SPEAKER_00: Let's get right into our message for tonight.
SPEAKER_00: Um, and before I do that, though, I want to take a moment and let's just go before the Lord in prayer and thank God.
SPEAKER_00: Father, we're so grateful, Lord, for who you are, Father, for all that you're doing in our lives, all that you're doing in the earth.
SPEAKER_00: Father, thank you for the part that we have, Father, that we get to get to be involved in.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for the privilege, Lord, to serve you, to be your hands, to be your feet, to be your voice in the earth, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And so we're grateful for that, Father.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for our time here tonight and the word that's going to go forth.
SPEAKER_00: Father, I pray that every person will receive what they need, but more importantly, Father, what you have for them.
SPEAKER_00: And so, Father, thank you for this time tonight.
SPEAKER_00: Our ears are open, our hearts are wide open to receive, and we give you the praise in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: You know, we've had a series of things happen in the last couple of days with an election that just uh just occurred.
SPEAKER_00: And and, you know, uh I I know for some people or a lot of us, maybe some things didn't quite turn out the way we had hoped or what we had we were believing for.
SPEAKER_00: But you know what?
SPEAKER_00: I'm encouraged because I believe God is up to something.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: I believe God is up to something, and not only that, but I read the back of the book.
SPEAKER_00: Anybody else read the back of the book?
SPEAKER_00: And we win.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: But as I look at the condition of our nation, you know, we we we saw God's grace with the election of our president.
SPEAKER_00: And and so it's real easy to see what what's happening in the earth, and you know, God uses who he whoever, God chooses and uses whoever he will.
SPEAKER_00: That's that's that's that's Israel is God, right?
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: But, you know, we don't, we as people of faith and believers, we don't get to just take a seat and say, oh, Trump's in office.
SPEAKER_00: I got I can take a breather, I can take a break.
SPEAKER_00: No, we don't get to live in autopilot mode.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you know we still have work to do?
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you know that God's gonna have a harvest before he comes back?
SPEAKER_00: And who's he expecting to help bring that harvest in?
SPEAKER_00: Us.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: And so we don't get to just take a seed and cross our legs and sit on our blessed assurance, wait until he returns.
SPEAKER_00: When he comes, he wants to find us busy.
SPEAKER_00: He wants to find us actively engaged and involved.
SPEAKER_00: And so we have some things to do.
SPEAKER_00: And so tonight, as we dive into our word, into the word, I just want to share with you some things that I believe will encourage you, some things that I believe will help you.
SPEAKER_00: Um as we as we walk through our daily lives, how many of you know that there's a lot of pressures in the world today?
SPEAKER_00: There's lots of things going on.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you can't even watch TV anymore without having.
SPEAKER_00: I know in my house we can't even watch TV anymore without having a remote in our hand because we never know what's coming up on the commercials.
SPEAKER_00: And not just the commercials, but have you noticed how vile just the regular television shows are?
SPEAKER_00: Even the shows that are geared towards children now are full of adult content.
SPEAKER_00: Help me understand that one, if you will.
SPEAKER_00: And so we have a responsibility.
SPEAKER_00: We have a responsibility.
SPEAKER_00: We're called to be light and darkness, right?
SPEAKER_00: We're called to be to be a preservative in the earth.
SPEAKER_00: Amen?
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: And so tonight I want to talk to you about standing up in a bow-down world.
SPEAKER_00: You know, we have a responsibility as believers, and every day we are faced with the opportunity to bow to the pressures of this life, to bow to the challenges of this world, to bow to the temptations, to bow.
SPEAKER_00: It's so easy sometimes to you look at things that are going on, and maybe you just want to quit or throw your hands up and give up and say, you know, what's the use?
SPEAKER_00: But I have resolved and I have decided that as long as I am on this earth and as long as I draw a breath, I'm gonna make sure that every moment counts for the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: I refuse to stand before God on that day that I stand before him and have him say anything to me other than, well done, thou good and faithful servant.
SPEAKER_00: And you know, it's not just about standing before him and having him say that, but something in my heart says, I want to take as many people with me as I can.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: And so I want to talk tonight about standing up in a bowdown world, and I want to provide you some tools to put in your spiritual tool belt as we go along, and I want to provide those and through the lens of the life of uh the three Hebrew boys.
SPEAKER_00: Most of you know their story about Shadrach, Mesha, and Abendigo and their dealings with King Nebuchadnezzar over in the book of Daniel, chapter three, if you'll turn there with me, and just for the sake of not having to wear the name out, I'm gonna refer to King Nebuchadnezzar as Nebi.
SPEAKER_00: Is that okay with you tonight?
