OK. I have heard this story before and I thought I remember hearing the story of Daniel and the fiery furnace but Daniel wasn't involved. Here's what happened.
There was this dude named King Nebuchadnezzar and this guy was really full of himself. He was so vain that he had a statue made of himself that was 90 feet tall and made of gold. You think professional athletes and politicians get a little conceited. None of them could have done this. Can you imagine the amount of money, this guy spent setting up an image made of gold that was 90 feet tall. I bet that thing was something. That would be the equivalent of a nine story building tall! That thing must have been worth billions.
Now, this king was the ruler of a massive kingdom. It was one of, if not the, largest kingdoms in the world at that time. This guy was pretty important and if you didn't know it, just ask him and he would tell you all about how important he thought he was. Now I think we should all have a good image of our self but this was ridiculous. He thought so highly of himself that he ordered everyone in the whole kingdom to bow down and worship his image like they would a god. Now here is something interesting, the Lord didn't interfere with it. He let it go until, the king tried to kill three teenagers that worshiped the true God. But I'm a little ahead of myself.
So anyway, the king issues this order that anyone who doesn't bow down and worship this statute, will be thrown into a big oven that was turned on. He was going to burn them to a crisp if they didn't worship him. Can you imagine the height of vanity. I'm gonna make a statue 90 feet tall and you have to worship it (me). If you don't, I'm gonna throw you into an oven and burn you to death. Well that's exactly what the king said.
Now there were these three young men who were kind of like governors for the king. They were Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. These three guys knew all about the kings orders but they had made up their minds to serve and worship the living God, Jehovah (That's Jesus' daddy. If you ask Jesus into your heart, he will adopt you too). So the king hears that these three lowly governors won't do what he said and he got really mad. He liked those three but he had to make an example of them. God had given them the ability to govern and they did it really well. Now the king didn't really understand this but because God gave them the ability to govern, he liked them so he decided to give them a second chance. He brought them to the place where the oven was and told them that when they heard music, the had to bow down and worship it or die.
Have you ever been in a place were you had to make a decision. You know, one of those decisions where you know the right thing to do. But if you do the right thing it looks like it will hurt. Like when all your friends want to watch a movie that your parents told you not to watch or how about something worse. How about when your friends want you to do drugs or drink? You know that it is wrong to do those things but you don't want to lose your friends. What should you do?
Well here is what those three guys did. They told the king, "Don't bother with the music. We aren't gonna worship that gold image or you. We worship the one true God. God will save us from harm or we will die but we we're gonna do the right thing." Now that sounds crazy. Obviously they are going to die for doing the right thing. Right? In our lives, most of us don't want to do right because of the pain involved.
So the king gets seriously mad. Who are these three dumb kids to defy him? So he has them tied up with ropes and then he has the dudes working the oven heat it up to seven times as hot as it normally runs. He is gonna fry these dudes to a crisp and make an example of them. Who has ever heard of a God that can protect people from fire? The king is going to prove who the real god is and it's him. Or so he thinks. So after the three dudes get all tied up, they throw them into the fire. The fire is so hot that it kills the guards who throw them into it. So we know that it will kill someone because the fire killed the guards.
And that's the end of the story. The three kids get burned up.
Well, not so fast. See, when those three kids put so much trust in God that they would rather die than do something against God, by Father (God), who is a real good dad, was having none of that burn them up stuff. He sent an angel to the inside of the oven. The king looked in the oven and the three boys were walking around in the furnace. But that wasn't all. There was a fourth man standing with them. It was an angel and God was making a point to the king - There is only one King and it's me not you. Your gold statue doesn't impress me at all. Welcome to My world. Those three guys weren't even hurt at all. As a matter of fact, the fire burned the ropes off and they were just walking around inside the oven. So the king called them to come out and they did. They put their trust in God and he delivered them.
That's one thing I want you to take away from this story. When we put our complete trust in God, he can deliver us from any circumstance. But there is something else you should take away.
See, the king realized that God was bigger than him and he made another order. He said that anyone who said anything bad about God would be put to death. God didn't kill him, he used the king to protect his people. It's amazing to me that God didn't just blow this king apart but he didn't. Also, there is one other thing. When the king realized that these three dudes were smart enough to trust the real God over him, he gave them a promotion.
Sometimes when we do the right thing, other people will notice and change. Like I have said before, you are an example to the world. People do watch you everyday. Even though it looks like things could turn out bad, do the right thing and let God promote you. You might even take someone to Heaven with you when you do.
