Like No Other - Pt.2 Artificial Artillery

(NLT) — 5 Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before or after his time. 6 He remained faithful to the Lord in everything, and he carefully obeyed all the commands the Lord had given Moses. 7 So the Lord was with him, and Hezekiah was successful in everything he did. He revolted against the king of Assyria and refused to pay him tribute.

Believing that the Egyptians were going to help him Hezekiah rebelled against the Assyrian’s and stopped paying them the tribute they demanded for not attacking them.

Egypt never shows up and the Assyrians attack all Judah’s fortified towns, and now the Assyrians are right out side the capital; Jerusalem.

They are in the process of putting Jerusalem under seige. This means they surround the city so that no food and supplies can get in and nobody can get out. Essentially they are starving the people in Jerusalem until they decide to surrender.

King Hezekiah tries to work a deal with the Assyrians…

(NLT) — 13 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, King Sennacherib of Assyria came to attack the fortified towns of Judah and conquered them. 14 King Hezekiah sent this message to the king of Assyria at Lachish: “I have done wrong. I will pay whatever tribute money you demand if you will only withdraw.” The king of Assyria then demanded a settlement of more than eleven tons of silver and one ton of gold. 15 To gather this amount, King Hezekiah used all the silver stored in the Temple of the Lord and in the palace treasury. 16 Hezekiah even stripped the gold from the doors of the Lord’s Temple and from the doorposts he had overlaid with gold, and he gave it all to the Assyrian king. 17 Nevertheless, the king of Assyria sent his commander in chief, his field commander, and his chief of staff from Lachish with a huge army to confront King Hezekiah in Jerusalem…

I need to encourage someone here tonight - Don’t ever feel ashamed to fight for your joy! Don’t ever feel like you are in the wrong for fighting for the salvation of one of your friends!…

KEY POINT- The enemy doesn’t just want your gold; your joy, peace, family, school… He wants your complete and total inhalation.

I’m here to call to fight some students who have considered it reasonable to go thru life without their joy simply cause you have pondered is it worth the fight?? We can’t allow the enemy to come in and take “tribute” what God has entrusted us to take hold of…

And so Hezekiah goes into the temple and he takes all the silver all the gold and has the gold removed from the temple doors…

KEY POINT- This is what happens when we start to depend on ourselves rather than depending on God… In all of our efforts for success we will strip ourselves of everything of value and hand it over to the enemy for the taking.

(NLT) — 13 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, King Sennacherib of Assyria came to attack the fortified towns of Judah and conquered them. 14 King Hezekiah sent this message to the king of Assyria at Lachish: “I have done wrong. I will pay whatever tribute money you demand if you will only withdraw.” The king of Assyria then demanded a settlement of more than eleven tons of silver and one ton of gold. 15 To gather this amount, King Hezekiah used all the silver stored in the Temple of the Lord and in the palace treasury. 16 Hezekiah even stripped the gold from the doors of the Lord’s Temple and from the doorposts he had overlaid with gold, and he gave it all to the Assyrian king. 17 Nevertheless, the king of Assyria sent his commander in chief, his field commander, and his chief of staff from Lachish with a huge army to confront King Hezekiah in Jerusalem…

He destroys God’s house in

Last week’s message was titled, “The Devil’s Target”…

MAIN POINT- God’s faithfulness is not the Devil’s target. Trying to get God to not be faithful would be like trying to get fire to stop being hot, you just can’t do it. Faithful is who God is! This is why God’s faithfulness is not the Devil’s target, your faithfulness is.

And in the moments of your life when you feel confused and broken the Devil loves to bring out his weapons to annihilate your faith.

In that moment when you have wondered if you did the right thing…

In that moment when you are ashamed of your recent past…

In that moment when you don’t understand what it is you believe…

In that moment when you are forced into making a decision…

The Devil is not in the habit of breaking out his weapons in the times they are the least likely to work - he breaks them out in the moments when you are weak…

(NLT) — 8 Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.

ILLUSTRATION- It’s funny that they say lions are the king of the jungle. The truth is the lion is statistically the least successful predator in Africa…

African wild dogs are successful 85% of the time, Black footed cat is successful 60% of the time, Cheetah is successful 58% of the time, Leopard is successful 38% of the time, Domestic cats are successful 38% of the time, and all the way down near the bottom of the list is the Lion only successfully killing its targeted prey at 19% of the time… Also of that 19% success rate over 3/4s of the animals attacked were injured, deformed, pregnant, or infants.

KEY POINT- The enemy brings out his weapons when you are at your weakest point.

