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God gives Unexpected Viewpoints.
Elisha’s servant was awoken to the unexpected viewpoint of an army with their weapons trained upon them. It was unexpected. BUT that is nothing compared to the unexpected viewpoint God gives in the story.
God is bigger than whatever army is coming after you. He will show you that He is for you. He will show you how to make peace with enemies.
Ask God to open your eyes to something unexpected.

Unexpected 8 – Unexpected Viewpoints from Redemption Church on Vimeo.

Unexpected 8 – Unexpected Viewpoints

Sermon notes by Chris Fluitt

Redemption Church Plano Tx

**Vid bumper – Unexpected
To our friends on the internet, you have somehow found yourself at Redemption Church’s sermon podcast. Welcome. Redemption is a non-denominational church that believes in God’s word, the blood of Jesus, and the power of the Holy Spirit. There are all kinds of people from all kinds of backgrounds here. If you are anywhere near North Dallas I want you to come to a Sunday 3pm service. You would fit in here.

But I was raised Catholic – You would fit in here.
I was raised some other denom. – So were most of us. You will fit in here.
I am not much of a church goer. To stiff too starchy or judgey… You should check us out seriously. We would surprise you.
I am not sure about faith yet. Kind of an atheist or agnostic. I have more questions that faith. I am telling you that you just found the perfect church for you. You will fit – Just come.

To you in the room. Wow ya’ll are some good looking people. I tell you some modeling agency is going to find Redemption Church and sign all of you up.

We are in the last week of our UNEXPECTED SERIES
We serve a God who does the unexpected. Says the unexpected. Calls us into the unexpected.
The worst thing we can do as Christians… Redemption the worst thing we can do as a church… Is to act like we have God all figured out, because God always comes up with something bigger than we expected.
You should always EXPECT
Every time we worship we should EXPECT. When you look into your Bible… When you pray… When you wake up in the morning… In the middle of hardship and trouble…
Did anyone come expecting today?
Today I want to finish off this series with a sermon entitled – Unexpected Viewpoints
Please turn with me to the book of 2 Kings chapter 6
Please do use a Bible. Everyone should own a Bible and know how to use one. If you like to use tablets or smartphones there are some great bible apps. Youversion bible app is great. You can take notes, share scripture to social media.. it will even read to you.
2 Kings 6 is in the Old Testament and the major figure in our story is the Prophet Elisha. Not EliJA… EliSHA.
2 Kings 6:8 Now the king of Aram was at war with Israel. After conferring with his officers, he said, “I will set up my camp in such and such a place.”(NIV)
(this is a private meeting of the King of Aram and his officers. They are plotting to ambush Israel’s army)
2 Kings 6:9 The man of God sent word to the king of Israel: “Beware of passing that place, because the Arameans are going down there.”(NIV)
(This man of God is Elisha and He was not in the private meeting yet knew everything that went on in the meeting – He gave the info to the King of Israel, his name is Jehoram)
2 Kings 6:10 So the king of Israel checked on the place indicated by the man of God. Time and again Elisha warned the king, so that he was on his guard in such places.(NIV)
2 Kings 6:11 This enraged the king of Aram. He summoned his officers and demanded of them, “Will you not tell me which of us is on the side of the king of Israel?”(NIV)
(So the King Aram gets angry. He thinks one of his officials is betraying him)
2 Kings 6:12 “None of us, my lord the king,” said one of his officers, “but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the very words you speak in your bedroom.”(NIV)
(His officers know about Elisha. “Listen King… nothing goes on in your bedroom that He doesn’t know about.”)
2 Kings 6:13 “Go, find out where he is,” the king ordered, “so I can send men and capture him.” The report came back: “He is in Dothan.”(NIV)
(So now the King sets his sights on Elisha. He seeks to ambush the prophet in the small city of Dothan. Dothan is only mentioned in one other place in scripture – it is where Joseph was betrayed by His brothers. It is a small rather defenseless town)
2 Kings 6:14 Then he sent horses and chariots and a strong force there. They went by night and surrounded the city.(NIV)
2 Kings 6:15 When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. “Oh, my lord, what shall we do?” the servant asked.(NIV)
Ever have one of those mornings where you find out an army is outside your window?
Life has unexpected viewpoints.
You never expected your friends to be your betrayers.
You never expect everything in your house and your car is broken.
You never expect all your creditors and the IRS have surrounded your bank account.
You never expect the doctor’s report telling you that you have something wrong with your health that seems nearly, if not impossible, to fix.

There are days you wake up to a mess and you are saying…
“O.M.L” “Oh My Lord! What shall we do?”

The prophet of God woke up surrounded….
Not someone who had committed a disgusting sin…
Not someone who was backslidden and hadn’t spoken to God in forever…
Not someone who was disobedient…
The prophet Elisha woke up surrounded by the enemy.

