May 18, 2012

^"At this time some astrologers came forward and denounced the Jews. They said to King Nebuchadnezzar, “May the king live forever! Your Majesty has issued a decree that everyone who hears the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe and all kinds of music must fall down and worship the image of gold,  and that whoever does not fall down and worship will be thrown into a blazing furnace. But there are some Jews whom you have set over the affairs of the province of Babylon—Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego—who pay no attention to you, Your Majesty. They neither serve your gods nor worship the image of gold you have set up.”  Daniel 3:8-12

How does your faith hold up under threats or pressure from those who oppose what you believe?

Do you "go along to get along" or are you committed to the right thing regardless of the personal consequences to you?

The three Hebrew men developed a fireproof faith that allowed them to survive the heat of the attacks against them by King Nebuchadnezzar.

Do you have a fireproof faith?

Would you like to develop a fireproof faith?

In the last post I shared how Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego found their faith in a relationship with their God. Faith is based in a personal relationship with God and there cannot be faith without relationship.

God created you to live in relationship with Him and faith is the only way that relationship can happen.

Do you have a personal relationship with Him? Are you living in that relationship?

A second component of faith I see in this account is righteousness. You have been made right with God by entering into a personal relationship with Him. In other words, you have been made righteous. Once you are made righteous you will want to keep right with God by choosing to do the right things.

Faith is conerned about pleasing God. Hebrews 11:6 says, "Without faith it is impossible to please God, for those who come to Him must believe that He is and He rewards them who diligently seek Him."

Fireproof faith makes sure it knows what is right and then does what is right, despite the personal cost to him. These three Hebrews knew exactly what would happen to them if they ever disobeyed or dishonored God. AND they also were very clear what would happen to them if they disobeyed and disrespected Nebuchadnezzar.

Bowing before the 90 foot golden image was NOT the right thing to do but it would have made the king happy and saved their lives. Bowing to the idol, the false god, would not have pleased God but it would have taken some heat off of them.

How committed are you to righeousness? Will you please God even when it brings the wrath of the government on you?  Is your faith driven by the desire to remain righteous before God or do you see it as a way to make things right for you?

Fireproof faith develops out of personal relationship and a commitment to righteousness.

May 17, 2012

"........the God we serve is able to deliver us......" Daniel 3:17

What can you expect from God? That has been the question we are considering for several weeks. There are probably not enough enough weeks in a lifetime to fully answer the question, but so far we have several:

When God puts a giant in front of you, expect Him to demonstrate His giant power.

When He puts a giant in front of you expect Him to raise up the giant within you.

When He raises up the giant within you expect Him to raise up giants around you.

Expect joy from God as you celebrate your salvation.

Expect joy from God as you share your salvation.

You can expect that when God leads you into trouble He will bring you out.

In this week's message you will learn that you can expect if you stand for God and take the heat, God will stand with you!

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego stood for God against the king and faced the heat. In so doing they demonstrated a fireproof faith!

What is a fireproof faith? How did they develop it?

Fireproof Faith Is Relationship

Sometimes people say that they have a faith or they belong to a certain faith and others claim they have faith.

To clarify, I will say that faith is more than:

- A Concept

Faith contains a lot of big ideas but just believing in a big idea is not what fireproof faith is made of. You may believe that there is a God and that He sent His Son, Jesus to be a Savior. But a simple intellectual acceptance of that concept is not what constitutes faith. Demons believe in God and Christ, but what does that faith do for them?

- A Creed

A well organized system of beliefs can be referred to as a "Faith". For instance, the Catholic faith has a creed they expect their adherents to accept.

Creeds are valuable and useful to define a doctrinal system. But fireproof faith does not arise from a creed.

Concepts and creeds are important components of a belief system. They can aid in the development and definition of faith, but fireproof faith requires much more than head knowledge.

Faith is:

- A Connection

Fireproof faith begins with a personal spiritual connection with God through accepting Christ as your Savior. As Romans says, "His Spirit bears witness with your spirit that you are a child of God. '

- A Commitment

Fireproof faith grows out of a commitment of your love and your loyalty to Jesus Christ. After making the spiritual connection with Christ, you then commit to giving Him first place in your life and living in obedience to His Word and His will. Commitment is what you give to God in exchange for what He has given you through Christ.