Dealing with your greatest temptations, dealing with your greatest levels of heart break, struggling with your worst addiction, at the point when you are facing your greatest anxieties…

KEY POINT- We do have an enemy and this thing we call spiritual warfare is real.

(NLT) — 3 We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. 4 We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. 5 We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ.

I’m praying that someone is encouraged tonight though… This message is all about shedding light onto what the devil’s weapons look like and how they are scary looking, but artificial!

Tonights message is titled, “Artificial Artillery” because the weapon might be formed, but it won’t work… The weapon might be in use against you but its a shell of only what once was…

ILLUSTRATION- There was a pastor that I met in my travels to Zimbabwe, before he gave his life to God and started in the ministry he was a security guard at a store… We got to talking and he was telling me at how he carried a gun, but he had no idea if it worked, he had no idea if it could even fire a bullet because he never fired it… He never fired it because he never loaded it, he didn’t even know what kind of bullet went in it… I asked him what would you do if the store was being robbed, he said, “I would just hope that me and the gun would be more convincing than what we really were.”

(NLT) — 15 In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.

KEY- Just because the devil has got some weapons in his hands does not mean you have to let them work.

MAIN POINT- The weapons the enemy uses against us only have as much power as we give them.

So lets look back at our story, here is Hezekiah broken, ashamed, questioning his decisions, not sure of what he believes anymore and the Assyrians have surrounded him. Even despite Hezekiah’s mistake of destroying the temple God has guaranteed his victory.

KEY- Sometimes even after God has given us a word we still struggle because we see the enemy’s weapons pointed at us.

POINT- You see the enemy’s weapons outlined in the speeches and letters of the Assyrians.

Intimidation - (NLT) — 31 What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us?

Accusation - (NLT) — 34 Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.

Comparison - (NLT) — 32 Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else?

Confusion - (NLT) — 35 Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death?

Compromise - (NLT) — 30 And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory.

(NLT) — 19 Then the Assyrian king’s chief of staff told them to give this message to Hezekiah: “This is what the great king of Assyria says: What are you trusting in that makes you so confident? 20 Do you think that mere words can substitute for military skill and strength? Who are you counting on, that you have rebelled against me? 21 On Egypt? If you lean on Egypt, it will be like a reed that splinters beneath your weight and pierces your hand. Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, is completely unreliable! 22 “But perhaps you will say to me, ‘We are trusting in the Lord our God!’ But isn’t he the one who was insulted by Hezekiah? Didn’t Hezekiah tear down his shrines and altars and make everyone in Judah and Jerusalem worship only at the altar here in Jerusalem? 23 “I’ll tell you what! Strike a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria. I will give you 2,000 horses if you can find that many men to ride on them! 24 With your tiny army, how can you think of challenging even the weakest contingent of my master’s troops, even with the help of Egypt’s chariots and charioteers? 25 What’s more, do you think we have invaded your land without the Lord’s direction? The Lord himself told us, ‘Attack this land and destroy it!’ ”

(NLT) — 26 Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, Shebna, and Joah said to the Assyrian chief of staff, “Please speak to us in Aramaic, for we understand it well. Don’t speak in Hebrew, for the people on the wall will hear.” 27 But Sennacherib’s chief of staff replied, “Do you think my master sent this message only to you and your master? He wants all the people to hear it, for when we put this city under siege, they will suffer along with you. They will be so hungry and thirsty that they will eat their own dung and drink their own urine.” 28 Then the chief of staff stood and shouted in Hebrew to the people on the wall, “Listen to this message from the great king of Assyria! 29 This is what the king says: Don’t let Hezekiah deceive you. He will never be able to rescue you from my power. 30 Don’t let him fool you into trusting in the Lord by saying, ‘The Lord will surely rescue us. This city will never fall into the hands of the Assyrian king!’ 31 “Don’t listen to Hezekiah! These are the terms the king of Assyria is offering: Make peace with me—open the gates and come out. Then each of you can continue eating from your own grapevine and fig tree and drinking from your own well. 32 Then I will arrange to take you to another land like this one—a land of grain and new wine, bread and vineyards, olive groves and honey. Choose life instead of death! “Don’t listen to Hezekiah when he tries to mislead you by saying, ‘The Lord will rescue us!’ 33 Have the gods of any other nations ever saved their people from the king of Assyria? 34 What happened to the gods of Hamath and Arpad? And what about the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? Did any god rescue Samaria from my power? 35 What god of any nation has ever been able to save its people from my power? So what makes you think that the Lord can rescue Jerusalem from me?” 36 But the people were silent and did not utter a word because Hezekiah had commanded them, “Do not answer him.”

