In this sermon, I talk about finding the courage that we need to live as faithful disciples of Jesus Christ. Living the Christian life, after all, isn’t about playing it safe. Sometimes, in order to receive the blessing that God wants to give us, we have to go to the furnace first! The blessing only comes through the trial. The blessing only comes through the hardship. The blessing only comes through the suffering.
Sermon Text: Daniel 3:8-30
The following is my original sermon manuscript.
Did you happen to see what Nik Wallenda did on Friday night? He didn’t do all that much. The guy gets on on national TV for simply taking a 30-minute stroll. Big deal! He wasn’t even walking very fast. Of course, the fact that he took a stroll across Niagara Falls on a tightrope might have had something to do with why he was national TV!
I hasten to add that because the ABC network didn’t want someone falling to their death on live TV, they insisted that he wear a safety harness—which he didn’t end up needing, of course. But if you saw how high he was, and how wet and slippery and dark and unbelievably frightening it all was, you just can’t minimize his accomplishment. I couldn’t walk on solid ground if millions of people were watching me on live TV! I’m sure I would trip and fall. And here’s this guy walking on a tightrope across Niagara Falls! Not only that… as he’s doing so, he’s chatting calmly with ABC’s news anchors, saying how blessed he is to have this amazing view of the Falls!
How do you do that? Read the rest of this entry »
