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Empowering multimedia ministry for bold Christian living: Weekend Messages, Deep End Podcast, Deep Dive Bible Study. Tim Hatch, Lead Pastor, Waters Church, 26 years of pastoral ministry, book author.
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0:00 Daniel chapter 3. You don't have to turn there, but I'm gonna read some verses of scripture, then we'll get into this good story. This this is a story I was telling when I was a kid, and I was like,0:12 I don't know if it ever become true for me, but maybe we're there. Is Dan is the story in Daniel chapter 3 of 3 brave men who stood when everybody else bowed. And0:24 Daniel chapter 3 reads like this. Verse 13, then Nebuchadnezzar in furious rage commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought, so they brought these men before the king. Nebuchadnezzar answered and said to0:35 them, is it true, oh, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the image that I have set up? Now if you are ready, when you hear the sound of the horn, the pipe, the lyre, trigon, harp,0:46 back pipe, who knew they had Irish people back then, and every kind of music to fall down and worship the image that I have made well and good. But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast0:58 into a burning fiery furnace. And who is the God who will deliver you out of my hands? And Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego answered and said to the king, oh, Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this1:10 matter. If this be so, our god whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, oh, king. There's a new Bible, so the pages stick together.1:22 But if not but if not somebody say, but if not. But if not. Oh, you gotta say it little bit louder than that. But if not.1:29 But if1:30 not. And that second time was just so I could flip the page back. Okay. But if not, be it known to you, o king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up. Then1:41 Nebuchadnezzar filled with fury, the expression of his face changed. He ordered the furnace heated 7 times hotter than it was, and he ordered some of the mighty men to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and cast them1:52 into the burning fiery furnace. Then these men bound in their cloaks and their tunics and their hats and their other garments were thrown into the furnace. Because the king's order was so urgent, the furnace overheated.2:01 The flame of the fire killed the men who put them in the furnace. And these 3 men fell bound into the fiery furnace. Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up in haste. He declared to his counselors, did we not2:11 cast 3 men bound in the fire? They answered, yes, no king. He answered, but I see 4 men unbound and walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not heard. And the appearance of the fourth is like a2:23 son of the gods. How many know that God shows up when we stand up? This is the word of the Lord. Would you bow in a word of prayer with me at2:35 every location? Father, we ask that you speak to your people, that you stir our hearts toward you and toward heaven, that in this moment that you break chains,2:47 unbound hearts, unbind lives, set the captives free, and fill your people with faith. Faith not in ourselves, but in2:58 you, the God of gods, the Lord of lords, the king of kings. Help us to see Jesus. Him and him only. In his mighty name, we pray. And everybody said,3:10 amen. God bless you. Have a seat in the presence of the Lord. North Attleboro location, don't you worry. We're gonna take your tithes and offerings after the message.3:22 So we're gonna get right to the message today for some other reasons, housekeeping wise here in first service in North Attleboro, Mass, and we're we're gonna hear from the word of3:34 the Lord today. Take out your notes. They look like this. We are in a message series. This is the end of the series. It's called the problem with pride part 2. The title of the message is Christ or conformity. And I want3:44 you to fill in the blanks, I want you to follow along with us, opening your Bibles to Daniel chapter 3 and a powerful story of 3 men who stood when everybody else bowed. And I was thinking about this story as the Lord3:56 gave me a a different word than I was preparing to preach to you this weekend, and, sometimes those are the best moments when I'm I'm preparing all week long for 1 word, and then the lord says to me on Thursday at 4 30,4:07 I want you to go here. And I always have to say to the lord, you know that I was studying all week long. Right? You could've spoken to me, but the lord wanted this word fresh in my heart. I've been raised in the church.4:18 Anybody raised in the church? Just wave at me, raising the church people. Oh, good. You know, it's only about 40 percent of you raised in the church. Well, then these few words that I'm gonna open up with will only apply4:29 to them. But if you if you are not raised in the church, let me tell you what we experienced. I grew up with these stories. I grew up with the flannel graph. How many remember4:41 the