Im just going to go straight to the stories.
This young gun story starts when a prophet named Samuel is looking for another candidate to continue to rule Israel when King Saul's reign is over.
Guided by God, Samuel finds himself paying a call on a man named Jesse. His sons is where the next king is to be found.
So Jesse presents seven of his sons, and Samuel sees that all are amazing men - physically fit, well-educated in Jewish law, and dedicated to God.
But not good enough.
Samuel asks Jesse if he has anymore sons. Jesse, who was a little flustered, responds: "Well, there is still the youngest one, but he is out tending sheep."
The little one is David.
Samuel demands that Jesse goes and get him. As soon as Samuel saw David, Samuel knew he was the one.
Despite he wasn't physically fit and wasn't so physically impressive, he was the one who has what it takes to be the strong leader Israel needs.
Samuel then anointed David by pouring a flask of oil on his head.
David was "Anointed and Appointed" to be king next.
King Saul knew his days were numbered, he soon feel into a depression mode.
To help lighten the mood, Saul's advisers decided to bring in a harp player. They figured listening to music would make him feel better.
This is how David, the shepherd, is brought into the palace.
David's harping skills are beautiful and it relieves king Saul.
Saul doesn't know that this Young Gun is about to replace him.
What's coming next is where David gets his Young Gun title from in my books.
Israel was at war with the Philistines.
How many of you seen the movie Troy.
Talk a Little bit about Troy the movie battle scene with the giant.
Like Troy there is a battle that happens kind of it.
Champion vs. Champion
The Philistines have this guy named Goliath and he is way huge.
There used to be an old wrestler named Andre the Giant. He was 7-foot-5" and weighed 450lbs. He used to wrestle like 3 guys at once.
This guy Goliath is even bigger than Andre the Giant. He was huge and massive.
The Jewish force didn't have an appointed champion, they were all scared and nobody wanted to stand up against Goliath and fight.
In 1 Samuel 17:8-9 Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him come down to me. If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us.”
Goliath Is challenging the whole army.
One day, David- the shepherd not a soldier- shows up on the battlefield to bring food to his brothers. He was shocked by what he had seen.
David was ticked off that this Philistine dude was insulting the God of Israel.
David convinced king Saul to let him fight, they only let David fight because of his steadfast faith in God.
1 Samuel 17: 37 The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.” Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you.”
David then goes out to meet Goliath without a sword or armor, only with his slingshot and a few stones. and his deep abiding faith in God.
Now David had a little exchanging words before they started fighting... You know a little trash talk, you got to trash talk before you fight.
Goliath is like," your just a little boy, and after I kill you the birds and animals will eat your body." He said "your God ain't going to do anything for you."
David is like, " you look here I'm going to throw this rock at your head and then I will cut your head off with your own sword."" Everyone is going to know that there is a God in Israel."
1 Samuel 17:48-51 As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground. So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him. David ran and stood over him. He took hold of the Philistine’s sword and drew it from the sheath. After he killed him, he cut off his head with the sword. When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they turned and ran."
David had this faith that was unshakable even in front of this massive towering giant.
David knew God would show up on his behalf and God would help him sleigh this giant.
David had a physical giant in front of him in his way.
Tonight you might have a small problem, or an addiction, or a sin.
It stands in front of you reigning like a giant and you can't shake it. You can't dodge it. It's just standing there picking you apart your faith like Goliath did the Israelites.
For 40 days Goliath- that giant- stood there and taunted and defied God.
Maybe tonight there is this giant that you feel is so tall or so big that you can't get rid of it.
Maybe you lost faith in God.
Tonight you can regain that faith, the faith that David had to stand up and kill his giant.
Tonight if you stand up and have the Young Gun faith that David had you too can gain enough strength and power to cut your giants head off.
Keep that in mind because you will get the chance to fight tonight, but I want to talk about another Young Gun.
Actually, three young guns. I will call them the Young Gun Crew.
This story will be found in Daniel 3.
There is a place called Babylon, which is about 55 miles south of modern day Bagdad.
At the time Babylon was was the place to be. It was at its peak in everything. In power, in politics, it was just the place to be.
The king that was making Babylon what it was, his name was King Nebuchadnezzar.
Nebuchadnezzar was a smart king, he expanded his kingdom by taking other lands by militia force and then building idols to himself.
God showed himself to Nebuchadnezzar in a dream and showed him that his kingdom wasn't going to last forever, because earthly kingdoms never do.
There is only one kingdom that will last forever and that is the kingdom of God. The kingdom of Jesus Christ.
Now Nebuchadnezzar is going to learn this after several mistakes as he is trying to set himself up to be God.
He went crazy and built a 90ft gold statue in honor of himself.
90ft tall 9ft wide golden statue.
Do you think he was possibly compensating for something.
Nebuchadnezzar issued a command throughout the land that when you hear the sound of music you must bow down to my idol.
