Dean Miller: This has been a wonderful day.

I hope that you’ve had a great time.

I’ve had a great time watching you have a good time.

The tube war was a blast.

I was trying to get guys to take it to, you know, Navy had the hill, right?

They were on top of the hill.

They were working downhill on the tube war.

But I thought some other teams had the will.

And Navy was just kind of being soft.

But anyway, that was my take on it.

But it’s been a great time.

We’ve heard two great messages today.

My heart was challenged from the message in the book of James.

And then, what a wonderful message out of Acts 15.

Brother Matt preached about things that hinder the gospel.

And the devil wants to do all that he can to hinder the gospel.

Today, in this session, I want to show you some things that I think every young person that is growing up in church, that has the opportunities that you have, need to be acutely aware of.

I was sitting back here today thinking about how many young people in the world have never had the opportunities that you have today.

The churches that you have, the families that you have, to be a part of something like this.

You are one of the very few who get an opportunity to be under this kind of preaching and teaching and experiences.

And I hope that you won’t take it for granted, but that you’ll use it and let God use you.

So I want you to know some things today.

And I hope that, and I pray, my prayer has been that the Lord will speak to every one of you in a very special way to your life.

1 John 2.

Look with me in 1 John 2 and verse number 15.

Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.

If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

Watch this, though.

Now, let me explain something very quickly to you about the world.

When the Bible uses this word world, this is the world that the word is cosmos.

Cosmos.

This is an interesting word because really in the Bible there are three different worlds.

I want you to remember these.

Number one, there is the world that God made.

This is the beautiful planet that we live on.

Even with all of the things that happened after the flood, and we have the desertization and all kinds of things that have happened, but yet this is a beautiful world.

This is the world that God made.

We are to enjoy the world that God made, the mountains, the ocean.

How many of you like to go to the ocean?

I love salt water.

I live in the mountains.

I’ve also lived down south.

And so, I mean, I love the beautiful Rocky Mountains.

So this is the world that God made.

now there’s a world that God loves everybody look around next to you look at somebody next to you and say you are the world that God loves say that to them right now all right now look at the other person on the other side of you and say I am the world that God loves okay so there is God so loved the world now who’s he talking about he’s talking about you he’s talking about me he’s talking about the people you’ve never you’ve never had

a

day on the world that God made where you haven’t seen a world that God loves.

Everybody that you’ve ever seen is one of the things that God loves.

But there’s a third world.

When the Bible says to love not the world, he’s not talking about that we can love the world that Christ made.

He’s not talking about we can’t love the world that God loves.

There’S a world that God made.

There’S a world that God loves.

But listenと me carefully.

There’s a world that hates God.

And the word cosmos is a system.

It’s an order.

We use that word in ways of like this.

We use it in ways like the cosmopolitan area.

It’s a city area.

It’s got a structure and highways and roads and neighborhoods and business districts.

It’s a cosmopolitan area, right?

It’s got an order to it.

We also use it in cosmetics.

It’s the root of cosmetics.

Do you know that girls, when you sit down to put makeup on, what you’re really doing is you’re putting your face in order.

Somebody said, well, isn’t it a sin for girls that wear makeup?

Listen, it’s a sin for some girls not to.

So it’s an order.

It’s a cosmos.

It’s a system or an order.

Now listen, there is a world system.

There is a world system that is ordered, and this world system has a structure.

Now, the Bible tells us that this order, this cosmos, has a prince.

Jesus said the prince of this world is cast down, the god of this world, little g, and that is Satan.

Satan is the god or the prince and pality of this world.

All right, everybody with me?

So it has a prince.

And the Bible also says that this world has a philosophy.

There’s a philosophy to this world.

There’s a structure to this world that hates God.

It has its own education system, its own entertainment system.

It has its own order to it.

And all of it is aimed at one thing.

It is against God.

In fact, look in your Bible at chapter 2, verse 18.

Look at verse 18.

He just said, he just said, love not the world.

Why?

Why?

Watch this.

Little children, it is the last time.

And as ye have heard that Antichrist shall come, even now are there many Antichrists whereby we know it is the last time.

Now, the word Antichrist, in our world today, we use the word anti, meaning that it is against something else.

It’s, I’m anti this, or I’m anti that.

But the word anti here means instead of.

So the Antichrist is the one instead of Christ.

It’s the one that is going to come instead of Christ.

He’s going to be accepted instead of Christ.

He is going to be the Satan Superman.

There is coming a day when an Antichrist is going to come and he’s going to make everybody bow to him.

He’s going to have a world system.

He’s going to bring the world together, united for once and for all in this system against God instead of God.

And this Antichrist is going to come at the conclusion of this age of the church and the rapture of the church and the man of sin will be revealed and he is going to be a vicious and vile and wicked man.

He’s going to be a man against God, a man instead of God, a man who proclaims himself to be God.

He’s going to order the world into a one world system, a one world government, a one world religion, a one world military, a one world economy.

And just like that, he’s going to control the world.

And if you don’t have his mark, he’s going to put a mark in the left hand and in the forehead.