flannel graph? That's old school faith right there. Flannel graph was a piece of blue flannel they would staple to a piece of plywood. They would cut out little characters,4:54 mostly white dudes dressed in towels and robes. They represented the Bible's characters. Their little stat their little poses of action in faith5:05 had Abraham almost sacrificing Isaac with his knife in the air, and the angel was up in the air about to say, don't do it. How many remember those days? How many remember Moses getting the 105:17 commandments, 2 tablets coming down the mountain on the flannel graph? How many remember David with the sling over his head? They're they're little David, big Goliath, come on. Remember5:29 those flannel craft? Was raised on these stories, and those stories always asked us kids a question in church. And the question was simple.5:40 What would you do in that situation if God asked you to sacrifice your son? If you were facing down, Goliath, if you were about to be tossed into the5:52 lion's den, what would you do? And that is the definitive question of bible study. That is the definitive question whenever you approach the word of God. The word of God is not6:04 a story of what happened. The word of God is a story of what is happening. The word of God challenges God's people in every generation to make a6:16 decision in their time and in their space. Who's going to be in charge of my life? Who's gonna call the shots? Who's gonna tell me what to do? What will6:28 I do when the rubber hits the road and I'm asked to compromise my faith? And that is the story of the word of God. It's not an old story. It's a continuing story. Our6:40 story is tied to David. Our story is tied to Abraham. Our story is tied to Moses, and they're asking us from heaven right now. Hebrews says they are a great cloud of witnesses watching us right6:51 now, wondering if we're gonna stand the way they stood. Are we gonna hold the faith in our time like they did in their time? They weren't perfect, and we aren't perfect, but we know that our time7:04 demands con conformity not to this world, but to the Christ who died and conquered this world. And we belong to him, not what's happening today.7:16 I came to preach today. Did you come to listen, or did you come to get changed? I was raised on these stories, and I was asked7:28 these questions. What would I do? And I used to say, and I'm sure some of you raised in the church people used to say it too, I do it. I would stand7:40 with Shadrach, Meshach, Anabetica. Who does that Nebuchadnezzar think he is? We serve the most high God. What an inspiring story. And I bet those of you who are here in Waters Church, I bet many of7:52 you would say that deep down inside your heart. You'd say, yes, I'd stand. I'd stand. But let's be honest, when we used to ask those stories in Sunday school, it was mostly8:03 hypothetical. And we get the watered down version of what it meant to be Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and have our Nebuchadnezzar statue moments.8:16 Watered down versions. Small scale Meshach moments. Like a small scale Meshach moments. Like all the kids in high school were gonna go to the party where they were all gonna drink8:28 and smoke some stuff. I'm not gonna bow. Very admirable, very good. Let's be honest, that's a small Meshach moment.8:40 Yeah? Oh, everybody's at the water cooler. They're all gossiping about that girl. They're all gossiping about the 3 time divorcee. They're all oh, and they're all joining in, and then they're laughing and they're8:49 mocking. I'm not gonna stand there. I'm not gonna do that. But let's be honest, that's a small Meshach moment. Some of you say, oh, yeah, got9:01 my family. They don't even know why I believe all this. They think I'm crazy. They wonder why I can't do things on Sunday morning. They think I'm nuts. I'm always at church. They think I've gone too far. They think I've9:10 joined a cult, and they think I'm completely out of my mind, but I'm still gonna stand admirable. Thank you for being here.9:21 But that is a small Meshach moment. See, we haven't been where those 3 men9:33 were. We haven't felt the heat of the fire as we were asked to do 1 simple physical action. Just 1. 19:45 bow. Heck, they could've even they could have even manipulated scripture to bow the knee. They9:56 could have said, you know, we know the Bible, and we know that the scripture says that we're not supposed to make images of our God. But this is only an image of Nebuchadnezzar's God.10:08 And so if we bow to his God, is it really that big of because we know it's not really a God. So we we'll just go with the flow because we don't wanna stir the10:20 waters until it's absolutely necessary. They could have done what so many churches and Christians are doing right now. They could have twisted and manipulated scripture10:32 into complicit conformity to the culture. They could have argued, well, we got positions now, we got important, let's effect10:43 change from within. Let's be part of, but not participate in, the idols of our age. After all,10:56 there's a bunch of good people on that side. Some idol