- A Communion

Additionally, fireproof faith arises out of a close personal faith Christ through the Holy Spirit. Communion is the intimate personal relationship that a converted Christ-follower enjoys and maintains through obedient living. Communion is the strong spritiual connection between God's spirit and yours.

For the person of faith, communion happens through prayer, through reading and studying the Word, and through worship.

These three Hebrew children understood that the most important priority for them as followers of Jehovah, the only true God, was to know God through personal intimate spiritual relationship with Jesus Christ, the on of God.

You were created for fellowship with God and God's people. That fellowship comes from a spiritual connection with God and a spiritual commitment to Him. Connection with God is the starting point of faith. Anything short of that spiritual connection with Jesus is NOT faith.
If there is no spiritual relationship with God, there is no faith!

How is your faith relationship? Do you know God in a personal spiritual connection? Are you in the Word? Are you praying regularly?

May 16, 2012

^"Then the herald loudly proclaimed, “Nations and peoples of every language, this is what you are commanded to do: As soon as you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe and all kinds of music, you must fall down and worship the image of gold that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. Whoever does not fall down and worship will immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace.” Daniel 3:4-6 

The people of God are citizens of two worlds. God commands His people to be model citizens by obeying the civil laws and paying required taxes.

This is normally easy to do but where it gets tricky is when the laws of man come into direct conflict with the law of God. When man-made laws require you to contradict the clearly stated law of God, the follower of Christ must obey God's law. That decision has cost millions of Christians great suffering, deprivation and even death.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego ran head first into the decrees of a delusional king who exalted himself to the status of a god by demanding all people to worship his nine-story golden image.

Their reaction to this decree by Nebuchadnezzar was a resolute but respectfully reply, "We will not bow even if we have to burn."

As Christ-followers in 2012 America, we should take heed of how these Hebrews responded since we have a Chief Executive who seems determined to challenge the authority of God through his attacks on religious freedom and marriage. For nearly 250 years the First Amendment has protected religious freedom from the intrustion of governmental power. And over 6,000 years of human history marriage has been been understood as a divinely sanctioned relationship between a man and a woman.

What are we to do if our President persists in theses attacks and decides to bring all the force and power of the US Government to force churches to drop their objections against abortion? And how are we to respond if he increases the pressure to accept gay marriages as equal to traditional marriage between one man and one woman?

Like the Three Hebrews, you and I may see the day when we say, "I respectfully refuse to comply." And like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego you and I must also be prepared to face the consequences of civil disobedience.

When those in authority turn the nation against the laws of God and the will of God, the people of God will feel the heat. Heat comes from pressure and from friction, and when the laws of our nation stand in opposition to the laws of God we must stand with God and against the law. Doing so will create friction and pressure and we will feel the heat.

How are you to stand up in the midst of that heat? You must have a fire in your soul that is greater than the heat from without! Do you have that? You will need it. It will be hard to stand for God without it.

Will you take your spiritual temperature? Will you stir the embers in your soul and refuel the fire of passion for God?

Over the next four days I will be sharing how you can develop a fireproof faith that will enable you to stand against the heat we may face in the coming years.

May 15, 2012

"King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold, sixty cubits high and six cubits wide, and set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. He then summoned the satraps, prefects, governors, advisers, treasurers, judges, magistrates and all the other provincial officials to come to the dedication of the image he had set up. So the satraps, prefects, governors, advisers, treasurers, judges, magistrates and all the other provincial officials assembled for the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up, and they stood before it. Then the herald loudly proclaimed, “Nations and peoples of every language, this is what you are commanded to do: As soon as you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe and all kinds of music, you must fall down and worship the image of gold that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up.  Whoever does not fall down and worship will immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace.” Therefore, as soon as they heard the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp and all kinds of music, all the nations and peoples of every language fell down and worshiped the image of gold that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up."  Daniel 3:1-7

 

How important is worship?

 

Many people take it for granted. Do you?

 

Let me remind you how important worship is. It is illustrated in this Old Testament story about three Hebrew slaves who had to face that issue.

 

The first two commandments talk about worship.

