(Daniel: The Man God Uses #3) Manifestation of Christ — Ed Miller

Daniel as a Picture of How God Makes Himself Known

Daniel, Tape 3, Manifestation of Christ.

We know that you are our portion and our inheritance, and it is beautiful to us. We pray that we might enter into all that we have in our Lord Jesus. We ask you to guide us tonight as we meditate together and look in the book of Daniel.

Help us, we pray, to see beyond the sacred page, into your heart. Thank you in advance for guiding us. Deliver us from that which is flesh and man. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Okay, I'll ask you to open, please, to Daniel chapter 3, if you would.

Very briefly, let me give just a little bit of review, where we've been and what we're looking at. Good evening, come on in, on both sides here. We're studying together in the book of Daniel, but we're not studying the book of Daniel.

We're studying Daniel the man. Now, let me give a couple of observations we made about the book as a whole, and you'll see why we have honed in on this theme and where we're going. In the book of Daniel, there are three things that the Holy Spirit seems to underscore.

Anybody who studies Daniel has to agree with these three things. Number one, Daniel is the revelation of what God is doing. All through the book of Daniel, God is doing something. And you can see it at the beginning and at the end of almost every chapter.

He's making himself known. Daniel is one of the greatest books on missions, on evangelism, on soul winning in the entire Bible. And the reason that it's so exciting to study this is because it's in story form.

It's in picture form. You see, you get the same truth in the New Testament, but it's in doctrinal form. And sometimes that's a little long-haired and it takes a while to digest the doctrine. But when it's in stories, it's easier to handle.

In the book of Daniel, God is making himself known. The second thing is this, that Daniel is a book of history. Those who study Daniel say that it spans what's called the age of the Gentiles. Beginning with God's people Israel and how they were taken by the Babylonians and then by the Medes and Persians and then by Greece and then by Rome and someday there'll be a confederation of ten nations on the earth and then the Lord Jesus will come and set up his kingdom.

All of that's in Daniel. Nation after nation, king after king, history, history, history, history. And what that's saying is this, that God is doing something. He's making himself known. And God always uses history as his platform, as his stage.

Every time God makes himself known, he moves in history. If it weren't for Daniel, you wouldn't really see as clearly that God is behind the scenes. God controls nations. God controls people, individuals.

And so in Daniel, God is doing something, making himself known. God's platform, his stage, is history. Your history, my history, our history, the history of the world. God is behind the scenes. And then the third thing in the book of Daniel, and this is where we get our fame, how does God make himself known in history?

And the answer is this, always, never an exception, always through men like Daniel, Sadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Always through men like that. Now, when you come to the book of Daniel, the majority of God's people, Israel, they're in bondage.

They're in captivity. They've sinned and God is chastening them. They're in confusion. Babylon means confusion. Jerusalem means peace, city of peace. God intended his people live in peace. But because they sinned, they didn't live in peace, they lived in confusion.

And they went off to Babylon. And it was God's plan that they would live in relationship with him. And so when the book opens, God looks at all of his people and he says they're a mess. They're in bondage.

And then he homes in on the best of God's people. And they were a mess too. Even those who had the most light and the most privilege and the most opportunity, they were also a mess. And then the spotlight narrows to these four, Daniel, Sadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

And then God stops there and he begins to tell their story. God is saying in effect, I'm going to make myself known. I'm going to make myself known in history. But I will always use people like this. That's why these six chapters are so important.

That's why they're so rich. Because they describe the kind of a man, the kind of a woman, the kind of a people that God will use to make himself known in human history. I think all of us are familiar with Acts 10 .34.

Acts 10 .34 says, and I'll read it from the New American Standard, it says, I most certainly understand God is not one to show partiality. You have the King James and you probably remember it from that.

God is not a respecter of persons. And of course what that means is this, that nobody has an advantage over anybody else. We're all on level ground. God has no favorites. There's no such thing as the Savior's pet, like the teacher's pet.

We're all on level ground. But remember, that truth must be balanced by another Bible truth. And the other Bible truth is this, that God is certainly a respecter of persons. It's not right to say God's not a respecter of persons.

As far as salvation's concerned, he's not. As far as salvation's concerned, everybody is on level ground. But when it comes to ministry, when it comes to service, when it comes to God's program of redemption and making himself known in history, being used as his instruments, then the Bible teaches that God is very picky.

