Shadrach, Meshach, & Abednego | Against All Odds | Pastor Jurie Kriel | Message

[MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] Good morning, Shulan Church. It's great to see each and every one of you. Can I invite you to stand up for a moment as we repeat a couple of phrases every week. It's called the Shulan Creed. And we say this because these truths are worth remembering in moments that we need them. So if you can say this out loud with me, if you're new here, you're welcome to just read along. If you've been here for a while, you would know that I have no rhythm. I've been told that I say this without rhythm. I am from Africa, but somehow the rhythm didn't happen, OK? Don't know what went wrong, but if you say that loud into the rhythm that you know it, that'll help me out, OK? You guys ready to help me out? OK, here we go. I am loved by God. I cannot earn it. I cannot lose it. I am forgiven and made brand new. In Christ, I live with passion and purpose. I am empowered by the spirit to be the church in the world and to love this love revolution. Amen.

Good job, church. Over the last several weeks, Pastor Rob's been leading us through a series on against all odds. And he took us through the journey of Rahab and Abraham. And then last week, Daniel, isn't it amazing how Pastor Rob is the ability to take a story that we know and bring some truths out of it that we didn't know and the Bible's ability to keep on inspiring us to greatness. It's been amazing. It's been a great series. But maybe like me, you've had moments in the series where you've struggled to relate with the way in which everything works out every time. In real life, we don't always get what we pray for. In real life, things don't always work out the way we had hoped. And sometimes, when the odds are against us, the odds win, even though we prayed for a different outcome. Today, we're going to dig into a sentence that Pastor Rob shared last week. He said, "Sometimes God keeps you out of the storm. "Sometimes He takes you out of it, "and sometimes He takes the storm out of you." Today, we're going to look a little deeper into that as we continue with when the odds are against you, the three things that you need to know when the rescue doesn't come. What's the three things you need to know when the rescue doesn't come? And our story starts about six, seven centuries before the rebirth of Christ in the city of Jerusalem.

There's a couple of teenagers. They are the cream of the crop. Imagine the best, built, most intellectual, best pedigree and lineage. They're of the royal family. They're three incredible young men in the city of Jerusalem. And they are teenagers at the time when the Babylonians is besieging the city of Jerusalem. The nation of Babylon is the world power at the time, and they've come to conquer Jerusalem, and they're all around the city walls, but inside the city walls, these three young, strong, at the prime of their life, individuals are not afraid. They are not afraid of Babylon at the gates because they remember the story they were told since they've been this big, about when a hundred years before, Assyria was there, and the Assyrians was trying to conquer the Israelites. And they were told how the city of God doesn't fall to any old king a hundred years before when the Assyrians were there. Second Kings chapter 19 verse 35 says that night, the angel of the Lord went out and put to death a 185,000 in the Syrian camp. So I can imagine that these teenagers are telling one another, it's okay. and this is Jerusalem.

This is the city of God. This is the city with the temple where God dwells and lives. They had a song that they would sing, which is captured for us in Psalm 46, verse five. It says, "Speaking of Jerusalem, God is within her. She will not fail. God will help her at break of day. God is within her. She will not fail." The temple of God is inner. But it's in this time that Jeremiah, the prophet, would write, and he would say, "You say over and over again the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, but God is going to deliver the city into the hands of Babylon." So these three young men, these three teenagers, are praying, and trusting, and hoping that God will deliver them. But the reality is that Daniel chapter one, and verse one, says quite the opposite. In the third year of the reign of King Uarkim, King of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord delivered Uarkim, the King of Judah, into his hands along with some of the articles of the temple of God. Jerusalem has fallen. The walls of Jerusalem is bridged, and a lot of Israelites are killed,

