[0:00] Good morning and a warm welcome to the service this morning and those who are visiting are especially welcome. Those who have maybe been away for a wee while and are back for the first time this week or last week again, it's good to see people coming back after a long period where we've been unsettled. The intimations have been on the screen before the service began and let me just take a moment to go through these. First of all, just to welcome and to express my thankfulness, our thankfulness to Donnie, Donnie from the Faith Mission who's taking the service this morning. Donnie doesn't really need me to introduce him to you. I think you've known Donnie for longer than you've known me and Donnie's been a blessing and very much used over the course of time, both in tent missions with the Faith Mission and in preaching and the services over past years.
[1:01] After the service today, those who feel comfortable to stay behind for tea and coffee, please do so and there's the chance for some fellowship and time together. This evening we had hoped to have a galaic service at six, of which Kenny Ferguson was going to be taking that service. But Kenny phoned kind of late on last night just with an eye on the forecast. The forecast for this evening is very strong winds and snow and so we took the decision kind of late on last night to cancel the service for this evening. There likely will be an older service that will go up on the YouTube channel for those who want to watch that. But there'll be no in-person service here this evening, just in light of the forecast. He's travelling quite a distance and there's a lot of risk with that.
[1:57] I'm also conscious that there are people travelling from Scalpy and if the winds are high, the bridge will likely be closed or ill-advised. So there'll be no galaic service this evening.
[2:08] Ladies' fellowship meet on Monday at eight and you have details of that there. Little Fish is on Tuesday morning at 10 to 12. Road to Recovery Tuesday evening at seven here in the church and again a warm welcome to these meetings for those who are able to attend. The prayer meeting will be on Wednesday, half past seven on Zoom and in person. We'll try the hybrid again. Let me say again about the prayer meeting, by the way. For those who cannot come out to the church service, it's great to see you on a screen. For those who can, it's not so encouraging to see you on a screen. If you're able to be in person, there is great encouragement in coming together physically as God's people. We were unable to do so for so long and now that there's opportunity, let's be encouraged to take it and come together, those who are able, on a Wednesday evening for a time of prayer and fellowship.
[3:15] Friday Club's Jam Connect Rooted. As usual, you have the details there on the screen and the services next Sunday, God willing, will be taken both by myself. Way Forward Reading Group as well, you've had details on the screen before the service and you can read through these at your own convenience. So these, I think, are all the notices and once more, Donnie, it's great to have you with us and we pray that God will speak through you this morning.
[3:42] Thank you very much for the warm welcome and it's always a great joy and a privilege to be here with you and to be able to share in this time of worship. And that's what we're here for, we're here to worship God and we're going to do that first of all by singing words from Psalm 96 verses 1 to 6. Psalm 96 verses 1 to 6.
[4:24] Oh, sing a new song to the Lord, sing all the earth to God. To God sing, bless his name, show still, His saving health abroad. Among the heathen nations, his holy beauty, clear. And unto all the people show, His worth of wondrous love. For grace the Lord, and greatly he is to be magnified.
[5:34] He is worthy to be feared, is he above all the peace side. For all the growths of high-go-stone, which blinded nations, dear. But our God is the Lord by you, the heavens created where.
[6:15] Great honour is before his face, and majesty divine. Strength is filled in his holy place, and let the beauty shine.
[6:43] Let us pray. Lord, we do thank you that we can come and sing to you songs of praise, because you are worthy of all worship and of all praise.
[7:02] And we thank you that you're the one that we come to, the living and the true God, the one who is alive and alive forevermore. And as we come, we pray that we would come in a right way.
[7:15] You call us to worship in spirit and in truth. And we ask that you would help us to do that. That we would know that sense of your presence. That we would know that all distractions are being kept away.
[7:31] And that our focus would be truly on you. Because you are worthy. So help us then to be able to draw near to God. And that God would draw near to us. Thank you for everyone worshipping here this morning.
