Strength (Kids Camp)
Notes
Transcript
Shad, Meshack, Benny
Shad, Meshack, Benny
Good Evening everyone!
My name is Zach and I am a Pastor at FW church.
I see some of our kids there— unless they have been terrible— then I don’t know them.
I am super excited to be with you all this evening.
I know you guys have been learning a lot and I hope that you all have a blast the past coupe of days.
And tonight we are going to be talking about strength.
And when I say strength what do you guys think about?
Jesus, Dad, Superman, Strong, Weights, Muscles
Those are all great answers.
I like to think of our physical strength— maybe you hit some weight and you workout.
Get some big muscles.
So lets try something—
Whoever can do this we are going to do a push-up contest.
Who can do the most push-ups
Everyone has to do a real push-up.
Pastor David is going to show us how to do a real push up.
Perfect so make some space where you are and get into the upright position.
When I say down— go down and when I say up you all come back up.
Got it— if you fall you are out— and you can stop at any point, but you can’t restart— once you are out you are out and you have to go all the way down—
Awesome:
PUSH UP CONTEST
Let’s hear it for our winner(s)!
You get sore muscles!
Here’s the thing that was hard wasn’t.
Heck yes.
No matter if you one or 30 that is hard to do.
But there is the deal— tomorrow if you did more pushups you could probably get back to the same number you did tonight and maybe even more.
You build up that strength.
I think this kind of strength is pretty common.
We probably all know strong people, we can see their strength.
But what about strength when times are hard?
Can people be strong in hard times?
And when we see people being strong in hard times we call that courage.
When people stand firm in the face of obstacles or hard situations we celebrate those things.
Who are some courageous people that come to your mind?
Jesus, Mom, Dad, Spiderman, Ironman, Batman, Firefighters.
It is pretty wild when we see someone stand up to a bully.
Or when Ironman snaps his fingers to save the world.
When a fireman rescues a dog from a burning building.
Maybe it is someone standing up for what is right or even fair.
We see courage and strength often in our world and honestly courage sells lots of movie tickets.
We see this played out often.
And when we see it we cheer, right?
But you know what?
Sometimes it is hard to be strong isn’t?
It is hard to stand up to a bully?
I don’t know about you but running into a burning building sounds courageous but my thoughts are that I could never do that.
It is not easy to have courage.
It is not always the popular decision.
It is easier to not stir the pot.
We would rather not cause any waves.
But what happens when your back is against the wall?
But what happens when you are faced with a choice that goes against what you believe.
Even in times where we don’t feel courageous, there will be times that we have to be strong, we have to be firm, we will have to be bold.
I want to tell you a story of that is okay with you guys.
It is the story of 3 boys— and how they stood up to a king.
It is the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego.
And here’s the thing I need help acting out this story okay:
So I need some of you guys to help me out:
Who I need:
Nebuchadnezzar— ME/ME/ME
A Herald—HEAR YE, HEAR YE
Shadrach— NO WAY NEB
Meshach— NO WAY NEB
Abed-nego— NO WAY NEB
3-6 Music members— Can you be an instrument for me? (MUSIC)
Flute/ Horn/ Trigon/Bagpipes/
2 guards— You guys get to scream but it is going to be in a few.
2 other volunteers (Furnace)— Fire noise
Alright everyone else— let’s get our Bibles open in Daniel 3.
If your friend is up here— maybe flip their Bible open to Daniel 3 as well.
When you got it raise you hand.
Alright when I say your name you are going to say your line okay—
King Neb, The Herald, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, Music, Guards, Furnace.
Once upon a time in Babylon there lived a King.
His name was Nebuchadnezzar— but his first called him Neb.
Babylon was a pretty powerful nation at this point in history.
They actually had concurred the nation of Isreal and took the people who lived there, the Jew back to their own city in Babylon.
The Jewish people were people of God.
Many years before this God made a promise to Isreal that he would be their God and they would be his people.
And The Lord gave his people a law to follow— so the people would follow it for a bit and then they would choose not to follow the Lord.
And when that happened typically the Lord would punish the nation by having another nation come in and control them.