And if you don’t have the mark, you can’t buy or sell or go.

And you have no freedoms, no liberties.

This is an antichrist who’s going to come and he is going to dominate the world instead of Christ.

And he’s going to bring with him great sin.

And God’s going to judge that antichrist.

God’s going to judge that man.

Now that man is coming.

We know that Antichrist is coming, but the Bible says in this world there are many Antichrists.

There are many things that are against Christ and instead of Christ.

There are many things in your life that this world offers you that are instead of Christ.

We’ve heard some testimonies today, drugs and alcohol and all these things.

But how do we know if something is of this world, this world that hates God?

How do we know if something is of this world?

Well, look back in your Bible very quickly in verse number 16.

For all that is in the world.

Now, somebody tell me, what does the word all mean?

All means all.

I had a college professor that used to say, all means all, and that’s all all means.

All means all.

That’s all all means.

All is all.

So all that is in this world, all that is in this world system, all that is in this cosmos that is against God.

Now, this world system is on the world that God made.

It’s made up of the world that God loves, but it is a system, a world that hates God, And all that is in that world are three things.

The lust of the flesh.

Well, what is that?

Lust of the flesh would be simply defined this way.

It’s things to do.

All right, everybody say it with me.

Lust of the flesh is what?

Things to do.

It’s things to do.

There’s all kinds of things to do that this world offers us to do.

There’s all kinds.

And by the way, not all of them are sinful.

But listen, that all the world has to offer you are things to do.

Lust of the flesh.

Lust of the eyes.

What is the lust of the eyes?

It’s things to have.

All right, lust of the flesh is what?

Lust of the eyes is what?

Things to have.

It’s just things that you can have.

It is, all of a sudden, there’s the new iPhone or there’s this new phone that folds in half.

We used to have phones that folded in half.

We called them flip phones.

Now it’s cool to have a phone that folds in half.

What’s going to be next?

like, hey, you know what’s coming out?

It’s a phone that’s got a curly cord on it.

It’s awesome.

You’ve got to have one.

We had one, and those are horrible.

They all get crinked together.

They all get crinked together.

You’re standing on the phone trying to undo it so you can walk around.

I mean, I don’t know.

This world is crazy.

I think what’s coming one of these days is they’re going to just implant phones in our head.

There’s just going to be a phone in your head, and you’re going to have this contact that you have to wear, and you’re going to be walking on the road, and you’re going to be like, you’re going to see it on your phone.

Whoa, hey.

Hey, Bill, how you going, man?

Yeah, cool, awesome.

Yeah, I’m just at the mall walking around.

Yeah, having a great time.

Yeah, oh, hang on a second.

Hang on, hang on, hang on.

Randy’s calling in the line.

Hey, Randy, what’s up?

How you doing?

I’m talking to Bill on the other line.

You want to talk to him?

Okay.

Okay.

Can you guys hear each other?

All right.

It’s going to be crazy.

All that’s in the world are things to do and things to have.

That’s all the world offers you is, man, all of a sudden, here’s the iPhone 6.

Yeah.

And then it’s the 8.

Yeah.

The 8 plus.

Yeah.

And it’s a fold over phone.

I mean, it’s just one game system.

Then do another game system.

All the world has is to offer you things to have.

And then it says, and then the pride of life.

What is the pride of life?

The world offers you what you can be.

The pride of life is things to be.

All right, so the lust of the flesh is what?

the lust of the eyes is and the pride of life is things too now the bible just says that’s all this in the world you can be whatever you want to be in this world if you want to be an astronaut if you want to be a pilot if you want to be a walmart greeter you can do whatever you want i mean aim high man um do they even have walmart greeters anymore i don’t think so now they have walmart beaters right go to

walmart

they beat you with a stick i don’t even know what that means but whatever walmart you can do whatever you want to be you can be whatever you want to be you can do whatever you want to do you can have whatever you want to have and all the world offers you are things to have and things to do and things to subtle and he said to Eve, did God say that you could not have this tree?

And he said, yeah, we can’t eat it or touch it unless we die.

And he said, no, you’re not going to die.

God knows that in the day you eat thereof, your eyes will be open and you shall be as God, knowing good and evil.

And all of a sudden, Eve saw the tree differently.

The Bible said and she saw the tree that it was good for food.

And she realized, I’ve eaten of every tree in this garden, but there’s one tree I have not eaten yet.

There’s something new to do.

There’s a new experience.

I could try this tree for the first time.

I’ve had that fruit and I’ve had that fruit and I’ve had all that.

Oh, man, those are delicious, but I’ve never had this one.

This is something new to do.

And so she took it.

And the Bible says she took it and she ate it.

And then she saw that food, that it was good, and she said, it’s desired to make one wise.

She saw this food and there was something new to do.

And listen, now there was something new to have.

She could have something now she’s never had before.