[7:45] And those listening online, we pray that individually we would know your touch upon us. And as a congregation of your people, we would experience God ministering to us and touching us at the point of our very needs.
[8:02] And so we pray for ourselves. We pray for others gathered as we are. And where your word goes forth in sincerity and in truth this day, we pray that it would be blessed.
[8:15] That your name would be glorified. And we ask all these things seeking forgiveness for our sins. In Jesus' name. Amen. Now it's just a story talk for the younger people.
[8:29] I remember watching a TV programme. It was a very interesting programme actually. It was called Stop, Search, Seize. And it was about a port.
[8:41] It was a UK port. Where customs officers were looking to stop people. Search people. Or vehicles or whatever. Coming into the port and looking to get onto a ferry and cross the channel.
[8:55] Or something like that. And sees what shouldn't be there. What they shouldn't have. And so on the programme it showed this van.
[9:06] Coming in. Just entering into the port. And pulling into a gateway. And what they saw was the two men getting out of the van.
[9:17] And one going to the front and one going to the back. And the commentary on the programme was telling us that, Ah, we know what they're up to.
[9:29] They're going to change their number plates. And there was a surveillance camera pointing right onto the van. But as the two men got out, you could see them kind of looking up.
[9:42] And then they said, Ah, they've noticed the camera. So they get back into the van. And they pull on a bit further. And they stop in another place. And they get out again.
[9:56] They thought they got away from the camera. But what they didn't know was that there was now not one camera, but two cameras onto them.
[10:08] And so they got out. They changed the number plates on the van. They got back in and headed into the port. Right into the arms of the custom officers who dealt with them there.
[10:22] And as I was thinking about that, these men thought that they were out of the eye of the camera because they got away from the first one. But there were another two.
[10:33] And the man on the programme that was giving the commentary said, If you're going to do anything illegal, don't do it in a port.
[10:44] Because there's always a camera. And as I was thinking about that, I thought we're always under the eye of the Lord.
[10:54] We can't get away from him, can we? He sees everything. Sometimes we think, Oh, well, I'll just do this. It's maybe not right. But there's nobody watching.
[11:06] But there is, isn't there? God is always watching. And he always sees. I was looking for a verse just to bring to you this morning.
[11:17] And here is the verse from 1 Peter 3.12. Look what it says. Listen. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer.
[11:32] But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. Now that's a big word, isn't it? The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous. So what does this mean?
[11:44] Well, we all know what it means to do wrong, don't we? It doesn't matter how young we are, or how old we are. We've all done it. And I'm sure we've all had to go back and put something right that we've done wrong.
[12:02] We maybe said something that was unkind. And it troubled us. And we had to go to the person and say, Look, I shouldn't have said that.
[12:16] I'm sorry. So you're putting what was wrong right. We all know what that means, don't we? But yet, we've all done wrong in God's eyes, haven't we?
[12:33] Every one of us. We've all done wrong, and the Bible calls it sin. Whether it's just a little lie, or just a wee thing.
[12:45] Whether we've taken something that doesn't belong to us, it's about our thoughts, what we say under our breath. All of these things, God sees it all, he hears it all, he knows it all.
[12:58] So it's wrong. And that needs to be put right. But we can't put it right, can we? But the gospel is wonderful.
[13:10] And God's love is wonderful. So much so that he loves us so much that he sent his son, Jesus. Because he knew that we couldn't sort all the wrong, all the sin in our lives.
[13:24] We couldn't sort it ourselves. So he sent Jesus. Who was willing to go to the cross. To take the punishment for our sins.
[13:36] And the righteous, the people who are right in God's sight, are those who have come to Jesus and asked for his forgiveness.
[13:49] And that we know our sins forgiven. Because he paid the price. He took the punishment in our place.
[13:59] And it's wonderful when we know that. When we have come to Jesus. And we've cried out to him.
[14:12] Just Lord, forgive me for all my sins. For all the things I've done wrong. I just want to be right in your sight.
[14:22] And then, what a wonderful verse this is. Because it says, The eyes of the Lord are on those who are right.
