Reputation Wk. 2

Standing Together: Faith in the Fire

Bible Passage: Daniel 3:1–23, Daniel 3:24–30, Ephesians 1:15–19

Summary: Daniel 3 recounts the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refusing to worship King Nebuchadnezzar's golden statue, leading to their miraculous deliverance from the fiery furnace. In Ephesians 1, Paul expresses his prayer for believers to know the hope and power of God in their lives, emphasizing the importance of faith.

Application: This sermon seeks to encourage teens to stand firm in their faith amidst peer pressure and societal challenges, illustrating that faith is best lived in community. As they witness the united stand of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they'll be empowered to support one another in their spiritual journeys.

Teaching: The sermon teaches that faith is not just an individual endeavor but a communal responsibility. It stresses the significance of standing together in faith and reminds believers that God honors such unity and protects those who trust Him.

How this passage could point to Christ: Christ is foreshadowed in the story of the three men standing in the fire, as He embodies the ultimate presence of God with humanity in trials. The saving power demonstrated in the furnace points to Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice and His role as our Savior who walks with us through our own trials.

Big Idea: We can show our faith together.

Welcome: Reputation Wk 2

Welcome to week two of our series reputation, where we are exploring the crazy life of Daniel and his friends, to see what they can show us about living evangelistic lives!

Under Pressure:

Who prefers being in control? Some of us prefer to have more control than others, for things such as driving, what we do on the weekends, what we may be eating, and having control over these things is great if you want it. One of the things that I am thankful for about living in America is that we have incredible freedom of choice, which is actually the reason why we have so much control in our lives.

Sometimes we don’t have the freedom of choice and control…

Tell story of not being in control while riding in van in Haiti

Some other dudes who lacked control of their environment while in a foreign nation were Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. These brothers were on a mission trip too, just not one that they chose to go on, they got snatched by the King.

This sermon is not about control, or lack of it, but what makes this relevant is that sometimes we too end up in places or circumstances where we are forced to make decisions based off of things that we have no control over…what we do have control over though, is how we choose to respond.

Daniel 3:1–7

Our world is full of Idols, and our enemy is going to do everything he can do to train us to bow down to them.

How do we stand in front of Idols while all others are falling down?

We stand together!

Daniel 3:8–18

The three amigos are so committed to their relationship with the One true God, that they refuse to bow down to the false idols of the world. Even when confronted face to face with persecution because of their boldness, they stand together, ready and willing to die in order to remain obedient to The Lord.

Does your obedience to the Lord make you different than your lost peers?

What about your life has changed?

Can you make a list of things that you don’t participate in because of your faith?

What are some things that you DO that others DONT as a result of your faith?

Do you surround yourself with people who are refusing to bow down to the things of this world?

Are the ones that you are surrounding yourself with the ones pressuring you to bow down, or are they encouraging you to stand strong? Maybe your surrounding yourself with the ones who are running behind your back telling everyone else how weird you are that you wont give in.

Our obedience to the Lord should be noticed by a world that is not!

Daniel 3:19–23

Real Obedience often brings worldly persecution!

Persecution is not the end of the story.

Daniel 3:24–30

When we stand together, Jesus stands with us.

English Standard Version Chapter 18

20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”

Jesus is faithful to deliver us from the world!

Does your obedience and Testimony of deliverance point back to the one who delivered you?

Because they pointed up not in, Kink Neb. came to believe in the One True God and used his influence to turn others away from false Idols, to The God that truly saves.

Bottom Line: We Can Show Our Faith Together

Unity in faith.

Ephesians 1:15–23

Our God is a powerful God. One of the ways that His power is manifest on this earth is through the gathering of His saints! When we gather together, we are inviting the Holy Spirit to do mighty and incredible things. Things like revealing his word in greater ways, corporate praise and worship, floods of prayer, strengthening fellowship, and supernatural healing. This is the power that empowers and maintains the church’s ability to continue in the Good Work of our savior Jesus. Giving sight to the blind, freedom to the enslaved, healing to the broken, riches to the poor, and life to the dead.

What Should I Do?

1. Don’t Bow Down to Idols!

Our false idols may not look like a Golden Statue, that just makes them all the more dangerous.

Self, Social Media, Video Games, Sports, Information, impure sexual desire/pleasure, drugs, alcohol, people, entertainment, anything that we prioritize over God.

What are you going to do when the trumpets blow.

2. Find Faithful Friends, and Stand Firm Together.

Don’t let church attendance become something that is optional

Be involved in as many Christian ordained groups as you can be in (FCS, FCA, Bible studies, prayer groups)

In all of those areas, find other believers that you can lock arms and stand with against the demands of the World.

3. Always Point Up, Not In.

Share YOUR TESTIMONY!

When others ask how you got through a hard time or circumstance, practice giving all of the glory and power to the one who really does hold all the glory and the power.