and the best of the best, the brightest of the young men are taken away by the Babylonians. They're stripped of everything that they have, and they're taken away on a month-long journey on foot towards Babylon. And I can just imagine the level of hopelessness and dismay as these teenagers realize that their hopes isn't fulfilled. This time, God didn't. This time, God did not deliver Jerusalem. This time, their prayers were not answered. They had a God-didn't moment. God didn't do it for them. God didn't save them. God didn't set them free. God didn't show up for them. And then they show up in Babylon, and as they arrive in Babylon, their very names are stripped away from them as they're given new names. Daniel chapter one of verse seven says, "The chief official gave them new names." And listen for a moment to the names that they're given, Shadrach, which means the commander of Akhoo. Now Akhoo was one of the Babylonian moon gods, or one of the gods they worshiped. So, Shadrach is literally named the commander of Akhoo. He's connected with one of the Babylonians, false God. Messach is the second name, which means who is who Akhoo is.

He gets connected to the same moon god. And then Abednechoo, or the servant of Nebu, which is the god of wisdom and writing. Their very names are taken away from them. You know, sometimes when we have a god deadened moment, we too get a name. Sometimes when we go through failure, we get a name as a failure. Sometimes when we lose the loved one, we become a widower. Sometimes when we go through divorce, we become a divorcee. Sometimes when we run out of finances, we become bankrupt. And we take these labels, and we take these labels upon ourselves, and maybe it's hopeless, maybe it's useless. Maybe it's I never finished that degree, or I never got that job, or I never got that promotion. I don't know what the names is that you take on for yourself, but in real life, sometimes God doesn't. Sometimes it doesn't work out like you had hoped it would. Sometimes the label upon you becomes heavy upon you, not because you want that label, but because your circumstances has brought on that label onto your life. These young men lost their country, they lost their temple, they lost their family line, they lost their table, and they lost their names. They lost everything. They lost everything that made them who they were, and God didn't deliver them.

God didn't deliver them to the point of these labels being put upon them. And I know that some people within the son of my voice, whether online or right here in the room, are finding themselves in that same place where life is not working out like you've prayed, like isn't happening as you've hoped it would work out. And you find yourself in this position, you find yourself in this place where it isn't working out as you hoped. And yesterday off to noon, a lot of us was in a situation where it didn't work out as we hoped. When the number one team faces an unranked team, you have a certain expectation. All right, as you can see, I'm still a little angry, okay? If you don't know what I'm talking about, you're living a blessed, ignorant life. Good luck. But for those of you that know, if you know, you know, okay? We didn't ask a lot. We just said, catch them all, pass the ball. I mean, just protect the kicker. How hard can it be, Brit? It's just a punt for crying out loud. Still a little angry. But in life, sometimes it doesn't work out. But have you noticed that we respond in different yet predictable ways when life doesn't work out the way we expect?

See, we all have our responses, right? You have some people when it goes against the run of stuff. If the game isn't working out the way you'd hoped, not with the meager little three points, but maybe like a lot, right? You're like 21 points behind. And then suddenly some people would just stop watching. They leave the stadium, they've had enough. It's the same old thing, right? Oh, some other people, they don't give up, but they start negotiating. They start wondering, they start thinking what alternatives can they be. I can just imagine that for these three teenagers, they must have had every temptation to respond in the same way. They must have had every temptation to respond in that way. When we have God didn't moments, we respond in three predictable ways. Number one, and firstly, we shrink God. We shrink God to the level of our experience. We shrink God, we shrink our expectation of life to the level of our experience. And may I be the first to tell you that our God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above, beyond what you can think or imagine. And I don't know how life has pushed you around and how little you've made your God. I wanna tell you, he is able to do more. He's able to do greater.

