Before we look at our Texas morning two things that failed to get Paul to mention one thing I wanted him to mention that I failed to tell him about was next Sunday Special Sunday doctor Chuck Green's going to be here preaching Chuck was the founding pastor of Orangewood Presbyterian Church in maintenance. He's now retired But he was very instrumental in helping us start as a church. We were daughter church of Orangewood and Chuck comes about once a year here and is Just a real thrill for us to have him And so just want to let you know about that to see we'll come and by the way, he'll be taking us through the book of Esther Which is just a great story so we're looking forward to having Chuck here next week Also, if I could have just a moment of In-house shop talk for those who are part of the regular UPC family Just you'll notice the graph and you're both in about the finances That you just draw your attention to that. We want to say we really appreciate everyone's generosity and giving towards the Lord's work here and We appreciate your faithfulness and how God has provided for us enabling us to do ministry in so many different ways and Just there are lots of areas we believe God's leading us to do and just let you just be aware of what's going on with The finances of the church and and pray about it and you feel like you're doing all that God has called you Do that is terrific. We appreciate your faithfulness and if God lays on your heart to be able to contribute more We appreciate that too. Our desire is not to push you into guilt to do anything But to serve out of grace out of love for Jesus Christ. So Just just making you aware of our situation at this point This morning we continue our study in the book of Daniel will be looking at Daniel chapter three The text is not printed for you in your bulletin, but we'll be on the screen behind me in a moment In 1954 in the landmark case of Brown versus the school board at Topeka, Kansas The Supreme Court struck down the doctrine that was previously known as separate bit equal saying that the Races could have equal access to different things, but it would be separate separate drinking fountain separate everything and that for the first time It seemed to really extend true liberty to African-Americans and other minorities in the United States However, what the Supreme Court does doesn't always affect what happens in Alabama and we found that out the following year That the moment got onto a bus after a long day of ironing and doing laundry and if she got onto the bus She was told and went at Natalie back to the was labeled the colored section and she went and got in the colored section to set down The best began to fill up and it's best began to fill up more and more That soon there was no seats for any of the white people. There's some white men having to stand up Well, the bus drivers says, okay, okay? You colored people you need to move on Now don't don't make me get nasty with you You know it's gonna have to happen go ahead and make it easier on yourself and get on up and move to the back of the bus Saying that they had to go up their seats for the white people who got on well three black gentlemen did get up and moved to the back of the bus But one woman just sat there She didn't move she didn't flinch she didn't say anything she just sat there is that come on now you need to move on She wouldn't move she didn't move to the police team and took her away And ever since that time the story of Rosa Parks and her her courage has inspired many and she was a brave woman And we look at her with great admiration and for many of us and of looking back 45 years later It's it's hard for us to imagine a society that she lived in I think one of the reasons we admire Rosa Parks is first of all was she took a stand Alone and she took a stand not just against a bus driver or even a few people in the bus She took a stand against her entire world the entire culture of it today was pushing to keep her down And she stood up not just a one person but to the entire culture and that's courageous and not only did she take a stand up against her culture as She took her stand she did it alone She didn't have any visions of grandeur that she was going to change Alabama by taking the stand She didn't she didn't think that she could win this battle She was simply doing what she felt to be the right thing at the right time and we look at that and we admire her We think what courage to stand alone and to stand against such such powerful forces and we're inspired by stories like that people who stand and make a difference I think that's one of the reasons why when we turn to Daniel chapter three that we are so inspired by the story of Shadrach Mishak and a bed to go because they are three men who took a stand not just against one king But against an entire world ordered against their entire culture and because we see their courage It gives us hope turn with me to Daniel chapter three as we look at this story and as you turn there again Let me remind you the setting of Daniel in 605 BC Daniel and his friend Shadrach Mishak and a bed to go or taking into captivity and to Babylon to serve in the king's court there and During