Sunday March 2nd, 2008
Series: the Fight part 9 Conclusion
Scripture: Psalm 24:7-10
Sermon: What a Mighty God We Serve
Speaker: Pastor Michael West
For nine weeks now, I have been teaching you to fight. To end complacency. To end passivity. To stand up and take back. To move ahead, forward, into the realm of the spiritual. I have been teaching on war. War against an unseen enemy. To help you understand his devices and how sneaky he really is. Now, this is the conclusion. This is graduation. This is the day of no more excuse making, it is a day of victory. It is a day to fight.
Our nation has been under spiritual and physical attacks and God is calling His church to rise up, grow up, step up and take up the sword of the Spirit and fight for the future.
It is possible for us to see our neighborhoods, our city, our towns, our state, even our great nation, turn away from it’s sins and aggressively turn toward heaven. Nineveh did. It is happening now, but we aren’t there yet. We will have to war.
Is America not the most influential nation on the planet, yet consider how god could use our land in Hollywood experienced a revival and our government became a model of integrity and justice. The key, don’t doubt. In the early 1990’s crime was big, but a movement began. Prayer and unity started to happen within the church and though crime is high, something amazing is happening, violent crime has decreased approximately ten percent since then.
Since 1995, teen sex and pregnancy has dropped significantly and for all the reasons you will hear, one is true, prayer is changing things.
Psalm 144:12-15
I hope some of the things you have heard and learned have helped. I hope you have a new zeal, a refreshed anointing. If we persevere, we will see great days ahead. I know some might think, I heard this and that, or I don’t get it. But that is reminiscent of the enemy’s tactics, to blind us in the reality of the righteous wars against evil and the authority we have been given by Jesus, to represent Christ in all the earth.
I know we are not supposed to be fearful, but an encounter with the living God or His angels is a terrifying experience. Somehow Christians have got this picture of God as being a cross between a fat happy Buddha and jolly, kind, Santa Claus.
Note I didn’t say a bad experience, I said terrifying. God isn’t out to scare us; it just happens. In the Bible whenever a person saw the Lord or an angel—even a glimpse of God’s power—that individual instinctively passed out or fell out.
What do we always hear them say? “Do not be afraid.” and it’s always right after the initial encounter. The typical phrase that we hear today—goose bumps—no, it was, they fell down as if dead.
Through the work of the enemy, one revelation of God in the Old Testament is often hidden from our understanding and that is the divine nature revealed in the compound names of God.
Some familiar ones are: Yahweh-Nissi—the Lord is My Banner, Yahweh-Jirah—My Provider, Yahweh-Rapha—the Lord My Healer.
Approximately thirty different occasions the Lord unites His eternal nature to the human need of His servant. However, there is one name that stands apart from these and occurs around two-hundred and ninety times in the Bible. That’s almost ten times the sum of all the others. The name? Yahweh-Sabaoth—the Lord of Hosts or the God of the Armies. This name is revealed to us more than any other.
Joshua 5:14 — Who met Joshua on the field of battle? The Lord of Hosts. It was the God of the Armies that led David into battle against the Philistines—I Samuel 17:45
If we are going to be successful, we must see the Lord as the Lord of Host, the God of the Armies of heaven, the Commander, the Master of the universe—Revelation 19:14
The enemy has seeded false images of these armies into our thought-life to weaken our understanding of their power and might. Every winter millions pull out their Christmas decorations, take out the treetop angel, get it in position and plug it in. Most are blond white women with wings and long dress who lights up when the tree is complete.
They are the furthest thing from the truth. Angels in the Bible are always depicted in a masculine form, even with masculine names, as a symbol of strength.
—Go to Zechariah chapter 5
These aren’t angels, but symbols of wickedness. Angels are fierce warriors of righteousness, they are clothed in light and mighty in battle.
It’s possible that angels have appeared to Christians in a feminine form, comforting on special occasions, but there are no references to feminine angles in the Bible. There are no Gerber baby angels depictions in the Bible, cute and harmless or is cupid, depending on which mythology you look at, Greek he is known as Eros, the son of Aphrodite—goddess of love. His name Eros means self love by the way. Or the Roman belief that he was the son of Venus.
None the less, he isn’t in Scripture. It wasn’t Gerber angels singing around the manger or ones who appeared to shepherds in the field. They were great warriors singing in awe of the sacrifice of a great King.
Wouldn’t it be great if one Christmas we light the angel and whoosh, like a nuclear meltdown! Bam! Instant fried Christmas tree and in it’s skeletal remains we see among the smoldering wire a real angel and the whole family slain spiritually splat, flat on the floor? A true touched by an angel moment. A Christmas to remember!
If I were in a true conflict with a spiritual force of wickedness and a Gerber angel showed up, I wouldn’t feel very comforted. I don’t care how rosy red his cheeks were even if he were twenty feet tall, if he is wearing a diaper I would not be impressed or be able to take him serious enough to trust him to fight in battle with me.
I want a real angel to show, massive, terrifying, sword drawn, fire in his eyes and big majestic wings, maybe two sets. Real angels don’t wear diapers—there’s a bumper sticker for you—My guardian angel doesn’t wear a diaper. Real angels are warriors of virtue in service to the Lord of the Armies and they know how to fight.
All that for this: Whatever battle you are in, the Lord of Armies is there with you and for you.
Who rescued you from the powers of darkness in the first place? It is the same Lord who comes now to anoint you for war and deliver you from the hand of the enemy—His name? Jesus, Redeemer, translated in Hebrew—Joshua—who led the armies of God into the promised land—Jesus—which means deliverer as well as Savior.
David’s revelation of God: Psalm 18:17-19
Another promise to hold to: Isaiah 54:4-5
Maybe your battle is for your family, especially your children:
Isaiah 49:24-25
Perhaps you are praying for our city or nation. You must see the Lord as He really is—a Great Warrior, fierce in battle, then you can expect his anointing you by way of this promise: Isaiah 42:13
Maybe you pray for the peace of Israel: Isaiah 19:23-25 / 31:5
Whatever the battle, the Lord of Hosts fights for you: Psalm 24:7-10 a great way to start any day.
Make room in your head, in your consciousness for the “Lord is strong and Mighty” to join you, Mighty in battle and start speaking to the barriers and closed gates that are slowing or stopping you from moving forward so that the King of Glory may come in.
And last but not least, God’s promise to the Saints at the end of the age: Revelation 19:11-16.
God you are our Commander and in this war we know You are engaged in setting prisoners free, liberating captives, Lead us on O Lord of Hosts, train us for warfare Lord of the Armies of heaven so that we may be at Your side in this battle and all others. Cause us to shout the victory and take back what Satan has set out to destroy or take captive and we know in Jesus Name, we are victorious.
