Wow!

Sermon: “Wow!
Daniel 3:19-28
February 15, 2009 Dr. Dennis Ginoza

Yesterday was Valentine’s Day so I want to ask you,
why is it that Valentine’s Day is always
celebrated on February 14? Anyone?

Roman history records that there were two men named
St. Valentine that were martyred on February 14
about A.D. 269. The custom of exchanging
valentines goes back to the 1300’s to Geoffrey
Chaucer who wrote that birds choose their mates
on February 14.

If there is anything that the world needs today is little more
understanding, less greed, less violence, and lot
more love. Did you hear about Ole and Olga? Ole
and Olga lived on a farm in Iowa. Olga was starved
for affection and Ole never gave her any signs of love
or appreciation. Olga was at wit’s end and said, “Ole,
why don’t you ever tell me you love me? Ole says,
“Olga, when we were married, I told you I loved you,
and if I ever changed my mind, I’ll let you know.”

Today, we are serving strawberry shortcake. Let us build our
fellowship on love, on appreciation, on gratitude,
on goodwill, and a deeper faith in God.

Donald Grey Barnhouse writes:
Love is the key. Joy is love singing. Peace is love
resting. Long-suffering is love enduring. Kindness is
love’s touch. Goodness is love’s character. Faithfulness
is love’s habit. Gentleness is love’s self-forgetfulness.
Self-control is love holding the reins.

If love is the key, then there is something else that we have to
consider. It is something more fundamental. It is the
source of everything we have, everything we are, and
everything we can be.
Without this, nothing holds together. Everything will
fall apart. We can fool ourselves and say, this is not
important or I don’t need it or it doesn’t make any difference.
Or we say, it is foolishness, it is the figment of your imagination.


2

In the book of Daniel, King Nebuchadnezzer of Babylon built
a huge statue. It stood 90 feet high and 9 feet wide at
the base. The king decreed that everyone in the kingdom
must fall down and worship that statue. Anyone who
didn’t would be thrown in the the fiery furnace.

There were three Jews who refused to bow down before the
statue; they were Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.
The king ordered that the fiery furnace be heated up seven
times the usual temperature. It was really, really hot!
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were thrown into the
fiery furnace.

This is a Wow! Story. The fire did not touch them. Not even
their hair was singed. When Nebuchadnezzar looked in,
he couldn’t believe his eyes. He called his counselors
and said, “I see four men walking in the middle of the fire,
they are not hurt and the fourth has the appearance of a god.

God in his miraculous ways will hold together
every fiber in our body, give us a courage to
never give up, and help us to do some things
we never thought would be possible.

On November 19, 1963, President Abraham Lincoln delivered
his Gettysburg Address. It was here that the Civil War
took a turn, at the cost of 20,000 casualties for the South
and 23,000 casualties for the North. In his address is
a fiber of faith in God.

He began: Four scores and seven years ago our fathers
brought forth onto this continent, a new nation,
conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition
that all men are created equal.

He closed with these words:
It is rather for us here dedicated to the great task remaining
before us—that from these honored dead we take increased
devotion to that cause for which they gave their last
measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that
these dead have not died in vain—that this nation, under
God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and the government
of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not
perish from the earth.

3

Today, our nation is in crisis. The world is in crisis.
Yet we hold in our hand the binding source,
the unbreakable core, faith in God.

Jesus placed into our hands a principle of life. God never gives
up on us as bad as we can be. Jesus said, “God so
loved that world that he gave his only Son, that
whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal
life.” (John 3:16)

Sometimes we think we can run away from ourselves,
we cannot. If things get bad, we have to face it.
Then God gives us a sign and we say, Wow!

When I first came to this church, it was not easy for us. Our
personal finances were pretty tight. We didn’t go
out to eat. My wife was working in Chula Vista
60 miles away. She would leave on Mondays and come
back on Wednesdays. One night I was having dinner
with our boys and our older son Jeremy said, “This
place sucks, I just want to finish school and get outta
here.” He said, “I don’t have a single friend in school.”
I said, “Wait a minute. You have this girl that hangs
on to you.” I said, “Jeremy, just wait, it will get better.”

About three weeks later he said, “Guess what, so and so,
invited me to the dance.” I said, “See.” Several weeks
later he said, “Guess what?” “I am the section leader
for the bass section in the Madrigals.” In the spring he got the
role with the lead choreographer in The Boy Friend.
Sylvia got a job at the Fallbrook Library. It got better.
One night I had a dream. I dreamt that I was driving a red
Cadillac and I was crossing a river. When I got to the
other side, I knew. I had a sign, life will get better.

Once there was a young boy named Zachary. When he was four
he was a healthy young boy. Then one day his father
dropped him and this little boy’s life took a dive.
He suffered brain damage and he lost his eyesight. After
a long recovery, he learned to walk and talk. He had a younger
sister Jesse Jo who was as cute as a bug. This story turned
sour when their father wasn’t able to handle the tragedy
and Zachary’s parents divorced.

4

Little Zachary’s mother went out for an evening.
She met a football player named Kurt who was the
starting quarterback for the University of Northern Iowa. Kurt
tried out for the Green Bay Packers but he was cut. So
he got a job at a Hy-Vee Store in Cedar Falls for $5.50
an hour. Zachary’s mother, Brenda lived on food stamps
and student loans and completed her nursing training.

Kurt tried again to play for the NFL. He had a tryout scheduled
for the Green Bay Packers but after he was bit by a
venomous spider, he was dropped. In 1999 the tide
changed for Kurt Warner. He was hired as the quarterback
for the St. Louis Rams.

This story has a silver lining. Just a few weeks ago, Kurt
Warner and the Arizona Cardinals played in the Super Bowl
against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Arizona almost beat
Pittsburgh, but we can say, it was a good game!

In 1997 Kurt Warner married Brenda
And he adopted Zachary and his sister Jesse Jo. They
added five more children to their brood – Kade, Jada,
Elijah, and twins Sienna and Sierra. Zachary wrote a card
to Kurt Warner and said, “You’re as good a dad as you are
a quarterback. In 1996 Kurt Warner gave his life to
Christ and his life changed.

When God placed us on the earth, he never promised us an
easy life. Instead, it is a life of toil, struggle, and pain.
In Jesus, he showed us that in suffering, in sacrifice,
he gives us life. “Come unto me,” Jesus said, “for you
will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and
my burden is light.” What Jesus is saying is, in Him
we will find an inner source of courage, a strength that
can endure anything. Just hang on five minutes longer.
…And Wow! All things are made new!