But when we go through a God didn't, when life doesn't work out, we shrink God. The second thing we do is we leave him. We give up on him, we start exploring other options, other ways, other things that might work. We start compromising, thirdly, we start negotiating with God about what really matters. We start compromising and mixing things into our lives that might be enough. And I'm sure these guys faced these temptations as they were in that space. And it would be 20 years after their arrival in Babylon that their big test would come. And this is what their big test looks like, right? So it's the valley of Dura. Now the valley of Dura, imagine a valley, almost like this room right here, right? For those of you that are online, there's like stadium seating towards the sides and a bowl in the bottom. And it's the same idea in this valley as everybody can see everybody in the valley. And the way it worked was the king brought all the people together in the valley and he did two things. The one thing is he put a golden statue up. And the other thing he did is he got a band together, okay, with all kinds of different instruments. And he said when the music plays, when the different instruments were in the band play, I want all the people that's gathered here to bow down

and worship the golden statue. So all the people from all the languages and all the nations came together in the valley of Dura. And Daniel chapter three verse seven says, all the nations and people from every language fell down and worshiped the image of gold. The music plays, the people bow down to worship. But here's the thing, is every time this happens, every time the music prays, every time everybody falls down to worship, there's three individuals that remain standing, Cedric Mezak and Abednego. Hey, sorry. And then again, everybody gets up and then the music plays and when the music plays, the thousands in the valley bars down. And you can see people bar down everywhere, except for three guys. Hey, yeah. Yeah, there they are. (speaking in foreign language) They refuse to bow. They're standing out like a sore thumb amongst all the people that are bowing down. They get reported and they've given one more chance. And the question the whole chapter turns on is in Daniel chapter three verse 15, it says, then what God will be able to rescue you from my hand. So the king says this, he says, you've got one more chance to bow down.

When the music plays, here's your last chance to bow down. And if you don't, what God would be able to rescue you from my hand? Yeah, that we're able in there, right? So everybody's standing, music plays, everybody bows. These three guys remain standing. So the king calls them over. And he says what God would be able. So he orders them to make the furnace seven times hotter. So there's this furnace that they used to melt metal in and they've got this furnace running and he makes it as hot as he can seven times hotter. And he says, unless you guys bow, I'm going to throw you into this furnace. And here's their reply in Daniel chapter three verse 16. (speaking in foreign language) King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able, there's that word again, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it. And he will deliver us from your majesty hand, but even if he does not. Do you for a moment understand how much those words cost those three individuals? As they say those words, if you think of their story up to this point, but even if he does not, we want you to know your majesty that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of God you have set up.

(audience applauding) Not an argument, not an appeal, not give us a day to sleep on it, not we're gonna consult TikTok to find out how to do this, no Google search on how to circumvent, no influencing people book that they read to try and influence the king, no, none of that. As simple answer, our king, our God is able. And even if he doesn't, we will not bow and right there in those three little statements they give us everything we need to know when the odds are against us. Because when the odds are against us, there's three things that you need to know and that's the three things in this scripture is that our God is able to deliver us, but even if he does not, we will not bow. Now look at the three things that come out of this. We need to know what God can do. We need to know what he can do. Secondly, we need to know that there is no one else. You've gotta make up your mind that there is no one else. There's nothing else you'll buy to. And you've gotta decide before the music plays. You need all three of those things. And we're gonna take some time to actually dig into each of those if we wanna overcome the odds in our lives. How do we do it? Number one, you've gotta know that God is able.

The God whom we serve is able to deliver us. Not God might, not we'll see what happens, but an understanding of God's ability to be God. God is almighty and God can do it. I remember as a little boy, I was one of four siblings, okay? So when you're four siblings, there's a lot of competition going on in being four siblings. And I was right in the middle there. So my dad had a motorbike that he loved to ride on a Saturday. So he would take his motorbike out on a Saturday and he'd go for a ride. But the problem with the motorbike and four little kids is that you can only take one at a time, right? So how are you the one? If all four asks at once, then nobody gets to ride along because then you can't go along because he can't take everybody and he's gonna disappoint three. your siblings right at the moment as he was going and then you had to be the only one asking to go along and then you got to go along, right? Because there's no one to disappoint. So, you would do that and then he would take you for a ride on his motorbike and somehow, I'd have no idea how, the ride would always somehow end up at the toy store, okay? All roads lead to the toy store and then at the toy store, you would get to go through the toy store and here's what you knew as a little kid in the toy store with your dad. Is you knew that your dad could afford any toy in the store? The thing was just which toy are you going to be able to get today, right? So,

