Simple thought from this name, the Lord of Hosts, which actually, as I was studying this name, I was surprised to find how often it is found in the Bible, particularly the New Testament. But before we go into a study more of this name and what it means and how we can apply it to our lives, I want you to be thinking tonight as we begin about the great task it is to have the responsibility of commanding an army. You know, a man, a general, or a colonel, or a lieutenant, a man who has soldiers under him, he has a responsibility for training, leading, and organizing the men that are underneath him so that victory is accomplished in the end, right? They want to win whatever war they're waging, whatever campaign they're going for. Well, one man who's probably one of the most famous generals in American history is Dwight Eisenhower, who later went on to become President of the United States. Well, Eisenhower, if you study up on the history of Eisenhower, you know that he had many exploits in World War II, many different campaigns, but perhaps the one he's most well known for is the invasion of D-Day on June 6th. 1944, otherwise known as Operation Overlord. And Eisenhower did a lot to train and plan in preparation for this grand attack on the European continent, on the Nazi forces that were holding France at that time. Well, Eisenhower, he did a lot in preparation for this. He had one driving motivation. Eisenhower quotes, we will accept nothing less than total victory. That was the one thing that drove him. That as a commander, as a general, as a military man, he was gonna accept nothing less than total victory. And full victory was what he got. As the Allied forces on D-Day were able to make their way through the German command, get through France, get into the European continent, and eventually win the war. Well, do you know that we have a God who is wiser, stronger, and far more superior than the US military. And our God is the Lord of hosts. That's the name we're going to be studying here tonight. Before we get into how it applies to our lives, let's look at some basic definitions. If you study this name, especially in the Old Testament, you will find this, that it's really the Lord of hosts is a compound name. Many times you'll find Lord as all caps in your King James Bible, which as pastor preached about several weeks ago, is the name Jehovah, Yahweh, right? Which is the idea that God is the all sufficient God. He is always there. And he is always what we need him to be. I'm not going to re-preach that message, but it's very significant that right at the beginning, we can see that this name has significance because it's the most personal name of God that we see in the Old Testament. And it's connected to this name, the Lord of Hosts. If you were to look through the rest of your Bibles in the Old Testament, you would find a couple variations of this name. You'd find the God of Hosts or Lord God of Hosts, a lot of different variations like that. But this is kind of the one that's most prominent in the Old Testament, Lord of Hosts, and of course it starts with Jehovah. But the idea of hosts Sabah, I believe is the way you'd pronounce that in the Hebrew. It's a Hebrew term which means a mass of persons especially regularly organized for war, in parentheses, an army. And the idea here that God is really pictured as a general with an enormous, massive army at his command. We can take the name, really the Lord of Hosts, we can almost rephrase it as God is the God of armies. That's what host really means. It's just a mass, a body of people organized for something. And in this case, it's particularly for war. So we see in the Old Testament, you have that idea of God being the one who is in charge of what? God having full control, full power, full authority over what? Well, in the Old Testament, mainly it's the nation of Israel. That's what he has command over. That's who he's in charge over. But even more than that, God is in charge of all the armies of the world. And you know, regardless of the men who control squadrons or platoons of soldiers, God is in control of all of them, whether they realize it or not. And that's a very significant thing, because you can look throughout history and find wars and battles of all kinds. And you realize that in the background, in the scenes, is God himself controlling all of these events. None of these things are out of his hand. He controls all of them. And he allows these things to happen. He's sovereign in that way. So that's very interesting that these two ideas are coming together. Jehovah, the self-existent God, the eternal God, the one who is always what we need him to be, And yet he's a god of hosts, a god of armies, a god who controls things. And really what I want you to see as the idea of hosts is that God has power. That's the picture being conveyed. He has authority, he has power over events, over people, over things in history. And not only is God in control of earthly armies, but we'll see in a minute through our first text here today in 2 Kings, he's also in control of heavenly armies. We'll find out what that's, how God pictures that in the word of God for us later on. But kind of to put together from the beginning, these first two terms, Jehovah and hosts. The God who is all we need him to be, the God who is a God of armies. What does this look like? Well, a very simple definition, certainly not the only definition that we could come up with, but I would say the most substantive that involves everything that these names represent. The God who has all the power and authority to overcome every obstacle and enemy that his people face. So there again, you have the idea of power, authority, and overcoming. the enemies of God, the enemies of God's people. Again, you look in the Old Testament, you find the Lord of hosts, the God of armies, getting rid of, destroying all the nations, the Canaanite nations that were trying to stand in the way of Israel taking the land of Canaan. And you find all these different events in all the Old Testament as well in the prophets. You find it in the Psalms, talking about how God is superior over something, over someone, over some nation, over an enemy, over an obstacle. And because he's in control of that, I can trust him. It goes back to the idea of his people. You know, that's our God, that's the God that we have. The God who controls armies. Now this kind of gives us a very basic idea of what this name means, but again, we have, since he's Jehovah, he's always what we need him to be. And since he has all the power in the world at his disposal, no obstacle is too big for him. And take those ideas with you as we look at a couple of Bible examples. Turn, in your Bibles if you would, to 2 Kings chapter six. If you're not already there, that's our first passage that I want you to see. representing and picturing the God of armies that we see in the Bible, the Lord of hosts. 