Be it Known that We will not Serve Your Gods

Good morning. I greet you in the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior, our King, the One who is more than worthy to receive all of the worship that has been offered here this morning and all the worship that we can offer in our lives.

It's been a privilege to worship with you. It's been a blessing. And this morning, as we continue looking into the Word of God, we want to think about worship, continue to think about worship in a little bit of an indirect way.

Maybe by way of introduction, there are at least three worship services that I would like to be in this morning at the same time, if that were physically possible.

I think most of you—I know very few of you here. I think most of you may be already aware that my brother is Brent, sister-in-law is Lauren. So we're really happy to be here. Primarily, we're very glad to be here. We've wanted to visit here for quite a while already. Maybe I'll explain that in a little bit more detail in a moment.

For the last six-plus years, my family and I have lived in Guatemala, and we would have a true heart to be with the congregation there this morning. It's a very small congregation.

And for the last six weeks, we've been living here in Pennsylvania, and so we're in the process of plugging into the congregation where we find ourselves now, the Muddy Creek congregation in Lancaster area. But it is a blessing to be here.

As I think about these three congregations, our current home congregation, our former home congregation, and this congregation here, which is very special to me—like I said, I'll explain that in a moment—but as I think of that, there are differences between each one of those congregations, different locations, obviously. That's why we need to choose one of those congregations to worship with this morning. There are differences in the way the services function and the way the church functions and the organization. There's many differences, and I can't do anything about those differences.

And if I could, I probably wouldn't want to change—I wouldn't want each of those congregations to be the same. Differences are not bad in themselves.

But as I think of those differences and of my desire to be in each one of those places, my mind goes to things that unify the Church of Jesus Christ here on the earth. And this morning, the burden that I have is I feel that the Lord wants me to share about a great danger that we face as a Church of Jesus Christ.

No matter in what congregation we find ourselves, if we are children of God this morning, if we are following Jesus Christ, if we're disciples, we have a common enemy. We have common dangers. I was really touched by the testimony of Brother Harvey.

We find ourselves in similar situations across the world, wherever we find ourselves, situations of great danger, of needing to pull people back from the edge, of needing to hold fast waiting for rescue. We face similar dangers. We face the same danger no matter where we find ourselves. And so this morning, for a message, I would like us to think about the Church of Jesus Christ, each one of us individually, each congregation—each one of us is a congregation—and then each believer across the world standing together, standing together, having a united front as we face our enemy, a united message, as it were, a united position in relation to sin and evil.

The Bible calls us to that. The Holy Spirit calls us to that. Jesus Christ leads us in that. To roll that all into one statement, I would like us to think this morning about standing firm together in a united way against idolatry. That is the danger that we would like to look at this morning.

For a title for the message, I would like to just take a quote from the King James: "Be it known that we will not serve thy gods." Would anybody like to say where that quote comes from, what we're looking at there?

Daniel. Daniel chapter 3. A very familiar story. I don't bring anything new this morning. That's where we would like to go for a message. Idolatry is a very familiar subject to us, but that's the burden that I come with this morning.

As I mentioned, you can turn to Daniel chapter 3. As I mentioned, we've been wanting to come here for years. Since the time that we moved to Guatemala, my brother Brent met up with Lauren, and all the things that transpired transpired through that time, and we, of course, were not able to be here. That was probably the strongest desire that I've had to be here in a worship service was when they were married.

We missed that. That was right at the beginning of COVID. Some of you probably remember that. And since that time, we've not had the opportunity to worship here. It is a blessing. This is not exactly how I pictured our visit. Bringing the morning message, to me, it seems like there's some obstacles. I don't think they're obstacles for God. First of all, I've been struggling with a real cold this week, and I've been praying that God would give me enough of a voice to share what He's laid on my heart, but I, as we've gone through the service so far, I know that each one of us would be blessed if that's not His plan. Each one of us would be blessed for being here.

The worship has been a real blessing. Another obstacle that I feel is I think this is only the second time that I've shared a Sunday morning message in English. Obviously, English is my language, and yet it feels a little strange, but I don't think that needs to be an obstacle either.

I'm not used to a crowd like you all either, but we're not going to allow that to be an obstacle.