[14:34] And not just that. He says his ears are open to their prayer. So that's the only place to be.
[14:45] Isn't it? To be right with God. To be made right with God. Through putting your trust in Jesus. So that the eyes of the Lord are on those who are right.
[14:57] And his ears are open to their prayer. Lord, we do thank you that you are a great God. Thank you that you have not left us helpless.
[15:11] But thank you that you have made a way. Where we can be made right with God. Through trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ. That we can know our sins forgiven.
[15:24] That we can receive the gift. The free gift of everlasting life. Help us Lord today. If we don't know that already.
[15:34] To come to know that. Doesn't matter how young or how old we might be. We thank you. For your great love for us.
[15:46] And we thank you that you have made a way for us. To come. So that we can be right with God. That the eyes of the Lord are on those who are right.
[15:57] And your ear is ever open. To their prayer. We thank you Lord. In Jesus name. Amen. We're going to sing again now.
[16:09] A hymn. It's an old hymn. Will your anchor hold. In the storms of life. Will your anchor. In the storms of life. In the storms of life. When the clouds unfold.
[16:35] Their wings of strife. When the strong tides lift. And the cables stray. Will your anchor drift or firm remain?
[16:48] We have an anchor that keeps the soul Steadfast and sure while the billows roll Fastened to the rock which cannot move Grand it firmly deep in the Saviour's love Will your anchor hold in the straits of fear When the breakers roll and the reef is near While the surges rain and the wild winds blow Shall the angry wave thinner bark or flow We have an anchor that keeps the soul Steadfast and sure while the billows roll Fastened to the rock which cannot move Grand it firmly deep in the Saviour's love
[17:49] Will your anchor hold in the floods of terror When the waters cold chill your latest breath On the rising tide you can never fail While your anchor holds within the veil We have an anchor that keeps the soul Steadfast and sure while the billows roll Fastened to the rock which cannot move Grand it firmly deep in the Saviour's love Will your night be whole through the morning light The city of cold and the harbour bright Will your anchor stay on the heavenly shore When the storms are past forevermore We have an anchor that keeps the soul
[18:54] Steadfast and sure while the billows roll Fastened to the rock which cannot move Grand it firmly deep in the Saviour's love I want to turn to God's word now and read from the book of Daniel The book of Daniel chapter 3 And we'll read from verse 13 to the end of the chapter Daniel chapter 3 breaking into the reading at verse 13 I'm sure we're all well familiar with the story of Daniel
[19:54] And this chapter and where King Nebuchadnezzar Made this great image of gold And those were called from the nations to come And when the music played They were to bow down and worship to this great image But the three Hebrew friends Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego They did not bow down And this was reported to the king And the king summoned them And this is where we pick up the reading from Verse 13 Then Nebuchadnezzar in furious rage Commanded that Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego Be brought So they brought these men before the king 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
[20:57] 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?
[21:22] Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego answered and said to the king O Nebuchadnezzar We have no need to answer you in this matter 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 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 Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with fury And the expression of his face was changed against Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego He ordered the furnace to be heated seven times more than it was usually heated 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 Then these men were bound in their cloaks
[22:25] Their tunics, their hats And their other garments And they were thrown into the burning, fiery furnace 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 And these three men Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego Fell bound into the burning, fiery furnace Then king Nebuchadnezzar was astonished And rose up in haste He declared to his counsellors Did we not cast three men Bound into the fire?
