Surrounded

LIBRARY ANNOUNCEMENT

Good morning! My name is David Sorn, and I’m the Lead Pastor here at Renovation Church!

I have an exciting announcement for you today.

Many of you have seen how our library has really taken off since we opened it a little over a year ago.

So much so, that it’s quite common that there is a crowd of people in the hallway waiting to get in because the library is already completely full.

SO, I am happy to announce today that our library has moved to a bigger room!

It has swapped places with Gospel Threads (which will also give Gospel Threads a room that isn’t too big for its size)

We have so many incredible books in our Christian library (including many new ones in light of this move), there is an expanded kids’ area, chairs to sit down and read and more.

So go ahead and check out the new larger space (and a book or two) just around the corner before you go today!

THE PASSAGE

All right, let’s jump into our passage today in our Life of Elisha Series

2 Kings 6:8-15

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Elisha was a prophet in Israel & Judah about 850 years or so before Jesus came to earth.

And Israel had many enemies in those days, and we’re going to see what God did when they were about to be attacked.

Let’s start reading.

(2 Kings 6:8-15) – NIV

8 Now the king of Aram was at war with Israel. After conferring with his officers, he said, “I will set up my camp in such and such a place.”
9 The man of God sent word to the king of Israel: “Beware of passing that place, because the Arameans are going down there.” 10 So the king of Israel checked on the place indicated by the man of God. Time and again Elisha warned the king, so that he was on his guard in such places.
11 This enraged the king of Aram. He summoned his officers and demanded of them, “Tell me! Which of us is on the side of the king of Israel?”
12 “None of us, my lord the king,” said one of his officers, “but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the very words you speak in your bedroom.”
13 “Go, find out where he is,” the king ordered, “so I can send men and capture him.” The report came back: “He is in Dothan.” 14 Then he sent horses and chariots and a strong force there. They went by night and surrounded the city.

15 When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. “Oh no, my lord! What shall we do?” the servant asked.

THE ENEMY CAN SURROUND YOU

All right, here is the first Biblical truth I want you to see this morning.

The enemy can surround you

Sometimes this happens.

The people of God had enemies.

And so do we as the people of God today.

Although it may not be as you suppose.

The Bible says this in Ephesians 6 about our real enemies

(Ephesians 6:12) – NIV

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 

The enemy can surround you

That means that our real enemy is not another person who betrayed you, or another country, or the opposite political party from you.

Your real enemy…is your spiritual enemy, the devil and his demons.

Now, that doesn’t mean that every problem in the world is demonic.

The Bible teaches that our problems come from 3 different areas:

1) We sin (so sometimes we’re the problem!)

2) Society is fallen and broken (the NT calls this “the world”

3) Spiritual warfare…that is the spiritual attacks of evil forces.

And as soon as I start saying this kind of stuff, I know that maybe 10-20% of you went, “Oh boy, I can’t believe in that stuff.”

And yet, listen, if you can believe in a God that created the entire universe, and created angels, I assure you it’s no more of an intellectual leap to believe that there are evil angels.

And the Bible talks at length about them.

Just read the life of Jesus, he’s constantly dealing with the demonic and fighting a spiritual battle.

And the main aim of demonic forces is to oppose the work of God in your life and cause your faith to whither and fail.

Now, if this is a newer topic to you, or you just want to go deeper on this particular subject (in how to engage in spiritual warfare), I’d encourage deeper study this week by listening to one or both of these two teachings on our app or website (if you want to take a picture of this or write this down)

“Get in the Fight” from Ephesians 6

“That your faith may not fail” from Luke 22

Both of those would be a good Biblical study for you…

…because you have to know that your spiritual enemy is intent on attacking you with discouragement, persecution, temptation, sadness, you name it.

He’ll use anything (and not just the big things either)…

He’ll use anything to get your eyes off of Spiritual Truth and off of the Goodness of God.

And some of you are feeling those sorts of attacks deeply even this week.

You feel kind of like Elisha’s servant

…and you feel like an army discouragement has surrounded you, or you feel surrounded by your pain or circumstances…

And you too, like Elisha’s servant in verse 15, are saying, “Oh no, Lord! What shall we do?”

THE ENEMY CAN SURROUND YOU BUT GOD KNOWS HIS PLAN

Well, firstly, you want to remember that even if you feel surrounded, none of this is happening without God’s knowledge.

Think about our text this morning

The enemy keeps trying to send little raiding parties into Israel, but each time the Israelite army is not there.

Because God keeps telling Elisha where the enemy is going, and Elisha tells the people of God not to go there.

The king of Aram, the enemy, gets so frustrated that he thinks there must be a spy in his midst!

But in verse 12, one of his officers says that “Elisha the prophet tells the King of Israel the very words you speak in your bedroom!”

