Gimme Some Old School Faith
I love pandora.com. It's a website that allows me to set my own radio station. I choose an artist and pandora sets up songs and musicians to match my taste. I would like to think that I listen to a wide variety of music. My stations include some classic rock featuring Kiss and Van Halen (preferably with David Lee Roth at the lead vocal). I have a station devoted to worship leader Israel Houghton when I want to get my gospel on. When I want the blues and some classic R&B, I have the Blues Brothers station. For Jazz and Disco, I have a Jamiroquai station. I have a David Crowder band station, Michael Buble, and a Violent Femmes station when I want to get my old school punk on. My daughters remind me that most of those stations are oldies.
There where three Hebrew boys in their 20's who were in trouble in Daniel 3. There is this place that used to exist called Babylon. It’s about 55 miles south of modern day Baghdad, Iraq. And at the time Daniel 3 was written, Babylon was at the height of its political power, military power, and financial greatness. Babylon was the place to be.
And the king who was making this all happen went by the name Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar had many ups and downs as he ruled and reigned over the land of Babylon. He was a very wise king. He expanded the influence of his kingdom primarily through building projects and military conquests. So he just took land and built monuments to himself.
God came to Nebuchadnezzar in a vision, and he showed him that his kingdom wasn’t going to last forever, because earthly kingdoms never do. There is only one kingdom that will stand forever and that is the kingdom of God. You need to remember that every time you turn on CNN, or Foxnews, I don’t care if you are left wing or right wing, let me speak to the whole bird. Only one kingdom will endure forever, the kingdom of Jesus Christ
Nebuchadnezzar is going to learn this, but not before he makes some fatal mistakes when he attempts to set himself up as God. One of the really outlandish things he did was to build a 90 foot statue in honor of himself. Let me repeat that, a 90 foot statue in honor of himself. 90 feet tall, and 9 feet wide. Is it possible that he was compensating for something? A real man does not need to build a 90 foot tall statue to be a real man.
But Nebuchadnezzar issued a command throughout the land that when you hear the sound of the music, you must bow down to my idol. And that’s where we are going to pick up the story with these three Hebrew boys who were brought to Babylon from their hometown. They worshiped the God of the bible. But they were forced to concede to the ways of a crazy king who was hungry for power and hungry for control. And they were threatened with their very lives.
Real old school faith does not depend on the direction of culture. Real old school faith does not depend on the direction of political leaders. And a lot of you today may have lost faith in our systems in America, our systems of government, our systems of education, and our systems of finance.
You are about to see three boys, we don’t know how old they were. Most scholars believe they were in their 20’s. They can’t be much older than that. They were referred to as young men. But they have been in Babylon for several years doing an internship. They were brought their as captives. They were brought there to be infiltrated and brainwashed in Babylonian ways so that Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom could be built up bigger than it already was.
Daniel 3:14-15 tells us, "Furious with rage, Nebuchadnezzar summoned Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. So these men were brought before the king, and Nebuchadnezzar said to them, "Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the image of gold I have set up? Now when you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes and all kinds of music, if you are ready to fall down and worship the image I made, very good. But if you do not worship it, you will be thrown immediately into a blazing furnace. Then what god will be able to rescue you from my hand?"
These three Hebrew boys were threatened at the very core of their convictions. They were threatened with the very core of their lives. Now this will probably never happen to you. It will probably never happen to me. We are not going to be thrown into a fiery furnace. We are worried about health care reform and this and that. But no Christians in the USA are getting thrown into the fiery furnaces
Here is what we do have in common with the three Hebrew boys….there is still a lot of music that plays that beckons us to bow down to the idols in our lives.
But the devil knows your favorite music style. Your spiritual enemy knows what music to play. I am switching to a metaphorical mode now. This isn’t about rap, hip hop, and country anymore. We are talking about temptations and music that plays in our lives. And the music in your life is whatever cues you to bow down in your life to your 90 foot idol. Whats your idol? I know you don’t have a 90 foot high statue in your backyard, if you do, you are weird. But I am asking you today, what in your life looms larger than the Lord? That is your idol. Its probably not made of Gold. And its probably not a physical structure. But the greatest enemy of your faith today is that when the music plays, you bow down to your idol. Whats your music? Whats your idol?
For a lot of males, the music that plays in your life is your sex drive that causes you to act out your sexuality that is dishonoring to God. In your thoughts, and eventually in your actions. And when the music plays late at night and your computer isn’t being monitored by anyone, you bow down to your idol called pleasure. Whats your idol? Whats your music?
For a lot of you, acceptance is your idol. It looms larger than the Lord in your life, that is your idol. And it steals your faith, because when the music comes over the speakers in your life, and you want so badly to be accepted and you want so badly to be affirmed. Some of you ladies will bow down to the idols when it comes to the need of your acceptance. So when the music plays, you bow down.
