In The Midst Of The Fire There Is A Fourth Man.

First Church of God in Harvey

Sunday Morning - October 7th, 2012

Let us pray

Welcome…

Last Sunday we were blessed at our Annual Women’s Day Service, as our speaker spoke on one hope. She spoke about a woman who apparently was hopeless, but when she met the man call Jesus, the one who is our Savior and Lord, somehow hope came alive, and she left everything to go and share the love of God with others. I want to encourage somebody here today, to keep hope alive. Things are not as bad as it appears to be. Things are not hopeless as some might say, because when Jesus is by your side, when Je-sus is your guide, there is hope….

Today we are going to talk about three young men, who it appears had no hope as far as this physical life was concerned. It appeared things were not going so well, but in the midst of what might have been a bad situation, they had God on their side, they had hope, and things were not as bad as it appeared to be. The psalmist writes in psalm 42 verse 5, “Why are thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted (to make uneasy) in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.”

Our scripture reading for today will be taken from Isaiah 43 verse 2, and Daniel 3: verses 10 through 30.

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Our topic for today is, “In the midst of the fire.” Number 1…In the midst of the fire you can walk; Number 2….in the midst of the fire you wont be hurt; and Number 3….in the midst of the fire you are secure,

Let’s look again at Isaiah 43 verse 2. In the Life Application Study Bible , Isaiah 43 verse 2 reads like this, “When you go through deep waters and great trouble, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown! When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you.” Saints of God we are well protected. We have full coverage. We have water protection. We have river protection. We have fire protection. We do not have to worry, God has everything under control. “Going through rivers of difficulty will either cause you to drown or force you to grow stronger. If you go in your own strength, you are more likely to drown. If you invite the Lord to go with you, he will protect you.” .......…

A few weeks ago I was listening to the radio, and I heard the term being used, “Bogus Christianity.” The words got my attention, because there are many today who say they are Christians, but who are living the life of a bogus Christian. That word bogus has to do with not real, doubtful, false, fake, counterfeit)) A bogus Christian is one who will stand for nothing, and who will fall for anything. A bogus Christian is one who will run when the fire gets hot, but who will stick around when things are going easy. A bogus Christian is one who will blend in with the world, they will walk like the world, they will talk like the world, they will act like the world, and on Sundays for a few hours, they will forget about the world, but come Monday bright and early they are back with the world.

In our text for today is the story of three young men, who would not fit the profile of being bogus, but they were authentic in what they believe, and were willing to die for what they believe. These men when they were called upon to worship, they refused to worship, because they did not know how to worship a false god. These three young men, the servants of God were spied upon, they were being watched very closely. When you are a child of God, you are being watched very closely. If all the time people are just saying good things about you, and never say anything negative, something could be wrong. We don’t do things for people to say negative things about us, but just being a Christian, just being a child of God, just being different from the world, will cause others who don’t know the Lord to say negative things about you, and me……people are going to talk about you, people are ........

In our text we find that the king was reminded of what he was supposed to do. He was reminded of the decree that he had made. He was reminded that every man that hear the sound of the music being played should fall down and worship the golden image. He was reminded that there was a penalty for anyone who did not fall down and worship the golden image, that person would be cast into a burning fiery furnace.