MIRACLES ARE MESSY
THE MIRACLE OF WALKING IN STEP WITH THE SPIRIT
If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. —Galatians 5:25
Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. —Galatians 5:25 (NIV)
That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man. —Ephesians 3:16
THE MIRACLE OF BEING STRENGTHENED IN MY INNER MAN
8 Therefore at that time certain Chaldeans came forward and accused the Jews. 9 They spoke and said to King Nebuchadnezzar, “O king, live forever! 10 You, O king, have made a decree that everyone who hears the sound of the horn, flute, harp, lyre, and psaltery, in symphony with all kinds of music, shall fall down and worship the gold image; 11 and whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. 12 There are certain Jews whom you have set over the affairs of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego; these men, O king, have not paid due regard to you. They do not serve your gods or worship the gold image which you have set up.” —Daniel 3:8 - 12
THE MIRACLE OF FREEDOM AND THE MESSINESS OF OBEDIENCE
24 Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished; and he rose in haste and spoke, saying to his [a]counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?”
They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.”
25 “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[b] Son of God.” —Daniel 3:24 - 25
1. Obedience brings freedom from the gods of culture.
“Look!” he answered, “I see four men loose… —Daniel 3:25a
10 Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.
11 For My own sake, for My own sake, I will
do it; for how should My name be profaned? And I will not give My glory to another. —Isaiah 48:10 - 112 But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears?
For He is like a refiner’s fire and like launderers’ soap.
3 He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer to the Lord an offering in righteousness. —Malachi 2:2 - 34 Take away the dross from silver, and it will go to the silversmith for jewelry.
5 Take away the wicked from before the king, and his throne will be established in righteousness. —Proverbs 25:4 - 5But He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold. —Job 23:10
But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. —1 Peter 5:10
2. Obedience brings freedom to produce fruit in Babylon.
…walking in the midst of the fire… —Daniel 3:25b
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. —Romans 8:14
1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who[a] do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. —Romans 8:1 - 5
And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. —Galatians 6:9
Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders of Israel: —Acts 4:8
18 So they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name
of Jesus.
19 But Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God,
you judge.
20 For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.” —Acts 4:18 - 20
3. Obedience brings freedom to forgive.
…and they are not hurt… —Daniel 3:25c
26 Then Nebuchadnezzar went near the mouth of the burning fiery furnace and spoke, saying, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego came from the midst of the fire.
27 And 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. —Daniel 3:26 - 27Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. —Ephesians 4:31
14 Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord:
15 looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled. —Hebrews 2:14 - 1514 For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
15 But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. —Matthew 6:14 - 15
4. Obedience produces a freedom to rest in His faithfulness.
…and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. —Daniel 3:25d
I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. —Galatians 2:20
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you. —Isaiah 43:2
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. —2 Timothy 1:7
1 He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High
Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress;
My God, in Him I will trust.”
3 Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the [a]fowler
And from the perilous pestilence.
4 He shall cover you with His feathers,
And under His wings you shall take refuge;
His truth shall be your shield and [b]buckler. —Psalms 91:1 - 48 Therefore He says: “When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men.”
9 (Now this, “He ascended”—what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth?
10 He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.) —Ephesians 4:8 - 10