Narrative portions of Scripture are sometimes hard to preach. Especially narratives that everyone has heard since they were children. Three young Jewish men, a raging king, an idol, and a fiery furnace. But at the heart of this story is an overwhelming sense of WHY these three men would not bow. What was it that they believed about God that caused them to not bow? And what idols are we bowing to that would cause us to bow to the ways of the world? Let’s get to killing the idols.

Below is the sermon from Daniel Chapter 3. I pray that it is encouraging and will exhort us to kill the idols of self, self-preservation, and fear. Below the sermon are some application and discussion questions. Deal with these this week… individually, in your families, in your growth groups.

The God of the modern evangelical rarely astonishes anybody. He manages to stay pretty much with the constitution. Never break our by-laws. He’s a very well-behaved God and very denominational and very much like one of us…we ask Him to help us when we’re in trouble and look to Him to watch over us when we’re asleep. The God of the modern evangelical isn’t a God I could have much respect for.   Author: A.W. Tozer

STRATEGY of FEARLESS GOSPEL LIVING FOR INDIVIDUALS

1. Will you spend more time complaining about how things are, used to be, should be, wish they were, than TIME praying, sharing about Jesus, talking to family members about their faith… encouraging others to walk with the Lord, trust the Lord
2. Will you continue to set up preferences as TRUTH… to preserve your comfort, your position, your name… when was the last time you went to Scripture for what God calls a church to be, what God calls you to be and do
3. PRAY… trusting. We don’t pray… because we don’t think God is able to answer our prayers… and we are right… if our god is nothing more than an idol of our own making.

We need to cultivate the determination and intentionality to constantly choose what is better. Kyle Idleman