Living With Lions | Part 3: Living A Stand Up Life In A Bow Down World

Welcome to Campus Church and week three of a four-week series in Daniel that we are calling Living with Lions. And the reason we're calling it that is because while Daniel and the physical lion's den may be one of the most widespread and well-known stories in the book, the truth is that was just a small part of a much larger scope of issues that Daniel was dealing with while he was living in Babylonian culture. He was surrounded by an entire society that was trying to devour his faith and his belief in the one true God. And there is no doubt that we are also living in an ever-shifting culture where there is a greater rejection of what we believe and hold sacred and dear as Christians and followers of Christ than I have ever seen in my lifetime. And if we don't understand it or how to respond to it, it has the potential to do several things, to discourage us or to cause us to see the world very pessimistically and dark and discouraged or even worse, some people are walking away from the faith and losing their faith in God altogether. And so this is a very, very big deal. I told you it was gonna be one of the most important series that we teach all year.

And if for some reason you did not get part one and part two, every one of these messages are connected together and you need all four of them and they'll benefit you greatly, especially week one and week two. But here was the central idea that we've been talking about kind of throughout this entire series. And it's this, that God has called us as his followers to set the culture, not reflect the culture. God's called us to set the culture, not reflect the culture. Jesus said in Matthew five, that you and I were gonna be salt and we were gonna be light. That we were gonna be a city that's set on a hill that cannot be hid. He said that in a world that like this, they would see how we live. They would see our good works and not glorify us, not make much of us, but that they would glorify our father in heaven. In other words, they would notice how differently we live our lives. They would recognize that we're living by a different code, by a different kingdom. And they would recognize that it's not just us trying to be good. No, no, no, it's the work of God that's happening in us and through our lives. We have been saved and left here. Jesus said on purpose, with a purpose and for a purpose.

I showed you this last week, but let me show it to you again. Jesus prayed to the heavenly father and said, my prayer God is that you wouldn't take them out of the world, but that you would protect them from the evil one that's in the world. They're not of the world. I want you to notice that. They are not of this world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth. Your word is truth. In other words, there is no such thing as live your own truth. There's no such thing as just find your own truth. There is an absolute truth and it's said by God in his word, as you sent them into the world, I have sent them also into the world. Jesus said, I saved you. I changed you. I've done a work of grace in your life. I've transformed you and you are to be living by a different code, a different kingdom. And Jesus is telling us to remember that while you may be in this world, you are not of this world. While you are in this world, you are not of this world. And that's the challenge.

And that's what we learned from Daniel and Shadrach and Meshach and Abednego's life. Because these were Jewish men from Israel who worshiped Jehovah, had dedicated their life to him, but they were living in a foreign land surrounded by Babylonian pagan worship. They were in Babylon, but they were not of Babylon. And they were able to do two things that God has also called us to do. They were able to stand firm, but love well. Stand firm, but love well. Let me show you in the Bible where God's called us to do this in 1 Corinthians 16. Be on your guard, stand firm in the faith. Stand firm in the faith. Be courageous and be strong because it's gonna take both of these to stand firm in the faith. But watch this. Don't be arrogant about it. Don't be hateful about it. Don't have hatred in your life with it. Don't be malicious with it. Do everything in love. Remember I told you there were two extremes in week one that this culture has produced in the church. There are these people that have dug in and declared war, and they are just mad, it seems like,

and glad, mad at the world, glad they're going to hell. They're obnoxious Christians. They're people that turn the world off. God's called us to do better than that. And then there's this other side that's just kind of caved in to everything, and they're compromising some of the things that God's word clearly teaches. And we learned in week one that you can do both, and God's called us to both, to walk in grace and walk in truth. Walk in grace, walk in truth. Stand firm in the faith, and make sure that we do everything in love. And that's what I want to talk about today. Now next week, we're gonna. to end out the series, and we're gonna talk about what it means to actually make a difference in this world. What it means to actually influence and affect people that even don't believe in what we believe or subscribe to what we subscribe. We're gonna talk about the priority of love, and I'm gonna show you in the Bible how Daniel was able to not just survive Babylonian culture, but he was recognized as a person of excellence. He was recognized as a man that was heads and shoulders above everybody else, and because of it, he actually was given incredible responsibility and authority, even in a Babylonian culture,