She could have this wisdom.

she could have this experience she could possess something she’s never possessed before and then not only that but this tree not only offered her something to do and something to have but this tree offered her something to be she could be as god see that’s all that’s in the world all that’s in the world are things to do and things to have and things to be Jesus said it this way What would a man be profited If he gained the whole world In other words

What

would a man be profited if he could do it all Have it all Be it all And then lose his own soul solomon was a man who came very close to that he had pleasure he had possessions and he had great power when the queen of sheba came and saw solomon’s kingdom she said the half has not been told this man had great power this man had great possessions this man had great pleasure this man had everything but in ecclesiastes chapter 2 in verse 17

he

took off the golden crown from his silver hair he walked off of his throne of ivory overlaid in gold between those two great lions and went into the kingly chambers and he sat his old tired body down and he looked into a beautiful mirror framed in gold.

He looked into those tired wrinkled eyes.

Eyes that had seen it all.

He took that old worn out hand and rubbed it through his hair.

a hand that had had it all.

A king who had become it all.

Not a greater than Solomon.

In Ecclesiastes 2.17, he looks into his old, gray, tired face and he said, I hated life.

I hated life.

I had it all.

I did it all.

I became everything the world Could allow me to become But I’ve gained nothing Jesus said if a man gained the whole world And lose his own soul What is he profit in?

Now young people I want you to hear me today We have three great enemies We have the enemy of the flesh That’s our old nature We have the enemy of the devil He’s fighting and he’s the accuser and he’s a tempter But listen, let me tell you what he uses Primarily he uses the world system that he runs To attract us and allure us away from god and watch this very carefully We’re going to go somewhere in just a minute.

Look at first john chapter 5 He said I don’t want you to fall in love with this world in the world.

There’s many antichrists The world is going to offer you anything but Christ.

You can have it all, do it all, be it all, be whatever you want to be.

That’s it.

That’s all the world has to offer you.

But look at chapter 5.

Verse number 1.

Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.

And everyone that loveth him, that begat, loveth him also that is begotten of him.

Look down with me in verse number 4.

And whatsoever is born of God overcometh the what?

Say it with me.

Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world.

And this is the victory.

That’s the Greek word Nike.

This is the Nike.

This is the victory.

This is the victory that overcometh the world.

Even our, even our, even our.

Think about it now.

Think about it.

We’re living in this world.

We’re living on the world that God made.

We’re a part of the world that God loves, but we’re living in a world that hates God.

And we’re surrounded by the spirit of antichrists.

There are many antichrists in this world.

Many things that offer you anything but God.

They offer you things to do, offer you things to have, offer you things to be.

They’re constantly vying for your affection and your attention.

And the only way that you and I, as children of God, that are living on the world that God made, as part of the world that God loved, the only way that we can overcome this world that hates God is by our faith.

Now with that in mind, I want you to run back very quickly to Daniel chapter 1.

And do not check out because you think you know this story.

In Daniel chapter 1, there’s a man by the name of Nebuchadnezzar.

Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, is a vile king, a wicked king.

He is a man so full of himself and proud and arrogant and full of temper.

He is a vicious man, but he has a glorious kingdom.

He has a mighty kingdom of Babylon.

And Babylon would go around and they would attack these nations.

And they would come in and they would besiege them.

They would surround them and they would let nothing out and nothing in.

And they would starve those people out.

And finally the city that they came to would surrender to them.

And then Babylon would come in and they would handpick all the best of the young people.

And they would take those young people out of that community.

They would take them out of that.

So now they have done this to Egypt.

They’ve done this to other nations and other world powers.

Babylon was this great power.

And they would come in with this intimidating military might.

They would come in and besiege.

And they would starve you out.

And then they’d come in and they would find the very best of the best of the young people.

And they would take them away.

And they would leave all of the ones that were lame or hauled or crippled or not just the brightest.

They would leave them behind.

But here’s what they would do.

They would go, whatever nation it was, they would go into the houses of their gods.

And they would take their idols and their gods.

And they would carry them away back to Babylon.

and put them in the house of their gods in Shinar.

And then they would take those cities, and they would completely lay them to waste.

And what they wanted to do was not just destroy.

Listen, they didn’t want to just go in and dominate another nation and control that nation.

Let me tell you what they wanted to do.

They wanted to completely wipe the identity of that nation away.

And they wanted to take whatever was in that nation and dominate it with Babylon, and they wanted to converge that nation and its culture into Babylon.

And Babylon became the dominating power.

That’s exactly what they did to Jerusalem.

They came to Jerusalem.

They besieged it.

They came in and destroyed it.

They broke down the walls.

In fact, they even went so far as to dig up the foundation of the walls and fill those foundations with sand so they could never be rebuilt.

They went into the very temple of Jehovah God and they took artifacts and vessels out of the house of God and carried them away to Shinar and put God, Jehovah’s vessels in the gods of Babylon.

And then they took the best of the best of the young people and they carried them away.

And they brought with them all these young people.

And listen, if you read the book of Lamentations, read the book of Lamentations and God lamenting over Israel and how far they’ve fallen.

And you look at what Jerusalem was.

People were sleeping in dung hills.

They destroyed Jerusalem, laid it to waste.

And they brought all the good kids back to Babylon in this Babylonian captivity.

Now watch what they did very quickly.

Watch in your Bible.

Look at Daniel chapter 1.