For some of you, your 90 foot idol is your success, and you are going to prove people wrong that said that you would never amount to anything. So if you have to, you will cut corners. If you can do it Gods way, you will. But if the music plays loud enough, it will drown out God’s voice and you will bow down.
But I want to tell you that real old school Shadrach, Meshack, Adednego biblical faith in Jesus Christ refuses to bow when the music plays. Real old school faith in Jesus Christ, faith in God in the bible does not bow, and it will not burn. And if there is something in your life that looms larger than the Lord, that is your idol and you should repent today. You should say God I am sorry that I bended my knee to a God that is not you, the idol of a God that cannot save, the idol of a God that cannot satisfy, my idol of pleasure, the idol of belonging, my idol of accumulating, God I am sorry. And when the music plays, I will bow for you and you alone are the Lord of my life.
Now Daniel 3:16, this is like a scene from Braveheart, its gonna blow your mind. It’s a rally cry, for nations, for real men and real women of God. They are gonna stand up and be counted for the cause of Christ. This is a faith statement for real.
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up."
Real old school faith believes that God can, and expects that He will, but trusts Him even if he doesn’t! Our God is able. He is competent. And he is faithful, we believe he is willing. And even if he doesn’t step in, we are still stepping out into faith. We will not bow. We need to have some attitude about our faith.
And I pray that today God would enable you to stop searching for a faith that will keep you from the fire, and start embracing God who is with you in the fire.
Even if I don’t get the job I have been praying for, my faith is not conditional upon your response Lord. My faith is a response upon your character
And some of you have stopped believing in God, because you never truly believed God
There is a big difference between believing in God and believing God. Shadrach, Meshack, and Abednego had an old school faith that believes God can and expects that he will.
"I am praying Lord that you will heal my spouse of Cancer, but even if you don’t, you are still God"
Does anyone in this house want a “but you are still God kind of faith?”
"Even if the condition does not improve"
"Even if my teenagers condition to roll their eyes, I will slap their eyes out of their head, I will still worship you"
"Even if I still struggle to make the house payment, you are still God"
"You are always God"
"You will always be my God, and even if you don’t!"
"Even if you don’t!"
God will use the trials and fires in your life not to destroy you, but to demonstrate His power toward you. So if you are in a fire right now, you need to know that the same God who delivered Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego through the fire, will be the God who delivers you through the fire, and even if he doesn’t deliver you out of the fire, he most certainly stand with you in those trials to glorify Himself in your life.
How many of you want to serve a God that can take you through a fiery furnace and you don’t even come out smelling like smoke?
He is able to see you through your fiery trials
There where three Hebrew boys in their 20's who were in trouble in Daniel 3. There is this place that used to exist called Babylon. It’s about 55 miles south of modern day Baghdad, Iraq. And at the time Daniel 3 was written, Babylon was at the height of its political power, military power, and financial greatness. Babylon was the place to be.
And the king who was making this all happen went by the name Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar had many ups and downs as he ruled and reigned over the land of Babylon. He was a very wise king. He expanded the influence of his kingdom primarily through building projects and military conquests. So he just took land and built monuments to himself.
God came to Nebuchadnezzar in a vision, and he showed him that his kingdom wasn’t going to last forever, because earthly kingdoms never do. There is only one kingdom that will stand forever and that is the kingdom of God. You need to remember that every time you turn on CNN, or Foxnews, I don’t care if you are left wing or right wing, let me speak to the whole bird. Only one kingdom will endure forever, the kingdom of Jesus Christ
Nebuchadnezzar is going to learn this, but not before he makes some fatal mistakes when he attempts to set himself up as God. One of the really outlandish things he did was to build a 90 foot statue in honor of himself. Let me repeat that, a 90 foot statue in honor of himself. 90 feet tall, and 9 feet wide. Is it possible that he was compensating for something? A real man does not need to build a 90 foot tall statue to be a real man.
But Nebuchadnezzar issued a command throughout the land that when you hear the sound of the music, you must bow down to my idol. And that’s where we are going to pick up the story with these three Hebrew boys who were brought to Babylon from their hometown. They worshiped the God of the bible. But they were forced to concede to the ways of a crazy king who was hungry for power and hungry for control. And they were threatened with their very lives.
Real old school faith does not depend on the direction of culture. Real old school faith does not depend on the direction of political leaders. And a lot of you today may have lost faith in our systems in America, our systems of government, our systems of education, and our systems of finance.
You are about to see three boys, we don’t know how old they were. Most scholars believe they were in their 20’s. They can’t be much older than that. They were referred to as young men. But they have been in Babylon for several years doing an internship. They were brought their as captives. They were brought there to be infiltrated and brainwashed in Babylonian ways so that Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom could be built up bigger than it already was.
