I'm looking for a harvest for my God, He's real. Welcome everybody to another edition of Spiritual Impact. I'm Senior Pastor Tim Parton of Abundant Life Warship Center. Joined as always by my associate pastor Steve Rose.
Steve's good to be on the program again. Yes it is, good to have everybody back with us too. And again, this is that time where I just feel like setting around the table talking about Jesus and inviting others to join in with us. Oh yeah, so special time.
So hopefully you're enjoying the program and maybe you're new. Welcome and let friends know, let family know. We've got the lady in the church that's found all kinds of leaks, links cause they're from Ohio. So she's got a bunch of people in Ohio watching and we've got people in Canada watching.
So you know what? It's good to be able to share the gospels it is. And especially in these last days, media is the best way to go farther quicker. We couldn't just jump in our car and drive to another country by means of internet and TV and everything like that.
The gospel was getting out. And that's a sign of the end times in itself there. Sure is. So I know as always we get into God's Word.
That's what this program is about. The spiritual things that impact our life on a daily basis and things like that. What have you chosen for us today? Well I'm going to give you a little background.
You may know this story real quick once I start it. I'll give you a background on what's going on at this time. There's a guy named Nebuchadnezzar. We got Nebuchadnezzar there.
He's went and he's made this John image. A little, here we got an idol he set up. And what he did, he invited all the very important people of the time, the judges, the captains, and all these people to come in and to look at this idol he'd set up. And he also says, when I play the music, he says, I want you all to bow down and worship this idol.
So there was three people there that wouldn't bow down and worship this idol. But you know when we sit here and look at the Word and this has come from Daniel chapter 3 and we'll give our sight for a minute. He says, after they went and they played the music and everybody bowed down, there were three people that didn't bow down. Now can you imagine looking out over a whole audience of people, everybody bow down and if you didn't bow down how much you'd stand out?
People are going to know who you are. They're going to know who you are. And he says, wherefore at that time certain chaldeans came near and accused the Jews. He says, they spake and send to the king Nebuchadnezzar.
Oh king, live forever. Don't just sound like the pride, human pride coming in here to bless the king. He says, that okay has made a decree that every man shall hear the sound of the corn ant flew, the heart, the sag, the sultry and the psalter and the peltzomer and all kinds of music and she'll fall down and worship the golden image. Who so far found out down and worshiped the image that he should be cast into the mist of the burning fire he ferned us.
So now king can make that decree. He really had. And here it was, they come and I'm going to tell you that's what the world wants to do. You know even when you're doing right and standing up for the right things, the world will come in and accuse you.
And he'll try to put you down and try to entrap you and here he found out it was Shadrach and Shadrach and the bend to go. They were some captive kids that had come in here and they wouldn't bow down to this. And he brought him in and he says, I'm a kind king. He says, so I'm going to give you a second chance right here.
And I'm sure all these people are standing around watching this too. He says, I'm going to give you a second chance. I'm going to let the music play. And he says, as soon as it does, I want you to bow down and worship that image.
And they said, well, king says let it be known. We're not afraid to answer you. But he said let it be known. He says, we will not bow down and worship your idol.
And it says he got so mad that he said, I want that furnace. He said, seven times right there he gets into the preaching stuff right there. The number of gods was perfect completeness. He said, I want to hide.
He's seven times higher than he's supposed to be heated. And that's where we get into the rest of the story here. It says in verse 20, and he commanded the most mighty men that were in his army to bind. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abedne to go to cast him into the burning fiery furnace.
Now here he was. These were the worldly people, the ones that were strong in the world. He said, I want my strongest men going up there to make it. We're going to make a show of these people.
He says, then these men were bound in their coats, their hoes and their hats and their other garments and were cast into the midst of the fiery furnace. Now why don't you see something right there? This was something that came on them quickly. You know, there may be some times in your life everything's going good.
