Sheridan Lake Bible Church
Youth Retreat Session 3
  • As we begin this morning, please turn in your copies of God’s Word to Daniel chapter 3. We will be reading verses 1-7 shortly, so please have these verses marked and ready for that time.
    You know, one of the most reliable certainties of life is that we will all be faced with tough times, even tragic times.
    Hardships, Tough Times & Tragedies are a Part of Life.
    My wife and I were married on Thanksgiving Day in 1986. Both of us had always loved children, so as you might expect, from the very beginning we wanted children. However, in God’s sovereign will He chose to prevent us from having biological children, meaning our only hope for children was through adoption. From the time we discovered that truth in 1989 through 1993 we had tried on several occasions to adopt and on each occasion the attempt fell through. Then, towards the end of 1992, when we were working in the youth ministry at a church in Scottsbluff NE, our pastor called us into the office and let us know of an opportunity to adopt a soon to be born baby from the country of Chile. To make a long story short, we had a gal named Stella in our church that was Chilean. Over the years she had helped 10 or more couples adopt babies from Chile. In this instance, her brother-in-law, who was a pastor in Chile, had a maid that worked in his home who was pregnant and not married. There was no way she could afford to keep the baby so she was placing the baby up for adoption. If I remember correctly, Daniel was born on Jan. 28th, 1993, the next day we boarded a plane with Stella and her son Michael and headed to the country of Chile. I cannot express to you accurately how excited we were. 3 days later we held Daniel in our arms for the first time.
    A week later, it became apparent that the foreign adoption process was going to take some time, as a result, I needed to fly back to NE with plans to return for the completion of the process. Pam stayed there carrying for Daniel. 1 week turned into 2, which turned in to a month, which turned into 2, then to 3, in the end, after close to 5 months, Pam was struggling so much emotionally, that I boarded a plane to be with her in Chile. The church had given me permission to be there with her until the adoption was finalized.
    As you might imagine, over that 5 month period Pam had completely bonded with Daniel. Yet 10 days after I returned, devastated, Pam and I boarded a plane alone and headed back to NE. What we didn’t realize was that shortly before we flew to Chile, the government had completely closed the door to foreign adoption. Evidently, individuals, all the way up to the top levels of the government had been selling babies to the highest bidders, but they were also harvesting baby parts to the highest bidders. Hearts, kidneys, livers, heart valves, pancreas and intestines can all be used to save the lives of other children born with birth defects. They were literally killing babies and selling their internal organs to make money.
    On one of our last days in Chile, at the time we were in the Capital of Santiago. I had an appointment with a wealthy attorney. As I visited him in his office, he leaned back in his leather chair, full bookcase filled with legal books and journals behind him. His hands folded across his chest. He looked at me and said; “For $10,000 American dollars I can help you get Daniel out of the country.” It was clear to me that his intentions were not legal. It wasn’t a matter of money, our church, people we knew and loved, and family members had raised over $16,000 for this whole process, I knew that we could come up with the needed money, but I knew we’d be breaking the law to do so.
    Now, just a quick aside here, we are about to look at a passage where 3 young men were also being asked to break a law, only in their case, the law of man they were challenged to break was a violation of the law of God. That was not the case for us, disobeying the law of the Chilean government in no way broke a law of God. It ddi go against our desires, but not against the law of God. After a few minutes of prayer with the missionary who was there with me, I turned down the attorneys offer and it was a couple days later we returned home empty handed.
    When we flew into Stapleton International Airport in Denver, one of our good friends who was a pilot and had his own plane met us and flew us from there to Scottsbluff. When we landed in Scottsbluff, almost everyone from our church met us. Pastor Jake had all of us gather in a circle where we joined hands, prayed, and then we sang the Doxology. Does anyone here know what the Doxology is? Let me sing it to you, if I am able, if you know it, join with me.
    "Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow; Praise Him, all creatures here below; Praise Him above, ye heav'nly host; Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen." 
    Can I be honest with you. At that moment, those words wrung hollow to Pam and me. While we knew in our hearts that God was faithful, while we knew in our hearts that His blessing’s still flowed, there was a part of us that felt that the somewhere upstream from us, the flow of His blessing had been damned up, had been stopped completely. So we sang of the blessings of God, we still believed in the blessings of God, but at the moment we saw none of those blessings.
