La victoria interior | Mantente firme | Jeremy DeWeerdt

Hola Iglesia de Street First, ¿Cómo están todos hoy? Bienvenidos a la Iglesia, bienvenido a todas las localidades, Cape Coral, Janesville, Dios detrás de las rejas, todos en la aplicación de Pando, los queremos mucho. Y hablando de Dios detrás de las rejas, bueno hace un par de años tuve el honor de viajar a una de las localidades de God Behind Bars in Harvey, in Florida, and I wanted to evangelize in person because the young people there were looking at me through the screen and I said, I want to meet them. So well, it was a very special moment and I went through security at the airport and then there in the jail and I went through the yard and there were volunteers from City First that we were there for the first time in person, we were hugging and we were having an incredible time. And you know, several of them pulled us aside and said, hey man, you know, you look bigger on TV. And the other one said, yes, I thought I was 6'2". And the other one said, yes, you looked bigger on TV. And I felt insecure, I said, well, you don't know that. But the Rockford video team that puts Chris Helmer's filter like this and I look like this. I mean, that looks pretty accurate, right Jen? I just said yes, my wife just said yes. And I started to think about it, you know, actually the camera does for me what Jesus does for those who follow him. He makes us look bigger and better than we really are. He helps us to stand bigger and to be stronger than we could ever be on our own, which is why we're in this series called, Picking Up Victory. And what are we doing? Well, we have this idea that Jesus wins in our hearts and that gives us the ability to win. He makes us better than we are. And well, Jesus in us makes us look bigger, right? And well, we have to talk about holding on, holding on to that victory in the interior to a culture that makes us do other things. And well, we're going to talk about Daniel's book. I hope you can read it. It's a beautiful story. And well, I'm going to talk about a message that I spoke in one of the conferences years ago. And well, you know, since then I haven't spoken about this message on Sundays, but a lot of people have asked me to speak about this message on Sundays. And well, the message is about Daniel. And I said, well, Lisa spoke to us last week about Daniel.

And well, what happened? They lived more than 2,600 years ago. And at 17 years old, Daniel, his city of Jerusalem was invaded by Babylon. And the king of Babylon, the king of Babylon, Nabuchadnezzar said that Daniel, well, let's read the story first. And he said, the king ordered the following. And he said, the king ordered Aspenaz, head of the greater state, to bring to the palace some of the young men of the royal family of Judah and other noble families who had been taken to Babylon as captives. Select only young, healthy, strong, and well-liked. Make sure they are instructed in all branches, that they are endowed with knowledge and good judgment, that they are fit to serve the royal palace. These young men, well, they were assigned a daily ration of food and wine and they were coming from their own kitchen, right? Well, they were to receive training for three years and then they would go into the royal service. Imagine they were taken from their homes and they were taken to Babylon. Tonya, many theologians say that if you read Daniel's book, they would say that there is a lot of similarity between what happened between Daniel and his friends and what is happening in this moment in the world. And I'm going to tell you how this is connected to this. Well, as Daniel, we as followers of Jesus are in exile in a pagan culture. It's not our home forever. Who are you? Do you know that this is our home? I'm not weird, I'm not saying, maybe if you're here for the first time

and you say, oh, this is weird. No, no, no, it's not because I'm weird. But the Bible is very clear that the kingdom of God is going to be our home someday in heaven. And right now we're just going through a culture that, well, it's the culture, we don't find similarity. We're here, but we're not from this culture. And in a certain way, we live in Babylon, like Daniel. Daniel was forced to learn the language, which wasn't his language, and a value system. And the message, Daniel being forced to learn the message, where Daniel was taught for three years, the translation of the message was indoctrinated. This word means, in other words, what does it mean to be brainwashed? They're trying to brainwash these young Israelite men. This indoctrinated word means brainwashing. They're changing the way they think. And when I read this, it's not the way they were raised. And when I read this in Daniel, I have to think that the enemy of this world, the enemy of our soul, is doing this to a lot of people. Indoctrinated, brainwashing them to think certain things. And you know what? God has designed us to live in a different way. Look at the culture.