do you have birthdays to leverage? Do you have doing good at school? What can you leverage to get the best toy out of him? But there was never a question on whether or not dad can afford every toy in the store. Some of you need to remind her today that God can afford every toy in the store. Our God is able and maybe you've forgotten, maybe you've shrunk him down, maybe you've made him little and you've stopped praying because your prayers weren't answered. The fact that your experience wasn't so doesn't change the fact that God is able. We've got to understand that God can. God is able. He has all ability and even when life doesn't work out the way you had hoped. Even when things don't work out like you wish. Even when your prayers aren't answered, it doesn't change the fact that God is able. Settle that in your heart for the rest of your life, my God can. The second thing that these young men help us with is they make a statement they say, but even if he does not, even if he does not, we will not bow, even if he does not. We've got to make up our minds that there is no one else. There's no other rescue. There's nothing else to trust. There's no one out there. See, sometimes we confuse the fact that God can do it, with God will do it. But the answer isn't whether God can do it or whether God will do it. The real thing we've got to understand is what will we? What will you do? God can do it. God might not do it, but even if he doesn't do it, what are you going to do? That's the question you need to answer. It doesn't change what God can do. Here's the thing, guys. God remains God, even when God doesn't act according to your bidding. God remains God, even when God doesn't act according to your bidding. When God doesn't answer your prayer, that doesn't change the fact that he is able to do what he is able to do. It just means your prayers on being answered. We need to step out of the place where we've created God in our own image and we've made God our thing to direct because I want to tell you God is God and God gets to remain God whether he answers your prayer or not. Whether he chooses to show his ability or not, it doesn't change who he is. We worship God because he's God, not because he does what we say. Remember what this statement cost these young men. Not only were they lives at risk, but they had a very real memory over time when their prayers weren't answered where Jerusalem wasn't rescued, where the temple was overrun by foreign heathens. They had a very real memory of when they never saw their moms again for the rest of their lives and was taken away to another land to be given another name. They refused to bow because there was no other. God is God and him alone is worthy of our worship and even if he doesn't rescue us, God will remain God and I will

continue to worship him even when the healing doesn't come, even when the restoration of relationship doesn't happen. Even when the provision doesn't come through, when I ask for the provision to happen, it doesn't change the fact that God can and God is God and I love to worship him with or without. Is this moment in the story of the disciples in John chapter 6 verse 66 to 68, they were all coming with him, and people were being fed, and people were being healed, and everybody was excited. And then Jesus makes one statement, and the statement upsets the crowd, and half the people get up and leave. So just imagine I say something so bad that half of you get up and leave. And so Jesus turns through the disciples, he turns through the front row. They're still there. He says, "Aren't you guys going to go as well?" And they look at him, and they say this thing in John chapter 6 verse 68, I got it. They say that they make this statement, "Lord, to whom shall we go, you have the words of life." You've got to make up your mind that even when you don't understand, even when you don't get it, even when everybody leaves, even when your praise doesn't get answered, where shall you go for he has the words of life? We don't serve God because it's good for us to serve God. We serve God because God is God, and there is no other. We don't serve God because we understand everything that happens to us in life. We serve God because he's God, and he gets it, even when I don't, he still gets it, and he still gets my worship. That is what we need to overcome when the odds are against us. But if you want to live that life, you've got to do the third thing that Sadrach, Messach, and Abednego did. These three men decided before the music played. Their moment when they said, "And even if he doesn't, we will not serve your gods." That's their statements. Even if he doesn't, we will not serve your gods. That's a decision that they made, not in the moment. That's a decision that they made chapters before. They didn't make the decision when the music played and everybody bowed. They made the decision a long time before that they will serve God. And Pastor Rob shared with us last week about chapter one, right, where they made a decision, and they said, "We will not eat off the king's table. We will not partake of these things because our God is able." You've got to make the decision before the music plays. For those of us that are married, there was a day that we stood in front of the altar, and we made a promise. The promise was for better or for worse. In sickness and in health. None of us planned for the sickness. None of us planned for the worse, but that doesn't change the decision. We make the decision before the music plays. We make the decision before we go into the situation.