worshipers are the best people I've ever met in my life. Some of11:08 my best friends are idol worshipers. I know many idol worshipers, and there's nothing wrong with idol worshiping people. And by the way, God loves idol worshiping people.11:21 They could've done that, which is what many preachers get up and do about only 1 sin in the Bible. No preacher gets up and says, I know some11:33 adulterers, and I love adulterers, and some of my best friends are adulterers, and I have nothing against adulterers. They never get up and say, I know child abusers, and I love child abusers, and11:45 God loves child and some of my best friends are child and to be honest with you, I've even struggled with abusing children myself. They never ever say that. But there's 1 sin that gets treated with special11:56 kid gloves in the pulpits of America's churches. Because like Nebuchadnezzar's day and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego's moment, the oven12:08 is getting lit. And the furnace flames are licking outside the walls, begging the church to just go with the12:20 flow. CS Lewis famously said these words. He said, when the whole world is running towards a cliff, he who is running the opposite direction appears to have lost his mind. And that is12:32 what I want to be in this generation. I wanna be crazy. You understand when the whole world's12:44 crazy, not being crazy looks crazy. I want to stand in my generation. I wanna live up to what I promised God when I was a kid, and maybe12:56 we're getting there. Couple of things, you know we're getting close when in San Francisco and I'm gonna put some pictures up here. In Francisco,13:08 the sheriffs and the police departments hung the pride flag and or called the progress flag now and saluted it as it hung with the American13:19 flag. We're getting close to a Nebuchadnezzar moment when Rockefeller Center in New York City, which usually hosts 193 flags from around the world, 193 other13:31 countries, every single 1 of their flags was replaced with the pride flag. You know that we're getting close to an Nebuchadnezzar moment when you are at a point in culture where a preacher13:43 gets arrested, we'll put the next slide up, for praying, praying, just praying at a pride parade. Not protesting, not preaching, just praying, and he was arrested. Not in New York, not in San Francisco, but in13:55 Franklin, Tennessee. We know you're going to get to your Nebuchadnezzar moment when your bank account will be shut down if you protest drag shows. You know we're there when Christian organizations are labeled enemies of14:04 the state by the human rights campaign, where parents are a threat to children according to elitist bureaucrats in California, where you lose your business because you keep your faith, where you get arrested14:16 for reading the Bible in public. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to our Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego moment. This isn't just not going to the party and smoking the14:28 doobie. This is getting real. You know you're getting close when the US military shows a picture of an Air Force soldier14:40 saluting the pride flag. You know you're getting close when retailer Target hires an avowed Satanist to design swimsuits for transgendered14:52 people. And in his statements a year ago before Target hired him, he said the following, being called a demon is something I can cope with, and the idea of a trans demon is pretty darn cool. Most of15:04 my work focuses on Gothic or dark satanic imagery juxtaposed with bright colors and LGBT positive images. Ladies and gentlemen, this is our Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego moment.15:16 A picture of the calendar, the year's calendar with the federal holidays like this. Those are our federal holidays, holidays like Martin Luther King Junior Day, President's Day, Thanksgiving, Veterans Day, Christmas15:27 Day. But did you know that there is a holiday for every LGBTQIA identity under the sun. Let's put the next calendar up, and these are all the days that they highlight for pride15:39 throughout the year. And the pink refers to months and weeks. You have a day in every month and almost a week in every month from December from January to December. From trans prisoner day on January15:51 20 sixth to 2 spirit day on March 20 first, bisexual health day in March. That's bisexual health month. Sorry. Lesbian visibility week at the end of April, Harvey Milk Day on May nineteenth, LGBTQ16:03 Equality Day on June 20 sixth, 9 Binary People Day on July fourteenth, Transgender Flag Day on August nineteenth, Bisexuality Day September 20 third, International Lesbian Day October eighth, National Coming Out16:15 Day October eleventh, Intersex Day of Remembrance, November eighth. Transgender Awareness Weeks for the first 2 weeks of November. Pansexual Pride Day on December eighth. Trans Youth Day on December 20 eighth. Tell me16:25 you don't desperately need affirmation no matter how much you get it without telling me you desperately need affirmation no matter how much you get it. And this stuff has been raised up. The statue16:37 