I've been blessed by you all as a congregation, even though I know very few of you. I do know Sister Martha very well. I grew up in the congregation where she is from. Of course, Brent and Lauren, I know very few people besides that. I might have missed somebody. But I have been blessed by the decision, your decision as a congregation, to make your messages available via the internet. I have been listening to the majority of the Sunday morning messages from this congregation for quite a while since they're available in the podcast form. I commend you for that. I appreciate that. Where we lived, we didn't have cell phone service other than in a few specific places, and so that worked out very well to download the sermons in that way and listen to them.

So I've been blessed by you all in that way. Kind of a distant connection, but it's been a blessing. All right. Thinking about idolatry, thinking about this familiar story here in Daniel 3, the story focuses on a very, very small group of people, and we've been serving in a very, very small congregation.

And so the story holds some meaning for me in that way. Talking about just we're focusing on three young men, just three, and these three young men stand while all the others bow. Everyone else bows. They are proclaiming their fear of God in a godless place.

They are uniting around principles that the nation where they find themselves completely rejects. So these are this is a special situation, again, full of meaning.

For myself, as we—and probably for you all as well—as we observe the national fervor that is growing daily as the time of elections comes closer, I think maybe we can draw some parallels. Also, as I think about the changes that I can observe in the culture here, also how the culture in Guatemala has been changing over the last six years, I think there's some parallels there too, changes in society.

The two things that I would like to—as I mentioned, this is a very familiar story—the two things that really stand out to me as I read this story and things I want to kind of bring out this morning, and I trust God to lead in each one of our hearts as we look at the story, but the two things that I want to bring out or focus in on is the pervasiveness of idolatry in a society. Its effect. Its power. And then the other thing is the power and the testimony of standing together against it, standing together. I've just been so blessed the last while as I—or since I read this story a while ago—and just thought about the fact that there were three.

There wasn't just one. There were only three, but there were three who stood together, and that's the inspiration I'd like to draw this morning. I think we'll go right into the story and read Daniel chapter 3, just verses 1 through 7 to start with. Nebuchadnezzar the King made an image of gold whose height was three-score cubits and the breadth thereof six cubits. He set it up in the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. Then 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 the King had set up.

Then the princes, the governors, the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces were gathered together unto the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the King had set up, and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. Then inherald, cried aloud, "To you it is commanded, O people, nations, and languages, that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sacbut, poultry, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of music, ye fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the King hath set up.

And whoso falleth not down and worshipeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. Therefore, at that time, when all the people heard the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sacbut, psaltery, and all kinds of music, all the people, the nations, and the languages fell down and worshiped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the King had set up."

The setting here is obviously the great city of Babylon, and as I was driving here, I recognized the fact that I had been focusing very hard on the picture that we have here of these three young men standing in the midst of this multitude. I wish I would have researched a little bit more, but if my memory serves me correctly, this kingdom, this exact kingdom of Babylon, didn't actually last very long, 70 to 100 years.

But it was a very powerful kingdom, and I believe at the time we are reading of here, this kingdom was basically ruling the known world, the civilized world at the time.

It's mentioned here that in this gathering, all the nations and languages are present, the rulers of all the nations and languages. Each nation and language is represented here by its rulers. And the king of this kingdom is Nebuchadnezzar, an outstanding man, a very powerful man, and I believe we would be safe to say the most powerful man in the world.

He's at the head of this. He planned this gathering. A question that really struck me yesterday: Why did God choose to place three God-fearing men of truth, young men—actually four if we think of Daniel as well, maybe there were more—why did God choose to place four faithful servants of His in such a terrible place? And even in a place of power in this evil government, why did God choose that?

I don't have the answer entirely, I'm sure, but as was mentioned a couple of times in this service already, it was not an accident. It was on purpose, and we see at the end of this story—I don't think we'll get there this morning—but we see at the end of this story that because of the testimony of these four young men, these three young men in this story, the entire world, known world, or most of it, found out about God, found out that there is a God, and that there is a God who is greater than the gods of Babylon, the gods of Nebuchadnezzar. There is a king that rules over Nebuchadnezzar.

So why did God place these men there? There's part of the answer. Why are we where we are? We know it's not an accident.

So we have here these three young men in a spot of—in a place of power, in an evil government, and then we see that God's existence and His sovereignty is manifested through them, and therein is the conflict in this story—that we have three godly people in the midst of an idolatrous multitude. There is the tension that exists, and that is the same conflict and the same tension that I think we experience in each one of our congregations as we make decisions, as we try to reach the communities around us. We face the tension, the conflict between fearing God and bowing before the gods of this world, and I bring this message probably more than anything because it's for myself.

