In The Fire
Notes
Transcript
Conviction:
From The HS is a change that needs to be made in you based on truth
A standard that you hold based on and anchored in truth
CONVICTION MATTERS.
What do we do when our convictions are challenged are we a people that rise to the occasion no matter what or do we compromise?
ON OUR CULTURE TODAY CONVICTION SEEMS RARE DOES IT NOT?
Can we all agree that a lot of the problems in our culture today is a lack of conviction?
OUR CONVICTIONS ARE OFTEN TESTED WHEN WE GO THROUGH FIRES.
What do we do when the pressure is on the compromise?
605 BC. KING NEBBY. WENT TO JERUSALEM AND CAPTURED THE BEST AND BRIGHTEST. TRAINED AND COACHED THEM AND PUT THEM IN THE BEST POSITIONS. THEY WERE PROSPEROUS.
King nebby goes on a EGO trip and and his advisors are gassing him up and telling him how great he is. SO he decides to build a 90ft tall 9ft wide statue. He puts it where everyone can see it. It was made out of wood and covered in gold. So he sends out this edict that everyone has to bow down and worship this 90ft statue when the music starts playing.
1 King Nebuchadnezzar made a gold statue ninety feet tall and nine feet wide and set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon.
4 Then a herald shouted out, “People of all races and nations and languages, listen to the king’s command!
5 When you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes, and other musical instruments, bow to the ground to worship King Nebuchadnezzar’s gold statue.
AND YOU START TO SEE THE PROBLEM FOR PEOPLE WHO FOLLOW GOD RIGHT?
I find it funny that this statue was overlayed in Gold but it was actually just wood underneath… YOU KNOW A LOT OF THE THINGS WE COMPROMISE OUR CONVICTIONS FOR ARE LIKE THAT?
They look shiny. That look valuable in the moment but really it’s worthless underneath… It looks like something we want but really it’s not what we think. It’s not worth changing out values.
IF YOU DON’T BOW DOWN YOU ARE THROWN IN THE FIREY FURNACE.
NOW THE MUSIC STARTS AND OUR BOYS SHAD, MESHACH, AND ABED DON’T BOW DOWN...
The kings advisors don’t like this. So they go to NEBBY and let him know that his homies are not bowing down.
DID YOU KNOW PEER PRESSURE IS ONE OF THE BIGGEST SOURCES OF COMPROMISE IN OUR LIFE?
This is why the local church is important. This is why having the right friends in your life is important. I guarantee that most of the times in your life that you compromised what because of peer pressure.
You are pressured by friends, but social media, by the news, by culture. And what comes out of your life and the decisions you make is often an indicator of what you allow to speak into your life the most. IS IT GODLY THINGS? OR WORLDLY THINGS?
WHEN YOU DECIDE TO STAND FOR YOUR GODLY CONVICTIONS YOU WILL FACE PRESSURE TO COMPROMISE.
I remember literally the weeks after i accepted Jesus in my life, which by the way I accepted Jesus 18 years ago next week. I remember immediately knowing what I needed to stand for but realizing those around me didn’t feel those same convictions. And I had to decide what I was going to do.
THIS WILL NEVER GO AWAY.
You will always face the pressure to compromise from the people and the culture around you. So you’ve got to decide “what am i going to take in?” how am i going to make sure that the loudest voice in my life is God’s and not the worlds. And this is why I post everyday that i’m reading my Bible. Not because I wanna brag. But because I want to help remind people that they need God’s voice in their life.
SO MANY PEOPLE HAVE TOLD ME “I SEE YOU POST AND I READ”
And when you decide for God to be the loudest voice in your life you gain the ability to stand for your convictions. Because the other voices are going to come. come one. The world is loud is it not? COMPROMISE PROMISES GOLD BUT IT’S REALLY JUST ROTTING WOOD UNDERNEATH
13 Then Nebuchadnezzar flew into a rage and ordered that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought before him. When they were brought in,
14 Nebuchadnezzar said to them, “Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you refuse to serve my gods or to worship the gold statue I have set up?
