Under the Influence

Welcome

Thank you so much for joining us today. We are so glad that you are here. If there is anything, we can do to serve you and your family, please don’t hesitate to let us know. Also, if you are ever in the (Orlando/DC) area, be sure to stop by, we would love to worship with you and your family.

Summary

Last week, we kicked off our series, Exiles. If you missed it, please go back and check it out as I believe the message set the tone and context that we will be addressing over the new few weeks. The biggest take away was, we are exiles, which means our citizenship is in heaven.

Philippians 3:20 CSB

Our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly wait for a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 2:11 CSB

Dear friends, I urge you as strangers and exiles to abstain from sinful desires that wage war against the soul.

Daniel 1:8 ESV

But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king’s food, or with the wine that he drank. Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself.

Jeremiah 29:4–7 CSB

This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says to all the exiles I deported from Jerusalem to Babylon: “Build houses and live in them. Plant gardens and eat their produce. Find wives for yourselves, and have sons and daughters. Find wives for your sons and give your daughters to men in marriage so that they may bear sons and daughters. Multiply there; do not decrease. Pursue the well-being of the city I have deported you to. Pray to the Lord on its behalf, for when it thrives, you will thrive.”

We can thrive where we are, don't forget where you are from. We are Exiles. We are loyal to the lamb, not the donkey or elephant. Our main scripture for this series is

Daniel 1:8 CSB

Daniel determined that he would not defile himself with the king’s food or with the wine he drank. So he asked permission from the chief eunuch not to defile himself.

This entire series is meant to help us Draw the Line. Resist. Depend on God. Have confidence.

Background

Nebuchadnezzer is the king of Babylon and has just built a 90 foot statue of himself and issued a decree that requires everyone to stop what they are doing to bow down when the music plays. There are 3 young men that refuse to bow because it violates their beliefs. The king hears of this and is understandably irate because people in positions of authority who aren’t used to hearing “no” go through great lengths to show their power to cover egos and insecurities. He summons the young men and interrogates them...

Scripture

Daniel 3:14–18 CSB

Nebuchadnezzar asked them, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, is it true that you don’t serve my gods or worship the gold statue I have set up? Now if you’re ready, when you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, drum, and every kind of music, fall down and worship the statue I made. But if you don’t worship it, you will immediately be thrown into a furnace of blazing fire—and who is the god who can rescue you from my power?” 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.”

Prayer

Lord, we are so thankful for every moment that we have in your presence. Your word is the blueprint for our soul. I pray for open eyes, open ears, and open hearts. In the name of Jesus. Amen

Illustration

We all have things that influence us. To influence means the capacity to have an effect on the character, development, or behavior of someone or something. a person or thing with the capacity or power to have an effect on someone or something. It means to impact, shape, control. We all have things that influence us, right? We are influenced by parents; advertisement; social media; media; co-workers. Commercials. Taco Bell.

Transition

Isn’t interesting how what’s around you influences what’s on you? What’s around you eventually gets in you and what gets in you eventually comes out of you. As a parent have you ever said these words, “what’s gotten into you”? That means, what has influenced your behavior? What have you been around that has gotten into your actions. We live in a compromised world where we normalize dysfunction, chaos, sin.

We see all through out the Bible where people were influenced and how it led to compromise. Aaron was influenced into making a golden calf. What’s around you, gets on you and what’s on you gets in you. Pontus Polite, the Roman Governor that would sentence Jesus to death, said he saw no fault in Christ, but he was influenced to kill Jesus by the people. Peter cut a man’s ear off when he was around his brothers, but when he got around doubters, he denied Christ.

Context

Normal

Babylon was a brutal godless environment, but employed a unique approach when it came to indoctrinating those they took captive. They would impress them with wealth, food, drinks, and acceptance for the time period of 3 years and change their names. Only the creator can label you. That’s not who you are. You are not what you have done. They had to fight the tension of making sure what they heard didn’t get in their heart. Labels can become normal. Before long, being captive wasn’t bondage, it was convenient. We see this with the children of Israel. Bondage became normal. When freedom is subjective, you are subject to bondage. Setbacks become normal. Burden becomes normal. The struggle ceases because of total surrender to the status quo. We often have pressure to just blend in at work. Blend in with friends.

We all just want to be normal, don’t we? Who doesn’t want a normal day? A normal marriage, normal finances? We even try to sanitize church, we want our spirituality to be...normal. In an effort to reach the world, we impersonate it. It is hard to change what you mimic. Normal is overrated. Division is normal. Hate is normal. Shootings are normal. Divorce is normal. Bullying has become normal. Pain has become normal. Suicide has become normal. Cancer has become normal. I think normal is overrated. God hasn’t called us to be normal, He has called us to disrupt the norm. Don’t be impressed by the world we are called to change. The Hebrew crew stood out because an excellent spirit was on them. Stand out at work, home, marriage, family. Don’t conform, transform. These young men, though under political pressure, made up in their hearts that they would not normal. What’s around you eventually gets in you and what gets in you eventually comes out of you.