 

Our first amendment to the US Constitution protects the freedom to worship.

 

For Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego worship was dead serious!

 

The king they served had an eight story image built and issued a decree that everyone would be required to worship this huge idol upon his command. Once Nebuchadnezzar issued that decree, every one of his subjects had to choose, "Bow or burn". No pressure.

 

What would you do given those two options, would you bow to the idol or would you choose to burn in the furnace?

 

I don't know how large King Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom was but everyone in it decided they would bow to the image when the command was given. That is, everyone but three. When the trumpets sounded and the band played and all the people bowed to worship the image there were three who stood tall and straight above the crowd. They were Hebrews and their names are recorded for history, Shadrah and Meschach and Abednego.

 

When faced with the life or death decision of who they would worship, they chose God. They refused to bow and chose to burn. Because they stood for God, when they were tossed into the furnace He stood with them!

 

Here's the application for you. You face the same decision they did! So do I!

 

The Bible is clear those who do not devote their lives to worshipping God and bowing to His will and His ways, will in fact - BURN - after they leave this life. Their eternal future is a a firey lake that burns forever.

 

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego survived the firey furnace because they had a greater fire burning within them! They had a fire of desire for God. And they had a fire of devotion for God. And that fire within delivered them from the fire around them!

 

What have you chosen to do? Will you bow to false idols or will you burn with passionate devotion for your God?

 

 

 

 

 

 

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May 14, 2012

"King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold, sixty cubits high and six cubits wide, and set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon."  Daniel 3:1

Nebuchandnezzar was a very powerful king!

Apparently he had a powerful ego as well. A 90 foot tall ego, are you kidding me? And solid gold?

Who was he tyring to impress? Other than everyone.

What possesses a person to erect a 90 foot tall gold idol to himself and expect everyone to bow down before it?

I guess it is incredible arrogance that does something like that. Obviously it is a massive amount of pride.

Where does such arrogance and pride come from?

Oh, yea, I know - sin!

The root of sin is idolatry, afterall. It is the violation of the First Commandment to love God with all your heart and to have no other gods before Him.

Sin is loving self more than God. Sin is placing selfish desires or selfish interests ahead of desires for God.

As impressive as a 90 foot tall golden image would be, it was not that idol which was the problem. The problem was the idol on the inside. It always is!

If you are bowing down to anything other god than the God of the Bible, you are guilty of idolatry. The problem is the idol within - not the idol outside.

May 13, 2012

Several years ago I did a series during May entitled "Games People Play". This is the message I preached on Mother's Day.

The game I chose for this day was “Aggravation”. Why did I pick this particular game to speak about on Mother’s Day? Because this game requires the players to move four marbles around a game board from their home base to a home on the other side of the board.

 

That reminds me of motherhood! Mothers have a lot of marbles that there are trying to move from one home to the next – while trying not to lose their marbles in the process! What marbles am I talking about?

 

THE ME MARBLE - THE MARRIAGE MARBLE - THE MOTHERHOOD MARBLE AND - THE MAKING A LIVING MARBLE

How do you move those marbles, get them all home and not lose your marbles?

They will all fit if you put them in the proper order. To do that you must add one more marble – THE MASTER MARBLE

THE MASTER MARBLE – “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness…
COMMIT TO HIS WILL – For You, For Marriage, For Motherhood, For Career

COMMIT TO HIS WORD – Let it be a lamp and a light

COMMIT TO HIS WAY – Live Out His Will And His Word
COMMIT TO HIS WISDOM – For Marriage, For Motherhood

THE ME MARBLE – PLAY THE MASTER MARBLE FIRST….

