Pastor Stan Mons
Sermon Transcription:
We thank you that in Your name there's no room for darkness to flourish anymore, Lord God. We thank You, Lord, that every device of Satan, Lord God, and every single thing he planned for our today—every single thing that he thinks he has on us, Lord God—it all melts away in Your presence. Lord Jesus Christ, Your light eradicates all darkness, all of its power, all of its authority. In Your name, Lord Jesus, people are set free, Lord God, from their sin. People are set free from their guilt, from their shame, from their fears, from their trembling. Lord Jesus, we worship You, we thank You, Lord, and we ask You, Lord, that the light of the Gospel may shine in our hearts firmly and strong. Lord God, we pray, Lord God, that Your word may give us understanding today. Lord, that those that are called to walk with You may understand how to follow You, how to live a life that is being used by God.
Lord, You are so ready to move in every single one of our lives. Lord, I thank You that from the least to the greatest, from the one that has been saved the longest to the one that will be born again today, Lord, You are ready to move in our lives. Lord God, You are ready to redeem the unredeemable. You are ready, Lord God, to make a way where there is no way. You are ready, Lord God, to use a man or a woman like us in a way that puts fear into hell and brings redemption into the lives of humankind. Lord, in Your name all things are possible for them that believe. Lord, I pray that You send forth Your Holy Spirit today, Lord God. Father, that one more time by Your Spirit, Your word may be illuminated in our hearts and in our minds. That by Your word, we may grow, that by Your word, Lord God, we may come alive and become new men, new women. Lord God, Holy Spirit, I pray that You do through me, Lord God, in this auditorium and online for every person that watches or watches at a later time. Holy Spirit, I pray that You do what only You can do. I pray that You give understanding, revelation, and deliverance in this time. Holy Spirit, I cannot deliver this word, I cannot help a person see it, but Holy Spirit, it is Your job. You have been tasked to reveal Christ to the hearts of those that are willing to believe that He is the Son of God. Holy Spirit, we submit to Your ministry. We ask that You test our hearts and reveal the Living God, that we may see Him in our situation, that we may follow Him, and that we may let Him use us how He sees fit. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Today, I'm speaking to those people who want God to use them. If you had a choice, you would like for God to use you. You would like for God to do something with your life. You may have dreamed about it, you may have had desires. They may have cooled down, you may be disappointed, but if you got to choose—and if you could speak freely in the presence of God—you would like for God to use you. You would like to bear fruit. You would like to stand before the Father when you come face to face with Him, and you would like it if you had a life that really bore some fruit and made a difference in the Kingdom. But you feel that the effectiveness of your ministry—the ministry of your life—may not have a title, may not be from a platform. The ministry of your life, just the day-to-day, you're just living. The ministry of your life does not feel as great or as effective as the lives of others. You feel your life's impact does not have as much power as some of the lives you have seen. This word is to you: letting God use you. I will read to you this verse from Job, verse 15, the first part of that verse: Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.
Father, one more time I acknowledge, Lord, that I can never help anyone see this word, but Holy Spirit, You can. Holy Spirit, I trust that the man or woman who is in need of a word from heaven today, I trust that as I simply share, Lord, what You have told me to say, that You would open the eyes of the heart, that You would open the eyes of our understanding. That today may be the day that we walk into freedom. That today may be the day that we walk into a life where we can say, "Now I can see God is using me. Now I can see when He is placing His steps before mine, and I can follow Him. I understand where He is leading." Father, I pray that You do it by Your Spirit. I pray that You reveal it. In Jesus' name, thank You.
We're going to get into the word today because unexpected, unfair, and unreasonable things and situations will be done to you and will come upon your life here on Earth. The problem is that you can do something about it. When the unexpected in your life happens, it messes with your calendar, it messes with your planning for the years ahead, it messes with the will you had for the lives of your children or the lives of your loved ones. These are unexpected things. When they come up—and they do in every single one of our lives—when the unexpected comes up, we can try to seize control. We can work hard, we can fight to try and prevent these things from happening, to try and eradicate these things from having fruition in our lives, and see what we wanted to have in our lives come to pass anyway.