SPEAKER_00: King Nebi.
SPEAKER_00: And so we find in chapter 3, the book of Daniel, chapter 3, starting in the first verse, we see this story or this account of King Nebuchadnezzar, who was already full of himself, because if you go back to the first two chapters in Daniel, you'll see that King Nebuchadnezzar, you thought he would have learned uh through a series of dreams and some things that had occurred prior to that, but King Nebuchadnezzar decided that he was going to build an idol.
SPEAKER_00: And so in Daniel chapter 3, verse 1, it says, Nebuchadnezzar and Nebi made the king made an image of gold whose height was 60 cubits.
SPEAKER_00: Now, translation of that, that that statue or that idol was 90 feet high.
SPEAKER_00: That's pretty tall.
SPEAKER_00: That's pretty big.
SPEAKER_00: And its width was six cubits wide, or six feet was six cubits, or six feet wide, and he set it up in the plain of Durah in the province of Babylon.
SPEAKER_00: Now, as we look at that, it's real easy to see that he was setting some things up and putting some things in motion to cause some things, to cause people to have to worship something or to bow to it.
SPEAKER_00: And you know, as I looked at the size of that idol, it was real easy to tie that to and relate that to the things we see in the world.
SPEAKER_00: There are so many things that we're we face and we deal with that they look really big and they look really tall.
SPEAKER_00: And the purpose of those things are whether it's a temptation, whether it's a it's a health issue, whether it's a relationship, all of those things can be idols.
SPEAKER_00: All of those things, if they're looked at and viewed the wrong way, can be an idol.
SPEAKER_00: And so we see that King Nebuchadnezzar made this tall idol, and then he sent word and gathered all of the saturates, the administrators, the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the judges, the magistrates, and all the officials of the provinces who came to the dedication of the image that the king had set up.
SPEAKER_00: And so all of these important people in verse 3, they show up and they're standing there, they've gathered together for the dedication of this image that Nebuchadnezzar Nebuchadnezz made, and they stood before the image that he'd set up.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, he gathered all the people of influence.
SPEAKER_00: And if you think about what's going on in our world today, and think about even the things on social media, everybody wants to be an influencer now.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody wants to have influence.
SPEAKER_00: It used to be people were more interested in having affluence, but now they're more interested in having influence.
SPEAKER_00: And so we see all of these important people were gathered in one place at one time for one purpose.
SPEAKER_00: And that was the agenda of the king.
SPEAKER_00: That was the agenda of the world.
SPEAKER_00: King Nebuchadnezzar represented the world.
SPEAKER_00: And he was about to make a shift.
SPEAKER_00: He was about to change some things.
SPEAKER_00: And so then all of a sudden, while the people are there, this announcement is made.
SPEAKER_00: And the announcement is made, it says, You are commanded, O people, O nations, O languages, to um that at the time that you hear the sound, and underline in your Bible, at the time you hear the sound, because that sound represents so many different things in our world today.
SPEAKER_00: That sound represents triggers, that sound represents uh attitudes, that sound represents lifestyles, that sound represents phrases, that sound represents groups of people.
SPEAKER_00: You know, there are so many different things that are idols now, whether it's LGBTQ plus and plus and all the other letters in the alphabet.
SPEAKER_00: Or if it's, you know, I never before have I seen racism be such a word that is just worn out.
SPEAKER_00: If you don't agree with someone and you just happen to be a different color nowadays, you don't even have to be be a different color to be a racist.
SPEAKER_00: But everybody wants to play, wants to play the racist card.
SPEAKER_00: Did you know that that that something the Lord revealed to me not long ago that one of the idols that we're dealing with in this nation right now is the God of racism.
SPEAKER_00: We would rather worship our skin color and make that a priority than worshiping God.
SPEAKER_00: Well, I'm here to tell you tonight that in the kingdom of God there is no race, there's just grace.
SPEAKER_00: God doesn't look at the color of their skin.
SPEAKER_00: I'm so thankful that years ago I got delivered from the color of delivered from seeing people based upon the color of their skin, but looking a little bit deeper at the content of their character and their heart.
SPEAKER_00: And so we have all of these different things.
SPEAKER_00: And so he said, when you hear that sound, whatever it is to you, whatever, whatever that idol represents, I want you to do something.
SPEAKER_00: When you hear that sound, I want you to fall down and worship it.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to worship that image.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to worship that big God.
SPEAKER_00: And actually, that big God is really a little G God of the world.
SPEAKER_00: But the king's agenda was to make that thing appear so big and so ginormous and so just way over the top that you have to bow down and worship it.
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
SPEAKER_00: You're wild.