this time while they're there Jerusalem later would be leveled in 586 BC And so Jerusalem has been wiped out the temple has been wiped out and so the question that the Jews were facing is How do we live in a culture that doesn't share our religion and doesn't share our values? Do we blend into the Babylonian culture or do we remain separate? Where do we draw the line at what we do the other question they had was is God in control? If a if Babylon could conquer Israel then where was God is he in control of world history or are we on our own? And the story of Shadrach Mishak and a bed to go addresses those two questions now We don't have time to read the whole text Because it's a rather long chapter. Let me we're gonna pick up a verse 13 But let me set the stage for you. What has happened is King Nebuchadnezzar has built this giant statue It is about nine feet wide. So it's about you know this wide or so that's the podium But it is 90 feet tall. I think of about say it's a six-story building or so So it is very skinny very tall golden statue and he has ordered that Whenever the symphony plays this band of all types of instruments whenever the symphony strikes up the note that everyone is to bow down to the statue And as he says that then the had this big festival they call all the national leaders in everyone who is in any sort of position of authority And all sorts of people gathered together for this big festival to dedicate the statue The symphony strikes up the music starts everyone bows down What's up? You know the story Shadrach Meshach and a bed to go refused to bow down and here's where we picked it up then a verse 13 They're brought before the king because some astrologers who are quite jealous of Shadrach Meshach and a bed to go in Daniel Cattle and so essentially and here's what happens they're brought before the king and here's what King Nebuchadnezzar says Furious with rage Nebuchadnezzar summon Shadrach Meshach and a bed to go So these men were brought before the king and Nebuchadnezzar said to them Is it true Shadrach Meshach and a bed to go that you do not serve my gods or worship the image of gold by a setup Now when you hear the sound of the horn flutes that their lyre harp pipes and all kinds of music If you're ready to fall down and worship the image I made very good But if you do not worship it you'll be thrown immediately into a blazing furnace Then what God will be able to rescue you from my hand Shadrach Meshach and a bed to go replied to the king Oh 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 Then Nebuchadnezzar was furious with Shadrach Meshach and a bed to go and his attitude towards them changed He ordered the furnace he did seven times hotter than usual and commanded some of the strong soldiers and strong as soldiers And sent his army to tie up Shadrach Meshach and a bed to go and throw them into the blazing furnace So these men wearing their robes, trousers, turbans, and other clothes were bound and thrown into the blazing furnace The king's command was so urgent and the furnace so high that the planes of the fire killed the soldiers who took up Shadrach Meshach and a bed to go And these three men firmly tied fell into the blazing furnace Then King Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet and amazement and asked his advisors weren't there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire? They replied certainly O team he said look I see four men walking around in the fire unbound and unharm And the fourth looks like a son of the gods Nebuchadnezzar then approached the opening of the blazing furnace and shouted Shadrach Meshach a bed to go servants of the most high god come out come here So Shadrach Meshach and a bed to go came out of the fire and the satrats prefects governors and royal advisors crowded around them They saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies nor was a hair on their head singed Their robes were not scorched and there was no smell of fire on them Then Nebuchadnezzar said praise be to the god of Shadrach Meshach and a bed to go who 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 for their own god Therefore I decree that the people of any nation or language you say anything against the god of Shadrach Meshach and a bed to go be cut into pieces and the houses be turned into a pile of rubble for no other god can save in this way Then the king promoted Shadrach Meshach and a bed to go in the province of Babylon This is God's word Well this morning as we look at this text there's an outline in your bulletin and we're going to be following that Except that we're only going to be looking at two points the first and the third And the first point is the pressure of culture the pressure of culture When the Babylonians conquered the world The challenge they had first of all you have to conquer the world But then if you're going to conquer land you have to somehow maintain your control of it How are you going to do that? You can't have a big enough army to spread out and hold on to the whole world So what they did was they would gather people from the nations they conquered and bring them back to Babylon Or to other parts of the empire That way they were dispersed