Everybody wide awake?

Look at Daniel chapter 1.

verse number four who spoke to the master of the verse number three they spoke to the master of the eunuchs that he should bring certain of the children of israel and the king’s seed and of the princess children in whom there was no blemish well favored skillful in all wisdom cunning and knowledge understanding science and such as had ability in them to stand in the king’s palace and whom they might teach the learning and tongue of the chaldeans and the king appointed them a daily

provision

of the king’s meat and the wine which he drank so nourishing them three years that at the end thereof they might stand before the king now among these now there was a bunch of kids that they were going through this but among these were these ones that God highlighted these young men of Judah Daniel Hananiah Mishael and Azariah under whom the prince of the eunuchs gave names for he gave unto Daniel the name of Belteshazzar in other words he took Daniel’s name that had Jehovah

in

it it had a name of God in it, El in it, and they took that same name and they made it a God of Babylon, same name, but with a God of Babylon.

Daniel means a man of God.

Speaking of God, Jehovah.

They brought that name over and he’s a man of a Babylonian God.

Now watch this in verse number 7.

Unto Hananiah Shadrach and Meshach and to Azariah Abednego.

But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat nor with the wine which he drank.

Therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.

Now God had brought Daniel into favor and tender love with the prince of the eunuchs and the prince of the eunuchs said unto Daniel, I fear my lord the king who hath appointed your meat and your drink.

Why should I see your face’s worse liking than the children which are after your sort?

Then shall ye make me endanger my head to the king.

So here’s what happened now watch everybody here’s what happened they bring all these kids from from jerusalem these kids are good in in in math they have understanding they have skill they know science and they bring them in now remember babylon’s goal was to completely erase their identity with their with their land their homeland bring them in and to bring absorb them into babylon and get them in in uh into the culture of babylon so so what they did what here’s what they did they

took

these kids who had all this knowledge of science, and they brought them and said, now we’re going to teach you our science.

We’re going to teach you our language.

We’re going to give you a name from our culture.

We’re going to do all of this to you.

And now watch, now watch this very carefully.

We don’t see in the Bible specifically where it says, but it leaves us to believe that one of the things that Babylon even did, and you say, how does this, how does this, okay, that’s a long time ago.

Nebuchadnezzar, Babylon, Israel and all that.

That has nothing to do with me today.

It’s not like Nebuchadnezzar is going to come and carry me away from America and take me somewhere into the Middle East and do all.

Well, listen, this has very much to do with you.

Because what Nebuchadnezzar was doing and what we’re seeing in our world today is nothing new.

Nebuchadnezzar, a type of the Antichrist, we’ll see in a moment.

He’s a type of the Antichrist.

He’s a type of this man of sin at the end.

He’s one of these men who had a spirit of Antichrist in him.

He was a man fully of this world.

He was out for what he could do, what he could have, and what he could be.

And he was going to do whatever he could do to become that.

And he did it by force and intimidation and military power and through great wealth.

He was a mighty man.

And he came into these nations and he took their young people and he said, you’re going to learn our science now.

and you’re going to learn our language now, and you’re going to learn our education now, and you’re going to bear our name of our gods now, and you’re going to be one of us.

And I’ll tell you another thing they did.

The Bible uses over and over again, and you can’t really necessarily prove that this happened to Daniel, Meshach, and Abednego, but it’s strongly imposed, it’s strongly suggested that Babylon was in the habit, and it was part of their practice of manipulating the genders.

I won’t go into all the detail, but they took these men and they made eunuchs of these men so that they would be neither male nor female necessarily.

Now, they were male.

But this was Babylon even manipulating the genders.

You’re going to believe our science as we teach it to you.

You’re going to speak our language.

You’re going to bear our name.

We’re going to put our mark on you.

You are going to be us.

And then we’re going to tell you what you’re not going to be.

You’re going to identify as we tell you to identify.

See, what’s happening in America 2022 is not new in the world.

But it’s a spirit of antichrist.

It’s a spirit of this world that wants to put its indelible mark.

You know why Satan so badly wants to manipulate this generation and mangle even the gender confusion?

Because here’s the problem.

We were made in the image of God.

And Satan wants to do everything he can to violate the body and put the mark of the world in the body.

Is everybody with me?

this was Babylon.

This is what Nebuchadnezzar did.

And now you’re going to believe our science.

Science is as we say it is.

And you’re going to speak our language.

You’re going to learn to say things that are not part of your language.

Well, no one’s teaching you a foreign language, but can I tell you, they’re teaching you a new language?

Gender identity.

Reproduction freedom Late term abortions Post birth abortions Same sex marriage Transgenderism are new languages.

These are new things that we are learning.

This is what Babylon did.

We own the science.

We’re going to tell you the science and you’re going to talk like we talk.

Everybody with me?

Now eat this.

Eat this king’s meat.

Drink this king’s wine.

Now here’s the problem.

Daniel was a Jew.

Daniel knew that they could not eat meat offered to idols.

They could not eat meat that had been strangled and had blood in them.

And that was a Babylonian practice.

That’s still a practice in many of these countries.

