# Selfie - Kostenloses Hörbuch

#Selfie

**Daniel 3:1-6 “King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold, sixty cubits high and six cubits wide,[a] and set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. 2 He then summoned the satraps, prefects, governors, advisers, treasurers, judges, magistrates and all the other provincial officials to come to the dedication of the image he had set up. 3 So the satraps, prefects, governors, advisers, treasurers, judges, magistrates and all the other provincial officials assembled for the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up, and they stood before it. 4 Then the herald loudly proclaimed, “Nations and peoples of every language, this is what you are commanded to do: 5 As soon as you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe and all kinds of music, you must fall down and worship the image of gold that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. 6 Whoever does not fall down and worship will immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace.”

**King Nebuchadnezzar made for himself the ultimate selfie.

And as far-fetched as it may sound, people today just like in Nebuchadnezzar’s day are erecting huge statues of self, wanting to be seen, wanting to be liked, wanting to be noticed.

And before you shoot me down for believing that this message is about the evils of selfies let me clarify myself.

Selfies in and of themselves are not evil.  But the narcissistic spirit that exists and is becoming more and more prevalent in our society is slowly taking the sight and spotlight off of Jesus so that the world can worship “self.”

**Narcissism:  excessive or erotic interest in oneself and one's physical appearance.

Synonyms: vanity, self-love, self-admiration, self-absorption, self-obsession, conceit, self-centeredness, self-regard, egotism, egoism.

Extreme selfishness, with a grandiose view of one's own talents and a craving for admiration.

**The term originated from Greek mythology, where the young Narcissus fell in love with his own image reflected in a pool of water.

When your world becomes the size of the circumference surrounding you, you live in a very small world.

Not only is that a selfish life, but a life God never intended you to live.

We are living in a society where people are just looking out after number one, and as long as our needs are met, as long as our life is fine then we are happy.

King “I” has surfaced in a big way and as the body of Christ we must bring self under the submission of Christ.

Narcissists believe that the world and the universe revolves around their comfort and our needs.

And we believe that once we are satisfied and our needs are met we will find ourselves happy.

But the Bible says

**Matthew 10:39 “Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.”

The Message translation says it like this:  If your first concern is to look after yourself, you’ll never find yourself. But if you forget about yourself and look to me, you’ll find both yourself and me.

In order to find yourself you need to lose yourself in Christ.

In life it’s not about status, or success, it’s about finding who you truly are.

And you will find who you truly are when you put a death to self and let the image of Christ replace yours.

In allowing Christ to reign, your world becomes larger, your opportunities become bigger, and your life begins to live purposefully.

What happened to the young men who decided to not bow down to the gold statue in Daniel 3?

What happened to the young men who decided not to follow the ways of the world?

The got thrown into a furnace!

They were ready to die for their beliefs.

We all know the story; instead of 3 men in the furnace there were 4, and the forth was the son of God who saved those young men.

And because they would not bow down to the statue of self, and they decided to put God first no matter what, God was exalted on that day and a whole nation was rocked to the core.

3 slaves changed the world by saying no to self and saying yes to God.

They could have done nothing, they could have gone with flow, they could have not caused waves, but they decided to honor God in what they did.

**When your belief system centers around you and your comfort, the only thing that can be expected is a shallow, self-centered person.

But if your belief system centers around God and what He cares for, then you will find a person who will undoubtedly change the world.

Insignificance finds significance when it is in the hands of God.

As believers we must come to the very modern understanding that we are God’s selfie!!

**Genesis 1:27 “ we are made in God’s image”

Colossians 3:10 “and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator”

Ephesians 4:24 “and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”

**As a church our job is to point others to Christ not to ourselves.

**We have all been called to change the world.

But what can you do?

What can you do to make an impact?

God told Gideon in Judges 6 “ Go in the strength you have!!, Am I not sending you??”

What can you do with what you have to allow Christ to shine just a bit more??

**I am challenging the church today with $1

Each of you are going to be given $1 to make an impact in someone’s life or in a group of people’s lives.

And you have until Thanksgiving to do it!!!

What can you do?

(Next Level meets every Sunday Morning at Stephens Elementary school located at 2715 N.Fry Road in Katy. Our service time is at 10:30am. If you in the area, come visit us!! You can also hear this message in its entirety by downloading the Next Level Ministries application on your Android or Apple phones.) www.KatyTXChurch.com)