
You smell it.
Okay,
these men are in flames
that are so hot
that they're killing
not only,
not only them,
not only is it meant
to kill these men,
but it also kills
the men of Nebuchadnezzar.
And they walk out
and their clothes
are unsinged
and they don't even
smell of the fire.
And Nebuchadnezzar
in response
says this,
he says,
to praise the angel
that has saved them.
And we all know
who this is.
This is the Son of God.
This is Jesus
who came to save
these men
from the fire.
And what this really is
is that this is
a perfect picture
of what he does
on the cross.
Not only does Jesus
come to save,
but he comes
to save everyone.
Not only does he save
the one who stand
in the fire,
but he comes
and he offers himself
to all who may believe.
He offers himself
up to the ones
who cursed him,
who mocked him,
who threatened
to kill him,
the ones who would
worship anything else
in a heartbeat,
where a statue would be
raised,
they would bow down.
Everyone he came
to save
and he offers
his life
to save
all of us.
Jesus dies
this death
of the sinner.
He's thrown
into the flames
of judgment
and he does this
for a simple fact
that we oftentimes
overlook
is that he loves
us so much.
He takes upon
the wrath
of death
of sin
and our place
saves us
so that one day
we may be able
to come out
of the flame,
out of the furnace,
like these men,
unharmed,
not smelling
like fire,
just for the fact
so we might find
peace and love
and eternity
with him.
he does all
of these things
for us.
And students,
this is
the good news.
This is the gospel
and early on
in the semester,
Sarah and I
opened our home
to our seniors
and we had a few
come and in that time
I told our seniors
this,
is that there are
going to be people
who will one day
ask you,
what do you believe in?
Not just,
are you a Christian,
are you not,
what do you believe in?
Why do you believe
in Jesus?
Why do you believe
in this Jesus figure
in your life?
And I had them
write down a response.
What would you say?
Because if not
ask the question,
we are unprepared
and so we should
prepare ourselves
for what is coming next
to try and prepare
ourselves to say,
well I believe
in a king
who would stand
in the fire,
who would die
on a cross
so that I may
one day be
in eternity
with him
just because
he loves me.
That is why
I believe in Jesus,
the son of God.
And today,
Jesus is still
wanting a relationship
with us.
Jesus wants it
even though
we may have
our doubts,
even though
we may find
ourselves in
disobedience,
we may find
ourselves in the
midst of a failure.
everything we do
against him,
he still
chooses us.
And this is why
we look at this
as being what
standing in the
face of the fire
truly teaches us
is that God's
presence is in us
and can be seen
for everyone.
And seniors,
this is what we want
you to take away
from this day.
Church,
this is applicable
to all of us
is that this,
is that the fire
truly reveals
what you believe
and in the fire
God meets his
people and
stands with them
especially when
we stand for him.
Let us pray.
Lord, thank you
for this day.
Thank you for
all that you do.
God, we pray
over our seniors
on Senior Sunday
Lord, that they
would go out
and they would
hear this message
that there is
a fire burning
and culture
ready to consume
us but Lord,
you will stand
in the fire
with us.
That you are
bigger and stronger
and mightier
than anything
that can be
thrown our way.
And God, we pray
that we would
turn and worship
you.
There are a bunch
of idols,
a bunch of statues
that might rise up
in our life
and we might turn
to those
and we might look
at that is the
way that we are
supposed to live
our life.
God, I pray
that we would
only look to
you.
We would only
praise you.
We would only
worship you
for all the
days that we
have to come.
Lord, I thank
you that we
have your name.
We have your
kingdom to look
forward to.
We have the
promise that you
will stand with
us in the fire.
That you sent
a son to die
in our place
so that we
may one day
be in right
standing with
you.
And God,
until that day
you just desire
one thing and
that is a
relationship with
us.
So God, I pray
that our seniors,
that everyone in
our church,
those who are
struggling,
those who find
themselves in the
midst of the fire,
that we would
turn to you.
We would worship
you.
We would love
you just as you
have loved us.
Let everyone go
forward from this
day and see the
fire not that we
are in, but the
fire burning
within us that
shows the presence
of you.
It's in your
name we pray.
Amen.
I want to invite
you to stand
during this time
of invitation to
sing a song as we
respond to what
God has put on
our hearts this
morning.
Let us stand
and sing.