Roll Call:
Staff Sgt. Lonnie Terry
Staff Sgt. Glenn Robinson
Pvt. First Class John Girdle
Intro: One of the amazing facts about a Christian is that we serve in the army of the Lord. I’ve never been in the natural army but I heard that an enlisted member of the United States Armed Forces may be relieved of active or reserve duty through a few different methods:
1st of all they can be relieve by separation:
• Expiration of Term of Service (ETS)
• Disability, Dependency, or Hardship
• They can be relieved or discharged if you will by some Physical or Mental Conditions that interfere with military service
• Misconduct - Minor Disciplinary Infractions, Entry-Level Performance and Conduct
• Or even by death
But what I love about God’s army is that if you want too you can stay connected to God’s army as long as you want to. And then you can say like the scripture says, I’ll let nothing separate me from the love of God.
As a matter of fact we can say like Ps. 1:3 that says: we shall be like a tree that planted by the rivers of waters that shall not be removed.
What I have learned is that in man’s army there comes a time when your (ETS) Expiration of Term of Service occurs, which means that you have served your time, and you have gotten too old to serve and you got to go. But what I love about God’s army is that you don’t have any time restrains of your term of service. You don’t have to worry about them retiring you because you are too old, because there is no retiring age in God, you can serve as long as you wish.
That reminds me of a song that said we are soldiers in the army we’ve got to fight although we have to cry, we’ve got to hold up the blood stain banner we got to hold it up until we die. And then somebody would strike out with the 2nd verse that says; my mother she was an old solider she had her hands on the gospel plow but one day she got old and couldn’t fight any more, but she said I’m going to stand here and fight any how, there is no time restriction in God’s army.
In mans army they will dismiss you if you have a Physical or Mental Conditions that interfere with military service. But what I love about God army, is that if you are physically challenged God has the power to say to you “pick up you bed and follow me”, if you remember the man that sat at the gate and begged, and two of God’s servants that were on their way to church, and the bible says that, he that was lame asked for a financial blessing from these men, and Peter said silver and Gold have I none but such as I have give I thee rise up and walk and he went into the church house leaping and praising God, because God doesn’t care about your physical welfare he still can use you.
In man’s army if you are mentally challenged they can’t use you because they feel that you can be a hindrance to the mission and the operation, but in God’s army if you are mentally challenged you are just right. Because you have to be almost crazy to believe in a God that you’ve never seen, and breathe his air that you can’t visualize.
Can I tell you that God can use crazy folk to get his point across? If you remember there was a man that had a local address as the cemetery, you know he was crazy because the bible says that all night and all day he would be running from the mountain to the graveyard [repeat] crying, (in my neighborhood they would say that he was hollaring) and then cutting him self yes he was crazy, but when he met Jesus he said what have I to do with thee Jesus son of the most high? So that tells me that even crazy people know Jesus, and Jesus simply told those demons to come out of him.
Let hurry up and come to a close. It is said that if you have misconduct they will dismiss you from men army, but what I like about God is that he not a God of a second chance, but he’s a God of another chance, and another chance and another chance, and let me stick a pin there I need you all to know that Brother Girdle was not discharged on an dishonorable discharge, nall he was a good solider, and he left here a good solider. When I met with him at the hospital and as we were engaged in the worship and prayer he bowed his head in adoration to the Lord, he insured me that he knew the Lord.
So, finally what I found out about man army is that you will be dismissed from man’s army when you died, I don’t care how long you have been on the battle field, I don’t care how many stripes that you might have, I don’t care how many metals you have accumulated, when you die in man’s army you are automatically discharge but what I love about God’s army is that when you died you can immediately reenlist.
So Solomon tells us in the 8th chapter of Ecclesiastes and the 6 verse to every purpose there is time and judgment, therefore the misery of man is great upon him. 7 For he knoweth not that which shall be: for who can tell him when it shall be? 8 There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither hath he power in the day of death: and there is no discharge in that war;
In other words Solomon was telling us was to every purpose there will be a time of judgment, in other words
every solider will be judge, and I know that the misery of man is great but that all right to because one of these old days when it all over down here you won’t have to worry no more about sickness or pain, heartache or shame you just hold on.
I can hear him saying I know that there is no man that hath power over his spirit to retain the spirit, neither hath he power over the day of death, and discharge yourself from yourself from the war, but that alright to because I hear him say to John you fought a good fight and you have finished you course, Brother Girdle the race was never given to the weak nor the strong but it was given to those who held on to the end.
And I need to tell somebody here today to hold on and one day you will get your honorable discharge, Jesus has your orders in hand and he’ll tell you come on in thou good and faithful servant you’ve been faithful over a few things come on up higher I’ll make you ruler over many.
And we want to tell you Brother Girdle thank you for your service in man’s army and that good, but I really want to thank you for being in the army of the Lord.
And my question is, those of you that are on the battlefield for the Lord, are you looking for that day when
The Lord says well done thy good and faithful solider you have received your honorable discharge.