God is very selective. And he looks for men like Shadrach and Meshach and Abednego and Daniel. So we've been homing in on these six chapters to see what these men were like, how they became so usable by the Lord.

I suggested that the first six chapters are in God's ordained order. In other words, since we're having the picture now rather than the doctrine of the man God uses, God lays down a truth in chapter one.

The next truth is in chapter two, and it must follow chapter one. You can't experience the truth in chapter two until you've come through chapter one. And you can't experience the truth in chapter three until you've come through chapter two.

Just so, you can't experience the truth in four and five until you've come through one, two, and three, and so on. The first six chapters of Daniel are in God's order. And there's a progress and there's a development and there's an unfolding.

And when you're all done, you have the complete picture. This is the complete mention in picture form of the instrument that God will use. Well, so far we've looked at two chapters. Let me get those before your hearts again.

Chapter one, what's the starting point? What's the beginning? How does it all begin? If God's ever going to use me like he used Daniel and his three friends, it must begin with Daniel 1 .8. Daniel 1 .8 says, Daniel made up his mind.

And the letter there is, Daniel set his heart that he would not defile himself. It's got to begin there. The starting point of any useful instrument in God's hand is the will. Choosing. I must decide, as Daniel decided, I just want to please the Lord.

I want to live for his honor. I don't want to please myself. I don't want to defile myself. I just want to honor God. That's where it begins. With a determination. With a will. With a choosing. Now, I have to keep saying this so you don't misunderstand.

Notice what I didn't say. It does not begin by pleasing God. It begins by wanting to please God. That's how chapter one begins. Not by pleasing God. But by choosing, saying, I desire to. You see, we can't perform.

We can't do it. Any more than Daniel can do it. When you go through the book of Daniel, you're going to notice this is one of the greatest sections on miracles in the Old Testament. I mean the fiery furnace and the lion's den and the interpretation of those dreams.

Why is it such a great chapter on miracles? It's a great chapter on miracles because God kept showing up. God kept coming. That's why. When a man sets his heart, all I want to do is please God. I don't have the power to do it.

I can't perform, but I want to. I desire. And when a person has that desire, God keeps showing up. And doing miracles. And enabling him. The duty's ours, but the power's not ours. So the beginning is we must choose.

I want to. Not saying I can't. I want to. And then God will do the rest. And we don't want to reteach all we've looked at. If you didn't get those lessons, you're certainly welcome to the tape. But how thrilling.

When Daniel set his heart, I just want him please. Suddenly, he found his own happiness. His own satisfaction. He wasn't trying to make history. He just embraced that which God holds in everlasting remembrance.

And that's why we're studying him tonight. Because God wrote his name in history. Not Daniel. In chapter two, we saw what follows. We looked at this last week. This is just a little review. Once you set your heart to please God.

Now again, story form, chapter two. This vision of Nebuchadnezzar. He had this dream. A dream of the man, the stone, the wind, and the mountain. Remember what all those mean? Because together it gives the principle.

That great image that he saw with the gold and the silver and the brass and the iron. And the iron and the clay. In the shape of a man. Represented the kingdoms of this world. There's many ways to say it.

And the Bible says it in many ways. The old man. The flesh. Self. The world system. This world. Over against the kingdom of God. The physical over against the spiritual. This system. Man's way of living.

Man's way of thinking. Man's methods and so on. So that great image of this world. And there and there as he saw the vision, a little stone made without hands. The Lord Jesus. Came out of heaven and struck at the foundation.

The brutal foundation of that great image. Of course the message is clear. This world must go. And this image must go. And this kingdom must go. And so the Lord Jesus comes and he strikes at the foundation.

Causing a tremendous mess. And everything begins to collapse. And then the vision went on. A great wind came. And it took all the trash away. And just as the man is this world system. And the stone is the Lord Jesus.

The wind is the Holy Spirit of God. God breaks it down. And the Spirit blows it away. And I'll tell you if God doesn't break it down. It's not broken down. It's foolish to try to deal with this whole system.

And try to bring it down yourself. And on the other side. If the Holy Spirit doesn't blow it away. It's not gone. You can't quit your sin. And you can't. You can suppress it. But it will just pop up some place else.

Jesus knocks it down. The Holy Spirit blows it away. And until that happens. It's not dealt with. And then the Bible says that little stone began to grow. And it grew until that stone became a rock. And the rock became a hill.

