Good afternoon, everybody. It's good to be back together to
worship with you again. I'm excited for our study.
We're going to pick up and second Kings chapter 6, we're
going to take a big shift from this morning, but we're going to
kind of take a similar vein of thought and learning to
emphasize and focus in, on our hope that we have and the joy
that we can have in the perspective that we can approach
it with. And one of the things I want to
use as a disclaimer before we start, as I know, there's a lot
of these things that I might say.
Say that are that may sound like life advice from 22 year old
that. I don't have that level of
experience with this but the things I hope to share with you
or things that the Bible gives us and things that we can learn
from it. They're Universal.
And and so there are many of you that have gone through things
are going through things that I don't I can't comprehend.
I am not there in your position so I'm not gonna pretend to be
there but these things were going to talk about.
I think our universe For everyone and and their beautiful
thing to think about is we can set our hope in these things.
I'm going to use my launching point in the New Testament.
Luke Chapter 7 In verse 22 at this point.
John is having some issues. He's starting to struggle with
his faith that seems in prison as he says, he sins to Jesus.
And he asked him to say, hey, are you the one we're looking
for, or should we wait for somebody else?
Is this really you? He's starting to struggle when
he's in prison and the way Jesus has these Messengers go back to
men. Respond, Jesus says go tell him
go. Tell John verse 22, the things
that you have seen and heard that the blind see the lame
walk. The lepers are Are cleansed.
This isn't really where we're going with a study, but that's
an interesting launching Point as we go back to 2nd Kings
because as we study through the life of Elijah and second Kings,
many of the things we learn about Elijah's work, their
shadow of what Jesus would be there.
A shadow of the man, he would become and the works that he
would do. Because these these miracles of
healing, the blind of raising, the dead are all things that
Elijah would do. Elijah didn't shadow that Jesus
did in substance. So as we hop into 2nd Kings,
chapter 6, verse 8, I found that interesting and it kind of helps
put Jesus at the focal point of whatever we study, but 2nd Kings
chapter 6. Beginning in verse 8, we're
going to start reading there. It says, now the king of Syria
was making war against Israel and he consulted with the
servant saying, my Camp will be in such and such a place.
And the man of God sent to the king of Israel saying, beware.
That you don't pass this place for the syrians are coming down
there. Then the king of Israel sent
someone to the place of which the man of God had told him that
he warned him and he was watchful.
They're not just once or twice. Therefore, the heart of the king
of Syria was greatly troubled by this thing.
And he called his servants and said to them, which will you not
show me, which of us, is for the king of Israel.
And one of his servants said none, my Lord O King, but
Elijah, the prophet who was in Israel, tells the king of
Israel, the word That you speak in your bedroom.
So what's going on? Back up in verse 8, this king of
Syria is making war against the Israelites, he's trying to
attack them and the way he's going about this, he's trying to
act, he's trying to Ambush them. He's trying to set up a spot
where he's going to attack them when they come through.
And so he sets this up gets already and but Elijah on the
side of the children of Israel gets word of this.
I believe it's miraculous through God, he gets word of
this and he tells the king of Israel.
Hey, don't go over there, they're coming.
Ambush you. And so they send a couple spies
out and sure enough. There they were waiting to
Ambush them and it says this happens, several times.
He warned him, don't go over there, they came through, man,
they were going to Ambush us there.
And the king of Syria starts to get mad.
He's a warning King and he's like, okay, who's renting out
our plans, who is the mole? Who's the rat he says, will you
not show me which of us is for the king of Israel?
Verse 12, and one of his servants said none, my Lord O
King. But Elijah, the prophet who was
in Israel, tells the king of Israel, the words that you speak
in your bedroom. I don't know how this servant of
the king of Syria new this. If it was miraculous, or if it
was some kind of like, it was some kind of like trans that he
just said it, like God put the knowledge in his knowledge in
him to say it. I don't know how he knew this
but he's like it's not. It's none of us.
We're not doing this. He knows the words, you're
speaking your bedroom. And the first lesson I think we
need to learn from this. Is that God's always there.
