Under Siege:
2 Kings 6:24-33 And it came to pass after this, that Benhadad king of Syria gathered all his host, and went up, and besieged Samaria.
25 And there was a great famine in Samaria: and, behold, they besieged it, until an ass's head was sold for fourscore pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a cab of dove's dung for five pieces of silver.
26 And as the king of Israel was passing by upon the wall,
there cried a woman unto him, saying, Help, my lord, O king. 27 And he said, If the LORD do not help thee, whence shall I help thee? out of the barnfloor, or out of the winepress? 28 And the king said unto her, What aileth thee? And she answered, This woman said unto me, Give thy son, that we may eat him to day, and we will eat my son to morrow. 29 So we boiled my son, and did eat him:
and I said unto her on the next day, Give thy son, that we may eat him: and she hath hid her son. 30 And it came to pass, when the king heard the words of the woman, that he rent his clothes; and he passed by upon the wall, and the people looked, and, behold,
he had sackcloth within upon his flesh. 31 Then he said, God do so and more also to me, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat shall stand on him this day. 32 But Elisha sat in his house, and the elders sat with him; and the king sent a man from before him: but ere the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, See ye how this son of a murderer hath sent to take away mine head? look, when the messenger cometh, shut the door, and hold him fast at the door:
is not the sound of his master's feet behind him? 33 And while he yet talked with them, behold, the messenger came down unto him:
and he said, Behold, this evil is of the LORD;
what should I wait for the LORD any longer?
2 Kings 7:1-5 Then Elisha said, Hear ye the word of the LORD; Thus saith the LORD, To morrow about this time shall a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria. 2 Then a lord on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God, and said, Behold, if the LORD would make windows in heaven, might this thing be?
And he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof. 3 And there were four leprous men at the entering in of the gate: and they said one to another, Why sit we here until we die?
4 If we say, We will enter into the city, then the famine is in the city, and we shall die there: and if we sit still here, we die also. Now, therefore come, and let us fall unto the host of the Syrians:
if they save us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall but die. 5 And they rose up in the twilight, to go unto the camp
of the Syrians: and when they were come to the uttermost part
of the camp of Syria, behold, there was no man there.
I. INTRODUCTION:
A. Hear my first thought: So many today are praying for God
to change the wind. It appears that the winds are blowing
CONTRARY to what we think they should be blowing.
So we ask God: GOD PLEASE CHANGE THE WINDS!
God says: WHY DON’T YOU CHANGE YOUR SAILS?
B. Siege: To take hold of forcibly or suddenly.
To arrest or apprehend. To take advantage of.
C. Remember our REAL HOME IS HEAVEN.
An old song says: This world is not my home; I am just passing through... Heaven is no fairy tale. “HEAVEN IS…..
A PREPARED PLACE FOR A PREPARED PEOPLE.”
D. Heaven is a real place. I picked up a hitchhiker many years ago.
I witnessed to him and spoke about heaven. He told me he did not believe in heaven, he had never been there, so heaven could not be real? I asked him did he believe there was a place known as Paris, France? Of course, he believed. Yet, he had never been there.
I asked him if he accepted London, England as a reality?
Well, of course I do Preacher, was his reply. I asked him had he ever been there? No, was his answer. I asked him if he knew anyone personally that had ever been to England or France?
His answer was no. I could not understand why he could accept the reality of Paris or London but he could not accept heaven?
II. LET ME INTRODUCE TO YOU A PEOPLE UNDER SIEGE.
WE HAVE 3 GROUPS OF PEOPLE IN TODAY’S MESSAGE:
OUR FIRST TYPE IS AHAB: the backslidden Christian,
SPOILED ROTTEN AND DEMANDING HIS WAY.
Ahab did evil in the sight of the Lord above all that were before him.
A. Ahab married an EVIL WOMAN NAMED: JEZEBEL.
B. Ahab and Jezebel hated the PREACHER, ELIJAH. Ahab hated the word of God. Ahab and Jezebel promised to kill the Preacher.
C. Jezebel introduced Ahab to the WORSHIP of a gold calf.
The two of them found Baal to be better than Abraham’s God.
D. 400 false preachers told Ahab --- GO AHEAD TO WAR
AND YOU WILL WIN... MICAIH WARNED Ahab, Don’t do it!
E. AHAB THINKS HE CAN DISGUISE HIMSELF AND NOBODY WILL NOTICE HIS BACKSLIDDEN POSITION.
F. SIN, GREED & PRIDE WILL ALWAYS LEAD TO DYSFUNCTIONAL, SELF-CENTERED CHRISTIANS...
III. THE SECOND TYPE IS THAT OF BEN-HA-DAD.
BENHADAD HAS COME TO REMOVE THE FOCUS AND PRESENCE OF GOD FROM THE MIDST OF THE PEOPLE. BENHADAD’S TOOLS WERE FEAR AND DOUBT.
Benhadad is a type of the WORLD TRYING TO GAIN INFLUENCE OVER THE CHURCH.
A. Benhadad is a type of a selfish person doing his/her own thing.
B. BENHADAD IS A KING FOR HIRE... to the highest bidder.
C. Benhadad’s goal is GOLD. How much gold and silver is enough?
SIN ALWAYS CALLS FOR A LITTLE MORE...
