This ain't your fight.
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Woman tells the preacher it was a good message. But not that good.
Praising, worshiping and trusting in God.
Northern and Southern Kingdom
Israel and Judah
Jehoshaphat becomes King of Judah.
He is in a battle along side Israel and the King of Israel disguised himself as a regular warrior and encourages Jehoshaphat to wear his robes.
Jehoshaphat gets rebuked for helping the King of Israel and he immediately makes changes and encourages his people to follow the Lord.
1 Now it came about after this that the sons of Moab and the sons of Ammon, together with some of the Meunites, came to make war against Jehoshaphat.
Three groups coming together to war against Judah.
2 Then some came and reported to Jehoshaphat, saying, “A great multitude is coming against you from beyond the sea, out of Aram and behold, they are in Hazazon-tamar (that is Engedi).”
Insert Map.
14 hour walk according to Google.
3 Jehoshaphat was afraid and turned his attention to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.
4 So Judah gathered together to seek help from the Lord; they even came from all the cities of Judah to seek the Lord.
His first reaction was to seek the Lord.
5 Then Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord before the new court,
He is standing in the court of the temple that Solomon built to the Lord.
6 and he said, “O Lord, the God of our fathers, are You not God in the heavens? And are You not ruler over all the kingdoms of the nations? Power and might are in Your hand so that no one can stand against You.
Praise the Lord
Jesus taught the disciples to pray he started with:
Our Father who is in Heaven, Hollowed be your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.
This isn’t lip service, this is acknowledging that we serve an all powerful God.
1 The Lord is my light and my salvation;
Whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the defense of my life;
Whom shall I dread?
2 When evildoers came upon me to devour my flesh,
My adversaries and my enemies, they stumbled and fell.
3 Though a host encamp against me,
My heart will not fear;
Though war arise against me,
In spite of this I shall be confident.
Then Jehoshaphat reminds God of His promises.
7 “Did You not, O our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel and give it to the descendants of Abraham Your friend forever?
8 “They have lived in it, and have built You a sanctuary there for Your name, saying,
9 ‘Should evil come upon us, the sword, or judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house and before You (for Your name is in this house) and cry to You in our distress, and You will hear and deliver us.’
That is a summary of Soleman’s dedication prayer of the Temple.
10 “Now behold, the sons of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, whom You did not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt (they turned aside from them and did not destroy them),
11 see how they are rewarding us by coming to drive us out from Your possession which You have given us as an inheritance.
12 “O our God, will You not judge them? For we are powerless before this great multitude who are coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are on You.”
The King is admitting his weakness and trusting in the Lord.
9 And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.
10 Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.
We are told that the spirit of the Lord came upon a Levite names Jahaziel son of Zehcariah.
15 and he said, “Listen, all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat: thus says the Lord to you, ‘Do not fear or be dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours but God’s.
That is what they wanted to hear.
16 ‘Tomorrow go down against them. Behold, they will come up by the ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the valley in front of the wilderness of Jeruel.
17 ‘You need not fight in this battle; station yourselves, stand and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.’ Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out to face them, for the Lord is with you.”
They all fell down and worshiped and praised the Lord.
20 They rose early in the morning and went out to the wilderness of Tekoa; and when they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Listen to me, O Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, put your trust in the Lord your God and you will be established. Put your trust in His prophets and succeed.”
21 When he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who sang to the Lord and those who praised Him in holy attire, as they went out before the army and said, “Give thanks to the Lord, for His lovingkindness is everlasting.”
They were acting in faith.
22 When they began singing and praising, the Lord set ambushes against the sons of Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; so they were routed.
When they began singing!!! Not before, not after, but when.
26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.
23 For the sons of Ammon and Moab rose up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir destroying them completely; and when they had finished with the inhabitants of Seir, they helped to destroy one another.
They killed each other.
24 When Judah came to the lookout of the wilderness, they looked toward the multitude, and behold, they were corpses lying on the ground, and no one had escaped.
Three days to collect the spoils
4th day they blessed the Lord.
returned to Jerusalem with Joy, praising God with songs.
The dread of God was on all the Kingdoms around them and Judah knew peace.
Four Lessons from this story:
You can be living a righteous life and still have trouble.
In this world you will have trouble, but take heart, I have overcome the world.
Seek God First.
Greatest commandment: Love the Lord with all you heart, soul, and mind.
33 “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
3. Believe God: Because the people of Judah had remembered what the Lord had done for their people and for them, they had faith in God.
3(a) You need to know your Bible, so that you can see God’s faithfulness.
You need to remember what God has done for you in your life.
3(b) You need to walk in that faith. If you pray over something and then turn around and continue to worry about it, then where is your faith.
4. You need to learn the power of praising God.
1 O Lord, You are my God;
I will exalt You, I will give thanks to Your name;
For You have worked wonders,
Plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness.
3 Because Your lovingkindness is better than life,
My lips will praise You.
4 So I will bless You as long as I live;
I will lift up my hands in Your name.
Where are you?
Seek God.
Trust God.
Praise God.