they wouldn't be able to gather together And secondly they had hopes of assimilating them into Babylonian culture And so here is one of the struggles that Jews face Do we already going to be assimilated or not Now for most of the other nations to be assimilating to Babylonian culture was not that great of a challenge Because their religions were polytheism They polytheism they believe in worshiping many gods And because they worship many gods Going into Babylon and worshiping the gods of the Babylonians would not be that big of a problem They could worship their own gods and simply add the Babylonian gods to their worship And it wouldn't cause any religious problems for them at all In fact it would even make sense They view gods as having a territory like they have a god of the mountains A god of the sea A god of Egypt Gods of Syria and gods of Babylon And so they would go and they'd worship these idols And they wouldn't have to give up their gods to do so It was no problem But for the Jews it was a problem Because the Jews were monotheists That means they worshiped one god and one god only And because they were monotheists they could not worship idols and worship god They couldn't simply add the god of the Babylonians to their religion Without destroying their religion And so because the Jews always stood out They always were strange They always were considered different And we see this throughout the prophets during their time in the exile And so they had a difficulty And so for the Jews they couldn't just be assimilated into the culture without giving up their theology Without giving up their worship of god They believed that there was one god The god of Israel The god of Abraham Isaac And Jacob And there were no other gods before him And so they never could quite get with the program Now for Nebuchadnezzar This was not just a religious problem Nebuchadnezzar was trying to build an empire If you're going to build an empire One of the things you have to do is you have to get everyone Singing off the same page You have to get everyone on the same beat And so what he was trying to do Theologically was bring everyone to worship the gods of Babylon And if you worship the gods of Babylon Then you're going to have loyalty to Nebuchadnezzar and choose the empire And so for them not to bow down to the gods of Babylon Was not just a religious problem It was a political problem The Jews looked like there were treasonous They were disloyal to Nebuchadnezzar And so he could not tolerate this loyalty Their religion made them seem like they were in disloyal And so it was a political problem for them not to bow down to the statue For them not to bow down was a problem for the empire And so we see Shadrach Mishak and Abednego Refusing to bow down Refusing to give in to the culture of their day Nebuchadnezzar understood the power of religion Religion can unite people And it gives them a common bond We see the power of religion today In the same way that unites people But also religion can be very divisive If you look at over the history of the world Over conflicts Most conflicts throughout world history Have been clashes of culture And exception to this would be in the 20th century Where we had conflicts over ideology Capitalism versus communism But throughout history that is not where the fault lines have always been drawn Typically the fault lines have been drawn over culture East versus West Christianity versus Islam And so forth and we see this Throughout in fact we see this in a world today Where are the hotspots in the world After the soviet empire class What happened in the Baltics Christian Muslim Those were the wars that coming in And you look at Ireland And you see there even among Christians Catholic Protestants The problem seems to be a religious one You look of course you look in the Middle East You look at what's going on in the Middle East today And you look you say you know If the Palestinians were Jewish or if the Israelis were Muslim We probably wouldn't be having this problem Right I mean there's a certain thing Religion then we look at that and say you know religion can unify people If they share the same religion But if they don't share the same religion Then it's divisive And so what as we look at that as as modern people We say well the problem then is If we can get people to lay aside their religious differences Then we won't have conflict And so the number one value in our culture today Is tolerance And saying if we could just be more tolerant of other people's beliefs Then then everyone could just get along And so what the number one value And even if we might even say the religion Our birth today today is that of tolerance Now there's a good side of tolerance And there's a bad side of tolerance There's two different ways As Christians We should of all people teach tolerance Because if you look at the history of the church And particularly as Protestants How we've been persecuted through the ages Maybe not now but throughout the ages And we say Of course we ought to be for tolerance People ought to have the right to believe what they want to believe And so we advocate tolerance And we teach our children to be tolerant And respectful