When the Problem Is Too Big

Dr. Jeff Schreve: I don't know what's going on in your life, but God knows what's going on in your life. Maybe you're here and you you just have a little bit of trouble, or maybe you're here and it's trouble with a capital T. You can pray to the God of the universe. You can pray about the big things because he has all power and all authority. You can pray about the little things because he loves you and he cares about what you're going through. And if we will pray and when we will pray and because we pray, God will answer.
Larry Nobles: You and I don't have to manufacture trouble in our lives or go looking for trouble. Trouble seems to always find us, but God has an answer for all of our trouble. And the answer is prayer. This is from his heart with pastor Jeff Schreve and our lesson today affects you directly. It's called because you have prayed. Listen, prayer does work. It truly does. And we're learning the facts about prayer from pastor Jeff Schreve and his new series watch and pray. Now if you missed any of these lessons we've had this month or will have over the next week or two, then go to fromhisheart.org and click the listen link. Now though open your Bible to 2 Kings. Here again is pastor Jeff with the message because you have prayed.
Dr. Jeff Schreve: What do you do when disaster seems inevitable because the disaster is on his doorstep? It seems inevitable unless God does a miracle. Discovery number one, do not believe the devil's lies. Do not believe the devil's lies. Sennacherib and Assyria, they're the bad boys of the ancient Near East and they were in power until Babylon took them out in 612 BC. They were in power for a long, long time. And they're coming up to destroy Jerusalem. Verse 17, then the king of Assyria sent Tartan and Rabsaris and Rabshakeh. Those are probably not names, those are titles. From Lakish to king Hezekiah. Lakish is about 25 or 30 miles away from Jerusalem. Then Rabshakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in Judean saying, hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria. Thus says the king, do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you from my hand, nor let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord saying, the Lord will surely deliver us and this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. Wow. That was going on. And Assyria was quite a force. And they are a picture of the devil. And so the first thing that you do when disaster seems inevitable as it seemed with the Jews, don't believe the devil's lies. And know that how the devil works. First of all, he works to intimidate you. He's going to mock. He's going to scorn. He's going to make fun. But not only does he work to intimidate us, he works to deceive us. And he tells us things that are just out and out lies. Verse 22, we trust in the Lord our God. Now don't listen to uh to Hezekiah who tells you to trust in the Lord. Hezekiah is the one who's made God mad. He said Hezekiah has torn down the Lord's high places. Hezekiah has done all these reforms, but they were against the Lord. He's lying to the people. It works to intimidate you. It works to deceive you. And they works to get you to quit. Sennacherib says you just need to quit. That would be better for you. Just quit. Just throw in the towel now. If you do, guess what? I'll take you to a land and it's going to be a lot like your land. It's not going to be that bad. But he's a liar. This is going to be horrible. He's a liar and the father of lies. You've heard me tell you this and it's really true. The only way the devil wins as we battle with him, he's a defeated foe because Jesus defeated him on the cross and through the empty tomb. But the only way he wins in your life and in my life is if we quit. You keep showing up to the battle even though you may lose some skirmishes, you keep showing up. You don't quit. You remember the words of the late great doctor Jerry Falwell, it's always too early to quit. It's always too early to quit on your marriage. It's always too early to quit on that wayward family member. It's always too early to quit. In your faith, it's always too early to quit. Keep trusting God. Keep believing God. The devil works to get you to quit. 2 Chronicles 32 verses 7 and 8. I love this what it says about Hezekiah. He told the people, be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be dismayed because of the king of Assyria, nor because of all the horde that is with him. For the one with us is greater than the one with him. With him is only an arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles. And the people relied on the words of Hezekiah, king of Judah. What a godly godly king, but he's got disaster knocking on the door. He's got trouble with a capital T. So the first discovery, do not believe the lies of the devil. Second discovery, take your problems to the Lord in prayer. The song says what a friend we have in Jesus. All our sins and griefs to bear. We can come to him with our problems. And it says in 2 Kings 19:1, when Hezekiah heard all the words of Sennacherib, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth and entered the house of the Lord. And then he sent a message to his cousin Isaiah, the prophet Isaiah to get some encouragement and help from