That's another bible story Minion style.
There was this dude named King Nebuchadnezzar and this guy was really full of himself. He was so vain that he had a statue made of himself that was 90 feet tall and made of gold. You think professional athletes and politicians get a little conceited. None of them could have done this. Can you imagine the amount of money, this guy spent setting up an image made of gold that was 90 feet tall. I bet that thing was something. That would be the equivalent of a nine story building tall! That thing must have been worth billions.
Now, this king was the ruler of a massive kingdom. It was one of, if not the, largest kingdoms in the world at that time. This guy was pretty important and if you didn't know it, just ask him and he would tell you all about how important he thought he was. Now I think we should all have a good image of our self but this was ridiculous. He thought so highly of himself that he ordered everyone in the whole kingdom to bow down and worship his image like they would a god. Now here is something interesting, the Lord didn't interfere with it. He let it go until, the king tried to kill three teenagers that worshiped the true God. But I'm a little ahead of myself.
So anyway, the king issues this order that anyone who doesn't bow down and worship this statute, will be thrown into a big oven that was turned on. He was going to burn them to a crisp if they didn't worship him. Can you imagine the height of vanity. I'm gonna make a statue 90 feet tall and you have to worship it (me). If you don't, I'm gonna throw you into an oven and burn you to death. Well that's exactly what the king said.
Now there were these three young men who were kind of like governors for the king. They were Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. These three guys knew all about the kings orders but they had made up their minds to serve and worship the living God, Jehovah (That's Jesus' daddy. If you ask Jesus into your heart, he will adopt you too). So the king hears that these three lowly governors won't do what he said and he got really mad. He liked those three but he had to make an example of them. God had given them the ability to govern and they did it really well. Now the king didn't really understand this but because God gave them the ability to govern, he liked them so he decided to give them a second chance. He brought them to the place where the oven was and told them that when they heard music, the had to bow down and worship it or die.
Have you ever been in a place were you had to make a decision. You know, one of those decisions where you know the right thing to do. But if you do the right thing it looks like it will hurt. Like when all your friends want to watch a movie that your parents told you not to watch or how about something worse. How about when your friends want you to do drugs or drink? You know that it is wrong to do those things but you don't want to lose your friends. What should you do?
Well here is what those three guys did. They told the king, "Don't bother with the music. We aren't gonna worship that gold image or you. We worship the one true God. God will save us from harm or we will die but we we're gonna do the right thing." Now that sounds crazy. Obviously they are going to die for doing the right thing. Right? In our lives, most of us don't want to do right because of the pain involved.
So the king gets seriously mad. Who are these three dumb kids to defy him? So he has them tied up with ropes and then he has the dudes working the oven heat it up to seven times as hot as it normally runs. He is gonna fry these dudes to a crisp and make an example of them. Who has ever heard of a God that can protect people from fire? The king is going to prove who the real god is and it's him. Or so he thinks. So after the three dudes get all tied up, they throw them into the fire. The fire is so hot that it kills the guards who throw them into it. So we know that it will kill someone because the fire killed the guards.
And that's the end of the story. The three kids get burned up.
Well, not so fast. See, when those three kids put so much trust in God that they would rather die than do something against God, by Father (God), who is a real good dad, was having none of that burn them up stuff. He sent an angel to the inside of the oven. The king looked in the oven and the three boys were walking around in the furnace. But that wasn't all. There was a fourth man standing with them. It was an angel and God was making a point to the king - There is only one King and it's me not you. Your gold statue doesn't impress me at all. Welcome to My world. Those three guys weren't even hurt at all. As a matter of fact, the fire burned the ropes off and they were just walking around inside the oven. So the king called them to come out and they did. They put their trust in God and he delivered them.
That's one thing I want you to take away from this story. When we put our complete trust in God, he can deliver us from any circumstance. But there is something else you should take away.
See, the king realized that God was bigger than him and he made another order. He said that anyone who said anything bad about God would be put to death. God didn't kill him, he used the king to protect his people. It's amazing to me that God didn't just blow this king apart but he didn't. Also, there is one other thing. When the king realized that these three dudes were smart enough to trust the real God over him, he gave them a promotion.
Sometimes when we do the right thing, other people will notice and change. Like I have said before, you are an example to the world. People do watch you everyday. Even though it looks like things could turn out bad, do the right thing and let God promote you. You might even take someone to Heaven with you when you do.
That's another bible story Minion style.
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