to the beliefs of others The old definition of tolerance That used to be used Was to recognize and recognize And respecting other people's beliefs Without necessarily agreeing Or sympathizing with them Means I believe one thing You believe another I respect your belief That I don't agree with you That's a true type of tolerance That we ought to teach our children However, today tolerance has been redefined And the new definition of tolerance Has been defined to believe that every individual's beliefs Values, lifestyle And truth claims are equal And so the new tolerance That we're told we must adhere to It's not only to say I believe what I believe And you believe what you believe And we disagree But to say I believe what I believe And you believe what you believe And they're both equally true They're both equally valid And so if you say then That I believe in Jesus Christ You believe in the prophet Muhammad Some might say It's okay for you to say that But if you say Jesus is the only way And you can't get to Christ through Muhammad At that point your label is being intolerant Because you're saying But someone else believes is wrong And that therefore is bigoted And intolerant And the pressure not culture then is If you do that Then you're seen as a religious extremist Who is treasonous You are un-American You are violating the peace And the problem with this world is people like you Who believe that your way is the only way You're intolerant And you're a bigot And so we as Christians face a very similar struggle The Shadrach Meshach and the Bendigo face Because to be a Christian means That I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God And it means that I believe what he says is true And Jesus himself said I'm the way The truth and the life And no one comes to the Father Except by me So to be a Christian By definition Means you believe Jesus Is the exclusive way to God And so if you can't You can't be a Christian And say Jesus is exclusive way Exclusive way And then say every other way works too That's a denial of Christianity We're just like the Jews in Babylon We're monotheists We live in a culture that is in many ways pluralistic almost polytheists And so we find ourselves left out And what happens in his Christians We find them that we are being called Immoral We're being called hate mongers Because of that You say Mark you're getting a little extreme I mean they don't people don't really think We're extremists and we're hate mongers Couple examples Number one Last year the southern Baptist Obligus last year the southern Baptist Had a prayer guide in their churches The prayer guide said They were going to ask for people to pray That Hindus and Muslims Would be converted to Christianity When that prayer guide came out The southern Baptist Were immediately labeled in the press As being spiritual racist As being religious racist And because southern Baptist Were then were considered hate mongers Because what they're saying is If a Muslim wants to go to heaven He has to go the Baptist way Is the way the press was labeling it Now what happens is If you're a southern Baptist Just like your Presbyterian You believe that you're saved by faith alone By grace alone through faith alone And Christ alone And so if you love a Muslim And you love a Hindu The thing you most loving want to do Is to see them come to Jesus Christ That's the most loving thing But it's seen as hateful Because it's seen as being intolerant Because it's saying you're a ways the only way A southern Baptist then aggravated their sins When they did the same thing Craying for Jews to be converted And then the same thing What's happened there with the Jews They were being labeled as As again spiritual racist And hate mongers And because of this There's that this is the reason There's such tension And persecution of Christians against Jews Because attitudes like the southern Baptist And we see So you can't If you hold onto your convictions Your reasoning is being Un-American Yes, un-American Because here we have another example More recent The Boy Scouts in the New York Times were recently called Un-American They were called something Quote something akin to a hate group Boy Scouts are now a hate group in America Why are the Boy Scouts a hate group in America The Boy Scouts Have not advocated hate I mean as far as you know They advocate serving as At least when I was only made to tender foot So I really don't know much about how But my understanding was They advocated serving And it doesn't matter who you serve You serve And you know Which is certainly a Christian virtue But because the Boy Scouts said you know But we do have We believe for our club And we understand Morality is being It's immoral to be homosexual And so we're For our club Which is I'm a club We're saying this is what we believe We're not forcing this on the society at large We're saying this is our belief for our group Well because of that Because they said we believe Homosexuality is immoral Homosexuality is immoral They were labeled to be hate mongers And people responsible for things Such as the death of Matthew Shepherd And so forth I mean that type of attitude And so you look You say Now that wasn't