[23:09] They answered and said to the king True, O king 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 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 Come here Then Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego Came out from the fire And the satraps The prefects, the governors And the king's counsellors 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
[24:10] Had come upon them 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 commandment And yielded up their bodies Rather than serve and worship any god Except their own god Therefore I make a decree Any people, nation or language That speaks against That speaks anything against The God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego Shall be torn limb from limb And their house is laid in ruins For there is no other god Who is able to rescue in this way Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego In the province of Babylon Amen And we know that God will bless to us The reading of his own precious word
[25:12] Let's again unite in prayer Our gracious God We do thank you that we can come to you We thank you that Your ear is inclined to us We thank you that We come to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego The same God Who is the same yesterday And today and forever We thank you that you have reminded us In this reading of your greatness And of your power That there is nothing too hard for the Lord And we ask that we would come With a renewed sense of confidence in God That we would come Yes, a needy people Yet coming before a great and a mighty God We thank you that we can Just lift up the needs of others to you too
[26:12] We pray, O Lord, for your word as it goes forth We pray for it as it goes forth Throughout our own land And throughout other lands today And we remember Your own people who are persecuted And going through troubles and trials Because of their love for you Please watch over them Make them very aware of your presence with them That they would know the presence of the Lord Like these three men did Even in the furnace As your own people In many places go through great trials We ask that they would know The nearness of the one who Comes alongside to help We do pray, O Lord For it's the need in our own land The need for the gospel to be heard The need for Those who are walking in darkness
[27:13] That they would see the great light of the gospel Of the glory of Christ That you would open the eyes of the blind That there might be a day of Your great power Sweeping through our land once again For souls to be brought to you That we might Encourage each other in the things of God That we might be encouraged seeing God at work Work we pray in these days As we look to you We pray, O Lord, for our own nation at this time And we are indeed in much need We have drifted, Lord, aimlessly away from the truth of your word And we pray for forgiveness And we plead for mercy We pray for those in authority That you would grant wisdom and honesty and direction That you would grant them, Lord, in their hearts That they would be turning to you
[28:14] For vain is the help of man We pray, O Lord, for those Who have very recently lost loved ones That's been so real in this congregation over these days We pray, O Lord, for Angus Alec We pray for Catherine and her family And Crisalda and the family as well And for Alistair and all who were close to Ina We pray for your continued grace and strength and comfort For every day We thank you, Lord, that In and through all the sadness and the loss Yet we know that there is joy Because of what you have done And you delight even in the death of your own saints And we thank you for all the promises that we have in Christ And we pray for others, too There's those in desperate need
[29:15] And there are others who have lost loved ones, too And we pray for those situations as well That we don't understand That we can't fathom But yet, Lord, we lift those up to you And ask that your gracious hand would be so real That in their need, in their loss and in their pain That they would experience the touch of the Master's hand upon them That you can draw to yourself That you can break into each and any situation There is nothing out with your control And so we lift these situations before you And pray for your grace and mercy So, Lord, help us as we turn to your precious word Bless this congregation Bless David as he ministers here so faithfully
[30:18] And undertake for him And all who work and serve in this congregation We pray for your blessing That they might see yet great days of God's power working mightily That they would be rejoicing Through this one and that one coming To know the Saviour Build up your own people and encourage them, we pray Lord, undertake for us We ask in Jesus' name Amen Just before we turn and look at part of this passage That we have read We're going to sing from the Sing-Sams version of Psalm 119 Verses 33 to 40 Teach me to follow your decrees Then I will keep them to the end
[31:24] Give in sight and I'll keep your love With all my heart to it attend Lead me in your commandments' path For there, O Lord, delight I find Incline my heart to watch your laws From selfish kin, preserve my mind O turn my eyes from worthless things
[32:32] Give life according to your word To me, your servant, keep your pledge So that you may be feared, O Lord Remove from me the shame I dread Your laws excel in uprightness Oh, how I long for your decrees Praise there be in your righteousness
[33:39] Now as we turn to consider Some thoughts from this passage that we've read And to base our thoughts on verses 24 and 25 Although we'll be looking at the whole chapter Verse 24 Verse 24 Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished And rose up in haste He declared to his counsellors Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?