The world is broken. The people are broken. There's anger. There's frustration. There's all of this. And it reminds me of the number of Romans which says the following, for sin, because sin was subject to frustration. Well, it says that. It says, give me two words that describe this. The culture today, the cultures are being brainwashed, so to speak. It's bringing confusion, problems, and it leaves us empty. It's leaving us, this new way of thinking, it's leaving us empty. There's happiness, right? And on top of that, it's difficult from day to day to deal with these problems. These young Israelis, they were brought to Babylon. They were given new names in Babylon. They are no longer called the names with which they were born, their Hebrew names. They were given new names. And it says in Daniel chapter one,

chapter seven, chapter eight, chapter one, chapter seven, it says, they were given new names. How did they call them? They called Daniel Bethassar, Ananias called him Zadrak, Misael called him Mesach, Asariel called him Abednego. And well, maybe you know Abednego or Mesach or Zadrak. Those weren't their names in Aleppo. Those were their Babylonian names or Babylonian. And they removed their true Hebrew name and gave them names that were tied to pagan gods. Those new names had, well, pretty dark agendas. I'm going to show you something that you've never learned in the biblical school. And it would be very dark and very dark in the time that you're in. But today I want to talk about what's behind Bethassar, Zadrak, Mesach, and Abednego. These names

are to cause confusion and remove their original name. Look, in Daniel chapter one, chapter one, Daniel, Hebrew, if you translate it, chapter one, chapter one, it says, Daniel means God is my judge. God is a good judge. So every time Daniel, when his name was mentioned, he was listening, God is my judge. And he gave Babylon a new name. Well, what does this mean? It says, girl, protect the king. Let's see, I'm going to go back to the king. Woman, protect the king. The Babylonians, the Babylonians gave him on purpose as a man, a feminine man. That would be the equivalent of me being taken to exile and my name instead of Jeremy being Megan. They did it on purpose to create confusion. If you study the pagan culture thousands of years ago, you say Romans, Greeks, Assyrians, Egyptians, but what we do have is confusion always. The Babylonians, if you're a man, you're a woman, and the Babylonians, the Babylonians wanted to confuse Daniel and the enemy is the woman and the enemy is the woman. Confused by what gender they are.

And well, confusion can break the heart. I have had people come to me, I have had people come to me who say, I'm confused because I'm a pastor for many people. I have had people come to me who say, I'm very confused, who created me? God made me. And what TikTok is saying, what Instagram is saying, what Hollywood is saying, they are not saying, and it's all this confusion, and they want the truth, but they are confused. If you are experiencing that confusion or discordance, please speak to someone who has a world of faith that can help you. TikTok, don't allow TikTok to be your pastor. Don't allow Hollywood to be your guide. Daniel and his friends are given this name. It's the name, Genaniah, that name means God has grace. Every time somebody calls your name, it's like God has grace for you. God has grace for you. It's like God has so loving grace for you. It's like, oh, isn't that amazing? Well, now, his name is changing to Shadrach. In Babylonian terms, it says, I'm very afraid of God. Do you see the enemy's agenda here? You didn't learn this in Sunday school, did you? In the Babylonians, they have fear over them.

It's time that he's afraid. Every time they say Shadrach, Shadrach says, I am very afraid. Instead of a God with grace, now there's fear and anxiety, fear and anxiety. And the enemy is doing this right now in our culture. And many of us, a new identity, a new identity of fear. You live literally with the fear of God. You live with paranoia, problems of a future that is less than what you wanted it to be. God doesn't want you to live this way, with anxiety or fear. God is all powerful in the universe. It's more than just being a pastor or trying to motivate you, but the God of the universe cares about you. He cares about you. He has chosen him. If God is for you, and if God is with you, who can be against you? The God of the universe loves you. And yet, the enemy is trying to speak over many of us. Anxiety, fear, anxiety, fear, fear, fear, fear, fear, fear, fear, fear, fear, fear, fear. And even though we've been controlled by anxiety and fear, we're not going to face the God that doesn't exist, the fear, and we're going to stop at the God that we know, the God that is with us, our God, Jesus, our Savior.

