Daniel 3:4-7
Then the herald loudly proclaimed: “To you the command is given, O peoples, nations and men of every language, that at the moment you hear the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, trigon, psaltery, bagpipe and all kinds of music, you are to fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king has set up. But whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be cast into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire.” Therefore at that time, when all the peoples heard the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, trigon, psaltery, bagpipe and all kinds of music, all the peoples, nations and men of every language fell down and worshiped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.

Why did King Nebuchadnezzar do this? Why did he issue this command?

Daniel 3:13 Nebuchadnezzar in rage and anger gave orders to bring Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego; then these men were brought before the king.

Daniel 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.

Why did Nebuchadnezzar get so angry when these three men refused to obey his command?

When I was growing up on our family dairy, we had a Jersey Bull, and he was very mean. If you had to go into the field that he was in you needed to keep track of where he was because he would ram into you with his head and try to stomp you to death. Do you think I ever tried to reason with him, or send him to a bull obedience school? No, he was a mean bull, that is what he was, there was no changing that.

There are some people who are like that, being in control of other people, telling them what to do, ordering them around, being in charge, that desire controls their life. And if someone resists their control the desire to conquer them and make them submit amplifies this internal obsession a hundred fold.

We can see this “Jersey Bull” in a lot of politicians today. Rules and regulations made that are nonsense, and clearly not about people’s welfare or health.

The bulk of the media are not about communicating news, they are about controlling the culture and the people in that culture.

The fact is that we all have some “Jersey Bull” in us. It shows up at work, in our marriages, as parents over our kids, and in our churches. Most of the conflicts we have with others is what we could call, ”Jersey Bull fights.”

Mark 10:42-45
Calling them to Himself, Jesus said to them, “You know that those who are recognized as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them; and their great men exercise authority over them. But it is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant; and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”