Isaiah. But they give Hezekiah this scroll, this letter that came from king Sennacherib. It's what we just read. It's that saying you need to just quit. You need to just surrender cuz I'm coming. If you don't surrender, I will come and I will defeat you. And it's going to be better for you to just say uncle now than to say uncle when I break your arm off. And so he takes that letter and he takes his trouble with a capital T to the Lord in prayer. Now he does four things as he prays that you and I can do. We can copy what he did. Verse 14. Then Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it. And he went up to the house of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord. What's a good program for prayer? Number one, voice your praise to him. Hezekiah prayed before the Lord verse 15 and said, oh Lord, oh Yahweh, Yahweh Elohim, the God of Israel who are enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God. You alone of all the kingdoms of the earth, you have made heaven and earth. He starts his prayer with praise, with recognizing who God is and with repeating that for his own heart to hear. I am calling on God who is God alone. You are the God, you alone. And you sit, you're enthroned above the cherubim. You say, what does that mean enthroned above the cherubim? Well, they were very steeped in the fact that Israel had a temple. The temple was there in Jerusalem, Solomon's temple. And in Solomon's temple you had the outer court which is an open area where the people could come and then you had inside the temple itself you had the the holy place that only the priests could come in there. And they would perform their priestly duties in there and there was a thick heavy veil that separated the holy place from the holy of holies. And inside the holy of holies there was a piece of furniture called the ark of the covenant. And you had the two cherubim there that had their wings touching each other and God dwelt between the cherubim above the cherubim. That's the presence of God and that lid of the ark of the covenant is called the mercy seat. And so he's talking to God, the God who is enthroned above the cherubim. Voice your praise to him. Hebrews 13 verse 15, through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God that is the fruit of lips that give thanks to his name. Secondly, lay your situation before him. Tell God what's going on, not because God uh needs to know and he's not in the know. You're you're never giving God information that he doesn't know, but you're doing it for yourself. You're doing it to help yourself, to help say, Lord, this is what I'm facing. And oftentimes when you lay it out there you can hear yourself, is this really correct? And so it says that he took the letter and he read it and then he spread it out before the Lord. He read it and then he spread it. And he says in verse 16, incline your ear, oh Lord, and hear. Open your eyes, oh Lord, and see and listen to the words of Sennacherib which he has sent to reproach, not the king of Judah, not king Hezekiah, but to reproach the king of kings, to reproach the living God. Truly, oh Lord, the kings of Assyria have devastated the nations and their lands and have cast their gods into the fire for they were not gods, but they were the work of men's hands, wood and stone. So they have destroyed them. He lays the situation out before the Lord and he said, Lord, Sennacherib is taunting you. He is reproaching you. He is reviling and defiling you and defying you. That's what Goliath did. I defy the ranks of Israel this day. Give me a man that we may fight together. And Hezekiah just honestly lays it out there. He said, Lord, this is the situation. This is this is what's going on. Now he said, where are the gods of these other places? And he mentions all these gods. And he said, Lord, he's exactly right. They all failed because they weren't God. But your God, your God alone. And then ask your requests of him.
Larry Nobles: Are you asking and also believing that your prayer is in God's hands and he will respond in your timing? Perhaps not, but he does hear and will respond in a way that will bless you in his timing. He knows something you and I need to remember. The Assyrian king Sennacherib sent king Hezekiah a letter threatening total destruction. Hezekiah took that threatening letter, went to the house of the Lord, spread it out before God and prayed. He knew something you and I need to remember. Prayer links our nothingness with God's almighty power. God answered Hezekiah's prayer with a miraculous deliverance. That same God is still on his throne today. He still hears the prayers of his people and he still calls us to seek him in every circumstance. Now this month we've been in pastor Jeff's new six lesson series watch and pray. And we believe these messages will be important lessons to learn about the power that you can have through prayer. This series is our gift to you for your support this month to fromhisheart of any amount to get watch and pray in the format of your choice. Simply call 866-40 Bible. 866-40 Bible. Or go to fromhisheart.org We know God's word about prayer into your ears and heart will bless you. And thanks for joining us in that effort. Now back to conclude our lesson because you have prayed. Here again is pastor Jeff.