And the next thing you know, all of a sudden you're in the midst of fiery trials and there's nothing you knew you didn't see it coming. It just happened. And right here it was. It was so fast.
They just bound them up and everything they had on. They didn't strip them, close or anything. They just tied their hands and they just took them up there to throw them in. Says verse 22 says, therefore because the king's commandant was urgent and the furnace succeeding hot, the flame of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach and Abedne to go.
Now here they were telling them in the fire, that same fire that was trying them, killed those mighty men of the world. And I'm going to tell you that's something, that's a point right there. There's a time that you may get by on the power of this world to deliver you, but there's going to come a time that the power of this world is not going to be able to deliver you. That's where you've got to have the power of Christ.
How you've got to have the Holy Spirit of God. We've got to have that God power in us right there. But he says it, but he slayed them in shan. But then Shadrach and Abedne go, he said they threw them in there.
Says, and these three men Shadrach and Abedne go fell down into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. And I do want you to point out there, you know, just because they were childhooded, y'all way childhooded the king. Didn't keep them from going through the fire. And say in this world, I know there's some people out there that tell you know, with the right thinking you know, never have a problem and I'm going to tell you, that's not what the Lord said.
He says, you know, we're going to have trials and tribulation. But he said, be of good cheer for I have overcome the world. But here they were, they went down into the midst of that fiery furnace. Then it says, there was a platform where the king would look down into the fiery furnace.
I'm sure it might be his work here. Says, then the evidence of the king was astonished. He rose up in haste. Says, and he spake and sent his cancer.
Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? And guess what? The yes men are there. The pride of the world.
The answer said to the king, true O'King. Yes we did. The answer says, lo, I see four men lose. He says, walking in the midst of the fire and they have no hurt.
And the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. See, all the things that fell off inside that fire was the things that held them, the bonds where they bound their hands and stuff. That's the only thing that fell off of them. It says that when they come out of that fiery trial, he says, and being in the form of law enforcement, if you got around a scene of a fire after you go home, you smell the smoke on you because you just smell that smoke, it gets into your clothes and stuff.
He says, when these boys come out of that fire, you couldn't even smell smoke on them. That's how God delivered him out of this. But the title of what we're going to talk about today is they're still helping the fire and suffering for righteous and sake. They did what was right, but yet they were still putting the mist of the fiery furnace, a fiery trial, even though they were doing the right thing.
But I want you to realize these facts right here. First of all, we will face fiery trials. Sometimes in your life you will, and fiery trials can be beneficial. That's some of the things that we don't understand a lot of times.
That is true, Pastor Steve. The enemy is always looking for ways to try to intimidate you, use the fear tactics of what he will or will not do to you. But these three men told him, can they answer, that we will not bow to you, for we know that our God is able. See, it's one thing if you just know about God, but these three men knew God.
They knew the God. They knew the power of God. They knew what God could do. They had faith in him.
They said our God is able, but even if he doesn't deliver us. If he chooses to take us home today, we got news for you. We're not bowin' down. I was in scripture, it tells us that it's better for us to serve God than man.
I was reading there, you talked about Nebuchadnezzar, says it was full of fury, and the expression of his face changed. Can you imagine, in just modern times, say on your job, you get summons to the boss's office and you walk in there and you sit down and you see the anger in his face, you know you're in trouble. Shadrach and Meshach are gonna be able to go and see the furnace. They heard the same decree, heated up seven times hotter than it's ever been.
They bound them up. A lot of people would have been, that had been at for, you know, we'll go ahead and bow and we'll repent later. That's not the way faith in God works. You've got to make your stand.
You've got to stand boldly. It's like Moses told the children of Israel to stand still and see the salvation of God. Sometimes in our life in those trials that we're facing and it looks like there's no hope and it looks like destruction is on every side. The same God who saved us, who is Kepas, is the same God that will deliver us in the times of trouble.
