In Everything Follow And Live For God No Mater What

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My name is Spencer Coffman. I really want to thank you for being here today, because this is important, you have to fuel your spirit and these messages will help do so. Of course, I encourage you to check out other messages as well in addition to watching and re-watching or sharing these with others, and then talking about them, because it is through repeated encounters that we learn and begin to internalize and then externalize by either acting or sharing or talking about it with others.

These messages, and by these messages I don’t mean the messages that we are producing here at Social Media Ministries, I mean this Bible, this message here, this is what it is all about. This is why we are doing this, it is about sharing the Bible. If you want to help us with that, feel free to click any of the share icons below.

All right, today we are talking about a cool thing that is hard. It is hard, it is not for the faint of heart, this is for people who really want to push on and who are determined. You may not think that is you, you might say, you know what, forget it, next or skip or pause, I am going to stop you right there but keep watching because this is something that is going to make you more and more like Jesus and that is the goal.

Following no matter what. Follow no matter what, what does that mean? A lot of people can say, you know what, I am going to follow ‘no matter what’. All right, what does ‘no matter what’ mean? What really is ‘no matter what’?

I am going to be preaching these messages no matter what. What does that mean? Well, it means if someone bursts down the door right now, I will still be preaching and they haul me away until I can’t anymore. That hopefully will never happen and you can follow no matter what. Hopefully, the ‘no matter what’, the worst-case scenario, will not happen. But there will be a lot of bad things that do happen.

For example, I clear my throat sometimes, well one of my ‘no matter whats’ says, hey maybe you are going to get a cold and it is going to be harder, you are going to do it anyway. You are not going to say, my voice might be a little off, I think I will take this week off. No, it doesn’t happen.

You might have something go wrong with the equipment, that is life. No matter what. Okay, so I challenge you to do that, follow no matter what. What does that mean? Let’s dive into it, let’s dig into the scripture.

If you have your Bibles, get them out, if you have an app on your phone, get that Bible app out, and let’s really dig into the scripture. If you can’t right now, don’t worry, all of the references are going to be listed in the description below, you can come back, you can look them up, you can read them on your own, you can share them with others, you can talk about them etc.

The first verse we are going to go to is Romans 1:6. Which says, ‘For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes.’ What does that mean, you are not ashamed of the Gospel. So you are not ashamed, you are excited, you are happy to be a Christian, you are happy to have Jesus inside of you, you are happy to tell others you have a joy inside of you, and you are not ashamed. Why are you not ashamed? Because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes. All they have to do is believe, the power of God will bring salvation to them, and so you are not ashamed of that. You are happy about that.

Great, let’s keep going. You need to follow God no matter what. Okay, let’s get some examples here of the no matter what. These, hopefully, won’t happen to you. I just thought of one right now. Think about way back in the times of Emperor Nero, one of the Neros who would burn Christians at dinner parties or evening parties as night lights or candles, light them up on fire. ‘We will round them up, light them up to light my evening dinner parties.’ That is a big ‘no matter what’.

Moving on to something else, some I actually prepared for, here are the disciples, Jesus had 12, then when Judas Iscariot hung himself or cut himself open, he died, he killed himself, then they introduced a couple others really, and then sent them all out in pairs. Really they had another partner with them. There were 12 main apostles, except for one. They died terrible deaths. How did they do that?

Well one of them, Andrew. He was executed. As he was being crucified there were people who would walk by and then heap insults on those who are being crucified, he was so determined to follow no matter what, he not only was executed for his beliefs, but during that crucifixion, if you call it that, it was different, but during that gruesome execution he was preaching to people who would pass by. That is how strong his ‘no matter what’ was.

Let’s look at another one. James the brother of John. He was a Christian and it was illegal to be Christian. In the area he was in, someone accused him and said, I know this man is a believer of God, I saw him praying, so they went before the magistrate or the judge or whoever. The charges were true and he was sentenced to be executed. So James, the brother of John said, no problem, I am ready to die for my beliefs, I know that no matter what happens God will deliver me.

His accuser was so inspired and shocked that a man could have such conviction, such power of the ‘no matter what’, that he said, I want that in my life. Right there James the brother of John said, you can be a Christian, this is what you have to do, and I am sure there was a lot of uproar in this, but this man who accused him converted to Christianity and requested to be executed with him because he was going to be executed now anyway, so both men were beheaded simultaneously. Talk about conviction. That no matter what, as he was dying, brought the person who accused him to Christ, incredible, incredible.

The point is, follow God ‘no matter what’, and be proud of the fact that you are a follower of God. This is truly the greatest thing in your life, Jesus is the greatest thing in your life, everything comes from Him. Everything you need more, ask. If you are ready for it, you will receive it and also be proud that you are a Christian.