and the idol has been built, and the people have been called to bow and worship. Even at Waters Church, we've got people who are being asked to bow or face the flames of the loss of their16:49 job. Just this past week, our location pastor in South Coast, Meny Choluli, a former Muslim whom God radically saved and brought to Jesus Christ, he was brought in this week to put17:01 a pride themed spread together as a chef, and he was warned by his supervisor, put it together or you will be written up. He refused. He stood. He stood with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and he17:13 was written up for his faith. And this past month, we have somebody who is part of their DEI organization and squad on their job, and they were17:24 warned to go with the flow and raise no kick up no dirt, and they refused, and they questioned. And though this person had stellar employee reviews time and time again, and caused17:36 no issue and no fuss and was an on time valuable worker at the organization, they lost their job for questioning the ideology of the DEI requirements in their business.17:48 I was told by 1 of our band members just before I got up on stage that he was warned that he had a hate symbol on the Zoom call during a meeting at his work. The hate symbol that was in his cubicle behind him was what?18:00 A cross. Ladies and gentlemen, this is our Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego moment. We are almost at the point where the flames will18:12 be turned up. You will lose your job. You will be kicked out of your community. You will be asked to leave. You will be treated as a pariah because you belong to the most high God, and you don't18:24 do what so many other churches and Christians are doing. You don't compromise this word. You don't find a loophole to gut with the flow, you stand on Christ, the solid rock, because you know that all other set the18:36 ground is sinking sand. And to those of you who belong to the LGBT movement, the fact that you're still in this audience today astounds me. Thank you for being here. We love you with the love of18:48 Jesus, but the love of Jesus demands that we say things that are true, that are right, that are healthy for you. So what do we see in19:00 Daniel chapter 3? We see what real Nebuchadnezzar moments look like, and I wanna unpack this for you in 5 points, and then we're done. Point number 1, write this down. The world system demands conformity.19:14 What are we seeing? We're seeing nothing new. We are seeing nothing new. We are seeing the hatred that Joseph's brothers exhibited toward him when they cast him into a19:26 pit and threw him into slave and sold him into slavery. We're seeing the hatred of the Philistines who filled in Abraham's wells when they saw how blessed and called Abraham was.19:39 We're seeing the hatred and vitriol of the Egyptians against the Israelites. When God's people were raised up, the devil's people got fed up. We're seeing the same story that19:51 scripture repeats again and again and again. They called Noah a lunatic. They thought Daniel was out of line. They considered Moses a braggart, and those men's names are hallowed in the halls of20:03 faith today. But in the time in which they stand, they were vilified, and they were ostracized, and they were negated. And you have to understand that history has done that since Jesus Christ20:14 rose from the dead. They hated Peter, James, and John. They cast him into prison. Paul was chased from town to town, was hated, was whipped, was stoned, was was was left for dead, had to escape cities20:26 being let down in a basket through ropes. This man ran for his life at every turn. He was shipwrecked. He was in the sea for a day and a night. This man had everybody against him, and the whole world hated him when he20:38 walked on the earth, but today, we read his words at almost every single wedding on the planet because just they're because they were hated in their generation doesn't mean they weren't accepted in heaven's world.20:49 And you gotta learn, friend. At some point, you've gotta learn to stand for Christ regardless of what people think about you, what they say about you. If you have a21:01 desperate desire to be liked is betraying the reality that you have a desperate need to be loved. And the love that you are looking for cannot be found in the world that you live in. It can only be found in the God who21:11 made the world, the God who sent his son to die for the world, the God who truly loves the world. This is nothing new. The scripture says that Nebuchadnezzar,21:23 we read verse 1, made an image of gold. Now why does he do this? Well, if you flip back in your Bible to chapter 2 of Daniel, you'll see why he does this. Actually, it's an amazing moment. Nebuchadnezzar21:35 Nebuchadnezzar has a come to Jesus moment. It's kind of amazing because he has this dream. Nobody can interpret the dream. He's gonna kill all the magicians because he's finding out that they're all a bunch of frauds.21:47 And Daniel steps up and says, no. Wait. Wait. Wait. Don't kill any of the magicians. I I I know the Lord will give me the the interpretation. So