Source: https://countrywoods.me/page/2/
Timestamp: 2019-04-25 20:18:00+00:00

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INTRO – Good morning, everyone! I’m so glad we are here to worship Jesus together today!
“Scooby Doo” – Great cartoon as a kid. Crazy “monsters” who scared Scooby & his friends.
“Monster movies” as a kid – Boris Karloff as “Frankenstein” – Bela Lugosi as “Dracula” – Lon Chaney, Jr. as “The Wolf Man.” These movies were actually released in the 1930’s & 40’s. But we watched them as kids. Not necessarily innocent movies that I’m recommending, but the monsters in them were not really realistic or believable.
Horror movies have morphed into much darker, sinister movies w/ very disturbing themes & subjects, many of them w/ overtly spiritual overtones. Lots of evil, occultic, Satanic subjects & characters. The “monsters” in these movies are usually deviants, sexual perverts, & psychopathic killers, & the violence & gore in them is nauseating & extreme. This is not a sermon against these movies or against this movie genre, but I will say that allowing these types of images & subjects into your mind opens you up to all sorts of evil, demonic, Satanic forces that a Christ-follower shouldn’t pursue. There are some truly scary monsters out there that you & I don’t need in our lives.
So open your Bibles or your Bible app to 1 Timothy 6:5b-12 (page ____ in the pew Bible).
…imagining that godliness is a means of gain. 6 But godliness with contentment is great gain, 7 for we brought nothing into the world, and[a] we cannot take anything out of the world. 8 But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. 9 But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.
11 But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
Paul wrote 3 letters that are known as his pastoral epistles – 1 & 2 Timothy & Titus. These are letters that Paul wrote to 2 men who would carry on his work after he was gone. Whereas his other letters were written to specific churches (to the church at Thessolonica, the church at Colossae, etc.), these 3 letters were written to individual men, pastors who were leading churches & dealing w/ the issues that faced them in these churches & communities.
When Paul wrote 1 Timothy in the mid-AD 60’s, he wrote it to give young Timothy advice & counsel on leading the church at Ephesus. They needed direction in leadership issues, worship issues, & doctrinal issues. Timothy also needed Paul’s counsel & experience in addressing some false teachers who were trying to sway the believers in the church at Ephesus. Right off the bat, Paul tells Timothy that the reason he was in Ephesus was to “charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine” (1:3b).
This “different doctrine” that Paul was referring to was the Gnostic heresy that the Church battled against for centuries. The Gnostics claimed to have a much deeper understanding of spiritual things than the average Christian. They separated God as spirit & man as matter, & claimed that they only want to bridge the gap between God & man was through a multitude of angels of different ranks, levels, & appearances, instead of through the one Mediator, Jesus Christ. According to the false doctrines of the Gnostics, salvation was achieved by finding favor w/ these angels, rather than through grace alone, by faith alone, in Christ alone.
One of the components of the heresies that Paul was writing about was that the false teachers viewed religion as a means to make a buck. Nothing wrong w/ preachers getting paid a decent salary. But there’s a whole lot wrong w/ false teachers who use religion as a way to get rich. Lots of ungodly, un-Christlike, unspiritual false teachers in our world today.
Paul’s instruction to Timothy to help him battle against the heresies is the same instruction for us to battle against false teachings of our day: 1 Timothy 4:11-16.
After hearing this letter, do you see what I mean by the danger & destruction & death that the out-of-control monster of money can bring into our lives? According to a Gallup poll, about 50% of all divorces happen b/c of money issues – usually related to overwhelming debt & the burdens it brings. See how it’s a monster that will attack us?
The word for “content” or “contentment” means to be satisfied in one’s circumstance or position in life.
Paul certainly had learned to do that. Phil. 11b-13 – “…I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I find myself. 12 I know both how to make do with little, and I know how to make do with a lot. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being content—whether well fed or hungry, whether in abundance or in need. 13 I am able to do all things through him who strengthens me.” (CSB) So how can we learn to be content?
Learn the possible dangers of wealth – v. 9-10 – We know that there is nothing inherently wrong or sinful about a person having wealth. But there are some dangers that come w/ the accumulation of wealth.
Tunnel vision – the tendency to focus exclusively on a single or limited goal or point of view.