And so Daniel couldn’t eat that.

It defiled him.

And it defiled him in this way.

It made him ceremonially unclean.

He could not come into God’s presence if he was unclean.

And so he knew that he was living in Babylon.

He was among Babylon.

He had the stamp of Babylon on him.

They had changed his name.

They were changing his language.

They were re-educating him.

But Daniel knew in his heart of hearts, I belong to God.

And I’m in this world, but I don’t want to be defiled and separated from my God.

You are not going to separate me from God.

Everybody with me?

I may be in Babylon, and I may have to obey and be living in this world.

But listen to me.

I don’t have to be separated from my God.

I’m going to be with my God.

I’m going to act in a priestly manner and come before my God.

And if I’m going to come before my God and worship him, I want to be clean when I come.

So Daniel purposed in his heart.

Now let me tell you what Daniel didn’t do.

Daniel didn’t raise up a hand of rebellion and say, I’m not eating your stupid meat.

The Bible says that Daniel went to the guy above him and requested, hey, could I not eat this meat?

And the guy said, Daniel, you know I like you, man, but if you don’t eat this meat, we’re training you to go stand before the king.

And if you don’t eat this meat, you’re going to get weak and your countenance is going to fall and you’re going to look like you’re having some problems.

and you’re going to get unhealthy and then the king’s going to kill me.

I can’t let you do that.

And Daniel said, okay, I understand.

But then Daniel went to the guy above him.

And Daniel said, hey, listen, can I ask you a favor?

I really would like to see if I could just eat vegetables for just 10 days.

Just 10 days.

I don’t want to get you in trouble, but just 10 days.

Would you just allow me to eat this pulse for 10 days and then at the end of 10 days see how we do and if we’re doing okay then maybe we can continue the guy said yeah i could do 10 days i mean not a whole lot can go wrong in 10 days now let me tell you what happened though daniel had already purposed in his heart he was not going to do it if the guy had said no daniel was going to say i’m

sorry

i’m not eating that daniel was already drawn the line and he said now he was a gentleman he was a christian he was kind he went about this the right way he wasn’t in your face daniel went through the chains he appealed to them he respectfully went to them and but already in his heart he knew that there was a line drawn and if they said no he was going to say no and then there was going to be a problem but god gave him

favor

and they said okay and so daniel and his friends remember remember they didn’t eat for 10 days they just ate the vegetables remember that they just ate the pulse for 10 days and when they came back to look at them man their countenance was 10 times better than the other guys god gave favor to them remember that man what a joy but now watch what happens nebuchadnezzar has a dream he’s eating like pepperoni pizza and drinking pepsi at night and he has this really weird

dream

in chapter two we’re not going to read chapter two but in this dream let me tell you what happens he has this dream of this image that has a head that’s made of gold and it’s got a chest and arms made of made of bronze and then or silver and then it goes all the way down to bronze and then down to iron and clay and toes and the toes are part iron and part clay and then all of a sudden this rock comes out

of

nowhere hits it in its feet the whole image crashes and burns and nebuchadnezzar wakes up that was weird so he goes out and he’s telling he gets all his wise men together he’s like okay guys i had this dream last night whoa there’s this image head gold all this dumb man was like standing there, all of a sudden this big rock, like, what does it mean?

And they were like, they got in a huddle and they’re like, okay, I think the king is losing it, but we can’t tell him that, we got to come up with something.

What do you got?

I don’t know.

I ain’t got nothing.

Oh, and they couldn’t figure it out.

And they found out that Daniel could interpret dreams and they said, hey Daniel, can you interpret this dream for the king?

And Daniel He said, I don’t interpret dreams that my God does.

My God does.

Give me a shot.

What do you got?

Okay, we’ve got this image, and it’s got a head of gold, and it’s got all this stuff, and it’s like, you know, iron toes and clay toes, and they’re just standing there, and they’re just standing there, and all of a sudden, this rock comes flying out.

He goes, oh, that’s easy.

Nebuchadnezzar, you’re the head of gold.

There’s never been an empire with more beauty and wealth than you.

But then there’s going to be another nation, another empire, the Medio-Persian Empire.

And it’s going to be the shoulders and the arms.

And then there’s going to be another empire, the Roman Empire.

And then down into the end of the kingdoms of the earth, the end of the age, the end of the world.

The days at the end of the world, there’s going to be a nation that’s going to be partly clay and partly iron.

And it’s going to be this hodgepodge of people.

And it’s going to have 10 toes or 10 kings.

It’s not going to have a great golden head like old Nebuchadnezzar.

It’s going to have like 10 toe-headed kings.

And they’re going to think that they’re all powerful, but they’re toes.

They’re going to be awesome toes.

I just don’t want to be the pinky toe.

But there’s going to be 10 kings in the end of the world.

They’re going to form one world alliance with 10 toes.