ELIZABETH CORCORAN shares this experience:Four – year old Sara, had asked to pray before our breakfast this morning. That is quite typical of her. I think it's more her penchant to take charge than her avid spiritual growth as of yet. But I happily obliged as it still does something to my heart to hear that little girl of mine talk to our Heavenly Father. She started off per usual. Thank You for mommy, thank You for daddy, thank You for Jack. Then she added, and thank You for me.She has yet to come across that place in life where you feel silly or full of yourself in bringing any sort of attention to who you are as a person. As adults, we'd probably be a bit taken aback to hear a fellow pray-er at our Bible study thank God for herself. But if you think about…I think the situation is less that she hasn't quite learned prayer etiquette, and more that she may know more than we as grown-ups do. Why not thank God for ourselves? He made us as much as He made the other people we thank Him for. We have as much value as those other people do. And I bet, if we began to sprinkle our prayers every now and then with a small "thank you for me," I just bet we'd start to see our value though His eyes. And that wouldn't be such a bad thing.She then moved on to the rest of her list of thanks. Sara has not yet progressed much past the thanksgiving kind of prayers. She doesn't ask God for anything. She doesn't confess much either. (That will need to come…) She just thanks Him. And today, I noticed exactly what she was thanking Him for. She went through her routine of thanking Him for breakfast and her pretty clothes, saying, "Thank You that I'm beautiful again today" (no self-esteem issues with this little girl). Now, I'm sure she wasn't hoping to teach me some huge theological lesson in that moment…but wow, did she ever. What if I stopped, just for a day even, asking God for stuff? Asking Him to fix things in my life? Asking Him to change this or that circumstance? What if--what if I just thanked Him for all of my situations as is? How might my life be different? How might I see God and my current status differently…if instead of complaining to Him or asking Him for a quick-fix, I just rested where I was at that moment…searching for His hand and for any lesson I could glean…and thanked Him for it? Maybe I'll just have to find out. – TAKE TIME FOR YOURSELF

 

THE MARRIAGE MARBLE – Next Play The Marriage Marble

I heard of a couple who, as they were paying for groceries in the check-out line, were discussing their soon to be 50th wedding anniversary, when the young cashier interjected by saying, "I can’t imagine being married to same man for 50 years!" The wife wisely replied, teaching the young girl a lesson at the same time, "Well, Honey, don’t get married until you can."

"Rules of Male-Female Relationships" 1. The Female always makes the Rules. 2. The Rules are subject to change at any time without prior notification. 3. No Male can possibly know all the Rules. 4. If the Female suspects the Male knows all the Rules, she must immediately change some or all of the Rules. 5. The Female is never wrong. 6. If the Female is wrong, it is because of a flagrant Misunderstanding, which was a direct result of something the Male did or said wrong. 7. If Rule 6 applies, the Male must apologize IMMEDIATELY for causing the Misunderstanding. 8. The Female can change her mind at any given point in time. 9. The Male must never change his mind without express written consent from the Female. 10. The Female has every right to be angry or upset at any time. 11. The Male must remain calm at all times, unless the Female wants him to be angry or upset. 12. The Female must under no circumstances let the Male know whether or not she wants him to be angry or upset. 13. Any attempt to document these Rules could result in bodily harm to the Male.

Recently, a survey was made of 200 married adults in regards to forgiveness The researchers were wondering how one’s ability to forgive others would affect their marital satisfaction and personal well-being. The results were astounding! This research suggests that there is a huge relationship between marriage satisfaction and forgiveness. In fact, it appears that as much as one third of marriage satisfaction is related to forgiveness. Not only does the ability to forgive impact the marriage relationship, it was significantly related to personal emotional distress. As forgiveness ability went up, individuals reported fewer symptoms of depression, anxiety, and fatigue! These results are powerful and suggest that all counselors, both secular and faith-based, should be helping people develop the skill of forgiveness.

 

Gary Thomas commented, "I don’t believe couples fall out of love—they fall out of repentance."
The secret of successful marriage is to strive for the perfect 16 – 4 better, 4 worse, 4 richer, 4 poorer…..

 

MOTHERHOOD MARBLE – Best Thing To Do For You Kids Is Love Their Dad

 

My mother taught me RELIGION: When I spilled grape juice on the carpet, she instructed, "You better pray the stain will come out of the carpet." My mother taught me LOGIC: From her decisive words, "Because I said so, that’s why." My mother taught me FORESIGHT: "Make sure you wear clean underwear, in case you’re in an accident." My mother taught me IRONY: "Keep laughing, and I’ll give you something to cry about." My mother taught me about STAMINA: "You’ll sit there ’til all that spinach is finished." My mother taught me about WEATHER: "It looks as if a tornado swept through your room." My mother taught me THE CIRCLE OF LIFE: "I brought you into this world, and I can take you out." My mother taught me about BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION: "Stop acting like your father!"

