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In this difficult world, your faith will be tested, and at times, severely. Faith that cannot be tested is faith that cannot be trusted. If you did a study through the scriptures, you would find that those whom God used the most were those who went through the greatest trials. There are many examples, Joseph, Moses, Elijah, David, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and many more.

But God gives principles in His word to strengthen faith in those difficult trials. He also builds a foundation of faith in your life so that when those troubles come, your faith will have been strengthened in advance.

Even now, God is strengthening your faith through His word and through the current struggles and trials you have endured. God is strengthening you in advance.

Our story unfolds in the southern kingdom of Judah. The back story was that Assyria had become a world dominating power. With absolute cruelty and coldness of heart, they were destroying nation after nation, city after city.

The northern kingdom of Israel had already been destroyed by Assyria at this point. They had done to Israel what they had also done to many other nations, they carried them away to a distant place, caused them to lose their national identity, to simply disappear into the populations of the world.
After Assyria destroyed and took captive the northern kingdom of Israel, they turned toward Judah where Hezekiah was King, intending to destroy and consume Judah as well.

To strike fear in the hearts of those in Judah, Sennacherib, king of Assyria, sent officers to Jerusalem to weaken and intimidate them in a war of words.

This encounter between Hezekiah and Sennacherib, king of Assyria, became a monumental turning point in the history of the nation. If they had been taken away to another place and a foreign people had been given this land in their place, then all of God's promises would have come to nothing.

A great spiritual battle was unfolding in this story and there are many spiritual applications and life lessons that we should apply in how we respond when troubles come.

I. In a War of Words – Abide in the Truth

 The king of Assyria sent officials to Hezekiah to weaken and intimidate them in a war of words.

 His opening strategy was straightforward; cause their faith in God to be shaken so fear would overtake them, and they would surrender without a fight.

 Sennacherib’s challenge to their faith was in verse 11, “Is not Hezekiah misleading you, saying, “The Lord our God will deliver us from the hand of the king of Assyria?”

 Verse 15, “Do not let Hezekiah deceive you or mislead you like this, do not believe him, do not let him make you trust in the Lord, saying, ‘The Lord will surely deliver us, and the city shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’”

 This is the same strategy the enemy of your soul uses today. If he can shake your faith, if he can cause you to lose confidence in who God is in your life, then your own fear will defeat you. You’ll give up without a fight.

 But take note of this…

A. The promises of the enemy are empty
 Notice the strategy, Sennacherib tried to shake their confidence and faith in the Lord, he tried to strike fear in their hearts, and then tried to soothe those fears with promises of his own. But his promises were empty.
 From 2 Kings we know that he promised that he would move them to a place where they could feel at home, where there would be an abundance of good things.
 This is a strategy of the enemy today. He tries to convince people about how good life would be if they just surrendered to his plan for their lives.
Illus – “Life will be so much more exciting over here in the world. You’re missing out on all the fun, man! The world is where you can live it up, don’t worry, there’s no death here!”
Illus - In the original sin of man, wasn't that the very strategy the serpent used with Eve?


Pastor Rich Jones
Pastor Matthew Dodd
Pastor Jean Marais
Rich Jones Calvary Chapel
Calvary Chapel Worship Center
Calvary Chapel Hillsboro
Calvary Chapel Oregon
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Pastor Matthew Dodd
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