Gtcotr/ss012019
This
is a word from God for someone, or several someone’s today:
“Sometimes the best time is the next time. Don’t be afraid to try
again.”
Now,
this word is for the rest of us … Are you ready for the message today? Set your
heart to hear at least one thing from God today, hold it tight, maybe write it
down, take it home, live it and give it
to someone else this week. Today’s message from the Bible will confirm three
things:
1. Life is about going …
2. Life is about getting …
3. Life is about giving …
To
make these points more memorable and clear this morning, we are going to review
just a little bit about two historical military campaigns. These two battles
have one major thing in common – they were both sieges. What is a siege?
A
siege is when one army surrounds a city or group of people and cuts them off
from the outside world. The strategy is to wait them out and make them
surrender or face starvation.
Without
going into too much detail, the most well-orchestrated siege on US soil took
place during The
American Civil War, (1861-1865). In the winter of 1862/63
General Ulysses S. Grant led his Union soldiers against the city of Vicksburg,
Mississippi. The city was very well fortified, and, they had 30,000 Confederate
troops defending it. General Grant failed to secure victory and had to withdraw.
As a result the Southern Army continued to control both civilian and military travel
along the Mississippi River.
Long
before airplanes, cars, trains, and even wagons or chariots existed,
individuals, militaries, commerce and news traveled by boat. This encouraged
early settlements, and eventually cities, to grow up along waterways. Water
provided life and enabled people to travel and to make a better living. There
is no river in the United States bigger than the mighty Mississippi. It winds
more than 2300 miles from a lake in upper Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico. A
lot depends on the Mississippi, and during much of the Civil War, the Southern
Confederate Army controlled it all the way from Memphis, Tennessee to the Gulf.
Their main fortification was the city of Vicksburg situated on a high bluff
overlooking a deep bend in the river.
Vicksburg
was considered an impenetrable fortress of which General Grant was well aware. In
the spring of 1863, undaunted by his earlier defeats, Grant took a bold step
and did what no one else would have ever imagined. He led his men across the Mississippi River
and southwards on a forced march through the almost impassable Louisiana swamps,
well beyond the hopes of resupply. About 30 miles south of Vicksburg, Grant and
his 70,000 men crossed back over the river and found themselves right in the
heart of enemy held territory. In only 3 weeks Grant’s army marched 180 miles,
fought and won 5 major battles, captured 6,000 Confederate soldiers and drove
the 30,000-man strong Confederate Army into the city of Vicksburg where they
took up positions to defend the city. Only, Grant didn’t attack with soldiers –
he attacked with time, hunger, isolation and relentless cannon fire.
From
May 18th through July 4th, 1863, the Union Army laid
siege to the city of Vicksburg and waited for them to starve or surrender. The citizens
of Vicksburg dug more than 500 caves in the sides of the hills trying to escape
the cannon and mortar fire. People starved and many died. There was no hope
that it was ever going to get any better. Finally, On
July 4th, 1863, General Pemberton, Commander of the
Confederate Army at Vicksburg, surrendered to General
Ulysses S. Grant.
The Union victory at
Vicksburg was the culmination of one of the longest and most complex campaigns
of the Civil War. Indeed, a growing number of historians consider Vicksburg the
most decisive campaign ever waged on American soil—and justly so. Among the
fruits of victory, Northern forces captured a garrison of 29,500 men and
tremendous quantities of war matériel. Included among the seized public stores
were 38,000 artillery projectiles, 58,000 pounds of black powder, 50,000
shoulder weapons, and 600,000 rounds of ammunition. Over the course of the
campaign, the Federals also captured 254 cannon, which represented more than 11
percent of the total number of guns the Confederacy cast during the war.
The
Siege of Vicksburg was the most profitable battle of the Civil War for those
who were fighting for the cause of Christ. For the next 81 years the citizens
of the city of Vicksburg refused to celebrate July 4th as
Independence Day. Nonetheless, it helped to liberate those who were once so
wrongly enslaved. It was a bold step that someone had to take.
The
second historical battle we will review this morning comes from the Bible and
is found in 2 Kings 6 & 7.
It was about the year 835 BC. The players were:
·
Ben-Hadad II, King of Syria (Ben = Son of; Hadad = The Syrian God of
Thunder and Storms)
·
King of Israel, King Jehoram, who lived in the city of Samaria
·
Elisha the Prophet of God
·
4 Nameless Lepers
The Scene: King Ben-Hadad of
Syria thought the King of Israel was conspiring against him. So, Ben-Hadad brought
his army to the city of Samaria, about 100 miles from Damascus, and laid siege
to the city. Over time things got so bad in the city of Samaria that people
were dying of starvation. Unimaginable horrors were being committed by the
Israelites who were desperately trying to stay alive.