Daniel goes in and prays, and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego pray. Daniel21:56 comes back 3 days later, and he says, here's the here's the dream that you had. You had a dream of an image, and his head was of gold, and his breasts were and and torso was of bronze, and his legs were iron, and his22:06 feet were clay. And then eventually, a rock struck the clay, and the whole image came tumbling down. Nebuchadnezzar is floored. He's blown away. He blesses the God of Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He22:18 promotes them. He worships the God of Israel. And then the very next chapter, he's making an image everybody needs to worship, and it's of complete gold. What's he trying to do? He's trying to compensate for the22:30 reality that he knows that his kingdom is temporary. And really, in the heart of this culture right now, that's exactly what people are trying to do. They're trying to compensate for the reality that they know their time22:41 is short. The devil knows that too. He he knows that his time is short. And he the the shorter he sees his time, the more he's gonna turn up the heat.22:53 He's looking I was trying to say he's looking for trophies. He's looking for trophies that he can win before Jesus comes. What are his trophies? You. You could be his23:04 trophies if you bow the knee, if you go with the flow, if you compromise your faith, if you leave the faith. That's his trophy. He'll put up on a shelf in the in in his throne room, and23:16 he'll, you know, and he'll be so grateful that that you didn't stand when you were asked to stand. He's looking for people to give up. And so Nebuchadnezzar knows this about his kingdom is coming to an end, so he makes23:28 an incredibly high image. And then he's in the plan of the earth. It says this in the province of Babylon. Verse 2, then then then king Nebuchadnezzar sent to gather the satraps, the prefects, governors, counselors,23:37 treasurers, justices, and magistrate. Look at how he infiltrates every area of authority in the land. He infiltrates every area of authority in the land.23:49 Verse 3, the satraps, the prefects, the governors, counselors, treasurers, justices, magistrates, all the officials of the province gathered for the dedication. Somebody say dedication. Dedication. So step 1, just23:58 dedication of the statue. No big shakes. I can attend, of course, a ceremony. Why not? Ceremonies happen all over the world. There's no problem with that. And I'm sure Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego even thought the24:10 same thing because they showed up. Let's not forget that they were there. So they showed up. It's just a dedication of a simple statue. No big deal. You know Nebuchadnezzar. He's got an ego the size of a whale. What can24:20 we do? So they all come. And this is our culture right now. This is this is our culture today. They're just setting up the statue. For the first time in American24:32 history, as far as I know, the American flag just got served notice that is now the sidekick flag. This is yesterday at the White House. They put this image up. Have you ever in24:44 your my life imagined that your country's flag would serve as second fiddle to a different flag ever in history.24:56 And I I get that some people hate Republicans, but these are Democrats that do this. And I don't I'm not telling you who to vote for, but they are all in on this stuff. And they are promoting this stuff25:08 endlessly and viciously and aggressively. The image has been set up, and all they're asking you to25:20 do is tolerate it now. It has nothing really to do with you. Come on. There are people's lives at stake, children's lives and mental health at stake. Can't you just go with the25:32 flow? But ladies and gentlemen, sin never stays put. The very next verse in verse 4, it says, and the herald proclaimed. Now they're there. They're there gathered around the image, and now the herald25:43 proclaimed, you are commanded. Ain't it amazing how an invitation turns into a command? An invitation turns into a command. Now you are commanded, oh people's nations, languages, that when you hear the sound of the horn,25:55 pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, backpipe, every kind of music, fall down and worship. The golden image that Nebuchadnezzar has set up. Here's number 2 in your notes, conformity demands compromise.26:06 Conformity demands compromise. It will not stay neutral. If you go with the flow, eventually, there's gonna be a place where you have to abandon your26:17 faith and start worshiping and bowing the knee and surrendering your soul for advancement, for acceptance,26:30 for prominence. This is where some of you are in your workplaces. And I my heart goes out to you because you are in the thick of it.26:43 It is so easy for me to get up here and talk about it. Please understand, I recognize that. I've got a mostly agreeable audience in front of me in multiple locations, and I'm sure, as26:55 has happened here in North Attleboro, many of you have already clapped for what I'm saying. I'm so appreciative of that, but you're in the