And listen, here is the truth we can pull from that:

The enemy can surround you

The enemy can surround you, but God knows his plan

No matter what the enemy’s attack is on your life right now, God knows about it

The enemy keeps trying to attack Israel, but it doesn’t matter.

The enemy can be as sneaky as they want, but when God knows their plan, it doesn’t matter.

And even this plan to capture Elisha, is an idiotic one.

Elisha is the very one telling the king where the enemy os going, but they still think you’re they’re to sneak up on Elisha himself!

And so you’ve got to pray this Biblical truth into your situation right now.

The enemy can surround you, but God knows his plan.

So if you’re feeling like the enemy has surrounded you…and he’s begun his attack on your family, or he has begun an all-out assault on your mental health, or your spiritual walk…

You need to know that the enemy has not…

(I repeat), He has NOT…out-schemed God.

God is fully aware, and He is ready to respond.

And this is critical to acknowledge.

Because both FEAR and DESPAIR come when we think we’re alone.

And there is no hope, or no way out.

And we just feel surrounded

But that’s not true, and let me show you why.

Let’s keep reading.

And let’s start again at verse 15

THE ENEMY CAN SURROUND YOU BUT GOD KNOWS HIS PLAN, AND HE HAS SURROUNDED YOUR ENEMY

2 Kings 6:15-23

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(2 Kings 6:15-23) – NIV

15 When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. “Oh no, my lord! What shall we do?” the servant asked.
16 “Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”
17 And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
18 As the enemy came down toward him, Elisha prayed to the Lord, “Strike this army with blindness.” So he struck them with blindness, as Elisha had asked.
19 Elisha told them, “This is not the road and this is not the city. Follow me, and I will lead you to the man you are looking for.” And he led them to Samaria.
20 After they entered the city, Elisha said, “Lord, open the eyes of these men so they can see.” Then the Lord opened their eyes and they looked, and there they were, inside Samaria.

21 When the king of Israel saw them, he asked Elisha, “Shall I kill them, my father? Shall I kill them?”
22 “Do not kill them,” he answered. “Would you kill those you have captured with your own sword or bow? Set food and water before them so that they may eat and drink and then go back to their master.” 23 So he prepared a great feast for them, and after they had finished eating and drinking, he sent them away, and they returned to their master. So the bands from Aram stopped raiding Israel’s territory.

(Surrounded)

So how does our friend Elisha react when the enemy finds him in Dothan and they’ve completely surrounded him?

He doesn’t panic. He doesn’t stress eat a half pint of ice cream. He doesn’t even grab a sword.

Why? Because he’s seeing something different.

Look at verse 16 again.

16 “Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”

And then he prays for the servant to have his eyes opened, and when they are opened, he sees the angel armies (full of horses and chariots of fire)

Elisha is not afraid because he sees a spiritual reality, and it’s this:

The enemy can surround you, but God knows his plan

The enemy can surround you, but God knows his plan, and God has surrounded your enemy!

And that enemy army is no match for the angel army and their chariots of fire!

And so Elisha, now with the power of God, strikes them with a sort of blindness, and then leads them on a walk…right into the capital of Israel, Samaria.

The enemy has now been led into the walls of that city, and so everything has been reversed.

And now the enemy is surrounded.

This is the truth of this passage, and the truth I want your heart to hear this morning:

The enemy can surround you…but God knows his plan…and God has surrounded your enemy!

So do not be discouraged my Christian friends

And hear the word of God:

No matter what you are facing, those who are with you are more than those who are against you.

Romans 8:31: If God is for us, who can be against us?

1 John 4:4: The one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

Do you believe these Scriptures?

I don’t know what you’re dealing with right now…

Maybe you constantly feel tempted on your phone…and by way the everyone else scrolls, browses, and acts online, as a Christian, you feel alone, surrounded even.

But you’re not.

God has surrounded your enemy.

Do you see it? Will you call on Him?

Maybe you're a parent trying to raise Godly kids in a world that feels increasingly anti-God.

You feel surrounded by every show, every song, every app is training your kids against the gospel

Maybe you’re like many people here, and you’ve recently come to faith, but no one else in your family has…yet.

You’re not surrounded, God has surrounded you, and He is with you.

Those who are with you are more than those who are against you!

The enemy can surround you, but God knows his plan, and God has surrounded your enemy!

I remember, when I went to college, I didn’t go to an evangelical Christian school or anything, and in fact, when I went to college, I didn’t meet another Christian for 2 weeks.

And I felt so alone.

I had just become a believer 2 months earlier, and I felt completely isolated.

Every college kid was going out for the weekend, living it up, and I was…alone.

And then, one day, this kid of my dorm room floor, named Paul, knocked on my door, and said, “Hi, I’m Paul. There’s a Bible study that started last week, do you want to come?”

I was like, “YESSSSS!!!”

And I went, and there were about 10 people there, and I remember as we sang a worship song in a circle with an acoustic guitar, just wiping away the tears”

Thinking, God, I’m not completely surrounded by the enemy. You are here. You are here.

