Living Outside The Box

Text: 2 Kings 6:8-13

8  Then the king of Syria warred against Israel, and took counsel with his servants, saying, In such and such a place shall be my camp.

9  And the man of God sent unto the king of Israel, saying, Beware that thou pass not such a place; for thither the Syrians are come down.

10  And the king of Israel sent to the place which the man of God told him and warned him of, and saved himself there, not once nor twice.

11  Therefore the heart of the king of Syria was sore troubled for this thing; and he called his servants, and said unto them, Will ye not shew 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 that is in Israel, telleth the king of Israel the words that thou speakest in thy bedchamber.

13  And he said, Go and spy where he is, that I may send and fetch him. And it was told him, saying, Behold, he is in Dothan.

11.   The only way to live outside the box is to live by faith.

a.   Faith is defined simply as taking God at His Word. People that live by faith will always live outside the box because faith requires it.

b.   To walk by sight is living in the box. This is the place of the fearful, unbelieving, the offended, the quitters, and the runners.

c.   Your faith in the Lord will allow you to keep your eyes on Him no matter what.

d.   This chapter deals with this very issue. There was a man in Israel who lived outside of the box by the name of Elisha, who had a very real relationship with God.

e.   When you endeavor to serve God, that is when the enemy is gonna show up, and many times he don't show up by himself.

             i.        That is when you say Lord I am going to follow you no matter what.

f.    Keep your eyes on God, don't let anything or anyone - especially other Christians - distract you from Him.

             i.        Sometimes people come to church, and thehy cabn't even hear from God cause they are too busy looking at everyone else. When you come to church, that's when you must live in the box, and allow God to speak to you.

g.   The enemy will set out to stop you, and many people will run and hide to protect themselves and their own interests.

             i.        The Bible says, if you will live Godly in Christ Jesus you WILL suffer persecution.

h.   2 Kings 6:15  And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do?

             i.        Many times we ask ourselves in these situations, "what am I gonna do?"

            ii.        When the hard times come, this is the number one question.

          iii.        The first thing Elisha dealt with in his servant was fear - because fear will stop you and lock you in the box and you won't be able to get out. You are tormented when you walk in fear.

          iv.        Notice Elisha's answer in Verse 16: And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.

           v.        When you keep your eyes on God, you realize that you are in the majority, even if you have many peoplke against you. If God be for us, who can be against us?

i.     V 17  And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.

             i.        No matter what you face, you are not alone, because God is always there with you.

            ii.        Elisha lived outside the box because he had a real relationship with God.

j.    2 Kings 7:1-2

1  Then Elisha said, Hear ye the word of the LORD; Thus saith the LORD, To morrow about this time shall a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria.

2  Then a lord on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God, and said, Behold, if the LORD would make windows in heaven, might this thing be? And he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof.

             i.   There was a famine in the land. One of the people said to the king, I need your help. The king was so upset that he was going to kill Elisha. Elisha heard the king's servant coming and he told the king, this is what is going to happen.

xi.        3  And there were four leprous men at the entering in of the gate: and they said one to another, Why sit we here until we die?

             i.        Lepers were not allowed in the city, they were looked down upon.

            ii.        There is no such thing as a reject in the kingdom of the Lord, we are all important to God in His kingdom.

22.   Sometimes before you can get direction, you must learn to question and converse with yourself.

 i.        Sometimes it's not that people have more wisdom than others, sometimes people ask themselves the hard questions: Why am I here? What's wrong with me? Why do I allow myself to go through this?

ii.        Sometimes you ask other people the questions that you should be asking yourself.

             i.        The prodigal son in Luke 15 came to himself. And in coming to himself he went back to his father.

            ii.        Sometimes you have to come to yourself before you can truly coem back to God.

iii.        The lepers were stuck between two ways. If they went into the city, they would die of the famine. If they went to Assyria, they might be killed.

iv.        2 Kings 7:55  And they rose up in the twilight, to go unto the camp of the Syrians: and when they were come to the uttermost part of the camp of Syria, behold, there was no man there.