When the unfair takes place in our life, it makes complete sense that these things should not be happening to you. You didn’t do them, you didn’t cause them for yourself. It is unfair that they would be upon your life. It makes perfect sense in the wisdom of this world that, in these cases, you can sue somebody and you’re in your good right. You can walk away. You can argue your way out of this because this is unfair—what is being done to you right now, what is being asked of you right now—it is unfair. When the unreasonable is brought into your life, it’s easy to expose someone and to make them look so bad because it’s so unreasonable, and it’s being forced upon your life.
Who do they think they are? I can do something about this, and that is why I will, and I keep the unexpected, the unfair, and the unreasonable out of my life where I can. These situations and these things will be presented in your life, and God will allow it. The question is: will you? God will allow the unexpected, unfair, and unreasonable into your life so that He can do something through you. He's using you to show others something. The problem is that when this process starts, the unfair presents itself, the unreasonable shows up, and the unexpected happens. Very often, almost always, we don’t see that God was trying to do something right there at the beginning of that situation. So many believers, many Christians, many of those who claim and genuinely think and believe and try to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, completely abandon and abort God’s plan for their life.
When we're talking about God's plan for your life, we're not talking about a form. We're not talking about holding a microphone. We're not talking about being in the sound booth. God's plan for our everyday is far deeper than those things. These are aspects, maybe, of something that you are called to do within the body of Christ, absolutely. But on the day-to-day, every day, God has called you to become something in this generation, every single day of your life.
I just came back from a break. There is no break from the call of God. There may be a break from the work in the Kingdom, but there is no break from the call of God. Every day, God calls you to become, in His power and by the leading of His Spirit, what He would like for you to be to the people around you. And so many of God's people abandon God's plan for their life because when the unexpected happens, it doesn’t fit them. They don’t like it. They resist it. They don’t recognize that God is about to lead them into His plan.
They say, "This is unexpected, I don’t like this. You should have called. Maybe next time let me know when you're going to show up. This is unexpected for me. I try to resist the unexpected things in life." Or the unfair, the unreasonable. See, the Lord seeks for Himself to be revealed through you and through your life. That is what you are called to do. That is why you are away from your home in heaven for a time, a guest here on Earth. You don't belong here; this is not your place. It is not your place to build your life here. It is not your place to live for the things of this world and find your joy in the things of this world. It is your place to become a person God is able to use. Every day He’s able to use you for something. That’s what you’re called to be. That’s what you are called to do—that God may reveal Himself to this world through His vessels, the vessels He bought. You. That is what you are called to do every day. And so often we don't end up in that. Amen.
We get to the end of our day, and we may meditate on a truth like this, and we say, "Well, I don’t know what God did through me today. I can come up with some things the devil may have done through me, but I have a hard time clearly rejoicing and celebrating the victories at the end of my day. Clearly, this thing, that thing, and that conversation were of God, and He did what He wanted to do through me today. This day was spent well. I can rest now in this day." It is my desire that by the end of this service, your heart will be changed. I desire that when the unexpected, the unfair, and the unreasonable come your way, that you no longer try to take control and stop it. That you no longer have the urge to take control and fix it before the consequences of this thing begin to touch your life. "It's unexpected, it's unfair, it's unreasonable that these consequences should be brought upon my life. It's not fair. This shouldn't be in my life. I shouldn’t have to deal with this. I shouldn’t go through that. I shouldn’t have to let that go. I should not."
It’s my heart that you come to a place where you've changed, and you stop trying to keep those things out of your life, but that you begin to see, every day, with the Word of God. That you begin to see through the Word. That you begin to see by the Word, that when things happen, you don’t get so obsessed with what is happening and how you respond to it.
