"I Refuse to Bow Down" Daniel 3-13-18::Maintaining The Standard

[Music] grab your Bibles Daniel chapter three once again we're continuing our series entitled maintaining the standard and I hope that has been helpful so far and so we're in Chapter three I hope that you're reading along with us in doing that couple of things this is a wonderful weekend every year we celebrate the birthday of dr. Martin Luther King jr. and so I hope that on tomorrow is graced with a great opportunity to share some words on this past Friday in our state capitol and was there with Bernice King and a few others and they gave us the challenge that we should move from ceremony to action and I thought that was awesome and I hope that tomorrow yes it is a day off but I hope it is a day on for service and I hope that you once again try your best to to do that and help those in need also pray for our church family it's a long week we have three funerals this week so lift up the Pharrell family the Gibbs family and the Brown family those were as we try to provide comfort for them and so we pray that you would do that and also our very own brother Trey and his group is there ready to embark on the second part of their national tour come on let's thank God for them we sold it on pray for them ask God to cover them we're gonna pray for over them I think of the last service but we just want us as a church family to knowledge and honor the gifts that's among us and I always tell people we have some incredibly gifted people part of our church and we honored what God is doing in them and through them to advance the kingdom of God amen Daniel chapter 3 I'm breaking Daniel three into two parts so we'll do part one this week and then we'll come back and conclude it on next week so I'm literally preaching the first 18 verses of Daniel for the sake of time let's look at verse 13 and 18 let's read through verse 13 and 18 in the message translation let's hear what God has to say for us on this day Furious King Nebuchadnezzar ordered Shadrach Meshach and Abednego to be brought in and when the men were brought in Nebuchadnezzar asked is it true Shadrach Meshach and Abednego that you don't respect my gods and refuse to worship the gold statue I've set up I'm giving you a second chance but from now on when the big and strikes up you must go to your knees and worship the statue I've made if you don't worship it you will be pitched into a roaring furnace no questions I ask who is a God who can rescue you from my power Shadrach Meshach and Abednego answered King Nebuchadnezzar your threat means nothing to us if you throw us in the fire the God we serve can rescue us from your roaring furnace and anything else she might cook up O king but even if he doesn't it wouldn't make a bit of difference O king we still wouldn't serve your gods or worship the go statue that you said we're talking with is ours I want to trouble your patience today I want to talk from this start I want to talk about I refuse to bow down touch someone next you say neighbor I refuse to bow that huh lift those hands start heaven say Lord's feet we need to hear may be seated in the presence of God the myriad of quotes that dr. King has laid throughout his life one that always sticks to me is where he says you can tell the content of a man not in times of comfort and of convenience but time of challenge and controversy I think that's powerful is we begin to unpack that that is a significant thing to consider because when things are easy it really does not press us to really begin to manifest who we are on the inside but yet when we go through things when were challenged when were pushed up against the wall really begins to expose what kind of individual we are man by minimum Jurgen Moltmann also said this he says peace with God means conflict with the world that presupposes that peace with the world means this conflict with God and here's the reality and I want you to be honest and hopefully this is something you're gleaning from our study together to the Book of Daniel you have to make a choice you either have to choose to stand with God or stand with the world and there is no really vacillating you can't put one foot in and one foot out you you cannot just choose in one area to to think that in one place you just would say you know what I I can do it in certain seasons and in certain situations but God wants complete total fidelity God wants to know can I trust you to keep your commitment to me through everything you go through in life and here's the point my brother sisters most of us can say pastor I can be faithful I know what it is to be faithful but here's the challenge my brothers and sisters each level requires a higher level of commitment because it's easy on certain levels to be faithful when you ain't got much to lose it's easy on certain levels to stay committed when it seems as if you're not risking much but here's the challenge my brothers and sisters that I really want to push us is that a true test of your loyalty fidelity to God is not when you're on a small level but when God has blessed you and gracious you and promoted you can God trust you to stay loyal even when you got a whole lot to lose my brothers and sisters that is what it's saying because don't tell me what you wouldn't do if you ain't got nothing to lose you you don't impress me because you tell me how faithful you got what really begins to push the the realms and the space of your faith is can God trust you after blessing you to still stay committed to him if it cost you your entire blessing that that's what I want to submit to you today my brothers and sisters and that's what brings us to Daniel chapter 3 it's an intriguing chapter that transitions from chapter 2 where we saw King Nebuchadnezzar getting this this dream defined and revealed and now we move into chapter 3 a lot has transpired in just the turning of one chapter now in Daniel who was promoted he promoted his homeboys Hananiah Mishael as a riot you know him as Shadrach Meshach and Abednego and when we get into chapter 3 the opening portion we know they hear these are these newly promoted people these three Hebrew boys