That’s what happens to us when we become consumed w/ the desire to be rich. We develop monetary tunnel vision. That’s all we can see, all we can think about, all we are concerned about. Everything else fades out of focus in our lives. And it’s a DANGEROUS place to be! Look at the dangers the Paul lists here in v. 9-10. Let’s just do a little word study here in these 2 verses.
Live – “Take hold” – seize, experience beyond the “good confession” that you make. Don’t just SAY you’re a Christian – LIVE THE LIFE!
 Larson, K. (2000). I & II Thessalonians, I & II Timothy, Titus, Philemon (Vol. 9, p. 245). Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
INTRO – Good morning, everyone! I’m so glad we are here today to worship Jesus Christ together!
Most of us in this part of Mississippi understand how important a foundation is in the building of a house or a building. Anybody here know what this is? (show slide w/ words “calcareous fossiliferous mudrock”) How about if I say this? (slide w/ “Yazoo clay”) All you have to do is say those words & people immediately cringe. It’s actually “calcareous fossiliferous mudrock” & people hate it!
Southside Baptist Church – We had to keep cutting the bottom of the front doors of the church shorter & shorter b/c of the Yazoo clay beneath the church, causing the building to move.
House fire that is a total loss – “Well, we saved the slab!” Might be a joke w/ firefighters, but not a joke when it comes to families in our society. We need to save the slab, the foundation.
The family is under fire in our society today. It’s getting harder & harder to accurately define what a family is these days. Traditionally, it used to be a man & a woman who were married to each other. The man was the father, a woman who was the mother, & those 2 had kids, which produced a family. But nowadays, that traditional family is getting rarer & rarer. It still it exists, but it doesn’t seem to be the norm any more.
And long ago, God laid the foundation for the family. We need to make sure we are laying the right foundation for OUR families & building on that foundation.
EXPLANATION – The family is the foundation of our society. And a strong family must have a solid foundation. Jesus makes it clear in this parable that a strong foundation is important in every area of our lives. We MUST lay the right foundation for our families, & that foundation must be Jesus Christ & the Gospel.
In the passage we are looking at today, Jesus makes it clear that these principles & truths are foundational for our lives. He says “Everyone who HEARS these words & DOES them will be like the man who built his house on the rock” (v. 24). Luke wrote it this way in Luke 6:47-48 – “Everyone who comes to me & hears my words & does them, I will show you what he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep & laid the foundation on the rock.” When we build our lives & our families on the Rock of Christ Jesus & the Gospel, we show that we truly are His hearing, responding, obedient disciples, not deaf, superficial, disobedient disciples.
Every family will be built on some kind of foundation. The only RIGHT foundation is JESUS!
The Design – From the very beginning of time, God has made it clear that the design for the family is HIS design. Gen. 1-2 is the creation account. The crowning pinnacle of His creation was the creation of man. He created Adam & Eve & brought them together in the first marriage. Gen. 2:24 – “Therefore a man shall leave his father & mother & hold fast to his wife, & they shall become one flesh.” God blessed them, & instructed them to “Be fruitful & multiply…” (Gen. 1:28).
Then the Apostle Paul gave this instruction in Eph. 5:22-31 – 22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.
Our society is trying to redesign & redefine families, & unfortunately, some of those ideas are seeping into the minds of many people within the Church, especially in the younger generations. Our society’s support & celebration of gay marriage, gay couples adopting or having children, unmarried couples living together, & other unbiblical family practices is unleashing storms into the lives of families at unprecedented levels.
The Difficulties – The rain, floods, & wind that Jesus talked about in His parable came to both men. That’s true for all of us. The storms are going to come to all of us in some way or another. Can’t avoid them. They are going to come to all of us. We can’t avoid them, but we can prepare for them. And that’s the difference between the 2 men in Jesus’ parable.
How foolish we are to KNOW what Jesus’ commands are regarding our lives & choose to disregard them & disobey them! Why do we expect that there will not be adverse, negative consequences in our lives when we do that! But it happens all the time. And the damage that is done to our families as a result of our foolishness is horrific, painful, &, many times, irreparable.
Watching the show, “Deadliest Catch.” Episode talking about “mixed seas” & “rogue waves.” Mixed seas are when waves are coming from every direction instead of one direction. Unpredictable. Turbulent. Dangerous. Rogue waves are those massive waves that come out of nowhere & crash into the boats. Those waves weigh a hundred tons or more & are 60 feet high or more. Also known as freak waves, monster waves, or killer waves.
