Basic Training for Christians
Part 3
Review from last week:
1. Last week we learned, its all about the group, its not about us.
It is all about being strong in the grace that is in Christ, not our own strength
Text: 2 Tim. 2:1-4
A. A soldier endures hardness. Vs. 3
1. Endure hardness- #2802, Literally- put up with and endure
hardship and trouble.
2. Endure is a word we don’t live very much anymore
Too many, instead of enduring, they run
3. Many are the homes in America, where the families are suffering the pains of separation and divorce.
a. They suffer because somebody would not endure hardness anymore
b. They suffer because the church is looking for loopholes in which to divorce, instead of scriptures against it.
c. Divorce statistics
a. Each year, over 1 million American children suffer the divorce of their parents.
Half of the children born this year will live to see their parents divorce before they turn 18.
b. Mounting evidence in social science journals demonstrates that the devastating physical, emotional, and financial effects that divorce is having on these children will last well into adulthood and affect future generations.
c. Divorce even among those who profess to know Christ is now the norm
TV evangelist Paula White, and her husband, Randy, announced Thursday night that they plan to divorce after a nearly 18-year marriage.
The split was made public during a Thursday evening service for their Tampa, Fla., congregation, Without Walls International Church, which they founded in 1991 and which became one of the nation’s largest and fastest-growing churches.
This has been an ongoing process and journey," said Paula White, standing on stage with her husband. "But God is always faithful. God always carries you through the dark places of life."
d. What an absolute travesty – those who preach the gospel of Christ evidencing such failures from the pulpits and calling God as a witness as they do it.
Closing…
1. A true soldier does not entangle himself with the things that plague the average citizen
2. He is a model of what we ought to be – strong and true