Have you ever gotten in trouble for not listening to your parents and your mom or dad ground you, they take something away, make you hold hands with your siblings, or maybe they spank you.
It is important to know that when we choose not to follow God their is consequences for those actions.
This was Israel’s consequence— they were in captivity.
Okay back to the story:
King Neb had this dream and in that dream he saw this massive statue.
So he thought— I am going to build this statue and call everyone to come and bow to it.
So King Neb made a golden statue.
It stood at an incredible 90 feet high and 9 feet wide.
King Neb wanted everyone in Babylon to worship his image, he made.
So he called his herald.
And the Herald: proclaimed to everyone in Babylon this:
Daniel 3:4–6 (CSB)
A herald loudly proclaimed, “People of every nation and language, you are commanded: When you hear the sound of music: horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, drum, and every kind of music,
you are to fall facedown and worship the gold statue that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. But whoever does not fall down and worship will immediately be thrown into a furnace of blazing fire.”
So it sounds like King Neb has some rules he has laid out.
You either bow to the statue or you die.
Sounds pretty reasonable.
So the Herald made the statement and not long after wards they heard the music play and everyone in Babylon stopped what they were doing and worshiped the statue made of King Neb.
While almost everyone was bowing to this statue.
And a certain group of people the Chaldeans— (you all can boo them)
The Chaldeans— were enemies of the the Jewish people and so they were looking to stir the pot.
You ever have that person who just doesn’t like you and they are just always trying to get at you— trying to get you in trouble.
That is the Chaldeans.
These Chaldeans— they came forward to King Neb.
And they really tried to flatter the king.
They said really nice things to him.
You guys do right?
If you want to stay the night at a friends house or you had an a favor to ask mom and dad— you begin by saying Mom— I love what you have done with your hair, did you just get it colored?
Or maybe you are talking to your dad and you say— Dad did you just cut this lawn because it looks incredible out here.
We try to butter mom and dad up to get what we want.
The Chaldeans were doing the same thing.
They said: O KING, LIVE FOREVER!
And these people remind King Neb about the announcement that was made by the Harald.
That when the music is played they are to worship the Statue of King Neb.
And if anyone didn’t do that they would be thrown into the furnace.
The King knows what was said— he wrote it!
And then here come the reason why they said it.
Verse 12
There are some Jews you have appointed to manage the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men have ignored you, the king; they do not serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.”
The Chaldeans came to tell on three guys, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego.
Nobody like a tattle tale and these dudes were tattling!
The Chaldeans were tattle tales.
The Chaldeans did not like the Jews.
And so they thought they had them.
Because if you don’t recall the 10 commandments makes it pretty clear to now bow to other idols.
And this statue of King Neb was an idol.
“You shall have no other gods before me.
“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
And how did the king respond to this?
Did he say— ope, no worries guys— you do whatever you want.
NO King Neb was furious!
And he gives them a chance to make it right— He tells Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego— We are going to play this music and when it plays you will bow down and worship this statue or you will be cast into the furnace and no god can save you.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego seem to be backed into a corner.
It could have been easy for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego to just listen to king Neb.
But instead look at what they say:
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied to the king, “Nebuchadnezzar, we don’t need to give you an answer to this question. If the God we serve exists, then he can rescue us from the furnace of blazing fire, and he can rescue us from the power of you, the king. But even if he does not rescue us, we want you as king to know that we will not serve your gods or worship the gold statue you set up.”
Do you see the boldness Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego have?
They said we will not bow to your statue— for God will deliver us, and even if he doesn’t we are not going to serve your statue nor your gods.
They is some pretty bold guys here.
How do you think King Neb was going to respond?
He was MAD
And he told his workers to heat up the furnace 7x more than usual.
Furnace you have to be loaded and make more fire noises.
It was a large room of fire!
It was hot and it would burn you alive.
So King Neb calls his two guards— and tell them to tie them up and cast them into the fire—
The Furnace is so hot that the guards who threw Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego into the furnace they die.
Guards give us your best death scene of you burning alive.
