What is that item at the top of the list that you consider to be “Most Important” in your life? Or might we ask; What is it that “Floats your boat?” What is your placement of the things of God in the list? Are these questions important for one to know where they stand with God? Well, listen in as Straight Gate Ministries’ Pastor Fisher teaches a lesson called: “The Priority of the Gospel?” as we continue our trek into the message at the very heart of Christianity.
Old Testament Scripture Reading: Daniel 3:14 – 25 (NASB)
Dan 3:14 Nebuchadnezzar responded and said to them, “Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up?
Dan 3:15 “Now if you are ready, at the moment you hear the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, trigon, psaltery, and bagpipe, and all kinds of music, to fall down and worship the image that I have made, very well. But if you will not worship, you will immediately be cast into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire; and what god is there who can deliver you out of my hands?”
Dan 3:16 Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to give you an answer concerning this matter.
Dan 3:17 “If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king.
Dan 3:18 “But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”
Dan 3:19 Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with wrath, and his facial expression was altered toward Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego. He answered by giving orders to heat the furnace seven times more than it was usually heated.
Dan 3:20 And he commanded certain valiant warriors who were in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, in order to cast them into the furnace of blazing fire.
Dan 3:21 Then these men were tied up in their trousers, their coats, their caps and their other clothes, and were cast into the midst of the furnace of blazing fire.
Dan 3:22 For this reason, because the king’s command was urgent and the furnace had been made extremely hot, the flame of the fire slew those men who carried up Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego.
Dan 3:23 But these three men, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, fell into the midst of the furnace of blazing fire still tied up.
Dan 3:24 Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astounded and stood up in haste; he responded and said to his high officials, “Was it not three men we cast bound into the midst of the fire?” They answered and said to the king, “Certainly, O king.”
Dan 3:25 He answered and said, “Look! I see four men loosed and walking about in the midst of the fire without harm, and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods!”
New Testament Scripture Reading: Mark 8:31 – 38 (KJV)
Mark 8:31 And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. Mark 8:32 And he spake that saying openly. And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him. Mark 8:33 But when he had turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, Get thee behind me, Satan: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men. Mark 8:34 And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. Mark 8:35 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it. Mark 8:36 For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Mark 8:37 Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
Mark 8:38 Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels
Transforming Power Statements:
#1) When viewing the history accounts of human society there is in most amazing similarity in that it seems easy to see that as God was moving His plan for salvation by His grace, based on the cross of Jesus His Christ, forward through time; the gentiles under the blindness of satan were also moving their multiple plans of self-destruction forward even as they are right now at this very moment.
#2) As we consider how the world in general relates to the “Priority of the Gospel” we must ask ourselves the question; What is the priority of the Gospel to me?
#3) Being sure that the flesh profits nothing and holds no lasting promises, let us repent of complacency, neglect, and every form of ill regard for the only one who has ever loved us enough to give up all the things that we so anxiously and feverously pursue in this material world; and let us pray that God will from now on, elevate our priority of His Gospel to the very highest level in each of our lives so that we might live our lives to His glory and become benefactors of all His great love.