Daniel 3:14-15 tells us, "Furious with rage, Nebuchadnezzar summoned Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. So these men were brought before the king, and Nebuchadnezzar said to them, "Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the image of gold I have set up? Now when you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes and all kinds of music, if you are ready to fall down and worship the image I made, very good. But if you do not worship it, you will be thrown immediately into a blazing furnace. Then what god will be able to rescue you from my hand?"
These three Hebrew boys were threatened at the very core of their convictions. They were threatened with the very core of their lives. Now this will probably never happen to you. It will probably never happen to me. We are not going to be thrown into a fiery furnace. We are worried about health care reform and this and that. But no Christians in the USA are getting thrown into the fiery furnaces
Here is what we do have in common with the three Hebrew boys….there is still a lot of music that plays that beckons us to bow down to the idols in our lives.
But the devil knows your favorite music style. Your spiritual enemy knows what music to play. I am switching to a metaphorical mode now. This isn’t about rap, hip hop, and country anymore. We are talking about temptations and music that plays in our lives. And the music in your life is whatever cues you to bow down in your life to your 90 foot idol. Whats your idol? I know you don’t have a 90 foot high statue in your backyard, if you do, you are weird. But I am asking you today, what in your life looms larger than the Lord? That is your idol. Its probably not made of Gold. And its probably not a physical structure. But the greatest enemy of your faith today is that when the music plays, you bow down to your idol. Whats your music? Whats your idol?
For a lot of males, the music that plays in your life is your sex drive that causes you to act out your sexuality that is dishonoring to God. In your thoughts, and eventually in your actions. And when the music plays late at night and your computer isn’t being monitored by anyone, you bow down to your idol called pleasure. Whats your idol? Whats your music?
For a lot of you, acceptance is your idol. It looms larger than the Lord in your life, that is your idol. And it steals your faith, because when the music comes over the speakers in your life, and you want so badly to be accepted and you want so badly to be affirmed. Some of you ladies will bow down to the idols when it comes to the need of your acceptance. So when the music plays, you bow down.
For some of you, your 90 foot idol is your success, and you are going to prove people wrong that said that you would never amount to anything. So if you have to, you will cut corners. If you can do it Gods way, you will. But if the music plays loud enough, it will drown out God’s voice and you will bow down.
But I want to tell you that real old school Shadrach, Meshack, Adednego biblical faith in Jesus Christ refuses to bow when the music plays. Real old school faith in Jesus Christ, faith in God in the bible does not bow, and it will not burn. And if there is something in your life that looms larger than the Lord, that is your idol and you should repent today. You should say God I am sorry that I bended my knee to a God that is not you, the idol of a God that cannot save, the idol of a God that cannot satisfy, my idol of pleasure, the idol of belonging, my idol of accumulating, God I am sorry. And when the music plays, I will bow for you and you alone are the Lord of my life.
Now Daniel 3:16, this is like a scene from Braveheart, its gonna blow your mind. It’s a rally cry, for nations, for real men and real women of God. They are gonna stand up and be counted for the cause of Christ. This is a faith statement for real.
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up."
Real old school faith believes that God can, and expects that He will, but trusts Him even if he doesn’t! Our God is able. He is competent. And he is faithful, we believe he is willing. And even if he doesn’t step in, we are still stepping out into faith. We will not bow. We need to have some attitude about our faith.
And I pray that today God would enable you to stop searching for a faith that will keep you from the fire, and start embracing God who is with you in the fire.
Even if I don’t get the job I have been praying for, my faith is not conditional upon your response Lord. My faith is a response upon your character
And some of you have stopped believing in God, because you never truly believed God
There is a big difference between believing in God and believing God. Shadrach, Meshack, and Abednego had an old school faith that believes God can and expects that he will.
"I am praying Lord that you will heal my spouse of Cancer, but even if you don’t, you are still God"
Does anyone in this house want a “but you are still God kind of faith?”
"Even if the condition does not improve"
"Even if my teenagers condition to roll their eyes, I will slap their eyes out of their head, I will still worship you"
"Even if I still struggle to make the house payment, you are still God"
"You are always God"
"You will always be my God, and even if you don’t!"
"Even if you don’t!"
God will use the trials and fires in your life not to destroy you, but to demonstrate His power toward you. So if you are in a fire right now, you need to know that the same God who delivered Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego through the fire, will be the God who delivers you through the fire, and even if he doesn’t deliver you out of the fire, he most certainly stand with you in those trials to glorify Himself in your life.
How many of you want to serve a God that can take you through a fiery furnace and you don’t even come out smelling like smoke?
He is able to see you through your fiery trials
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