I don't know you all, but as I thought about my own experience, I believe that this question of who I will serve is at the root of most of the temptations, all of the temptations. It's a fairly general topic. I think as we look into our lives, we can see this issue, this conflict, at the root of our decisions that we face day to day. We see it at the root of the temptations that come our direction. Who will we serve? Who will we choose to stand with? Who will we choose to bow with? Who will we choose to bow before? We see in these verses the image. It's very large. If a cubit was a foot and a half, then we're talking about an image that's 90 feet high, I believe, and 9 feet across.

It's in the forefront. I don't think—for the three young men—I don't think there was any avoiding this image. You can't get around it. The image is positioned in the forefront. It's at the head. What to do about the image is very clear. It's very apparent. It's a command to all the nations, all the rulers gathered there in this crowd. There's only one option, as it were. The option is—the command is—the expectation is to bow before this image. There is no other apparent option. That really struck me as I thought about this.

Do we face situations like this? As these young men look at this situation and they give place to their fear of God as they stand here in this multitude before this image, as they fear God—so if you're in that crowd, there's only one apparent option—but if you fear God and you stop to think about what is happening around you, there is a truth that becomes clear. There is something. There is another option.

This image and this worship and this command and this music—the music is very much in the forefront in this story as well—all this is idolatry. It's all inherently evil because it's in direct disobedience to God's law that you will have no other gods before me.

Looking at it from the earthly perspective, two feet planted on solid ground, there's only one option. But thinking about who God is, recognizing our fear of God, there is another option, and that truth becomes clear. The first point that I would like to draw this morning is simply idolatry. We just want to continue to think about the dangers and how to respond to the pervasiveness of idolatry in our society because we do live in an idolatrous world. Whether it's Guatemala, whether it's Lancaster, whether it's Cumberland, or wherever we are this morning, whether it's Jordan, we live in an idolatrous world, and I think in any of those—or Chile—I think in any of those locations, we will find a similar level of idolatry and we'll find similar idols, especially in this world that is united by technology.

We will find a similar situation no matter where we find ourselves, and it's a dangerous situation for each one of us. We need to be purposeful and intentional about stepping back in each situation where we're faced with this world's idols and recognizing who are we, recognizing that we fear God, and we need to then make our decisions based on our fear of God and not simply based on the only apparent option a lot of times. I think that for myself, that's becoming more and more true possibly, that so many times there's only one apparent option. The entire world seems to be going one direction. We want to think about idolatry and how to respond to it according to the law of God.

Let's go to 1 John, the last verse of 1 John. 1 John 5:21.

Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.

In the Spanish translation, the term "little children" is the word for sons, and I think the meaning is exactly the same, but the writer is referring to his children, his spiritual children. This is a spiritual father writing, counseling his spiritual children, his own spiritual children. We can be—because he's a spiritual father, because John is a spiritual father—we can be confident that number one, he is seeking the glory of God. He's seeking that God would be glorified in giving this instruction to his spiritual children and to us as a church. Number two, because they are his children, I think we can be confident that he's giving this command for the good of his family, for the good of the family, for his children, and that stands out to me.

The instruction is, "Keep yourselves from idols."

How do we do that? That's the question this morning. Keep yourselves. Separate yourselves. Do what it takes to avoid falling into idolatry, to avoid bowing before the idols of this world. We could list idols. The first one that comes to my mind is pleasure, and I think I'm talking to myself and putting that one at the head of the list. Money, entertainment, rights, power, many, many things—basically anything that this world values—we can come to value to the point that it's an idol. Basically anything that holds value on the face of this planet, we can lift to the place of an idol in our own lives. We could add to the list, but as we think about idolatry, I would just like us to take heed to this warning: Keep yourselves from idols.

If there is an area in my life, if there's any—in any of these areas that we listed or in a different area—but an area where we are willing to commit a sin in order to please ourselves, I believe that we are dealing head-on with idolatry, or we have bowed, we have bowed before the idols of this world. If there's a place where we are willing to commit a sin in order to do something other than serve God, that's a place of grave danger. If we're willing to compromise our obedience and our honor for God and for His law, we're confronting an idol and apparently on our knees.