 

One of my favorite columns by Erma Bombeck tells of God in the act of creating mothers. She says that on the day God created mothers He had already worked long overtime. And an angel said to Him, "Lord, you sure are spending a lot of time on this one." The Lord turned & said, "Have you read the specs on this model? She is supposed to be completely washable, but not plastic. She is to have 180 moving parts, all of them replaceable. She is to have a kiss that will heal everything from a broken leg to a broken heart. She is to have a lap that will disappear whenever she stands up. She is to be able to function on coffee & leftovers. And she is supposed to have six pairs of hands."Six pairs of hands," said the angel, "that’s impossible." "It’s not the six pairs of hands that bother me." said the Lord, "It’s the three pairs of eyes. She is supposed to have one pair that sees through closed doors so that whenever she says, `What are you kids doing in there?’ she already knows what they’re doing in there." "She has another pair in the back of her head to see all the things she is not supposed to see but must see. And then she has one pair right in front that can look at a child that just goofed & communicate love & understanding without saying a word.""That’s too much." said the angel, "You can’t put that much in one model. Why don’t you rest for a while & resume your creating tomorrow?""No, I can’t," said the Lord. "I’m close to creating someone very much like myself. I’ve already come up with a model who can heal herself when she is sick - who can feed a family of six with one pound of hamburger - & who can persuade a nine year old to take a shower.""Can she think?" asked the angel. "Not only can she think," said the Lord, "but she can reason & compromise & persuade."Then the angel looked at the model of motherhood a little more closely & said, "She’s too soft." "Oh, but she is tough," said the Lord. "You’d be surprised at how much this mother can do."Then the angel reached over & touched her cheek. "This one has a leak," he said. "I told you that you couldn’t put that much in one model." "That’s not a leak," said the Lord. "That’s a tear.""What’s a tear for?" asked the angel. "Well it’s for joy, for sadness, for sorrow, for disappointment, for pride." "You’re a genius," said the angel. And the Lord said, "Oh, but I didn’t put it there."MAKING A LIVING MARBLE Organize and Plan: Make the most of your timeDelegate: Share the load Develop a Support System: Family, Friends, Church Set Realistic Expectations: Big Rocks First!Take Care of Yourself: Sharpen The Axe!

You CAN move all your marbles and get them home - without losing your marbles! But you must know which marbles to move and the order in which to move them!

May 12, 2012

"Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel’s army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them,  coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long. Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided,   and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left."  Exodus 14:19-21

 

It would be nice if leadership was always full speed ahead! If a leader could start at point A and get his people to point B on a straight line, everyone would sign up for duty.

 

But, as Moses demonstrated, there are times in leadership when you have to wait on God or wait on your people. Then there are times when you watch for signs or trends to see where God is moving, And then there are those wonderful times when you get to walk and lead your people forward.

 

A good leader, a godly leader, knows when to wait, how to watch, and when to walk. And, he understands that each situation is a part of the leadership experience and is at peace with it.

 

Moses refused to move until he had a clear direction from God. Waiting times are some of the best times to develop faith because during those times you are asked to believe God is working in your behalf despite obvious proof to substantiate it. In the case of Moses and the Israelites, the period of waiting was the time God used to set up the Egyptians for their ulitmate defeat. And so, you could also say that He was setting them up for victory.

 

While he was waiting, Moses was watching for evidence of God's movement. When he saw the pillar of cloud and fire move from before the Israelites to behind them, that was his sign God was moving for them. Good leaders are always watching for the hand of God to know when it is time to stop waiting and start walking.

 

Finally, a good leader is ready and has his people ready when it is time to start walking! After some anxious waiting and astute watching the moment came to walk to their deliverance. Moses led them through the sea to the safety of the other shore some 10 miles across.

 

Walking too soon can disqualify a leader. Waiting too long can cost a leader his opportunity. And watching when he should be walking will cost a leader the confidence of his followers.

 

Leadership is a science and it is an art. Good leaders know each.

 

If you are a leader, study this lesson closely and consider it carefully. Which time is it in your leadership? Is it waiting time? Is it watching time? Is it time to walk?