Sounds a lot like the turbulent waters that many families find themselves in these days.
The Do-Over – Mar. 3, 1966 – date that many of you older adults will remember well. Candlestick Park tornado. F5 tornado that touched down just south of Raymond. Continued right through south Jackson, destroyed Candlestick Park shopping center, throwing cars ½ mile into the air. Killed 19 people in Hinds County, & by the time it dissipated near Tuscaloosa, AL, the death toll had reached 58 people.
But you know what happened after that? People emerged from the rubble & destruction & began to rebuild. Many of you then grew up in south Jackson in one of the best places to live in in Mississippi.
Rev. 3:20 – I know this verse refers to Jesus knocking on the door of the Church. But I believe we can also make the application of Jesus knocking on the door of the houses of families that have been devastated & destroyed by the storms. After a tornado passes through a city or town, people go all over the rubble of the homes calling out for survivors. Jesus does the same thing in our lives as families. He comes to us after the storms, in the midst of our rubble, knocks on the door of our broken-down house, & offers us His grace & His power to put our families back together again. He offers us His grace-filled do-over so that we can rebuild our families HIS way & according to HIS plan.
CONCLUSION – Maybe you feel like you’ve been through a tornado in your family. Maybe you feel like you’re in one right now. Maybe you feel like there’s some Yazoo clay underneath the foundation of your family right now.
INTRO – There’s a lot of talk these days about the state of the church, & much of is not good. Many people are saying that the SBC is dying. We decreased in members for the last 11 years, & have decreased in baptisms in 8 out of the last 10 years. We’ve brought some of it on ourselves through our own sinful actions.
Some of the negative talk comes at us simply b/c of who we are & Who our Savior is. You can talk about God all day long & no one will get upset. But the moment you mention Jesus Christ, the ravenous wolves come out.
But you know what? Today, we are not going to worry about the naysayers & the negative critics. We are going to celebrate the Church today! And we are going to start by hearing about some of the cool things that happened to our youth last week at youth camp. Gunner is going to come share w/ us.
The Bible makes it clear that the Church is God’s plan for His work to continue in this world. It was His idea. It is endued His power. It bears His name. It is the Body of Christ.
…what the message is – v. 16 – What are we supposed to be proclaiming to the world?
“Our church is better than all the other churches”?
“Just live a good life & do the best you can & in the end, everything will work out”?
“Jesus will make you wealthy, healthy, & influential”?
“We hate anyone who is different from us or disagrees with us”?
THAT is our message! Everything flows out of that foundational truth. B/c Jesus is the Son of God, He is our Savior that was sent to us to rescue us from our sin.
…who the members are – A person doesn’t join the church the same way they might join a club or a hunting camp or a civic group. There may be some similarities, but the church is so much more than any secular club or organization.
So you see, your church membership is not just here at CWBC, but it’s much, much bigger than that! You are a vital, necessary, critical, important, crucial member of the Body of Christ! We are connected to one another, & all of us are connected to the Head of the Body, Jesus Christ Himself. You don’t “un-join” the Church. You can’t disconnect yourself from the Church any more than my ear can decide on its own to disconnect itself from my physical body. You are in the Body forever & have a HUGE responsibility to honor the Body of Christ.
Listen, we don’t get mad at another member of the Body other when they sin – or we try not to. We don’t get mad, but we do hurt b/c their sin hurts all of the Body. We don’t hate them, but we do grieve over another’s sin b/c it affects so many other people. We don’t judge them, but we do have a responsibility to call sin what it is & to help that person to repent & get back into fellowship w/ Jesus & w/ His Body.
Caesarea Philippi – very pagan city. Very immoral city. Worship of the Greek god, Pan, happened here in a temple built for that purpose. Here’s a pic of that area I took when I was in the Holy Land (show pic).
“Interestingly, Jesus chose to deliver a sort of “graduation speech” to his disciples at Caesarea Philippi. In that pagan setting, he encouraged his disciples to build a church that would overcome the worst evils.
To the pagan mind, the cave at Caesarea Philippi created a gate to the underworld, where fertility gods lived during the winter. They committed detestable acts to worship these false gods.
Caesarea Philippi’s location was especially unique because it stood at the base of a cliff where spring water flowed. At one time, the water ran directly from the mouth of a cave set in the bottom of the cliff.