If there's something in our life that we are not willing to change or leave behind, even when our parents or our wife or our church, our friends, our godly friends, even when they point that out and exhort us to change it, if there's something we're not willing to change or move away from, could it be that we're not keeping ourselves from the idols?

Could it be that we're serving something that is not the true God? I mention these things because it's subtle. For the three young men there before the image, there was only one apparent option, and so many times it is the same way for us. So let's open ourselves up to the law of God and to our brothers and to our sisters in Christ and keep ourselves from idols, and let's look for the signs in our lives. Is there anything where we're making a decision that is not based on a fear of God but instead based on what we desire in the flesh?

Those who will inherit the promises for the redeemed are those who recognize idolatry when they see it. Why do they recognize it? How do we recognize it? We recognize idolatry because we fear God. This message could be about fearing God.

Those who will inherit the promises are those who recognize that the command in Exodus, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me," that is a New Testament command as well as an Old Testament command.

This warning to flee from idolatry is for young, it's for old, it's for man, it's for woman, it's for the individual believer, and this morning as we look at this topic, we want to kind of focus on the fact that it's for the church.

It's for the local congregation. It's for the church collectively. It's a brief—I know this is a brief glimpse. As we talked about idolatry for just a few minutes, we could go on on the subject. It's a very brief glimpse of the danger of idolatry, but I think as we see the picture in our minds, if we allow our minds to see the picture of this huge heathen gathering here in these verses with a gigantic idol right at the front, the devilish music, the command that comes to bow, and as we think about God's law and we realize that in the middle of that great multitude, there are three young men that fear God. They're in the middle of a mess where it would appear there's no way out, but I think that's—I think just in that picture, we can catch a glimpse of the problem of idolatry, of the danger of idolatry as we then think about the society we live in.

I would like to read a few more verses here. I have—so we've been talking about idolatry itself and catching just a little glimpse there. I would have a few more points, the next point being we will not serve your gods. The statement these three young men make in these verses that we're about to read, I don't think we'll probably move on to the other points that I would have—but we could look then at just another quote that I would love to use as another point. These three men fell bound into the fiery furnace, the persecution, and lastly, another quote from these verses, "The God whom we serve." We could close thinking about the strength and the power and the victory and the promises for those who do stand, and also the divine presence that makes it possible to stand.

We don't want to overlook that this morning. So that would be my goal. I don't think we'll get the whole way through that, but as we think about this topic, we want to recognize those things. We want to recognize, first of all, that it takes a commitment. It takes a—we physically, as churches, need to testify in this world that we live in. We need to make that decision to clearly state by our lives and by our words that there is a God in heaven whom we serve, and we will not bow before the images of this world. And we also want to recognize—we also want to understand that persecution is a part of the life of the believer.

When there's only one apparent option before us, we need to step back and think about it. Is there only one option because we're not willing to suffer? If we're willing to suffer, do other options begin to open up? Persecution is a part of the life of the believer according to Timothy.

And then we also need to remember as we go through this that this is only possible—taking this stand is only possible—when we recognize that Jesus Christ is by our side. So we think of the four men who were seen walking in the fire. Again, I don't think we'll get that far, but those are things we want to have in mind as we look at these next few verses. I think we'll just read down to verse 18, focusing on the testimony of these three men.

We'll see, first of all, that some charges were brought, and we'll see what the charges were, and then we'll see the events that transpired where these three men had the chance to testify before the most powerful man in the world. Verses 8 to 18: "Wherefore at that time certain Chaldeans came near and accused the Jews. They spake and said to the king, 'Nebuchadnezzar, O king, live forever! Thou, O king, hast made a decree that every man that shall hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sacbut, sultry, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, shall fall down and worship the golden image. And whoso falleth not down and worshipeth, that he should be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.

There are certain Jews whom thou hast set over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men, O king, have not regarded thee. They serve not thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up."

Then Nebuchadnezzar, in his rage and fury, commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Then they brought these men before the king. I think we'll continue for a few more verses here and take this all in at once.

Nebuchadnezzar—I'm sorry, we are only at verse 14. Yes, we'll read to verse 18: "Nebuchadnezzar spake and said unto them, 'Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, do not ye serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have set up? Now if ye be ready, that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sacbut, sultry, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, ye fall down and worship the image which I have made, well. But if ye worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace, and who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?'