He's always watching and for the king of Syria that was a bad
thing. It was against his interest but
we can also take the on the flip side is usually negative thing.
I think that we think about that God sees God knows so don't do
that. It can be a comforting thing to
know that God sees whatever you're doing.
That he can see those silent worksheet you that you can see
those silent prayers those Quiet Moments, when you're spending
time with him. He sees every bit of that.
And it's in the silent moments that we're really defined in the
king of Syria was, was exposed, and it did not serve his
interests. And so he started to get mad and
he said, go and see where he is. There are many sending get him.
He's going to go after him and I was told him saying, surely he
is in Dothan. Therefore, he sent horses and
chariots and a great Army there. They came by night and
surrounding the city. So he doesn't just send a couple
guys after him. And take care of this pesky
prophet, he sends an entire Army and he surrounds the City by
night. And as I looked at some of the
pictures in the maps, there's kind of a valley in between
where Dothan was, and they had mountains all around.
So I want you to start to picture this in your mind.
You know, they surrounded the city with horses and chariots
that it's their army. That's their military.
Imagine for us, maybe if they had tanks or whatever machine
guns lined up surrounding him. In verse 15.
And when the servant of the man of God, arose, early and went
out, there was an Army, surrounding the city with horses
and chariots. That's not a very nice way to
wake up and his servant said to him, I'll ask my master.
What shall we do? He walks outside, he sees this
and he goes, what are we gonna do this Alaska's?
Like, oh no, we're stuck. What's gonna happen.
But listen to the calm resolve of Elijah's Faith.
So we answered do not fear for those who are with us are more
than those who are with them. At this point may be a servant,
was thinking you're crazy. I don't know what you're talking
about, there's two of us, there's an army surrounding as
you see this? Wake up Elijah.
But I don't think we can really blame him for his response
because I think that's how we respond a lot of times.
That's how we feel, because life's problems kind of come up,
quick. I mean, I'm young, I'm an
experience that I've seen that in my own life is you think
you're doing fine? And all of a sudden, bam,
something hits you, you weren't ready for it.
But Elijah is calm, resolve will allow them to see through that
one of the things we're going to notice is the site of these
guys, the first one is the blindness of the believer.
You may have already seen what we're talking about the
blindness of the unbeliever second insight.
The blindness of the believer Elisha's servant.
This man was a was likely in line.
I as I understand to take his position, he was likely a
Believer, he was likely that the next in command and so he was a
man of faith brother and yet he saw this situation and he goes,
what are we going to do? What's what's gonna happen?
What are you gonna do? Elijah?
Look what happens Elisha prayed and said, Lord, I pray open his
eyes that he may see. Then the Lord opened the eyes of
the young man and he saw, I'm so glad it tells us what he saw him
because he could have just left it at that, but we learn exactly
what was around. And behold the mountain was full
of horses and Chariots of Fire all around Elisha.
So, whatever was outside waiting for him.
Those horses and Chariots of Fire, God goes, don't worry,
horses and Cherry those horses and chariots that were
surrounding them. I got horses and Chariots of
Fire. God was there instantly.
He was there the whole time. One of the things that's
interesting about this is Elijah, didn't pray God, please
send these. Let them show up and take care
of all this. He just said open his eyes.
So, whatever he just saw this horses and Chariots of Fire were
already there. He just needed to have his eyes
open to see that. And that allowed ice Elijah that
that spiritual sight allowed Elisha, see that.
What's there in your reality today?
You say? What am I going to do?
We all have something. And the reality is, you know,
yours might not be that horses. And Chariots of Fire years,
might be unique to your situation.
But God shows us here, whatever your situation is, he has the
strength or the fixed. He has the power over it.
Whatever it is. It's always waiting there
whether we see it or not. That help is surrounding us.
What we're going to see in a minute is it doesn't work out
exactly like he thought it was gonna happen even after seeing
them. But whatever is in your
situation. This is where we need to have
our perspective, start to open up that this was there around
God's people. This is around God's people
right now. The psalmist says that the angel
of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him.
