Taking Back What Has Been Taken From You: Geoff Lee

Notes on last week's sermon from Church which was just awesome! Find the podcast at www.plymouthchristiancentre.org in the 'messages' section.

The sermon began in 2 Kings. The Arameans are attacking Israel, but God keeps telling Elisha what they are plannig to do, so the Israelites avoid the traps of the Arameans. The King of Aram sends soldiers to kill Elisha. Elisha's servant sees the soldiers surrounding Elisha and feels helpless, but Elisha sees the spiritual reality:

2 Kings 6:16-17 And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.

Elisha saw the spiritual reality of the situation, and didn't focus on the physical.

In verse 24, the Arameans come back: And it came to pass after this, that Benhadad king of Syria gathered all his host, and went up, and besieged Samaria.

They besieged the area until there was a great famine, and food was selling at a ridiculous price.

In 2 Kings 7, Elisha points to tomorrow: 2 Kings 7:1 Elisha said, "Hear the word of the LORD. This is what the LORD says: About this time tomorrow, a seah of flour will sell for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria." In other words, everything will soon be fine and food will be cheap again!

Then some lepers went to the enemy camp to beg mercy, and found the enemy gone! God had scared them away. There's something here about being afraid of something that isn't even there is there not? BUT the lepers had to face their enemy (problem) before seeing there was nothing to fear: reminds me of 'resist the devil and he will flee from you'. They were trapped in 'false fear', and until they confronted it,they would never have escaped from it (I love that!)

Next, the lepers gorge themselves on the enemies' spoils, eating and taking gold etc and hiding it. They go back to the camp and tell them the enemy have disappeared, but the king won't believe it, thinking it's a trap, until eventually he believes it.

Psalm 23: He lays a table before us in the presence of our enemies

Even in the presence of our enemies, God will provide us with what we need.

Romans 8:28 If God is for us, who can be against us?

God is our father, he's on our side, he won't leave us, and he will provide for us. The situation is going to change, and you will go into the enemy's camp.

2 Kings 18/19 sees the Assyrians attacking Israel. The king of Assyria says 'on what are you basing your confidence?' The question to us today is 'on what are you basing your confidence?' The answer needs to be 'GOD!'

The king tries to bargain witht them, lie to them and threaten them. It's another difficult situation of being surrounded and besieged. The situation looks absolutely helpless.

Hezekiah receives a letter full of threats, then goes to God's temple and spreads it out before the Lord. He tells God the whole thing, and prays about it. He calls out for God's help, and God says 'I have heard your prayer...' and He saves them.

Psalm 20:7 Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.

That night, God killed 185,000 Assyrians, saving an impossible and hopeless situation.

So what do we need to do when the enemy attacks or threatens us?:

1) Have faith that God will deliver us
2) Pray, spread it out before the Lord, confront the brutal facts

2 Cor 10: 3For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

We can take captive every accusation that comes from satan.

Take the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. Use it to defeat satan, quoting scriptures to deflect his attack and claim the truth of God.

We serve an awesome, mighty and powerful God who can deal with our situation, whatever it may be.

Satan comes to us and whispers lies and accusations to us, but we should take the sword of the spirit.

Phillipians 4: 19 And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.

We should say things like: I am fearfully and wonderfully made, God has a hope for me, he has written down all the good works he has planned for me, he has a future and a hope for me where goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, he is my shepherd....

We need to deflect the enemy's arrows and claim the truth from the Bible. "God has said..."

If the enemy has taken from you your joy and peace and confidence of God's supply and provision, the time has come to go into the enemy's camp and take back what he has taken from you.

Get up! Get moving!

Judges 6:11 The angel of the LORD came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. 12 When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, "The LORD is with you, mighty warrior." "But sir," Gideon replied, "if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us?

If God is with us, why has this bad stuff happened? Gideon is angry with God. God said to Gideon 'go in the strength you have'. Take what you have, and God does the rest.

Gideon tries to do it in his own strength, so God whittles it down to a small number so he has to be reliant on God.

Some of us are like Gideon - we're cowering and we've given up territory, but it's time to rise mighty warrior. Go in our strength and God will go with us.

God wants us to know that HE is in control of our situation, not us!

Psalm 68: 1 Let God arise, and let his enemies be scattered
Romans 8:37 We are more than conquerers through Christ who loves us

We have to decide whether to listen to what God says or what the devil says. We need to take back what the devil has taken from us.

Romans 16:20 He will crush satan under your feet

What are you basing your confidence on? It's the Lord who gives the ability to make wealth, and who can make a way where there is no way. When you are surrounded, the word of the Lord will come. Spread it out before God and he will deliver you!

Stop lying down under the lies of satan, and stand your ground against the devil!