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, 'O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this manner. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.'" And that's where we'll stop. If we don't read any further, I would just like to encourage you all, if you are not—if you're looking for something to study in the coming week, to continue to read, to finish out this story.

Also, I have been blessed to read in the—I guess in the Apocrypha, as it's called—what is called the Prayer of Azariah, which is inserted there. I would encourage you to read that if you have access to that—a supposed prayer from the fiery furnace.

It's very good to read that.

So let's just look here for a few moments here. The charges that were brought against these men is that they did not obey the decree of the most powerful man in the world. The charges were that they would not bow.

So we looked at idolatry itself, we looked at the danger of idolatry, the action of bowing before something other than God. Now we want to think about standing. In the midst of the crowd, there are three men who do just that, and through this simple action of not bowing, a chain of events has begun that becomes a testimony to the entire crowd and then eventually to the entire world and even down through the ages, to every age.

I think that there is a real beauty—I already mentioned this—I think there is a real beauty in the picture, in the fact that when the multitude bent the knee before the image, there were three young men who stayed standing, probably, I imagine, side by side.

And that's our second point as we focus on that picture and on the importance and the power of standing united, standing together in communities and in our churches, and as believers against the idolatry of our world, we may feel like three in the midst of everyone else.

I have felt that way. I'm sure you all have as well, that we are so few in relation to the idolatry that it surrounds us. We might feel like the whole world is on its knees. We might feel like bowing is the only option, but it is not. And the testimony of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego is this, that we do not have to bow before the idols of our age.

We need to remember who the God we serve is. That's about the first thing that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego told the king as they stood before him. "We serve a God in the heavens who is able." And their testimony continues.

Those words are very inspiring to me, and those are the words that we should be thinking time and again as we make decisions about what to do with the idols, with the technology, with the finances, with all the other things that—all the other values, worldly values that are placed before us that we need to decide what to do with.

There is a God that we serve in the heavens, and number two, he is able. How often do we express that in the face of idolatry? I think for myself that would be a big help, is to express that more often, the fact that there is a God that I serve, the fact that he is able.

Is that first and foremost in my mind as I go through each day? Because I think each day we relate to this issue of idolatry. I know each day we relate to it.

And then those next words, he is able. He is able to save us. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, it's apparent that they were not sure what would happen, how this would turn out. There's a little clause after these words, there's a little clause, "and if not."

What they were sure of is that he is able to save us. We are certain of that, brothers and sisters, this morning as we look at the world and its increasing ungodliness, as we look at failures sometimes within the church to stand, and as we look at the changes in society that are new to us and how do we relate to them, there is one thing that remains true for all of time, and that is that he is able to save us. What is involved in that?

I think we all know. They said he will deliver. And then the statement from which we draw the title of this message, "Let it be known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods, nor worship the golden image you set up."

And when we take those words together with the action, I think that Brother Harvey also mentioned that in his testimony about the happening in the Dominican Republic, there's prayer, there's belief, there's faith, there's also action. These men, first of all, stood, and then they were able to explain why they stood. Be ready to give an answer.

Be ready to explain the hope and the faith that you have as we stand before an idolatrous world, as we stand in the midst of an idolatrous world.

This was a powerful testimony in this very dark place, this place of complete ungodliness, where there was devilish music and where there was idolatry. This testimony, I'm sure, stood out. It apparently stood out even before these men came before the king because when the charges were brought to the king, the king was told, "They don't bow." This already was something that had stood out in this place, and now we see their words following up on that.

The question for us: Will Schippensburg stand out as it refuses to bow, as Schippensburg, as a congregation, chooses to stand together against the idolatry of this world and refuses to bow? Will it stand out in the same way? Will Schippensburg stand? Will Muddy Creek stand? Will Santa Rosita stand?

And will they stand, will these congregations, will our congregations, will our brothers and sisters stand as a testimony no matter how hot the furnace gets? I think the short-term answer for that is: Will we stand today? And then will we continue to stand? What will we do with the decisions this week? And I think as we take each decision in each day in the fear of God, we can say with confidence that, yes, we will stand. We will not bow. We will not serve your gods.

It's not comfortable as I think of these three men standing. I'm reminded of a situation that I experienced one time. It was very nothing at all similar, and yet the feelings that it brought to be the only one standing, or the only one standing apart, rather, my family and I found ourselves in what I would compare to the county seat of our area there in northern Guatemala.