[34:17] They answered and said to the king True, O king 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 Well we spoke We read the chapter through We spoke a little bit about the background Of this chapter And how this came about That King Nebuchadnezzar Would have been the most powerful king On earth at that time And he summoned all the We could say all the top brass From the nations around to come And he had this great Fanfare of music And whenever the fanfare of music began Everyone had to bow down And worship this great big image he had made But if anybody didn't bow down They were to be immediately cast
[35:17] Into a burning fiery furnace But we see that there were three men Who didn't do What Nebuchadnezzar asked to do And you know if we If we were ever in trouble If we were ever in difficult situations And I'm sure we are And we all are Surely the greatest thing The most important thing And the most precious thing That we could ever know Whenever we're going through A time of trial Of difficulty Whatever it might be Is that Jesus Is with us There's nothing more precious than that There's nothing more important than that Just to know that To have that assurance To have that confidence That Jesus Is with us I want to look at
[36:19] These three men Just under Three very simple headings They stood out They stood firm They stood secure First of all They stood out And that was Very obvious They stood out For the right reasons Didn't they And it wasn't This wasn't the first time That they had stood out They took a stand That they were different From others round about They had good qualities The king Back in chapter 1 And he was looking for Young men With certain qualities We read that in Chapter 1 verse 4 Youth without blemish Of good appearance And skilful in all wisdom Endowed with knowledge Understanding Learning And competent To stand in the king's palace And they were to teach them A literature And the language Of the Chaldeans And we know that Daniel and his three friends Were among those Who were chosen
[37:20] And When the king After At the end of the time The king had called them in And When they were brought The king spoke with them And among all of them None was found Like Daniel Hananiah Mishael And Asariah And they stood before the king See they stood out And here in this Passage here It would have been There would have been A lot of pressure on them Wouldn't have been an easy thing It's not an easy thing To stand out And be different Especially when When you're You're standing before The power of the king And you know what The consequences are If you're going to bow down You're going to be cast Into a burning Fiery furnace That's not easy Is it To take a stand Against What everyone else Around you Seems to be doing But they didn't
[38:21] Bow down You know People stand out For the wrong reasons Sometimes Don't they Don't be one of them Stand out For the right reasons So what makes The difference For those people That stand out For the right reasons That they're different Well I turn to the words Of a hymn And I want to read them And I think this hymn Sums it up beautifully What makes a difference is When we walk With the Lord In the light of his word What a glory he sheds On our way While we do his good will He abides with us still And with all Who will trust And obey But we never can prove The delights Of his love Until all
[39:22] On the altar we lay For the favour he shows And the joy he bestows Are for them Who will trust And obey Then in fellowship sweet We will sit at his feet Or we'll walk by his side In the way What he says We will do What he sends We will go Never fear Only trust And obey People who are Walking with the Lord In the light of his word These are the people That stand out And if you had to ask Somebody for Just tell me about That person And sometimes We have to do that Somebody asks us What about so and so It's wonderful
[40:22] When you can give A good report Isn't it Good report I'm sure we know People that Stand out Or who stood out It's something of the The flavour of the Grace of God A genuine concern For the Lord's cause And for For people Oh these people Are not perfect people They're just Something about them That others would see They don't think Much of themselves These people That stand out But they're concerned For his glory And as I was Writing that down And thinking about it This thought came to me That Ina Morrison Was one of these people You know Friends It's easy to say The right things It's easy perhaps
