Standing up for what you believe in

Good morning Zion Sunday School Parents!

This week your children heard the story of the three men in the fiery furnace. We began with a game in which one child was inside a circle of children and that circle tried to move him, we added several more children to both the inside and the outside. As more children stood together, it got harder to move the children in the center. Peer pressure to do the wrong thing is something all of us face everyday! When we have someone standing with us, it gets easier to keep standing! We always have someone standing with us, even if we can't see Him! It's Jesus!!

In the Bible, the Jews had been taken into captivity in the land of Babylon. King Nebuchadnezzer was impressed and interested in the Jewish culture and the young men he had chosen to become part of his advisors. He still continued to worship idols and when he built a new idol, he commanded everyone present to bow down and worship it along with him. Anyone who chose not to worship it would be thrown into the fiery furnace.

Shadrach, Mesach and Abednego were the Babylonian names given to the three young men from Judea that were part of Nebuchadnezzer's advisors. They refused to bow down to the idol. Nebuchadnezzer was incensed! How dare they! He gave them a second chance, when they refused, he ordered the furnace to be made 7 times hotter than normal, the boys bound hand and foot and thrown into the furnace. The heat was so intense, the guards who threw them in died!

When Nebuchadnezzer looked into the furnace, he couldn't believe his eyes. Not only were the boys alive, they were walking around in the furnace and another man had joined them. One who looked like a Son of the Gods! It was Jesus! He was with Shadrach, Mesach and Abednego in the furnace!
Nebuchadnezzer ordered the boys to come out. When they did, they weren't even singed and they didn't even smell like smoke! Nebuchadnezzer then ordered everyone to worship the One, True God!

Jesus is always with us too! No matter where we are or what we are being asked to do!

I pray that you and your family can marvel over that this week and praise God for his presence in our lives!!

Have a blessed week!

Zion Sunday School Staff