And that little Bible study of 10 kids kept growing.

And by the end of the year, we had to move out of the dorm room and into a meeting room because there were 70 students coming.

By the next year, it was 150.

And we moved into the Pub on campus.

(pubphoto)

You can see all the beer lights in the background

That’s where I started preaching for the first time…in a pub.

And the year after that, there almost 250 college students coming to hear God’s Word preached.

Our college had no traditional Christian groups there: No Campus Crusade, no Chi Alpha, No Intervarsity, none of that was there.

But God was there.

And even though I felt at first like I was surrounded by the enemy, the truth was God had a plan, and he was surrounding us!

And He started to pierce the darkness with His light.

In fact, check this out:

That little Bible study that started way back in 2000, is still today, 25 years later is still going strong.

I got to speak at it a couple of years ago, which was really cool!

And so if you’re in a place where you feel alone, or you feel like the darkness is strong, or you feel surrounded,

You must think, you must believe, you must act like God’s holy army is on your side. Because it is.

(Psalm 34:7) – NIV

The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him,
    and he delivers them.

This is how Christians need to see the world around us.

We are told to walk by faith, not by sight.

Paul says this in 2 Corinthians:

(2 Corinthians 4:18) – NIV

18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Now that doesn’t mean, “Now try and imagine things that aren’t true”

Faith, real faith, is when you acknowledge all of the evidence for God, and then live your life based on that evidence.

The evidence that God is real.

Read and study this book (take a Bible if you don’t have one…start in Matthew), and you’ll see that it’s true.

Go out into the country in the middle of the night and look up at the stars, God is real.

“Faith isn’t about ignoring reality—it’s about seeing greater reality.

The enemy can surround you, but God knows his plan, and God has surrounded your enemy!

You know, I think American Christians have a weakened faith (compared to other Christians around the world) in part because, here, in America, it’s just so common for us to downplay spiritual things in favor of scientific things, the things we can see, and test, and touch.

And so therefore, in America, if we get ourselves in a tough spot where there is no obvious/visible solution, we tend to so quickly throw up our hands and say, “I’m surrounded!”

“It’s over. It won’t work. And I just feel sorry for myself”

Whereas the Biblical Christian, the Spiritual Christian, “the walk by faith not by sight Christian,” doesn’t say, “I feel sorry for myself.”

They say, “I feel sorry for my enemy!”

“Because he’s the one that’s in trouble”

“Because he’s the one who’s inferior to my God”

“Because he’s the who who’s surrounded”

GOSPEL

I love this passage because the progression of this story is the progression that so many of us go through every year

Your enemy surrounds you, and fear creeps in, like Elisha’s servant, you throw up your hands and you say, “What shall I do?”

Some of you are in that stage right now.

But then you pray, you get on you knees, you read the Word of God, and God starts to open your eyes, and you start to see the greater reality.

And you can say, “No, I wasn’t seeing the truth before. The greater truth is I’m not surrounded by the enemy, God has surrounded my enemy”.

And you remind yourself that no matter how long the battle ranges on, we’ve read the end of this book, and spoiler alert, God wins!

Do not fear Satan’s schemes.

Today’s passage reminds me of the devil leading Jesus Christ to the cross, thinking, “I got him now!!”

Whoops

This is what our God does.

He turns the tables.

The enemy thinks he has you, but today he is walking into his own defeat!

And if you’ve never known God like this before, you can know that truth in your life.

Let me tell you why:

Jesus Christ, the son of God, after seeing all of your life, and everything you’d ever do…including every sinful act or thought…went to the cross to die in your place.

And the Bible says, “If you believe He died for you, you can be saved.”

That is, you can be forgiven of your sins, you can know God and walk with Him, and you can have eternal life in heaven, not in hell, because He will have paid for your sins.

And when you put your faith in Christ, the enemy no longer has control over you.

There is a power greater within you, it’s God.

Those old enemies of spiritual evil and even sin have their chains broken at the name of Jesus Christ.

And eyes are opened

And I know that there are some of you in this room who have resigned yourself to living life the way it’s been going.

You’ve felt surrounded…engulfed by life and difficulties of it…

But today God wants to open your eyes and save you and set you free.

No matter what you’re facing, He can surround you and face it with you…

And He’s already faced the worst for you.

He came and He gave His life on the cross for you.

And if you would only accept Him in, accept His sacrifice, and offer your life to Him…you could have your sins forgiven, and have Him in your life.

And I’m going to give you an opportunity to make that decision in just a few minutes.

But I want you to think about it first.

And pray about it.

Ask God what you need to do.

And I’m going to invite our Worship Team back on stage, and we’re going to worship to these truths

And if you need to surrender your life to Jesus for the first time, to be saved, I’m going to come back up in a few minutes and give you an opportunity to do so.