The pagans of Jesus’ day commonly believed that their fertility gods lived in the underworld during the winter and returned to earth each spring. They saw water as a symbol of the underworld and thought that their gods traveled to and from that world through caves.
To the pagan mind, then, the cave and spring water at Caesarea Philippi created a gate to the underworld. They believed that their city was literally at the gates of the underworld – i.e., the gates of hell. In order to entice the return of their god, Pan, each year, the people of Caesarea Philippi engaged in horrible deeds, including prostitution and sexual interaction between humans and goats.
When Jesus brought his disciples to the area, they must have been shocked. Caesarea Philippi was like a red-light district in their world and devout Jews would have avoided any contact with the despicable acts committed there.
Jesus stood just across the way from this immoral cesspool & gave His disciples these marching orders: Build my Church!
So what does this mean for our mission? It means that you & I are called & commissioned to take the message of Jesus to those who are banging on the gates of hell right now. Just as He told His disciples, He tells us: BUILD MY CHURCH! Don’t get sucked into the temptations of the enemy & this world. Keep your eyes on me, your mind on the Gospel, your heart on those who are lost, & BUILD MY CHURCH!
We can’t hide from evil; we need to storm the gates of hell w/ the overpowering truth of the Gospel! We are to take back the ground that Satan has claimed & build the Church on that very ground w/ Jesus Christ as the foundation!
What a dangerous thing to do!
What an opportunity to see God do something that only HE can do!
What a privilege for us to be used by Him to build HIS Church!
What a mighty, mighty Savior we have!
What a mighty, mighty God we serve!
 Weber, S. K. (2000). Matthew (Vol. 1, p. 248). Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
INTRO – (10 mins) – Good morning, everyone! I’m so glad we are here to worship the Lord Jesus together, aren’t you?
Does anybody here know what this is? (pics of Daddy’s can-crusher) Mama really didn’t know what Daddy did w/ the cans he crushed, but he sure liked to crush them.
Has God ever crushed you?
Isaiah – OT prophet who prophesied, or spoke for the Lord to the people, about 740-700 BC. He was the “prince of the prophets” – spokesman for God – spoke the finest Hebrew in the OT, using some 2,200 different Hebrew words in his writings. He wrote hymns, & wisdom poetry, & even poetry that resembles a love song in 5:1-7.
He ministered to the affluent people of the time. Stood before 4 different kings – Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, & Hezekiah. He stood strong as he proclaimed the words of God to the people who were “deaf & blind” (6:10), who turned a deaf ear to his warnings of God’s coming judgment on them, much like many people today, both inside & outside the Church. There was no equal to Isaiah among all the prophets.
But Isaiah stood alone & preached the truths of God.
So, what made this temple experience so powerful, so significant & life-changing that it set him apart? It was there that God crushed him. Everything changed after this event!
APPLICATION POINT: GOD HAS TO CRUSH YOU TO USE YOU, BRO!
And now, Isaiah – “God has to crush you to use you, bro!” My daddy may not have had any significant reason to crush cans, but our Heavenly Father definitely has some significant reasons to crush us.
God’s School of Brokenness (Swindoll): We try to run from it. We try to avoid it. We try to resist it. But only as He crushes us & removes all the crutches that we’ve learned to lean on in our times of trouble will we learn to lean on Him alone. He has to teach us to quit relying on the flesh & start relying on the Spirit. THEN He can use us.
THE VISION – v. 1 – Awestruck when he saw this vision of the glory of God. Amazing sight to behold! He saw the perfect holiness of God! He saw the brilliant glory of God! He saw the powerful majesty of God! There’s no way that his life would ever be the same after this vision!
THE VOICES OF ANGELS – v. 2-4 – Accompanying this vision was a thundering sound which overwhelmed him. These seraphim were fiery angelic beings that spend their time in the presence of God worshiping Him. Their 6 wings suggest that they were powerful beings. And even though they were in God’s presence, even these superhuman creatures could not gaze directly at the holiness of God.
What was it that crushed him? When he saw the glory of God in all of His infinite holiness & perfection, & when he heard the thunderous cry of the thrice-repeated “Holy, holy, holy,” he knew he was done. Seeing & hearing & knowing how holy God is brought his sins to the forefront of his mind in dreadful clarity. He know that he had nothing to stand on, no excuse to make, no way of overcoming his impurities & his unholiness. He was totally at the mercy of God, totally dependent on the grace of God, totally broken over his sins. He knew that there was NOTHING that HE could do. And THAT’S when God broke through.