And the hill became a mountain. And it filled the whole earth. And of course the message is this. That once my heart is set to please God. I begin seeing Jesus in this book. And I see the Lord Jesus come in.

And with every revelation. He breaks down something in my life. And blows it away. And builds up something new. And it's the replacing of kingdoms. The changing of kingdoms. And He grows in my heart. We talk about growing in Christ.

And praise God we ought to grow in Christ. But here's the other side. Christ grows in you. The more you see Him. The more He grows. And pretty soon He'll fill the whole landscape of your life. That's what happens.

When you decide someday. I just want to please Him. All of a sudden your Bible becomes alive. And you start seeing Christ. And Christ begins to change you. And transform you. And the old falls down. And then it's blown away.

And the new comes in. Until Christ fills your heart. That's chapter 2. Now what follows that? That's what we want to look at. So I'm going to ask you to turn to chapter 3 if you would. This is probably the most famous chapter in the entire book of Daniel.

And usually it's studied outside of its context. And even there it's a blessing. And studied with a great deal of benefit. Now only eternity I think will finally reveal. How many have been in some kind of a furnace.

And found help in Daniel chapter 3. Maybe the furnace of affliction. Or trial. Or suffering. Or persecution. Or hard times. Or whatever. And they've read this marvelous chapter. And saw how Christ can walk with them.

In the fire and so on. And just had tremendous blessing from this. I don't know of any Sunday school class. That hasn't thrilled in this story. Almost all Sunday school children know Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

In fact, their names live on in history. And they become the brunt of jokes. My shack, your shack, and a bungalow and so on. I remember when I was a student at Moody. There was a man that came to speak to us.

Dr. S .M. Luttridge. Wonderful conference speaker. And a colored man. I have to tell you that because of what he said. S .M. Luttridge. And he would stand up and lean over and say, My name is S .M. Luttridge.

And I know what you're thinking. What does the S .M. stand for? His name was Shadrach Meshach. I never met anybody named Shadrach Meshach. That's S .M. Luttridge. And he said, now he said this. He said, People always ask me when I say my name's Shadrach Meshach.

They never believe me. He said, I always have to bring my birth certificate with me to prove it. But they always ask me what happened to Abednego. And this colored man leaned over. He said, I had to get rid of that.

Because people misunderstood me. They thought I was saying Shadrach Meshach and a bad Negro. So he said, I got rid of Abednego. Anyway, in fact, this same man, when he was at Southwestern Seminary, his house burned down.

And they started calling him Shadrach Meshach. Lockridge. But anyway, everybody knows this story. With the three men in the furnace. And as I said, even out of its context, it's a marvelous, marvelous story.

That's why it's become flannel graph material, and Sunday school material, and conference material, and songwriter material. I don't know if you've ever heard the Statler Brothers. They've got a song out.

They didn't bend, they didn't bow, they didn't burn. And it's just the song of Daniel chapter 3. The reason I gave you that is an introduction. Because this chapter is so famous, so well-known, so rich, I am not going to pretend that I can give you anything new tonight.

I can't give you anything that hasn't been said on this marvelous chapter. And so what I've prayed, and I pray we'll continue to pray that will happen, is this. Number one, that God will quicken our hearts to old truth.

You see, we don't always need something novel and something new. The truth is thrilling not because it's new, but because it's true. And we can be thrilled with old truth if God quickens us. If God makes us alive.

It's the anointing that's going to make a difference. The anointing of the Lord on His Word. And so, since the anointing is what turns the water into wine, since the anointing is what makes it live, makes the dead bones live, let's pray that God will anoint both my lips and your ears and so on.

Secondly, the only thing I want to do that is often not done is I want to show you this in its context. Not just the story of chapter 3, but how does it fit after chapter 2 and why does it come before chapter 4.

You see, I want to show it to you in its context. It's beautiful even out of its context, but in its context, it's tremendously instructive. And so I pray that God will help us. Let me state it for you right away as a principle and then try to illustrate it.

Chapter 1, God is chosen. My heart is set. I just want to praise Him. When that happens, chapter 2, Christ is revealed. And I begin to see Christ as the little stone. Then what? I like to call this chapter Christ Manifest.

It starts off with Christ chosen. Then Christ revealed. Then Christ is manifest. Something in this chapter. Now remember what the book's about. God is making Himself known. In this case, He's dealing with Nebuchadnezzar.