because they recognized God was moving in his life. So he can do it, we can do it as well, but today, today, I wanna talk about this one. Next week, we'll do this one, but today, I wanna talk about what it means to stand firm in the faith. I wanna talk about what it means to live a stand-up life in a bow-down world, what it looks like to not compromise or to not cave to the pressure of a world that doesn't believe or subscribe to the things that we hold sacred and true, and I don't know that there is a more vivid example of this anywhere in the Bible than right here in Daniel chapter three. So I got a lot of Bible to read to you today, and what I wanna do is just, I'm gonna walk through Daniel three, and I wanna show you and pull out some observations that I think are so important and appropriate for our lives and where we're living today, but let me just start in verse one. Let me read through verse 12. We'll jump into it. Here we go. King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold, 60 cubits high, six cubits wide. That's 90 feet tall by nine feet wide. Sucker was big, okay? And he set it up on the plain of Dura

in the province of Babylon. He then summoned the satraps, prefects, governors, advisors, treasurers, judges, magistrates, and all the other provincial officials to come to the dedication of the image that he had set up. So all of the officials assembled for the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up, and they stood before it. And then the herald loudly proclaimed, nations and peoples of every language, this is what you are commanded to do, commanded to do. As soon as you hear the sound of the horn flute, zither, I don't know what a zither is, but I'd like to see one one day, a lyre, a harp, a pipe, and all kinds of music, you must fall down and worship the image of gold that King Nebuchadnezzar set up. Worship, bow down and worship the image of gold he set up. Whoever doesn't worship immediately will be thrown into a blazing furnace. Therefore, as soon as they heard the sound of the horn flute, zither, lyre, harp, and all kinds of music, all the nations and peoples of every language fell down, and they indeed did worship the image of gold that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. At this time, some astrologers came forward and denounced the Jews. They said to King Nebuchadnezzar,

may the king live forever, your majesty has issued a decree that everyone who hears the sound of the horn flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe, and all kinds of music must fall down and worship the image of gold, and whosoever doesn't do it will be thrown into a blazing furnace. But there are some Jews whom you have set over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego who pay no attention to you, your majesty. They neither serve your gods nor worship the image of gold that you have set up. Now, I'm gonna get into this in just a second, but before I do, we need to understand something that's so important right up front today. Listen to me carefully. Because whether you believe in God or whether you don't, whether you subscribe to the Bible or whether you don't, if you are a human and breathing the breath of life, you were created by God, whether you acknowledge that or not, and we are all wired as creation by God to worship something. We were built with an internal drive to worship. And so the question is not, will I worship? You will, and you are. The question is, what will I worship? We all worship something. And the reason it's important to acknowledge is because the world and the enemy understand this,

and they're going to do everything they can to get us to worship anything and everything but God. They're gonna do everything they can to get us to bow down and to serve something else other than God, because here's what the enemy in the world knows. They know that whatever we worship will direct our decisions and ultimately lead our lives. So if you worship money, money will be the primary motivator of every decision that you make. If you worship financial independence or you worship wealth, it will, all of your decisions will be filtered and driven by that desire. If you worship sex, all of your decisions will be driven by that. If you worship power, if you worship yourself, if you worship personal pleasure, if you worship your career, if you worship your own opinion, whatever we bow down to, whatever we make the priority of our attention and focus, ultimately will drive our entire lives. And if we decide and make up our minds once and for all, that the focus of our lives, the thing that we worship. more than anything is going to be God and God alone. The scriptures make it clear that we find peace and power that nothing else in this world can ever provide. Now what we're going to learn here today from this moment in Daniel 3, listen, is that it's not going to be easy. It's not going