At
its worsts, two women agreed to kill and eat their young children together. When
it came time for the second son to be slain, boiled and eaten, the mother
refused. This so angered the first mother that she complained directly to King
Jehoram. It was terrible and the King was at his wit’s end. He had no one else
to blame so he blamed God, and since he couldn’t physically hurt God, the king
decided to kill God’s prophet, Elisha.
It
may seem strange but even in this day I’ve heard a few people blame preachers
when they think they aren’t getting what they want or deserve. Jesus, John and
the Apostle Paul said that ministers are often targets of those who think they
are doing God a favor by hurting or discrediting them. I’m just glad none of you
feel or act that way.
2 Kings 6
24 ¶ And it happened after
this that Ben-Hadad king of Syria gathered all his army, and went up and
besieged Samaria.
25 And there was a great famine
in Samaria; and indeed they besieged it until a donkey’s head was sold
for eighty shekels of silver, and one-fourth of a kab of dove droppings
for five shekels of silver.
31 Then he (King Jehoram)
said, “God do so to me and more also, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat
remains on him today.”
2 Kings 7
3 ¶ Now there were four
leprous men at the entrance of the gate; and they said to one another, “Why are
we sitting here until we die?
4 “If we say, ‘We will enter
the city,’ the famine is in the city, and we shall die there. And if we
sit here, we die also. Now therefore, come, let us surrender to the army of the
Syrians. If they keep us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall
only die.”
5 And they rose at twilight
to go to the camp of the Syrians; and when they had come to the outskirts of
the Syrian camp, to their surprise no one was there.
6 For the Lord had caused the
army of the Syrians to hear the noise of chariots and the noise of
horses — the noise of a great army; so they said to one another,
“Look, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and
the kings of the Egyptians to attack us!”
7 Therefore they arose and
fled at twilight, and left the camp intact — their tents, their
horses, and their donkeys — and they fled for their lives.
8 And when these lepers came
to the outskirts of the camp, they went into one tent and ate and drank, and
carried from it silver and gold and clothing, and went and hid them;
then they came back and entered another tent, and carried some from
there also, and went and hid it.
9 Then they said to one
another, “We are not doing right. This
day is a day of good news, and we remain silent. If we wait until
morning light, some punishment will come upon us. Now therefore, come, let us
go and tell the king’s household.”
The
devil wants to lay siege to your soul … why sit we here till we die?
1. Go
a. Life is about going
i. God had a victory in
store for the Union soldiers, but He needed someone to Go! No doubt, God put it
in his heart.
ii. General Grant got up
and went.
1. He didn’t let his
earlier defeats and losses determine his future
2. He knew if he wanted
victory, he had to Go!
b. The 4 Lepers got up
and went … they knew they had to Go!
i. It was a God thing,
not their thing – but they had to go.
c. Go to God – Go with
God
d. Go to the Word – Go
with the Word
e. Go to Church – Go
with the Church
f. Go to work
g. Go and tell –
deliverance begins with go! 2/3rds of God is Go!
2. Get
a. Get saved … Don’t
just go to Church – Get something out of it.
b. Get help … go and
get … you won’t get if you don’t go …
c. Anyone can build a
victim story …
d. Get up and get something
good going …
e. Get your heart right
with God … Get!!! Don’t just go …
f. When we go to work,
we get a paycheck
g. When we go to Church,
we get a word from God
h. When we go to prayer,
we get answers – Don’t forget to get!
i. Grant went and he
got what he needed to feed his troops and what the North needed to outfit itself
for the continued campaigns. Grant didn’t forget to get … 50,000 rifles …
j. The 4 lepers
wouldn’t have gotten anything if they had just sat there afraid, tired, sick
and feeling dis-included. They got a lot!
k. We will
get what God has for us when we Go where He sends
3. Give
a. The secret to living
is giving …
b. General Grant didn’t
keep the spoil for himself.
c. The 4 lepers didn’t
keep the blessings just for them.
d. People who give to
help relieve the pain of others and to meet the desperate cries of those who
cannot go and do not have, will go down in history as heroes.
e. God needs you …
People need you … Give and be even more blessed … The lepers said: “This is a
day of good news …”
Let’s
all commit this morning to: Go … and Get … and Give! It’s life … God needs a victory … He needs
your victory to share with others.
At
least: Go to Church; Get in the Word; Give your testimony to others.
“Sometimes
the best time is the next time. Don’t be afraid to try again.”
