THE MISSION BEFORE US
At last count there were in the neighborhood of 40 churches and ministries actively working in the Deltona area. There are today, nearly 80,000 people living in Deltona alone, not to mention the surrounding unincorporated areas. If every one of those churches and ministries had 500 people attending, and everyone of the people attending those churches were Christians, that would still leave 60,000 people in Deltona who are not Christians, who do not have a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is for that reason that River of Life Church was started nearly 6 ½ years ago. We are a missional church.
If you remember, we have said that River of Life Church is here:
To love people to Christ, to lead them to grow, and to launch them into ministry, while serving God and having fun. The church is not here to make us happy. We are here to rescue people, to disciple them, and to help them win others. If we are not busy doing that, then we have forgotten the reason God called us together in the first place.
In the months and year ahead, if the Lord is willing, we will be doing a number of things to try to reach our community. In a couple of short weeks, we plan to begin holding classes again on Sunday mornings for a while to help us grow and to help prepare us for ministry. In those classes we will be offering “Experiencing God”, a study to help us discern God’s will and guidance. We will offer “The Mind of Christ,” taught by Barbara Stone. We have people who will be teaching our children and youth, and Gladys and I will be keeping the nursery during those 13 weeks, so that all who want to may attend an adult class.
On the last Saturday in March, we will be holding a “bike rodeo” at Enterprise Elementary, to try to build relationships with some of the children and parents, from this area. The following Wednesday night, we will begin Mission Possible Camp again.
We are currently working with our association and the state convention to try to have the mobile dental clinic held at our church building up the road. Again, we are trying to minister to the people in our community, to show them the love of Christ, and to develop relationships by which we can earn the right to share the Gospel. That’s why we also wash windows, wrap presents, serve at the nursing home, and take crackers to the intensive care waiting room at Fish Hospital.
This summer, we are currently planning to hold a sports camp, with the help of a mission team from Arkansas. Some in the church have already begun supplying the church with sports equipment for that camp and a local semi-pro golfer has agreed to come and help teach. If the Lord is willing, we will be doing a number of things to interact with and minister to our community.
We are currently putting together a June mission trip to Indiana, so we can serve and minister and help a sister church there as well.
My concern is, however, that we have forgotten that the Christian life is more than just ministry. It is also a battle. The Bible tells us that the “Devil is a roaring Lion seeking whom he may devour.” Again we are told in
> 2 Corinthians 4:4 …the god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, Who is the image of God.
My friends, we are in a battle. We are in a fight, for the lives and souls of our families, our neighbors, and our community. You and I are called to be soldiers in this battle, not merely spectators.
In Saudi Arabia today, millions of Muslims are observing the festival of Eid al-Adha. In this festival, Muslim pilgrims will pass 3 pillars. These pillars represent the Devil. All of the pilgrims there will take turns throwing stones at those pillars. In the past 20 years, over 3200 Muslims have been killed in accidents, while trying to throw stones at those pillars.
May I tell you that the battle we are engaged in will take more than throwing stones at pillars, but it will be costly as well. It will require sacrifice, commitment, prayer, and spiritual warfare. Paul speaks of the battle we are to fight in the 6th chapter of Ephesians. Turn there with me please.
- Read Ephesians 6:10-20
In verse 12 Paul says that we are not fighting against flesh and blood. We are fighting a spiritual battle. We are fighting against the Devil and his henchmen. We are fighting against spiritual forces, and we will never free our friends and neighbors until we begin to take this battle seriously and begin to use spiritual weapons.
Notice first, our opposition.
OPPOSITION OF A CHRISTIAN SOLDIER
- Ephesians 6:12.
Tactics of the Devil. The word translated here as “tactics” or “wiles” carries the idea of traps, or snares. There are a number of traps and snares the Devil will use to try to stop God’s people and to stop God’s church.
1. Bitterness and Hostility – Read the Gospels and notice the bitterness and hostility of the Pharisees & others to Jesus. They didn’t just disagree with Him. They didn’t just ask Him questions. No, they hated Him.
2. Doubt – The Devil also plants doubt. He did it with Eve. He asked, “Did God really say?” I talked to a friend yesterday, …
She won’t even pray. Doubts God’s goodness and wisdom.
How often has God’s work been stopped because people doubted either God’s love, or His provision?
3. Fear – How often is God’s work stopped or sidetracked because we become afraid? We’re afraid to witness, …
4. Depression & Discouragement – This is one of the Devil’s favorite weapons. He does this by making us focus too much on ourselves. He has us think about the past. He has us focus on past mistakes, or past sins, or whatever. He will keep us looking back until we are completely depressed. If he’s unable to do it to us directly, he’ll send someone else along to remind us of mistakes we’ve made, or sins we’ve committed in the past.
My friends, that stuff is under the blood of Jesus Christ. You have no right to be depressed or discouraged, for you are child of God and a soldier in the winning army.
