Excellent Role Models (Youth Or Father’s Day)

For example, we call football, baseball, basketball, and hockey players, sportsmen, but the only problem is that many of these fellows do not know the first thing about sportsmanship.

We are constantly hearing about the terrible role models they are to the youth of the world.

The decent people of this world should demand that they set better role models before the youth, or they will place PRINCIPLES above ENTERTAINMENT and start boycotting the games.

The world today needs some role models. We need some godly men and women that we can point to, with our children beside us, and say, “There goes a godly man, or a godly woman, and when you grow up I hope you will become just like them!”

During the day of Nebuchadnezzar they had some wonderful role models.

They had three men called, Shadrach, Meshack, and Abednego. They were excellent role models for any young person to follow, THEN and NOW.

These THREE young men had THREE things that we do not see a lot of these days, they had COURAGE, CHARACTER and COMMITMENT.

When you really want to see what a man or woman is made of, examine them during the difficult times of life, and their life will reflect whether or not they are what they claim to be.

They faced overwhelming situations in life. But when they faced these overwhelming situations in their lives, they knew exactly what to do.

• They did not turn to the medicine cabinet to find the Prosac, they turned to God.

• If they had been like many today, they would have been walking around scratching their heads, and worrying out loud, saying, “WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO!”

They knew what to do when Nebuchadnezzar gave the order for them to bow to his god.

They said, "If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, 0 king. But if not, be it known unto thee, 0 king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.”

Now you have to admire them for telling the King that they knew their God could deliver them, but you cannot help but cringe when they said, “BUT IF NOT, be it known unto thee, 0 king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.”

In other words, they were saying, “King, regardless of how this turns out, we are not going to bow to your gods!”

These young men spoke with such courage and conviction, you can’t help but admire the stand they took. They faced obstacles that placed their lives on the line.

Today, we can be thankful unto the Lord that we do not face such obstacles as they had to face. The obstacles we face seem very small when compared to what they had to face.

For example:

• Today, perhaps we may have to face the obstacle of an employer that is trying to force us to desecrate God’s day, by forcing us to work on Sunday, or lose our job.

• Today, we may face the obstacle of having to make a choice of lying and cheating on a job in order to gain a promotion, or being left at the same job level.

But in our society, we don’t know the first thing about sacrifice, when you compare what they went through with what we go through.

Now we can take the cop-out approach that many have chosen to take, and say, “God would not require me to do such a thing!” Really, where do you find that kind of teaching in the Bible?

Shadach, Meshack, and Abednego could have taken the attitude that God would not require them to have to take a stand that would have them cast into a fiery furnace. But instead, they recognized that there are times when God might require the ultimate sacrifice. We may have to lay our life down for Him.

Listen, dedicated men and women through the centuries could have escaped the horrible deaths they had to face, if they had only been willing to renounce what they believed. But they refused to BOW to the ungodly, and had to pay the ultimate price of serving the Lord.

WHAT A TREMENDOUS SACRIFICE MANY HAVE MADE FOR THE LORD!

Today people call it a sacrifice during the Lenten season:

• If they go a month without chewing gum

• If they go a month without drinking a Pepsi

• If they go a month without cursing

These things are what many today call a sacrifice.

We live in a society that does not know what a real sacrifice is. Everybody keeps asking what is wrong with the youth today.