When Faced With A Crisis

"WHEN FACED WITH A CRISIS

TEXT: ISAIAH 8-12

FOR EVERYTHING THAT WAS WRITTEN IN THE PAST WAS WRITTEN TO TEACH US, SO THAT THROUGH THE ENDURANCE AND ENCOURAGEMENT OF THE SCRIPTURES WE MIGHT HAVE HOPE." -- RM 15:4

"THESE THINGS HAPPENED TO THEM AS EXAMPLES AND WERE WRITTEN DOWN AS WARNINGS FOR US, ON WHOM THE FULFILLMENT OF THE AGES HAS COME..(BLESSINGS OF CHRIST HAS COME)"

-- 1 CORINTHIANS 19:11

TODAY WE ARE GOING TO READ FROM A BOOK, BUT NOT JUST ANY BOOK; TODAY WE ARE GOING TO READ FROM A BOOK THAT IS LITERALLY GOD-BREATHED.

WE WILL BE READING FROM A TEXT THAT WAS WRITTEN OVER 2,700 YEARS AGO... BY A MAN WE NEVER MET, IN COUNTRY MOST OF US HAVE NEVER BEEN -- AND FROM A CULTURE LONG SINCE GONE.

BUT THOUGH ISAIAH WROTE THESE WORDS THEY ARE NOT HIS -- FOR IT WASN’T ISIAH THAT DECIDE WHAT HE WOULD WRITE DOWN.

"ABOVE ALL, YOU MUST UNDERSTAND THAT NO PROPHECY OF SCRIPTURE CAME ABOUT BY THE PROPHETS OWN INTERPRETATION.FOR PROPHECY NEVER HAD IT’S ORIGIN IN THE WILL OF MAN, BUT MEN SPOKE FROM GOD AS THEY WERE CARRIED ALONG BY THE HOLY SPIRIT.." 2 PE 1:20,21

I HOPE YOU HAVE NOT COME HEAR TODAY TO SIMPLY HEAR A NICE TALK FROM A PREACHER -- BUT RATHER THAT YOU HAVE COME TO HEAR THE WORD OF GOD....

THIS IS GOD’S WORD -- IT’S POWERFUL! IT’S LIVING! IT’S ACTIVE! IT’S TRUTH! IT IS A LAMP TO OUR FEET! IT IS A LIGHT TO OUR PATH! IT’S WONDERFUL! IT’S THE WONDERFUL WORDS OF LIFE! IT IS THE POWER OF GOD UNTO SALVATION TO EVERYONE WHO BELIEVES!!

THE PASSAGE WE ARE GOING TO READ TODAY WAS WRITTEN DOWN BY ISIAH OVER 2,700 YEARS AGO -- AND HE WROTE IT DOWN BECAUSE GOD TOLD HIM TO....

THESE WORDS ARE MEANT TO ENCOURAGE US, COMFORT US, CHALLENGE US AND TO WARN US... AND FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS MEN AND WOMEN JUST LIKE US HAVE GATHERED TOGETHER TO HEAR THESE WORDS.... AND COUNTLESS LIVES HAVE BEEN CHANGED BY THEM....

AND AS IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN -- HE WHO HAS EARS WILL HEAR WHAT GOD HAS TO SAY TODAY....AND THEN WILL BE BLESSED BECAUSE OF IT.

PRAYER

WHEN ISAIAH BEGAN HIS MINISTRY IN 734 BC GOD’S PEOPLE, THE NATION OF JUDAH WAS FACING A TERRIBLE CRISIS -- A CRISIS THAT HAD AWAKENED A DEEP FEAR IN THEM AND HAD SHAKEN THE HEARTS OF THE KING AND THE PEOPLE AS THE TREES IN THE FORESTS ARE SHAKEN BY A MIGHTY WIND.

THIS WAS NOT THE FIRST CRISIS GOD’S PEOPLE HAD FACED NOR WOULD IT BE THE LAST. BUT AS WITH ALL CRISIS IT FORCED GOD’S PEOPLE TO MAKE A DECISION AS TO:

WHO TO TRUST; WHAT TO FEAR; WHERE TO TURN AND WHERE TO LOOK

WHAT WAS THE CRISIS THAT GOD’S PEOPLE WERE FACING? (MAP)

LET’S QUICKLY TALK ABOUT IT....

THIS EVENT OCCURRED DURING THE TIME WHEN GOD’S PEOPLE HAD DIVIDED INTO 2 KINGDOMS; JUDAH IN THE SOUTH AND ISRAEL IN THE NORTH.

THIS EVENT ALSO OCCURRED DURING THE RISE OF THE POWERFUL ASSYRIA EMPIRE. A CRUEL MILITARY PEOPLE. AT THIS TIME ISRAEL THE KINGDOM IN THE NORTH, HAD FORMED A COALITION WITH SYRIA TO OPPOSE THE SOON COMING ASSYRIAN ARMY. AND THEY WANTED JUDAH TO JOIN THIS MILITARY COALITION, BECAUSE THEY SAW JUDAH’S PARTICIPATION AS STRATEGICALLY NECESSARY. HOWEVER, AHAZ THE KING OF JUDAH, REFUSED TO JOIN THIS COALITION. THEREFORE SYRIA AND ISRAEL, KINGS REZIN AND PEKAH RESPECTIVELY; WERE PLANNING TO INVADE JUDAH AND REMOVE AHAZ FROM THE THRONE -- AND PUT ON HIS THRONE THEIR OWN KING, A KING WHO JOIN WITH THEM IN THE COALITION AGAINST THE ASSYRIA EMPIRE....

SO THE CONTEXT FOR OUR STUDY TODAY IS THE SOON COMING INVASION OF SYRIA AND ISRAEL FROM THE NORTH.

AND THE PEOPLE IN JUDAH WERE AFRAID... THEY WERE ABOUT TO BE INVADE BY A FOREIGN ARMY... AN ARMY WHO KILL THEM, KILL THEIR FAMILIES, BURN THEIR HOUSES AND TAKE WHAT EVER THEY WANTED.... THE HORRORS OF WAR AND THE TERRORS OF OCCUPATION WERE ABOUT TO RAIN DOWN UPON THEM. (WE IN AMERICA HAVE BEEN BLESSED NOT TO HAVE HAD TO EXPERIENCED THE TERROR AND SUFFERING OF FOREIGN INVASIONS...)

WITH THAT BACKGROUND IN MIND LETS TURN TO:

ISAIAH 7:2-9

(VS 4a); THAT’S GOOD ADVICE;

(WHAT TO BE -- AND WHAT NOT TO BE, ISIAH ANSWERS THAT QUESTION)

BE CAREFUL; BE CALM; DON’T BE AFRAID

(VS 4b); ISRAEL AND SYRIA MAY HAVE SEEMED FRIGHTENING TO AHAZ AND JUDAH, BUT TO GOD THEY WERE NO MORE OF A THREAT THEN SMOLDERING STUBS OF FIRE WOOD)....

(VS 7); GOD SIMPLY SAYS THAT IT WON’T HAPPEN; THAT IT WON’T TAKE PLACE...

YOU SEE, THESE INVADING ARMIES ARE MESSING WITH THE LINE OF DAVID THROUGH WHICH GOD PROMISED THAT THE MESSIAH WOULD COME...