Sermon Central
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Can I Have Faith When I'll Get Burned If I Don't Bend Series
Contributed by Brian Garner on Aug 8, 2003 (message contributor)
Summary: When facing the fiery trials of life, will you compromise in order to get by, or will you stand firm?
Can I Have Faith When I’ll Get Burned If I Don’t Bend?
We Learn A Lot About Having Faith When Under Fire By Looking At The Answers Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego Gave When They Were Threatened To Bend Or Burn.
The God We Serve Is Able
Their knowledge of God lays the foundation for their faith.
• Faith is not baseless.
• The God we serve is above ALL others!
• No one can defeat Him.
• Nothing is too difficult for Him.
He Will Rescue Us From Your Hand
Their faith in God expresses itself in trust.
• Faith doesn’t waver with doubt.
“If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.” James 1:5-8
He Will Rescue Us From Your Hand
Their faith in God expresses itself in trust.
• Faith doesn’t waver with doubt.
• Faith is putting all your eggs in God’s basket, and leaving them there.
“Anyone who trusts in Me will never be put to shame.” Romans 10:11b
• Faith is taking God at His Word, and trusting He will keep the promises He has given.
Even If He Does Not, We Will Not Bend
• They were willing to trust Him, even if things didn’t go their way.
• Their commitment to the Lord was stronger than their desire for compromise.
Why Not Bend?
Everybody’s Doing It.
No One Will Ever Know
You’ll be in big trouble if you don’t.
But you know compromise will displease the Lord.
God asks, “Will you have faith in Me when the fire is getting hot?
Faith:
God rewards it, by turning the fiery trial into a purifying fire that prepares us for promotion, and empowers others to stand firm in their own times of testing.
Faith:
Others Who Stood By It
• 168 AD – Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna
• 17th Century – Margaret Wilson and Margaret MacLachlen
• August 2nd, 2003 – Mr. Mahesh, Mr. Richard Silva, Mr. Ariyadasa, Pastor Ranjith (Info from Voice of Martyrs website)
Faith
• Calls us to trust the God Who has always been with us.
• Allows us to walk through the midst of the fire, because He is there with us.
• Is rewarded on the other side of the fire:
– We emerge without the stench of the circumstance.
– Others are encouraged when they are required to bend or burn.
What trial is testing your Faith?
Come, and let Jesus walk you through the fire.
