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There is perhaps nothing that hinders the ability of God to move in your life than fear of failure. God responds to true faith, faith that produces action. Without that kind of faith it is impossible to please God. God responds after humanity takes the first step, so when people refuse to step out in faith, they have effectively limited what God can do in their life.

Our society is governed by a "success" mentality. We applaud people who do and have the things that we consider makes a person successful. We respect nice cars. We ooh and ahh over homes and bank accounts and toys. The American dream is still alive and yet time and time again I see people who are so concerned with appearing as if they are a success that they refuse to be responsible and do the things that would eventually make them a success. And then there are those who are so afraid of failure that they never "get out of the boat" so to speak. When it comes time to step out on God's Word, they are haunted, paralyzed, even controlled by the fear "what if God does not?" What if I step out and look foolish? What if I am seen as a failure?

The story that we read as our text, is very popular because of the dramatic ending. We love telling this story to our Sunday School classes. It almost sounds like a fairy tale. But don't let the fun of this story fool you. It's real purpose was not to wow kids with tales of fire and angels, but to be a lesson in learning to get beyond our fears. It is a "crash course" in getting past the fear of failure so that God can move in our life.

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In the story, the children of Israel have been taken into captivity because of years and years of returning to idolatry. When they people would not hear the anointed words of prophets such as Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Jeremiah, God allowed the evil king Nebuchadnezzar to sweep into the land and take most of the Jewish people back to Babylon where they would spend 70 years as "free captives." In this group, however, there were men and women who trusted God completely. The most famous of these is the prophet Daniel. Some others were Daniel's friends: Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah -- better known by their Babylonian names: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

God blessed these men and they became employed in the government of Babylon. But then came the day when King Nebuchadnezzar got on an ego kick and erected a huge statue of himself for which everyone in the kingdom was to bow and worship. If you chose not to bow before the image of the king, then you were to be put to death. And so everything was set up: the statue was set up, the singers and musicians were in place, all of the people in the city were gathered. The command was given "at the sound of the music, all must bow or be put to death." The three Hebrew friends were not the only Jews there that day, and for the Jewish people, this represented a test of faithfulness to their God. They were in captivity because of their idolatry: what would they do now?

The scriptures say that the music played and the singers began to sing, and EVERYBODY fell to the ground and began to worship the idol, EXCEPT for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They stood tall and straight, refusing to give in to the pressure to do wrong despite what everyone else was doing.

Let me pause here and say that what this world counts as success and what God counts as success are two very different things. The world says that success is what you have and it really doesn't matter who you are. You can be a successful even if you have the morals of Madonna, Britney, Michael Jackson, Bill Clinton, and the list goes on and on. You can be successful and live a horribly sinful life and have mixed up motives and polluted mindsets and if you are famous enough or powerful enough or rich enough, then this world still idolizes you.

But God doesn't count success the same way. He is less concerned with what you have and more concerned with who you are! You can die poor and in poverty and sickness, and yet if you die with Jesus as the main thing in your life. If you die treating other people as He treated other people. If you die with the Holy Ghost fire burning within your heart having been washed in the blood of the Lamb in the waters of baptism, then you have died more successful than any of the rich and famous! Your success in God is not measured by your popularity, your money, or prestige, but by whether or not you are willing to stand upon God's Word even when the world gives you every excuse to turn and go the other way. Even if everybody else in the world and church is doing it, it's not right if it goes against God's Word! Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego said "we'd rather die a success in God's eyes than give in to the pressure to conform to this world!"

I'm preaching to some of you, you would have been looking for a compromise. You would have bowed to your knees that day planning to get forgiveness later. You would have tried to please both sides somehow by perhaps getting to your knees but not saying anything or doing anything else. Here's how to tell if you would have bowed a knee that day: do you do it in small everyday things already? "Well, I know the Word of God says that, but if I obey it, then my friends will make fun of me, so I'll try to find a happy medium." "I'll live and talk one way around the world and another around the church." "I don't want to be necessarily be known as a tongue-talker, holy-roller, but I like being in the presence of God so I'll go to church every once in a while, but I won't quite give completely in to the Spirit of God moving in my life! You would have bowed to that idol, because you are already doing it. And can I just meddle a bit? In trying to play both sides, you don't please anybody. The world doesn't respect you because they see you for what you are: a hypocrite. God is infuriated with you because you are lukewarm spiritually.