ground. You're boots on the ground. I'm27:07 the air force. I can fly overhead and drop my bombs. But you're the marines.27:19 You're you're you're the you're the men and women of almighty God. And this is why it is so important that you get back to church every single week. This is why you need a small group, a life group. This27:31 is why you need to be connected to a local church. Ladies and gentlemen watching online right now, you still haven't gotten to church. I can't believe it. Don't you realize that COVID is completely over? It's time to27:43 get connected to the kingdom of God. Arm in arm, link up with people who believe that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. So thank you for being here, and thank you for27:55 clapping. And what I say is gonna be dangerous for you, and I understand that. But we're gonna get to the end of this message, and you're gonna realize why it's so important, and28:06 it's gonna how it's gonna become so easy for you to stand when everybody else falls. Conformity demands compromise. Verse 30 verse 6, it says this, whoever whoever does not, what,28:18 fall down to worship shall immediately be cast into the burning fire. You're gonna lose your job. How are you gonna pay your bills? You gotta you got kids to feed. You got mouths to28:30 feed. How are gonna do it? I don't understand. What are you doing? Just just go with it. This is the nature of our culture. Tolerance becomes acceptance. Acceptance becomes compliance, and compliance becomes celebration.28:43 What was Nebuchadnezzar up to, by the way? Why all the peoples and all the languages and all the nations? Why? Because he wanted to create 1 world religion. 1 world religion is where we're headed as well.28:56 That's what's really going on here. I talked to you last week about the god of this world. The god of this world has a faith system he's establishing, and he's infiltrating into almost every heart in this world.29:08 He wants an abandonment of god in heaven for him as god of this world. And people and I don't know if you're like me, but I look at it and I say, how come people so easily fall for this stuff?29:21 Well, when you believe in nothing, you'll fall for anything. When you have no conviction, you'll compromise because there's no conviction to compromise. But when when when Christ29:33 is not on the throne of your heart, anybody gets to sit there. And and and this is another thing about the world system in in Nebuchadnezzar. Want you to write it down. The world29:45 seeks conformed connection because deep down people are spiritually connect disconnected from God. Don't you understand that this pride movement is really just a29:56 cheap imitation of the true faith once delivered for all people? The faith of Jesus is not for 1 nation, it's for all nations. The faith of30:08 Jesus is not for the only the poor, it's for the rich. It's not for only the weak, it's for the powerful. My bible tells me that around the throne in heaven in Revelation chapter 4 is every people,30:20 tongue, nation, tribe from every language under the sun, gathered around the lamb who sits on the throne. And what we are seeing right now is a cheap imitation of that, not focused on the God of glory, but30:32 focused on your own self adulation and self affections. And because we are spiritually disconnected from God, we seek what we are made to have, which is a connection to something larger than ourselves. I'm reading30:44 a book by Beckett Cook. Beckett Cook was a homosexual man, popular in Hollywood, worked with the greatest names in Hollywood. If I listed the name the names that he worked with, you would be astonished30:56 at the names that he worked with. He was loved. He was celebrated. He went to parties in Ibiza. He went to parties in LA and Hollywood. He was everywhere and having the time of his life, and he realized that it was31:06 empty. And 1 chance encounter with some Christians at a coffee shop led him to a church which led him to Christ and changed his life. He talks about this in his book, Beckett Beckett Cook. I31:18 can't remember the name of the book, but you should get it. And he says, 1 of the things about the homosexual movement, at least that I can tell you, is that the greatest thing about the pride movement is that you feel31:26 like you're part of something bigger than yourself. You're part of a movement. You're part of something that's substantial, that's winning, that's growing, that's increasing. Don't you realize that that's what you're31:36 made to have, but you're made to have it in the kingdom of God. You're made to have it in the kingdom of light. And the kingdom of light, contrary to what you hear in the news, and the kingdom of God, contrary to what31:45 you hear or see in social media, the kingdom of God is advancing forcefully, violent men take hold of it. And it has been advancing since John the Baptist stood in the wilderness and said, declare to prepare the way of31:56 the Lord. And since Jesus rose from the grave, people have been getting saved, people getting delivered, people getting baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit, and