So they threw Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, into this very hot furnace.
And they hit the ground of the furnace.
It was too hot for the guards— they died outside of the furnace, yet Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego— they survived the fall into the furnace.
And while all of this was happening— King Neb— noticed something:
Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up in haste. He declared to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?” They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.” He answered and said, “But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.”
There was three of the men they threw into the fire but now there is four and one appears to look like a son of gods.
Meaning that their was nothing not worldly about them and King Neb— is shaken to his core.
And he calls out to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego— to come out of the furnace and they do.
For nothing was out of place on them.
Then look at what King Neb says:
Nebuchadnezzar answered and said, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants, who trusted in him, and set aside the king’s command, and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God. Therefore I make a decree: Any people, nation, or language that speaks anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be torn limb from limb, and their houses laid in ruins, for there is no other god who is able to rescue in this way.”
Now King Neb was not saying me/me/me he was saying: Praise the Lord
alright you guys can have a seat.
Give it up for your actors and actresses.
You guys can have a seat.
Here is the deal.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego— stood up to the one of the most powerful men in the world at this time and they lived to tell the tale.
Most men who did this would just be put to death.
Yet, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego— lived through it because of the Lord rescuing them.
I think the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego can tell us a lot of things about our own personal life and how we should with the Lord, but I have boiled it down to 3.
Number 1: In order to know the right thing to do we have to know the right one.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego chose to do what was right.
King Neb wanted them to bow to a statue of him— and that statue was made of a gold and I’m sure it would have been incredible to see.
But Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego— they knew who they worshiped.
In order to know what is the right thing to do you have to start with what God calls right.
I’m not asking for you to live a perfect life and neither is God— but God is calling you to live a life for him, and we don’t know what that looks like without this book right here.
It is vital to our faith— it is vital to our soul.
The right things is always the right thing even if it may cost us something.
Be brave, have courage and be strong in the face of hardships.
Number 2: Suffering is part of doing the right thing.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego— believed that God was going to rescue them.
But they also knew that he may not rescue them.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”
They knew God could save them— but even if he did not save them in that furnace they would not bow to a false god.
They served the one true king.
Following God will cost you something.
And right now you may not feel that.
But one day it may cost you a friend, or a job, or even a family member.
And it may hurt and it may cause you to weep.
And you may have to suffer because of it, but doing the right sometimes comes as cost.
Number 3: The Lord is our strength and our rescue.
What I love about this story is that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego— were thrown into a furnace and three went in and 4 were present in the furnace.
In the furnace many scholars believe that Jesus was present.
Jesus is the 2nd head of the trinity.
The Son— who has been present with the Father and the Holy Spirit since eternity past.
Jesus was present with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego.
Causing the fire to be cool and not burn Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego walk out with nothing wrong with them.
That is wild guys.
But here is the greatest news of all— We were all heading to a similar state— and we needed someone to rescue us from our situation.
Everyone in this room was at some point separated from God.
In the beginning when God created everyone, including man and women— everything was just right.
And then Eve took the fruit and she disobeyed God.
And sin entered the world.
And from that moment on the earth was destined for destruction.
We were all destined to be separated from the God for eternity.
BUT God seeing us in our need— just like we saw Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, going into the fire, God sent us a rescuer.
This name was Jesus.
And Jesus would live a perfect life while on earth and would eventually be killed for you and for me— to rescue us from our state of sin.
Jesus would go to the cross and die a death that we owed.
And he took on all the sin of the world, all past, present and future sins.
And he paid for them all.
And then three days later he conjured death and walked out of that grave to go back to heaven where he now stands at the right hand of the father.
And if you don’t have a personal relationship with Jesus and you want to be rescued tonight then talk to your small group leaders after session tonight, just tell them, I want to be saved and they will walk you through what that looks like.
The Lord is our strength.
In the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, it was not their strength that saved them it was the Lords.
We have to trust him and put our whole faith into him and him alone.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, did this.
Will you?
Will you stand firm when life is challenging?
I pray that you will and that you will lean into Christ as you do it.
Will you pray with me
Pray