The Word of God is so clear to you that you know exactly what to do. The Lord told you, "I’ll never leave you nor forsake you." The Lord told you, "There’s not a hair on your head that falls without Me knowing about it." He told you, "I am with you to deliver you." I desire that, and I believe it is the desire of the Spirit of God, that every person comes to a place where, when the unexpected, the unfair, the unreasonable comes your way, you say, "Well, God is with me. He’s not forsaking me. He’s delivering me. He’s for me. He is not letting anything happen without Him knowing about it."
I'm really curious how this is going to turn out because my Deliverer is right here. This looks very strange. Surely God is going to do a great thing. I wonder how this is going to play out. It is the awe and wonder of a child in the kingdom of God that says, "I know who my Father is. I'm really curious how we get to the end of this day. I know we're going to get there because I know who my Father is, but only by the end of this day will I be able to tell others how my Father did it."
To respond to life because of who your Father is, because of what He has said, and because of what you expect from Him, will change the way you deal with the pain of life. There’s a lot of difficulty, challenges, and pain that every single one of us will go through before we meet our Lord—hurtful things, unfair things, and painful things. But if you've ever come to the Lord and said, "Lord, would you use me?" you need to understand that you're not talking about holding a microphone, a platform, or kids' ministry.
Those things, as important as they are, are very small parts of your journey with the body of Christ. But when you tell God, "God, you can use me," He's going to make a way for you to be used so that others begin to receive something from God that they could never receive alone. This is what He did through Jesus Christ, the author and finisher of our faith, the One who said, "Follow me. If you want to be my disciple, pick up your cross and follow me." God brought something into your life that could have never happened just between you and God. It took Jesus Christ, and it took His life in order for salvation, deliverance, restoration of relationship, and forgiveness to be brought into your life. It took the life of Christ. There are people around you, and it's going to take your life. You’re going to have to lay it down. You’re going to have to give it to Jesus and tell Him, "You can have my life. I’m going to let you use me."
We get so offended when anybody uses us. We say, "I can't believe he used me like that. I can't believe she used me for that." And here we are telling God, "Lord, please use me," and then the opportunity arises. The unexpected knocks on our door, the unfair shows up, the unreasonable is presented, and we go, "I'm not going to be used that way, Lord. If you want to give me a mic, Lord, if you want me to vacuum, I’ll do that, but Lord, I’m not going to be used this way." And we miss, so often, the footsteps of the Lord going before us. He’s trying to lead us into something and through something with an incredible testimony and fruit at the end of our day. But at the beginning, we don’t recognize it, and we say, "Nobody’s going to use me like that. I’m not going to be used this way." It is my desire that you will learn to let God use you, church, because there’s a burning question in the heart of this world, and God seeks to answer it through you and me. He’s not going to answer it any other way. He’s seeking to answer the question through you and me.
Letting God use you. "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him." Let me take you to the Book of Daniel. We're going to start in chapter 1, verses 1 through 7. Here’s the opening of a story of a couple of young men—boys, really—who have been taken rudely, unfairly, unexpectedly, and unreasonably out of their country, out of their families, out of the places where life was going well, and they’re taken to a foreign country. They’re being forced to learn other customs, other languages. Everything is unfair.
Here we get into it: "In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with some of the articles of the house of God, which he carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his god; and he brought the articles into the treasure house of his god. Then the king instructed Ashpenaz, the master of his eunuchs, to bring some of the children of Israel and some of the king’s descendants and some of the nobles, young men in whom there was no blemish, but good-looking, gifted in all wisdom, possessing knowledge and quick to understand, who had ability to serve in the king’s palace, and whom they might teach the language and literature of the Chaldeans. And the king appointed for them a daily provision of the king’s delicacies and of the wine which he drank, and three years of training for them, so that at the end of that time they might serve before the king. Now from among those of the sons of Judah were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. To them the chief of the eunuchs gave names: he gave Daniel the name Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abed-Nego."
