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BURUBURU COMMUNITY CENTRE CHURCH OF GOD NAIROBI
NEVER SURRENDER
TEXT: 2 Chronicles 32: 1-12
Introduction:
Never Give Up. As we go through the trials, the difficulties and the challenges of life, the bombardments left, right and center, we must never surrender. For we know as Christians, we are not here in the world for a picnic; we are in a spiritual warfare. In this spiritual warfare, the closer we get towards the end of our race, the tougher will be the war. You must never surrender. You must never yield your ground to the enemy. You must never surrender.
In the army of Jesus Christ, there is no quitter. The Lord says, he who endures to the very end, shall be saved. The message of never surrender is a message of endurance. In the midst of all the tribulations and the afflictions, the temptations, you must cultivate a culture of never surrendering. You must stand for what is right and just. Those who surrender, never win any battle. They never win any war. It is possible you are contemplating going back up, it is possible you are under tremendous pressure and the burden you are bearing seems to be heavy, and you are thinking of capitulating and compromising. You must never surrender. Endure hardship. Persevere, Press on, Don’t surrender. There is a crown to be worn. There is a reward at the end of the journey. Celebration or victory is only sweet at the end after you have fought gallantly. Hezekiah’s commitment:
Hezekiah was a good king. He was a man who at the beginning of his reign turned his heart to seek the Lord. His father Ahaz was wicked. But Hezekiah came to the throne and made up his mind having decided to follow the Lord and not to yield to the enemy. The summary of his reign is given in 2 verses. 2 Chronicles 31: 20-21, it says Hezekiah “And thus did Hezekiah throughout all Judah, and wrought that which was good and right and truth before the Lord his God. And in every work that he began in the service of the house of God, and in the law, and in the commandments, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart, so he prospered”. And so it was at that time, when he was prospering and doing what was good and true and right that the enemy came against him in order to stop from doing what was good what was right, from doing the will of God.
The enemy’s propaganda to Hezekiah We are told that they put Judah under siege. The strategy used by the enemy was this propaganda war. Talk to them to submit. The war of insinuation and intimidation. The enemy spoke against Hezekiah’s God against the holy place. He said to Hezekiah, “in what are you trusting, don’t you see what I have done to all the empires around you and all the nations around you.” At this particular time, Judah had fallen to, the hand Assyria. And so that was used as a reference point.
This is what the enemy does today. How many times have you heard the enemy say to you. You see that evangelist, that brother, that sister who always spoke in tongues, they have fallen. What makes you believe that you will stand? That pastor has fallen. That evangelist is out of ministry. We have to do what Hezekiah did, He refused to surrender. We must refuse to surrender. Jesus said that in the world, we will have many tribulations, many afflictions, but he says don’t surrender. John 16:33 “Be of good cheer, because I have overcome the world.”
What did Hezekiah do?
If you are not to surrender, the question therefore is, what must we do? There are a few things we read in this text that I want to put across to you; what you and I must do in this warfare that we are in. 1. Verse 3&4, Hezekiah cut supply to the enemy. He stopped the water from the spring, which was outside the city. “So there was gathered much people together, who stopped all the fountains, and the brook that ran through the midst of the land, saying, why should the kings of Assyria come and find much water?” A strategy is to make sure we do not allow the enemy to have supply of water. If you are in warfare and you are at the battlefront, you cannot go many days without water. You need water to survive. Not so much of food but water to keep you going In Romans 13: 14, it says “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision to the flesh to fulfill the lust therein”. We must make sure we discontinue with the supply of ingredients to the flesh. We must never yield the members of our bodies as instruments of evil, wickedness and corruption. You must stand and stand and stand for Jesus Christ even when you are a minority. As a matter of fact, that is what Jesus Christ is coming back for- the remnants who refuse to surrender. Never surrender.
2. In verse 5, Hezekiah took courage and strengthened himself by doing several things. There are things we must to do to strengthen ourselves. We are told that he built up all the walls that were broken. The walls are for defense. We need to rebuild the wall of prayer. You know how strong you were in prayer, how persistent you were in prayer. How you would pray until you experience a breakthrough. You would not give up. You remember where you began and would say like Jacob of old, “Unless you bless me oh Lord, I will not let you go”. For I say to you, there are some crisis of life that will never go away with wishy-washy prayers. And you do not go for prayer contractors hoping from one church to another, from one person to another asking for prayer. Pray yourself. Rebuild your wall of prayer. You need to rebuild your wall of fasting. Brethren, if youwant to see a revival in this church, or in your life, we must rekindle the fire of prayer and fasting.
3. We need to rebuild the wall of meditation. Getting the word of God into your system. When Satan comes to beseech you, your system will say – It is written. We must rebuild the wall of meditation, storing the word of God in you. God said to Joshua, “this book of the law shall not depart from your heart, you shall meditate in it, to know and to do what it says, then you will prosper”. Because if you do, according to Psalm 1, you will be like a tree that is planted by the river’s side and you shall not wither and will prosper.
4. We need to rebuild the wall of worship. Worshipping God in spirit and in truth. It is when we worship God hilariously and lift him up, that God pours his Glory upon us. What has become of our worship? You need to wake up and sing this is the day that the Lord has made and I will rejoice. Do not wait until we come together for group therapy. Right there on your own, in the morning, you should be singing to the Lord and enjoying his presence. The wall of worship must be rebuilt.
5. We must rebuild the wall of witnessing. We used to go hospitals, for crusades, for evangelism, at work, we used to speak on Jesus, but we don’t do that any longer. Don’t wait for the pastors to arrange for mission. Get yourselves organized as a cell group, as a mashirika, and go proclaiming that Jesus Christ is Lord. We have got to rebuild the walls.
6. He raised towers on them. In the same verse, the bible says he raised towers. Towers are for vigilance, for looking out. We are admonished in the bible to watch and pray. How we need to raise vigilance. Watch out for the foxes that come in sheep’s clothing. We must pray and watch. We must pray and expect, we must pray and believe.
7. This man Hezekiah also reinforced the wall. We are told that he built another wall outside making 2 walls. This speaks of reinforcement. This means that you and me need to double our efforts in spiritual disciplines. The things that make for standing for Christ. We need to double this. If you have been spending 30min in prayer, in your devotion, double that, reinforce that.
Conclusion
As we go through this walk, We are encouraged to Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or dismayed before the King of Assyria, nor before the entire multitude with him, for there are more with us than with him. The invisible army of the Lord that is with us is far more than them. The bible says greater is he that is in you than he that is out there.
Arthur Aseka
BuruBuru Church of God