(NLT) — 10 “This message is for King Hezekiah of Judah. Don’t let your God, in whom you trust, deceive you with promises that Jerusalem will not be captured by the king of Assyria. 11 You know perfectly well what the kings of Assyria have done wherever they have gone. They have completely destroyed everyone who stood in their way! Why should you be any different? 12 Have the gods of other nations rescued them—such nations as Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Tel-assar? My predecessors destroyed them all! 13 What happened to the king of Hamath and the king of Arpad? What happened to the kings of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?”

POINT- Intimidation’s purpose is control and it’s way is fear, discouragement, and despair.

ILLUSTRATION- As a kid I hated amusement park rides because I was afraid of what could happen.

KEY- Understand that the Assyrians were masters of intimidation, many times when they went to war they wouldn’t even have to fight because of how intimidating they were. They were known for taking kings and generals and parading them around with hooks in their noses after defeating them, so everyone could see they were in control.

(NLT) — 11 You know perfectly well what the kings of Assyria have done wherever they have gone. They have completely destroyed everyone who stood in their way! Why should you be any different?

QUESTION- Has the enemy or perhaps your own mind stunted your spiritual growth because you are so concerned with what could be or what would be? -The possibility of loosing out because of your walk with God… The possibility of having what I want doing it my own… What would be what could be.

POINT- Often times intimidation involves a line in the sand. If you cross this line I will do… If you don’t do what I say then I will do…

(NLT) — 10 Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.

(NLT) — 31 What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us?

Listen we need to be a generation that will declare that intimidation of the enemy will not translate to motivation of my decisions.

The enemy can mouth off and show off all the things he has done everywhere in the world but I’m not going to allow that to move me to change me.

KEY- I was only living for God anyway.

(NLT) — 21 On Egypt? If you lean on Egypt, it will be like a reed that splinters beneath your weight and pierces your hand. Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, is completely unreliable! 22 “But perhaps you will say to me, ‘We are trusting in the Lord our God!’ But isn’t he the one who was insulted by Hezekiah? Didn’t Hezekiah tear down his shrines and altars and make everyone in Judah and Jerusalem worship only at the altar here in Jerusalem?

(NLT) — 10 … For the accuser of our brothers and sisters has been thrown down to earth— the one who accuses them before our God day and night.

Isn’t it funny how its only after you get closer to God the enemy has an issue with all the wrong things you have done in your past?

(NLT) — 32 Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else?

KEY- This is the most shallow of the enemy’s weapons - because what he is accusing you of doing God already knew about it and chose you anyway.

ILLUSTRATION- I remember one time I thought that I had damaged one of my moms dinning room chairs. My brother saw it and said I’m going to tell mom and I begged him not to. He had me doing his chores for a whole day come to find out he was the one who broke it a week prior. Mom already knew it was broken.

QUESTION- In what ways have you compromised because the devil was holding your past over your head. What have you restrained yourself from doing because your past was in your peripherals? How have you changed your worship because of the accusation? It what way have you changed your destiny because the accuser made you believe you didn’t deserve it?

(NLT) — 11 You know perfectly well what the kings of Assyria have done wherever they have gone. They have completely destroyed everyone who stood in their way! Why should you be any different?

KEY POINT- The enemy to your joy is comparison.

Look at them comparing what didn’t matter…

Idols - army sizes - diplomatic ability

Why should it matter what you can and can not do WHEN GOD IS ON YOUR SIDE…

While you were busy comparing what you can do with what you can’t do, and while you were busy questioning your purpose next to someone eases purpose, God was out winning your wars! Because all the comparisons you are drawling DON’T MATTER NEXT TO GOD.

KEY- Notice the mistake the Assyrian’s made, they asked the wrong question… “Why should you be any different?”

(NLT) — 10 “This message is for King Hezekiah of Judah. Don’t let your God, in whom you trust, deceive you with promises that Jerusalem will not be captured by the king of Assyria.

(NLT) — 31 “Don’t listen to Hezekiah! These are the terms the king of Assyria is offering: Make peace with me—open the gates and come out. Then each of you can continue eating from your own grapevine and fig tree and drinking from your own well. 32 Then I will arrange to take you to another land like this one—a land of grain and new wine, bread and vineyards, olive groves and honey. Choose life instead of death! “Don’t listen to Hezekiah when he tries to mislead you by saying, ‘The Lord will rescue us!’

Like No Other - Pt.2 Artificial Artillery

Review from last week…

1. Weapon of Intimidation.

2. Weapon of Accusation.

3. Weapon of Comparison.

4. Weapon of Confusion.

5. Weapon of Compromise.