And they’re going to have this kingdom of these 10 kings that are 10 toes at the bottom and part iron, part clay, weird mix up.

then all of a sudden this rock but it’s jesus is this rock that comes out of heaven and comes down to those kings and crushes them and this rock when it comes down and crushes it all the empires of the world fall before him and he is exalted as the king of kings and lord of lords and the lord of glory jesus is going to rule here so daniel told nebuchadnezzar that but nebuchadnezzar didn’t hear all that all he heard is like i’m the head

of

gold so he built himself an image like this and set it up in the plain of shinar and he builds this image and it’s it’s 66 cubits high and or 60 cubits high and six cubits wide and there’s six instruments in the band and there’s a lot of six six six going on in this passage scripture which is all indication of this is a spirit of antichrist and a type of the antichrist building this idol and building this this image everybody with me and then

they

assemble all these people together and say we’re going to bow before it and we’re going to worship this image now i want everybody to understand something this is the devil’s end goal with his world system is he wants listen to me he wants worship he wants to be worshiped he hates god and he wants you to worship anything other than god that’s why behind every idol there’s a demon that’s why all idol worship is satanic why because it is it is taking worship from god

satan

said in heaven i will be like the most high i will ascend and i will be like the most high and when god said no and cast him out satan came to this world and satan took dominion from this world from adam adam gave him the dominion and and satan built his new world system a system that hates god and will let people who are made in god’s image people who love that god loves who live on the world that god made he wants those

people

that God loves so much that are made in his image to worship anything but God.

See, Satan’s goal is to steal your heart from God.

And he doesn’t care what you are.

That’s why Paul said in 2 Corinthians 11 3, but I fear, he’s writing to the church of Corinth and he said, you know what Corinth, I fear one thing.

I didn’t fear Agrippa.

I didn’t fear the stones.

I didn’t fear the prison.

I didn’t fear the beatings.

I didn’t fear the thieves and the robbers that were awake.

I was in danger all the time and i didn’t fear any of that i’ve been a bold ambassador for jesus christ but if paul the apostle has one fear corinth it’s this i fear lest by any means as the serpent beguiled eve through his subtlety so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that’s in christ the thing that i fear is that satan will use anything anything to get your attention and your affections off of Jesus Christ.

Christian life is all about Jesus.

That’s it.

It’s Christ.

It’s Christ in you.

It’s Christ in us.

It’s Christ above us and in us and before us and beside us and behind us.

Our whole life for me to live is Christ.

And so Nebuchadnezzar is going to build this image to get the men to worship it.

And God goes into great detail on some things.

Look at chapter 3.

We’re going to be done in just a minute.

Watch this.

Are we okay, Brother Jim, on time for just a minute?

We’re okay?

Alright, we’re going to be done in just a minute.

I want you to see this.

We’re going to bring this all together.

Alright, listen to me.

We’re living in a world that hates God.

Many antichrists in this world.

Nebuchadnezzar is a type of this antichrist.

He builds this image that he wants people to worship this.

He wants their heart.

He wants their worship.

He wants their devotion.

He wants their affection.

He wants everything on that idol, on that image.

so god goes into great detail in chapter three now if you read chapter three it’s going to sound like a seventh grader writing this trying to you know when a seventh grader is given a an assignment by a teacher that he has to write a thousand word paper and he’s just trying to fill up space you know hey tell us in a thousand words what your summer vacation was our summer vacation was very very very very very fun our summer vacation was very very very

fun

because our summer vacation that was very very very fun was in Florida our summer vacation that was very very very fun was in Florida and it was very very very very very very hot which not a seventh grader trying to fill in the page.

So there’s a reason why God repeats over and over and over again.

Watch this carefully.

Look at verse 2.

So Nebuchadnezzar builds this image in verse 1, and then verse 2, Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together the princes, the governors, the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar had the king had set up.

And then notice he repeats it again.

The princes, the governors, the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the province were gathered together in the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.

And they all stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.

Then a herald stood and he cried, To you it is commanded, O people, nations, and languages, that at what time, now watch this, you hear the sound of the cornet, the flute, the harp, the sackbuck, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of music you fall down and what?

Worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.

And whoso falleth not down a worship that shall the same hour be cast in the midst of a burning, fiery furnace.

Therefore, at that time, when all the people heard the sound of the cornet, flute, harps, sack, blood, psaltery, and all kinds of music, all the people, the nations and languages fell down and worshiped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.

Then they saw that these three guys didn’t, and they went and told on him in verse number 10, and they said, hey, king, you made a decree that every man should hear the sound of the cornet, the flute.

Now, you see how he’s just repeating it, repeating it, repeating it.

Everybody see the repetition here?

Why is God repeating all of this?

Because let me tell you what.

Let me show you what happens.

Let me show you what God is doing here is he’s teaching us how this world that wants to give you its own language, wants to teach you its science, it wants to teach you anything and everything that is away from your God and make themselves your God and this world system that wants you to worship it and come pursue it so it can give you what it has so you can do what it wants you to do so you can be what it wants you

to

be and you’re just going to run after this world.

Let me tell you how the world works and how Satan works to rob us from our walk with God and our worship of God to worship anything other than him.

Let me show you what he works.

Number one, listen to me, number one, the world works through emotional enticement.

Everybody say that out loud.

He works through emotional enticement.

