Now young people, it's a great message for you if you look into that. They were forced to conform to the peer group and the three guys said well listen, you know, we're not going to do that. And so they were brought to the king and the king said do it! Bow down or you burn! They said well king, we understand what you're saying, but he said our God who we serve is able to deliver us. But if He doesn't there's no way we're bowing down. We're going to suffer for our faith, even to the point of death. I have just been reading recently articles concerning Christians in Turkey who have been tortured to the point of death, rather than compromise their faith in Christ. See and these guys here, it says they were promoted as a result of that, so God gave them grace. They were spared. There was a miracles intervention by the Lord and they came up and they are examples for us of people who never compromised and fulfilled their destiny.
Joseph's another one, refused to compromise over sexual sin and he came into his destiny. The Bible's full of this. Think of other examples of people who fell because of this. Here's another one then. Here's number five. Here's another decision that will impact your destiny or your future. Now remember each of these decisions actually have lifelong application and consequences. A person who's excellent at the beginning will be excellent right through his life. A person who builds character will be a charactered person right through their life. Here's another one: build or pursue vital relationships. If we want to succeed in fulfilling our destiny we'll never do it alone. Say no to going it alone. Say no to going it alone. We are made for relationships. In Proverbs 18:1 it says the one who isolates himself is seeking his own agenda. A person who isolates themself or separates from relationships with other people has got their own plan, their own agenda, and it does not include others.
So I've found inevitably when a person isolates themself they've got something going on inside them that isn't right. Even in a flock a sheep that isolates itself is usually sick. Now this is what the Bible tells us in Proverbs 13:20. The person who walks with wise men will become wise, but a companion of fools will be destroyed. So the people closest to you have a huge impact on where your life goes. The people closest to you have a huge impact on where your life goes, so who are you letting into your heart? Who are you letting into your life? Do you have relationships you're consciously building which are vital; they give you life and they inspire to come up another level? Now the ones we feel comfortable with are the ones who are a little lower than us. We feel comfortable with them, there's no challenge there. They think we're wonderful.
The ones who are above us or they've got greater character, greater success, greater capacity, greater vision, greater faith, greater prayer life; we feel a little uncomfortable when we're with them because we become aware where we are. But those are the ones that help you come up another level, so every one of us needs to make a decision if we're going to fulfil our destiny, I need others to help me get there. I can't get there alone. This is one of the reasons for small groups in the church, to have relationships where people know you, they can encourage you, they can stand with you, but particularly so you can be supported to go forward. So vital relationships are absolutely crucial - and that means you've got to pursue them. Now sometimes that can be difficult. If you had a mentor, if you had someone who could coach you to success, give you direction in your life and help you, you would quickly accelerate your growth.