What if you have something and it is so good and it is so great, what do you do with it? You share it. Get out there, share it. Turn with me to Matthew chapter 10 verses 32 and 33, it says, ‘Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.’

Now depending on your translation, whoever acknowledges me before man or whoever disowns me before man, it means humans, mankind, others, etc. So whoever acknowledges me, that means if someone asks you what you believe, what is your religion, where do you go to church, what do you study, do you believe in God. What do you say? Say yes and tell them what you believe. Yes, I am a Christian, I believe that Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior, He died for my sins, He died for everyone’s sins, He died for your sins too if you believe in Him. That is it.

Now that person might say, wow okay cool, and then they may want to learn more or they might say, all right that is cool, I go to such and such, I believe the same thing or, I am a Muslim or, I am Hindu or Buddhist. Okay, that is cool. What do you believe? You could either engage in a big discussion with them, not an argument. They might say, oh that is cool and move on. But you did what you were meant to do right there. You shared what you are proud of. You were not ashamed and you shared it.

Do not be disowned by your Father in heaven. What do I mean by that? Well don’t disown Jesus before others, acknowledge Him, but whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven. Do you want to be disowned by Jesus before the Father in heaven? No, no you don’t. Acknowledge Christ before others no matter what.

All right let’s take a look at Daniel, you remember him? Big story, Daniel in the lion’s den. Daniel was a guy who followed no matter what, that sums up Daniel’s story. The whole book of Daniel is incredible, I encourage you to read it.

He was a kid in his twenties, captured, exiled off to Babylon. They said, all right you and some other men, you are going to become servants of the king, you will be here, you are going to eat the king’s choice food, you are going to do all this. Daniel says. no, we can’t eat that, we can’t defile ourselves like that, we want to eat only vegetables and only water. The guy said, are you kidding, the king’s going to behead me if I don’t do what he says? Daniel says, give us 10 days. At the end of the 10 days, they looked healthier than anyone else. Unbelievable. He followed no matter what. He didn’t budge, he said, all right fine, give us the 10 days and we will work it out and you will be the judge. God delivered.

Later on, the king had some dreams and said, execute all the wise men, no one knows what my dreams are. Daniel says, wait a minute, give me a day, let me go pray to my God and see if we can save everyone here. No problem. God gives him the dream and the interpretation, he goes back to the king, boom, everybody’s saved. Unbelievable. Follow no matter what.

Later on, some people tricked the king into passing a law that says you can’t pray to any God, except for the king. Okay weird, and Daniel’s still praying, they did this to entrap Daniel. They said, oh by the way you signed that law, Daniel your favorite guy, throw him in a lion’s den. The king says, man, I can’t believe I got tricked into doing that, hopefully, your God will save you. Daniel says, don’t worry about it, my God is good whatever happens.

He goes down into the lion’s den, angels closed up the mouths of the lions. The next day they go see, the crafty guys are there, Daniel’s alive, and well they throw those crafty guys into the lion’s den and the lions jumped up and killed them before those guys even hit the ground. That is how ferocious and hungry they were. That is Daniel chapter six in the lion’s den.

Daniel followed no matter what. All these times of adversity, he followed. He didn’t say, all right, fine I will give up being a Christian, I will pretend not to be a Christian. No, he was not ashamed. What about his friends? Shadrach Meshach, and Abednego?

This is also in Daniel, chapter three. We are gonna go to the verses here, 16 through 28 in case you want to read them, I will put them in the description. I am not going to read the whole thing. I am going to sum it up just like I did with Daniel. Basically, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were some other wise men. The king made a big statue and said, everyone needs to pray to the statue when I play this music and these three said, no, we refuse.

Reports came to the king, hey those guys aren’t bowing down. Round them up, bring them in, and the king said, hey because I know you guys because I like you, I am going to give you one more chance, play the music, go ahead, bow down and they stood there and said, no, we won’t, we can’t worship anyone but our God Yahweh. The king was so angry at this, he said, heat that furnace up seven times hotter than normal and tie up these people so they have no chance of escaping.

So they tie them up really tight, really strong ropes, they have stoked up that furnace and then these men take Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, carry them over there and the furnace was so hot that the men carrying them over died right there, and then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego fell into the furnace.

All of a sudden the king was looking over there, hey didn’t we put three people in there, I see four people in there, they are not even tied up and one of them is glowing and so they said, whoa what’s going on? He calls them out and not a hair was singed, they didn’t even have the smell of smoke or fire on them. They followed no matter what and they even told the king our God has the power to deliver us from this fiery furnace, but even if He doesn’t, we accept it and we will follow no matter what.