to be easy. It's not because all of those things are vying for my attention. All of those things are vying for your attention. And the world is encouraging us to put all of those things above God in our lives. And in order to live a stand-up life in a bow-down world, we're going to find out from the story it's going to take a different level of guts. It's going to take some fortitude. It's going to take some real courage. It will require daily tenacity and a made-up mind to stand firm in the faith in the face of a world that is constantly trying to get us to bow before it and compromise how God has called us to live. So let me make a few observations about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and what it means to live a stand-up life in a bow-down world. Number one, I want you to see this. The number one reason that they did not bow before this image was because their conviction was greater than the pressure to compromise. Their conviction was greater than the pressure to compromise. Let me read it for you. Daniel chapter 3. Furious with rage, Nebuchadnezzar summoned Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. So these men were brought before the king and Nebuchadnezzar said to them, is it true? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, you do not serve my gods or worship the image of gold that we have set up. Now when you hear the sound of the horn flutes at their heart, in other words, verse 15 says, I really like you boys. I don't want to kill you. I really like you boys. I don't want to do this. But I done told everybody if they don't do it, it's what's going to happen. So I'm going to give you a second chance. I like you. I put you over some stuff in my kingdom. I think you're very polite. I think you're respectful boys. I like the way you handle yourself. But I got to just, I'm going to give you a second chance. Okay. So when you hear the sound of the flute and zither and all that, if you're ready to fall down and worship, good. That's what I want. But if you don't, you're going to be thrown immediately into a blazing furnace and what God will be able to rescue you from my hand. And Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied to him and said, oh, King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we're thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve, we believe he's able to deliver us from your hand. And we also believe that he will deliver us from your majesty's hand. But verse 18, don't miss this. But even if he doesn't, you need to be clear, King, that if today is our day, if this is it, we believe he can, we believe he will. But you need to know that even if he doesn't, your majesty, we will never serve your gods, nor worship the image that you have set up. I want you to hear this. This was not defiance for the sake of defiance. This wasn't rebellion for the sake of rebellion. In fact, I want you to take note of how polite and courteous

they were. They constantly referred to him as your majesty, your majesty, your majesty. They weren't trying to be rebellious just to be rebellious. They simply had a core conviction that there was only one true God and that they had dedicated their entire lives to him and that if they stayed committed to serve him and him alone, no matter what happened, he would make a way and provide whether it would be in this life or the next. They had a deep conviction. You know what a conviction is? A conviction is just something that you are utterly, truly convinced of. If you're convinced of it, it's a true conviction. If you aren't fully convinced, when the pressure is on, you will cave every single time. It's not a wishy-washy faith. It's not, you know, Sundays are good. When I get fired up by a sermon, you know, I feel pretty good about it. But by Wednesday, doubts crept back in. I don't really know about all of this. It's not if or when or up and down. It is a fully convinced faith. They were able to stand firm in the moment, listen, because they were driven by a pre-decision. A pre-decision. When you see this, there is zero hesitation. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego didn't go, can you give us a minute? Huddle up, boys. I mean, it's a furnace. It's hot. You know what? I mean, seriously. I mean, what do you think we ought to do? What's our group decision going to be? Not a bit of that. There wasn't the slightest bit of hesitation in any of this. Why? They weren't wrestling with what to do in the pressure of the moment. They had already settled in their heart long before they ever got to the furnace who God was to them and what they were going to do with their life. And I want to ask you this question for you to ponder in your soul. Have you settled it in your hearts yet? Have you settled it in your hearts yet? Or is Sunday just, you know, the canvas thing to do? Or is God just the one thing to do? Because that's what good, normal, civilized people do. It's what good Southern people do. We party all week, but then we just go to church on Sunday and we kind of wrap it all up and we kind of tie a bow on it. Is God just a Sunday thing to you? Or have you settled in your heart who you are, who God is to you, and how you are absolutely going to live all of your life? One big decision, ladies and gentlemen,

will save you from a lot of little dangerous decisions. One big decision. Settle it now. One big decision will save you from a lot of little dangerous decisions that the enemy in the world will present to you every day in an attempt to get you to compromise and cave and bow down. When you settle in your heart who you are and who God is to you, whenever a situation arises that tempts us to bend or bow down, we will not struggle with it. We will move quickly through it with our integrity because before we ever got to that moment of temptation, it had already been decided a long time ago what we were gonna do and who we were gonna live for. It's a Joshua moment. If you read the Old Testament, Joshua had a moment like this when he was leading the people of Israel into the promised land because many of the Israelites had some leftover idols in their life from their days and ancestors in Egypt. And before they were about to go into serious battle, Joshua wanted to know where the nation of Israel stood. And here's what Joshua said. Fear the Lord, serving with all of your heart. Put away forever the idols of your ancestors' worship when they lived beyond the Euphrates and in Egypt.