We learn from the Old Testament. They took one Angel to wipe out,
a lot of people The angel of the Lord encamps around those who
fear Him. God's surrounding you to help
you and if you're a Believer and you you have that blindness that
doesn't allow you see that. Let's refocus.
Let's refocus on this. So one of the things you might
be saying is okay, what about me, where's mine?
No, I that's great. That Elijah had his horses and
Chariots of Fire surrounding him right there and he could see
that. And now his boom that was an
instant help for him. That was an instant fix.
What about me? Where's mine?
I can't see that and maybe it's so specific.
That I don't feel like God can even fix it.
Simply Did you notice where they went to get him out?
It was in Dothan. the only other place in the Bible that Dothan
is mentioned as back in Genesis when Joseph was sold into
slavery, is what his brothers sold thrown in the pit.
They grabbed him, they took advantage of him and they threw
him in the pit and that's where he plead to God for deliverance.
That's where he wasn't just going off to get his brothers
and pretty soon. They're selling them into
slavery, then he gets brought into a nation.
That's foreign he doesn't know anybody.
He doesn't have his faith system supported.
Their he doesn't have his family.
He finally Rises up through that system then gets taken advantage
of and cheated on. He gets dropped down to the
bottom again, he has left there in prison.
He helps people out but then they don't help him back.
And so he's taken advantage of for some 40 years.
My first question, did God, did he ask God for deliverance?
I would say so sit in that pit. Question number two did God
deliver him man, we look back at that we go of course that's one
of the most amazing Stories We can read about in the Old
Testament. Some of the most amazing events
were out of all 40 of those years.
God was working things out and It ultimately saved.
A lot of people the Nations around them from the famine that
was going to come God, used him to prepare Egypt and the Nations
around for huge family that would have wiped them out and it
worse would have wiped out his family spiritually.
Because we see that God to intern, use that to bring his
family back together to cause them to repent to Cosman change
and they all reunited at the end safe in Egypt and we go.
Wow. But that same place in Dothan is
where this all started, when his struggle was bigger than he
knew, how to handle that, he couldn't handle.
He had no control over the situation.
He was in But we look back and we say he was delivering, it
just took a while. It just took a long time.
See Elijah and his servant didn't need to do the reality,
it was in front of him because that one have done them any
good. They walk outside and they're
like, I'm just going to go back in and avoid that act like it
never happened. That doesn't work.
That wouldn't work for them. They still would have been
there. And you and I don't need to dull
the reality that's in front of us.
And the reality is there are things that are tough and you
know, that there are things that are hard regardless of, whether
you're a Christian or not, you're going to have struggles.
So we don't need to do the reality.
Awesome. In Ephesians 5 verse 15 says see
them that you walk circumspectly not as fool's but as wise
Redeeming the time because the days are evil therefore do not
be under be unwise but understand what the will of the
Lord is get this and do not be drunk with wine, which is
dissipation, but be filled with the spirit.
So he says don't get drunk. There's two ways of handling.
The same thing, you can do your reality, don't get drunk with
wine. This is don't do that.
He says the other way to handle your reality is to be filled
with the spirit, that means to take your eyes and set them on
higher, plain to see something the reality beyond the reality
that you're in. We never need to dull the
reality of the situation that we're in.
We need to see the greater reality Beyond and that's what
Elijah and his servant did. They were able able to see the
greater reality of God's help surrounding them.
And the situation is they were Romans 12 verse 2 says, and do
not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the
renewing of our minds of your mind for a Christian.
That's where the war takes place.
It's between the years, it's all between the years.
If you can win that war, everything else will fall in
place. You know, the scary part about
physical blindness is that usually you can't fix it but one
of the beauties of spiritual blindness as you can and that is
a greater fix than anything physical.
But the scary part of it is, is that, you know, physical
blindness seemed like it was something that would change our
life forever. Darren was that many of you who
have been close to him, know that I couldn't think of one
thing that would change my life more than that.
But if you're spiritually, blind.
You have nothing. What do you live for?
What are you going about your life doing?