THE VOICE OF GOD – v. 8-9a – AFTER the crushing of the Lord, Isaiah heard God speak. And his response to God? “Here am I! Send me.” And God simply, but powerfully said, “Go!” This one word is the most wonderful evidence of God’s grace in this passage!
CONCLUSION – Application point again: “God has to crush you to use you, bro!” Do you want to be used by God? Are you willing to let Him crush you?
Every pastor you know is a weak man.
Every church staff member you know is a weak man or woman.
Every deacon you know is a weak man.
Every Life Group leader you know is a weak man or woman.
And we must face up to those things in our lives which cause us to be weak. God will crush us to rid us of those things. It’s not an easy experience, but it’s a necessary experience in order for God to use us greatly in His work.
So what is it that you need to face today? What is it that is bringing the crushing conviction of God today? Whatever it is, you must face it today. If you don’t, you’ll never be the man or woman of God that you could be.
You’ll never have the prayer life that you could have.
You’ll never be the husband that you could be, or the wife that you could be.
You’ll never hear the voice of God like you could hear it.
You’ll never be the leader you could be.
You’ll never be the witness that you could be.
You’ll never be the servant that you could be.
God wants to use you, brother! God wants to use you, sister! And He must crush you to bring you to a place of brokenness to cleanse you so He can use you! And He WILL use you!
INTRO – Good morning, everyone! I’m so glad we are together today to worship the Lord Jesus!
How many of you guys own a truck? Most guys at some point in their life have a truck or want a truck. It’s just sort of in our blood. The 1st truck my family had was a 1972 GMC long wheelbase pickup truck. Looked sort of like this one.
Back then, it was the Cadillac of pickup trucks. It had automatic transmission, power steering, A/C, even had an AM AND FM radio (slide bar back & forth). Had a 400 4-barrel engine in it. Daddy put glass packs on it & my brother, Tim, put some custom rims on it. It was a fine truck!
Back then, it was normal for kids to ride in the back of pickup truck. How many of you did that on a regular basis?
When our little league baseball teams would win a game, we would all jump in the back of the coach’s pickup truck & holler “We beat the Mets” all the way across town to the Quickie hamburger joint on Hwy 61. It was especially fun if you got behind the mosquito truck!
We would ride on the tailgate all over town all the time.
We even went all the way across Arkansas on a family vacation w/ my 2 brothers & me riding in the back of that 72 GMC, sitting in folding lawn chairs w/ our heads over the side of the truck like hound dogs.
I’ve been wanting a truck for a long time. The first week I got here as pastor, Jim got his new truck & rubbed it in!
I finally bought one about 6 weeks ago – a 2014 Toyota Tacoma. Love it. Lord willing, may be the last truck I will ever need.
When you get in it & start it up, a warning sound makes a dinging sound to remind you to buckle your seat belt. Dings 1 time – You’ve got a decision to make. Waits a minute to see if you’re going to buckle up. If you don’t, then it dings 8 times followed by 50 dings. Then it stops. That’s all the warning you get. You’re on your own after that. It’s up to you. You’ve got to make the decision. You’ve been warned. You know the potential consequences. It’s up to you. It’s your decision.
39 Now Joseph had been brought down to Egypt, and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard, an Egyptian, had bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him down there. 2 The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, and he was in the house of his Egyptian master. 3 His master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord caused all that he did to succeed in his hands. 4 So Joseph found favor in his sight and attended him, and he made him overseer of his house and put him in charge of all that he had. 5 From the time that he made him overseer in his house and over all that he had, the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; the blessing of the Lord was on all that he had, in house and field. 6 So he left all that he had in Joseph’s charge, and because of him he had no concern about anything but the food he ate.
Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance.
The story of Joseph is an amazing story! Twists & turns – deception & lies – abuse – temptation – suffering – royalty – redemption & reconciliation – it’s got it all. It’s got everything that your favorite Netflix series has, except that series probably doesn’t end w/ God being glorified.
Back up & get a running start into our passage for today. Turn to Genesis 37.