Here we have these four young men. In many ways, they’re being used—not in the way they had hoped, not in the way they expected. At this point, it doesn’t even look to them yet that God is doing anything. But they’re horribly being used. We know from the story that they’re being used by God. To them, it looked like the enemy was doing it. To them, it looked like Nebuchadnezzar was in control. In many ways, Nebuchadnezzar is a picture of our enemy, Satan, in our lives today—the desire to take you from a place of freely worshiping God. The desire to take you from there and begin to force the teachings of the world on you, to begin to force you into a life and into a place where Christianity—where life in the Kingdom—becomes a foreign thing to you.
Then we read in chapter 3 how these guys are being used. Verse 1: Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold whose height was 60 cubits and its width six cubits. He set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon. It was about 90 feet tall, about 9 feet wide. Big image. A big statue. Verse 4: Then a herald cried aloud, "To you it is commanded, O peoples, nations, and languages, that at the time you hear the sound of the horn, flute, harp, lyre, and psaltery, in symphony with all kinds of music, you shall fall down and worship the gold image that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up; and whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace." Again, an enemy seeks to turn worship to anything but God—anything but the representation of a holy God who demands worship to Him and Him alone, trust and obedience to Him and Him alone.
We read in verse 14: Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying to them (that is, the boys, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who didn’t want to bow down or worship anyone else): "Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the gold image which I have set up? Now if you are ready, at the time you hear the sound of the horn, flute, harp, lyre, and psaltery, in symphony with all kinds of music, and you fall down and worship the image which I made, good! But if you do not worship, you shall be cast immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you from my hands?"
Here comes the threat of the enemy in their life: "If you do not conform, if you do not fit in, if you do not give up this—if you do not let go of your thorough, dedicated, and committed following of Jesus Christ—there will be consequences. You won't be able to get this job; you won’t be able to hold this position; you won’t be able to do this, that, or the other thing." In other words, the king says, "I have power over how your life is going to turn out, so do not upset me. Do not push me aside. Do not stand out. Do not think that you are free from consequence. Who is the god who will deliver you from my hands? Who is a god that has noticed you and will use His power just for you? Who is a god that will notice you in your situation? Who is a god that will be able to show up just for you?"
There’s no god that will show up for you. Look—everyone else listens, and it goes well for them. The consequences pass them by. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up." Then Nebuchadnezzar was full of fury, and the expression on his face changed toward Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He spoke and commanded that they heat the furnace seven times hotter than it was usually heated.
Church, this is a picture of what happens in the heart of Satan himself. He becomes furious when you will no longer believe him, when you will no longer obey his teachings. You sinned; you went back to your filth, and he’s right there, and he says, "Now you have done it again. Now you have done it again. Now you have to somehow pay for your mistake. God—who is this God? He is not going to show up to deliver you. Who is this God that is just going to receive you with open arms? Why do you not just flee and run? Why don't you just give up on your calling? Why don't you just take your life back? You can go to church; you can show up in services; you can even serve in church—but who are you to expect that God will show up in your everyday life? Who are you? Look at you. Why do you not just obey what I would like out of your life? I just want you to be quiet. You’re allowed to go to church; I just want you to not think too highly of yourself in the Kingdom. Who do you think God is going to show up for you? Who do you think you are?"
Obey my teaching about who you are. Obey my teaching about how forgiven you really are.
Church, when you reject the teaching and the beliefs of Satan himself, he becomes furious, and he will begin to build a fiery furnace just for you. And God lets him do it. God allows it all to take place, because if you trust God and if you let God use you, He will reveal Himself through you in the midst of what the enemy has designed, in the midst of what the enemy has set up. In the midst of the enemy’s rage, God will begin to use you in the very center of what the enemy said would be your downfall. He’ll begin to use you. I'll show you in this story.