Dr. Jeff Schreve: You present your situation, your trouble and then you ask the Lord what you want him to do. Verse 19, now oh Lord our God, I pray, deliver us from his hand that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone, oh Lord, are God. That was his motive. Lord, deliver us from his hand so people could talk about how great king Hezekiah is. No. He didn't care about that. Deliver us from his hand so that we could enrich ourselves with the spoil of Assyria. No, he's not interested in that. Deliver us from his hand so the kingdoms of the earth will know that you alone are God. That is his motivation. David was the same way when he went up against Goliath. When Goliath told him, curse David by his gods and told him, come here little boy, I'm going to break you up in pieces and feed you to the birds. And David said to Goliath, you come to me with a sword and a spear and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of his Israel whom you have taunted. This day the Lord is going to deliver you into my hand and I 'm going to break you up in pieces. I'm going to feed you to the pigeon and I'm going to cut off your head so that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. The Lord does not deliver by sword or by spear. The battle is the Lord's and he will deliver you into my hand. That's what we need to speak to the enemy that comes against us. We need to stand firm in the truth of God's word. Deliver us, Lord, so that the whole earth may know that you alone are God. And then you keep your trust in him. You keep trusting him. You've voiced your prayer to him. Lord, this is what I need you to do, otherwise my goose is cooked. This is what I need you to do and I'm going to trust you to do it. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Proverbs 3:5 says and do not lean on your own understanding and all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your path. Says of Hezekiah, 2 Kings 18 verses 5 and 6, he trusted in the Lord the God of Israel so that after him there was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor among those who were before him for he clung to the Lord. He did not depart from following him, but kept his commandments which the Lord had commanded Moses. He trusted. He got the people to trust. What does Sennacherib do? He tries to tell the people, don't listen to Hezekiah. Don't trust in the Lord. The Lord has sent me to destroy you. That's how the devil works to get you to start crumbling in your trust, to get you to start believing the lies, to get you all intimidated. And we have the gift of prayer. We can call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised. And we are saved from our enemies. You know, keep your trust in him. I was thinking about Mark chapter 5 when Jairus came to Jesus and said, my little girl, my little 12 year old girl is sick to the point of death. Come with me. And while they were going, remember Jesus encountered the woman with the issue of blood. And she had the issue of blood as long as Jairus's daughter had been alive 12 years. And Jesus stops for her and Jesus uh brings healing to her. And while Jesus is doing all that and dealing with the woman with the issue of blood, a servant comes up to Jairus and said, don't bother the teacher anymore. Your little girl is dead. And Jesus says to Jairus, do not be afraid any longer, only believe. You trust me. And he went and raised that little girl from the dead. Hey, what do you do when disaster is knocking at the door? You don't believe the devil's lies. You take your trouble to the Lord in prayer and you know thirdly that God will respond to you. God will respond to you. Verse 20. Then Isaiah, the son of Amoz, sent to Hezekiah saying, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, because you have prayed to me about Sennacherib, king of Assyria, I have heard you. And God was going to respond. Why? Because he prayed. God is a God who answers prayer and God promises to hear us when we call to him. Now I learned years and years ago Jeremiah 33 verse 3. That's God's phone number. You want to know how to uh get a hold of God? Jeremiah 33 verse 3. Call to me and I'll answer you and show you great and mighty things which you do not know. God doesn't say call to me and I'll look and see who is it who it's from and then I'll shady button you. He doesn't do that, right? Oh, he's calling. I I don't want to take that. He talks too long. Now we're just going to put that let that go to voicemail. No, call to me. The Lord says and I will answer you. God hears us when we pray. And God responds to our prayers and he promises to deliver us as we look to him. The apostle Paul said in the last letter he ever penned to Timothy, 2 Timothy, the Lord will deliver me from every evil deed and bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory. Well, God answered Hezekiah's prayer. He brought deliverance to his people. And this is what it says beginning in verse 32. This is from Isaiah the prophet from the Lord through Isaiah. Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, he will not come to this city or shoot an arrow there and he will not come before it with a shield or throw up a siege ramp against it. By the way that he came, by the same he will return and he shall not come to this city, declares the Lord, for I will defend this city to save it for my own sake and for my servant David's sake. Then it happened that night that the angel of the Lord went out and struck 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when men rose early in the morning, behold all of them were dead. So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and returned home and lived at Nineveh. And it came about, this is about 20 years later, it came about as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his God. Nisroch was a guy with an eagle head and a man's body. That was his God. He's a real bird brain. Nisroch his God that Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him. They were his sons. Killed him with the sword and they escaped into the land of Ararat and Esarhaddon, his son, became king in his place. Sennacherib had basically called out the God of Judah. It wasn't king Sennacherib going up against king Hezekiah. It was king Sennacherib going up against the king of kings and Lord of Lords. And God destroyed him and destroyed his armies. 185,000 bam. Just like that. Hey, God promises to deliver as we look to him. I love what Jehoshaphat said about 150 years before this when he had three armies coming against him when he was king of Judah. He said, Lord, do you know will you not judge them these armies that are coming? We're we're powerless to handle these armies and we don't know what to do, but our eyes are on you. And as he trusted, God delivered. Now how did all this come about? He says in verse 20, because you have prayed to me. I don't know what's going on in your life, but God knows what's going on in your life. And maybe you're here and you you just have a little bit of trouble. It's just trouble in small case. Or maybe you're here and it's trouble with a capital T. It's bold, italics, underline. It's serious trouble. It's red alert. It's stage four. It's it's it's the worst and it's just right there knocking at your door and you don't know what to do. You can pray to the God of the universe. The God who sees you even though you're smaller than a pimple on a flea compared to God. And just as Corrie ten Boom said, you can pray about the big things because he has all power and all authority. You can pray about the little things because he loves you and he cares about what you're going through. And if we will pray and when we will pray and because we pray, God will answer. Listen, the troubles in life are really just opportunities to see God answer prayer.
Larry Nobles: Well, we've heard today how important it is to not allow the devil to intimidate us with his lies, but to take our concerns to God in prayer. We hope that these have been reassuring and stirring insights for you today. If you'd like a copy of the message you've just heard from pastor Jeff Schreve called because you have prayed, you can go online to listen again at fromhisheart.org and download an MP3 of this broadcast. It's also one of six in the series watch and pray which is available online or a gift of any amount. Just go to fromhisheart.org and you can request it on a USB flash drive, on CDs, DVDs or an immediate MP3 download. That's the watch and pray series when you go to fromhisheart.org click the listen link. We also hope when you visit our website you'll sign up for pastor Jeff's weekly real hope email encouragement letter. You'll get that in your inbox every Friday morning. And we're on social media as well. You can sign up for the social media channels you like right there on our homepage. The web address again fromhisheart.org. Hey, thank you for joining us today. I'm Larry Nobles hoping you'll be back here tomorrow for the next message in the watch and pray series. Here's a part of what's to come.
Dr. Jeff Schreve: People misunderstand this passage of scripture. You have uh protesters who say, see, we have a right to protest cuz Jesus flipped tables and Jesus, he wasn't nice about it. And so if we go and we protest and people's property gets damaged or we block the highway or whatever or we're just being like Jesus, we're being nothing like Jesus when you do that.
Larry Nobles: Join pastor Jeff Schreve for the lesson flipping tables right here on fromhisheart.