That is it, follow no matter what. They weren’t afraid to tell others that they were Christians. They told and they said who they believed in, they said who they pray to and they followed no matter what and God delivered them.

Let’s go to 1 Peter 3:15. We have got a few more verses then we will wrap it up, I know we are getting close, don’t worry, it is all right, good messages. 1 Peter 3:15 says, ‘But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord, always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.’

But do this with gentleness and respect, so when people see that you are so filled of joy and hope that you are always happy, that no matter what happens you are pretty easygoing, that something could go wrong and you are like, ah it is okay, it is not a big deal, let me handle it and someone says, how are you always so cool, so level-headed, so calm? The reason for the hope and the peace and the joy that is within me is Jesus Christ. You want some of that peace? You want some of that hope, some of that joy? Here is how. Boom.

Stand behind your beliefs. Defend your faith no matter what, even to the point of death. God may deliver you. God might not. The Bible is filled with stories of how God delivered people, but it also has some people that weren’t delivered. Look at Stephen. He got stoned to death, he was a Christian, a new Christian, and he all of a sudden got really tired of everything that was going on so he went out there started preaching and people immediately stoned him to death right there. Done. That was it.

He lived a short life, but he did something, he followed no matter what. Remember this though, God doesn’t want you to die for Him. God wants you to live for Him because if you die for Him you are done, your light is snuffed out, you can’t do any more here. You are in heaven. That is great.

Don’t get me wrong, I would love to be in heaven, it is done, but think of everything that you can do here. If I died right now, sermons would end right here. If I died right now, it would be done right in the middle of it. God wants you to live for Him, you can do so much more here. You are on a special assignment from the Most High down here in enemy territory, in foreign lands, to bring more people to our heavenly kingdom. You are a part of that kingdom if you are a Christian, you have got to bring more people there. God wants you to live for Him.

We are going to go to 1 Corinthians 10:31 which says, ‘Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.’ God wants you to live for Him, if you are living for Him, He will deliver you no matter what. Okay wait a minute, you want to follow Him no matter what, now He will deliver you no matter what?

Let’s go to Colossians 3:17 to help us out with that point, ‘And whatever you do, whether in word or in deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to the Father through him.’ So God will deliver you, now whether He delivers you into heaven, or delivers you here on earth to continue your assignment, that is up to Him, but He will deliver you no matter what. Think about this.

What is the worst case scenario? You follow God and all of a sudden you are in big trouble and you are sentenced to go through whatever, whether it is a lion’s den, a fiery furnace, hanging on a cross, hanging from a tree, beheading, a lethal injection nowadays, whatever the method is, stoning, God can deliver you. He will deliver you no matter what, He could deliver you here on earth by keeping you alive by some miracle.

Some of the disciples got stoned and they would just get up later and walk away, everybody left and thought they were dead, miracles happen a lot of times. Look at Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, look at Daniel in the lion’s den. God can deliver people here on earth, but if He doesn’t deliver you here on earth, He will deliver you into heaven. So the worst case scenario, yes it may be unpleasant as you are dying here, but you will be going to heaven, so follow no matter what.

But remember, take courage and take satisfaction and peace in the fact that God wants you to live for Him. He wants you to live for Him, He is not just going to take you away. He wants you to live for Him, so do that, live for Him. Whether it is in eating or drinking, do it all giving glory to the heavenly Father?

Let’s pray. Thank you, Lord Jesus for this inspiration. Thank you for the courage that you are giving each and every one of us, to continue to live for you. Please build that courage and we know that we can only get more courage by encountering times where courage is required, which means that we may have to be scared or we may have to be put to the test.

We might be in situations where things get really difficult and we may have to make some sacrifices or lose loved ones, or we might have to be ready to give up our lives and leave those we love in order to continue serving you. We pray that you will see us through. Give us the courage and also deliver us, because we want to live for you. Allow us to continue living for you and to make some changes to bring more people to your kingdom, to the kingdom of Christ, and keep us safe here on our special assignment in this foreign land.

Keep us hidden from the devil. Keep us so strong and powerful that the devil will flee from us, because of the light that is within us through you. Allow each and every person out there Lord to continue living for you and to continue giving you the glory. If they are ever asked, give them the courage to tell others why they have that joy within them. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Thank you again so much for being here, for listening to this, for watching this. I really hope that it has inspired you and that you have found some comfort in the fact that Jesus wants you to live for Him. No matter what, do not be afraid, live for him. Acknowledge him before others and be acknowledged before the Father when your time comes. God bless.