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• Illustration: When the Russian submarine Kursk sank, Dmitry Kolesnikov wrote a letter to his wife while waiting to die, and in it he wrote these telling words: “ Mustn’t despair.”
• In the final moments of life, people want to send a message. What would yours be?

• All they have to do is bend a knee to worship the golden images, and they will live and be restored to positions of power, honor, and status. They are headed toward unimaginable pain and death, and one word would mean life for them. But they would not say that word.
• Furious, Nebuchadnezzar ordered them thrown into the furnace, heated hotter than usual.
  - Daniel 3:19
• The three were unharmed in the furnace, and a fourth appeared, looking like a Son of God.
  - Daniel 3:24
• The furnace, which looked like the end of their lives, turns out to be the place where they met God. God meets us in the furnace, too.

• Jesus said to them what he says to people still, “ I’ll meet you in the furnace.”
• Nebuchadnezzar ordered the three to come out, praised them for their courage, and promoted them.
  - Daniel 3:26-28
• Going into the furnace turned out to be the greatest event of their lives, because God was there.
  - Illustration: Early in Ortberg’s teaching days, he sometimes fainted during his messages. He related with Paul’s thorn (2 Corinthians 12) and realized that God was meeting him in the furnace….

• We should stop asking for a more pleasant life and instead ask God to give us the opportunity to show devotion to him.
• God wants to meet us in the furnace.