As we're going to learn in just a second from these from from
the people they were attacking them.
That was a problem but it was also a problem for this
Believers we've stated. So the blindness of the believer
is dangerous but let's get now into the enemy's.
Pick it up, pick it back up in verse 18 of Second Kings six.
It says, so they're surrounded by the horses and Chariots of
Fire Verse 18. So when the syrians gate came
down to him, Elisha prayed, the Lord and said, strike this
people, I pray with blindness and he struck them with
blindness, according to the word of Elijah.
Wait, what we expected him to send these horses and Chariots
of Fire Down, come crashing in and take over the enemy and just
have this great explosion where God wins and they walk away
free. That's not what happens.
God's about to work something out.
Even more amazing than that. And it kind of reaffirms that
point that we never know what God's going to do.
We see something. We're like, all right, there it
is. That's how God is going to fix
it and then he doesn't blow them up.
He strikes them with blindness, but but we're going to see that
God uses blindness, their physical blindness as a picture
of their spiritual blindness. Now Elijah said to them, verse
19, this is not the way in, or is this a city?
Follow me. And I will bring you to the man
whom you seek, but he led them to Samaria.
And as I understand, Samaria was kind of a giant military hub for
the Israelites in this time. So he's going to lead them right
into the middle of it. And he struck them with a kind
of blindness from God's help it appears.
That's not really a total blindness because if it was a
total blindness, they would have gone.
Whoa, we're not going anywhere. Stop this isn't happening.
What's going on? They just said, okay.
But he led them to Samaria, so they followed him.
So the next thing we will notice about this is the blindness of
the unbeliever is usually a delusion.
They don't even realize that they're blind.
They don't even realize the problem.
They're under. That was it that was a key sign
for the for the believer is that he was freaking out and he
didn't realize what he couldn't see, but the unbeliever had the
same issue. He didn't even know he was blind
and so he follows them verse 20. So it was when they had come to
Samaria. That Elijah said, Lord Open the
Eyes of these men that they may see.
So he walks the right into Samaria, I don't know if this is
like a Pied Piper situation. I don't know what they talked
about for this long. Walk to Samaria with God's
people and then their enemies following right behind them, but
But they get into Samaria and the Lord opened their eyes and
they saw and there they were inside Samaria.
Now, on the king of Israel saw them, he said to Elijah, my
father, shall I kill them? Shall I kill him?
But he answered, you shall not kill them.
Would you kill Those whom you have taken captive, with your
sword and your bow? Except food and water before
them that they may eat and drink and go to their master.
So this King sees this, the king of Israel sees this and he's the
only sees an opportunity. He sees this way out, he's like,
all right, let's pound him, but he says no, would you do that to
your prisoners of War? These aren't even yours, then he
prepared a great feast for them and after they ate and drank, he
sent them away and they went to their master.
So the bands of Syrian Raiders coat.
Came no more into the land of Israel.
So God worked something out through this.
That wouldn't have happened had they just boom taking over with
the horses and Chariots of Fire and Destroy them.
They came, they brought them in. They took care of them and they
sent them on their way. Even though they knew they were
right in their hands, they could have been taken right there and
this is a perfect picture of God's mercy.
The perfect picture of what Jesus would come and do he would
see us his enemies right there. His fingertips all the time.
When they came to get him in the garden, he came out.
And he was like, are you guys looking for, and they said
Jesus? And he says, I am, he uses that
that were those words of deity. The I am from Testimony says I
am and they fall on the ground showing that Jesus was going to
be taken by his will not because anyone was making him.
This is a picture of Jesus because Jesus poured on a feast
of his own flesh and blood for us for the enemy that came into
his camp and was trying to take him.
He brought the enemy in, he fed them, he fed us, he took care of
us. And he gave us a new life to
walk away. Are we going to use that new
life for him? Because it says, these guys
never came back and change them forever.
You don't see stuff like that. As you changed you, as you
really changed me. It's beautiful.
As we see all the pictures tied to tied, to our Master, our
savior, in the Old Testament, so a couple of things just to kind
of recap we learn from this is God is always there to deliver
you. Whether you see it or not job
went through so much, but it wasn't till the end.
