Sunday, November 4, 2007

Today in worship we had a glorious time in the Lord! I must say-the presence of God was not only with us in our worship experience; but we left there today with an emphatic "YES" to the question, 'Was God pleased with our worship toward Him today?' During our worship service today, God simply showed us that He is faithful, reliable, trustworthy, and worthy! My prayer on the way to church this morning was simply asking God to meet us there; my personal struggles with impatience, discontent with mediocrity, etc. - have really pushed my faith to its optimum peak. Though I pastor a small church-I am insistent that we fight the spirit of small-mindedness. Today-though attendance was low (as it has been since moving out of Pearland-well, actually--it has been low since we started!), God showed me that He honors faithfulness toward Him. This was another reminder that He will keep His Word. I am excited about how the Lord is growing and stretching our fellowship; there are times of misunderstanding when I don't see individuals being used that I thought He was going to use. More than this, it surprises me how easily I have released myself from the burden of faulting myself for some who have either left, or are present but are not involved. Some are meant to stay only for a season; then there are others who were just in the wrong place. Then, of course, there are some who leave any given congregation because of the enormity of the task and the pressure of doing more than they desire. All in all-I thank God for each of them. I used to ask people who've left 'why' they left. I now realize that that the answer simpler than I cared to admit: 'it is what it is'!

Anyway--that's kind of off the point. As we prepare to move back to Pearland as we enter the new year, not knowing HOW God is going to do it--He did answer my prayer today as I headed to church. And that is He assured me that we are headed in the right direction. That is all I need to know! Why? Because it pleases HIM! By the way--FOUR people joined church today-these were all adults. Worship was already dynamic, uplifting, and empowering--that only sealed the deal for me. More importantly, these four people have already shown that they are at Cornerstone to work, be used, commit to the vision and leadership--and prayerfully under-gird our entire ministry with their service and witness. Interestingly--this is the first time in our church's short history that we didn't even have programs--for VARIOUS reasons. I will write later about how awesome Sunday School has been! Cornerstone is doing a great work; thought we aren't even close to where God is trying to send us--I see GROWTH! I remain prayerful and submitted to HIS service and plan...

Let me give the outline of today's message:

Subject: Don't Fight Your Furnace
Text: Daniel 3:21-26

Thesis: God could be using your crisis of adversity as a tool to perfect your character and develop your maturity.

Intro
a. Where the Devil has lost the battle for your soul, he is still in the battle for your witness, etc.
b. Don't fight your furnace, curse your crisis, rebuke the fire...
c. The furnace is good news for the believer-it's what Joel C. Gregory calls 'Growing Pains'.

Transitional Statement: The job description of your adversary, the Devil, is to make you feel as if checking with God and walking with God's plan was a wrong decision.

Probing Question: How do I handle the fire so that God can show Himself to be faithful?

I. You have to come up with a new definition of what it means to be free
a. God delivers them while they are still in it.
b. God can teach you and train you how to walk IN the fire.
c. They're walking - and indication that they are:
i. Survivors (You and I are standing in something that should have destroyed us)
ii. Loosed (They went in bound (vs. 21) but they are walking in it loosed (vs. 25) )

Lessons:
1. Remember that God can set you free in the crisis.
2. Don't forget to keep walking.
3. Quit listening to false theology that teaches you to rebuke anything that makes you uncomfortable. Discomfort and inconvenience could be a compliment from God!

(Bonhoeffer 'I'm blessed when I BLEED')

II. When your faith is intensified, you can believe God to show up earlier than scheduled.

Vs. 24 '...looks like the Son of God.'

a. This is Daniel. Isaiah has not yet prophesied about the coming of the Son of God.
b. The 'Son of God' is not scheduled to show up until Matthew.
c. Because of the intensity of their faith-the 'Son of God' steps in earlier than they expected.

Note: Theological understanding of Christophony

Lessons:
1. There are moments in all of our lives where we need God to move earlier than scheduled.
2. The question from God's perspective is this: do you have earlier-than-scheduled faith?
3. Remember that God's glory is the brightest when your furnace is the hottest.

III. God can use your difficult situation to devise divine revelation.

a. Revelation is not something you extract out of a textbook. (Logos/Rhema)
b. When God reveals Himself, it necessitates a situation; and always a season of difficulty.
c. In the activity-you learn to define and ascribe what God does based upon a NAME that gives reference to what God did.

- You couldn't call Him Jehovah Jireh-until you couldn't provide for yourself.
- You couldn't call Him Jehovah Rophe-until you couldn't heal yourself.
- You couldn't call Him Jehovah Shalom-until you couldn't find peace yourself.
- You couldn't call Him Jehovah Nissi-until you couldn't fight for yourself.

Lessons:
1. God can use what you go through to help somebody else to see Who God is.
2. God can use your testimony and your story as a platform to display His resume'.
a. I am a reference in God's curriculum vitae:

- Under healing-I'm there!
- Under joy-I'm there!
- Under miracle-I'm there!
- Under salvation-I'm there!