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Nov 22, 2020

Renewing Spiritual Passion...Through Warfare Worship

Passage: 2 Chronicles 20:1-23

Preacher: Andrew Repsold

Series: Renewing Our Spiritual Passion

Keywords: worship, revival, spiritual warfare, songs, singing

Summary:

This message addresses the critical role of musical worship in spiritual renewal...a timely message in the age of Covid restrictions.

Detail:

Worship as Warfare

Part 2--Renewing Our Spiritual Passion

11.22.2020

Introduction:

  • Series on Reviving Spiritual Passion…looking at and experiencing the ways we connect with God.
  • Worship…specifically Congregational Praise.

Psalm 35:18

18 I will thank you in the great congregation;
    in the mighty throng I will praise you.

Psalm 22:22

I will tell of your name to my brothers;
    in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:

Psalm 107:32

Let them extol him in the congregation of the people,
    and praise him in the assembly of the elders.

Psalm 111:1

Praise the Lord!
I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart,
    in the company of the upright, in the congregation.

 

Neil Anderson’s Story: singing songs of worship pushes back the forces of darkness.

  • Truth I want to sink into your being today: When we sing praises to God, we engage in spiritual warfare and the forces of darkness retreat.

-worship as formational…worship as expressive. Worshipping in Spirit and Truth. (Frenzied worship with no foundation or direction but also not solid orthodoxy with no passion). How worship effects my relationship with God.

-how worship effects the war that is occurring between the kingdom of light and the kingdom of Darkness.  WORSHIP IS A WEAPON.

Biblical Evidence that Worship is a powerful weapon against the powers of darkness.

Old Testament examples, because the people of God are the Israelites and how they interact with the nations who God has given over to them in the promised land is a parallel to our experience with powers of darkness that oppose us. They approach their battles with God and the worshippers at the front.

2 Chronicles 20--After this the Moabites and Ammonites, and with them some of the Meunites, came against Jehoshaphat [King of Judah] for battle. 2 Some men came and told Jehoshaphat, “A great multitude is coming against you from Edom, from beyond the sea; and, behold, they are in Hazazon-tamar” (that is, Engedi). 3 Then Jehoshaphat was afraid and set his face to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. 4 And Judah assembled to seek help from the Lord; from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord.

5 And Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord, before the new court, 6 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. 7 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? 8 And they have lived in it and have built for you in it a sanctuary for your name, saying, 9 ‘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.’ 10 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— 11 behold, they reward us by coming to drive us out of your possession, which you have given us to inherit. 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.”

13 Meanwhile all Judah stood before the Lord, with their little ones, their wives, and their children. 14 And the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, son of Benaiah, son of Jeiel, son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, in the midst of the assembly. 15 And he said, “Listen, all Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat: Thus says the Lord to you, ‘Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde, for the battle is not yours but God's. 16 Tomorrow go down against them. Behold, they will come up by the ascent of Ziz. You will find them at the end of the valley, east of the wilderness of Jeruel. 17 You will not need to fight in this battle. Stand firm, hold your position, and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.’ Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, and the Lord will be with you.”

18 Then Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the Lord, worshiping the Lord. 19 And the Levites, of the Kohathites and the Korahites, stood up to praise the Lord, the God of Israel, with a very loud voice.

20 And they rose early in the morning and went out into the wilderness of Tekoa. And when they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Hear me, Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem! Believe in the Lord your God, and you will be established; believe his prophets, and you will succeed.” 21 And when he had taken counsel with the people, he appointed those who were to sing to the Lord and praise him in holy attire, as they went before the army, and say,

“Give thanks to the Lord,
    for his steadfast love endures forever.”

22 And when they began to sing and praise, the Lord set an ambush against the men of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah, so that they were routed. 23 For the men of Ammon and Moab rose against the inhabitants of Mount Seir, devoting them to destruction, and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, they all helped to destroy one another.

Why do you think this story was included in the Bible…what lesson did the Jews want to pass down through this story?

Lesson from this text:  Victory came through worship (singing praises to God).

Along with prayer and fasting, WORSHIP is a spiritual weapon for the people of God. It is a way to express our dependence on him and he honors that in a special way.

What kind of Worship is it?

-Congregational worship, totally focused on God (dependency, the need for him to act). It involves the physical posture of bowing down or standing up for the Levites who are “praising God with a very loud voice.”

 

Exuberant, intense worship. They sound like they are worshipping because their lives depend on it. If God doesn’t act to save them, they will die.

 

Acknowledge that there are other types of worship found in the Bible:

Another lesson from this text:

Our Worship should be…PASSIONATE and POSTURED (physically).

Examples of Loud (unhindered) worship. It is Biblical to cry out to God with one loud voice?

Joshua 6--2 Then the Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. 3 March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. 4 Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. 5 When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have the whole army give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the army will go up, everyone straight in.”