Oh, God is looking for someone to get the gumption and guts of Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego. "I'd rather be a success in God's eyes and die, than to give in to the demands of this world!" Their fear of disobeying God's Word exceeded their fear of dying. Maybe that's why the Word of God says "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom!" The way you conquer your fear is with a greater, healthier fear of the Lord! If you are so scared of the persecution that will come from obeying that you compromise, then you didn't really fear the Lord as you should. Shadrach, Meschach, and Abenego feared and respected God more than the world's commandments and they did not bow!

So the king's men look around and are surprised to see these three Hebrew young men standing. They quickly arrested them and took them to the king to receive their death sentence. The king was infuriated with them and raged at them: "don't you know that if you don't bow to the image that I have made, that I will through you in a fiery furnace and you will be burned to pieces!?" The king was going to give them a second chance to compromise. They could bow now and escape the horrible death by burning. I like their words back to the king:

In other words, they were saying "don't worry about getting the singers and stuff back up there, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the fire and he will deliver us from you. Notice that when people refuse to bow, they are willing to step out on God's Word and promises. But the people who bow are not! Compromise with the world leaves you in a place where you begin to doubt the promises of God's Word! When you bow to the world on Saturday, then you are a little nervous about bowing to God's promises on Sunday because their is that doubt that comes from your unfaithfulness. But when you've been tested and you have refused to bend, then when it comes time to step out on God's Word, then you boldly make the move confident that there is nothing between you and God. Compromise handicaps your faith!

Let me give you a little insight into this story. The prophet Isaiah had already written his prophecies down by the time this story took place, and these three young men remembered a promise that God had spoken:

I believe that somewhere those boys remembered the promises of God and said, "alright, nobody else that we know of has tested it, but it's the Word of God, so we'll stand on it!" Listen to this preacher: they had only the king's word that they would be spared if they went ahead and bowed to the image. If they went and bowed to the image now, it would show that they had more faith in the earthly king's Word than God! So the Hebrew boys decided "we'd rather trust in God's Word than any king on earth!" How many people lose out with God at this step because they believe the promises of the world more than the Word of God? They believe the lie that if they will go back to the world, their family will be healed. If they work overtime and sacrifice long hours to have more things, that their kids will love them. No, my friend, take the word of God over the words of this world any day and any time and in any situation!

So Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego had a promise from God and they chose to stand upon it. But then comes the powerful verse which shows us a faith that goes the extra mile. They then said:

"God can deliver us oh king, but if God does not, then just know that we died never worshipping your image and never failing our God with compromise!" I'm preaching to people who if we are not careful can have knowledge of the promises of God and yet not fully step out in faith because of the nagging question of doubt "what if God does not?" What if I tell a sick person that God can heal them through the power of prayer and nothing happens? What if I take that step of faith and say that I want the Holy Ghost and I don't receive it? What if I feel like God wants to use me in the Gifts of the Spirit and I fail? What if God does not? And from these questions, too many people answer it with "well I just won't." It's easier to sit here and do nothing than to risk the failure that may happen if God does not.

But I'm here to preach to you that God is wanting somebody to learn the lesson of the three Hebrew children. They said "if God does not, we still won't bow." If God does not, then we will die still being faithful. If God does not, then we will still serve Him! And because they trusted in God so much that they refused to allow fear to paralyze them, God did! God did! The king heated up the furnace seven times hotter -- so hot that it killed the mighty men that threw them in. And yet when he peered into the furnace he saw that the fire had burned off the ropes that had bound them but had not touched their clothing or flesh. And to his astonishment as he peered into the fire, he saw FOUR walking around in the fire. Now we know that it wasn't Jesus in flesh in the fire with them as so many people preach and that the heathen king's word is literally in the Hebrew "the fourth is as one of the gods." But God had sent an angel or theophany to be in there with them! The bottom line is when they refused to compromise, God did! When they got the attitude "if God does not, we still will be faithful" then God met them in the fire! And when they came forth not only were they not burned, but their clothes did not even smell like smoke and the evil king Nebuchadnezzar eventually turned to serving the one, true God of Israel!

God wants to use us to bring revival to this unbelieving world, but we will not win them if they see us compromising! If you want God to use you, then refuse to compromise even if it seems everybody else is doing it. Make up in your mind that "not everybody is doing it because I'm not doing it!" And then -- learn this lesson well -- don't allow the devil to paralyze you with the thoughts "if God does not" by making up in your mind "if God does not, then I will die being faithful." If God does not, I will still refuse to bow!"