going to the nations with the message of a Jewish32:04 carpenter who was crucified but raised on the third day to glory. And this and at this moment, 1800000000.0 people worship that Jewish carpenter. It's been moving for 200032:16 years. Don't give up. Keep running the race. Point number 3, not on not compromising is uncommon. I know the wording of point number 3 is odd, and it frustrates me32:28 too, but it's true. Not not compromising is uncommon. What does the Bible teach us about these moment of global32:39 participation and worship? What does it teach us? Well, look at what it says here in verse 12. There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the affairs of the prophets of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.32:50 These men, o king, pay no attention to you. Oh, love that. I love that saying so much. They pay no attention. I'm gonna turn it off on Netflix when I see33:02 the agenda programmed into my children. I'm gonna turn it off when it's on my social media feed. I'm gonna turn it off when it's on television. I'm gonna turn it off when the comedian goes there. I'm gonna turn it33:11 because I'm not gonna pay attention to the mantras of this age. Some of you gotta do that. And let me just chastise the church a little bit. I am floored by the entertainment33:23 options that some of you people recommend to me. You know that I'm a pastor, right? Oh pastor, you gotta watch this show. It's an amazing show. It's so amazing. It's so the33:35 acting is but it's filled with filth. It's got pornography in the first scene. You know I'm a pastor, right?33:48 How desensitized have we come to the point where we have no problem recommending absolute filth to our pastor, who was our shepherd, who should lead us in purity to Christ?34:03 They pay no attention to you, O king. I don't wanna pay attention to this God. I don't wanna pay attention to this world system. I want my attention on Christ.34:14 I want my heart set on things above where Christ is seated. They do not serve your gods or worship the golden image. And I was strike I was struck by this. I had never thought about it before. But how34:26 many men stood up? 3. I don't know where Daniel was. Right.34:38 But that's immaterial to the text. 3.34:45 3.34:47 Jews were in Babylon. Why were they in Babylon? Because for decades, they had worshiped the gods of the nations around them. Instead of34:59 standing for light and truth, they fell for lies and evil. And God bore with them and bore with them and bore with them35:12 king after king, idolatry after idolatry, sin after sin, generation after generation of them abandoning God, and he was patient, and he was35:24 patient, and he was patient until he finally said, enough. And he said to them, I'm going to raise up a guy named Nebuchadnezzar from Babylon. He's going to come in here and he's going to35:36 totally wipe you out and bring you into exile to Babylon. It happened in 5 86 BC. It's a historical fact. Do you know how many Jews were brought in exile to Babylon in 5 86 BC? Do you know35:48 how many? 10, 0 Jews. So, that tells us that at the time of Nebuchadnezzar's statue, there were 10000 Jews. Let me let me put it in modern vernacular. There36:00 were 10000 Christians. In Babylon. And 3.36:18 What what did Martin Luther King say? It's not the hatred of my enemies but the silence of my friends. That hurt the most.36:30 I I wonder who is an undercover Christian in your workplace right now that needs you to stand up. They're waiting for you to stand up. I wonder who is waiting36:42 for you because if you just open the door to faith, they'll start cracking open their door. And they might not even come to Waters Church. They might go to another36:53 church. But, man, I wanna be the church that helps other people come out of closet. 3 out of 10000 stand. Not compromising is uncommon. Number 4,37:05 uncompromising faith infuriates the conformist culture. Isn't that what happens with Nebuchadnezzar? He just gets so mad. And the world is going to get mad.37:18 The tolerant were always intolerant but now they're showing their intolerance. It's amazing how much power corrupts time and time again37:29 to movements. In history. Verse 13, Nebuchadnezzar in furious rage commanded. In furious rage, underline furious rage, and furious rage commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego be brought. So, they37:41 brought these men before the king. He says, is it true? And we read this already And Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego make the most amazing stand. And I love their statement, and I'm gonna unpack this statement for you in 337:52 points in just a moment. Verse 16, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego said, we don't have to we don't have to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able. I'm gonna know that God is able.38:04 He could deliver us from the fire. He could keep us from being burned. And I love that kind of faith, but there's a whole another level of faith that they38:16 exhibit for us here in this passage. In verse 18,Show more
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