Daniel 3:28 - Then Nebuchadnezzar said, "Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent His angel and rescued His servants! They trusted in Him and defied the king's command and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God. 29 Therefore I decree that the people of any nation or language who say anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego be cut into pieces and their houses be turned into piles of rubble, for no other god can save in this way." 30 Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the province of Babylon. (NIV)
Good Friday Morning, my dear brothers and sisters. Folks, please pray for Paul and Susan who came for food today. Paul has lung cancer and had to drop off work. His wife Susan has health problems and just lost her job, and they have an adult child who is going for back surgery and lives at home. It is Friday and the day we pray for all those working in the fields of Harvest. Please pray for Tom Sansoni as he is working with more than one ministry and keeps on keeping on for Jesus. Tom's wife Kathleen went home to be with Jesus just over a a year ago, and Tom, knowing she is with Jesus, keeps stepping out sharing his blessings Jesus gave him. The biggest blessings, the love of Jesus and others ... Please also keep praying for Dan Stoner and is family. This family flies in the back woods to get the word out. They are in Togo, West Africa. Pray for Tim Beitzel as he is out singing, preaching, and teaching. Now while I could go on and name others, let me look at these three, all of whom I know, Tom and Din better than Dan. All are doing important work. Dan flies to places you cannot get into any other way. Tom goes behind the walls of prisons and also works with the Salvation Army. Tim has a heart to teach, sing, and preach in churches and other gatherings like our Ministry picnic last weekend. All working for Jesus on different assignments. Then we have local pastors such as Pastor Larry Hale. God needs all workers for Him. What is your assignment from God? Pray about it, talk to God about it, and then follow His instruction. All are working to get people to the feet of Jesus so they can be saved. Those working in the fields, outside of the walls of a building we think of as church, work hard to not just bring in the lost but get them hooked up with a good church, and then those pastors like Pastor Larry and singer, songwriter Tim can really hammer home the word. And remember guys like Dan and Tom need to get into churches to keep filled and fueled, and guys like Pastor Larry and Tim also go outside the walls of the building. You see, there is just no limit what you can do when you decide to not just follow Jesus but work for Him also. Are you ready today to pick an assignment if you are not out there already? So warriors, pray for those mentioned, and all who work for the Lord, and pray for those who don't pick up the slack and go out working for God ... Someone please shout AMEN. Now let me get to the message.
Hot Heat (Day Five). You remember yesterday after Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were thrown into the fire, King Nebuchadnezzar jumped to his feet and asked his adisors, did we just put three men into the fire? And folks, that fire was seven times hotter than a fire was in the furnaces back in those days. And remember the soldiers who took Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to the furnace were fried (burnt to death). The advisors said to the king, yes, we only put in three. The king said, well, look in that fire, there are four men up, untied, and we had the three tied and they are now untied and they are walking around with a fourth man. The king said the fourth man looked like the son of gods. Now folks, I most always use the New International Version of the Bible, but I did not really like the wording on this one, so I went back and pulled out my King James Version which states it this way. "and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God." You and I know that it was God in that fire.
Now we know that Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego loved God and that they were saved, they had God in their hearts, and please remember that God is Jesus, and because that is so important I want to once again put that scripture in.
John 1:1 - In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. John 1:14 - The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (NIV)
Now I promised you that there was something in my opinion that is embedded in the scripture about Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and the fourth man in the fourth man in the fire that is so important. Maybe even better than how Goid saved Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego from the fire, was the fact, are you ready for this? King Nebuchadnezzar came to God!!! This made a believer out of the king and in fact in his way started at once getting out the word about God. How did he do that? Well, first he said, "Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego." Then the king said, "they trusted in their God and defied the king's command and were even willing to die for it." Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were so sure of the love of their God and that life and it is life, after life on the earth, life in heaven with God would be better than life on earth without Him. In Daniel 3:29, the king said "therefore I decree that people of any nation or language who say anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego will be cut into pieces."
Now, brothers and sisters, that is a turn-around, and while God does not want us to kill anyone who will not listen to the Good News about Jesus, we are just told to dust off our feet and move on. Now let me wrap all of this up today and for the week by just saying, often it takes a major happening in our lives to bring us to Christ. Were we down to the bottom when we gave our lives over to be saved, or maybe we saw it happen to a family member or a friend. If you did not believe in Jesus as your Savior and you had a child that did and your home was on fire and you saw a person bring your child out of that fire, would you not believe? Think about it, how King Nebuchadnezzar came to Christ and then think about how you came.
Dear Father in Heaven, please be with the Coffin family, the word came in while I was typing this that Don's wife Helen just went to be with you, so Father, please comfort the family. Lord, be with all those who work for You, and protect them. Thanks for the lessons of this week, and Lord, please touch the others on our prayer lists. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Now go forth and share your blessings. Have a great weekend ... And folks, get out of the fire and get with Jesus. Love ya, Pastor Dan.
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