They made the decision in chapter one, chapter three, standing in front of the fiery furnace was simply the resolution. It was simply the walking out of the decision they've already made. The music is the moment that you find out what you've already decided. I feel like there's a lot of music playing in our lives right now. There's a lot of music in the world around us. There's a lot of temptation to bow to all kinds of things in the world around us, but I want to ask you, who do you worship? Who is worthy of you buying your knees before him? Or are you simply going to go with every wind that comes your way? They made a decision beforehand. So the music plays, these three men, Sarah, Messa, and Abednego, they don't bow. They remain standing. So the king has the furnace heated up to seven times hotter and he gets some people to throw them into the fire. Now, can you imagine at this moment as these people have their hands on them, their bound, they're ready to be thrown into the fire, I think they're convinced that the moment that they're in is that God didn't, right? God didn't. Even if he doesn't, we will not bow. Here we go, we're going to burn. The fire is so hot that the people around them is burnt and dies in the process of throwing them in the fire and here they are thrown into the fire and everybody around them, everybody that bowed down says, "I told you so." You didn't want to bow. You've been looking for. But King Nebuchadnezzar thought he was teaching them a lesson when in actual fact God was teaching him a lesson. Because as King Nebuchadnezzar stayed at the fire, verse 25 of Daniel chapter 3 says, Look, I see four men. And the fourth looks like the son of the gods. They were tied, but in the fire they were loosed. They were sentenced to death, but in the fire they found life. Here's the thing, God did not put out the fire, but God joined them in the fire. And I know that some of us are praying and we're trusting and we're asking and we're saying, God, would you do this? God, would you, and the deliverance is not showing up in the way that you expect it, but that doesn't mean that he will quince every fire, but it does mean his promises that he will be with you in every fire.

He will be with you in every difficulty. He will never leave you nor forsake you. Some of us will go through the fire and the difficulty and the hardship and we will pray. But I wanna tell you, if you've made up your mind that you will not bow to anything else, he will be with you in the moment. He might not take it away, but he will take away its power. Sometimes he doesn't heal the sickness, this side of eternity, but I will tell you that he will be with you every moment and on the other side of eternity, death has no sting and sickness has no hold on us. These three young men has something to say to every one of them, to every one of us, but have something to teach us about when the odds are against us in life. But God had something to say over their lives even before they were born. Even before Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians and before they received their new names, Cedric Mezak and Abednego. Before all of that happens, something else happened. God named them. You see, their names wasn't Cedric Mezak and Abednego. Their names were something else. God named them with another name and actually every one of these moves, every one of these shifts, every one of these things that we need to know

is in their names. The first one was called Hananiah. Hananiah means the Lord is gracious. We can only know that the Lord is gracious when we know what God can do. The second one was called Michielh, which means that who is what God is? Who is what God is? Was Michielh's name? And the third one was called Azariah. The Lord has helped us. They knew what to do before the music played because it was in their names before they were born. God had their destinies ordained and the message that they have for us, not Cedric Mezak and Abednego as the Babylonians would call them. But Hananiah, Michiel, and Azariah had something to say. God had something to say before there was a Babylon, before there was a golden statue. Our God was there and He had called them for a moment such as this. And maybe you need to hear today that God has called you by name and you are His. (audience applauding) Everything that you need to live in the fullness that God has for you is right there. Look at this as we put the whole story together for a moment.

