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April 11, 2015

Worship God Only–No Matter What

Daniel 3:1-30

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      King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon captured Jerusalem and deported many young men from Jerusalem to Babylon. We read about the story of four of those young men in the Book of Daniel in the Old Testament. Daniel in particular lived to the glory of God in many different ways. Today, we will see that his three friends, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, also stood before King Nebuchadnezzar with spiritual strength and courage from God.

If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.

Daniel 3:17-18

      One day in Babylon, King Nebuchadnezzar made a golden idol and demanded everyone must worship that idol whenever music played. Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah refused to worship that idol and King Nebuchadnezzar was enraged. He threatened those young men with death in a fiery furnace.

      King Nebuchadnezzar gave those young men one last chance and boasted that no god could deliver those young men from his hand. Those three young men then replied with the words above.

    1.  They declared they would never worship the idol. They steadfastly and courageously proclaimed that their God would deliver them from the furnace of blazing fire.

    2. Even if God did not deliver them, they still would not worship the idol.

We see great lessons for our lives.

  1. When evil and powerful people try to force us to forsake Jesus and worship idols, we know that Jesus wants to use our lives to show He is more powerful than kings and all people in authority.
  2. Jesus loves to put us in situations where we must trust Him alone for deliverance. Jesus knows how to deal with every Nebuchadnezzar we may meet today.

You may know that God delivered those men and King Nebuchadnezzar gained insight into the power of the Most High God. The young men did not die in the fire, nor was a single hair on their heads singed. Jesus will use your steadfast testimony and your pure devotion to Him alone to change the hearts of very powerful people urging you to worship their idols of wealth, power, sex, and other things they worship.

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