Finding Your Spiritual Journey
"Journey from Victim to Victor"
by Pastor Jerry
March 22, 2020
(Selections from) Daniel 2, 3 & 6
-----------------------Sermon Synopsis-------------------------
It was May 1940. The allied French and British forces had been badly defeated by Germany in the Battle of France. Around 350,000 men, including the entire British army, were backed up against the sea at the port of Dunkirk, on the coast of France. And the Germans were certain to bomb the troops from the sky. The British commander at Dunkirk issued a message to the people of England
: “But if not.” It was a reference to the three Hebrews in the book of Daniel, who refused to bow to King Nebuchadnezzar’s image, saying,
“The God we serve is able to save us … but if not, we will not bow.” It was a message of courage and defiance against impossible odds. However, the weather changed, grounding the German planes, and the soldiers fled to safety. To this day, it is called the
“Miracle at Dunkirk.”
It is a story that still defines and inspires the British nation, as many of the stories of the Bible define and inspire us. They explain where we’ve come from. They shed light on who we are.
They guide our steps as we move forward in life. The story we will learn from today is the story of Daniel and King Nebuchadnezzar.
God had a plan for them. His plan was to work their salvation, in such a way that turned them from victims to victors; the same plan God has for you and me.
- I can be victorious because “there is a God in heaven” (Daniel 2)
Daniel became an advisor to the king who would make victims of him and his people. One day, the king had a dream that no one in his court could explain. So he issued an order to kill them all! But Daniel and his friends asked God for help, and God answered their prayers in a vision he gave to Daniel. So Daniel told the king’s assassin, that he could interpret the dream.
There is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries. And because of that truth, you do not need to be a victim. You may see no way but God will show you a way!
- I can be victorious because my God “is able to deliver” (Daniel 3).
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were brought before the king and told because you do not serve my gods or worship my image of gold I have set up you will be thrown immediately into a blazing furnace. They said the God we serve is able to deliver us, but even if he does not, we will not serve your gods.
You and I are sometimes in the same position as they were. We, too, have to decide between compromise and conviction. And we, too, can be victorious because, as they told the king,
“Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us.” I suggest to you that it was not when they walked out of the fiery furnace that they became victorious, but the moment was when they put their trust in God and their obedience to him that brought victory.
- I can be victorious because “my God sent His angel” (Daniel 6).
The court officials resented Daniel and they plotted against him, and convinced king Darius, to proclaim a thirty-day period in which no one could pray to anyone but the king. Daniel did not. As punishment,
Daniel was thrown into a den of lions … overnight. Daniel proclaimed that God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. They did not hurt him. No wound was found on him, because he had trusted in his God” (NIV).
In our case, God did not send an angel, but someone even greater than an angel; he sent His Son. The most familiar verse in the Bible puts it this way:
God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16, NIV). I can be victorious over death and the devil because “my God sent Christ.” And you can be victorious, too. We are “
more than conquerors” because of Jesus, because our journey is from victim to victory!
