SERMON NOTES

Over the past few weeks, the Backbone series has explored what it means to develop daring faith, breakthrough prayer, and spiritual resilience. We’ve learned to stand when others bow in The Spine of Faith, discovered power in prayer through Breakthrough Knees, and found prophetic persistence in I Hear Rain.

Now, in this final message, we move from standing strong to stepping forward — from faith in theory to faith in action. Because having backbone means more than enduring; it means advancing. It means taking your faith, your prayer, and your prophetic word and marching them onto the battlefield of life.

The question isn’t whether you can stand, pray, or believe. The question is — now that you’ve got backbone, what will you do with it?

The Text: 2 Kings 7:3–9 (NIV)

“Now there were four men with leprosy at the entrance of the city gate. They said to each other, ‘Why stay here until we die? If we say, “We’ll go into the city”—the famine is there, and we will die. And if we stay here, we will die. So let’s go over to the camp of the Arameans and surrender. If they spare us, we live; if they kill us, then we die.’ At dusk they got up and went to the camp of the Arameans. When they reached the edge of the camp, no one was there, for the Lord had caused the Arameans to hear the sound of chariots and horses and a great army… So they got up and fled in the dusk and abandoned their tents and their horses and donkeys.The men who had leprosy reached the edge of the camp, entered one of the tents and ate and drank. They took silver, gold, and clothes, and went off and hid them. They returned and entered another tent and took some things from it and hid them also. Then they said to each other, ‘What we’re doing is not right. This is a day of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves… Let’s go at once and report this to the royal palace.’”

1. Backbone Moves, Even When You’re Afraid

The four men with leprosy lived outside the city — symbols of shame, rejection, and regret. Their past defined them, their condition isolated them, and their surroundings limited them. Yet in that place of exclusion, they reached a turning point: “Why stay here until we die?”

Many believers remain stuck in spiritual famine because they’ve settled in places God only meant for healing. The enemy’s greatest weapon isn’t always destruction — sometimes it’s distraction. If he can’t destroy you, he’ll keep you stagnant.

Your past pain is not your permanent address. Isaiah 43:18 reminds us: “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.”

When movement stops, miracles starve. The lepers didn’t know what awaited them at the camp, but they knew that staying still meant death and moving meant possibility. Like Abraham in Hebrews 11:8, they obeyed and went, even though they didn’t know where they were going.

Faith doesn’t always start with clarity; it starts with courage. When you move, heaven moves with you.

2. When You Step, God Fights

As the lepers took their first uncertain steps toward the Aramean camp, something supernatural happened.

“For the Lord caused the Arameans to hear the sound of chariots and horses and a great army.” — 2 Kings 7:6

Four weak, rejected men began to walk — and their frail footsteps became heaven’s soundtrack of victory. God amplified their obedience until it sounded like an army advancing. The enemy panicked and fled, imagining that Israel had hired foreign kings to attack. They overestimated the lepers because God magnified their presence.

When God is with you, your reputation doesn’t define your impact — His power does. Exodus 23:27 says, “I will send My terror ahead of you and throw into confusion every nation you encounter.”

God doesn’t just fight for you; He fights through you. Sometimes your enemies hear the sound of your future victory before you even see it. While the lepers walked in obedience, God was already working in victory.

3. The Spoils of the Brave

When the lepers entered the camp, they found it abandoned — the enemy gone, but the spoils left behind. They ate, drank, and gathered silver, gold, and clothing.

The very place that once represented fear and defeat became a place of abundance and restoration. What was meant to destroy them turned into the ground of their deliverance.

Psalm 23:5 declares, “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.”

Just like the British soldiers who once sat down at a feast in the White House meant for others, the lepers sat at a table God had prepared for them in the enemy’s camp. The battlefield became a banquet. The place of warfare became a place of worship.

God took what once financed the enemy and turned it into provision for His people. Joel 2:25–26 promises, “I will restore to you the years that the locust has eaten… You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied.”

No one is too broken for breakthrough. Even the rejected can reclaim victory. When you move in faith, God turns the battlefield into a table of blessing.

4. Victory That Multiplies

At first, the lepers hid their treasure. Then conviction came. They realized their breakthrough wasn’t meant to be hoarded — it was meant to be shared.

“This is a day of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves.” — 2 Kings 7:9

God blesses us not to make us comfortable, but to make us conduits of His grace. The breakthrough that starts in your tent is meant to overflow into your city.

These same lepers who were once rejected became the first messengers of revival. Romans 10:15 says, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.” Even leprous feet become beautiful when they carry hope.

From Backbone to Battlefield

Throughout this series, we’ve learned that faith gives us structure, prayer gives us power, prophecy gives us sight — and battle gives us victory.

Some of us have been sitting outside the gate for too long, feeling forgotten and unworthy. But God is calling His people to rise. If you stay where you are, you’ll die in famine. If you move, you’ll walk into favor.

As you take each step, heaven amplifies your sound. Your small footsteps of faith echo like thunder through the enemy’s camp.

The same God who allowed Elijah to hear the sound of rain now lets the enemy hear the sound of war. It’s time to move forward, take ground, and reclaim what was lost.

When you move, God fights. When you stand, He supplies. And when you share what He’s done, victory multiplies. Because backbone faith doesn’t just survive the battlefield — it conquers it.