At Your Command

At Your Command

Introduction: Matthew 6:25-33

Proposition:Jesus commands us not to worry each day for our basic needs but to,instead, be about our daily spiritual duties.

(Outline)

I.RECOGNIZE HIS INTEGRITY (by)

A.Obey(ing) His Commands

1.The Soldier

2.The Christian

B.Perform(ing) All Your Duties in an Attitude of Trust

1.The Soldier

2.The Christian

II.RECOGNIZE HIS HIGH PURPOSE (by)

A. Striving for The Kingdom of God

1.Purposes

2.Priorities

B. Striving for His Righteousness

1.Definition

2.Dedication

Conclusion:Jesus has promised us that if we will commit ourselves wholly to the Kingdom of God that all our basic needs will be provided.

(Text)

AT YOUR COMMAND

I remember my first day of basic training. Standing in one of several lines to come.

Hurry up and wait. And the demands: March this way. Eat that way. Left face. Right face.

Double time! Talk this way. Memorize this. Read that. Sign here. Stand there. Move it Move

it Move it! Don’t move a muscle! Sound off!! Be Quiet!

And in that moment so much seemed unfair...unnecessary... troublesome...burdensome.

I remember standing in line...heel to toe with the one in front and behind me...wearing

nothing but a pair of boxers and the skin God gave me...Nose buried in the “smart book”

memorizing the three general orders:

The first still rings in my ears. I hear it whenever I walk through long corridors...or see

soldiers in uniform... or pass a military vehicle on the highway...

“I will obey my special orders and perform all my duties in a military manner.”

What demands they placed on us then. What impossible, frustrating demands.

What we didn’t see amid the murmuring...and the wailing...and gnashing of teeth...and

the shower of our long youthful hair falling in torrents to the cold, highly shined, tile

below...were the demands we placed on them -- “the powers that be”...

What we couldn’t see through our agony and regret was that every line...every moment...

every inconvenience... provided us with something to eat,clothing, housing, a salary, education

benefits, medical benefits, innoculations, vaccinations, a job skill...

The demands were not impossible at all. We were free to become soldiers. Free to

excel... free to grow... The demands we thought were too heavy for a man to bear were not heavy

at all --- because every basic human need was provided for us. From that moment on we had

only one mission to dedicate ourselves to: Obey our special orders...and Perform all our duties in

a military manner. Our only concern was to become soldiers.

Matthew 6: 25-33

In order to be a leader a man must have followers. And to have

followers, a man must have their confidence. Hence the supreme

quality of a leader is unquestionably integrity. Without it, no real

success is possible, no matter whether it is on a section gang, on a

football field, in an army, or in an office. If a man’s associates find

him guilty of phoniness, if they find that he lacks forthright integrity,

he will fail. His teachings and actions must square with each other.

The first great need, therefore, is integrity and high purpose.

-Dwight D. Eisenhower (Bits

& Pieces, September 15, 1994, Page 4)

No one can serve a master faithfully unless he trusts that master fully. Any authority that

demonstrates an inability to make good on the expectations of command are over-run. It is the

stuff mutinies are made of -- the arsenic in the sugar of labor unions -- the wedge of mistrust in

marriage -- the treatise of traitors:

Early in our American History we read of a young man at 14

who ran away from home and fought in the French and Indian War.

At the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, he joined the American

army as a colonel and in 1775 shared a command with Ethan Allen in

the capture of Ticonderoga. Later he led 1000 men into Canada

where he fought in the battle of Quebec. His courage in battle won

him a promotion to brigadier general. His visage should grace our

money, institutions bear his name, his genius studied by military

strategists and young officers. But something went wrong.

Thoughts of compromise ate away at his patriotic zeal. Difficulties at

home with a wife who loved her England and in-laws with great

British affluence took their toll on his reasoning. He looked around

to see Washington’s rag-tag army of derserting farmers in good

weather and the ill-equipped, starving, freezing faithful in the

winter. Soon the unthinkable happened. He offered his services to

the British, and in 1780 devised a plan to surrender West Point to

British control. Today, instead of being remembered as a natitonal

hero, Benedict Arnold is synonymous with "traitor."

Today in the Word, June, 1990, p. 10

General Arnold was not the coward we remember him as. Rather, he was a man under