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Text:
Daniel 3:16-18
Topic: God Is Able To Deliver You
There are people who believe that there is a God somewhere, but don't have much confidence in His abilities. Maybe that's because we live in a time where people have forgotten how to give God the glory and praise for everything. There was a time when our fore-parents lived their entire lives leaning and depending on God for everything. When it rained, it was God that sent the rain. When the sun did shin, it was God who gave them a beautiful day. When the crops were good, it was God that blessed the land. When they sat down to eat a meal, it was God that they gave thanks for their food. When they got sick they didn't go to see a doctor, but they got down on their knees and call on Doctor Jesus to come see about them. Not only did our fore-parents believe in God, they also believed in His abilities. We don't live like they used to. God has all but been forgotten in our fast paced lifestyles. If we get hungry all we have to do is go to the market, or to a restaurant and buy what we want to eat. We don't care much for the rain, because it keeps us looking for dry places. We don't care much for the sunshine either because it keeps us looking for places to cool off. So a real close walk with seems to be the most distant thing on peoples minds. Like the National Inquirer says, "Inquiring minds want to know", People today want to know, Where is God when you need Him? If He's Almighty, why doesn't He help the weak? Why does He seem so silent while injustice reeks havoc on our families and in our communities. The author if the text is teaching an important lesson on faith. Faith is more that the definition The substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen, faith is more than this definition. What faith really is, it is putting all of your confidence in what you believe in. You believed that you car would get you here this morning so you got in it, put the key into the ignition put it gear and steered it here. When you got here you saw those seats, you believed that they would hold you if you sat in them so you sat right down. That's faith, putting you confidence in something you believe in. One thing that you can be sure of and that is God never changes. If anybody has changed, we have, but He has never changed. He is still able to deliver you. These three Hebrew Boys Shadrach Meshach, and Abednego are shinning examples of what can happen for you, when you put your faith in God.
Why You Put Your Faith In God?
First of all God is sovereign. He rules supremely over all of His creation and He already knows what to do how to do it. Secondly He knows all about the problems of injustices and suffering. There are many that cry out to Him day and night because of their afflictions. Because of their pain and suffering, and because at times they are mistreated there are many who cry Lord have mercy. Thirdly God knows how to test faith. Its not enough to say that you've got faith, you see anybody can say that. Talk is cheep. Faith can not be called faith until it has been tested. Fourthly judgements are a reality. Something as simple as an evaluation of our performance in the work place is in reality a type of judgement. And just because you are a Christian doesn't automatically give you an edge. We love payday but we don't particularly love working. We say with conviction that God is good all the time and all the time God is good. But when a verdict doesn't go the way we expected, instead of being truthful and excepting our own short comings, it becomes a good time to blame the whole thing on the devil. Then finally, history and time is a way to measure the reality of God's ability. Louis Berkhof, noted Theologian and author of many books relating to Christian Theology, Berkhof says that one of the attributes of God is that He is immutable. Immutable means unchangeable. Berkhof uses this word immutability to showcase his education. Yet the meaning of the word is not new, it means He's the same, yesterday, today, and forevermore.
Will God Respond To My Situation?
The best way to approach this question is through investigation. If you examine the record and apply the findings to the immutability of God, and the faith that you put in Him, your answer will be clear. Like our people these three Hebrew boys, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, were carried away from their native land, into a strange land. They were in a land where everything was different. The language was different. The rules and regulations were different. The people were different. Even the food was different The Reigning Monarch was King Nebuchadnezzar. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were challenged to deny their God and worship the god made by the hands of the King. The Kings god had eyes but he could not see. He had a mouth but he could not talk. He had legs but he could not walk. He had hands but he could not hold his own weight. So the first lesson is worship and serve a GOD that can do something for you. The misnomer is that serving and worshipping the God of heaven will bring good things your way. Don't ever live in that dream world because you will wake up disappointed. It's true that the earth is the Lords and the fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein. It's true that all of the silver and gold belong to Him. It's true that the cattle on a thousand hills are His. He owns the sky that the airplanes fly in, the seas that ships sail on, the ground that motor vehicles and trains use to get from one place to another. All of that is true. But never allow yourself to believe that because you worship and serve God that good thing will automatically come your way. That's not true. There are many people who have worked hard, and been in the right place at the right time, made some good choices and now enjoy good things and not all of these people are Christians. Just as good things don't automatically come to Christians, evil things don't automatically come to non-Christians. Christian or not, if you don't pay your bills, you end up with bad credit like anybody else. You car may be repossessed, or your home can go into foreclosure like anybody else who doesn't pay their bills. Burglars don't ask the people next door if the house next door belongs to a Christian before they break in and steal everything they can. So good things and evil things can happen to anybody. God never said that adversities would pass you by because you have faith. But because of you faith He will respond to your situation. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were challenged to deny their God and abandon their faith in Him. Even with the threat of being thrown into the burning fiery furnace, they held on to their faith. And because they held on to their faith God did respond to their situation.
Is God Truly Able To Deliver You?
Carried away from their native land The three Hebrew boys were in a strange land. A land with strange rules and regulations; strange people, a strange language and strange food. They were under subjection to a strange King, who had a strange god, that he commanded everyone to worship or be thrown into the burning fiery furnace. So then, when Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego chose to be faithful to their God no matter what happened to them. They trusted Him to deliver them, but even if He didn't they were determined to be faithful until the end. We all need that kind of faith which put all of our confidence in God and not in the outcome of the situation. With that kind of faith, you can look adversity in the face and tell him you might kill my body, but you can't kill my soul.. Tell adversity if and when this earthly house of this tabernacle is dissolved I have another building eternal in the heavens, not made with hands. They put the Hebrew boys into the furnace. The fire was so hot that is burned up the one who put them in., but while they were in the fire, the deliverer came to their rescue. When king Nebuchadnezzar looked in, he said to his counselors didn't we put in three, and they answered, true O'King. But I see four walking and not harmed, and the fourth one looks like the Son of God.
What Evidence Is There of God's Ability To Deliver You?
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego walked around in that fire with the deliverer. When King Nebuchadnezzar saw that their God had delivered them and that His abilities far outweighed any thing he had witnessed. Their faith had been tried in the fire, and God had delivered them. Their clothes had no evidence of smoke or fire. The hair on their heads were not singed. The fire had no power over them. It did have power, the ones who threw them into the fire were consumed themselves. The fire had power, but only the Omnipotent God has all power. When King Nebuchadnezzar saw how true faith in the God of heaven had caused Him to deliver them from certain danger, he began to worship the same God. Be very careful how you lift Him up. There's something about lifting Him up that has an affect on other men. Is there any evidence of God's ability to deliver you? King Nebuchadnezzar saw one who looked like the Son of God. But I saw One who is the Son of God. His name is Jesus. I saw Him who was nailed to the cross. He was nailed in His hands and nailed in His feet. But there was something about lifting Him up. He said if I be lifted up I'll draw all men unto Me. You've got to give you own testimony, but I've got to lift Him up. I'm going to lift Him up in the way I live my life:{ I walk for Him, I talk for Him } everywhere I go I've got to tell somebody about this man named Jesus who died on the cross, was buried in the grave, but rose again on the third day morning, and because He rose, death has no power over me. The grave has no power over me. Like Jesus one day I'll rise again, death can't keep me in the grave. And if you put you trust in Jesus, what He's done for other's, He'll do the same thing for you.