HIS BROTHERS HATED HIM: 37:1-11 – Joseph, the 17 yr old son of Jacob. He was his father’s favorite son & Jacob made no secret of that. Gave Joseph the coat of many colors which set him apart from his other brothers. That didn’t set well w/ those brothers & Gen. 37:4 says, “But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him & could not speak to him peacefully.” The Hebrew word for “hated” means….THEY HATED HIM! Saw him as their enemy!
Talk about a dysfunctional family!
But things began to turn around for Joseph when he got into Potiphar’s possession. Look at the verses we read from ch. 39.
Let’s look at this portion of the story. Almost has a Lifetime movie feel to it – “The Boss’ Wife.” Young, good-looking man who has been abandoned by his family. Lonely rich woman w/ power preying on his vulnerabilities.
SHE SPOKE TO HIM – v. 7b – “…Lie w/ me.” Tempting, sensual. But more to it. She owned him & could flirt & tempt all she wanted. But she also could command him to do this. And he was supposed to obey.
SHE SLANDERED HIM – v. 11-18 – When he continually rebuffed her sexual advances b/c of this commitment to God & to Potiphar, she made up a story & lied about him trying to seduce her! Got him throw into prison.
Joseph would tell us we need to RUN!
INTRO – Good morning, everyone! I’m so glad that we are here to worship Jesus together today!
How many of you know what the Medal of Honor is? The Medal of Honor is the highest award for valor in action against an enemy force which can be bestowed upon an individual serving in the Armed Services of the United States. Only 3,497 Recipients in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and Coast Guard have been awarded this acknowledgement of extraordinary achievement in military service.
Ever faced a situation that like that? A situation that seemed completely overwhelming to you? Scared you to death? Odds completely against you?
Man Cave Conversations continue as we talk to Elijah today.
Open your Bibles or your Bible app & turn to 1 Kings 18:20-40.
20 So Ahab sent to all the people of Israel and gathered the prophets together at Mount Carmel. 21 And Elijah came near to all the people and said, “How long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.” And the people did not answer him a word. 22 Then Elijah said to the people, “I, even I only, am left a prophet of the Lord, but Baal’s prophets are 450 men. 23 Let two bulls be given to us, and let them choose one bull for themselves and cut it in pieces and lay it on the wood, but put no fire to it. And I will prepare the other bull and lay it on the wood and put no fire to it. 24 And you call upon the name of your god, and I will call upon the name of the Lord, and the God who answers by fire, he is God.” And all the people answered, “It is well spoken.” 25 Then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose for yourselves one bull and prepare it first, for you are many, and call upon the name of your god, but put no fire to it.” 26 And they took the bull that was given them, and they prepared it and called upon the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying, “O Baal, answer us!” But there was no voice, and no one answered. And they limped around the altar that they had made. 27 And at noon Elijah mocked them, saying, “Cry aloud, for he is a god. Either he is musing, or he is relieving himself, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened.” 28 And they cried aloud and cut themselves after their custom with swords and lances, until the blood gushed out upon them. 29 And as midday passed, they raved on until the time of the offering of the oblation, but there was no voice. No one answered; no one paid attention.
30 Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come near to me.” And all the people came near to him. And he repaired the altar of the Lord that had been thrown down.31 Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord came, saying, “Israel shall be your name,”32 and with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord. And he made a trench about the altar, as great as would contain two seahs[a] of seed. 33 And he put the wood in order and cut the bull in pieces and laid it on the wood. And he said, “Fill four jars with water and pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood.”34 And he said, “Do it a second time.” And they did it a second time. And he said, “Do it a third time.” And they did it a third time. 35 And the water ran around the altar and filled the trench also with water.
Elijah may have faced 850 flesh & blood people on that mountain, but they were not his actual enemies. His enemy was the one who those 850 prophets of Baal & Asherah represented: They represented Satan & all that he throws at the people of God.
Same true for you & me. Our enemies are not the people we deal with every day. Our enemy is Satan himself & all the demons that are under his command. Our enemies are the schemes & plans & devices & traps he uses against us every day to trip us up, to distract us from the things of God, to get our focus off of God’s plan for our lives & tempt us w/ the temporary sinful pleasures of this world.
The antics of the false prophets was so foolish & fruitless. Didn’t matter what they did or how crazy they acted, their god was not going to answer b/c they HAD no god! Their false god had no power over them except what they allowed it to have. What an incredibly foolish thing to do & incredibly foolish way to live!