And he commanded certain mighty men of valor who were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and cast them into the burning fiery furnace. But this is not the king’s furnace, Church—this is the Lord’s furnace. Therefore, because the king’s command was urgent and the furnace exceedingly hot, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.
Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished, and he rose in haste and spoke, saying to his counselors, "Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?" They answered and said to the king, "True, O king." "Look!" he answered. "I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God!" Church, here we have God show up in the furnace that the king thought was his. The boys thought it was fired up for their destruction, yet here God shows up in the midst of their fiery furnace. They’re being used by God for such a long time—taken out of their nation, taken out of their culture, taken out of everything they knew, everything they liked, everyone they loved. And now God has put this thought in the heart of the enemy to build a fiery furnace for all who do not obey him.
That fiery furnace represents the trials, the pain, the unexpected, unreasonable, and unfair trials that get thrown at our lives out of hatred. The enemy prepares these furnaces over your life because you no longer believe him, you no longer obey him, you no longer bow down to his every will. He says, "Okay, I'll heat it up." The pressures of life and the heat of life can be so cruel. The only mistake we make as believers is that we shy back, and we try to avoid being thrown into that furnace. We try to shy back and try to find a way to somehow find a compromise in which we would not end up in that furnace. Because we haven’t learned yet that there’s deliverance for you right there in the furnace. We haven’t learned yet that God meets us right there in the furnace. We haven’t learned yet that it’s not the king’s furnace—it is God’s furnace, and He seeks to deliver.
Verse 26: Then Nebuchadnezzar went near the mouth of the burning fiery furnace and spoke, saying, "Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out and come here!" Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came from the midst of the fire.
The satraps, administrators, governors, and the king's counselors gathered together, and they saw these men on whose bodies the fire had no power. The hair of their head was not singed, nor were their garments affected, and the smell of fire was not on them.
Here, it is revealed to an entire kingdom that there is a God who delivers. There is no message of condemnation to anyone in the kingdom, but there’s suddenly a revelation made through these boys to an entire kingdom that there's a God who delivers—a God who shows up in the midst of distress and pain, a God who delivers no matter how great the trial. This is a God who is able to pluck His people right out of the fire, a God who does not allow the heat of the situation to affect His people. He is a God who does not allow any efforts of any authority directed toward His people to succeed. He delivers, no matter the intentions of the enemy or the mistakes of our own lives.
We must learn to let God use us, to live a life where we end up in a fiery furnace and people see, time and again, that the fire couldn't touch us. The flames, the heat of the situation, had no effect on us—not even the smell of fire. In other words, the effects, the aroma of panic and fear, are not even present in our lives. How is this possible? There was a fourth man in the fire, like the Son of God, showing up in the place where these men said, "God, you can use me. If that means a fiery furnace for me, then it means a fiery furnace for me." They found out that God shows up in the depths of affliction to bring forth a revelation of God that their mouths could never express—a gospel demonstration to people that their words could never convey.
Let me take you to Daniel chapter 6 because we see the exact same story in a different context. Right here in chapter 6, we see the same thing again.
We’ll read from verse 6 of chapter 6: So these governors and satraps thronged before the king and said to him, "King Darius, live forever! All the governors of the kingdom, the administrators, satraps, counselors, and advisers, have consulted together to establish a royal statute and to make a firm decree that whoever petitions any god or man for thirty days, except you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions. Now, O king, establish the decree and sign the writing, so that it cannot be changed, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which does not alter." Therefore, King Darius signed the written decree.
Now, when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. In his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days. Then these men assembled and found Daniel praying and making supplication before his God. They went before the king and spoke concerning the king's decree: "Have you not signed a decree that every man who petitions any god or man within thirty days, except you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions?" The king answered and said, "The thing is true, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which does not alter."