             i.        What gave these lepers the courage to take action? It is a word called desperation.

            ii.        You don't even begin to grow until the people that you depend on can no longer meet the needs that you have. This is a hard truth but it's real. Sometimes the Lord needs to take you away from the people you lean on because you can't even start growing until the people that you depend on can no longer meet your needs.

v.        In the spiritual realm, you constantly try to hold on to people, but you need to be connected to God more than any other person. You don't begin to grow until you understand the importance of connecting to God more than you do other people.

             i.        God is trying to teach you that you have to get out of the comfort zone. This is so important!

            ii.        Getting out the box sometimes means you have to cut yourself from the umbilical cord.

vi.        If you are not connected to Christ, you will find yourself so discouraged that you will not even set foot in church anymore.

             i.        If I'm connected to you AND God, you can act as silly as you want to but I won't be silly with you.

33.   There is a certain level of discomfort associated with a life of faith.

 i.        When you're not walking in faith, you feel that discomfort, that's what makes you want to draw back.

ii.        Sometimes the Lord has to bring just the right amount of discomfort into your life that you say That's it, okay Lord, I see what you're doing, I'm ready, I'm tired of struggling and feeling alone. Lord I understand that the only person that can give me all these things is you.

             i.        This is what drives you outside the box, when you get tired of being around people that hurt and let you down, you will stop running to those people, and realize you are looking in all the wrong places.

            ii.        This doesn't mean that people are bad, they're just human. Just because a person is saved doesn't mean that they cease to be human.

iii.        We all still have issues, we're all still trying to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. Don’t' judge the whole church because of something you see openly.

iv.        Acts 7:39-41

39  To whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt,

40  Saying unto Aaron, Make us gods to go before us: for as for this Moses, which brought us out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.

41  And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.

             i.   When you walk away from God, the only thing you can rejoice in is what you can do with your own hands. That's all you got, and that's a life full of vanity.

            ii.   They turned back to Egypt in their heart. They got to a place where they began to walk by faith, and got tired of it, and they turned in their hearts back to their former lives.

          iii.   It's important for you to get out of your box and stay out, because the enemy will always want you to get back in the box, because the box represents your former life, what you were before Christ came.

e.        Don't change because you're trying to make people like you, or to make friends. It is a tragedy when people do what they do only because they will make friends.

             i.        Your friend today will be your enemy tomorrow, and if you allow that to stop you, you're not going to be serving the Lord too long.

f.        2 Kings 7:5-7

5  And they rose up in the twilight, to go unto the camp of the Syrians: and when they were come to the uttermost part of the camp of Syria, behold, there was no man there.

6  For the Lord had made the host of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots, and a noise of horses, even the noise of a great host: and they said one to another, Lo, the king of Israel hath hired against us the kings of the Hittites, and the kings of the Egyptians, to come upon us.

7  Wherefore they arose and fled in the twilight, and left their tents, and their horses, and their asses, even the camp as it was, and fled for their life.

             i.   The favor of God is better than money. When our resources run out, when we come to the end of ourselves, that's when the Lord shows His strength.

            ii.   We know that God's strength is only manifest in our weaknesses.

g.        In Psalms 71, David came to the end and was gray-haired, and he said Lord I don't want to die until I show this generation your strength.

             i.        He said when I was young and strong, they wouldn't say it was you that won my battles, but now I'm old and gray-haired, and I want this generation to understand your strength, not mine, and understand where I got it from.

            ii.        He said let me show and declare your strength to this generation. That's what David passed down to Solomon, a legacy of walking with God.

          iii.        If I could pass down a legacy to my children and the people of this church, it would be to walk with God on your own. Don't just come to church to be a sermon-soaker, get to know Him for yourself.

h.        God will open doors that no man can close.