Psalm 66:1-20--Shout for joy to God, all the earth; sing the glory of his name; give to him glorious praise! Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds! So great is your power that your enemies come cringing to you. All the earth worships you and sings praises to you; they sing praises to your name.” Come and see what God has done: he is awesome in his deeds toward the children of man. ...

Psalm 98:4--Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise.

It is loud and it is IMPORTANT!

1 Chronicles 23:5--our thousand are to be gatekeepers and four thousand are to praise the Lord with the musical instruments I have provided for that purpose.”

1 Chronicles 25 (Musicians Chapter)--David and the temple officials chose the descendants of Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun to be in charge of music. They were to praise the Lord by playing cymbals, harps and other stringed instruments. Here is a list of the musicians and their duties:

Q:  What hinders us from worshipping passionately and postured?

Answer: Focusing on the wrong things. Losing sight of the war we are participating in through worship and focusing on much more petty things like…the song selection, instrumentation, contemporary versus hymns, what a visiting non-believer might be thinking about the music.

Give example of not liking digital camouflage so you have a bad attitude and drag your feet in battle and potentially cost lives.

So I was thinking…what will help us take our focus off of these petty things and onto God and the massive war taking place over the souls men and women right now.

CASUALTY REPORT

The bulk of these are from this last week alone.

  1. A text from bob “Be lifting up Sister Haven in prayer please. I just got off the phone with (person’s name). Families are struggling. They have had 4 O.D.’s during Covid and 1 of those passed away in front of her kids. Then today, another parent O.D.’d in front of their kids. Also, full blown swat was there surrounding the complete complex. People are coming to the office wanting to give up and end it all. (person’s name) is crying out so please pray.

John 8:44--You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

1 Peter 5:8--Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

  1. Someone had to call 911 this week because of such an unruly incident occurring just outside our building.
  2. Prayer request for the sister of someone in our congregation here. “She recently came back to Christ and quit drinking but bask slid when stumbling blocks were laid before her. She is feeling hopeless, lost, worthless and suicidal at times. “
  3. Prayer request for a father who had to go to the hospital for heart issues.
  4. One of our Bible Study buildings: we called to ask if we needed to stop our building Bible study because of the phase 1 thing, fully expecting them to say “yes, please stop for now.” Please don’t go. We need this so badly.
  5. Two prayer requests from people in this congregation who have relatives in other parts of the country who are in the fight against Covid right now and struggling.
  6. We have people in our congregation who have been hospitalized due to such severe anxiety that has come about since Covid.
  7. We have members who have relapsed into drug addictions that they successfully went through recovery (months worth) of being set free from.
  8. a couple getting divorced.

This is no joke. It’s not a game we are trying to play.

So How do we fight back the forces of darkness. We now come full circle.

Situation: Context for what is going on.

  • What is the situation with the enemy:

-What is the enemy doing? What are their tactics/weaponry?

  • What is the situation with us:

-our weaponry, tactics, advantages, disadvantages etc.

The war of all wars is currently being fought against the spiritual forces of good and evil on this earth for the souls of mankind.

Acts 26:15 “Then I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’  “ ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ the Lord replied. 16 ‘Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me. 17 I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them 18 to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’

Ephesians 6:10-12--Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 

Their mission/tactics/weaponry.

2 Corinthians 11:14 (ESV)--And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. (deceptive)

Acts 10:38--You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.

2 Corinthians 12:7--Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me—to keep me from exalting myself!

Luke 4:6-And the devil said to Him, “I will give You all this domain and its glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I- wish.

We are in ENEMY OCCUPIED territory right now.

Weapons: 

  • prayer
  • fasting
  • worship

And all of those should involve the word of God in many ways.

Q:  Are we equipped to beat the enemy? How do our weapons compare to his?

Luke 10:17-20, “The 72 returned with joy, saying, ‘Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!’ And He said to them, ‘I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.’”

Hebrews 2:14--Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil,

Romans 16:20--The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.

PRAY…then make war.

Psalm 100--A psalm. For giving grateful praise.

1 Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
2     Worship the Lord with gladness;
    come before him with joyful songs.
3 Know that the Lord is God.
    It is he who made us, and we are his[a];
    we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving
    and his courts with praise;
    give thanks to him and praise his name.
5 For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
    his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Revelation 12:10

10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:

“Now have come the salvation and the power
    and the kingdom of our God,
    and the authority of his Messiah.
For the accuser of our brothers and sisters,
    who accuses them before our God day and night,
    has been hurled down.
11 They triumphed over him
    by the blood of the Lamb
    and by the word of their testimony;
they did not love their lives so much
    as to shrink from death.
12 Therefore rejoice, you heavens
    and you who dwell in them!

Benediction:  Eph. 6:11-17--Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.