SPEAKER_00: You're you're you're just enamored by this, the vastness of it.
SPEAKER_00: Bow down and worship it.
SPEAKER_00: And whoever does not, verse 6, does not fall down and worship it, shall be cast immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.
SPEAKER_00: So he makes it real clear, I've got an agenda.
SPEAKER_00: And I want you to fall down.
SPEAKER_00: And what people don't understand is the minute you do you decide to give into that, to fall down, you have actually activated the downfall.
SPEAKER_00: The minute you choose and agree to fall to fall down and worship something, you've actually engaged your downfall.
SPEAKER_00: And he said, if you don't do it, you're gonna be immediately cast into the midst of, in other words, the minute you decide you're not gonna do what you I need you to do, we're gonna deal with you quickly.
SPEAKER_00: I don't even know that's the devil's agenda right now.
SPEAKER_00: He is so nervous about you being being even the least bit willing to open your mouth and speak against something that he's gotta deal with you quickly.
SPEAKER_00: He's gotta shut you up quickly.
SPEAKER_00: He done he wants, in other words, he wants compliance and conformance.
SPEAKER_00: That is the order of the day.
SPEAKER_00: When people, when, when, when, when people get in your phase with things, what are they looking for?
SPEAKER_00: Compliance and conformance.
SPEAKER_00: That's what the enemy wants.
SPEAKER_00: And if he if you don't give him what he wants, then he immediately begins to threaten you with here's what's gonna happen if you don't do it.
SPEAKER_00: There's consequences.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 7.
SPEAKER_00: So at the time when all the people hurt the sound of the horn, the flute, the harp, the lyre, they hurt the sound of the thing that was supposed to draw them to that place of worship.
SPEAKER_00: All the people, nations, and languages fell down and worshiped the golden image which King Nebi had set up.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, we see that happening today.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody is doing it.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody's engaged.
SPEAKER_00: Things that used to not be okay are all of a sudden okay.
SPEAKER_00: It's called tolerating.
SPEAKER_00: Well, how long are you going to tolerate the devil bringing things that you know are against God's will?
SPEAKER_00: You know, the longer I live, the more I make decisions concerning things every day that that's just not okay with me.
SPEAKER_00: That's not okay.
SPEAKER_00: And so you see all of these people, all of these nations, all of these languages, they all fell down and worshiped the golden image.
SPEAKER_00: That is so indicative of what we see today in the church.
SPEAKER_00: The sheep.
SPEAKER_00: And not just the sheep, but the shepherds.
SPEAKER_00: This morning, during our staff prayer time, as we were praying and we were praying over some things, I really had a moment where I just experienced the heart of God and his grief over the hearts and the people that are being led astray.
SPEAKER_00: And it's not just the people, but it's the people that are in place to shepherd the people, the shepherds.
SPEAKER_00: And so in verse 8, we see that because all of these people had decided that they were gonna bow and give in, there were a group of people that noticed some things.
SPEAKER_00: So the Chaldeans came forward and accused the Jews, the haters.
SPEAKER_00: You know, there's always somebody in the bunch that's watching you.
SPEAKER_00: They know where you stand, they know how you what you believe, they hear what you say, and so they're gonna watch you.
SPEAKER_00: They're watching.
SPEAKER_00: And so they're watching.
SPEAKER_00: And so they speak and they go and speak to Nebuchadnezzar and they say, hey, listen, king, you didn't you make a decree that anyone who hears the music of the, who hears this music, this sound, who hears this trigger, that the minute that that happens, something's supposed to happen, they're supposed to fall down and worship it.
SPEAKER_00: Well, we're here to tell you, and you said if they didn't do it, that if they didn't fall down, in other words, if they didn't activate their downfall, they would be cast in the midst of the burning fiery furnace.
SPEAKER_00: Now listen, let me tell you something.
SPEAKER_00: The devil's job is always looking for an opportunity to take you out.
SPEAKER_00: The minute you decide and you resolve in your heart that you're gonna obey God, you know, I said something the other day, just kind of, I won't say I said it flippantly, but I said something, and I thought about it a little bit later, and I thought, you know, that's really how I feel.
SPEAKER_00: And my feeling is this if loving God is wrong, I don't want to be right.
SPEAKER_00: Now, some of you saying, I I've heard that before.
SPEAKER_00: But it's an application of my heart.
SPEAKER_00: If loving God is wrong, and you know, every believer ought to have that attitude.
SPEAKER_00: If loving God is wrong, I don't want to be right.
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to have a part of whatever else that that that that the other side of that is tied to, I don't want that.