what the Boy Scouts were advocating at all But because they don't Apply the new standard of tolerance Which says all beliefs are equally true All morals are equally the same They were being viewed as intolerant And now are called UnAmerican by the New York Times And we look at that And we say well that's the world That we as Christians live in Now let me go back We as Christians Of all people Of all people Off to be the most Tolerant Of all people We ought to be tolerant first of all Again because we have a history of being persecuted Secondly because we have a father In heaven that showed his love towards us Even though we alienated ourselves from him And so we look at the fathers love towards us So how can It if guy can love us Then how can we reject anyone How can we not love others I mean that's hardly gospel Is that we were loved when we were unwirly So we love everyone because no one is as unworthy as we are The second thing is As we look at that as Christians of all people The nature of the church Is to be its diversity I mean the church is to be diverse Not religiously of course But ethnically and racially And every other way It has to be one of the marks of the church throughout the world Our team just got back in Japan And they talked about cultural barriers Language barriers For those barriers are plowed down in the face of Jesus Christ And how there's a unity there And we see the power of that And the truth is According to the Gallup organization That Christians actually are more tolerant Than people most people assume that Christians particularly committed Christians Are less tolerant in society in general The Gallup organization Which is fairly reliable organization In a survey And they found out They asked a simple question Would you object to a person of another race moving in next door Of those who are non-religious 63% Said that they would not object Of those who are highly religious 84% Said they would not object Now one thing 84% is still too low You know It should be 100% And we all recognize that But the point here is That the highly religious We're 20% more tolerant Than the air religious And so we see is that the Christian one Life of anything should teach tolerance However tolerance is not saying All views are equally true And so as we live in this culture though If you say I believe Christ is the only way That salvation is found in Christ At that point you're labeled Immediately as being intolerant As being extremist And as someone who is disruptive To the American way of life And that's the pressure we feel Because because we don't want to be immoral I mean we want to do what's right And yet we're being told the whole convictions Is immoral It's the same pressure Shadrach and Meshach and Abednego felt in their culture To stand out and to not bow down Was an immoral act in their culture Yet they had the courage to do it And at least to the second point Why? Where did the courage come from? Point 2 is the power of God The power of God
Shadrach and Meshach and Abednego Are under tremendous pressure In their culture to conform Tremendous pressure And as they're under this pressure to conform I mean they're faced with Not only ostracation by the community But death And as they faced this pressure You can imagine that it would have been relatively easy To rationalize bowing down You could have said You know I can bow down on the outside But not bow down on the inside You remember that there's an old dentist The minister cartoon Or dentist the minister sent his room He's made to go sit in the chair in the corner And he says in the cartoon He goes I may be sitting on the outside But I'm standing on the inside You know he still holds that defiance And Shadrach and Meshach and Abednego Consider that You know we'll bow down on the outside But really I'm bowing down Not to the statue but to worship God And they could have They could have come up with some good things And unreasonable things They could have said you know The statue is just a You know some gold plated statue It's really nothing It's really nothing There aren't anything such as idols For me to bow down to it Doesn't really mean anything Therefore You know I can bow down because there are no such thing as idols They could have rationalized it that way They could have said you know God put us in a position here Where we can have influence And if we get thrown into the fiery furnace We're not going to have any influence You know the wise thing might be to do is compromise And there probably was some disagreement In the Jewish community about what they should do It's interesting that only Shadrach and Meshach And Abednego are mentioned here No other Jews are mentioned These are the only ones called before the king And so there may have been some honest disagreement About what would have been appropriate What would have been inappropriate But the Shadrach and Meshach and Abednego Evaluated the situation They said you know The bow down to an idol Even though it's nothing Even though there are no such thing Would be the sin against God And I can't do that I bowed it to God And God alone Now that took it That's a tremendous courage But the question is Where did they get