Acres of Diamonds: God's Best—Right Where You Are! Sample

Walking Through the Fire

Years ago, I preached a sermon from the book of Daniel about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. I called it “Three Plus Fire Equals Four.” Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, threw these three Hebrew men into a fiery furnace because they refused to bow down to his image. But the men were not burned alive. When King Nebuchadnezzar peeked into the flame-filled room, he was shocked to find a fourth man—who looked like the Son of God—walking around with them. 

My point? Sometimes the only way to get to Jesus—that fourth man—is to go through the fire. 

I did not know it at the time, but a certain man and his wife were sitting in church that morning. Some months before, the man had been in a terrible fire and had suffered third-degree burns over half of his body. Multiple surgeries and skin grafts followed. That particular Sunday, the man looked at his wife and said, “We’ve got to go to church.”

This was a surprise to his wife, since they hadn’t been to church in a long time. She looked at him, dumbfounded, and asked where he wanted to go. And as the Lord would have it, he named the church where I was speaking that morning.

After listening to my message about walking through the fire to get to Jesus, this man rededicated his life to the Lord. His salvation and that of his family came in a strangely wrapped package.

When I talked with this man after church that day, he showed me his arms. The fresh bandages carefully covered severe burns and scars. With tears in his eyes and gratitude in his heart at experiencing God’s amazing grace, he told me he found the gift of Jesus through these strange wrappings and wounds from the fire. Wow!

We may not understand some of the things that happen to us in this life, but God promises that all things work together for good, to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. All things. Nothing has happened to you that God cannot work out if you put it into His hands.