SPEAKER_00: And so they go to the king and they say, hey, king, we've got these people that you said everybody needs to conform, everybody needs to comply, but those certain Jews whom you have set over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrat, Mesha, and Abendigo, those men, O king, have not paid due regard to you.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, they're not doing what you said.
SPEAKER_00: They're not, and you know it's interesting how they they wanted to really get the king hot and mad about it.
SPEAKER_00: And they're saying, King, they're not, you're not getting respect.
SPEAKER_00: They're not respecting you.
SPEAKER_00: They're dissing you.
SPEAKER_00: Well, that's how the devil does it.
SPEAKER_00: It's not enough for him to just expose something or to tell a lie.
SPEAKER_00: He wants to tell it in such a way that it really hits the hot button.
SPEAKER_00: He really wants to stir the pot.
SPEAKER_00: And he said, they don't serve your gods or worship the golden image which you have set up.
SPEAKER_00: See, here's something I've learned.
SPEAKER_00: If we're gonna, if we're gonna be stand, if we're gonna stand up in a bow down world, we've got to first understand that the devil hates the position and your call.
SPEAKER_00: He hates your position.
SPEAKER_00: He hates the place that you're standing in.
SPEAKER_00: He hates that you are a worshiper, he hates that you do what he'll never get to do.
SPEAKER_00: He hates that you have a relationship with a loving father who's redeemed you from the curse.
SPEAKER_00: He hates all of those things.
SPEAKER_00: He also knows that you have authority.
SPEAKER_00: I like to look at it this way.
SPEAKER_00: You know, I I grew up in a part of town where we call it the hood.
SPEAKER_00: And so here's my response to that.
SPEAKER_00: You need to tell the devil, listen, stitch snitches get stitches.
SPEAKER_00: You need to put the devil on blast.
SPEAKER_00: He's gonna go tell on you and you're gonna let him do it.
SPEAKER_00: But you need to let him know, hey, I know what you did, but I'm just put I'm just putting you on notice that snitches get stitches.
SPEAKER_00: You need to terrorize the terrorists.
SPEAKER_00: And so here's the first little nugget to put in your tool chest.
SPEAKER_00: You need to not allow, don't allow the opposition to take your focus off of your assigned position.
SPEAKER_00: Let me say that again.
SPEAKER_00: Do not allow the opposition.
SPEAKER_00: Who's the opposition?
SPEAKER_00: The devil, the idol, that very thing that's vying for your attention, that thing that wants to get you to bow, you need to understand why it wants you to bow.
SPEAKER_00: It wants, first of all, it wants you to leave your position, your place, your statute, your standing.
SPEAKER_00: Notice that the only way that the king would be satisfied is if the people were in a posture of bowing down to it.
SPEAKER_00: What does that represent?
SPEAKER_00: Surrendering, giving in.
SPEAKER_00: The surrendering took place on the cross and it even wasn't, it wasn't even surrender.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said, No man takes my life.
SPEAKER_00: I'm laying it down for you.
SPEAKER_00: And so you need to understand that do not allow the opposition to take your focus off of your assigned position.
SPEAKER_00: Stay focused.
SPEAKER_00: Over in Philippians chapter 3, verses 12 through 14, Paul talks about how he's got, we've got to press toward the mark of the prize, of the high calling.
SPEAKER_00: Paul understood what the requirement was.
SPEAKER_00: And if anybody went through a lot of stuff, if anybody had lots of opportunities to bow to things and to give in, did give in, Paul, Apostle Paul had had dealt with a few things.
SPEAKER_00: But he said, it doesn't matter.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna press toward the mark.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna stay focused.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna allow the opposition to take me off, take my focus off of I assigned position.
SPEAKER_00: Your position has value.
SPEAKER_00: And the devil recognizes that.
SPEAKER_00: So King Nebuchadnezzar, King Nebi, in verse 13, he gets mad.
SPEAKER_00: He gets so mad that he gives a commandment to bring Shadrah, Mesha, and Abendigo before him.
SPEAKER_00: And he spoke to them saying, Is it true?
SPEAKER_00: You know, that's just like the devil a question.
SPEAKER_00: He knows he's already heard what the response is.
SPEAKER_00: Did you really mean that?
SPEAKER_00: Oh, now you don't really mean that.
SPEAKER_00: That's not how you really feel.
SPEAKER_00: He's gonna tell you how you feel.
SPEAKER_00: You ever have the devil try to tell you how you need to feel about a situation or in a situation?
SPEAKER_00: You know, you really need to just go ahead and just say you're sick.
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: You really need to just go ahead and say you you're you're heartbroken.
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: What we allow is is what happens.