Daniel is brought before the king, and he’s accused. The king feels horrible, but there’s nothing he can do. Daniel is cast into the den of lions. Verse 18: Now the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting. No musicians were brought before him. His sleep went from him. Then the king arose very early in the morning and went in haste to the den of lions. When he came to the den, he cried out with a lamenting voice to Daniel. The king spoke, saying to Daniel, "Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?"
Church, there’s a cry in the heart of this world. In many cases, people in this world don’t even know they have this cry until they see you in a lion’s den situation or in a fiery furnace. Suddenly, they realize and wonder, This God I only know as a curse word—is He able to make a difference? This God—is He able to deliver? This God—is He able to set free? This God—is He able to make a difference when you face the last of your days? This God—is He able to make a difference in a failing marriage? This God—is He able to make a difference in addiction? This God—is He able to deliver when, by all situations and anything I’ve ever seen in my life, this should end badly?
Can this God make a difference? Verse 21: Then Daniel said to the king, "O king, live forever! My God sent His angel." There we have the other man—the fourth man in the fire, the second man in the lion’s den—His angel and shut the lions' mouths so that they have not hurt me, because I was found innocent before Him; and also, O king, I have done no wrong before you.
You see, the king cried, "Daniel, has your God been able to deliver?" This is what’s in the hearts of people who watch your life. This is what the Father will allow to rise up in their hearts when you are handed over by God to situations that are unfair, unexpected, unreasonable, painful. When you say, "God, I will let you use me. I’ll let you hand me over. I’ll let you put the thought in Satan’s heart to build the fiery furnace. I’ll let you put the thought in his heart to create a lion’s den and throw me in it. Lord, I will let you use me. Lord God, even though You slay me, yet will I trust You. I will place my life in Your hands. I will not fight the direction You set me on. I will not fight what You place before me. I will let You lead me."
"Daniel, has your God been able to deliver?" Church, I wonder how many people have ever looked at your life, and God has been able to raise the question in their hearts: I wonder if her God can deliver her out of this? I wonder if his God can deliver him out of this? Because he’s not trying to stay out of this. He’s not fighting for himself. She’s not resisting what is coming upon her life. Clearly, she’s putting all of her trust in her Deliverer. I wonder if her God, his God, is able to deliver. You are the people to this generation that are supposed to raise this question in their hearts by letting God hand you over, by letting God send you into situations that, by all means, should be the end of you. Church, God is able to deliver. He is able to save. He is able to help those that hope in Him. He will never let them be ashamed. Do you understand that your life, then, is for other people? Do you understand that the furnace, the heat, the pressure-filled situation.
You may be going through the situations you have tried to avoid. They were all for other people, designed by the Lord. The enemy may have his plans, but they were designed by the Lord so that He may let you go through it. He shows up in the midst of your fire. He shows up in the midst of your lion’s den, so that people who will not come to church, people who will not read God’s Word, will see your life and begin to see that there’s a God who delivers, a God who shows up for people that do not deserve it, a God who shuts the mouths of lions. Church, do not avoid lion’s den situations in your life. Do not avoid fiery furnace situations in your life. I know, as well as anyone, how uncomfortable they are, how we want them to end. Someone who I regard as a mentor in my life said it this way: You are called as the Church, the Bread of Heaven. The Lord hands you out. He puts you in the oven to bake you, and if you get out before the time, no one can eat that, no one can digest that.
When you’re going through the fire, we so want it to end. But, Church, I want to suggest to you that we need to begin to see the Fourth Man in the fire. We need to begin to see, not the lions, but that second man in the lion’s den. We need to receive new eyes that say, You expected the unreasonable, the painful is coming my way. I wonder how this one is going to turn out, because I know there’s deliverance for me in that place. Time and time again, I’m going to let God hand me over to this situation. Do not avoid the lion’s den. It’s for other people. People are watching you with a burning question in their heart: Is your God able to deliver? Here’s the promise the Holy Spirit put on my heart: If you let God use you, He will show up. It’s hard, Church, to let God really use you because it feels as if someone unfair and bad did it. It can feel the same way when God is using you. It doesn’t always feel great, it doesn’t always feel happy, it doesn’t always feel nice when the Lord lets you go through the fire, when the Lord lets you go through trials. Sometimes it may feel like He used you. You asked Him to use you, and in the end, when you get through it and see the people who were watching begin to become convinced that God can deliver, that there’s a God who delivers, it’s all worth it.