[41:24] Even to be in the Right places It's easy in a way To make things Sound good on paper But are we walking With the Lord Are we a people That we stand out For the right reasons Secondly They didn't just Stand out But they stood firm They stood firm In verse 16 And 17 We The When they were brought Before the king And Remember King Nebuchadnezzar Is the most powerful King on earth And here they are Standing before him And he's in a rage And these three men Answered and said To the king O Nebuchadnezzar We have no need To answer you In this matter If this be so Our God Whom we serve Is able to deliver us From the burning Fiery furnace
[42:24] And he will deliver us Out of your hand O king We have no need To answer you In this matter There's no discussion here We don't need to We don't need time To think about this We don't need To go away And And And discuss it And come back And give you an answer At some stage No You see The answer was set Their decision Was made They wouldn't bow down And they knew And they knew And they knew That the God That they serve Is able To save them And to deliver them But even if that's Not the case They said We want you To know something O king We want you To know That we will Not bow down Because that would Be going against The God
[43:25] That they loved And served To bow down To anything Any graven image Or any likeness Of anything To bow down To anything Like that Was against The commandment Of God For them This was Unthinkable How could they They would stand firm How could they be So confident How could they be So sure Well it just didn't Just didn't begin here They weren't just Turning to God In a time of crisis They weren't just Turning to God In an hour of need No as we saw Before they stood out They walked with God See they proved God Back in chapter 1 When it came about That they were Brought into the King's palace And they were Going to be served The king's food And wine And Daniel Resolved in his In his heart That he would not Defile himself With the king's Food and wine And they asked
[44:26] That they wouldn't Partake of these things But that they would be Have another diet To eat from And at the end Of the ten days It was seen That their Their appearance Was better Than all those Who ate the king's food You see they proved God Then in chapter 2 What happened The king had a dream A vision And he called All his own Wise men And enchanters And all Called them together And said I don't just want you To tell me What the dream means I want you to tell me What was the dream They said No wise man Or magician Or anybody Could ever Tell you that So he gave them Opportunity But they couldn't So he ordered All the wise men To be killed And that included Daniel So the decree Went out And the wise men Were about to be killed And they sought Daniel and his companions To kill them
[45:28] So here they are In another situation We read that Daniel went in And requested The king To appoint him A time That he might Show the interpretation To the king Then Daniel Went to his house And made the matter Known to Hananiah Mishael And Azariah His companions And told them To seek mercy From the God of heaven Concerning this mystery So Daniel And his companions Might not be destroyed With the rest Of the wise men In Babylon What does the verse Next verse say Then the mystery Was revealed To Daniel In a vision Of the night And Daniel Blessed The God of heaven It's interesting Isn't it That he went in To the king To get a time When he would meet him To tell him The The interpretation And then
[46:29] After he got the time Then he went To prayer That's confidence In God Isn't it That's faith How could he be So confident Because they Walked with God You see He wasn't just Turning to God In a time of trouble And to know These things We need to Be careful Yes In our walk With God In the little Things in life Because you know If we fail In the little Things If we're not Obedient In what we might Call the little Things Then when the Big things Come we'll stumble If our walk With God Is not right We need to be Careful in every Little thing That we're being Obedient to the Word of God And then When these Crisis times Comes We'll We'll have a Confidence in God That's It's not in Ourselves Because
[47:29] They would have Been the first To admit That they Could never Do this But there was A God in Heaven Something Very refreshing About that Isn't there That this Kind of Confidence in God Can only Come from A close Walk With God But so Often We want to Know how Things are Going to Work out Don't we Before we Commit to Things Well How is it Going to Work out At the end Of the day That didn't Come about Here They were Prepared To stand They were Prepared To be Obedient Whatever Was going To happen They trusted God For the Outcome At the End of The day You know If we're Going on In the In the Christian Life We need To have This Confidence That the Psalmist Spoke of He said Oh Lord My hope And confidence Is placed In you Alone Because there