SPEAKER_00: What we disallow is what doesn't happen.
SPEAKER_00: And so he said, is that really true?
SPEAKER_00: What?
SPEAKER_00: You're not with us?
SPEAKER_00: You're not coming to the bow down party?
SPEAKER_00: Actually, I believe King Nebby was more concerned about saving face because he's this king.
SPEAKER_00: He's he's just like God.
SPEAKER_00: And now he's got somebody that's defying him.
SPEAKER_00: And he wants to save face.
SPEAKER_00: Well, how many times do you think the devil wants to save face?
SPEAKER_00: And so he even says in verse, now if you're ready, he's the devil, I'm gonna give you another chance.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if you're ready, at the time you hear the sound, at the time you hear the trigger, whatever it is, when you hear it, when you hear that that thing that that causes you to maybe want to bend, listen, as believers, we don't bend, we don't lean, we stand.
SPEAKER_00: Let me say that again.
SPEAKER_00: As a believer, you don't bend, you don't lean, and you don't stand.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you you you don't lean, you stand.
SPEAKER_00: But I'm gonna give you another chance.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna give you a chance to worship disciples.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna give you a chance to give in to the pressure, the pressure, the pressure, the pressure, the pressure, the pressure.
SPEAKER_00: I've learned when the enemy starts to applying pressure to me, I apply pressure to him.
SPEAKER_00: How do I do that worship?
SPEAKER_00: That'll get the devil out of your out of your business quicker than quick can get ready.
SPEAKER_00: He can't stand that worship.
SPEAKER_00: But he says, I'm gonna give you an opportunity, but if you don't do it, you shall be cast immediately.
SPEAKER_00: There's that, that's that, I I gotta deal with this, I can't allow it to go on.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if he understood the urgency of dealing with with non-compliance, how much more as believers do we need to understand the urgency of standing, resisting, dealing with it?
SPEAKER_00: He said, I'm gonna give you one more chance, and if you don't, I'm gonna throw you in, and we'll see.
SPEAKER_00: And who is this God who will deliver you from my hand?
SPEAKER_00: Who is he?
SPEAKER_00: See, that speaks clearly of his his whole attitude about it.
SPEAKER_00: He was full of himself, they were full of him, and Nebuchadnezzar was full of himself.
SPEAKER_00: And so I love the way they responded.
SPEAKER_00: Sharemisha and Bednego and answered and said, Oh, Nebbi.
SPEAKER_00: Nebby, Nebby, Nebbi, Nebbi, Nebby, Nebby.
SPEAKER_00: Why are we even having this discussion?
SPEAKER_00: We have no need to answer you in this matter.
SPEAKER_00: You already know how this is gonna go.
SPEAKER_00: Why are we even having this discussion?
SPEAKER_00: As if that's gonna change my mind, as if that's gonna change my attitude.
SPEAKER_00: And then they're gonna say, if that was enough, and if that's the case, our God, whom we serve, I don't know who you serve.
SPEAKER_00: Well, yeah, we do.
SPEAKER_00: It's that big tall thing out there.
SPEAKER_00: Our God, whom we serve, is able to deliver us from the burning fire in furnace.
SPEAKER_00: Your God is able to deliver you from whatever the fiery furnace is you're dealing with.
SPEAKER_00: He's able to deliver you from the pressure.
SPEAKER_00: The weapons of our warfare are mighty in God through the pulling down of strongholds.
SPEAKER_00: He's able to deliver you.
SPEAKER_00: Our God is able to deliver us from the fiery furnace, and he will.
SPEAKER_00: See, there's an attitude right there.
SPEAKER_00: Not only is he able to do it, but he will do it.
SPEAKER_00: That's something we can learn as believers.
SPEAKER_00: Standing up.
SPEAKER_00: These guys right here were standing up in the middle of adversity.
SPEAKER_00: They were standing up in the middle of the threats, they were standing in the middle of what looked like the end of their life appeared to be imminent.
SPEAKER_00: They were standing.
SPEAKER_00: Our God is able.
SPEAKER_00: Now, but if he doesn't, but if he does not, let it be known to you, Nebby.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: That we do not serve your gods.
SPEAKER_00: That is the attitude that we have to have if we're gonna stand in a bow-down world.
SPEAKER_00: I don't care what you say, I don't care what it looks like, that's not acceptable.
SPEAKER_00: I don't agree with that.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not allowing that in my house.
SPEAKER_00: You're not gonna talk like that.
SPEAKER_00: I've gotten to the point that if I'm around people and they start using language that grieves me, I check them.
SPEAKER_00: Excuse me.