who've now been called by God to once again a higher level in a foreign land but now they're gonna be tested King Nebuchadnezzar has built a golden statue he's made a law of command of credence that everyone must bow down to the statue or risk being thrown into the fiery furnace and by the time we get to the conclusion of the first half of chapter 3 what we see is these three Hebrew boys decide not to bow they're gonna continue to stand for God even if it means they'll be thrown into a fiery fir and I know my brothers and sisters I know it sounds kind of trite but I know you want to suggest it I don't know if I have Fiery Furnaces today but there will always be moments in your walk with God you're gonna have to choose what you bow to and what you stand for and I want to submit why some of us perhaps struggle with that is because you're under the illusion my brothers and sisters that you sometimes assume that sure the reason why you've succeeded you you assume that you're the reason why you were able to be promoted some of us fall victim and pray the higher we go up believing we pulled our own selves up by our own bootstraps but when you understand who God is and what God has done you realize that God has been working in you through you and before you and because God has been that good to you the least you can do is be good to God that's the only simple thing I'm gonna challenge us today if he's been good to you on your job you ought to still be good to him if he's been good to you and your family finances and any of the things you ought to be good to God and there's gonna be some times God wants to know can I trust you to stand and not bow elbow that person next to you and say neighbor you better not bow you better not bad and it's don't come but you better not bow you better stand for God because if you don't stand for something you will fall for everything that's the power of my brothers and sisters that I think this text begins to push us the theme is powerful because then in moments of strife and moments of struggle what God wants to know what's the weight of your faith because it has to be some value to your faith there because at the end of the day my brothers and sisters how much is your commitment to God worth to you that's what I want to submit for us today because I believe this passage begins to let us know there are oftentimes repercussions to ascension God yes there are some times when God elevates us there will always be some things that we have to navigate through and if we do not navigate through them correctly we'll end up losing not just what we claim to is our source and our strength but we'll end up losing the very foundation of what we are which should be our faith my brother and sister let me share just three quick things today let me extrapolate them from this passage today I I believe there's some things that we learn from Hananiah Azariah and Mishael I think they teach us some powerful principles about how we've got to be resolute in moments and realized that we have to refuse to bow down his first thing I hope that you're taking notes and the first thing that I think this text is tailored to teach us when it comes to our commitment to God in moments like this it's the first thing I want you to know is that promotion always comes with challenges to our integrity you will never be promoted without some challenge to your integrity that that's what takes place in this passage because it's intriguing to know what has transpired chapter 3 comes on the heels of chapter 2 and it's amazing what has now taken place what taking place in chapter 2 is Daniel gets the revelation King Nebuchadnezzar has his dream deciphered he decides to give props to Daniel's God Dan you've decided hook his homeboys up Shadrach Meshach and Abednego and not only is Daniel blessed and promoted but so is his three homeboys but when we get to chapter three something has happened in just the changing of a chapter we see the narcissism once again be exposed in the life of King Nebuchadnezzar he decides to build a gold statue to himself this was not some regular ornate image it was actually a rather large when some would suggest over 90 some feet tall and 9 or some feet wide and it says it was built in a place called the plain of Dura if I didn't if I had time today y'all look so bored I would tell you that Dora in the Aramaic for which this text is written simply meant to be the place of the wall y'all missed it so King Nebuchadnezzar builds an image to himself in a place where the wall is if I'm just talking about King Nebuchadnezzar he decides to build an image that honors him that gives praise to him in the place where the wall is supposed to be built as as if it would suggest that you cannot separate the statue and the wall it seems to suggest that both of them were meant to feed that narcissistic ideals of King never gonna so because he's so insecure he has to build stuff to make himself feel better I'm just talking about King Nebuchadnezzar I'm I'm just talking about and so guess what he decides to do it he mandates a shutdown that when a band plays everyone has to shut down stop what you're doing and bow down to the statue I'm not making it up this is Bible I don't know what y'all alluding to I'm just talking about King Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon y'all y'all seem like y'all think I'm talking about and I ain't talking about nobody I'm just talking about what I'm talking about so that's what he does so so here is King Nebuchadnezzar building an image to himself in a place where the wall is dictating by law a shutdown to where a band plays and to make it worse he decides to get his leadership his magicians and astrologers his Senate and his Congress and his judicial boy to literally bow down to him y'all gonna kiss that's why when you read the opening portion of chapter three it's intriguing because he seems to suggest to us that if he could get the leadership to acquiesce to his requests he knows the people we act were yesterday and so can you imagine what he's thinking as he now dictates his orders that he needs everybody to bow down especially those who are