We shrink Him when we don't get our moment, when we don't get our way. But the Cedric Mezak and Abednego teaches us that the God we serve is able. Sub-shrinking God. Know what He can do. The Lord is gracious. Hananiah was His name. When we have God did in moments, we leave Him. But even if He does not know, there is no one else. Michiel, who is like our God. We renegotiate and we compromise. But we've got to figure out, we've got to hear them today, that we will not serve your gods, that we decide before the music plays because the Lord is our helper. Hananiah, Michiel and Azariah had the message in their names from before this message ever was. Babylon spent three years, So have you ever been to tech reveal maybe watched Apple written view the release their new products or something like that And they'd come to the end of the presentation and they say I have one more thing anybody remember the iPhone one more thing moment Okay, there's about three of you with me, okay, but I have one more thing. Okay, that's the point. There's one more thing is actually Pasta Rob's been referring to Hebrews chapter 11 throughout in this in this message and what's interesting about Hebrews chapter 11 is that Hebrews chapter 11 is a Listing out of our heroes of faith right it it it mentions Rahab and it mentions Abraham and it mentions all these stories That work out great They all see the promise of God worked out in their lifetime And then we read the book of Hebrews and we celebrate Their faith in fact Daniel and the lines then is mentioned in Hebrews chapter 11 and

Right off to that in verse 34. So is this instance? It says that God quenched the fury of the flames And an Ia Michelle and Azariah Isn't mentioned by name in this context by the way A hundred and fifty years after Babylon the Jewish writers would write the story of Sadrach Mesach and Abednego And can I tell you something they don't use Sadrach Mesach and Abednego They use their names Ananiya Michelle and Azariah Because that is how they will be remembered. That is how we will be remembered See so when the Hebrew writer writes he says they quenched that he quenched the fury of the flames and I love that Because you know what it doesn't say that he put out the furnace It doesn't say that he took away the flames. It says he took away the power of the flames See when life happens Life sometimes happens to us contrary to our praise But life can happen to us but life Happening to us can never own us Because it has no power over us Do not fear those who can kill your soul that who can kill your body, but they cannot touch your soul So Hebrews 11 goes on and verse 35 to 40 it lists out several other people And I want to want you to see for a moment how their stories panned out Here's the turn it says others were tortured and refused to be released They were stoned they were sword in two They were killed by the sword These were all commended for their faith yet. None of them received what had been promised Since God had planned something better for us. So that only Together with us with they be made perfect All of those people that's mentioned in verse 35 to 40 did not get the right ending

They got the opposite ending. They were sword into they were killed They were thrown in the fiery furnace. They went through all these things They never saw with their own eyes in their lives what were promised But guess what Hebrews 11 calls their faith the same faith as the ones who saw it Why because whether you get the results or you don't get the result doesn't change the one you believe in one But God gets to remain God and whether we get the result we're asking for or not It doesn't change the one that we worship and even if he doesn't we will not bow And even when it looks like we're in the same fire that everybody else finds Themselves in we are not in that fire alone and in the end We will receive the promise whether in this life or the next our faith is not determined By the outcome. It's determined by the one we put our faith in Our faith is not determined by the outcome. It's determined by the one we put our faith in What they got was him With them in it They got him in the midst of what they went through Hananiah, Michelle, and Azariah had an ending to this story that I really love. Remember the king of Babylon? Took these three teenagers and when he got them, he gave them new names. The names most of us know best about these guys. Well, he uses those three names when he sees the four people in the furnace. And here's the end of the story. Daniel chapter three, verse 26, he says, (speaking in foreign language) Remember how he embedded the gods of Babylon in their names? Servants of the Most High God. Come on. Servants of the Most High God.

He saw who they really were in the midst of the fire. And I have good news, that's also bad news for you today. This is not an amen moment, it's an ouch moment. But here's the moment, nonetheless, is the world will see who you are in the midst of the fire when they see you not alone. Servants of the Most High God come out. May we learn from Hananiah, Azariah and Michelle, today and may their message be loud to us today as we realize that our God is able. God can. But God gets to remain God. So even when he doesn't, we will not bow no matter what. Can I invite you to stand to your feet? Like Hananiah, Azariah and Michelle, may we make a stand today, this day, then whatever fire might come, whatever difficulty comes our way, whatever prayer we've prayed that hasn't worked out the way we had hoped, we are not alone and we will stand in the fire with the fourth man in the fire, being worthy of our worship no matter what. ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ There is a mother in the fire ♪ ♪ Standing next to me ♪ ♪ There is another in the waters ♪ ♪ Woding by the seas ♪ ♪ And should I ever need reminding ♪ ♪ When Paul sent me free ♪