2 Kings chapter 6. We're not going to read the entire story that's accounted here, but I'll just kind of give you a very basic idea of what's going on. We have there in 2 Kings 6, you have the nation of Israel and their king who is being oppressed by the nation of Syria. The king of Syria finds out that Elisha has basically been giving the king of Israel secrets about the Syrian kingdom and some of the moves and military plans that they have. And the king of Syria wasn't too happy about that. So he finds out where Elisha is, he finds out the city he's hiding in, and he basically sends an enormous horde of his soldiers, his Syrian soldiers, to go and capture this prophet Elisha. Now Elisha's servant wakes up in the morning, looks out of his window, and guess what he finds? An enormous army that he knows is out to get his master, the one that he serves, Elisha. And he tells Elisha, Elisha, there's this huge host outside waiting to get us. What are we going to do? Elisha's response is fascinating. He says here in Verse 16, 2 Kings 6 verse 16, and he answered, fear not, for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. 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. Amazing. So here, This servant could only see what was on the physical level. All he could see was there's a huge army out there that's out to get just one man, and humanly they would get him if they could. They had the power, the authority to do it. But Elisha helped this servant understand something, that the God of armies controls the host of heaven, which the Bible tells us are actually innumerable. The Bible says tens of thousands and thousands. The idea is you couldn't count them if you wanted to. God's hosts, God's support, the campaign that God would wage against Satan, against the enemies of God, those are so big and so massive, you couldn't even count it. And this is exciting because you know what? We often fear what Satan, what the world is trying to do to us, what they're trying to do to the church, what they're trying to do to Christians in other parts of the world. You know, we don't have to be afraid because we have the heavenly host on our side. We have, I mean, that's a simple picture, but I can't imagine what that servant saw. That'd be another clip in the Bible that I would love to see. Think of that, to see the host of angels. And here, all Elisha did was pray. He said, God, open this servant's eyes. Help him to see that you're in control of the situation. And you know what he did? That servant saw, got a glimpse of the heavenly realm, what's going on up there in a world we can't see because it's God in control of it. And you know what, Elisha, the story goes on to say Elisha prayed and asked for that army, those chariots, those horses, to blind the Syrian soldiers. And you know what, they were made completely blind and Elisha was able to go through safely. That's the power that God has. And at an instant, Elisha also prayed, Lord, would you open the eyes of the Syrians when the right time came? And their eyes were opened. Now, we may never get to see what that servant saw here on earth. But I think in this simple story, God is wanting us to understand that he has control over a heavenly host far bigger than we can imagine. And because he controls that host, I don't have to be afraid of whatever obstacles I face as a Christian. Whether it's the world, or Satan tempting me, or my flesh tempting me, none of those obstacles are too big for God. Because he has that in his control. He has that massive army under his command, and he will use it for his people individually. And he knows your need exactly when you need that backup, that support to be there for you. That's the kind of God we have, the God of armies. Now you don't have to turn there, but I'll turn there in my Bible. 1 Samuel 17, another biblical example of the Lord of hosts being used. We know the story of David and Goliath very well. David, a young man, comes to the camp to visit his brothers and finds out that this Philistine is mocking God, mocking the armies of Israel. And he dares to challenge this giant when trained Israelite soldiers, none of them would take him on. For 40 days and 40 nights, none of these soldiers would take Goliath on this challenge. But David, a 17-year-old kid, was willing to do it because he trusted in the Lord. And when he stands before that giant, it's very interesting what he says. You're gonna hear this and you're probably gonna recognize it, but notice what he says about God. So David's before Goliath, he says, then said David to the Philistine, thou comest to me with a sword and with a spear and with a shield. but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand, and I will smite thee and take thine head from thee, and I will give the carcasses of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. Notice the name of God that he used there, the Lord of hosts. Why? Because here's a giant, a military man. I mean, perfect picture. You have a Philistine military against an Israelite military. And guess whose side God is on? God is on the Israelite side. And none of these soldiers, none of the men of Israel, not even King Saul, their leader, recognized that God was in control of the situation. But here, David, A 17-year-old man was so in tune with the Lord, so in tune with what God was doing at that battlefield that day, that he said, you know what, Goliath? I stand before you, and I'm way shorter than you are, and I have no capacity on my own, no physical capacity to take you down, but I do know one person who can take you down, and his name is the Lord of Hosts. You know, as I was studying this, I noticed something about David. Do you know that David had no Bible verse to claim there? Do you know that David had no