And like the three Hebrew children spoke, if it's our time, if it's not our time, our God will deliver us. But if it is our time and this is our stand, we're going out praising the God of glory, the creator of the universe. It's not about that the heat slew the men that cast them into the fire. And I'm kind of trying to imagine what we never can nezers mind all of a sudden at that time.
I've lost good men, but I made an example. Den up here, it says, he went near the mouth of the burning fiery furnace and spoke, saying, so the fact that the fire slew the men that cast them in, Nebuchadnezzar still didn't believe. He thought he had still overcome because he went to the mouth, the same fire that he just killed his men, he went to the mouth of the fiery furnace to look in. And you don't tell people what he saw.
Yeah. And you see, he right before that too, when they say that we're not afraid to answer you, but let it be known, he's going, who is this God will deliver you from my hand? They say, we can tell you, it's nothing y'all way. And see, that's what they told him.
And it made him mad, but you know what the end, see, he went to the mouth and he says, hey, Shadrach, me, Shacking, Abendigo, servants of the most high God come out and come here because there's no God who can deliver like this. Well he knew, I mean, down through the years, how many people had he sent to the death in that furnace? So he knew, and he had him, he'd have seven times, then they had ever done it. I mean, the one time had been sufficient at all.
He wanted to make an example. And that's the thief coming forth to kill, steal, and destroy. He wants to make an example out of you. Jesus told Peter that Satan desired to sift him as a wheat wheat, but Jesus said, I pray that you fail, and when you're converted, strengthen the brethren.
When we make our stand, we have to declare no, you know what, the great God of glory will fight my battle. How do we fight through the Word of God, through our worship, through our praise upon our knees? The battle's not mine, said a little David, Lord, it's time, I'm in your favor. I'm giving it all to you.
See, sometimes we had to know when to distrust him, which is all the time, but there's gonna be times the devil knows your fear spot. Absolutely, yeah, absolutely. But he says in the Word of God, that's what we need to remember. We have not been given the spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind.
But see, that's where it takes faith. And see, what you've seen here really was a, it's a battle of faith versus human pride. They had insulted his pride because of that, he was gonna make the example of them. But then it ain't something how God can humble a man of his pride, because really I think that's one of those things, and the church is the day that's still one of the biggest problems, but when you give that altar call, it's man's pride.
They know the spirit of God's calling to them, they know the spirit of God's dealing with them, but they're thinking, what would people think if I go do this? What would they think? I'm supposed to be something big. I'm supposed to, and brother says, that's where we go back to what you say in early, you know?
It's about what God says. That's important, man. Not necessarily about what man says. You know, I was thinking, Pastor Steve, something you mentioned earlier, when they sounded the trumpet, the music for everybody to bow, they all bowed down, but the three Hebrew children stood out in front there.
That was a type of worship, yes it was. That was a type of worship, true worship. And sometimes you got to learn to worship God in the midst of the battle, in the midst of the storm, because we don't have to be afraid. And if it's our time to go, we're simply going to step from death unto life.
Yeah, and when you think about that, Shadrach and Ben, go, had to know about the degree. Oh yeah. But see, that's where fear did not render life. They had seen the power of God in their life.
And if we look around, I think we'd see the power of God in our lives a lot more than what we do. You know, and you go farther back in the Scriptures there, and then when the children of Israel were captured and led captive to Babylon, they took a lot of the young men. So the three Hebrew children, these weren't old-season men. These were pretty young boys.
But you know what? They knew. They knew the God, they served. They knew the Word.
They knew what it took to stand upon the Word. They knew that sometimes sacrifice is necessary. The Bible says that we're not our own. We have been bought with a price.
We're to present our bodies, a living sacrifice, holding acceptable unto God, which is our reasonable service. So you know, that eliminates a lot of excuses. As pastors, I've heard and you've heard about every excuse in a world of life, somebody didn't show up for church. You know, and sometimes things come up.