And yet, how many times do we do the same thing? Even though Satan & his demons are powerless against us b/c of Christ in us, we foolishly allow him to control us & direct us in directions that are completely opposite of how a Christ-follower should live.
The pagan prophets spent hours foolishly crying out to their gods. Hour on end. Crazy antics. Probably immoral, perverse activities. Blood everywhere. Exhausted.
Then Elijah spoke to God. Simply. Plainly. Profoundly. Trustingly.
Let them know that YOU are God.
Let them know that I am YOUR prophet.
Turn their hearts back to YOU.
Elijah knew who his God was & he knew who he was as God’s man. You & I need to know those same things.
First & foremost, you are a child of God IF you’ve place your faith & trust in Christ alone for your salvation. B/c of that, you have the Holy Spirit dwelling within you to give you everything you need to face your enemies.
You are a worshiper of God.
You are a person of faith.
You are a person of prayer.
When the enemy of doubt shows up, remember who you are in Christ. Remember the promises of God’s Word.
When the enemy of lust shows up, remember that God has called us to a holy life & we must put sexual immorality & lust to death.
When the enemy of bitterness shows up, remember that God warns us to not allow bitterness to take hold & develop into a deep root in our lives.
When the enemy of grief shows up, remember that God says that weeping endures for the night, but joy comes in the morning.
When the enemy of confusion shows up, remember that God has a plan for your life, plans to prosper you & not to harm you, plans to give a future & give you hope.
When the enemy of fear shows up, remember God’s might.
When the enemy of worry & anxiety shows up, remember that God tells to not be anxious about anything, but to pray about everything.
God will come through for you. It will be in HIS time & in HIS way, but He will come through for you. When all the odds are stacked against you – when there seems to be no way out – when it seems that Satan & his forces have truly won – God will come through.
HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT: “My Biggest Enemies” – sheet of paper – homework – Get alone w/ the Lord sometime today or this week. Don’t wait too long, or your enemy will come & steal this away from you. He will make sure you get really busy, or really distracted, or really upset & angry about something.
Pray & ask the Lord to reveal to you what your enemies are that your #1 enemy is using against you to draw you away from the Lord. Write them down. As the Lord keeps revealing, you keep writing. May have to get another sheet of paper. Keep going until you sense that you’ve written down everything that the Lord wants you to write down.
Then get down on your knees & give this list to the Lord. Claim the promise that these enemies do not have dominion over your life. Claim the promises of God from His Word of who you are in Christ – “More than a conqueror.” Claim the promise that greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world. Thank God for the victory is that is YOURS RIGHT NOW in Christ. Then go burn that list. No, it’s not going to be the fire that falls from heaven that burns up that list. But, just like that fire burned up the sacrifice on Mt. Carmel in a powerful demonstration of the power & victory of Almighty God, this fire that you set will be a demonstration to you of the power & victory of Almighty God in YOUR life. How many of you will commit to doing this? Raise your hands.
INTRO – (10 mins) – Good morning, everyone! I’m so glad we are together to worship the Lord Jesus today!
We are starting a new series today entitled, “Man Cave Conversations.” Most of us know what a man-cave is. It’s a room or a place that dedicated to all things masculine. It could be at your home, or it may be your deer camp. It is usually outfitted with the finest recliner money can buy & the finest TV money can buy. The sound system is usually ready to play some 70’s rock & roll, or some Willie Nelson & Hank Williams, Jr., depending on your taste in music. The walls are normally adorned w/ deer heads, large-mouth bass, & maybe a mallard duck. There will usually also be décor in the room that will let a visitor know which sports team is regularly watched on the big screen TV. There may also be pictures of classic sports cars – depending on whether you are a Mopar man, or a Chevy man, or a Ford man, you may have a pic of a 69 Dodge Charger on the wall, or a 68 Corvette, or the 68 Mustang that Steve McQueen drove in Bullitt. There may be some military memorabilia in the man-cave. There may be a pool table in there, along w/ a refrigerator to keep the drinks cold, & its own AC system so you can keep it as cold as you want to without having to hear someone complain about it.
And inside the man-cave, the conversations that happen are directed toward subjects & issues that directly affect a man’s life, ranging from sports teams to hunting to work to hobbies to kids to wives, & maybe even the Lord. So today, we start our “Man Cave Conversations” for the next 4 weeks.
