In The Midst of Millions
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Intro
Intro
Thank you all for being here.
Thank you especially to our Mother’s here today
That includes Stepmother’s
Grandmother’s
Expectant Mother’s
Thank you to anyone who came because you Mother asked you to come.
John said, I have no greater Joy than to see
That my children walk in truth
And I know our Mother’s here today
Share that same sentiment about their own children
As do all our parents here
We want the best for our kids
and We know that following Jesus is the best.
Amen.
Turn with me if you will
To Daniel chapter 3
I will begin reading in vs 8…
8 Therefore at that time certain Chaldeans came forward and maliciously accused the Jews.
9 They declared to King Nebuchadnezzar, “O king, live forever!
10 You, O king, have made a decree, that every man who hears the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, shall fall down and worship the golden image.
11 And whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast into a burning fiery furnace.
12 There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men, O king, pay no attention to you; they do not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”
13 Then Nebuchadnezzar in furious rage commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought. So they brought these men before the king.
14 Nebuchadnezzar answered and said to them, “Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up?
15 Now if you are ready when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, to fall down and worship the image that I have made, well and good. But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?”
16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter.
17 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.
18 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.”
19 Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with fury, and the expression of his face was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He ordered the furnace heated seven times more than it was usually heated.
20 And he ordered some of the mighty men of his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace.
In the Midst of Millions
In the Midst of Millions
While, John said, I have no greater joy…
I know that Many Mother’s here today
Would say the same thing
But, unfortunatley
We cannot control the destiny of our children
As much as we would like to do it
They will grow up and make their own choices in life
Just like we parents did
And sometimes that choice is not a good one.
I wish that I could tell you
That every single person under the sound of my voice
Was going to make it to heaven some day
But, the Bible paints a different story
about the statistics of those who will make it
and those who will not.
It says, Hell has enlarged herself daily
…
The Bible says when Jesus returns
1 will be taken from the field
and one will be left behind…
1 from the bed…
It is not because of God’s will either.
His will is clear.
9 The Lord … is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
It is NOT God’s will for any to perish
It IS God’s will that all reach repentance
Notice what this verse does not claim…
It doesn’t say that God wants us all to …
reach belief.
Show up to church
Give our tithes
Dress holy
be nice
be perfect
be sinless
have it all figured out
not have any faults
not have any weaknesses
Those things are all well and good
And I think you need to do them
or strive to do them as much as possible
But, every one of those good things you should do
Are all worthless if you don’t do the one thing God said you must do
And that is to come to repentance.
The devil would love for you to go to church every service
and pay your tithes
and be nice to people
and look the part
as long as you don’t repent
the devil is fine with everything else you do.
because he knows that as soon as you repent
Then God is going to get his wish
which is that none of you perish
But the reality of it is
That even though it is not God’s will that ANY will perish
We know that many will perish
because many will never come to repentance.
Jesus said it this way…
13 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.
14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.
I wish it were the opposite
I know God wishes it were the opposite
I wish many would find the way that leads to life
and I wish none would find the way that leads to destruction
but there are so many people in this world
who are not even searching for the way that leads to life
or, they have found it, but they see the way is hard
and so they don’t take that way
But even though the way that leads to life is hard
And it is supposed to be hard
It isn’t as hard as you think it is
and it certainly isn’t as hard as the ending that comes from following the easy way to destruction
Because, while the way to life is hard
That life in eternity is going to be easy
It will be pure bliss
and worth everything we’ve ever gone through over here
But the way that leads to destruction is the easy way here
But it will end with an eternity of unimaginable suffering.
You’ve got get your mind made up
I don’t care how hard it gets
I’m going to see Jesus at the end of this life
I’m not giving up.
I’m not turning around…
Job
Job
No one has been through as much as Job has been through…
15 Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: But I will maintain mine own ways before him.
Job was a man who would not give up
No matter how hard life got
He kept standing firm
But his story is immortalize in the Bible
not because it is the common typical path
that everyone takes
But because Job did what most people won’t do
Even when they are faced with easier lives
Even when they have not gone through a fraction of what Job had to deal with
Most people would give up
And because most people would give up
Job’s name is remembered
He became famous precisely because he did
what most people will not do
He trusted God
no matter what.
We remember his name because he didn’t give up
And most people do
Terah
Terah
Does anyone know the name of Abraham’s Father?
I know some of the men here do
Because I talked about this in a men’s Bible study recently
In the Midst of Millions
In the Midst of Millions
We remember Job
Because when millions gave up when lessor trials came
Job stood firm
We remember Abraham
Because when his Father quit
and everyone else quit
He kept the faith
amidst impossible circumstances.
We don’t remember the quitters
We don’t usually even recall the names of those who come in second place
We only remember those
who kept going
when everyone else turned back.
They stand out among the crowd
They are remember because they are standing
IN THE MIDST OF MILLIONS…
Millions of souls who had the same or better circumstances
Millions of souls who had every opportunity to make it
but they chose the easy way that leads to destruction.
Examples
Examples
The Bible is a book full of those who stood tall
in the midst of millions people who didn’t
We’ve already mentioned Abraham and Job
but what about…
David
Gideon
Daniel
The 3 Hebrew Boys
Caleb
Caleb
As a spy
As an old man who claimed a mountain full of Giants
Closing
Closing