But if you refuse to serve the Lord, then go ahead and choose today who it is that you're gonna serve. But let me go ahead and tell you, Joshua said, it's settled for me. It's settled for me. This isn't a question any longer of who I'm gonna serve. As for me and my family, it has been settled. We are all in with God. We will forever serve the Lord. Joshua had answered the biggest question of life. And because Joshua had already answered the biggest question of life, it carried him through every battle that he would ever face and every temptation that he would ever face. And it takes that kind of courage and conviction to stand when the pressure is high to bow. Let me frame the question to you this way. You need this one. Is the fire inside you greater than the furnace before you? Is the fire inside you greater than the furnace before you? Because if you don't have the fire of conviction of who God is and who he is to you, when the furnace comes, you'll cave every time. You'll bow down, you'll give in, you'll give up. You've got to settle in your heart who he is to you, what his word means to you, or you're never gonna survive this dark and difficult culture.

You'll be up one day, down the next. You'll be in one day, you'll be out the next. You'll be wishy-washy, floundering about, and that's not standing firm in the faith. Standing firm in the faith requires a fire inside of you that is greater than the furnace before you. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had it, and the world will reveal over time what's real in your heart as well. Let me show you the second thing I see in the text. They were confident even in the chaos of the moment. They were confident even in the chaos of the moment. I wanna show you something that is a perfect picture of what's going on in the world and the culture we live in today. Watch what happens. Verse 19, the Nebuchadnezzar was furious with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and his attitude towards them changed. In other words, Nebuchadnezzar had given them an ultimatum. He'd given them an ultimatum, and when they wouldn't bend and they wouldn't bow, he flew into a rage, and his whole attitude towards them changed. In other words, he used to be fine with them. He was cool with them. It didn't matter they were Jewish. It didn't even matter that they prayed. It didn't matter to him that they worshiped a little bit of a different way.

It didn't matter to him that they were doing things a little bit different, as long as they didn't rock the boat, as long as they went along with his programs. But when they didn't, and they wouldn't bend or bow, all of a sudden, everything changes. This is what happens all the time. When you will not bend to the world, when you will not bow to culture, the world's attitudes towards us will start to change, and we see it every day, because they have issued us ultimatums as well. You've heard it. Confirm me or be canceled. That's the world, that's the culture. Agree with me or be mocked. Be compliant or be criticized. Stay quiet or be ridiculed. Dude, it's chaos out there right now. There is no longer room for agreeable disagreement in this world, and it's a shame. It's if you don't affirm me or agree with me, then you hate me, and there could not be a more immature position to ever take, and it's not true at all. We have to stand firm in the faith, but do everything in love. I want you to hear this. Not be hateful, not have hatred in our heart. Hatefulness and hatredness has no part in the life of a follower of Christ.

We are not against anyone. We are just for our God and his word. We're not against anyone. And we're never gonna be against anyone. And I told you those two extremes. I mean, there are churches and pastors that have clearly drawn a line in the sand and just said, us against you. And that is not what God called us to do. That is not what Christ did on this earth. Grace and truth. We're not against anyone. We will never hate anyone. We are simply standing for God and his word. But we live in a culture that when you do that, they just call it hate. And it's not true. Let me show you something else. Let me keep going with this, because I want to get to my point. Okay, here we go. Daniel three, then Nebuchadnezzar was furious with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. His attitude towards them changed. He ordered the furnace heated seven times hotter. This is stupid. I mean, I don't even understand that. It's a furnace. I mean, it'll burn you up just like it is. In fact, if you want it to be worse,

leave it a little cooler. It'll take longer to burn. It's just my observation. He commanded some of the strongest soldiers in his army. So watch this. This is stupid, too. He commanded some of his best dudes in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and throw them into the blazing furnace. So these men, wearing their robes, trousers, termites, and other clothes, were bound and thrown into the blazing furnace. King's command was so urgent and the furnace was so hot that flames actually killed some of his best guys. Sweet move. And these three men, firmly tied, fell into the blazing furnace. Yeah, let me just stop right there. What I want to point out here before I move on is what stands out to me here is not what's in the text. It's what's missing in the text. What is so conspicuous to me here is not what it says, but what it doesn't say. There's something missing. There isn't one moment of panic recorded anywhere in the story. There's no begging. There's no resisting. There's no fighting. There's no screaming.