The reason why God keeps repeating all of this music and he says all kinds of music.

This instrument, this instrument, this instrument, this instrument.

and all kinds of music is because the music is so intensely emotional.

Have you ever tried to watch, you’re watching, I hate scary movies.

I hate them with a passion.

You know, when you’re watching a movie and all of a sudden, these people are walking and all of a sudden the music goes, and you’re just like, and they’re walking to this old barn and you’re like, and you’re thinking in your mind, don’t go in there, don’t go in there, right?

You’ve been there?

Why are they idiots?

Why are they going in there?

So stupid.

Now, can you imagine if they would bring music in as they’re walking to the old barn?

There’s a guy with a chainsaw hiding in there, but as they’re walking to the barn, they start playing.

Right?

Well, you’re going to laugh.

You’re not going to be scared.

You’re going to be like, oh, this is going to be funny.

That guy’s going to cut them to pieces.

Go in there.

Go in there.

This will be fun.

I mean, you know, people are swimming in the ocean, and there’s this man-eating shark, and they got…

What if in the mood of that movie, the lady’s out there swimming, and the shark’s coming, and all of a sudden they’re like, baby, shark, shark, shark, shark.

Grandma shark, shark, shark Grandpa shark Gum him to death, Grandpa Music has the ability to work on your emotions That’s why, listen, you can be listening Some of you got some music you listen to And immediately it makes you angry You listen to music that immediately makes you sad or you listen to some music that puts you immediately into a romantic mood and you, oh, he’s so wonderful.

No, he’s not.

If you could see his bedroom.

But music plays on your emotion.

Listen to me, listen to me.

This is how the world manipulates us.

The first thing it does is it appeals to us emotionally.

Like things like this.

love is love it’s all about love it’s love I mean you can just if you love somebody it doesn’t matter I mean just love is love hey listen we saw the world manipulate our emotions and by the way COVID was a real thing that did make people sick but let me tell you what the what the world system did.

It monopolized on our emotions.

All of a sudden we heard about this China virus that was coming across the ocean and all of a sudden we’re like, millions are gonna die.

You’re gonna die.

We’re all gonna die.

We’re gonna die.

And everybody’s like, we’re gonna die.

Shut the world down.

We’re in the backyard trying to dig a bomb shelter in the backyard.

Get in the hole.

We’re all gonna die.

Fear, man, that it was like, here, put this mask on.

If you don’t do it, grandma’s gonna die.

Nobody wants grandma to die.

We’re saving the world.

I live in Colorado, man.

People lost their ever-loving minds.

I saw a guy go by me.

My daughter and I were driving to school.

This guy went by me on a motorcycle doing 90 miles an hour.

No helmet.

Mask.

like what’s he worried about like i don’t care if i bash my brains on the ground but man i don’t want to run into a flock of covid we care stand six feet apart have a heart six feet apart now I understand people got sick and listen I’m not I’m not I had people that I love that got sick and passed away I’m not minimizing the reality but I’m what I’m going to tell you is we saw firsthand the manipulation of emotion and then notice

the

second thing all the judges and the sheriffs and the counselors and the treasurers if you go back and study who all those people were they were the societal leaders law enforcement corporation leaders people that people that were all the the social leading they were city councils and governors and mayors and all of a sudden all of these people got together and here’s the second thing the world does emotional enticement and then the second thing is social pressure say social pressure with me ready emotional entitlement

the

music They got the flute.

They got the sack butt.

I don’t even know what a sack butt is.

I don’t even know that.

Maybe that’s a sack butt.

I don’t know.

They got it going on.

They got it all playing.

Everybody’s like, oh, this is great.

Bow down.

Bow down.

And then there’s other guys that were standing there, they’re like, hey, bow down.

We’re all doing it, man.

Sheriff’s out here.

The governor’s out here.

City council’s out here.

The social pressure, like all the corporations got together.

And you know what they did in Babylon?

If they would have had Instagram or if they would have had TikTok or they would have had Twitter, they would have been putting up the image flag in their profiles.

We’re all waving the flag.

Everybody’s, the whole society.

Starbucks and Target.

The governor, he’s involved.

You’re a weirdo.

I mean, the whole society is bowing down.

What’s wrong with you?

Why don’t you love granny?

Why aren’t you afraid?

Sack bug, get going.

Doesn’t that make you afraid?

Flute, go.

Oh, don’t you feel lovely?

Emotions and social pressure, social pressure, social pressure.

We’re all doing, we’re all in this together.

It’s going to take us all.

We’re all in this.

Everybody line up.

Roll your sleeve up.

Roll your sleeve up.

Roll your sleeve up.

We’re all doing this together.

We’re all in this together.

when that didn’t work they brought him to the king and they said king what did you say about people who didn’t fall down he said i’m going to put them in the fiery furnace let me tell you the progression of the world emotional enticement social pressure thirdly government enforcement now it’s going to be you will bow or else we’ll cancel you we’ll destroy you you won’t have a business here your church can’t meet you’re going to do what we tell you to do or we’ll

destroy

you government enforcement Now, now listen, young people, that’s the world.