In him, I stand firm. There is no hope in the future. Well, how about there? And look, this word, Misael, who is, who is God? Now, who is God? A better translation, who is like our God? Misael is like, who is like our God? Every day, imagine, who is like our God? Who is like our God? And now he is called Misha, what does Misha mean? Or Mesa, he says, I am of little use, or I am of little use. Look at what the enemy is saying. He is saying, you are of little use. You are of little use. Some of us here, the enemy is trying to tell us this name. He is trying to tell us, you have no value. God doesn't love you. God loves that person in front of you, but not you. Oh God, God is angry at you. You, I don't know, maybe God is angry at you, and He is angry at you, and He has no value. And if you put on that identity, maybe you are going to live as less of a person, you are going to live with shame, or with pain. And I am here to speak against that spirit, that no, that you have a lot of value in God. God loves you. You have a lot of value in this life.

The Bible says, what is the word of God? You are made in perfection. You are the masterpiece, says Ephesians. You know what, you are a king before the Son of God, a heir of God. You were chosen. And nothing can separate you from the love of God, Romans say. So let's all applaud this. Because that's the truth. Some of you need to take a picture of this, with your phone, because a lot of people have this problem of feeling less than things. And when you have that battle of feeling less than things, I want you to plant yourself in these scriptures, and read them about your life. You have value, you are worth a lot. Ezariah, God is a helper. The answer to being a God is a helper. Can you imagine? Every time that his friend, that his name is saying to him, God's helping you, God's helping you. Now, the Babylonians put Abednego, Abednego. What does that mean? It's a Babylonian king, a servant of Nebo, instead of saying, God is helping you, the enemy has put that label on him, saying, no, you are a servant. You are less than. You do not have the ability to move forward.

God has abandoned you. God is not helping you. I don't have the power. Why? No, you do have the power, because the power of Christ lives in you. And the enemy wants you to think that God can't help you. Wherever he finds you, whatever circumstances you have, the enemy wants you to speak over you. The enemy wants to tell you that you are in a stalemate, that you are a slave to the problems, the struggles, the addictions, the problems that you are facing. You are never going to be free from that. That's what the enemy wants to speak over you. And instead of that, I want the original name, God is helping you. He can help you. He is the one who is going to help you. He is going to give you the ability to be victorious. And those young Israelites, what did they do? Well, they decided to be strong in a culture that was there, incandescent of those lies. They were going to do what the culture was going to do, not what the culture was going to do, but what God told them. And the Babylonians said that they were going to be, well, a statue, not just any statue,

not a 10-foot statue. No, the Bible says that they built a 9-foot statue, 90-foot statue, laden with gold. And the king put out a commandment that said, if anyone does not join the statue, they will be put into the fire and die. So, here are our friends, the Israelites, these young Hebrews, where they were threatened to be put into the fire. Are you going to stand firm in front of this? Or are you going to stand firm? Are you going to stand firm and have consequences? In other words, are you going to stand for God or are you going to stand for what your culture is praising? Put it there for a moment. That's our decision today in 2022. Are we going to stand for God? Or are we going to stand for what our culture is saying? Don't get it wrong, everyone praises something. You say, oh, I'm not religious. Yes, you are. We are people who follow something or someone or we see something that is our source or that completes us or gives us identity or helps us in our culture. We all pray, we all worship something. Sometimes some people worship pleasure, others worship sex, having relationships, others worship popularity,

others worship money, others worship politics. And by the way, a lot of Americans do. We're also worshiping ourselves, a culture that is worshiping all kinds of things. And by seeing something that is giving them security, giving them happiness, that's their source. The question is, in our culture today, the same question that Daniel and Mishak and Shadrach said, will we stand for God or will we stand for these lies? Some leaders in Babylon decided to come and be here with these young Hebrews and give them consequences. In Daniel chapter three, verse two, it says what it says, that there were some Jews who don't listen to you. There are some Jews, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, whom you put in charge of the province of Babylon, who don't pay attention to your majesty, who refuse to serve your gods and don't worship the statue of gold that you have placed. King Nebuchadnezzar was so angry with these three, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that his face became red with rage. Let's talk about that for a moment. When it says here, he was so offended, he was so offended, furious, angry, that his face became distorted. Because these men don't sit in front of his statue. He literally distorted his facial expressions.