There's no crying. There's no Shadrach, Meshach, make a run for it. There's none of that. There's none of that. They're just confident that whatever goes down that whatever goes down, whatever's about to happen, that God and not Nebuchadnezzar were in total control, that God not Nebuchadnezzar knew what the end was gonna be, that God not Nebuchadnezzar was really the author and the finisher of their faith and the author of their life. And they said, whatever goes down, whatever happens, we're gonna be okay with it, but just know we're not gonna serve their God. Let me put it to you this way. Their faith was so strong that it had an if not clause in it. It allowed them to remain confident no matter the outcome. They had an if not clause. You say, Pastor, what are you talking about? Remember what they said? They said, first of all, we believe that our God can deliver us out of your hand. Second of all, we believe that he will deliver us out of your hand. But thirdly, if he doesn't. Like we're praying for that, we're believing for that, but if it doesn't go down the way that we think it will or the way that we hope it will, we need you to know that we're still never gonna bend or bow or worship your God.

They had settled that even if everything didn't go the way that they had hoped it would, they were not gonna serve his gods. Let me ask you another question. Does your faith have an if not clause in it? Or do you only serve the Lord as long as he answers your prayers the way you want him to answer your prayers? Is your faith only as strong as your last answered prayer? Is your faith only as strong as when God showed up the way you wanted him to show up, read your script and did what you wanted him to do? Because if that's the only way you serve God, you will never serve God long because your faith has to be strong enough and mature enough that it has an if not clause. See, it's one thing to be sick, have faith and be healed and rejoice about it, but it's something deeper to be sick, not be healed in this life and go to the grave still with your faith. I'm preaching. You see, that's different. That's different. It's one thing to pray and have faith and for God to show up and you receive what you asked for, but it's something deeper and different when you pray and you believe and you believe and you don't receive what you asked for on this side of eternity,

but you can still rejoice and give God the glory. That's different. That's not a shaky faith. That's not a juvenile faith. That's not an adolescent faith. That is a fully mature, fully developed faith and in order for us to live a stand up life in a bow down world, you won't be able to do it with a juvenile faith. You're gonna have to do it and say, even if this doesn't go the way that I want it to go and even if I don't have the strength to do it, Even if God doesn't answer the prayer that I want Him to answer the way I want Him to answer it, I'm gonna have to do it. I'm gonna have to do it. I have settled in my heart that He is my King, that His instructions are true, I'm gonna have to do it. I'm gonna have to do it. I'm gonna have to do it. I'm gonna have to do it. I'm gonna have to do it. and that I am going to live my life under the instruction and the direction of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, and I will not bend or compromise to anything that He doesn't instruct for my life. And whatever the outcome is, the outcome is, but I'm going to trust God with it all the way through. I'm telling you, the world is bringing us to a point where this is going... Do you know that... Let me say it like this. Did you know that right now, I think one of the reasons in America that we struggle with this more than anything when I'm preaching today is because the worst we get is a little bit of criticism on social media, or somebody makes some statement against whatever, or we get verbally assaulted somewhere, or somebody makes some statement, or they picket, or they stand out in front of churches and they do.

Do you know that in 90% of the world, there are still people being beheaded for the cause of Christ? They are bringing them to a point where they say, renounce it or die. That is happening every single day in this world. There are people that are living this on an entirely other level. And that's why I think sometimes in America we get a little wishy-washy with it, because we have never really faced the type of persecution that they are around the world, but we don't know that it's not coming. We don't know that it's not coming. We don't know. All I know is this, if you haven't settled at your cave every single time, their conviction was greater than the pressure to compromise. They had this unbelievable, God-given confidence in the middle of this chaotic moment. What a beautiful thing. And then I'm going to give you the third one. It kind of preaches itself, but let me do it anyway. Their courage attracted the presence and power of God on a completely different level. You know this is true. Verse 24, Then King Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet in amazement and asked his advisors, My mask is a little bad, boys. Didn't we throw three in the fire? They replied, Certainly, your majesty. He said, Look, I see four walking around in the fire. I love this. Unbound and unharmed. And the force looks like the sun of the gods. Nebuchadnezzar then approached the opening of the blazing furnace. Now let me just say something. When you see something like this, that has an impact on your life. And he saw something, and all of a sudden, the same guy that was furious and enraged and railing against them, I want you to listen to how his tune changes now.