Points

Stand Up

When you hear the sound...Nebby created a monument in his honor and commanded that when people heard the sound, they were to drop everything they were doing and bow down. It’s far more psychological than one would think because after enough repetition the sound would be so synonymous with surrender that when heard, the person would instinctively, bow down, surrender, or...don’t put up a fight. Sound is funny like that. There are certain sounds that when I hear it to this day, it’ll bring me back. Certain songs can just do that to you. Triumph is one of those songs. My wife, whenever she hears anything, she just can’t help her self. Certain sounds just demand a reaction. However, I can’t help but to wonder if there are times we hear things we have been conditioned to react. Conditioned to bow down. Conditioned to not to put up a fight. Maybe we’ve been submitting to the melody of mediocrity. Dancing to the symphony of suffering. Perhaps we need to spend less time reacting and more time responding. Reaction is cause and effect; responding is causing an affect. Are we busy reacting to the world instead of responding to God? Faith comes by hearing the Word of God. The Israelites reacted to Pharaoh, but Moses had a response. Stand Still. We need to update our playlist with truth. When Blind Bart HEARD that Jesus was near, he responded by lifting up his voice. Let’s not react, let’s respond.

Speak Up

Even If...The 3 young men responded with what could arguably be in the top 5 lines in the entire bible. They boldly say, we don’t answer to you but since you asked, we will say this; the God we serve can rescue us from the fire and from you, but EVEN IF, he doesn’t, we will not bow down and worship. Even if is a response that is build on the foundation of maturity and truth. Even if it doesn’t work out, God is still working it together. Even if I lose my job, God is a provider. Even if the divorce is finalized, God is still a reconciler. Even if the sickness ends in death, God is still a healer. Even if everyone leaves, I will stay.

Even if the place we get to when we say my faith isn’t predicated on outcomes because I have an eternal outlook.

Freedom in the Flames

Daniel 3:21 ESV

Then these men were bound in their cloaks, their tunics, their hats, and their other garments, and they were thrown into the burning fiery furnace.

Nebby had a reaction. When opposition results in outrage, it’s often because an insecurity has been exposed. Nebby is so angry he has the heat turned up 7 times hotter; so much so that even the bystanders fell victim to the fire. The text says that they were tied up and tossed in fully dressed. When there were public executions they would often strip the person to add shame prior to death. This was the ultimate walk of shame. However, in this instance, these men were still covered, even though they were in the flame. Even though they were in the flame, there was no shame. If you are in a season where it feels like all hell is breaking lose, keep your head up. Jesus took shame to the cross. There is no condemnation to those in Christ. Keep your head up.

Daniel 3:24–25 CSB

Then King Nebuchadnezzar jumped up in alarm. He said to his advisers, “Didn’t we throw three men, bound, into the fire?” “Yes, of course, Your Majesty,” they replied to the king. He exclaimed, “Look! I see four men, not tied, walking around in the fire unharmed; and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.”

Half time allows the coach to tell his team, you may take a loss but you are not defeated. You may be down but you are not done. It’s not over yet. Nebby is surprise to see that the men are alive, free, and not alone. Some scholars think that the men recited a prayer/praise while in the fire and that is what alerted the king. He heard the sound of praise even in the flames. They were free, even though they were in flames. They weren’t alone even though they were in the flames. There is freedom in the flames if your praise remains. When 2 or 3 are gathered in my name, there I AM in the midst. God is a consuming fire. When you are on fire for God, the flames of the world can’t touch you. We see this pattern of God showing up in the flames. Moses (bush/wilderness); with the Assyrian army (185,000). I have discovered that there are times when God doesn’t deliver me from the flames, He delivers me in the flames.

Closing

Daniel 3:27 The Message

All the important people, the government leaders and king’s counselors, gathered around to examine them and discovered that the fire hadn’t so much as touched the three men—not a hair singed, not a scorch mark on their clothes, not even the smell of fire on them!

The Hebrew boys were tossed in the fire but when they came out, you couldn’t even smell the smoke on them. About 20 years ago, I was in a car accident. It left me incapable of working for almost 1 year. It was a crippling season for us financially. We struggled to get back on our feet. We eventually ended up filing for bankruptcy. I recall leaving the lawyers office and feeling like our life was over. We would never purchase a home. Never really move forward. It was at this time, that we decided to really honor God with the little finances we had. It was an uphill battle. We had to say no to a lot of things. When we applied to purchase our home, I was so scarred. Just didn’t want to be disappointed. When we got a letter in the mail that said…Mr. and Mrs. Pittman you are approved!!!! The aroma of our past was no longer on us because we brought Jesus in the fire with us.

Where you stand and what you wear determines if the smoke of culture gets embedded in the fabric of your faith. You are in the world, but not of it. When you are under the influence of grace, the smoke of culture will not find a home on you.

Whether you’re in Babylon or the fire; stand firm in Christ and see the salvation of God.

When you are Under the Influence of the Kingdom, you are protected by the King