We found ourselves there about three hours from our home, but we found ourselves in a central park area where there was a large gathering of our neighbors, basically our neighbors, people from our community, and they were there to protest what the government was doing in our community, protest some of the restrictions of our area. It was kind of a national park boundary area, and they were angry. They had a young man up front. They were making phone calls to government leaders, and I remember that feeling of being there very close. The people knew who we were. I don't think they knew us personally, but the people would have recognized who we were. We do not stand with them.

We stand apart from them. That same day, my coworker there, Johnny, he also found himself in the same city, in a little different area, and he was confronted and asked to announce in English what the intentions or what the motives of this protest were, and had to, of course, take a stand, stand apart. That's a very small situation. Nothing came out of it. We didn't receive any damage from that, but it is not a comfortable feeling. It won't be comfortable in every instance here at Schippensburg, or at Muddy Creek, to take that stand against the idolatry of our day.

So let's be certain. Let's make our decisions in the fear of God. Let's be certain that these words continue to ring out and that this testimony continues to ring out in our community no matter the cost. When Jesus was confronted by Satan and by hard temptations, he said, "Get thee, hence, Satan. It is written, 'Thou shalt not worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.'" May we latch onto that.

Okay, as I mentioned, I don't think we'll go into the other two points. Let's just remember that this carries a cost. We've talked about it a bit. Let's also remember that the presence of Jesus Christ stands with us. When we stand, only three, only three of us, if we stand three together, we can count at four, and even the most powerful king in the world is no match for our leader, Jesus Christ.

We live in a time—I would like to just close with two warnings. We live in a time when it seems that church authority is many times under attack. We live in a time when it seems like individualism is maybe on the rise, even among us. The temptation is strong to look at the guidelines of our church, to look at the stand our churches have taken, and see them as maybe arbitrary, maybe see them as overbearing, a little too strict. That temptation is very strong in our day. It seems maybe more than ever before, at least in my short lifetime. But brothers and sisters, the stand on the small things that our congregations choose to take, they are primary, frontline tools in keeping ourselves from idols.

As we make those agreements and then we choose as brotherhoods to submit to them, we are actively, I believe, working to obey that command, "Keep yourself from the idols." That's the intention. That is the intention of those little details that we so often struggle with in church life as we try to unite as brotherhoods. Another thing, the technology, and none of us are ignorant of the dangers. It's hard for me as I look at this picture of the multitude on their knees and the huge image in front. In our day, the picture that comes into my mind is more like a sea of images, but all these images from all the nations are brought into one place through technology.

We are confronting idolatry in a tremendous way, and what decisions are each one of us individually making in relation to that each day? The command is, "Little children, keep yourselves from idols." So as we deal with this tremendous problem or question or tension in our lives of how to handle technology, let's remember, "Thou shalt serve the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve."

As I think of technology, one observation in Santa Rosita over the last six years, one change that I saw when we first arrived in that little congregation, it seemed like it was fairly easy to invite somebody on the street to come to Sunday morning church service, and it seemed like it was fairly common that they would come.

You probably don't find it that way in this area, that that would be a common occurrence, that somebody who was invited to the service would come, but just in the last six years, I think that has diminished quite a bit, the readiness of the people there in our little town in northern Guatemala to attend a church service, and I think it has to do very much with the fact that in the last six years, everybody has been able to get a hold of a phone.

What does that tell us as we relate to the world around us? So let's be aware. I think we'll bring it to a close. Whether there are few of us or many of us in our community, in any given community or in any given situation, let's just follow the example of these three young men.

Let's stand firm. Let's have convictions about idolatry. Let's stand together, one beside the other. Let's bear the same message that we will not bow down to the gods of this world.

Let's proclaim the message that there is a God in heaven whom we serve, and then follow up with that, "He is able," and live in faith that that is the truth. In closing, some familiar words of comfort and promise for us, for all those who stay standing when the rest of the world bows, "Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling." He is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory.

He is the King. He's the King that surpasses any other King who has ever walked the face of this earth. His power far exceeds the power of the Nebuchadnezzars of our day.

He is able to keep you from falling, to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. To the only wise God, our Savior, be glory, majesty, dominion, and power both now and forever. Amen. God bless you all.