Here is where the story begins with these 3 Hebrew boys that have been brought to Babylon from their hometown.
They worshiped the God from the bible.
Now they were being forced to the ways of this crazy power hungry control hungry king.
Their lives are threatened.
Before we read verse 13, I want to say that you don't have to conform to this culture.
Today you might not be following somebody godly or following God.
You might be following the culture of this world but you don't have to.
You are about to hear about 3 boys, we don't know exactly how old the were, but most scholars think they were in their twenties. In the bible the were referred as young men.
But they were taken from their hometown and brought to Babylon as kind of an internship so they could learn Babylonian ways.
They were taken captive so they can be brainwashed and to conform to how the Babylonians did things to make their kingdom bigger and stronger than what it was.
But these boys are not going to let Babylon get into them, just because they were in Babylon.
They didn't let culture define them. They knew the right way to live life out and that's through God.
Lets go to Daniel 3:13
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego have been ratted out by some of the kings inside men. His chief of staff informed the king that these boys weren't playing by the rules and the weren't bowing to his idol.
Verse 13-15 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, that you do not serve my gods or worship the image of gold I have set up? Now when you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe and all kinds of music, if you are ready to fall down and worship the image I made, very good. But if you do not worship it, you will be thrown immediately into a blazing furnace. Then what god will be able to rescue you from my hand?”
This furnace that the king is talking about isn't like a regular day oven, or like a sona, or a really really hot room.
This furnace will put you to death, but you are about to see these boys, these 3 Hebrew boys, be tested like no other for their lives.
We are probably not ever going to be tossed into a furnace for our faith anytime in our lives, but we do have something else in common with these 3 Hebrew Young Guns.
There is still a lot of music that plays that makes us bow down to the idols we have in our lives.
I want to do a little interaction and crowd participation.
I want you to turn to your neighbor and tell them your favorite style of music and your least favorite style of music. What style of music makes you bob your head and what kind of music makes you want to jump out of a moving vehicle. Ready... Set... Go...
How many of you said your favorite was Rock-N-Roll, some form of rock, maybe classic rock, maybe 80's, maybe 90's.
How many are country music fans.
How many rather be thrown into a blazing furnace than to listen to country music.
Any Hip-Hop fans.
Any Gospel - Soul Gospel.
Now it may surprise you that I will say this but the devil knows your favorite music style.
Metaphorically speaking, your spiritual enemy knows what music to play. Im talking about temptations and music that plays in our lives.
The music in your life is whatever cues you to bow down to your 90ft tall 9ft wide idol.
Whats your Idol?
What in your life looms larger than God. That is your idol.
It's probably not made of gold and is probably not a physical structure, but the greatest enemy of your faith and life is that when the music plays in your life you bow down to your idol.
What's your music?
For most males, the music that plays is your sex drive that causes you to act out your sexuality that is dishonoring to God. And when the music plays late at night and your computer isn't being monitored or looked at by anyone you might bow down to your idol call pleasure or porn.
What's your idol? What's your music?
For a lot of you acceptance is your idol and it looms larger than God in your life?
For some it might be pride, so big that you are afraid to be looked at differently by your peers even in church. Even afraid to lift up your hands.
What's your idol? What's your music?
I have to tell you real Young Guns refuse to bow down to any idols in their lives. Real Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego Young Guns refuse to bow down to any idol that trys to come before God in their lives.
If you have idols your prayer today so be repentance asking God to forgive you for having idols that come before you God, and when the music plays again i will not bow down to anything besides you because i want to be a Young Gun, I want to be like these 3 Hebrew boys and bow down to nothing besides you God.
Now we get to hear from the Young Gun Crew and what they had to say back to old Neby- the Nebster... Nebacanezer scrooge.
Verse 16: Here is where they stand in faith in front of this scrooge.
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to him, “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” Then Nebuchadnezzar was furious with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, and his attitude toward them changed. He ordered the furnace heated seven times hotter than usual and commanded some of the strongest soldiers in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and throw them into the blazing furnace. So these men, wearing their robes, trousers, turbans and other clothes, were bound and thrown into the blazing furnace. The king’s command was so urgent and the furnace so hot that the flames of the fire killed the soldiers who took up Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, and these three men, firmly tied, fell into the blazing furnace. Then King Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet in amazement and asked his advisers, “Weren’t there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire?” They replied, “Certainly, Your Majesty.” He said, “Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.” (Daniel 3:16-25 NIV)
They said even if our God does NOT save us we will NOT bow down.
They stood up for what they believed in and they were NOT going to settle for anything less.
Real Young Guns, they were not going to conform to society, they weren't ashamed for their faith, they weren't going to bow to anything lesser than their God.
They were real Young Guns.
Tonight I pray that you will stop searching for things that will keep you from the fire, and start embracing God who is with you in the fire.
Coming this week Uncaged Christianity
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