Something happens in this chapter that turns Nebuchadnezzar's head. The unsaved man. Something happens here that gets his attention. That stops him in his tracks. God begins to deal in his heart. In the next chapter, He finally responds unto salvation.

And we'll see that next time, Lord willing. But He needed chapter 3 to prepare him for chapter 4. This is the context. Now, there's many ways to study it. And I'll encourage you, study it. Study it in terms of faith.

Study it in terms of the boldness of these men. Study it in terms of their surrender. Study it in terms of separation. Study it in terms of fellowship with God. Study it in terms of affliction and trials and troubles that you go through.

Study it in terms of liberty. And deliverance. And being set free and so on. But, don't miss this. The main point of this chapter is the manifestation of Christ. That's what this chapter is all about.

Somehow, in this chapter, Christ comes out. Christ shines forth. Nebuchadnezzar's looking. God's dealing with Nebuchadnezzar. And for the first time to his eyes now, Christ is going to become visible.

You set your heart to please the Lord. Then God begins to show you Christ in the scripture which transforms you. Breaks down the old and builds up the new. And then Christ is manifest through you. That's God's order and it never changes.

And that's always the same. So, whatever details we study here, we'll look at a few. I don't want us to miss the big one. It's the manifestation of Christ. Let me get several of the facts before our hearts.

And then we'll come back and pick it up. Now, I assigned you a homework assignment. Promised you a pop quiz and all that. That you should have read the chapter. I hope you did. And it's about 30 verses long.

Some of you haven't. And I want you to stay after tonight. And erase the boards and clap the erasers and all the rest. If you would read these chapters in advance, it would really help. Because some of them are rather lengthy.

Because many of the principles are in terms of the facts in this story, I think if we don't read it together, I'll pull on your memory that you have read it or you know the story. I think, even without reading it, when I refer it to the verses, it'll hang together.

So, I'm taking a chance. I'm not going to read it with us. If you haven't read it, then afterwards maybe you'll want to read it. But if you're not familiar with the passage, I'm going to ask you for this lesson.

Trust me. Trust me on these details. Then check me out. I mean, don't trust me forever. You've got to see if it's the Word of God. But trust me tonight. And then after, read it. If you haven't read it.

And I think it'll stay together. I suggested in chapter 2, and I'll ask you to turn there for a moment, that that great image with the golden head and the silver shoulders and the brass hips and the iron legs and the iron and clay toes and feet represented man, the kingdoms of this world.

It wasn't surprising for me to read in chapter 3 about this image of gold that Nebuchadnezzar set up. When Daniel explained the image in chapter 2, I'm going to ask you to look at chapter 2, 37 and 38.

When Daniel explained this, he said to Nebuchadnezzar, You, O king, are the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, the strength, the glory. And wherever the sons of men dwell, or the beasts of the field, or the birds of the sky, he's given them into your hand, has caused you to rule over them all.

You are the head of gold. You are the head of gold. I don't think Nebuchadnezzar slept well after that. You are the head. You are the head. You are the head of gold. And after a while, that got to him.

And that's why we got chapter 3. And so Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold. You are the head of gold. You see, he got so proud that he made this tremendous image of gold. And I think it just went through his head.

There's really no difference in chapter 2 between the image that he made and chapter 1, that great image which represented this world system. The only difference is chapter 1 gives you the outside view and chapter 2 gives you the inside view.

And what's the inside view? The inside view of this world system is this. I want to be exalted. In fact, I want to be worshipped. That's what this world system is. The pride, the arrogance of this man that he wanted to be worshipped.

That world system must be replaced by the Lord Jesus Christ and his kingdom. And he'll do it if you say it. But Nebuchadnezzar is at this point, this is all he knows. Now God's dealing with him. God's making himself known.

He's going to use men like this. But Nebuchadnezzar at this point, all he knows is this world, this world. And the only thing that matters in this world is ego, me. And he makes this tremendous image that everybody bow down.

Now that sounds extreme, but that's really how we all feel. Except that he'd come out and said it. That's the essence of this world system. I want to be worshipped. I want everybody to bow down to me.

And that's what Nebuchadnezzar did. And that's really how you get into this furnace thing. The thing that irritated him so much was that there was some that wouldn't respond. They wouldn't bow down. They wouldn't be conformed to this world.

