Sermon Tone Analysis

Feed Your Faith

2 Kings 6:8-23

Sermon by Rick Crandall

Grayson Baptist Church - October 7, 2012

*Christian, have you ever felt like you had too much faith?

-- No, of course not.

And I think you never will.

Even if you have been a Christian for 50 years, most people would say: “I need more faith.

-- I want more faith!”

*The good news is that we all can get more faith, because Romans 10:17 tells us that “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.”

-In today’s story about Elisha, God gives us 3 realities that can feed our faith.

1. First: Feed your faith on God’s unwavering attention.

*We all get constant attention from God, like the king of Syria got in vs. 8-12.

Listen again this part of the story:

8. Now the king of Syria was making war against Israel; and he took counsel with his servants, saying, "My camp will be in such and such a place.''

9.

And the man of God sent to the king of Israel, saying, "Beware that you do not pass this place, for the Syrians are coming down there.''

10.

Then the king of Israel sent someone to the place of which the man of God had told him.

Thus he warned him, and he was watchful there, not just once or twice.

11.

Therefore the heart of the king of Syria was greatly troubled by this thing; and he called his servants and said to them, "Will you not show me which of us is for the king of Israel?''

12.

And one of his servants said, "None, my lord, O king; but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom.''

*God gives us His unwavering attention.

In other words: He knows everything that is going on in your life.

That was bad news for the king of Syria, because it wasn’t Elisha in the bedroom listening to the king.

It was the LORD God!

*God’s attention was bad news for the king, and it’s bad news for everyone who is rebelling against God.

-But the LORD’s attention is good news if you are a child of God...

-Good news if you are a servant of God like Elisha.

*The Lord is never surprised.

He never turns away.

He’s never caught off guard.

The Lord is always tuned in to your life, your thoughts, your needs, your fears and your problems.

*In Matthew 10:30, Jesus told His followers that “the very hairs of your head are all numbered.”

-- Now that’s paying attention.

*In his book, “Father Knows Less,” Wendell Jamieson gave experts' answers to a bunch of questions from kids.

Jamieson was inspired to write the book after listening to endless questions from his 7-year-old son, Dean.

*One question the book answers is, "How many hairs do I have on my head?"

Sy Sperling, founder of the Hair Club for Men, responded with the information that an average adult has about 100,000 hairs.

He noted that “redheads have fewer because their individual strands are thicker.”

(1)

*Some of us have a whole lot fewer than 100,000.

But when you multiply the number of hairs per person by the world's population of 7 billion, then consider that everybody’s hair count changes every day, you see how amazing it is that God would even bother to keep up with the number.

But that’s how much He cares for us.

*God is paying close attention to your life.

And that matters, because as Bruce Ball says: “The deepest expression of love is attention.

When you give somebody your attention you’re giving them your love.

When you don’t pay attention to your husband or wife or kids you are actually being unloving.

(2)

*God is always paying attention to us.

It may not seem like it to us, because we often aren’t paying attention to Him.

-But God is always focused on us, because He cares so much about us.

-God proves that He cares by paying attention to our lives.

-So feed your faith on God’s unwavering attention.

2. And feed your faith on our unseen allies.

*We certainly need allies, because we are certainly going to be attacked.

We see an example in vs. 13-15, where the king of Syria was trying to attack the Prophet Elisha:

13.

So he said, "Go and see where he is, that I may send and get him.''

And it was told him, saying, "Surely he is in Dothan.''

14. Therefore he sent horses and chariots and a great army there, and they came by night and surrounded the city.

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.

And his servant said to him, "Alas, my master!

What shall we do?''

*The enemy surrounded Elisha.

And sometimes he is going to surround us.

-Our enemy can surround us in our health, our finances, and our relationships.

-He can surround us with stresses, threats, frustrations and all kinds of ungodly influences.

*In big ways and small, the enemy will surround us.

But we are not alone in the battle!

We have great unseen allies on our side.

God’s Word reveals them to us in vs. 15-18:

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.

And his servant said to him, "Alas, my master!

What shall we do?''

16.

So he answered, "Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.''

17.

And 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.

And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

18.

So when the Syrians came down to him, Elisha prayed to the LORD, and said, "Strike this people, I pray, with blindness.''

And He struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha.

*Now, I don’t want to take anything away from the allies we can see, like the Prophet Elisha in this story.

*One of the best things about being in the family of God is that we are surrounded by people who will love us, encourage us, pray for us and help us any way they can.

We have seen a perfect example of that this week, as people have rallied around Pam Shepherd’s family.

*But never forget that as believers, we have unseen allies on our side, allies like the angels in vs. 17.

Angels are just as real as we are.

*Hebrews chapter 1 is just one of many places where God’s Word speaks about angels in a totally matter-of-fact way.

Hebrews 1:5&6 begins with this question about God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ:

5.

For to which of the angels did He ever say: "You are My Son, today I have begotten You?

And again: "I will be to Him a Father, and He shall be to Me a Son?''

6.

But when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says: "Let all the angels of God worship Him.''

*I suppose there have always been people who do not believe in angels.

The Sadducees of Jesus’ day did not believe.

And in Matthew 22:29, Jesus told them: “You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God.”

*We don’t want to make the same mistake as the Sadducees.

And as we go through the Bible, we see that the word “angel” appears 286 times.

*Angels are as real as we are.

And Hebrews 1:15 explains one of their main purposes with this question: “Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation?”

*Angels are our unseen allies!

-They are sent by God as His servants.

-And that service includes helping God’s people, like us.

*It is mind-boggling, but also comforting to know that God has specific angels assigned to help you.

We know this is true because of something Jesus said in Matthew 8:10-11.

There the Lord was talking about little children, and Jesus said:

10. “Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven.