Preparing for War – #3 MASS

Preparing for War – WEEK 3

We begin with the third week of our 9 week basic training course on “Preparing for War”.

ONE - OBJECTIVE: purpose is ultimate destruction of enemy forces… and the will to take  every thought captive to Christ. We cannot allow the evil we encounter in our lives to even slightly remain in our thoughts…..we need to utterly destroy.

TWO – Offense/Defense: Sometimes a good offense is a Stronger defense. The strength is our confession that Christ is the son of God.

Mass – concentrate your power. Mass your effects of overwhelming or vast combat power at the decisive place and time.

a.      Little Known Fact:

                                                                    i.            The Department of Defense employs about 1.8 million people on active duty. It is the largest employer in the United States, with more employees than Exxon, Mobil, Ford, General Motors, and GE combined!

b.      War

                                              i.        Strength in numbers

                                            ii.        Human wave attack is an offensive infantry tactic, in which an attacker conducts an unprotected frontal assault with densely concentrated infantry formations against the enemy line, intended to overrun the defenders by engaging in melee combat.

a.    The goal of the human wave attack is to maneuver as many men as possible into melee range, hoping that the shock from a large mass of attackers engaged in melee combat would force the enemy to disintegrate or fall back

b.    When Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union in 1941, the Soviets fought back with human waves of Red Army troops against both advancing and entrenched enemy soldiers.

c.    Such attacks are common in all poorly equipped armies, or where the objective is of strategic importance.

d.    The casualty rate is generally enormous, yet such attacks are often successful and therefore remain an accepted combat technique.

                                           iii.        Ants swarm their prey

                                           iv.        Matrix the movie….Agent Smith (whole bunch of him) attacks Mr. Anderson!

2 Cor 10:3-4 ² But I beg you that when I am present I may not be bold with that confidence by which I intend to be bold against some, who think of us as if we walked according to the flesh. ³ For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. ⁴ For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, ⁵ casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, ⁶ and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.

                                                                     i.            For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. NIV

                                                                  ii.            Walk in the Flesh

a.      We are just people…..flesh and blood. We live in this world. We do not have any special powers. We are not a superhero with super human capabilities.

                                                                iii.            we do not war in the flesh

a.      nor do we war in this world against Satan as such.

c.       Bible Battle:

Ezekiel 37:1-14 ¹ The hand of the LORD was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. ² He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. ³ He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I said, “Sovereign LORD, you alone know.” ⁴ Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! ⁵ This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath^[a] enter you, and you will come to life. ⁶ I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’” ⁷ So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. ⁸ I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them. ⁹ Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” ¹⁰ So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army. ¹¹ Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ ¹² Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. ¹³ Then you, my people, will know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. ¹⁴ I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the LORD have spoken, and I have done it, declares the LORD.’”

                                             i.        We cannot think about battle tactics the way the world thinks.  We do not need tanks and jets and ships the way this world does…..therefore we also do not and cannot rely upon our own strength.

                                            ii.        We have an army in God and do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Romans 8:1-7 ¹ There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus,^[a] who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. ² For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. ³ For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴ that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. ⁵ For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. ⁶ For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. ⁷ Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. ⁸ So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

1.    World – sinful nature NIV

2.    When they are focused…..I think that in order for us to be successful, we need to make concentrated effort to focus on the attack that is at hand

2 Cor 10:3-4 ³ For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. ⁴ For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 

                             i.        Weapons of our warfare are not carnal (worldly)

                            ii.        They have divine power

                          iii.        For destroying strongholds, fortresses etc.

The Blinded Syrians Captured (Arameans)

2 Kings 6:8-22   ⁸ Now the king of Syria was making war against Israel; and he consulted with his servants, saying, “My camp will be in such and such a place.” ⁹ And the man of God sent to the king of Israel, saying, “Beware that you do not pass this place, for the Syrians are coming down there.” ¹⁰ Then the king of Israel sent someone to the place of which the man of God had told him. Thus he warned him, and he was watchful there, not just once or twice. ¹¹ Therefore the heart of the king of Syria was greatly troubled by this thing; and he called his servants and said to them, “Will you not show me which of us is for the king of Israel?” ¹² And one of his servants said, “None, my lord, O king; but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom.”
¹³ So he said, “Go and see where he is, that I may send and get him.”
And it was told him, saying, “Surely he is in Dothan.”
¹⁴ Therefore he sent horses and chariots and a great army there, and they came by night and surrounded the city. ¹⁵ And when the servant of the man of God arose early and went out, there was an army, surrounding the city with horses and chariots. And his servant said to him, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?” ¹⁶ So he answered, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” ¹⁷ And Elisha prayed, and said, “LORD, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” Then the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. ¹⁸ So when the Syrians came down to him, Elisha prayed to the LORD, and said, “Strike this people, I pray, with blindness.” And He struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha. ¹⁹ Now Elisha said to them, “This is not the way, nor is this the city. Follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom you seek.” But he led them to Samaria. ²⁰ So it was, when they had come to Samaria, that Elisha said, “LORD, open the eyes of these men, that they may see.” And the LORD opened their eyes, and they saw; and there they were, inside Samaria! ²¹ Now when the king of Israel saw them, he said to Elisha, “My father, shall I kill them? Shall I kill them?” ²² But he answered, “You shall not kill them. Would you kill those whom you have taken captive with your sword and your bow? Set food and water before them, that they may eat and drink and go to their master.” ²³ Then he prepared a great feast for them; and after they ate and drank, he sent them away and they went to their master. So the bands of Syrian raiders came no more into the land of Israel.

1. In the flesh, Israel didn’t have the MASS…..In the Spirit, it was always there. They just couldn’t see. We don’t always see it either.

2. In the flesh, our weapons are not powerful.  In the Spirit they are OVERWHELMING.

1.    Trying to maintain order during a legalized gang brawl involving 80 toughs with a little whistle, a hanky and a ton of prayer.    
-Anonymous referee, explaining his job

3. Placing our lives in the hands of God means no longer having to rely on our own strength to fight the enemy. It means recognizing that God’s power has already defeated the enemy. We just do not always see it. Cannot see the forest for the trees…..or we see the day to day battles and not the overall picture of the war. And that our victory is at hand.

4.    Pulling down strongholds

a.    STRONG HOLD against us.

5. WE PRAY: Not just protecting us but as an offensive “wave” – a focused attack to deal with the stronghold. Concentrate His power

Romans 8:9-10 ⁹ But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. ¹⁰ And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

INVITATION: If you feel like you are left out in the world and are not in the Spirit, then consider us your re-enforcements. You need to get IN the Spirit…and stay In the Spirit!