connected and you got to understand why this is significant because for King Nebuchadnezzar those who are in his cabinet those who are in his circle oughta bow down why because of what he's done for them they've been hand-picked they've been given opportunities that he gave them and so he feels like you owe this to me because I've been vested in you if I had time I would just ask the question I don't I don't know where you are and I'm not sure what you'd be but be careful the people who feel like you owe them because they've invested in y'all don't want to help the preacher beat be careful you know cuz there's some people I know you think that they're nice and you were wondering man you were so kind to me but be careful because a lot of times some friendships come with strings and if you're not careful if you're not discerning what you thought was a sincere authentic relationship you realize they've been playing you the whole time and so they'll come up to you right before the meeting and say now I need your help in this now remember they didn't want you here at first but I brought you in and so i vouched for you I wrote a recommendation for you to go to be careful of people who always acquiesce and remind you of what they've done for you and at the end of the day you realize it was all again if I wish I had some real people took somebody tell them don't fall forward don't let him play me homey don't play that touch somebody tell him I don't let him fall for and here is the challenge because he's invested in them he took them to school and he thinks that because of what he's done for them they owe him their allegiance and so all he's asking he don't think it's a big thing bow down to the gold statue this was crucial my brother and sisters ghost actual simply was a representation of idolatry which was crucial and matter of fact is one of the cardinal sins whenever you read scripture this was crucial the it was bigger than just bowing down because what the item represented was it simply was saying that you pledged allegiance to it and not God because idols are always meant to put your faith in them and not in your God and the question I got a raise I don't mean to be all in your business but what is your golden statue what is it that people dangle in front of you and you are tempted to bow because you're attempting to think that's your source and not your God somebody's golden statue may be a promotion someone's golden statue but maybe a scholarship offers someone's golden statue might be something that I mean you said you would never do but now you're standing in front of it and I mean you're looking at your bills and you're looking at and where you are and you thinking about your 401 K and in your mind you're thinking to yourself I got a good life I got kids to feed I got I got stuff I need to catch up and you start to think because when you ain't got enough then you can be as faithful as you want to be but when you got bills and stuff that happens sometimes you'd be starting to make I wish I had some real people you start thinking I can't lose my job now I got I can lose this scholarship night and sometimes in a tango right in front of you because promotion always brings challenges my brothers and sisters I'm here to tell you the text tells us that all of us will have to answer that question all of us will oftentimes have to respond to the investment that's in you and don't tell me what you were doing to you in that place until you have everything on the line and what I appreciate about these three Hebrew boys is these brothers stood strong even though they were newly minted even though they were newly elevated they still kept their faith in God because at the end of the day they show us that if you bow to it you can't stand for God I don't know who I'm talking to maybe this word coming right at the right season because there's some stuff that you're gonna have to make a decision about and I'm here to tell you can't God trust you with promotion because he wants to know can you be the same Integris person on the top level that you were on the bottom level don't tell me that you love me if you can choose it over me I wish I had some real people that can test about there will always be some challenges they show us that life promotion brings challenges to our integrity but then as we keep meandering through this narrative it also shows to us that favor attracts those who can't handle our ascension I will admit to you this text is intriguing because it tells us that while they were standing to their convictions as they were having the courage of their convictions matter of fact some scholars took it further to say that not only did they not bow they didn't even face the direction of the golden statue the text says if you read around verse 8 that some of those who were their contemporaries and co-workers noticed they weren't bowing and decided to use this as an opportunity to try to undercut them and get rid of them in front of King Nebuchadnezzar now I would admit to you if I be if I had a few moments I wish I could go talk to these coworkers because the first question I would raise is my question to them would be how do you know they didn't bow down because if you were bowed down [Applause] you can't tell what else is going on okay maybe I'm in here by myself my issue I know you ain't never dealt with this but my thing about people who always trying to tell you what you do my question to them is how you know how you know I was at the club yeah how do you know well I wish I had some real people how how you know I wish I had some right y'all lookin sir my telling ya I'm tryin to get that question answered myself peachy cuz I'm tryin to figure out how people always know where I'm at and what I'm doing who I'm talking to who I'm communicating with who I liked on social media who I commented I wish I had a reason it's because they've been watching you I wish I had some real people that can testify the reason they know everything because instead of doing their own business they made your business they I wish I had some real people up in the I wish I had some folk like me and sometimes you