[48:31] Will be There will Be difficult Times There will Be times When needs Need to Be met There will Be time When When difficult Decisions Have to Be made When challenges Will be Faced When there's Barriers That need To be Broken Down We need To have That walk With God That confidence In him Otherwise The Christian Life will Become A burden Rather than A joy There's joy In being Obedient And standing Firm To God's Commands As Daniel Said But as for Me this Mystery has Been revealed To me Not because Of any Wisdom That I Have More Than all The living But in Order that The interpretation May be made Known To the King And that
[49:31] You may Know The thoughts Of your Mind We can Do nothing Without him It's not Because any Of us Have anything Special or Anything about Us And Daniel Knew that In himself Not because I have Any wisdom But it's Because of What God Is able To do He gives The grace To do It Here we Have Shadrach Meshach And Abednego We do Not need To answer You In this Matter They Stood Firm Even Facing The burning Firey Furnace They were As certain About their Standing Before God As Nebuchadnezzar Was about His command You just Need to know One thing O king There will be
[50:32] No bowing Down Or there will Be no Worshipping Your gods I wonder If we're Willing To stand Stand For What we Know And what Is clear And comes To us From God's Word Are we Willing To stand And just Thirdly They stood Secure They stood Out They stood Firm And thirdly They stood Secure These three Men Shadrach Meshach And Abednego Fell bound Into The burning Fiery Furnace And yes They stood Secure But in Another sense They They stood Helpless Helpless To save Themselves What hope Did they have Against the Strongest Men And Nebuchadnezzar Army Who Bound Them up And they Were cast Into the Burning Fiery
[51:32] Furnace There was No escape The furnace Heated seven Times hot To the Normal Those men Who took Who took Up Shadrach Meshach And Abednego To throw Them into The furnace They were Killed because Of the Heat These men They were Thrown Helpless In every Sense of The word Into The furnace Yet In the Will of God They were In the Safest Place Possible Remember John MacDonald Talking Talking About His Family Who were Serving The lord Out in Africa And they Were working With With the Tribe That Loyal Life Was Dangerous Out there And I Remember John Saying Yes There's Danger But yet In the Will of God They're in The safest Place They could Be And these Men Were in The Will of God And the
[52:32] Furnace Even Proved To be The safest Place For them Then 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 True O King And he Says I see Four Men Unbound In the Midst Of the Fire And they Are not Hurt And the Appearance Of the Fourth Is like A son Of the Gods See Their Faithfulness Didn't Prevent Trouble Coming To them They Were Prepared For that They Knew They Said The God That We Serve Is Able But Even If He Does Not They Were Not Saying That Because They Stand Firm It Will Always Be Easy But They Were Saying We Know Our God Is Able We Will Not Bow Down They Knew The Only Safe Place For Them To Be Was
[53:33] The Place Of Obedience To God Any Other Place Is Not A Safe Place It's Not It's Not a Good Place It's Not a Place Where Bring Where It Brings Any Confidence Anything Less For These Men Would Be Unthinkable But To Obey God Here In Psalm 61 We Read Hear My Cry O God Listen To My Prayer From The End Of The Earth I Called To You When My Heart Is Faint Lead Me To The Rock That Is Higher Than I For You Have Been My Refuge A Strong Tower Against The Enemy Let Me Dwell In Your Tent Forever Let Me Take Refuge Under The Shelter Of Your Wings Are There Not Four Men The King Said What A Glorious Experience That Was For These Three Hebrew Men And The Promise That God Gives When We Stand Obediently
[54:34] To Him I Will Be With You Always Was Was It We Talk About Knowing The Presence Of God And We Long For That To Know Something More Of His Presence There These Men Are In The Midst Of The Furnace And The Angel Of The Lord Is Walking With Them There In The Heat And He Says When You Walk And I Say When You Walk Through Fire You Shall Not Be Burned The Flame Shall Not Consume You For I Am The Lord Your God The Holy One Of Israel Your Savior Because You Are Precious In My Eyes And Honored And I Love You Fear Not For I Am With You Did They Not Know That And Surely That's What We Miss Out On Isn't It When We're Not Walking With The Lord That's What We Miss Out On Friends Today If We