And I see it as a rage of demons. He was demonized. Have you noticed in our culture, when our culture tells us, that's what you have to believe, that's what you have to do, and if people decide not to do it, do you see how they are with this anger against these people who don't conform? There are no more civil problems. There is no longer, sorry, there is no longer a culture that accepts that we all think differently. They just say, if you don't believe what I believe, we're going to be furious and enemies of you. We're going to punish you. We're going to cancel you. We're going to erase you. We're going to shame you. And we don't have morality anymore. And we're going to change this. Do you notice this? That's the same spirit that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, Abednego, he said, when they stood firm, there was a spirit of anger that came through that man. If you don't bow, there's going to be a spirit of anger that goes against you. The king commanded that these men, that the oven was hotter than normal.

And he got so angry, that he had the oven heated seven times more than normal. So he ordered some of the strongest men in his army to tie up these three and throw them into the burning oven. They tied them up, they threw them into the oven, totally dressed with their costumes. and the king, in his anger, had demanded that the furnace be very hot, and the flames killed the soldiers as they threw the three men into it. In this way, firmly bound, they fell into the flames. You know, this is intense, and that's why I didn't want to talk about this before, but a lot of people asked me to talk about this on Sunday, because I did it in a conference, but the culture is like that, and sometimes they get scared of these topics, but I have to talk about this. When you stand for Jesus, when you decide not to bow down to what culture is washing, whether it's at school, at work, or with even on your family, when you stand up, Jesus, it's gonna cost you something. You're gonna lose your friends. Maybe they'll laugh at you. Maybe they'll be mad at you. They'll challenge you. Maybe you'll feel left out,

because you're gonna feel like you're standing alone. Not everyone likes Jesus. And if there were people who didn't like Jesus, who was so loving and perfect, what do you think? They're not gonna like you either. I'm not saying we're gonna have a conversation about them, we're not. The Bible is clear. It tells us to love our enemies, but it doesn't mean they love us back. And it doesn't mean they treat us well, and justly, or have a common sense, or rational. It doesn't mean they're not gonna make us pay. And when they make us pay, it's not that person. It's the spirit of those moments, through that person, the spirit of the enemy. It's enraged that you had the audacity to stand up, to stand up for God. And it says, how dare you? The spirit of today. The spirit of today. So what happens? The Bible says this, in verse 25, it says, look, Nabucodonosor said, look, I see four men, I see four men, I see four men,

walking in the fire, walking in the fire, undamaged, and the fourth man looks like a god. So Nabucodonosor came as close as he could to the door of the furnace, and he yelled to them, Sadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of God, get out of here. You know, the enemy knows your name and knows their name. So he says to them, servants of God, servants of God, get out of here. And this is the king, Nabucodonosor, and he sees this miracle, and he says, I give up. You are God. Yes, your God is the real God. He says, get out of here. He says, come on out. Then Sadrach, Meshach, and Abednego And he says, come here, the servants of God, the servants of God, the authorities, governors, and the princesses and their governors and they saw that the fire had not even touched them,

not even a hair on their heads had burned down. They didn't get burned, not even their clothes, they didn't even cry the smoke. Many theologists believe that the fourth man was worshipped by the people who came in the manifestation of the person of Jesus, that Jesus was there in the fire, there in the fire with them. You know, Jesus is not going to leave you when you feel that you have been put into the fire. And sometimes we don't want to stand firm because we don't want people to think less of us, to get angry with us, you know, when you stay firm, God is firm with you. Our society is praising everything and everyone. I see the news, I see online, I see social media, and we're not thinking with common sense anymore. We're praising everything and everyone. And we think that this is going to fill us, but no. And look, here's the question today for followers of Christ. You're going to stand firm, you're going to stand firm before Jesus. Where culture wants to compromise values, we stand firm in the justice of God.