The army you see marching down on you does not mean God has forsaken you. The trouble you face does not define God’s level of Love for you. STOP thinking that God has left your side every time trouble shows up.
The Bible says in Matthew 5:45 that the Father gives sunshine to the evil and the good, and rain to the just and unjust alike. Stop thinking that the situations of life serve as a barometer to God’s affection for you.
So how did Elisha respond in an O.M.L moment?
2 Kings 6:16 “Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”(NIV)

It does not say that Elisha even went over to the window to look out and see this army. You can almost picture that the prophet stop what he is doing. I imagine he just stayed where he was sitting and kept working.
One could assume if the army had been 1 billion people with pokemon power ranger weaponry that the prophet would have said the same thing.
It is the truth that if you have God on your side it does not matter what the adversary looks like. It doesn’t matter the size of their army or what guns they are packing.
The Apostle Paul said it like this. I wish I had some sold out believers quote this verse with some gusto!
Romans 8:31 What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?(NIV)
Listen up! We quote that scripture boldly but we are called to live that scripture boldly!
Elisha said there are more on our side than on the side of our enemy. Do Not Be Afraid!
God + 0 = A Majority
If you have God you are in good shape. If you have God then I think your enemy might need to rethink their life choices.
Now the Servant had just seen the army that was there to kill them. And he also looked around and saw the puny city of Dothan, and an old aging prophet. He surly thought “Who exactly do you think is on our side?
2 Kings 6:17 And Elisha prayed, “O LORD, open his eyes so he may see.” Then the LORD opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.(NIV)
Think about this turn of events. In a matter of moments he goes from the unexpected view of an army coming to kill to the unexpected view of an army of angels that have surrounded the enemy.
You see when you are surrounded by the enemy, remember that the God we serve has already surrounded the enemy.
Now the servant got to see Heaven’s army because God opened the eyes of the servant.
Opened Eyes
Now we pray all kinds of prayers. God give me this.. God do this thing.. God stop those people.. but do we pray introspectively? Do we pray for God to open our eyes?
Too often we assume that we already have our eyes opened. We assume that we already know everything there is to know…
This is also why we are full of such fear at times. We see the problems but have not asked God to open our eyes to His solutions.
If you are experiencing fear or depression, you need to pray for opened eyes today!
We serve a God who opens eyes… but He also closes eyes.
2 Kings 6:18 As the enemy came down toward him, Elisha prayed to the LORD, “Strike these people with blindness.” So he struck them with blindness, as Elisha had asked.(NIV)
2 Kings 6:19 Elisha told them, “This is not the road and this is not the city. Follow me, and I will lead you to the man you are looking for.” And he led them to Samaria.(NIV)
2 Kings 6:20 After they entered the city, Elisha said, “LORD, open the eyes of these men so they can see.” Then the LORD opened their eyes and they looked, and there they were, inside Samaria.(NIV)
2 Kings 6:21 When the king of Israel saw them, he asked Elisha, “Shall I kill them, my father? Shall I kill them?”(NIV)
2 Kings 6:22 “Do not kill them,” he answered. “Would you kill men you have captured with your own sword or bow? Set food and water before them so that they may eat and drink and then go back to their master.”(NIV)
Closed Eyes
God opened the servants eyes, but God closed the eyes of these men.
God struck the men blind who were going to capture Elisha. They were at the mercy of Elisha. And instead of killing them, Elisha led them, fed them, gave them water, and prayed that their eyes be open.
God closes eyes, but it is always His intent to open them. God put these men in a situation where they had to surrender… they had to repent/change the direction they were going.
Don’t forget that God wants to open the eyes of your enemies and turn them into allies. That is so unexpected.
Saul of tarsus was such an enemy and he was struck blind until he heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the scales fell from His eyes. (Acts 9)
God closes eyes in order to give them space to repent.. Then he opens them.

If you feel like you are in the dark today perhaps I am talking to you.
Perhaps you have some enemies that you need to spend some time praying for today.

This unexpected story ends like this.
2 Kings 6:23 So he prepared a great feast for them, and after they had finished eating and drinking, he sent them away, and they returned to their master. So the bands from Aram stopped raiding Israel’s territory.(NIV)
Elisha’s treatment of these men brought a time of peace to Israel.

Unexpected Viewpoints
This story has them. The servant. The army. There was something going on at all times that couldn’t be seen.
Right now God is doing unseen things in this world, in your life, in this church.

Do you want opened eyes?
Jesus opens blind eyes
In His earthly ministry Jesus opened blind eyes.
Luke 4:18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed,(NIV)
Jesus spoke to men and opened there eyes to the Kingdom of God. If you were around Jesus for very long He would open your eyes. There was a thief that spent a little bit of time with Jesus on the Cross and His eyes were opened to faith.
Do you want Jesus to open your eyes today? Ask Him to show you something unexpected.