just be wanna tell people are you that interested in my life that you ain't got nothing else to do but worry about what I'm doing what I wish I had some time look at somebody say mind your business baby oh because if you mind your business you wouldn't be all up in my business and I'm here to tell you that if you're doing what you're supposed to do then you will not be worried about me so what do they do and so and so what they do is they decide to use this opportunity to stab in the back Shadrach Meshach and Abednego now normally this is not my lens because I understand I do think that sometimes we throw that word around hater too much and so everybody you hate and I and I'm I try to get away from that I don't think that that's everybody's hater but I would admit everybody got some haters and let me tell you some sometime it's not the people you think [Applause] cuz the text honestly when you unpack it these are people that don't seem like they should be hating on the reverb or they're on the same level they got the same job same pain but I've learned something guys that many times your success exposes who likes you or not see as long as you beneath them they can handle you as long as you make less than them they can rock with you as long as your car ain't the same brand and year their car is they can hang which but as soon as you move up the totem pole as soon as you start doing well for yourself and Lord forbid starts so passing them oh it's gonna expose and some people didn't like you in the first place they just been tolerating you because they didn't think that you would ever get to the place where you beyond them and now that you're moving beyond them they expose their true feel I wish I had some real honest people in here because maybe you've dealt with that in the few short days or 2019 and you thinking to yourself Lord why you don't like me I mean we should we park in the same spot I mean we got the same job I understand baby they just can't handle the fact that when they look at you it reminds them of the fact that they're stuck where they are and you're headed to another place somebody ought to thank God because at the end of the day let me just be real with you let me deliver some of y'all haters are gonna hate they gonna get mad they gonna talk about you and so here it is let me deliver some of y'all cuz some of y'all still crying good tears are over bad issues stop crying over stuff that's just part of the process if you ain't got no haters you ain't doing nothing if you ain't got folk talking about you you ain't progressive matter of fact you ought to look at as a badge of honor the more they talk about you man I'm up to do something because the Bible says he prepares a table before me in the presence of my enemies he makes my enemies my I need my haters matter of fact I'm gonna give you something to hate about if you thought where I was was good baby you ain't seen nothing hear how fast somebody next to you and said nay if you think what I've done right now is good you ain't seen them yet cuz I got more stuff to do i I got more lives to help I got more levers to go on baby so might as well get yourself together because of you hating on this level you really gonna be hating when god takes me to where I'm supposed and hears truth and I need us to mature cuz I'm nothing worse than us going back and forth tic-tac with somebody that's jealous envious that's just part of life that's part of the walk you have that is a byproduct of favor don't ask God for favor if you don't want haters so let me deliver you stop expecting people to be all on your side stop expecting people to be true in your face now you're gonna have some back biters you gonna have some people stab you in the back that is part of the process and you've got to be mature enough to understand it ain't me they're really mad and it's the god I serve because the reason I'm here it's not because of my own self it's because I serve a great big time he says listen him the process and they come and I'm tell you how intense their hate God they appeal to the narcissism of King Nebuchadnezzar and then they result to name callin them Jews you bro really is it that deep but understand they were territorial because they didn't like the fact that these Outsiders foreigners immigrants were coming in taking their shine and so their struggle was people that look different from us is achieving on our level and we don't like the fact they're achieving because they shouldn't be achieving because they didn't have all the resources we had but they still here see if I had time I would tell you some people hate you because when they look at all that you had to endure your survival and striving through it all really upsets them because if it would have been them they would have lost long time ago so some people's hate on you is that they're really mad that you've been doing through all the hell you had to endure - but you are still I wish I had some real people in the houses of mine tell them I know what that means because I'm not supposed to be doing this and I'm not supposed to be doing that but when you got God on your side everything will work so understand promotion comes challenges to our integrity it's gonna be part of it you gonna have to decide am I going to bow to this golden statue or not favor is gonna attract those who can't handle your ascension stop expecting everybody to be there for you it's not going to happen but the third principle is this you've got to learn how to trust God because your trust in God must supersede all the consequences see here's what's crazy is that when they tailed on Shadrach Meshach and Abednego King Nebuchadnezzar literally offers what he suggests or sees as a moment of grace because his edik and his command was anyone that did not bow automatically gets thrown in the fiery furnace but King Nebuchadnezzar decides to meet with him in the solo to confront them about what they've done he comes to them he said man is this true y'all ain't bow he said alright listen I'm gonna give you another chance matter of fact I'm gonna do another shut down I'm gonna let the band sing I'm gonna give you