That’s the world.

And what overcomes the world?

What’s the victory that overcomes the world?

So watch Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

Hey, King, we’re not careful to answer you in this matter.

We don’t have to huddle up.

We don’t have to think about it.

We don’t have to pray on it.

We’re not bowing down.

Now, you know what that was?

They had a established faith.

They had a faith that they had already established.

They knew what they believed and why they believed it.

Let me ask you a question.

Do you know what you believe?

Do you know what you believe when the world is going to tell you that you’re the lunatic?

You’re the crazy person.

You’re the only one that’s going against the flow.

Why aren’t you in line with everybody else?

I mean, why would you want to take away a woman’s right for reproductive health?

Why are you saying that abortion is a sin?

You’re really triggering other people.

You’re hurting other people.

Why would you call this lifestyle a sin?

Why are you against this?

What’s wrong with you?

And when the societal pressure comes and the emotional pressure comes, when all of this comes, you better have an established faith that says, I know I’m not bowing.

Not only that, but they had a strong faith.

Because they said to the king, our God is able to deliver us, but if not, if not, be it known unto you, O king, we’re not bowing down.

And our God will deliver us one way or the other, either out of the fire or in the fire, but he’s going to deliver us from you.

They stood with a strong faith.

these were men who had established their faith they knew what they believed they they knew whom they believed they were on the rock and said no matter what we are not going to bend we are not going to bow we’re not going to change and these men were not rebels these men were not angry they were not protesting they were not shouting down the king they were respectful like david had been respectful they had learned from from daniel rather they’d learned from daniel to purpose

in

the heart there’s a line and we’re not going past it but let me tell you something there is a line and we know what we believe we know why we believe it we know in whom we believe and we know i mean this is what paul said paul said i know whom i have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I’ve committed to him against that day.

Listen, Paul was saying, I’m willing to die for the cause of Christ.

It was already in his soul.

It was established.

Young people, you’re living in a world system that’s going to appeal to your emotions.

It’s going to appeal to you with social pressure.

There’s coming a day where the government enforcement is going to come all under this great spirit of an antichrist to move away our hearts, away from God, to push us into anything other than worshiping God.

And there better be some young people that stand and say, I know what I believe.

I know whom I believe.

And I know that our God is able.

We have a God who is victorious.

He is powerful.

He is unchanging.

He is able to deliver us.

He is able to save us.

He is the stone that is going to come and knock this image down and bring it to his knees.

I am going to stand firm in the faith.

I love this about this story.

Because we all know that in the middle of that fire, Jesus showed up.

You know what I’ve learned about Jesus?

Jesus did not save us to get us out of trouble.

He saved us to get into trouble with us.

And he just came into that fire and said, hey guys, how you doing?

Whoa.

He’s like, man, it feels good in here, huh?

The fiery furnace is a great place to be.

It’s a purifying time.

If you guys will notice, Shadrach, Meshach, look around.

I’ve been to go check it out.

All the things that they tied on you, they bound your hands and bound your feet.

We’re walking around in here, man.

We’re not bound anymore.

Your hair’s not singed, and your clothes don’t even have a smell of smoke.

There’s not even a burn.

The only thing on you guys that’s been burned off of you is what the world had put on you.

Because that’s what the fire does.

It purifies and purges.

And not only that, but it preaches.

Christians in the fire preach Nebuchadnezzar looked in and said Hey wait a minute that’s the son of God And he made a decree that there was only one God to be worshipped That was the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego You know God’s not going to be glorified through compromising Christians God’s going to be glorified for Christians who stand faithful In this world do you know what you believe and why you believe it faith is the victory that overcomes the world we need a generation

of

young people that know and settle it this is what i believe the die is cast i know what i believe in spite of the world and its pressure many years ago they built this blavosphere that they were going to send down into the ocean they wanted to explore its depths but every time they would test it it would get to a certain place down below and that thing would crumble like a tin can under the pressure engineers began to work on it, work on it,

work

on it finally they figured some things out and they got that thing this blavosphere and they sent it down into the depths and the first guys that were going down there they were going down and down and down and the ocean got dark and they were down where there was intense pressure.

And they were radioing back up that they were okay.

And so they finally stopped them at a really great depth.

At that point, the deepest man had been in the ocean.

And they said, let’s try the lights and see what’s down there.

Can you imagine that?

They turned those lights on and they were shocked by what they saw.

They didn’t see giant sea monsters.

They saw these little itty-bitty tiny translucent fish swimming around.

You know, there’s these little tiny fish swimming around.

Oh, what in the world?

I mean, these things don’t even, they’re like almost invisible.

You can see through them.

And these little guys are just swimming around like normal.

Scientists later began to study those fish, and they found there was something out.

Just like that bladosphere.

What kept those fish from just crushing was those fish had the ability to have equal pressure on the inside.

if they could pressurize that on the inside it would keep them from collapsing to the pressure on the outside let me tell you what as this world puts pressure on us let me tell you when Christ is in us we have greater pressure greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world and that great pressure in you will keep you from collapsing to the pressure around you Let’s give faith and strength.