To this system. Something had happened and they were not responding. This world, this flesh, this self, whatever you want to call it. That's what's consuming him and it's driving him crazy that somebody's not conformed to that.

The pride and the arrogance. The essence of this system. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had lined up with the Lord and had been struck by a stone. And that old system was falling down and a new one was building up.

And so they took a stand against this system. Boy, I tell you. That's abrasive. Took a stand against this world system and they were hated. You know what's so interesting here? The very men that owed their lives to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from the other chapter.

It was because of them that they lived. Because they were about to get killed. They owed them their lives. And now they hate them with a purple passion because they're standing up against this world system.

Faith, Surrender, and the Furnace of Affliction

Now before I home in on the chief message, that is the manifestation of Christ, let's look at several of the details in this chapter. No one can read this chapter, I guess, and not be struck with two things.

Their faith and their surrender. Now if you want a great chapter on faith and surrender, my, here it is. The faith of these men and the surrender of these men. It's not only the commentator that has noticed the faith of these men, but God Himself calls attention to it.

I'm going to quote Hebrews 11 .34 and to drive it home, I'm going to quote it in several translations. Hebrews 11 .34 refers to this chapter and these men. And here's the words. It says, It says, If you have the NIV, it says, If you have King James, it says, If you have the Phillips translation, it says, If you have the RSV, it says,.

Now I call attention to that because all of them are underscoring the same thing. Good evening. We're in chapter 3 of Daniel. It's been pointed out that the faith these men had, according to Hebrews 11 .34, did not quench the fire, but it quenched the power of the fire.

That's not the same thing. It didn't quench the fire. It quenched the fury of the fire. The violence of the fire. In other words, when they were dropped into the furnace, the fire didn't go out. They didn't put the fire out by faith.

They put the power of the fire out by faith. Now what does that mean? You see, whatever the fire pictures, and I won't debate on that. Some people say it's afflictions and it's trouble and it's persecution and hard times and all the rest.

Whatever is pictured by that, these men were delivered, not from the fire. They went through that. But somehow, it didn't hurt them. Somehow, the power of the fire was gone. What a graphic illustration you have.

Look at verse 27, if you would. You want a picture of being delivered from the power of the fire, look at this. Chapter 3, 27. The fire had no effect on the bodies of these men, nor was the hair of their head singed, nor were their trousers damaged, nor had the smell of fire even come upon them.

Boy, you want a picture of being delivered from the power of the fire. Look at that. The whole ability of the furnace to hurt, to destroy, was removed. In a little while, in another connection, we'll see how they actually gained by the fire.

They lost nothing. They actually gained by that fire. Now, there's no question that a spiritual principle of life is illustrated here. When I'm looking to the Lord Jesus, no matter what I go through, no, now watch this word, spiritual damage can come to me.

I didn't say no damage. No spiritual damage. Anything shakable might be shaken, but nothing unshakable will ever be touched in the life of a Christian. No matter what, not even one hair of your spiritual head will be singed.

You won't even have the smell of harm or of hurt.

Upon you. No matter how hot the furnace,.

The child of God cannot be spiritually damaged. Recently, our children were in a play, in a musical, called It's Cool in the Furnace. And I don't know if you ever heard the tape on that, but it gets a little wild in some places.

But the whole point is, it's illustrating the grace of God. It's cool in the furnace. Let me say a few words about what it means, it's cool in the furnace. And here's the first word. The first thing it means to say it's cool in the furnace is this.

It's hot in the furnace. See, that's not a contradiction. It's hot in the furnace. Don't think for a moment that the grace of God is going to make the furnace cool for you. Chapter 3, verse 20. You tell me if this was a real fire.

He commanded certain valiant warriors who were in his army to tie Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in order to cast them into the furnace of blazing fire. Verse 22. For this reason, because the king's commandment was urgent, and the furnace had been made extremely hot, the flame of fire slew those men who carried up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

Those valiant warriors felt the fury of a very real fire. They all died. The ones that threw them in. You know, I think about Job when he was going through his fire. In one place he cried out in pain and his comforters came to him, his miserable comforters as he calls them.

And they ask him this question. If God is real and you are trusting in God, how come you are crying? And he gave a wonderful answer in chapter 6, verse 12. Chapter 6, verse 12 says, Is my strength the strength of stones, or my flesh bronze?