SPEAKER_00: I don't talk like that.
SPEAKER_00: And if we're gonna continue having the conversation, you can't talk like that.
SPEAKER_00: What you allow will happen, what you disallow will not happen.
SPEAKER_00: But even if he doesn't, we're putting you on notice.
SPEAKER_00: We're not serving your God.
SPEAKER_00: We're not bowing, we're not giving in.
SPEAKER_00: We're not worshiping the golden image, we're not worshiping the things that this world's putting up there.
SPEAKER_00: We're not having it.
SPEAKER_00: Here's a second nugget to put in your tube, in your toolbox.
SPEAKER_00: Your faith voice must be front and center.
SPEAKER_00: Your faith voice must be loud and clear.
SPEAKER_00: At no time should you allow your faith voice to diminish.
SPEAKER_00: Say what you say and mean what you say.
SPEAKER_00: And when you're full of faith, faith, sometimes faith has to call the things that be not as though they were.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes you gotta faith it till you make it.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I didn't say fake it till you make it, but you gotta faith it till you make it.
SPEAKER_00: And these guys were faith in it till they make it.
SPEAKER_00: Our God's gonna deliver us.
SPEAKER_00: We're not bowing down, but if he doesn't, we're still not bowing down.
SPEAKER_00: And so your faith voice must be loud and clear, and it must be front and center.
SPEAKER_00: So Nebuchadnezzar wasn't, he was hot then.
SPEAKER_00: He was really mad.
SPEAKER_00: You know, the devil gets arrogant gets gets uh gets aggravated quite often.
SPEAKER_00: I like aggravating him.
SPEAKER_00: Think about how often he enjoys intimidating and antagonizing us.
SPEAKER_00: That song, me and the devil had a tussle that I won.
SPEAKER_00: Me and him, we we can't agree.
SPEAKER_00: I hate him and he hates me.
SPEAKER_00: Folks, we have got to get to the place that every time trouble even looks like it wants to show up, we we're on the we're on the we're on the defensive.
SPEAKER_00: We're on the offensive.
SPEAKER_00: We're doing whatever we need to do.
SPEAKER_00: We're heading, nope, not in my house.
SPEAKER_00: Nope, I'm not putting up with that.
SPEAKER_00: Nope, I'm not allowing that.
SPEAKER_00: I'm certainly not bowing to that.
SPEAKER_00: The devil's gonna get mad, but who cares?
SPEAKER_00: And so Nebuchadnezzar's beside himself.
SPEAKER_00: He he you he has totally been embarrassed and disrespected at this point.
SPEAKER_00: When was the last time you totally embarrassed and disrespected the devil?
SPEAKER_00: Totally embarrassed and disrespected.
SPEAKER_00: And so now he's gotta take some action.
SPEAKER_00: He's gotta, he's gotta, he's gotta do what he said he's gonna do.
SPEAKER_00: So he commands the mighty men of Vela who were there in the army to bind Shadow, Mesha, and Abednego, and cast him in the fiery furnace.
SPEAKER_00: Now, as I was reading about that, in verse 21, something stood out.
SPEAKER_00: It says, These men were bound in their coats, their trousers, their turbans, and other garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.
SPEAKER_00: Now, why do you think the story includes details about what they were wearing?
SPEAKER_00: Why do you think that's there?
SPEAKER_00: Well, I did a little research.
SPEAKER_00: And if you understand the thread content or the makeup of the garments they were actually wearing, they were walking matchsticks.
SPEAKER_00: The minute they even got close to the fiery furnace, they should have been poof.
SPEAKER_00: The makeup of their clothing was so fire-ready that they the minute they got close to it, they should have been burning already.
SPEAKER_00: Talk about a miracle.
SPEAKER_00: Talk about a delivering God.
SPEAKER_00: Talk about God honoring and responding to face.
SPEAKER_00: Talk about God backing up the stand, the the the guys that refused to bow down and chose to stand up.
SPEAKER_00: That's a miracle.
SPEAKER_00: And God's not done with those.
SPEAKER_00: Did you know that if he did it for them, he'll do it for you?
SPEAKER_00: Your situation, whatever it is, you may be walking through, may be one of those things that you are highly flammable.
SPEAKER_00: And it may look like you're gonna burn.
SPEAKER_00: Looks like you are walking matchstick.
SPEAKER_00: But if he did it for them, he'll do it for you.
SPEAKER_00: And it goes on to say in 20, verse 22 Therefore, it's because the king's command was urgent and the furnace exceedingly hot, the flame and it bears it out.
SPEAKER_00: The people that bound them up to throw them in the fire perished, but the guys that they were going to throw in the fire didn't perish.