    When we walked into our home later that day. directly across from our room was a room we had especially prepared and decorated for Daniel. For the next several months the room stayed as it was, door closed in a failed attempt to block out those memories.
    Since that time in May of 1993, we have watched as our sovereign God had taken the painful threads of our tragedy, and woven a beautiful blanket of His faithfulness. He has used our tragedy to bless us an honor Him. His blessing truly have flowed, and flowed abundantly.
    That being said, I want to reiterate what I said at the opening, Hardships, Tough Times & Tragedies are a Part of Life.
    With that, would you please stand in honor of the reading of God’s Holy Word?
    Daniel 3:1–7 ESV
    King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold, whose height was sixty cubits and its breadth six cubits. He set it up on the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon. 2 Then King Nebuchadnezzar sent to gather the satraps, the prefects, and the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the justices, the magistrates, and all the officials of the provinces to come to the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. 3 Then the satraps, the prefects, and the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the justices, the magistrates, and all the officials of the provinces gathered for the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. And they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. 4 And the herald proclaimed aloud, “You are commanded, O peoples, nations, and languages, 5 that when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, you are to fall down and worship the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. 6 And whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace.” 7 Therefore, as soon as all the peoples heard the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, all the peoples, nations, and languages fell down and worshiped the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.
    May the Lord add His blessings to the reading of His Word, please be seated.
    To begin with in this mornings passage we see 3 young men;
    Confronting the Call to Conform. Vs. 1-7
    I’ll ask you as i did Friday night to use your imagination for a moment. You are in the midst of thousands of people out on a huge plane. Before all of you is an idol 90 ft tall and 9 feet wide. You have been told that when you hear all the instruments begin to play you are to bow down with everyone else and worship that idol.
    Now at that point it would be easy for you to rationalize in your minds;
    “I know, I will bow before the idol, but I won’t worship it, I’ll worship God. I mean what good am I to God if I’m dead!”
    That would be like Pam and me saying;
    “Hey, if we proceed with this adoption, we will have the opportunity to lead Daniel to Jesus and influence his life in a way pleasing to God. He may be the next Billy Graham!”
    When all of us descend from this mountain today, every last one of us will be faced with times where we will be confronted with a call to conform to many things we know are not pleasing to God. And it will be easy for us to rationalize a way to conform, but we need to stand firm against conforming to things we know are not pleasing to God.
    That leads us to the next set of verses. Daniel 3:8-18
    Daniel 3:8–18 ESV
    Therefore at that time certain Chaldeans came forward and maliciously accused the Jews. 9 They declared to King Nebuchadnezzar, “O king, live forever! 10 You, O king, have made a decree, that every man who hears the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, shall fall down and worship the golden image. 11 And whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast into a burning fiery furnace. 12 There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men, O king, pay no attention to you; they do not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.” 13 Then Nebuchadnezzar in furious rage commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought. So they brought these men before the king. 14 Nebuchadnezzar answered and said to them, “Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up? 15 Now if you are ready when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, 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 cast into a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?” 16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. 17 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, O king. 18 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.”
    In these verses we see;
    Fearless Faith Under Fire. Vs. 8-18
    To begin with we see our arch enemy, Satan, bringing accusations against these young men from some of the other advisors in the Babylonian empire. Men who were, politically, under Hananiah, Azariah and Misheal.
    By the way, if you go back to chapter 2, you will remember that in chapter 2, Daniel and these 3 were instrumental in some of these men not being torn limb from limb and killed. Yet here we see jealousy getting the best of them, bringing about a desire to see these 3 thrown into a fiery furnace!
    A quick lesson for us,
    Resist the temptation to let jealousy of others control you.
    Let’s read on and I will highlight things to you as we read.