And shouted, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the most high God. Your God is the man. I acknowledge your God is the man. Come out. Come here. So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out of the fire. I love this. And the satraps, prefects, governors, and royal advisors cried around them. What they saw, they couldn't believe. They saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair on their heads singed. Their robes were not scorched, and there was not even the smell of fire on them. You ever been around a campfire? And no matter where you sit, it blows it on you, and you have to wash whatever you had on five times to get it out? They were thrown in a seven times hotter fiery furnace, and there wasn't even the smell of smoke. I love this. The only thing the fire burned off of them was what the world put on them. They were bound by ropes for the world, but everything else was intact. The only thing the fire burned off was what the world had put on them. I want you to hear this. Whenever we truly decide that no matter what, we are going to be the salt of the earth, that no matter what, we are going to be that light in a dark world, that no matter what the world or culture says, that we will be that city set on a hill that cannot be hid. What I'm telling you is we attract the attention of God on a different level, and the presence and the power of God moves into our lives and gives us strength in a new and unique way. I'm telling you. Your courage to stand firm in the faith gets the attention of God on a different level. You say, Pastor, can you prove that?

Well, here's the Old Testament. Let me show you one from the New Testament. This stood out to me years. I'm telling you, this hit me. This slapped me right in the forehead one day when I saw this. Because we've been talking a lot today about standing, standing firm, standing in the faith, standing, standing, standing. But did you know that the Scriptures actually tell us over and over that when Jesus rose from the dead and then ascended back to heaven, that over a dozen times in the New Testament, the Bible tells us that he is seated at the right hand of God? He's not standing. He's seated. He's taken his rightful place at the right hand of God. He is seated at the right hand of God. But again, over a dozen times in the New Testament it tells us that he's seated. Let me just give you one in Colossians. Since you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts and things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. But did you know that there was only one time in the New Testament, until Revelations, when end will come, that Christ stood up? Something got his attention. And it was so powerful that it caused him to leave his position seated at the right hand of God and stand. It's in the book of Acts. There was a man by the name of Stephen who had heard the message of Christ. He had believed it. He had received it.

And then he had committed the rest of his life to preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ so that people could come to know the saving grace of Christ. And in Acts chapter 6 and 7, there are some people who hate him that drummed up some lies and brought false charges against him. And he is arrested by the men who also arranged the arrest and crucifixion of Jesus. Part of that conspiracy theory. Those conspiracy guys. They confronted Stephen and they attempt to get him to back up, to bend, to bow down, and they tell him to stop preaching in the name of Jesus or else. An ultimatum. Not only does Stephen not, but while he is standing in the court on trial, he preaches his last sermon to those men that were there. And when they hear his sermon, they are so enraged that they don't even just sentence him officially. They just grab him and run him out to stone him to death. Now stoning was not easy, quiet, or fast. They would tie you to a pole and they would, 20 or 30 of them, just get little bouldersized rocks and they would just absolutely pummel you until you were unrecognizable and died. It was brutal, it was bloody, it was slow,

it was unbelievable. And they tie him up and they begin to stone him because he would not bow to the pressure and the ultimatum of the world. And Stephen looks up and in a vision, as he's dying, but Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. Look, he said, I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. Jesus was seated in his rightful position until he saw a man of God stand firm in the faith. And when he saw a man stand firm in the faith, it was so powerful to Jesus, it was so attractive to Jesus, it was so courageous to Jesus that it caused him to go. Well done, Stephen. I'm telling you that whenever we stand firm in the faith, Jesus stands with us. You can count on it. You can take it to the bank. You can build your life on it. You can hang your life and decisions on it.

The world will constantly try to get us to bend or bow. But when you have settled in your heart that pre-decision, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. You draw the attention of God on a different level. And when we stand for him, he stands with us.