5. Pride – If that doesn’t work, he sometimes uses pride. He did it with David.
> Satan stood up against Israel and incited David to count the people of Israel. David had had some victories and the nation was growing, so the devil had David count all the people in the nation so he’d feel proud of what he commanded.
The Devil will also come against us and tempt us to count our successes, our victories and such.
“Pride makes us over sensitive, where we easily get our feelings hurt. It leads to jealously, to envy, and causes us to hold a grudge because we are not being appreciated.” (Martin Lloyd Jones)
So many weapons the Devil has at his disposal. He can use busyness, videos games, TV, lust, covetousness, divisiveness, hypocrisy, sickness, bills, and a whole gauntlet of things. He is trying to get us upset, frustrated, busy, and sidetracked.
We are in a battle, and to help in this battle, Paul tells us of the weapons we soldiers will need.
WEAPONS OF A CHRISTIAN SOLDIER
1. The Belt of Truth – By truth here, we are thinking of actual truth. In other words, the truth about Jesus and God. Many people have a fuzzy understanding about Who God is. Some deny He judges and punishes. They think of Him only as love. Others, like those protesting outside soldier’s funerals, think of Him only as a judging, and punishing God, forgetting love.
Some think of Jesus as only a good example, or only as someone Who went around teaching morality.
Paul says, “You’re heading into battle, you had better understand what’s going on. You had better get a grip on the truth.”
2. The Breastplate of Righteousness – The breastplate of righteousness is the righteousness that comes from a life lived in obedience to God’s Word. To put on the breastplate of righteousness is to “live in daily, moment-by-moment obedience to our heavenly Father. This part of God’s armor is holy living, for which God supplies the standard & power, but for which we must supply the willingness.” (John MacArthur). Put on holy living.
Robert Murray McCheyne, a preacher of years past once said, “My people’s greatest need is my personal holiness.” My friends, what the world needs today is to see Christians living out what they claim to believe. Don’t wound or disable yourself before you even enter the battle. Put on the breastplate of righteousness.
3. The sandals of the Gospel of Peace – The Gospel of peace is the marvelous truth that in Christ we are now at peace with God & are one with Him. When we put on the sandals of peace, we stand in confidence of God’s love for us, and His commitment to fight for us.
4. The Shield of Faith – The Roman soldiers of olden days used two different types of shields. The one spoken of here was about 2 ½ feet wide & 4 ½ feet tall. When soldiers would kneel behind it, the arrows & spears of the enemies were unable to get to them.
Paul says, “Take up your faith in God. Trust God, so the plans, the frustrations, the discouragements of the Devil and those he sends against you, won’t be able to touch you. Take up the shield of faith.
5. The Helmet of Salvation – Satan often attacks us by causing us to doubt our salvation. The 2 dangerous edges of Satan’s spiritual broadsword are discouragements and doubt. To discourage us he points to our failures & sins & causes us to doubt our salvation & causes us to lose confidence in the love & care of our heavenly Father.
Paul says, take up your helmet. Remember that you rest in the Father’s hand.
> Romans 8:38-9 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will have the power to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord!
Don’t let the doubts and troubles of this life, nor the struggles cause you to doubt God’s love nor His desire to work in and through you. The test of a person’s character is what it takes to stop him. Some people retreat as soon as the first shot is fired, while others fight through battle after battle with no thought of giving up.
The helmet of salvation is that great hope of final deliverance that gives us confidence and assurance that our present struggle with Satan will not last forever & we will be victorious in the end.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:8-11
6. The Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God
My friends, we need to be people of the Word. We need to study our Bibles.
Thomas Guthrie said, “The Bible is an armory of heavenly weapons, a laboratory of infallible medicines, a mine of inexhaustible wealth. It is a guidebook for every road, a chart for every sea, a medicine for every malady, and a balm for every wound.”
7. Every Prayer – Prayer is essential for our warfare. When we reason, we get what we can figure out. When we work, we accomplish what we can do, but when we pray, God works through us to accomplish more in an instant than we could accomplish in a lifetime.
If we are going to reach our community, we must pray. We must pray for one another. We must pray for our community, and we must ask for God’s direction.
We are soldiers.
CONCLUSION
In 1961 the Soviet Union shocked the world by sending the first man into space. One month later America followed with a 15-minute space flight by Alan Sheppard. Everyone was excited, but that was only the beginning. On September 12, 1961, President John F. Kennedy made a bold, almost unbelievable announcement, calling every American to a noble idea many would think impossible: “We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade, not because it is easy, but because it is hard.”
My friends, we as a church must decide to win our community to Christ. Not because it is easy, but because it is hard, because people’s lives depend on it, and because our Lord has called us to this mission.
You, as a soldier, must decide that you will get into the fight, you will take up your armor, that you will get into the battle and you will fight through difficulties, setbacks and discouragement.
Will you this morning say, “With the Lord’s help, I will fight that fight. I will serve this year. I will make a difference.” This is the year. Today is the day. This is the moment.