When was the last time you took a stand on something that you felt strongly about? Here’s a video of someone who did just that – Kelvin Cochran, fire chief of Atlanta FD, who was fired for publishing a Christian Bible study book that gave support to the biblical definition of marriage (between a man & a woman).
Sometimes, our taking a stand will cause us to suffer, or cause others to suffer. We have to decide if it’s worth it. Are we willing to bear the pain of our decision to take a stand for what we believe?
Right now, there’s another case that the US Supreme Court will rule on that involves a bakery owner in Colorado who refused to design a wedding cake for a gay couple’s wedding. Jack Phillips, the owner of the bakery, is a devout Christian & took a stand on his faith & on biblical principles. And that stand has gone all the way to the US Supreme Court now. That upcoming decision will have ripple effects throughout all of our society.
The Bible is full of men & women who took a stand for the Lord when it was necessary. 3 young men in the Old Testament did just that – Shadrach, Meshach, & Abednego.
In 1973, kids’ musical came out – “It’s Cool In the Furnace.” We sang it when I was in children’s choir at IBC. Still remember some of the words to the songs.
Even though this story has been portrayed in a children’s musical, we must not see in a childish way. One commentator said this about this biblical story: “…many of us have heard this story so often in Sunday School that we may have lumped Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego with Cinderella, Hansel and Gretel, and Goldilocks and the Three Bears.
Open your Bibles or your Bible app to Daniel 3.
3 King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold, whose height was sixty cubits[a]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.
13 Then Nebuchadnezzar in furious rage commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought. So they brought these men before the king.
EXPLANATION – Not unusual for ancient kings to set up statues as Nebuchadnezzar did here. This one was massive – 90 feet tall (9-story building). We don’t really know whether it was a statue or “image” of himself, or of a pagan deity, or something else. All we know is that it was a massive statue, overlaid w/ gold, set up by Nebuchadnezzar. The king’s edict commanded that this statue was to be worshiped by all the people at a prescribed time when the music began to play. The edict also prescribed the awful punishment to be carried out against anyone who did not bow down & worship this statue: they were to be thrown into a fiery furnace & burned alive. Some commentators say that this furnace, a smelting furnace used for the gold for the statue, would have had a temperature of approx. 1800 degrees. It probably would have been right there close to the statue so all the people could see its blazing flames & smell the smoke billowing from it as a stark reminder of what would happen to them if they did not obey the king’s orders.
But there were 3 men, Shadrach, Meshach, & Abednego, who did not obey the king, did not bow down to the statue, & did not participate in the idolatrous time of worship. And true to his word, Nebuchadnezzar brought them in, confirmed that the charges were true, &, in an out-of-control fit of rage, threw these guys into the furnace (which had been heated 7 times as hot as normal – so hot, that it killed the soldiers who escorted S, M, & A to the furnace).
Shadrach, Meshach, & Abednego show us that, if you are going to be a real man of God, you can’t bow down when it comes to your faith & the things of God.
Idol worship was not an option for them, & it’s not an option for you.
We don’t bow down to statues overlaid w/ gold, but so many of us bow down to other idols in our lives – our possessions, our pleasures, our work, our wealth, our hidden sins, our health & fitness.
We worship whatever we give our mind’s attention & heart’s affection. Only Jesus can occupy the throne of our heart!
There was a high price for them to pay, & there’s going to be a price for you to pay.
v.15 – Nebuchadnezzar told them bluntly & plainly that they would pay with their lives if they did not bow down.
Kelvin Cochran lost his job as Atlanta fire chief.
Jack Phillips lost most of his business & revenue at his bakery.
Their God came through for them, & your God will come through for you! Why? BECAUSE HE’S THE SAME GOD!
v. 24-25 – Nebuchadnezzar saw 4 men walking around in the fire, & the 4th one looked like “a son of the gods.” KJV says the 4th man looked like “the Son of God.” Why did the man look like the Son of God? BECAUSE IT WAS THE SON OF GOD! Jesus came to them in the fire.
Isaiah 43:2 – “…when you walk through the fire, you will not be burned…for I am the Lord , your God, the Holy One of Israel, your SAVIOR.” JESUS comes to us in the fires of adversity in our lives & walks with us!
The greatest man who has ever lived, paid the highest price that has ever been paid, when He took the strongest stand that’s ever been taken, to show the greatest love that has ever been shown – JESUS!

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