I mean, in life you have families, and sometimes there's things the kids are involved in. You know, when people acknowledge, I didn't come to church because I'm afraid. We got to cast that fear down. God, you said the perfect Scripture there.
God is not giving us the Spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. That doesn't mean being reckless or anything like that. But that does mean that we can believe what this says. Every promise is, Yay, and amen.
God didn't put anything in here that He's going to withhold from anybody that walks up Riley. The three Hebrew children were walking up Riley. There was another one there in that town too at the time. I mean, his name was Daniel.
I'm telling you, Daniel did some great things. He would have his own calendar. He would have his own calendar. He would.
He would. He talked about that a lot longer ago when he was talking about that designated encounters. That was an encounter he had planned with God. You know, and I was thinking while you were talking about the three Hebrew children standing there, Daniel was kind of like a servant to the king there.
And no doubt Daniel was up on the path. Daniel didn't kneel, but the king's focus was on the three Hebrew children. I can imagine as Daniel saw what was transpiring, he began to pray. Prayers of a righteous man availeth much.
So you look at that's what God even traveled. Because he said, you know, you can't pray to anybody, but never can ask her. And he says, three times a day, what would Daniel do? He'd go kneel down towards Jerusalem and pray with the winders open.
He could have prayed with the winders closed. But he raised the wind. He did. He prayed toward home.
That's right. You know, our minds got to be focused on heaven. It doesn't matter. The devil can only destroy the body.
We're supposed to fear the one God Almighty who could destroy both body and soul and hell. You know, there's a lot of bad things happen to people in this life. And you see things, but the worst thing could happen for anybody would be leaving this world not knowing Jesus is so good. And even the sad thing is, is there's no excuse for it.
There's no reason for it. For God so loved the world that who so ever he gave his only begotten son that whosoever would believe on him. He doesn't pick and choose who can and cannot be saved. It's a free gift out there.
All these other people had the opportunity. And I'm sure, can you imagine maybe after this was said and done that a lot of those subjects of Nebuchadnezzar maybe begin to question in their own hearts. There's something about their God. I know.
And so that's the whole thing you got to. And still that principle still alive and well today. They'll watch how you handle situations. You may be the only Bible that some people are eating.
And if you crumble under the stresses and strains of life, when we speak of faith all the time, when it comes time for the testing of faith, that's where we have to be strong. We have to be in persevere. I want to look at the New Testament too. First Peter 4, 12 through 14 says, Dear friends, don't be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through as if something strange were happening to you.
So just think, when you're going through that trial right now, I don't think it's just you that's going through trials. There's other people going through trials too. But he says, instead be very glad for these trials make you partners with Christ and his suffering so that you will have a wonderful joy of seeing his glory when he was revealed to all the world. He says, if you are insulted because you bear the name of Christ, you will be blessed for the glorious Spirit of God rest upon you.
And see, that's one of the things right now because of the future blessing that's upon us. We can rejoice in that future blessing right now. And see, we got to stay strong in the fiery trials that tries us right now. We can't lose hope because he did.
You mentioned it many times what the Word of God says. He said, I will never leave you or forsake you. That means when you go into the fire, guess what? There's still help in the fire.
When the flood comes, when the enemy comes in as the flood, the Spirit of God shall raise the standard. How will we be overflowed? I was reading on down here and I love this because one's never been as resolved the power of God and the Shadrach and the Binnah go where delivered. He said, he started rethinking this thing.
He said, therefore I make a degree that any people, nation or language which speaks anything, amiss, against the God of Shadrach and the Binnah go shall be cut in pieces and their houses shall be made in ashheath because there is no other God who can deliver like this. And it went on to say, then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. The Bible talks about that when we're tried by fire, we'll shine light though. There's a promotion coming for those that will stand boldly and faithfully in the test and the storms waged against the enemy.
I was listening to a song this morning and he says, I have the victory because the battle belongs to you Lord. And remember, you can't have the testimony unless you pass the test. It's hard sometimes. It sure is.