SPEAKER_00: And they perished just by getting close to it.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the next nugget for your toolbox.
SPEAKER_00: Don't let the devil in the darkness agenda see you sweat.
SPEAKER_00: When the heat intensifies, don't sweat it.
SPEAKER_00: When the pressure is on, praise.
SPEAKER_00: When the pressure is on, worship.
SPEAKER_00: But don't let the devil make you sweat, and don't let him see you sweat.
SPEAKER_00: Your helper will show up and be with you in the fire.
SPEAKER_00: Pastor John Osteen used to say this all the time.
SPEAKER_00: He would say, You can take a ball bat and beat me to a greasy spot, and a greasy spot will still say.
SPEAKER_00: That's somebody who was fully persuaded and fully convinced that it didn't matter what the circumstances look, they were going to walk through.
SPEAKER_00: Now the king was astonished.
SPEAKER_00: And he rose in haste and spoke and said to his counselors, Did we not cast three in?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00: True king.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00: He's like, look, but there's four.
SPEAKER_00: There's four.
SPEAKER_00: I see four men loose.
SPEAKER_00: And so not only did they not burn, but the minute they hit the fiery furnace, they were already free.
SPEAKER_00: They were already free.
SPEAKER_00: What does that say to you?
SPEAKER_00: That before you even get to the furnace, he's already freed you.
SPEAKER_00: Freedom has already been dispatched to your situation.
SPEAKER_00: Freedom is already there at work.
SPEAKER_00: The AC man was already on the job and everything was cool.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: So much so that Nebi said, see, Nebi's not as dumb as we think.
SPEAKER_00: He sees something has happened and it didn't happen the way he thought it was going to happen because he's God.
SPEAKER_00: But now he's seeing that there's a God that's greater than him that's doing some things.
SPEAKER_00: And he went near the mouth of the burning fiery furnace and spoke, saying, Shadrach, Mesha, and Abendigo, servants of the most high God.
SPEAKER_00: He got it right that time.
SPEAKER_00: They came out of the fire.
SPEAKER_00: And all of the people, the satraps, the satraps, the administrators, the governors, the king's counselors, gathered together, and they all saw.
SPEAKER_00: Say all saw.
SPEAKER_00: They all saw the men on whose bodies the fire had no power, and the hair of their head was not.
SPEAKER_00: Here's something I've learned.
SPEAKER_00: When you're in the fire, it's not really for you, it's for the people that's supposed to be the spectators.
SPEAKER_00: You just need to make up your mind and just testify.
SPEAKER_00: I'm doing this for the spectators.
SPEAKER_00: Somebody's gonna get saved.
SPEAKER_00: Somebody's gonna get set free in the midst of my fire.
SPEAKER_00: And if you have the same mindset that these guys had before you go into it, you already know how it's gonna end up.
SPEAKER_00: God's power was on full display.
SPEAKER_00: God is still in the displaying of power business.
SPEAKER_00: Everyone will see it.
SPEAKER_00: He did it for them, he'll do it for you.
SPEAKER_00: God was eagerly waiting to display his power.
SPEAKER_00: He was eager to back up his word.
SPEAKER_00: When did his word go forth when they declared the victory?
SPEAKER_00: When they declared that their God was gonna deliver them.
SPEAKER_00: They literally spoke to the fire and said, You can't touch me.
SPEAKER_00: I'm fireproof.
SPEAKER_00: When was the last time you told your trouble?
SPEAKER_00: I'm fireproof.
SPEAKER_00: You can't burn me.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not giving into you.
SPEAKER_00: You can't, I'm fireproof.
SPEAKER_00: You can't touch this.
SPEAKER_00: No, I'm not gonna break out of my worst hammer routine, but you can't touch this.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, folks, we got to put the devil in the order and say, hey, devil, hey, hey, you can't touch this.
SPEAKER_00: And he's saying, Oh, but it's hot, yeah, but my God is hotter.
SPEAKER_00: It's hot, but my God is cool.
SPEAKER_00: He's cooler than you.
SPEAKER_00: So much so that what he saw, I love this because he even, they even said, Wow.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 28, Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who sent his angel.
SPEAKER_00: He recognized that something had transpired.
SPEAKER_00: And delivered his servants who trusted in him.
SPEAKER_00: All it took was faith, who trusted in him and had frustrated.
SPEAKER_00: God was ready, he's ready to do some frustrating.
SPEAKER_00: Our father's not going to be frustrated, but he's ready to frustrate.
SPEAKER_00: He's given you the authority to frustrate the enemy.
SPEAKER_00: He's given you the authority to make the devil look bad, frustrating.