♪ He's a grave that holds nobody ♪ ♪ Now the power lives in me ♪ ♪ There's another in the fire ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ There's another in the fire ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ For my death and heaven be the ones ♪ ♪ I'm no longer a slave to myself anymore ♪ ♪ Should I fall in this place between ♪ ♪ Well, that means me and the dragon being ♪ ♪ I know, you know me ♪ ♪ I'm about to the things of this world ♪ ♪ 'Cause I know ♪ ♪ I know I will never be long ♪ ♪ There'd be nothing in the fire ♪ ♪ Standing next to me ♪ ♪ Being not looming in the waters ♪ ♪ Holding back the scenes ♪ ♪ Should I ever need reminding ♪ ♪ Could you be too mad ♪ ♪ Count the joy of every battle ♪ ♪ 'Cause I know that's where it will be ♪ ♪ I can see the light in the darkness ♪ ♪ 'Cause the darkness bound to it ♪ ♪ I can feel the love in the heavens ♪ ♪ I can see between where it's at ♪ ♪ I can feel the ground ♪ ♪ Chained beneath us ♪ ♪ 'Cause the crazy walls came in ♪ ♪ Nothing stands between us ♪

♪ Nothing stands between us ♪ ♪ I can see the light in the darkness ♪ ♪ 'Cause the darkness bound to it ♪ ♫ I've the space between the West and ♫ I've been feeling around ♫ They've leaves us ♫ 'Cause the prison walls can't end ♫ Now they're same between us ♫ Now they're same between us ♫ No nothing stands between us ♫ Yeah - Lord, thank you. Let nothing can stand between us, Lord. Thank you, Jesus, that you have conquered sin and you have conquered death and you've conquered distance. Lord, and there's nothing that stands between us, Lord, so I pray today, Father, for every person in this room, that might feel distance between them and God, Lord, I pray that today will be the day that the heavens will roar for joy at their acceptance of what Jesus Christ has done. And in Jesus' name, can I ask you with every head bowed and every eye closed in this room? If that reality is not yet your reality, if your experience of life right now is that there is distance between you and God, whether online or here in the room, I wanna tell you that Jesus came to get rid of that distance.

Jesus came to conquer the distance that you feel between yourself and God, and that is what he came for God, so love the world that he gave. He's only begotten son, that whom so ever believes in him shall forevermore live with him, live in nearness with God, so whatever sin, whatever shame, whatever distance it is that you feel today, I wanna tell you that right now is a moment that you can deal with that and you can accept what he has done for you and enter into life forevermore. So if you're experiencing distance, and today you wanna accept what he has done, I wanna invite you right there we are, just as a sign of your belief, of your grabbing a hold of what he's done, would you put your hand up in the air nice and high right now as a declaration saying, will it I believe that I choose to believe this? I see hands going up all over, I can't stay anybody else today. Can we pray this prayer out loud and at once we're there for the very first time as a reaffirmation of our faith? Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for dying for my sins. I accept you as my Lord and as my Savior, and I will live for you from this day on, forevermore, amen, amen.

Can we give you a great hand? If you've made this decision today, there are people on my left and on my right by the doors, they have big signs that says, "Made brand new," and if you would go to them right now, they have some resources for you to help you on this God journey as you step into it. I'm also gonna invite the prayer partners to the front if you ever need, if you're just going through the fire and you need somebody to stand with you in prayer, we would love the opportunity to pray with you today, simply after the service come to the front, one of us will be here to pray with you. On Wednesday night, we continue with our groups, the guys' night is coming up in a couple of weeks time, don't forget to register on your way out, and may I bless you with this. Your God is able. And even if he doesn't, may you not bow. Have a great week, it was great to have you here. (dramatic music)