Wed 7/11/12 Hot Heat 3

Daniel 3:13 - Furious with rage, Nebuchadnezzar summoned Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.  So these three men were brought before the king, 14 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?  15 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?"  16 Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter.  17 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.  18 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."  19 Then Nebuchadnezzar was furious with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, and his attitude toward them changed ... (NIV)

Good Salvation Wednesday, my dear brothers and sisters.  What a great day to be alive and also to one who is Born Again.  You are Born Again, right?  Salvation Wednesday and the day we pray for those who are not saved, and pray that God will use we who are saved to help lead them to the feet of Jesus.  Again, I remind all that we cannot save a soul, only Jesus can do that, but we must get the good news to them as ordered, commanded by our Lord Jesus to do.  Now speaking of that, please pray for Tom Sansoni as he heads to the Forsyth Jail for prison ministry.  Tom asks for prayer for forty chaplains that work with the prison ministry and the sixty plus churches from the Winston-Salem North Carolina area.  Let's get to the message.

Hot Heat (Day Three).  Yesterday I asked for three names, even gave the scriptures where they were.  Thanks for those who replied.  All who replied made no mistakes.  For those who did not reply, the names of the three men were Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.

You recall yesterday I told you that some astrologers finked on them to the king because they would not bow down to his altar of gold.  So we pick it up today with King Nebuchadnezzar calling for Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to come before him.  King Nebuchadnezzar was upset, furious, the Bible tells us, mad as all get out, I might say.  So when the king calls forth Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, what happened?  Well, the king wanted them to bow down before his god, which was the altar of gold, and even warned Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego that if they did not they would be put into the fire.  Now this really neat thing happened ... These three men, these Jews, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, even after being warned what would happen, refused to go into the fire, and said that their God would save them, and even if He decided not to save them, they were still better off with their God than the king's god.

Now let me ask all of you, and be serious about this, if someone would ask you to bow down to an altar of any type like gold or silver or maybe some other thing, and I am not talking about you getting on your knees at the altar in your church, unless of course you go to one of these churches that do not worship the one and only God, our Lord Jesus Christ.  Yes, there are churches that have altars that do not worship God, they might have their god, but that is not God.  Some of these funny butt churches might think they have you worshipping God when indeed they do not practice what is in the Bible and all that is in the Bible they cannot be serving Jesus Christ.  And listen to me here also, even when you get on your knees in a good Christian  church, be sure you are worshipping God and not just the picture of Him on the wall or the cross in front of that church that is a symbol of where He died.  As a Christian, I love seeing both the empty cross showing He has risen and also the cross with Jesus shown on the cross, reminding me what He did for me.  And again I remind us all that we are not to worship these crosses.  Also remember that when we bow down at the altar for communion we are not worshipping the pastor or priest, we are worshipping God.  As a pastor, I want to be very clear to all that if someone seems to be bowing to us, we need to be setting them straight right away.  Okay, my question again, would you bow down or would you say no, I bow down to Jesus Christ only?  What if they had a gun to your head?

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego said they would take their chances with their God, and their God and my God are the same person and I for one will tell you that I will side with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and would stand before God, and not a god.  Would it be hard if you had that gun at your head?  I am sure it would be and I hope it never happens.  Let me wrap this up by saying, let's stand up for Jesus and by standing up for Jesus we could call it bowing down to Jesus and only Jesus ...

Two more days, hang in there with me, tomorrow what happens to Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, and then on Friday the most amazing thing happens, and you will just not believe it ... You just got to be back for that one.

Dear Father in Heaven, it is Salvation Day on our line and I pray today for the unsaved and ask that You use we who are saved to spread the word.  Be with Tom and all those who work prison ministries for Jesus, not just in Tom's area but worldwide.  In Jesus' name, I pray.  Amen.

Now go forth and share your blessings.  Love ya, Pastor Dan.