SPEAKER_00: God is eager to frustrate your opposition.
SPEAKER_00: So he goes on and say, Therefore I will make a decree that any people, nation, or language who speaks anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Mesha, and Abendigo shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made.
SPEAKER_00: He was serious.
SPEAKER_00: He's like, okay, I've seen the light here now.
SPEAKER_00: Don't mess with their God.
SPEAKER_00: What I got is the little G God.
SPEAKER_00: That's the big God.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the next tool uh thing for you, toolbox here.
SPEAKER_00: Even in the fire, keep the mission focused.
SPEAKER_00: We have a mission and a mandate here at Glorious Way Church.
SPEAKER_00: My church, my church, my mission.
SPEAKER_00: Well, what does that mean for those of you that are watching?
SPEAKER_00: We have a mandate.
SPEAKER_00: We've got things to do.
SPEAKER_00: We're advancing the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: And even when the enemy brings trouble, listen, Jesus said in this life, you're gonna have tests, you're gonna have trials, but be of good cheer.
SPEAKER_00: If I've overcome it, I've already dealt with it.
SPEAKER_00: I got you.
SPEAKER_00: Stay focused.
SPEAKER_00: Even in the fire, keep the mission front and center to fulfill God's mandate.
SPEAKER_00: What is the mandate?
SPEAKER_00: To wake up the church.
SPEAKER_00: Souls.
SPEAKER_00: There will always be a ministry opportunity in the fire.
SPEAKER_00: Don't miss out on it.
SPEAKER_00: Don't get distracted by the fire and the heat and the warmth.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, it's uncomfortable.
SPEAKER_00: Just resolve.
SPEAKER_00: In my moment of being uncomfortable.
SPEAKER_00: Something is about to happen.
SPEAKER_00: Somebody's gonna get saved.
SPEAKER_00: Somebody's gonna get delivered.
SPEAKER_00: Somebody's gonna get set free.
SPEAKER_00: Don't be a whiner.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, it's hot.
SPEAKER_00: It's uncomfortable.
SPEAKER_00: I don't like this place.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, well, the sooner you stop whining, the sooner you can get out of it.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Don't whine.
SPEAKER_00: You know, God don't do whining.
SPEAKER_00: Did you know that?
SPEAKER_00: He don't do whining.
SPEAKER_00: And here's the last point.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 20, verse 30.
SPEAKER_00: The king promoted Shadrach, Meshan, and Abendigon in the province of Babylon.
SPEAKER_00: After everything that happened, after that great delivery, after the manifested power of God, after God frustrated him and showed him who was really greater, they get promoted.
SPEAKER_00: So on the other side of the furnace is a promotion.
SPEAKER_00: It's a milestone.
SPEAKER_00: On the other side of the furnace is a milestone.
SPEAKER_00: Well now some of you may have to go into the furnace to get the milestone, but the good news is you're coming out of it.
SPEAKER_00: Untouched, unharmed.
SPEAKER_00: Not a hair on your head, and I'd be checking, I take inventory every day with mine nowadays.
SPEAKER_00: I know when they're missing.
SPEAKER_00: But not a hair on your head will be sins.
SPEAKER_00: Your clothes.
SPEAKER_00: Wow, that is such a powerful, powerful promise.
SPEAKER_00: Your clothes.
SPEAKER_00: When you think about being around smoke and how even the very pores of your skin smell like that, God said, I'm gonna bring you out of that situation in such a way that there will be no indication.
SPEAKER_00: There will be no evidence.
SPEAKER_00: There will be no testimony of what the devil tried to bring you through, but instead there'll be a testimony of what I brought you out of.
SPEAKER_00: And the only other side of that is the promotion.
SPEAKER_00: See, we get caught up, we get hung up on when we see the oh, I gotta go through this test, I gotta go through this test, I gotta go through this test, oh, I gotta deal with this, oh, I don't really want to deal with this.
SPEAKER_00: Look, no test, no moning.
SPEAKER_00: Can I say that again?
SPEAKER_00: No test, no moaning.
SPEAKER_00: It's a two-part deal.
SPEAKER_00: It's a two-piece.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you know what I'm talking about.
SPEAKER_00: It's a two-piece.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: No tests, no money.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: And what God did for them, He's ready and willing and able to do today.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: God's got a plan.
SPEAKER_00: And so we can, we can, we can we can lay our heads down at night.
SPEAKER_00: We can go through every every part of our day walking in full faith and confidence that He's faithful.
SPEAKER_00: And all we got to do is stand up in a bow down world.
SPEAKER_00: God's gonna back you up, He's got you.