What did he mean by that? He said, in effect, I'm crying because it hurts. That's why. If my flesh were stones, or bronze. If my flesh were made out of brass, I wouldn't cry. But God, when he created me, somehow he put in nerves, and nerve endings, and neurons, and dendrites, and that's why I'm crying.

Do you realize it's not a sin to say ouch? And Job said ouch many times. The fact that it's cool in the furnace does not contradict the fact that it's hot in the furnace. I suppose there were many Christians in the recent storm in Charleston and in other places where Hugo went.

And I'm sure many of them lost many things. And in a sense, they went through the furnace. And I don't expect to see them on the TV cheering their losses. Whistling, oh here comes Hugo. There goes my house.

That isn't cool in the furnace. That's not what it's talking about. We're real. We're not made out of brass. We're not like grandfather's picture that hangs over the fireplace always smiling even when the house burns down.

We're real people. We're not some fugitives in a wax museum. We're real people with real feelings. And we don't lose our humanity when we come to Jesus. We gain his divinity. That's another thing. But we don't lose our humanity.

But the Bible teaches though the fire is not quenched the violence of the fire is quenched by faith. The power of the fire. Now I think it will help us if we answer the question when. When is the power of the fire quenched?

Let me try to answer that question for you. Not right away. I want to build up to it. And I want to point out a couple of facts here. I want you to listen to the confession that these men made before the king.

Chapter 3, 16. Oh, Nebuchadnezzar. We do not need to give you an answer concerning this. That's pretty bold, you know. They're standing before the king and they're ready to die. And they said, we don't need to talk to you.

You don't represent our world. You represent another world. And that world is done for us. We have no obligation to answer you or any king of clay of this system. Verse 17. If it be so, our God whom we serve, He's able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire.

What a tremendous view they had. Our God's able. They knew God was able. In fact, they said in verse 17,. And He will deliver us out of your hand. They didn't have assurance that they weren't going to die.

But even death is deliverance compared to sin. And that's what they were saying. We'd rather die than sin. We're not going to dishonor God. He's going to deliver us either way. Whether we live or die, we're delivered.

And if we die and go to heaven, that's better than bowing down to this world system. Chapter 3, 18. But even if He does not, Oh, I love this verse. Even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, we're not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you've set up.

What a beautiful thing. Now, I don't know if when you read this chapter, you've asked the question, Where was Daniel? I think a lot of people ask that question. Where's Daniel in this chapter? Did he bow down?

He's not mentioned. Was he there and did he fail? Or was he off on some political assignment? The Bible doesn't tell us where he was. And I don't really know. The dispensationalists tell us that this is all a great picture.

And Daniel pictures the church. And those three picture the Jews. And they went through the tribulation. Daniel wasn't there because he was raptured. And he was gone. I don't know about all that kind of stuff.

I don't know where Daniel is, but I'm glad he's not in chapter 3. You say, Why? I'm glad he's not in chapter 3 because in chapter 1, where these men are mentioned, they were clearly followers of Daniel.

They were followers. Daniel was the one that decided, and they said, Yeah, us too. They were followers. But in chapter 3, they're not followers. Daniel's not around. They're standing on their own six feet.

And I'll tell you, I'm glad Daniel's there. I don't know where he is. But I'm glad he's not there because it shows that these men have come to see this for themselves. And not just follow some other man.

Or some other Christian. Now look at their faith. They seem not to have a drop of presumption mixed in their faith. They're leaving God completely free to do whatever He wants. They know He can deliver.

They're not sure He will. But now watch. Because in chapter 1, they said, All we want to do is please Him. Now listen to what they say. This is their faith. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. What a place to be in.

To really... Not just words. We're talking about living. To be in a place where we can honestly say before God, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if I'm up or if I'm down. It doesn't matter if I win or if I lose.

It doesn't matter if I succeed or if I fail. It doesn't matter if I'm sick or healthy. It doesn't matter if I'm weak or if I'm strong. It doesn't matter if I remain single or if I get married. Think of that.

It doesn't matter. They've come a long way. It doesn't matter if I abound or if I suffer loss. It doesn't matter if I live or die. That's what they said. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if my family lives or dies.

Think of it. That's where they were in their faith. Now, I'm not talking about just words. These brothers had come to that place where they just said, all I want is to please Him and nothing else matters.