another chance get on your knees and bow to mine because if you don't do it this time I've been kind but don't take my kindness for weakness I'm gonna throw you in all y'all up in the fiery furnace matter of fact and what God is gonna rescue you see I want to submit to you that he would have probably been ok if he just would have not brought God in the picture Nessa's he should just did what he was gonna do but now this was not just between King Nebuchadnezzar and the three Hebrew boys this was between King Nebuchadnezzar and their God that's why their response when you look at it it's pretty profound because the way they come back to him it can be perceived as being disrespectful but they come in and say man you don't really messed up bruh see what you don't understand is we don't care what you do or anything that you decide to devise or scheme against us matter of fact let me tell you what's gonna happen our God can deliver us from this fiery furnace since you want to know what God can go against you and for many of us we would shout over that because in essence they are speaking about the power the ability the Dunamis of God God is a man listen God if you try to figure out who can get us out of this situation God if you want to know who can save us God if you want to know who got our back God if you want to know who can strengthen us God and they go on that but I love the maturity here because then they go on the converse that don't many of us ain't gonna stand up for cuz you shout over him delivering you but they don't stop them but they say but if not and we end up dying in their fiery furnace it's not because he didn't have the power it just wasn't in his week but us dying in a fiery furnace does not change the fact we ain't bowing to your statue and we ain't worshipping your God so let me tell you what's gonna happen here King do what you got to do because either way we are trusting our got see yelling like me because you want to always build a contingency plan you you want to just say what you would do and but yet if something happens you you'll be willing to acquiesce and shift and change but when you really mature in the things of God you say you know what either way I'll be satisfied if you keep me I'm good but if I get taken I'm good too if I keep my job I'm fine if I get fired I'm still good if I stay in the relationship cool if they leave me I'm still good because either way you wanna do it god I just believe you got enough power to handle it either way I wish I had some real people that can look over your life and you made your decision that as I look over things I just decided I choose god no matter what I gotta face it no matter what I got to endure at the end of the day I choose a god I gotta roll up out of here but touch somebody Mitchell Soneva I choose god I made my mind up if I gotta go through hell and high water I'll be fired up I choose god I've decided long time ago since he's been that good to me and he's brought me a mighty long way up I'm not gonna get fickle on him now because I still trust in God the same way Joe said he ate though he slay me I'm still a go and trust him I do I got anybody in the house that said I'm still gonna trust God elbow that neighbor besides you and say nay I came to ask you one question and the one question is whose report will you believe do I got anybody in the house that said I'm sticking with God because he's been that good to me huh and if he's been good to you open your mouth and give the Lord some praise if you say for god I'll hear and for God I die open your mouth and give God some praise if you know if it had not been for the Lord on your side open your mouth and shout hallelujah Shug Lord shall take your cheese either way you bless me Lord shouting shouting shouting shouting shouting [Music] [Applause] [Laughter] [Music] touch me people tell him I refused a bow I refused about tell him I refused about I refused [Applause] everyone's standing I'm done I got three more services to go here is the power to me and the powers in the butt of nine because my brothers and sisters there will always be consequences to your convictions and I wonder where does God rank in it all next weekend we don't talk about the fiery furnace you already know what happens but the deliverance for me is in verse 18 because when you're resolute before the situation either way it's all good with you see let me tell you something the goodness of God is not predicated on the good things you experience I just said some time for y'all to tweet them soon the goodness of God is not predicated on the good things you experience he's good all the time and all the time goddess and God says I want to know can you handle the pressure of promotion [Music] because it's easy to say what you wouldn't doing you ain't getting in the news but well you got things that it was accumulated that have now become part of life can God trust you to be faithful and successful so why most of us don't pass that test so you can be faithful and unsuccessful well you don't work that out but now can God trust you with success and can trust you to stay faithful all the way through it here's my question for you today in our release you know what are you going to choose will you be like the three Hebrew boys but if not I'll take it but if not he's still good lose the job he's still good lose the relationship he's still good finances crumpled he's still because my faith in him is not predicated on the good things that I go doing but it's because I love him and I realize what Paul says for we know that all things work together for the good as you grab someone's hand today as we prepare our hearts to pray here's the point don't bow they don't dangle in front of you don't bow don't sell your soul to stay in a spot you didn't put yourself in don't sell your soul for a place that you didn't earn but was given for God I live and for God I die you

Channel: Tabernacle Baptist Church Augusta

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Keywords: TBCAUGUSTA CHARLES E GOODMAN, JR. PG

Id: bbXzct2RK-M

Length: 35min 20sec (2120 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 24 2019