44.   You know that you are maturing when you can do right by those that hurt and criticize you.

a.        2 Kings 7:8-9

8  And when these lepers came to the uttermost part of the camp, they went into one tent, and did eat and drink, and carried thence silver, and gold, and raiment, and went and hid it; and came again, and entered into another tent, and carried thence also, and went and hid it.

9  Then they said one to another, We do not well: this day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace: if we tarry till the morning light, some mischief will come upon us: now therefore come, that we may go and tell the king's household.

           a.   These lepers that came from nothing, got to a place of food, riches, raiment, and at first, they hid it, but then they began to speak to each other, about saving others from starving.

           b.   I'm here to tell the King's household today that God got some wonderful things for you, but you have to stop depending on people and start depending on God. People will let you down.

           c.   You know that you are maturing when you can do right by those that hurt and criticize you.

b.        You always got to bless those that helped you. Somebody helped you, you have to look back and say I remember this. I remember when.

             i.        People say money changes people. Money don't change nobody, it reveals who you really are.

c.        2 Kings 7:1  Then Elisha said, Hear ye the word of the LORD; Thus saith the LORD, To morrow about this time shall a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria.

             i.        In other words, you will see it, but you will not be able to enjoy it. A lot of us are in a palce of such a blessing. When I look around, I don't see problems. But what happens when your promised land becomes the problem land?

d.        2 Kings 7:17-20

17  And the king appointed the lord on whose hand he leaned to have the charge of the gate: and the people trode upon him in the gate, and he died, as the man of God had said, who spake when the king came down to him.

18  And it came to pass as the man of God had spoken to the king, saying, Two measures of barley for a shekel, and a measure of fine flour for a shekel, shall be to morrow about this time in the gate of Samaria:

19  And that lord answered the man of God, and said, Now, behold, if the LORD should make windows in heaven, might such a thing be? And he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof.

20  And so it fell out unto him: for the people trode upon him in the gate, and he died.

             i.   He saw it, but he couldn't enjoy it. Many times people come and get on fire for God, but then they allow discouragement to come in, and when that happens, they can see the goodness, but can't enjoy it anymore?

            ii.   If I find myself there, what am I supposed to do? Just get it right with God.

e.        The first thing that you have to do is separate yourself from the mistakes that you made. When you do mess up, confess it and leave it alone. Don't beat yourself up over it, or you will always judge yourself and always be there.

             i.        You have to give yourself a moment to talk it over and grieve what you did and the mistake that you made. Give yourself the right to cry and feel bad about what you did, but after you had that moment, then put it behind you. Then get up and brush yourself off and move on to the next chapter.

f.        I believe and see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

g.        A just man falls seven times and rise back up again. If God has brought you back from the mistake that you made, you can't continue to allow that to haunt you for the rest of your life.

h.        We're not here because we don't mess up, we're here because every time we mess up, we serve a God who tells us to get up.

 i.        Understand that the more you grow, the harder the storms become. The harder the storms, the more you will be challenged to change.

             i.        That's where friction comes in, because then it isn't good enough to just know something, you need to go from head knowledge to heart knowledge.

            ii.        When you;'re not willing to change, that's when you are going head to head with God, and you cannot win that battle.

j.        Without His power, you can't do what God called you to do. It doesn't matter who hates or likes you, the only thing that matters is what God has spoken into your life.

k.        As long as you know that you are doing what God wants you to do, that's the only thing that matters. As you grow you will realize that very thing.

 l.        Your past is like a rotten corpse. The more you allow it to attach itself to you, the more it will drain the very life out of you.

m.        Philippians 3:12  Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.

             i.        In other words, I want to do that which Christ has created me to do.

            ii.        V 12-13

13  Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,

14  I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

It doesn’t' matter what you did. It's time to get the dead corpse off your back, and continue to move forward in the name of Jesus. Stop allowing it to rob you of your life.  Don't quit, don't ever give up. Keep fighting, so that we can come to the end of it all and say I fought a good fight, I've finished my course, I've kept the faith. It's not gonna be easy, but praise God that I didn't quit.