D. Sin is like cake icing, you take one lick, you have to have another.
E. BENHADAD WILL COMPROMISE HIS IDEAS AND BELIEF SYSTEM FOR MORE MONEY, POWER AND POPULARITY...
F. BENHADAD HAD BIG PLANS ABOUT TOMORROW...
G. Benhadad is there to call black white, and white black?
He wants to turn SIN INTO THE SHADE OF GRAY...
H. Benhadad caused PANIC and FEAR within God’s camp.
IV. THE THIRD TYPE IN TODAY’S MESSAGE
IS SAMARIA A TYPE OF A COLD... INDIFFERENT...
DYSFUNCTIONAL CHURCH THAT HAS NO POWER. SAMARIA BLAMED EVERYONE ELSE FOR THE DIFFICULTY SHE FACED BUT HERSELF!
A. Samaria was supposed to be a WATCH-TOWER MOUNTAIN.
Samaria is a steep, oblong shaped hill with a flat area on the top.
B. While UNDER SIEGE, SAMARIA HAD LOST EVERYTHING
There was FEAR and PANIC within --- THE ENEMY STEALS THE ESSENTIALS FROM WITHIN...NO FOOD, NO WATER, NO POWER ... ALL WHILE THE CHURCH IS UNDER SIEGE...
C. Samaria should have been a place for God’s people but they loved the convenience of compromise, of no conviction.
D. CANABALISM WILL ALWAYS GROW WITHIN A CHURCH THAT LOOSES FOCUS OF GOD’S PRESENCE...
E. Today we see SAMARIA, UNDER SIEGE OF BENHADAD...
F. FEAR AND FAMINE REIGN AND DOMINATE
WHERE SIN HAS BEEN ALLOWED IN THE CAMP.
G. Where are all the warriors? Where is the power to ARISE?
Where is the repentance? Where is the release of FAITH?
WHERE ARE THOSE THAT TRUELY KNOW GOD...
V. THIS MESS WE ARE IN IS THE PREACHER’S FAULT,
LET’S GET A PREACHER WITH MORE UNDERSTANDING...
A. Ahab caught the gravity of the situation... But, he could’t see
HIS DIRTY HANDS...He could’t accept the sin of stealing Nabboth’s vinyard...He could’t see the Baal worship... AS WRONG.
B. YOU WILL NEVER REPENT AS LONG AS YOU THINK YOU ARE RIGHT. “””Repeat this several times”””
C. Ahab is the King. He said, If we can just RID OURSELVES OF THIS NEGATIVE PREACHER, WE WILL HAVE PLENTY?
VI. THERE IS A FOURTH TYPE IN TODAY’S MESSAGE...
THE FOUR LEPEROUS MEN SITTING OUTSIDE THE CAMP...
A. To the physical eyes, the 4 leperous men are weak and sickly.
B. Yet, while apparently helpless, they have several options.
C. OPTION 1: SIT HERE UNTIL WE DIE?
D. OPTION 2: GO INTO SAMARIA AND STARVE TO DEATH.
E. OPTION 3: LET US HEAD TOWARDS THE ENEMY’S CAMP...MAYBE GOD WILL DO SOMETHING FOR US...
OR MAYBE WE CAN DO SOMETHING FOR GOD
VII. WE NEED SOME MOVERS AND SHAKERS...
WE NEED SOME INTERSESORS TO ARISE IN FAITH!
A. God is depending on you. Don’t sit idle! Get up and walk toward the problem. Romans 8:37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
B. We are more than conquerors. Jesus needs hands and feet.
Phil 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
C. I CAN --- IF I WANT TOO...WHERE IS THE WANT TOO ?
Psalm 68:1 Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered and flee.
VIII. YOU ARE BLESSED TO BLESS! CALLED, SET APART.
A. Have you ever wondered why God blesses you?
B. We have GOOD NEWS! We must share it?
Are you Under Siege ?
Psalm 121:1 A Song of degrees. I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. [2] My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.
Are you SICK ? Look to the Hills. My help cometh from the Lord
Get your eyes off the “ILLS” and Look to the Hills.
Get your eyes off the “PILLS” and Look to the Hills.
Are you BROKE ? Look to the Hills. My help cometh from the Lord
Get your eyes off the “BILLS” and Look to the Hills.
Get your eyes off the “MILLS” and Look to the Hills.
Are you looking for a better church ? Look to the Hills.
Get your eyes off the “CHILLS” and Look to the Hills.
Get your eyes off the “FRILLS” and Look to the Hills.
Are you Under Siege ?
Get your eyes off your “WILL” and Look to the Hills.
Notice to Sermon Central Users:
My name is William Poovey, and I pastor at Bethel Church in Olar, SC. I have been a long-time user of Sermon Central and truly appreciate its content and contributors. Some of the best sermons I’ve ever preached have been reworked material from this website. As you use the material from my sermon bank, understand that it is work that has been done from not just myself, but from hundreds of other pastors as well. If you see part of your message, or a lot of your message with my name on it and this upsets you, please email me and I will quickly respond and cite you as the main source. My intent is not to claim someone’s work as my own. I am disclaiming up front that I use the resources from Sermon Central and appreciate the tool. I simply want all those who use my work to know that some of these messages were inspired by the Holy Spirit working through other pastors. Because I do use the messages of other pastors I waive all claims of originality or origin of creativity for the messages posted under my messages. I pray God blesses your preaching ministry for the glory of His Kingdom.
Respectfully,
William Poovey