This is the promise: If you let God use you, He will show up. You’re not going to go through it alone. You’re not going to break in that place. You’re not going to be alone in that place. You’re not going to be wasting away in that place. You’re not going to be forgotten in that place. Your pain will not go unnoticed. Your sacrifice does not go unnoticed. If you let God use you, He will show up. Church, when you give your life to Jesus Christ, this is the promise: He will put you in the fiery furnace, He will put you in the lion’s den, He will use you, but He will show up and deliver you every single time.
See, there’s a generation now that knows very little truth about the Father, very little truth about who Jesus really is, what He is willing to do, and who He is willing to do it for. I believe with all my heart that it is largely because the Church can no longer see: Oh, this is the Lord leading me into a fiery furnace. Oh, this is the Lord leading me into a lion’s den. He’s going to show up right in the midst of it, and a whole kingdom is going to be brought to its knees. I believe the Church can’t see it anymore. At large, it can’t recognize it, and so they abort. We so easily abort God’s call on our life today, where He’s leading us into something uncomfortable, something painful, just so He can show up in the midst of it for people to see.
So easily, as the Church, we’ve begun to abort that uncomfortable, painful bearing of the cross in our Christianity. People are not getting the message anymore. They’re not seeing anymore that our God can deliver. The enemy has brought sin and false worship, and all these things you see in these stories, onto this generation just as much. This generation is so loaded with their sin and their confusion, it makes no sense to them that there would be a God willing to deliver them—if they don’t see it day to day in our lives, in our struggle, in our pain, in the difficulty we allow the Lord to lead us into.
We allow Him to use us to show this world what He can do, because they won't listen, they won't read, they won't come in. But you have been sent into this world as sheep among wolves. You have been sent into this world to let God use you, that He may show through you that He is a God who delivers. Well, how can He show this world that He is a God who delivers if there's nothing to deliver you from, nothing to heal you from, nothing to protect you from? We've got it all under control. We have all the healthy boundaries up; we have all the protection in place. We don't need to be delivered anymore. We sing songs, and we speak of a gospel of love and love alone, and no one is convinced anymore that there is a God who delivers out of the fire, a God who shuts the mouths of lions for people that do not deserve it. No one's seen it, no one's convinced, no one listens.
Church, you are the message sent into this world. If you let God choose, you'll show up. If you let God choose you, He will demonstrate to this generation that there is a God who's willing to deliver—no matter how great the fire, no matter what is going on, no matter what they've done, no matter who they are, no matter what they've worshiped. He's a God of deliverance.
You see, the lion's den has no power over the children of God. The fiery furnace has no power, because you're never alone there. That's why there's no power. There's deliverance for you in that place. Church, I consider myself so privileged because this was the first lesson the Lord taught me. It's unusual, and I know it, but I desire for every Christian to have it, because it has kept me from aborting God's plan for my life so many times—more than I can count. The understanding of this spiritual law has kept me from aborting God's plan more times than I have found God's plan, because He spoke to me. Think about that. Just the understanding of how this works in the Kingdom has allowed me to walk in more of God's plan for my life than I have walked in thus far, because God actually spoke to me, word for word.