other believers rallying around him? He had no other Israelites who were like, yeah, yeah, go on, you can do it, you know, we're trusting the Lord. No, all of them were fearful. All of them were trembling. He had no encouragement from other people whatsoever. But he could stand on that battlefield alone and say, I'm alone here on this ground, but I've got the God of armies on my side. I've got the God who controls the hosts of heaven. The God who controls your army, Goliath, he controls the Philistine army too. And David so believed it that he could stand in front of that giant and say, I'm gonna kill you and I'm gonna take your head off. That's what he said. He had that boldness because he was trusting in the name of God. He knew God so well, all he needed was to trust in a name. You know, you and I here, we sit, we're here in the New Testament times, the church age, and we have a Bible loaded with promises. We have Christians all around us who can encourage us and cheer us on. We have a pastor, other men of God who are in our lives who encourage us, who build us up in our faith. And yet, so often, it's easy for us to doubt the power of God, isn't it? Oh, you know, that person can never get saved. You know, I can never see victory in my family. I can never, you know, be consistent in my Bible time. It's just, it's, these are obstacles I can't overcome. But God says, I'm the God of armies. And I can deal with any enemy that you face. And here we have, again, another instance where the God of armies, the Lord of hosts, is used for just one person, one individual. And we're gonna see another, one last Bible example, also in the book of 1 Samuel. 1 Samuel chapter one, the story of Hannah and Hannah's prayer for a son. You know, Hannah was like any woman in Israel at that day. She was desperate to have a child. You know, that's what was expected of the ladies at that time. And the Bible says that the Lord closed up her womb. And she was desperate, she wanted a child. And she was so desperate that she went to God and prayed about this request. And as she's praying about this request, she invokes the name of the Lord of hosts. She uses the name of God this way. Look at what, this is verse 10 here in 1 Samuel chapter one. And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the Lord and wept sore. And she vowed a vow and said, O Lord of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid and remember me and not forget thine handmaid, but will give unto me thine handmaid a man-child, then I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life. And there shall no razor come upon his head. Now this is very interesting. This lady wanted one thing. Hannah wanted one thing. She wanted a son. Why does she use the name of the God of armies? Because she understood something about that name. And what's very interesting about this particular instance is this is the first time recorded in the Old Testament in the Bible where someone prays this name to God. First instance, which is amazing. We go through the whole Pentateuch, not once used. But here we have a simple lady living in Israel. In the days, right during the judges, And she knows God, that he is the God of armies, that he's in control of all things, that he has all the power in the world to give her a son if he chose. And she says, God, if you will give me a son, I'll give him right back to you. That's an amazing thing. You know, we'll be going to prayer tonight here, particularly about VBS and about our canvassing on Sunday and even Saturday. It's easy to think that, oh, you know, we do this every year, nothing's gonna come of it, or, you know, we're not gonna see any growth, we're not gonna see any increase. It's easy to think humanly. But you know, these examples that we see in scripture, they're not thinking humanly. They're not thinking on the physical level. Their heart is in the heavenly realm. Their heart goes back to God and says, God, the situation looks impossible. But you have to do it. You have to break through. Because there's no other way that this is going to happen. It's that point where you come to God and you say, God, there's no control I have over the situation. But you do. Because you have all power to overcome any obstacle or any enemy that's in my life right now. We're gonna go to prayer. Maybe the enemy you face is yourself and maybe the fear of, you know, talking to people and going out there and being in outreach. And God says, I can overcome that fear. I have the power to do that. I am the God of armies, the Lord of hosts. I don't know what fear it is, what obstacle it is, what enemy that you face tonight, but the Lord knows. And I trust the Spirit of God is gonna apply it to your life specifically and show you, you know that enemy, that obstacle, that challenge, that trial in your life? I'm the God of armies. I control that and I am able to overcome that. One thing I also see in this story, particularly about Hannah, and even just the idea of prayer, is that we go to prayer so often, we wonder, or maybe we aren't sure, are my prayers even being answered? Are the things that I'm asking God, is God hearing them? Is God gonna answer at some point? Well, one thing could be that we have hidden sin that we haven't confessed, but there is another possibility. And the possibility is that in the unseen spiritual realm, Satan himself is actually fighting against that prayer being answered. And that's a very real thing. It's a thing we can't see, but it's what the Bible tells us can very well be happening in our prayer lives, where we're asking God about this request and this request, and it seems like, wow, nothing's happening. Could it be that even tonight as we pray for VBS, Satan is specifically targeting our prayer meetings so that we don't get the answers? So that we don't see the results, the fruit? Well, I can tell you and encourage you tonight that we have the God of armies on our side. And as we pray, we can invoke that name ourselves, the Lord of hosts and say, God, I don't know what Satan is gonna try to do to stop what we're doing, what your church is doing to move forward, to see the gospel move forward here in Corona, but God, I know that you are in control of everything and you have all power to overcome any obstacle in my life. So I trust it's an encouragement to you tonight as we go to prayer.