NOTES: When the Odds are Against You - II Chronicles 20: 1-30
Jon pulled his lesson together after the win of the Houston Astros, which was astounding considering the teams the beat: the Yankees and the Dodgers. It is a great feat, not to be undermined. But the odds were against the Astros, and so the underdogs won. Jon could have easily pulled the historical narratives of David & Goliath, Moses and the Plagues on Egypt, Abraham & Sarah having a child, Joseph sold into slavery. God's people have historically always fought against the odds. Our salvation tells us this. Against all odds, all logical, God loves us so much that He sent His only Son to die for us, so we can be with Him, worship and adore Him for all eternity.
But no, Jon did not pull from the well known stories of our history, he went to the story of Jehoshaphat, in II Chronicles 20:1-30.
- Jehoshaphat was a King of Judah
- A godly man, not perfect, but he did right in the eyes of God.
- And 3 armies joined forces and came against him and Isreal
- Moabites
- Ammonites
- Some of the Meunites (Syria)
So this massive combined army is coming against the kingdom, we learn this in verse 1 & 2. In verse 3 & 4 we see:
Then Jehoshaphat was afraid and set his face to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. And Judah assembled to seek help from the Lord; from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord.
Jehoshaphat did 3 things, and they brought about a victory in spite of the odds.
- Turn to God
- Wait on a word from God (receive)
- Watch God work
Now Jon only focused on point 1 this Sunday, and he plans to expound on the other two points in the weeks to come.
So what does it mean to "Turn to God"?
First of all, you seek God, you pray, you fast.
And when you pray, you praise God, acknowledge His:
- Power
- Provision
- Presence
- the Purpose He has given you.
II Chronicles 20: 5-9:
And Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord, before the new court, and said, “O Lord, God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. In your hand are power and might, so that none is able to withstand you. Did you not, our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel, and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend? And they have lived in it and have built for you in it a sanctuary for your name, saying, ‘If disaster comes upon us, the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house and before you—for your name is in this house—and cry out to you in our affliction, and you will hear and save.’
Then, in you prayer, our out your heart to God. Be honest with Him (He already knows your heart). Jehoshaphat did this very thing:
- Doesn't seem fair
- God could have stopped it (verse 10 & 11)
- And now behold, the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, whom you would not let Israel invade when they came from the land of Egypt, and whom they avoided and did not destroy - behold, they reward us by coming to drive us out of your possession, which you have given us to inherit.
- Future is injeopardy
- Nothing we can do
Finally, decided to focus on God, verse 12, "O our God, will you not execute judgment on them? For we are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”
That needs to be our focus, with the battles all around, the tragedies, the deaths, the natural disasters. We need to have our eyes on the LORD.
NOTES: Two Powerful Words - Deuteronomy 6:10-12
Not from the sermon:
It is the month of November. During this month, your Facebook feed will probably be filled with daily "I am thankful for..." posts. I have done them in years past, and believe it is a good habit actually. I am going to work on my own list, privately this year, not publicly. But it is good to see people being thankful.
Deuteronomy 6:10-12 (ESV)
“And when the Lord your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you—with great and good cities that you did not build, and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant—and when you eat and are full, then take care lest you forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
Pastor Charles believes, and I see where he is coming from, that society as a whole could be more thankful. There is power in two little words, "thank you." His focus was on the later part of verse 12. When we eat and are full, that is when we tend to neglect having a thankful heart. There is nothing wrong with food, and we should be thankful for our food. Millions go hungry daily in our world, and we in America really do not know this too well. There are those who go without, and that is a travesty. When we do get food, and are tummies are no longer crying out, we get content. When food easily comes, we don't stop to think about how lucky, how blessed we are to have it.
Let us remember James 1:17.
Everything we have, every good gift (food, salvation, clothing, housing) comes from God. When was the last time you told God, "thank you"? We all, hopefully most of us, give a blessing before we eat. But, outside of that, do we say thank you to God for the food we have?
On your list, if you are making a November Thankful List, make sure to add food to that list, but also, that Christ is our righteousness:
2 Corinthians 5:21 (ESV)
21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
With the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther nailing his 95 Thesis to the Catholic church door, we should all be eternally grateful and thankful that Christ is our righteousness.
I challenge you today to take time and tell God "thank you" for your food, His righteousness, and all that is put upon your heart.
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