They said I've heard of you by the hearing of the year, but now
my eye sees you To let these events become something that
pulls you closer to God, they let them be things.
That shape you more into His Image in the process that mold
you. That soften you break you in the
ways. They need to be taken closer to
him. Second, Peter 1 verse 5, through
9 says, but also for this very reason, giving all diligence add
to your faith virtue, to Virtue knowledge, to knowledge
self-control, the self-control perseverance to perseverance,
godliness to Godliness, brotherly, kindness and to
brotherly. Kindness love for.
If these are for, if these things are yours and abound you
will be neither be Barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of
our Lord Jesus Christ. If this for He, Who lacks these
things short-sighted, even to blindness as forgot.
On that. He was cleansed for from his old
sins. We get a sense of blindness
about us, when we forget what Jesus did for us.
When we forget where we came from, where we forget, where we
where we could be without him. So if we're not doing these
things, if we're not, adding all these things to ourselves, he
says we're blind. You're forgetting what the
reality is. He says you're short-sighted.
You don't see the bigger picture, the bigger reality,
beyond the reality that you're in.
So, we need to be adding to our faith all the time.
And final message from this is Elijah space.
That was a faith was in the moment.
You know, for me, I think a lot of times once I just get through
this, and a lot of times, it's little things.
Once I just get through this, then I'll feel good.
Then, I'll be peace. Then I'll be, you know, my heart
can rest and I can have that sense of I can relax.
Now, But Elijah had that right there in the moment he's like,
hey man, it's all good. Lord please open his eyes.
You know, it's not the peace that God offers is not a piece
once this happens. Once I pass this midterm, I got
to take when I get back or once I finish this project or once I
get through this at work, once I get my family, the way I want it
to be. The peace that God offers is in
the moment. The Peace of the offers is right
where you're at right now. You can have that piece.
And you can rest in that. And that's what this is all
about. You might be having struggles
but you can have peace in the moment because the things like
we studied today, things like Romans 8 verse 18.
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time
are not to be worthy to be compared with the glory that
shall be revealed in us because yeah, you might be suffering but
it's not even. He says I can't I wouldn't even
compare it to it, you know. Like you could you could try to
make a comparison because like I'm not even going to do that
because the sufferings I'm going through and there are a lot for
purple. The sufferings I'm going through
aren't even worth putting on the scale next to them.
Next to the glory which shall be revealed in Us in 1st
Corinthians 2 verse 9. I has not seen.
Nor Ear heard nor have entered into the heart of man, the
things which God has prepared for those who love him.
The reality is sometimes, you know, you have those moments
where your faith is strong and you feel that sense of strength
wherever you're at, But the reality is, we're not really
going to see that I haven't seen that year.
Hasn't really heard that. And so, while you don't feel
like you've gotten that Platt, that Mountaintop moment yet it's
coming. It's coming.
I will see and I will ear will hear it.
You just hold on. It will, it's coming.
And as we approach the world with this hope, as you said,
okay, I got two chairs with the share this, with other people
with other people. Like this is free money.
People have to know about this. Why doesn't anyone want this?
Just remember that. Every time, God, cured the
blindness, it was when Elijah prayed.
Lord, please open his eyes. And so, as you take it to other
people, let's remember to pray. Because if you're going to try
to cure somebody else's blindness, You would you want to
get on get your hands out and start rubbing them together and
get ready it won't do you any good you know that you have no
power in your hands to heal anything like that.
How much greater the spiritual blindness so as we take it to
people let's take you with that prayerful mentality.
The attitude of I have to get on my knees and ask God to please
give this person site, open their eyes.
And God has promises. We started this morning at hey
he'll help us out. If it lines up with his will
he's going to help us and we can know that.
If you're not enjoying that piece that we've talked about
today that realization that perspective that you have in
your life, you can. If you've heard the word you
believe, you ready to change your life, confess that Jesus is
the son of God, you can be baptized for the remission of
your sins and added to his body. We thank you for listening to
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