    Daniel 3:13–18 ESV
    Then Nebuchadnezzar in furious rage commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought. So they brought these men before the king. 14 Nebuchadnezzar answered and said to them, “Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up? 15 Now if you are ready when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, 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 cast into a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?” 16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. 17 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, O king. 18 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.”
    From here we move on to Daniel 3:19-27
    Where we see;
    Divine Deliverance Demonstrated. Vs. 19-27
    As I read these verses, I will highlight some things to you.
    Daniel 3:19–27 ESV
    Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with fury, and the expression of his face was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He ordered the furnace heated seven times more than it was usually heated. 20 And he ordered some of the mighty men of his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. 21 Then these men were bound in their cloaks, their tunics, their hats, and their other garments, and they were thrown into the burning fiery furnace. 22 Because the king’s order was urgent and the furnace overheated, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. 23 And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell bound into the burning fiery furnace. 24 Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up in haste. He declared to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?” They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.” 25 He answered and said, “But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.” 26 Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the door of the burning fiery furnace; he declared, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out, and come here!” Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out from the fire. 27 And the satraps, the prefects, the governors, and the king’s counselors gathered together and saw that the fire had not had any power over the bodies of those men. The hair of their heads was not singed, their cloaks were not harmed, and no smell of fire had come upon them.
    The next thing we come to in this morning’s passage is;
    Glorifying God in Triumph. Vs. 28-30
    Again, as I read this passage i will highlight some things to you.
    Daniel 3:28–30 ESV
    Nebuchadnezzar answered and said, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, Who has sent his angel and delivered His servants, who trusted in Him, and set aside the king’s command, and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God. 29 Therefore I make a decree: Any people, nation, or language that speaks anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be torn limb from limb, and their houses laid in ruins, for there is no other god who is able to rescue in this way.” 30 Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon.
    Now as we close this morning, I want us to consider some important truths we need to take hold of, if we are to live lies that are pleasing to God, which opens the door for Him to accomplish great things through our lives. We’ve already looked at them, I just want to remind us of what we have already looked at.
    Hardships, Tough Times & Tragedies are a Part of Life. What we do when faced with those times is entirely up to us. We will all be;
    Confronted the Calls to Conform to a world that has no room for God. It will not be easy to stand firm and refuse to conform. Next, it is increasingly becoming clear that our;
    Faith will come Under Fire. In your schools, in your family, in your neighborhood, in your work place. Your faith will come under fire. If we want to honor God, even in the face of our faith being under fire, we need to;
    Resist the temptation to succumb to that fire. If you look back at Daniel 1, verse 8, what do we see Daniel do? (He resolved in his heart that He would honor God against all costs.) We need to do the same thing. That resolve begins this morning, even as we close in prayer. And it will be easier if you all team up together to stand firm in this desire. The more we make that resolved effort, the more we will see;
    Divine Deliverance Demonstrated. God himself will give you strength as you trust and depend on Him. And lastly, as He does, your job is to;
    Glorifying God in Triumph. Give all the glory to Him.
    One last thing as we close. While we see King Nebuchadnezzar acknowledge and honor God verbally, we do not see him surrender his life to God. Which becomes very clear in chapter 4.
    Which leads me to the last important truth we must understand;
    7. It is not enough to make an emotional decision to trust in Christ. We must come to the point of total surrender to Him. It is when we do this that we will begin to see Him work through us, to change us, and bring glory to His Name.
    Let’ close our time this morning in prayer.

      • Daniel 3:1–7KJV1900

      • Daniel 3:8–18KJV1900

      • Daniel 3:13–18KJV1900

      • Daniel 3:19–27KJV1900

      • Daniel 3:28–30KJV1900

Sheridan Lake Bible Church
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