such courage Were they just brave men by nature Did they you know just You know dare to face the world Type of people Well it's possible they were brave by nature But that's not the source of their courage here The source of their courage here Was a confidence in the power of God Look again at verse 15 Nebuchadnezzar speaks to them He says when you hear the sound of the music If you bow down to the image I made Very good But if you do not worship it You'll be thrown immediately into a blazing furnace Then what God will be able to rescue you from my hand Notice what Nebuchadnezzar is saying is I'm in control I've got the power I'm going to throw you into the furnace If you don't bow down Now what God you think can save you from my hand You're God I just wiped out Jerusalem You think your God can save you from my hand Who do you think you are I'm the man I'm in control I've got the power And use a bow down to me You go to the furnace because I'm in charge Nebuchadnezzar is not using control Shannarak, Misek, and Abednego You differently Notice what they respond to him They say They say oh 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 rescue us from it And he will rescue us from your hand O King They say you think you're in control Nebuchadnezzar But you're not You're not You think you're mighty And you're in charge of everything But there is one who is my dear than you Who is in control even of you God is in control You're not in control The confidence That Shannarak, Misek, and Abednego had It was not It was not a resolve Like I'm going to be brave I'm going to dare to be courageous The resolve was I know I'm weak I know I'm powerless I know that I can't do anything against you O King But I trust God and God is my dear than you If you're wondering where's the boldness in your life Where's your courage To stand up for Christ To be faithful when the pressures of the world come in You don't get it by saying you know today I'm going to live for Jesus And I'm going to be determined And I'm just going to screw up my courage And I'm going to be brave And I'm going to I'm just going to self-will my way To being who I need to be It won't work It won't work It will fail every single time Because what's going to happen When the fire furnace comes And sort of a fun You're going to melt You'll wither in its presence Because you can't get the courage on your own Shannarak, Misek and Abednego Did not look inside for strength They didn't look inside their hearts They looked outside They looked to God and they said God is mighty He is in control He can deliver us God is mighty at the Nebuchadnezzar And when you face situations in life There are times when you look And you say The eyes are overwhelming And I don't know if I can handle this Start with this Acknowledge that you can't handle it Step one, I've got a problem Shannarak and Misek and Abednego We're right there before the king The first thing you had to say They couldn't go into denial That is to say you know This is a problem This is not good But the second thing beyond that They said but God is in control God can handle this God is my dear The king Nebuchadnezzar The more we understand And believe the power of God The more courage We're going to have in our Christian life Faithfulness Faithfulness to God is not a matter of resolve It's a matter of faith And so either Living the Christian life Voils down to this Voils down simply to trusting God Do I trust God or do I not Do I trust that God is mighty In control of all things Or do I think I'm on my own To put it in language we use here frequently Do I see God as being my father Who loves and cares for me And he's a heavenly father Who's my dear than all things And or do I see myself as being You know a child of God on one hand Or do I see myself as being an orphan Going through life on my own Do I think I'm going to have to face this on my own And my own power, my own strength Or my trusting God And how you view yourself If you see yourself as on your own Then you're going to bow If you see yourself as being a child of God Then you're going to trust him and you're going to stand And so the questions that matter Faith, not a matter of resolve And Shadrach and his friends take courage Not because they're self-confident Because they're God-confident But secondly I'm one of my favorite lines In this story Comes in verse 18 But let me start with verse 17 They say 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 Oking But get this line But even if he does not We want you to know Oking That we will not serve your gods Or worship the image of gold you've set up That you know It sounds like faith when you say I trust God to save me from all my trials And that is faith But it takes even more faith to say But even if God does not I'm still going to trust him Even if you throw me into the fire And I die I'm still going to trust him It sounds just like in the book of Job Even if he kills me Still I will trust him That takes faith It takes faith You know faith is not believing The God is going to work out everything The way you think he ought to That's not faith at all Faith is saying I believe God is mighty And I believe God loves me And because I