Hymn 251
II Kings 6:15-18, “And
when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an
host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said
unto him, 'Alas, my master! How shall we do?' 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. And when they came down to him,
Elisha prayed unto the LORD, and said, 'Smite this people, I pray thee, with
blindness.' And he smote them with blindness according to the word of Elisha.”
John 9:39-41, "And Jesus said, 'For judgement I am come into this world, that
they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.' And some of the Pharisees which were with him
heard these words, and said unto him, 'Are we blind, also?' Jesus said unto them, 'If ye were blind, ye
should have no sin but now ye say, "We see," therefore your sin remaineth.'” The
king of Syria was seeking the life of God’s servant Elisha. The Syrian army was
blinded. Elisha told his servant, “Fear not: for they that be with us are more
than they that be with them.” God wants
us to see all He has for us. God told
Moses to send 12 spies to the promised land to spy out the land. What was there was hid from 10 of them — they
returned sowing the seeds of discontentment. All they saw was obstacles. Two saw what was for them (Joshua and
Caleb).
We have against us the
world, the flesh, and the devil. The
world tries to break in, the flesh tries to break out, and the devil tries to
break down. Nehemiah faced a three-fold enemy that was trying to hinder God’s
work:
1.
Sanballat in
Nehemiah 2 and 13:28. His name means “the god of sin has given life.” We can
disobey God and still have life.
2.
Tobiah in Nehemiah
2:10 and 4:3-6. He was an Ammonite — the product of a wrong relationship
between Lot and his daughter.
3.
Geshem the
Arabian was a type of the world.
We want to talk about what’s for us. We have seven-fold of help for us, but only a three-fold enemy:
1. I Timothy 2:5, “For there is one God, and one mediator
between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” Jesus is for us – the man Christ Jesus. He understands and feels for our struggles
because He’s been there. He lived as a
man. He is interceding for us.
Revelation 12:10-11, “And I heard a loud voice saying in
heaven, 'Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and
the power of His Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which
accused them before our Lord day and night.' And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their
testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.” The enemy is against us. He’ll accuse us of things that aren’t true,
but God knows our testimony.
I
Corinthians 15:9, “For I am the least
of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted
the church of God.” There’s a fine
line in letting our past discourage us, or humble us.
Ephesians 3:8, “Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace
given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of
Christ.” I Timothy 1:15, “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of
all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom
I am chief.” If we’re not humble, we
can’t be useful, but don’t let Satan discourage you about your past.
Luke 22:31-32, “And the Lord said, 'Simon, Simon, behold,
Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith
fail not, and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.” There were many avenues Jesus had to help
Peter. Prayer was his first
resort. Prayer brings intersession
on our behalf from Jesus. I was talking to an Army Commander for one of our
friends who’d been called into service. The commander said, “I owe my life to a
medic who was a conscientious objector so I have a soft spot for them.” He was
able to feel for the boys position and therefore could intercede on his behalf.
2. The prayers of
our parents. Job 1, Job prayed for his children often and offered up burnt offerings for
them in case they sinned. “This did
Job continually.” Job put God first,
his family second, and himself and his possessions last. His family was fortunate in that Job prayed
for them. I wonder how much his children
appreciated his care for them. They
maybe didn’t know how fortunate they were to have a father like that. God’s testimony of Job was very good. He called him a perfect man.
Verse 8, sometimes the accuser accuses us of
things that are not true. We overcome these by our testimony. I’m sure Satan
often plagued Paul about his past.
In I Corinthians 15:9-10, “For I am the least of
the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted
the church of God.” I Timothy 1:15, “This
is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came
into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.” Paul let his past
humble him rather than discourage him. It’s one thing when we give testimony of
ourselves, it’s another thing when others give testimony of us, but a greater
thing when God gives testimony of us.
3. We’re a people
prayed for. We’re thankful for the prayers of People.
Luke 22:31-32, “And the Lord said, 'Simon, Simon, behold, Satan
hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for
thee, that thy faith fail not; and when thou art converted, strengthen thy
brethren.” Acts 12, Peter was in prison under maximum
security. Verse 5, Acts, “Peter
therefore was kept in prison, but prayer was made without ceasing of the church
unto God for him.” Peter therefore was
kept in prison, but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for
him. He was prayed for and God heard their prayer, and freed Peter. In verse 12, “And when he had considered
the thing, he came to the house of Mary the mother of John, whose surname was Mark;
where many were gathered together praying.” He came right to the house
where they were gathered praying for him.
4. We have the
elders who are concerned about us. Do
you value your elder? Do you call when you won’t be there, or when you are
bringing others? Acts 20:28-30, “Therefore
take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has
made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His
own blood. For I know this, that after My departure, savage wolves will come
in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things,
to draw away the disciples after themselves.” Your elder is responsible for
everyone in his flock.
In verse 28, it
speaks to the elders, “Take heed
therefore unto yourselves...” Take
heed to yourself, for if you’re not right, you can’t be a help to anyone
else. We shouldn’t preach when we
pray. Appreciate your elder who has
bread — which the “Holy Ghost has made overseers.” We as ministers appoint, but
the Holy Ghost makes elders into overseers. There’s a partnership between
elders and workers. Elders have responsibility for the flock and to have bread
for the meeting. Testimonies should be brief. We shouldn’t preach when we
pray — it should be right from the heart, to God. The sheep are not our
sheep — they were purchased with His own blood. Dangers to the flesh — wolves from
within seeking to destroy and scatter. Of your own selves, there will be those
who rise up seeking to have followers. These will have a wrong influence.
Philemon is a letter from a worker to an elder. Paul mentions a faithful wife.
He called him a fellow laborer, partner, and brother. There was wonderful
working relationship between the servant and elder. A partner is one who
carries on faithfully while the other is away. Elders take the same interest in
the flock and care for it as if we were there.
5. The workers. Ezekiel
33, the watchmen over the city. Verses 7-8, “So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman
unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at My mouth, and
warm them from Me. When I say unto the
wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the
wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood
will I require at thine hand.” Smoke
alarms don’t put the fire out, but they will warn of the fire. Do you appreciate the warning of the
watchmen? God’s servants are not policemen, but watchmen. There is quite a
difference. There was recently a story of a family that was annoyed by the
beeping of a fire alarm when its battery was low. They took the battery out and
later all died in a fire because there was no warning.
6. Angels as
ministering spirits. Psalm 34:7, “The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him, and
delivereth them.” Jacob saw angels
going up and down the ladder. When Lot was in Sodom, the Lord sent two
angels. In Genesis 24, the angel of the
Lord led Abraham’s servant to find a bride for Isaac. How do we know where to go? How do we know
who has been praying?
I remember one experience when we went to a new field. We
had a list of contacts. One Saturday, we went to call on them. There was young
couple we called on and this was their story. The young man had a faithful
father, but didn’t want truth for himself. He married and they were expecting
their first child when things started to go wrong. They had a little boy two
months prematurely, who had a condition of his body twinning with a tumor. It required
an eight-hour surgery. The young man cried all night and prayed if the Lord
would spare their child, he would go to the meetings. The wife prayed that if
the child was spared, they’d go to church. Four months later, the wife said to
the husband, “Do you remember the vows we made? Four months have passed.” The
angel of the Lord led us to that home at that very time. It speaks about angels
many times in the Word of God. In
Daniel, the angel shut the lions’ mouths. They brought Peter out of prison. The angels strengthened Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane.
7. The Holy
Spirit. Romans 8:26, “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities; for we know not
what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession
for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” So many times, I feel I don’t know how to
pray, but the Spirit still is interceding when we attempt to meet with God in
prayer.
Hymn 374