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I'm preaching to us tonight! One of the greatest prophets and man of faith in our generation is Bro. T.W. Barnes from Minden, Louisiana. He's in his 90s, still preaching, and has never taken a pill in his life. Books can't hold the miracles that Bro. Barnes has seen in his life. I personally have seen him pray for people in wheel chairs and them dance across the church, and have seen the look of shock on deaf people's faith when he prayed for them and suddenly they could hear. I personally have witnessed that with my own two eyes. His faith is on levels that you and I are still aspiring to get to. That story of the man to whom the devil appeared in his room and the man said "oh it's you" and rolled over and went back to sleep was about Bro. Barnes.

But let me tell you the secret behind his faith. When Bro. Barnes was just a young man his mother and sister were dying and Bro. Barnes began to read all of the scriptures about healing and began to pray fervently for God to heal his family. He prayed with faith. He prayed with fervency. He prayed in truth. And his sister literally died in his arms with the prayer of faith on his lips. Most and lesser men would have turned away and gotten bitter at God. But not Bro. Barnes. He made a vow to God that day. He told God "God I don't care what this circumstances look like, I believe that your Word is true and I refuse to walk away. For the rest of my life, I will go out of my way to pray for the sick and distraught, and I'm going to keep claiming these promises, and if you don't heal, then I want you to know that I'm going to die an old man still believing these words!" He wasn't twisting God's arm, he just made up in his mind that "if God does not, I'll still be faithful." And because he got that attitude he has seen thousands of miraculous healings in his lifetime and many people have been won to God by the power that flows from this man of God who chose to be faithful even "if God does not!" Bro. Barnes now realizes that God allowed his sister and mother to die as a test to see if he would still trust God, and because Bro. Barnes got that attitude "if God does not, I'll still believe and be faithful," God was able to bless him with an anointing that goes far beyond the levels that most will reach! We don't understand God's ways, but we do know that He is faithful and that He responds to faith. Because Bro. Barnes got the attitude "if God does not, I still will" then God did! God did!

Could it be that God has not answered your situation to see if your walk with Him is based upon true love and devotion to Him or upon the condition of a miracle? Could it be that there are people under the sound of my voice that are praying for God to use you more mightily and God knows that to answer your prayer you must overcome your fear of failure, so He has purposely NOT answered your prayer as you thought He should to see what you will do!? The choice is yours today: but I can tell you if you get bitter at God, you are a hundred percent sure of NOT seeing the miracle. But if someone will get the attitude "if God does not, then I will die faithful" then somewhere even if it is not right now, God will! Could it be that God has given us promises in His Word and purposefully delayed them as a test to see if you are serving God on conditions or are totally sold out to living for Him! Those who serve God on the condition "if He'll do this for me," are not really sold out and will be easily shaken. But what can the devil do with someone with the attitude "if God does not, then I will die still being faithful, still not compromising?" Such a person can endure anything. Such a person will end their life waking up to eternity with Jesus!

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Someday on your on time, go read and study the story of Josiah. His story begins in 2 Kings chapter 22 and 2 Chronicles chapter 34. His grandfather, Manasseh, was the most evil king in the history of Israel. His father, Amon, wasn't much better. They built up so many shrines in Israel that every town and every hill had a place to worship idols. They put prostitution houses throughout the land. They set up worship groves to the horrible idol Molech, in which parents would take their young infants and place them on the sizzling hot iron arms of the idol and roll their babies into the fire as a sacrifice. Josiah's kinfolks were so evil that God swore that He would send a king to destroy Jerusalem and Israel and take them into captivity.

And into this horrible time in Israel's history, Josiah was born. He was born into a bad situation with no role models to do right. He was born with the coming judgment of the Lord already prophesied. Josiah became king at only eight years old. But something in Josiah was different than his father and grandfather. The scriptures say that Josiah loved the stories of his ancestor King David and began to pattern his life after David. As a young king, Josiah ordered that the temple of God to be cleaned up and repaired. He set up priests to get the temple ready for sacrifices again. Josiah did the only thing that he knew to do that was right.

And in cleaning up the temple one of the priests discovered the scrolls containing the Word of the Lord. It had been three generations since anyone in Israel had even bothered to read the Word of God. The priest took the dusty scroll to the king and began to read it to the king. Josiah was shaken when he began to read the words of Moses that prophesied what God would do to Israel if they fell into idolatry. Josiah was horrified to realize that for three generations Israel had been doing the exact opposite of the Word of God. Josiah rent his clothes and began to fast. He called his counselors to him and said "is there a prophet of the true living God of Israel still alive?" "Is there anybody that is still obeying the Word of the Lord and not worshipping idols?" There was one woman that still was, the prophetess Huldah.