[55:34] Don't Know The Lord We Don't Know His Presence And When We Face Troubles And Trials We Face Them Alone But Oh Is It Not So Much Better To Face Whatever We're Facing With The Lord Knowing The One Who Said Fear Not For I Am With You And That's What The People In Times Of Revival Knew And We've He Reports About It His Presence Oh The People Talk That That Lived Through The Revival They Talk About His Presence No It Was Just So Beautiful It Was So Lovely And They Talk About Sitting In The Presence Of God And Not Wanting To Move Don't We Long For That Again See They Could Have Been Just Like The Rest They
[56:34] Could Have Gone With The Flow They Could Have Gone With The Crowd What What Kind Of A Witness Would That Have Been Look At What Happened Who Was There The Satraps The Prefects The Governors The King's Counselors Gathered Together And Saw That The Fire Had Not Had Any Power Over Their Bodies The Bodies Of Those Men The Hair Of Their Heads Was Not Singed And The Cloaks Were Not Harmed And No Smell Of Fire Had Come Upon Them What A Wonderful Witness I Wonder How Many Lives Were Touched That Day By God's Power How Many Lives Would Have Been Changed If They Had Bowed Down With The Rest Because They Stood For What They Knew Was Right Because
[57:35] They Stood Firm Obedient To God's Command They Knew And They Experienced First Hand Fear Not I Am With You And Who Was There To Witness It All These People They Saw You Know That's The Kind Of People God's Looking For People Who Are Going To Stand Firm People Who Are Going To Walk With The Lord In The Light Of His Word People That Are Not Going To Bow Down To The Things Of The World Living To Please Him So That He May Establish Your Hearts Blameless In Holiness Our God And Father At The Coming Of Our Lord Jesus Christ May We Learn From These Men Who
[58:36] Stood Firm They Were Men Of Prayer When They Were Up Against It They Prayed Therefore Brothers Pick out From Among You In Acts 6 3 Men Of Good Repute Full Of The Spirit And Of Wisdom Whom We Will Appoint To This Duty And Then It Says But We Will Devote Ourselves To Prayer And To The Ministry Of The Word Prayer And The Ministry Of The Word I Wonder If We Get The Balance Wrong Lack Of Prayer Learn From These Men They Stood Secure They Knew In In In An Amazing Miraculous Way The Promise I Will Be With You That's What We Can Know When We're Walking With Him Stand Out Trusting Him Stand
[59:37] Firm Obeying Him Stand Secure In Him Lord We We Do Pray That You Would Help Us To Know Something Of What These Men Knew And The Confidence That They Had The Courage To Stand And To Know The Wonderful Promise Worked Out That The Lord Was With Them Even In The Furnace And They Came Through Unharmed And There Were Great Witnesses For You Oh Lord Help Us We've Failed We've Failed To Stand We've Failed To Be Obedient We Failed To Be A People Who Who Stand Out Who Stand Firm And So Often We
[60:37] Don't Stand Secure We Pray That You Would Help Us Just To Live This Life And To Learn From You From Your Word And From Your Servants Of Old Who Show Us Such A Great Example Of Godly Living We Pray That You Would Help Us Forgive Us Lord For Our Failures We Want To Do Better We Can't Do It Of Ourselves Help Us To To Know The Grace Of God That Enables Us To Go On Walking With You We Ask In Jesus Name Amen We're Going to Sing Our Closing Praise Another Old Hymn Stand Up Stand Up For Jesus Stand
[61:41] Stand up Stand up For Jesus Ye Soldiers Of The Cross Lift High His Royal Banner It Must Not Suffer Lost From Victory To Victory His Army He Shall Lead Till Every Foe Is Vanquished And Christ Is Lord In Need Stand up Stand up For Jesus The Trumpet Call Obey For To The Heighting Conflict In This Glorious Day Ye Adam Men Now Serve Him Against A Number
[62:41] Fold Your Power Drives With Danger And Strength To Strength Opposed Stand Up Stand Up For Jesus And In His Strength Alone The Arm Of Flesh Will Fail You Ye Dear Now Trust Your Own Put On The Gospel Armor Each Place Put On With Flame Where Duty Calls Or Angel Be Never Wanting There Stand Up Stand Up For Jesus The Strife Will Not Be Long This Day The Noise Of Battle
[63:41] Than Is The Victor Song To Him That Over God The Crown Of Life Shall Be He With The King Of Glory Shall Reign Eternally And Now May The Grace Of The Lord Jesus Christ And The Love Of God And The Fellowship Of The Holy Spirit Be With You All Amen The Three God Another brag In Theoko Third The Bo провод Him Looking On
[64:45] To In Born ub