When culture tells us to be fearful, we have to stand firm in the hope of Jesus. We have to stand firm in the conviction of Jesus. When culture wants to see pornography, drugs, violence, killing, money, pleasures, and you say, no, no, no, no, I want purity, to be pure, pure, and I'm going to be there for what Jesus wants for me. I'm going to stand firm in the midst of everything that's happening. Am I the only thing that's going on? Will you do it? The courage, the courage looks strange in a culture of commitment. The courage, the courage looks strange in a culture of commitment. When you don't praise that, God doesn't let you fall. He's there with you in the fire. He's there with you in the fire. He's there with you in the fire. He's there with you in the fire! He's there in your heart. Can you talk about it? Can you arrange for it to be a dream in your heart? Can you open up and fight with it? He's there in front of you, even the things that malign you. He's there in your world, He's there in your heart. He's there to blend and excuse you. He's there to stand out. The world needs us to stand out. The world needs us to stand out. The world needs us to stand out. God doesn't want us to be a mirror of the culture.

He wants us to be a mirror of His Word. God needs us to be a mirror of Jesus. He wants us to live differently. This is what happens when you live differently. He's there. The world doesn't need you to blend in or walk in. The world needs a witness. A witness for we are firm in God and for God. I'm going to ask you to close your eyes, bow your head and let's pray for God to give us balance on 2026. Just to pray that God gives us balance. I'm not saying that you should be rude. That's not what I'm saying. Or pushy. I'm not saying that you should have conviction. I'm not saying that you should have principles and commandments of God in your heart. I'm not saying that we should be perfect. No. From time to time we are going to fail. Yes. And that we are ready to face the consequences. Knowing that Jesus is there in the fire with us. God Almighty, give City First courage. Help us to have a strong spine. Spiritually speaking. In work. In school. In our businesses. In our neighbors. In our families. Not a reflection of the lack of commitment around us.

That we are people that we talk when it is right to talk about you. That we are willing to live correctly in the midst of these things. And God I ask that we do it with humility. Not with tension. These men, they are not going to do it with humility. They are not going to do it with tension. These men, Sadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They are there. He gave them to you. What did he give them? The attention to you. And when we stand firm in you. That you Jesus be the one that receives all the glory. That the people in work, in school, in our neighborhoods. The God that they serve. There is a hunger to serve God. So God I pray that you give us courage to talk about you. That you give us courage. That you give us discernment. That you give us wisdom. That you give us the ability to stand firm. To stand firm in you. With our eyes closed. And bowing our heads. It is a little unorthodox. But if this year you say, it does not mean that it is going to be perfect. But your heart desire is that you want to be a person that stands out. That you plant yourself in God.

Not that you surrender yourself to the culture and the idols of this culture. Or the culture of the world. You want to be a person that stands out for living differently. And you realize that Jesus is in those moments, in the fire, that he is with you. And you say, that is me. This is what I'm going to have you do, as a way of saying, God, you are seeing that we are making this commitment, that physically at this moment, if you say, I want to stand out for Jesus, that physically stand up. And you are going to say, God, this is me, I am here ready to stand up. I am not going to be perfect, but I want to be here for you, even when it is difficult. And God, give us the courage and the strength. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. And if you can't stand up, no one will judge you. But let's do it. If you can't stand up, let's all stand up right now. And God, you see us. Here I am standing, on the stage, in the auditorium, in the rooms, behind the bars. And God, you see us. You see that we are doing this physical act of standing up. Give us the strength to do it spiritually. Give us this strength, every day, when it is difficult. And may the love of Jesus, radiate in our life, as we have stopped with the conviction, for you, and for your word, and for you. In the name of Jesus, we all say, Amen, Amen.