The king quickly sent messengers to Huldah to find out what God had to say and the news wasn't good. God spoke through His prophet and said "I have already determined to destroy this people and this city and this country. Nothing that you can do, Josiah, can change it. I was so provoked by your father and grandfather's atrocities that I have doomed Israel to captivity and judgment and it's too late to change it." God basically told him "it's too late, I will not stop the judgment on this people."

Most of us perhaps would have said "well, if God will not show mercy, then why bother," but not Josiah. He spent the rest of his life destroying idolatry from Judah. It took him his whole life, but when Josiah died, he had torn down every idol grove and every false temple in the land! He had burned and crushed every idol and killed every priest of idol worship and prostitution. He rededicated the temple to God and began to hold Days of Atonement again and sacrificial worship according to God's laws. For the first time in centuries, Israel began to celebrate the Passover again. Because of his attitude and faithfulness, God pushed off the judgment until after Josiah died, and when he died it was written about him:

Perhaps to you and I it would seem a waste. After all God has said that He would not show mercy and stay the judgment and after Josiah was dead, God did allow Nebuchadnezzar to come and destroy Jerusalem. But listen to what God told Josiah:

When Josiah died, He set Himself up for the miracle of a resurrection and despite what his family had done before him, he saved himself from the evil judgment that God had already pronounced on that generation by saying "if God does not stay the judgment, then I will die still being faithful." "Still trying to do everything that I can to stamp compromise and idolatry out of God's kingdom!" Josiah may have only experienced a small reward down here on this earth, but when the resurrection comes, I would like to be in his shoes! God will be faithful to such a man!

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I close with this: Why does it work? Why does this attitude of "if God does not, then I will still be faithful" work? The answer is simple: because we are never more like Jesus than when we take on this attitude. And when we become more like Jesus, then God is able to work.

Our other text was the familiar story of Jesus' prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus was all God, and He was all man at the same time. The scriptures say that "He prayed in the days of His flesh." He prayed while upon earth as our example. But He also prayed because just like us, He had to submit His human will to the will of the Spirit. As God, Jesus had come in flesh for one purpose and that was to die on Calvary to redeem man. But as man, Jesus' flesh did not want to die any more than yours and mine. And so in Gethsemane, His flesh prayed to Spirit:

As a man, Jesus prayed "if there is any other way that all of mankind can be saved without me dying, then spare my human life." BUT "If you do not spare me, nevertheless, I will die being faithful to your will." What led Jesus Christ to the cross. What led Him to be able to forgive the ones that killed Him. What enabled Jesus Christ to pay the price for our sins. What set Him up for a resurrection. What caused Him to be able to kick the door in to hell and take the keys to death, hell, and grave. What caused Him to be able to come back one day and gather His church away. What caused Him to willingly endure the pain and suffering to pay the price for our healing. What caused Him to not fight as they put the nails through His hands and to not call for thousands of angels to fight for Him. What caused Him to be able to reach out in mercy to a thief who just moments before had been cursing Him to His face, was the attitude "if God does not spare me, then I will die still being faithful." If God does not, then I refuse to compromise!

To be saved, we become like Jesus Christ. If to be like Jesus Christ seems impossible to you, chances are you are living in compromise. Chances are that you are allowing fear to manipulate you and keep you for reaching out in faith as you should. But if you want to be like Jesus Christ then push the fear aside. Answer the question "what if God does not?" by saying like Shadrach, Meschach, Abenego, Josiah, and Jesus Christ did: "If God does not, then I will die being faithful!" If you do so, then you are being set up for a resurrection. If you do not see any reward of your faithfulness here on earth, you will have an eternity for God to make it up to you. "The just shall live by faith." I'm going to stand upon God's Word and believe Him for what He has said that He would do. If God does not, then I will die faithfully still serving Him. But if we get the attitude "if God does not, I will still be faithful" then God will! Either on this side, or on the other side of the resurrection. Somebody allow your faith to arise tonight! Set yourself up for a miracle and a resurrection and eternal life! Answer your fears by saying "if God does not, then I will die being faithful." Nothing will sway me from trusting and serving my God!