The Last Stand

Engage

Tension

King Nebuchadnezzar demanded that At the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe and all kinds of music, the people of Babylon bow down and worship the Golden image he had created or would be thrown into a blazing furnace.

Worship the King’s god or die.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego faced death because they refused to bow down and worship the King’s god because they worship the one true God.

Christians are constantly faced with the battle of worship and are not always prepared to stand against the lure of worshipping man made idols. Money, Power, Sexual Immorality, and idolatry. God is prioritized based on our own convenience.

They had to chose between worshipping a god created by the hands of man or worshipping the Sovereign God that created all things including man.

Application

The New International Version Chapter 3

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to him, “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. 17 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. 18 But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”

Knew God

Believe God

Trusted God - willing to suffer

Truth

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego Chose to worship God over King Nebuchadnezzar because they loved King of Kings more than the King of Babylon.

The New International Version Chapter 4

This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

The truth of God’s love is that He always had a redemption plan for you and I that ended with His only Son on the Cross at Calvary. Does the way of the world redeem us? Do the way of the world forgive us our sins? Has the world sacrificed anything for you? Our Sovereign God has.

Vision

Image the impact we can have in this world if we loved God and worshipped God with all of decisions.

Image the change we can see in families if husbands and wives worshipped God with all of their decisions.

Image the decisions our youths will make if we teach them to worship God with all of their decisions albeit in school or in relationships.

Image the stand we can have against a broken world if we worshipped God with our decisions.

Action

The only way we for us to love God and worship God is to know to God. We can know more about God by reading his word and spending time with him in prayer.

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

The New International Version. (2011). (Ro 12:1–2). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.