I'm a soldier. And as a soldier my job is to obey the orders of my commanding officer. My commanding officer is the Lord Jesus Christ. And he has commanded me in the great commission: To make disciples of all nations with the living gospel of His life, death, and resurrection. Then Jesus was lifted to heaven. And he promised to return. I believe he will do just that. And he'll ask for a report on what I did while he was away. As a soldier, my job is to fulfill my orders, under penalty of death. To fail to carry out his command is to be in breach of my orders, and there is no choice, in this army, there is only do and die.
We are all soldiers in God's army. We have our mission, to conquer this world for Christ. So that is what we must do, and that is what we will do. God has only just begun to move this army to mission, to work, to sacrifice.
I believe in God's army. I believe in an army on fire for the gospel of Christ. I believe in an army centered on discipleship, on living a deeper Christian life. I believe in an excited, energized army, an army that dares to believe in great moves of God. God has not finished with this army, indeed, He has only just begun his work in this army of God.
Our mission is to preach the gospel and develop in our people the effects of salvation; discipline, passion, humility, spiritual power, and holiness of life. We can do this mighty work through our weapons of righteousness, placed before us in the word of God. We've great zeal in us for gospel proclamation.
“Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel.”
Remember what Jesus Christ our Lord has done church. Remember what he has done and tremble. Remember what he has done, to be crucified for our sins. Remember how he has conquered death. And remember that Jesus Christ is alive right now. And His return is imminent.
11 Here is a trustworthy saying:
If we died with him,
we will also live with him;
12 if we endure,
we will also reign with him.
If we disown him,
he will also disown us;
13 if we are faithless,
he remains faithful,
for he cannot disown himself.”
Have you died my friends, to yourself, your desires and wants? Do you serve Jesus first?
Are you fully committed to endure until the last day?
Are you watching for Jesus Christ each day, eagerly awaiting His return?
Are you aware brothers and sisters, that if you disown him, he will disown you?
Are you filled with faith and trust in God? Do you know that he remains faithful, even why our faith fails us?
We see a world, and a country in great struggle and in great peril. We see a world that needs Jesus so badly. And we’ve got to carry that message.
These are perilous times brothers and sisters. We live in a time of lukewarm teachings in the church. We live in a time of false teachers. We live a time of self-satisfaction. Me first, then maybe Jesus. And that is a false gospel. So we have to be just that much more careful to hold closely to the word of truth. We’ve got to love the word of God, and understand it intimately. In the books of the Bible we find the heart of God, and His love and justice. God’s word, His truth spreads through the godly. But false teachings spread jut as rapidly, like gangrene spreads, corrupting the tissue around it. So we must be careful what teachers we are listening to. And we must be very careful to test everything against the word of God. Because these are times of great deception.
But our scripture today said, “Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness.”
That is the divide between the true church and the false church friends. That is the divide between the sheep (who hear his voice) and the goats (who do what they want first). The Lord knows his sheep, and they follow Him. The goats don’t follow Him, they follow their own desires. And everyone who knows Jesus also turns away from wickedness. That is another hallmark of the true church. They live in holiness. They have repented and turned away from their past sins, while the false church continues to live in their sins, defiant to their God who calls them to holiness.
Be the true church brothers and sisters, put God first, and live out holiness. Because I believe that though the times are dark, and things seem desperate, this will be our finest hour. These dark times are when the light of Christ shines the clearest. These are the times that great heroes of the faith are rising up to proclaim the resurrection of Jesus. We live in a time brothers and sisters that I believe are ripe for revival, for great awakening. We live in a world increasingly hungry for the truth. And they’re not getting it out there in the world or in the universities or in the public school classrooms.
We live in a time when people are so busy, so run ragged with our high tech high speed society. And people are increasingly burnt out, and they can find no joy in the petty pleasures of life. They can’t find meaning in the post-modern philosophies of our day and age. They can’t find satisfaction in the drugs, the bars, the pride of wealth or status, or worldly success. The world, our country is ripe for revival. Great awakening is needed. And we have the remedy.
But I know what your thinking. I really do. I often think the same thing. The world is crumbling. There is so much corruption, so much poverty, human trafficking, oppression, persecution, immorality, lies, abortion, corruption, and brokenness in this world. There are so many multiplying evils, what possible difference could we make? And doesn't it seem like the body of Christ has fallen asleep? Doesn't it seem like there is so little hope left?
Yes indeed. There are great difficulties ahead. But it's at just such times like these, when everything seems to be crumbling, that God loves to work to generate massive transformation! It's at times like these that we'll know through and through, bones to bones, that it was only by God's power, by Christ's efficacy that we could ever persevere forward into such darkness. We'll know that it wasn't of us, and our cleverness, but that it was by God's reality penetrating our reality, by God's miraculous designs and mercies in time and space that the tide finally turned!
It wasn't us. It was never us. And we could never do it alone. It's humbling to realize that God alone is the one who justifies, and God alone is the one who brings about real hope and real lasting change. No man can do this, but only God almighty himself. And we as humans love to try so hard to do it ourselves, to show God that we don't need him, but every time humanity fails, under the weight of darkness, and God must swoop in to show His glory and our need for Him.
Humanity wanted a world without God. That is the fall. And this is the fall. Here it is. This is the world without God. But in fact even now God still intervenes, refusing to allow our fatal destructions to be final, He still continues to hold out his hand to us and pull us from the muck and mire. He breaks our chains of sin. He pours out His love to us, and wipes the tears from our eyes as He sets us in a spacious golden valley, suits us up with his armor, his uniform, the blue, the red, and the shield, and the sword, and breastplate of Christ's righteousness, girded up in His truth, and ready for battle.
So as an army we march to the beat of a different drum. We march according to the orders of our great high commander Jesus Christ. We march according to His commands, and we are stewards of his kingdom until He returns. So we will fight. We must fight. There's no other choice. We will fight to bring the gospel to the lost on the streets of this world. We will fight in the streets, in the prisons, in the dope houses, along the red light districts, the brothel houses, the impoverished inner cities, the institutions, the houses of learning, the skidrows, the bars, the hospitals, the broken homes, and the darkest, dankest, most dismal places, where no light dwells, the great Light will shine and yes, we will fight! We will fight to the very last! We will fight in the fire and volley, we will fight! We'll never give up!
We'll return to the foundations and rally this army of God to new and greater heights than ever before. We're moving forward into a new time of blessings, a new time of energy and resolve, and a new time of revival, great awakening, and unprecedented Spiritual power. Glory to God in the highest heaven. He is with us. God is with us! We have nothing to fear. We are full of hope now, and full of life. Christ fills us. We are an end times army of God rising up to meet the challenges of our day
So we shall take the gospel out our doors and into the streets. We shall rally the church to holiness, to discipleship, to the true, real living out of this Christian faith. We must do so. There is no other choice. We've a great master to serve and we must serve Him so very well. And we will. I believe we will. I believe in you, because your the church, but more so I believe in Christ, whose church we are, and we shall not fail to be in this critical hour all he has called us to be.
Jesus is coming soon, and He must find us faithful, we've much work to do, so let us get to work, and do it for Christ. He is coming soon now. He will be along quickly. He will be here soon. Come Lord Jesus, come. May the grace of God in Christ be with all His people, His army forever, Amen.