15 I will give you one more chance to bow down and worship the statue I have made when you hear the sound of the musical instruments. But if you refuse, you will be thrown immediately into the blazing furnace. And then what god will be able to rescue you from my power?”
DO YOU SEE THE PRESSURE TO COMPROMISE?
And this isn’t just you’ll get social media cancelled. This is death y’all. This isn’t online bullying and your account getting shadow banned. This is full on you gonna get dead.
AND IN THESE MOMENTS YOU NEED CONVICTIONS… BUT YOU ALSO NEED A CONFIDENCE
I need conviction about what I should do, and confidence in what God can do.
And confidence is only gained when trust is tested. When I go through a time where I had to trust and God comes through. That’s where confidence is gained. When ive walked through he fire, through the valley and trusted every step of the way and saw that God is faithful. That’s confidence.
But the scary thing is you have to step out in faith and trust to gain confidence.
16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you.
17 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty.
See they had a plan before the flames were even an option. They had a conviction long before they ever needed to put that conviction in action.
When we gather on Sunday mornings we worship, we hear from God’s word. And in those moments our hearts line up with God’s. His desires become ours and we are training for the day when trusting God is all we can do.
COMPROMISE OFTEN SOUNDS LIKE THIS: JUST ONE TIME
You’re not really worshipping the idol. Just bow down. It’s no big deal. Just this once.
Ask ADAM AND EVE ABOUT JUST THIS ONCE.
And when the pressure comes we need to be able to stand.
ONE OF THE BIGGEST PRESSURES IS WONDERING WHY GOD WOULD LET US FACE THOSE SITUATIONS TO BEGIN WITH
33 I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”
He didn’t say i would keep you from it. He didn’t say it would be easy
He said YOU WILL FACE PROBLEMS. BUT TAKE HEART. Have courage because everything you will face i’ve already beat it. And when I know my Jesus has already faced and beat the situation i’m about to walk into I can have confidence that he’s on the other side waiting for me.
17 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty.
18 But even if he doesn’t, we want to make it clear to you, Your Majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.”
SEE MY CONFIDENCE ISN’T IN IT GOING HOW I WANT. IT’S IN KNOWING THAT GOD’S PLAN IS ALWAYS BETTER.
How could being thrown in the fire be better? HAve you ever been here? Knowing what you should do. Knowing you should follow your convictions but also having this feeling of “But what if God doesn’t come through?”
What if i start the business and God doesn’t provide? What if I take that faith step and it fails? What if I stand up and end up falling down.
And the problem here is that we in the back of our minds believe that God would never ever allow us to go through valleys. We sing about valleys. But deep down we believe he just wouldn’t ever allow the valley.
The mountains are where we celebrate who God is. And what he’s done. But the valleys are where we are closer to him than ever, and where we grow in ways we never could have otherwise.
21 So they tied them up and threw them into the furnace, fully dressed in their pants, turbans, robes, and other garments.
22 And because the king, in his anger, had demanded such a hot fire in the furnace, the flames killed the soldiers as they threw the three men in.
And now the question is what do we do here? WHAT DO WE DO NOW THAT WE’VE STOOD AND IT FEELS LIKE GOD DIDN’T COME THROUGH
25 “Look!” Nebuchadnezzar shouted. “I see four men, unbound, walking around in the fire unharmed! And the fourth looks like a god!”
Many theologians believe that this was the pre-incarnate Jesus meeting them there.
And can we all see now that without the fire they don’t experience Jesus? At least not in the same way?
The fire was the closest to Jesus these people in the OT would ever be.
And so many of you have shared stories of Jesus meeting you in the fire, meeting you in the valley, and what Jesus does in those times are incredible.
28 Then Nebuchadnezzar said, “Praise to the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego! He sent his angel to rescue his servants who trusted in him. They defied the king’s command and were willing to die rather than serve or worship any god except their own God.
29 Therefore, I make this decree: If any people, whatever their race or nation or language, speak a word against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they will be torn limb from limb, and their houses will be turned into heaps of rubble. There is no other god who can rescue like this!”
GOD’S SEVERE MERCY