It's not comfortable sometimes. It's well worth it and you can make an impact on other people's lives. And when they cast them into the fire, they're bound up and I don't know how deep this is but they're falling in, headlong and I believe with all my heart that when their feet hit the floor they were free and there was Jesus with them. That's right.
Because there was a difference about the fourth man in the fire. You look like the others. They were loosed and walking all around. There's something about that old song that we sing in church a lot of times, victory in Jesus.
And the thing that I like about it is there is never no defeat. If you will trust Him, if we fail, it's on our end. It's never on God's end. It's always on our end.
And you know, Pastor Steve, we don't always know who we're talking to, but I believe that God does and I believe that when we're doing these kinds of things, He has orchestrated it. And maybe there's some people out there that things have kind of hit you from all directions and it just seems like the enemy has got you all tied up. And here is wrapped you up and you're just falling headlong into those fiery trials or at stormy sea or whatever it may be. The same God that delivered, Shadrach, Meshach, and the bandigo is the same God that will deliver you if you will just trust Him.
Pastor Steve, would you take us before the throne? Father, we come to you Lord. We come to you by the blood of Jesus Christ. As we stand in the very presence of our Father in heaven.
Father, I pray for those watching today. They may be going through the fiery trials. But I want them to know today that by the Word of the living God, which is true, they do not stand the fiery trials alone when they are a child of God. That you are there with them and your Father, I'm going to speak a word.
Speak the Word of Shalom. The Word of peace, Lord to them. In the midst of these troubles and these trials, the Father also going to pray for them. That Lord, you would lead them out of these fiery trials.
And as they pass the test, they would share their testimonies with other people who are going through similar situations just as they are. And then we Father, I praise you and thank you Lord for I know our prayers are heard right now for I ask you in the name of Jesus. Amen. Hallelujah.
I love reading the Old Testament stories because you see where people had to stand. They had to rely upon God and it's endless. And the thing of it is all those victories they translate over in not only into the New Testament, but we're living, people say back in the Bible days, we have never left the Bible days because Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever more. We're not fighting the battles we're reading about, but we're fighting the battles today as children of God.
We're having to stand boldly and look the devil in the eye and say, you know, we will not bow. We will not compromise anything on the Word of God. As pastors, we have a duty and an obligation to preach God's Word in its full truth and in its full love. And when you look for the form of it to face all those trials and things that come in, the first thing is the Word of God says, submit yourself unto God.
That's what these kids did. They submitted themselves unto God. It says, then resist the devil and he shall flee from you. The strength is in Christ.
The strength is in the Holy Spirit of God who gives us the power to do what we've been called to do. Steely is the source of our strength today. You know, I was thinking when we're in school and we're smaller and a bully wants to pick on us, the first thing we do is we threaten with our dad. Our father.
You know what? You not only can threaten the enemy with your heavenly father, you can tell the enemy exactly what your heavenly father will accomplish and do. You know what? It's always good to know that we can live a victorious life in Jesus Christ.
And so glad that you stopped by. I hope you've been encouraged today if your fighting battle is just hanging there. It's going to get better. You're going to be blessed and highly favored.
You just got to stand in there. It may be a little tough at first, but God promises the victory. But until next week, this is Pastor Tim along with Pastor Steve saying, be blessed. We love you.
We'll see you next week right here on Spiritual Impact. Hello everybody. This is Pastor Tim Parton of the Bundit Life Worship Center. For those of you that live in the Subramundal area, or maybe you just visit from time to time, we'd like to take a moment and invite you to come visit us at the church.
We're located at 923, Dolly Parton Parkway, right here in Subramundal. Our service times are Sunday morning at 11 a.m. Wednesday evening at 630. We just love sharing the Word of God.
We're just a family church. So we invite you to come, grow with us. God bless. We're come with just a little faith.
We are never alone. So this battle I won't fear, because I can hear the sound of...