believe God is mighty And I believe God loves me I know what ever happens Is for my good I may not see it being for my good But ultimately I trust God More than I trust me That's what faith is Faith is saying I'm going to trust God No matter the outcome And so What we have to do to have faith And to have courage If we're going to have boldness As we live our life And be like Shadrach Mishak and Abednego Men who are willing to take risk For the glory of God Then our faith is what needs to be strengthened We need to trust God more How do we do that? Well, we have to constantly be reminding ourselves Of the gospel That's what strengthens our faith The more we remind ourselves Of how mighty God is And how loving he is towards us The more confidence we're going to have in adversity Now Abraham Lincoln I think it's one of our greatest presidents I have a picture of me in first grade What's Abraham Lincoln hat And little beard on the school play And so ever since then He's always been one of my favorites And one of my heroes And no, you will not see that picture ever And Here's a great man It was interesting That having the Library of Congress Little box that contained the contents In his pocket The night he was shot And it's really interesting What he carried around with him There are five thingings in there One he had He had a handkerchief That was had embroidered on their A. Lincoln He had a country boy's pen knife Which, you know, that makes sense He had He had a spectacle case That was repaired with some string He had a purse with a five-dollar bill in it Confederate money By the way And he had some old worn-out newspaper clippings Had these newspaper clippings he carried with him everywhere And these newspaper clippings Were people praising him for his accomplishments One was from a man named John Bride Who was a British statesman And he wrote in there About how Lincoln is one of the greatest men of all times Lincoln carried this thing around with him So he can look at it Now there's something a bit comforting To know that Abe Lincoln was insecure like us You know, that he had some self-doubt And so every now and then he'd be wanting Am I okay? Well, John Bride thinks I'm okay And you know, you're certain that's what he did with I mean, that's why he had it there We as Christians need something like that But it can just be a little thing in the You know, your Wallery say You know, I look good people like me That sort of thing You know, it has to be something real Something substantial And that kind of we're looking at the cross And when we look at the cross We look and we see We see a mighty God and a loving God And we see the love of God And that God loved us so deeply That Jesus Christ was willing to go before The most powerful man in his day And he refused to bow too And because he refused to bow We see that he went to the cross And yet God didn't deliver him As he delivered Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego God forsake him on the cross But he forsake him on the cross So that he might rescue us And redeem us And so we look at that And we say The love of God is amazing That God would love me so deeply Even though I've sinned against him Even though I'm not worthy That he would love me so much That Christ would die for me But secondly, we see the power of God Because God did not leave Jesus in the tomb But he rose from the dead And because that we look We say if God is powerful enough To raise Jesus Christ from the dead Then he's going to keep his promises to me He says I will never leave you nor forsake you I will never leave you nor forsake you You are not an orphan in this world You can follow me in faith And even if you come to the fiery furnace Know that I am not going to abandon you And the more we remind ourselves Of the gospel, the truth The greater we're going to have boldness in our lives We live in a culture A culture, we live in a world that says That we love this world And in an appropriate way And we love the people of this world It comes, God has called them to Call this to But we live in a world that does not share our conviction And his pressures us to conform to it And the pressure is To abandon our convictions Or to water them down so that we fit in How are we going to find the courage To stand under that kind of pressure The only way we find the courage is through Jesus Christ Let's pray Our Father, we do thank You and praise You For the hope that we have in Jesus We thank You that it is through Him and Him alone That we have hope Lord, it hurts us That others would think that it's a bigotry Because we look And we look and we see how We know that we are saved Not because of our goodness Not because of our merit But because of you and you alone And we look and we're so humbled to buy that And our desire is that everyone We can come and taste and see How good and loving and gracious you are That those who come to you, you will in no wise cast down Or we pray that you would strengthen our resolve Not through our own determination Or that you'd give us boldness that comes from the gospel That we would look and see your love and your power And that would strengthen us even this week Or go to some Christ's name