Mensa Otabil - Take a Stand (10/29/2025)
Well, today is the final day of our Greater Works conference, and we’re going to have an anointing service this evening together. I just want to encourage you, if you’re able to make it and join us at the service, it’s going to be massive. This evening, God will touch you in a very special way.
As we talk about Greater Works, we focus our attention on Daniel chapter 3, verses 16 to 18. They answered and said to the king, «O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O King. But if not, let it be known to you, O King, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.»
These young Jewish boys had been captured from Judah and thrown into Babylon, but God has favored them in Babylon, and they’ve risen in position and rank. So they’re in a good place; they’re in the king’s good books. But something happens politically that jeopardizes everything they’ve worked for. The king sets up a huge image, and everybody’s supposed to bow. But Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, although they are in a foreign land and they’ve moved from Judah to Babylon, still kept their faith in God. They still trusted God; they still worshiped God.
And so, there comes a point where they can do everything for Nebuchadnezzar; they serve him, they serve his government, but they said this one thing we would not do: we would not bow down to an idol. You know, when we say we’re doing Greater Works for God, it’s not always about achieving something. Sometimes, it’s just about standing for something, standing for what you believe in, standing for your faith, standing for your commitment, standing for your values, and standing for your integrity. Because that’s how we do great things.
And that’s what these young boys said: yes, we want to achieve much in life, but we will not compromise our faith. The question is, is there something in your life that you can say, at this point, the line is drawn, and I will not cross it? I will not do this, no matter what you offer me or threaten me with. They said to the king, and the king says, «Okay, I’m going to make you a compromise. Just try and do it; it shouldn’t bother you.» And they said, «King, don’t worry about this, because one thing we know: God is able to deliver us, and He will deliver us. But if He doesn’t deliver us, we will not bow.»
What conviction! What a people of power! What a people of a testimony! I think one of the disasters we have as we’re growing into an age where people have no convictions, people have nothing they stand for, people have nothing they’re ready to die for. Our whole life has become a life of compromise and adjustment, and always trying to find the easiest way to get out or to get on in life. As much as we want to achieve great things for ourselves, and we want to rise to the top in our vocations, and we want to really live our lives of purpose and lives that truly are impactful, we have to have a core within us that we don’t compromise.
And that is where we see Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; their greater work is simply to stand firm for what they believe in. And I believe God also wants us, as Christians, to do works for Him, not just in the things we achieve, but also in the things we stand for. May He give us the courage to stand for something that is right and pleasing to Him.
Let us pray. Heavenly Father, in the face of threats, I refuse to compromise my faith. I choose to take a stand for You. In Jesus' name, amen and amen.