The way I got saved was very tumultuous. It was my whole life falling apart, and in the midst of it, God saved me. So, He taught me this lesson: when bad things happen in my life, they always end really good with God. So, when my life seems to fall apart—my wife has seen it ever since we got married—every time our life seems to fall apart, I get so excited, I get so full of expectation, because I've seen it before. I've been there before. I know who meets me in the fire. I know who shows up in the lion's den. I know that it brings people to their knees. I've learned this. But so many are not understanding how we should gravitate as believers towards trouble, because we're never alone in it, and we have promises from a God who says He'll never break them. Even if you get into trouble by mistake, He says He'll never break those promises. Even if you get into trouble because you caused the trouble, He says He'll never abandon you. He'll never leave you to yourself to try and figure it out. Who am I to shy away from trouble? Who am I to shy away from unfair treatment? Who am I to shy away from the furnace? Every single time, others see that God is willing to deliver. How much more should I let Him use me, that others may see who He truly is? There's deliverance, Church, for you every single time in that place.
If you want to call it—if it feels like you're going to be abused, like you're under abuse—it feels so unfair, so unreasonable. And the Church has found a way to abuse the scriptures and make it sound like we're just allowed to not let that happen to us. We don't have to let that happen to us. I believe with all my heart that the fruit of the Church beginning to tell God what He's allowed and what He's not allowed to lead us freely into, the fruit is this: a generation that does not know who God is. You go to any nation that suffers persecution—everybody's seeing clearly who does the deliverance. There's no other hope, there's no other way. Every miracle is attributed to the Lord. There's a great understanding that you are either with God or against Him. There's a great understanding that the doors are open for anyone, but not everyone has entered through those doors.
We live in a nation where everybody's confused about who's actually saved, who's not, who actually has the fruits of the Spirit, who doesn't. Am I actually saved? I've gone to church my entire life, but I'm not so sure. I don't see God use me. I don't think He has a call for me. He has a call—let Him use you, Church. God wants to show this world one thing through your life. God wants to show this world: I can deliver. God wants to convince this world through your life: I can deliver, I can forgive the worst of sins, I can set free from any situation. I can deliver.
There's such a desire in the heart of God to show all people, "I can deliver you, no matter your situation, no matter what you've done, no matter your sins, no matter the bond that you're under—under a strong king, it does not matter. I can deliver you, no matter what is in your life."
Would you stand with me for a moment? Maybe you recognize this afternoon how many times you have fought against God's furnace and against God's lion's den. Every time the Lord was gently drawing you and leading you into a fiery furnace situation, towards the lion's den, and you just recognized it—there's something unexpected, uncomfortable, unreasonable, unfair. And you yanked your hand out of His hand, and you turned away from these things. You didn't know it at the time, but today you realize: I don't think God has been using me. I don't think I have been letting God use me in my generation.
Maybe you say, "I'm in the lion's den, Pastor. I'm going through the furnace right now. The heat is turned up, the pain is real, the frustration, the stress, the difficulty, the pressure has been turned up in my life. I don't know what to do. I don't know how I'm going to make it through this. I don't know how I could ever be a testimony in this." And you say, "I want the eyes of my heart to be opened to where I see that fourth person in my fire, where I see that other person in my lion's den, where I can see that the ropes, the shackles, are burning off, but the fire has no power over me, the heat has no power over me. He is setting me free because I am not alone in the fire, and I'm not alone in the lion's den." I want to invite you to ask the Holy Spirit today a very simple thing, and I've prayed it many times, and I'm going to invite you to join me in praying it online here in person. And it's simply this: "Holy Spirit, would You teach me to let God use me?"
Church, it is going to hurt tremendously in certain situations. It may be confusing at times, but you will always find out that God shows up in the midst of that trial, and the end of it is that people begin to bow the knee because they begin to believe there’s a Deliverer. There’s One who can deliver from my sin, there is One who can deliver from my situations, there is One who will deliver me from the power of another king. Church, God seeks to reveal that through your life. If you let Him use you, He will do it. If you do not let Him use you, He cannot do it. He does not violate your free will. He does not violate your love relationship with Him. But if you let Him use you, He will show up every single time, and I believe that with all my heart. As a church, we have to get back to this.
-Pastor Stan Mons
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