First, let me inform you of something you may already know. And that is there’s a war going on, and you and I have been enlisted to serve on the front lines.
This wasn’t a draft. You didn’t have to register for the Selective Service. No, this "Army" isn’t a volunteer militia. You didn’t have to - nor could you - choose to be here, but you were chosen before the foundations of the earth.
?May I tell you that God is The Commander-in-Chief, who has ordered your enlistment? It wasn’t based on your prior service in the church. It wasn’t based on your abilities - or your inabilities.
God didn’t assess your qualifications or your education of how he made his calculation of you, no His determination, to enlistment you was a Divine predestination.
I like the way Paul said it. Paul said it best in Romans 8:30; when he said, "Moreover, whom He did predestinate, them He also called: and whom He called, them He also justified: and whom He justified, them He also glorified."
So, we need to understand that we were predestined to be
called into this "Army" of the Lord.
?I don’t intend to mislead you and give you some false sense of security that would suggest that you are free of trials and tribulations; in fact, your current situations or circumstances just may be direct result of your enlistment.
In fact, the reason you may be having some of the problems that you are having is because you have been enlisted in this army.
When you started sing I’m on the battlefield for my Lord and how you promised him that you serve him until you died, you may have just signed yourself up for what you are going through.
But the Lord sent me to encourage you this morning to hold on good soldier. He told me to encourage you by way of (James 1:2-4) While you’re on the battlefield, "count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience, (that word patience means to endure or to stay under) have her perfect work that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing".
I need you to consider this is our Basic Training. Speaking of basic training. Once you’re in Basic Training, certain expectations are required of you. I need us to understand that the Commander-in-Chief expects us to "put off the old man with his deeds" (Colossians 3:9). In other words we can’t act like a civilian; in fact, the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible reads, "No one serving in the army gets entangled in everyday affairs; the soldier’s aim is to please the enlisting Officer" (2 Timothy 2:4).
As solders Ephesians 6:11-18 it teaches us how to dress while in this army, Ephesians 6:11 starts off by saying; Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
Because in this fight 12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
13 Wherefore take unto you the whole Armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, to protect your heart and chest, we must have on the breastplate of righteousness;
15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
I’ve must tell you that in this army you will have to endure some hardness just because you’re in the "Army," but while you are enduring Hold On Good Soldier.
Here is the latest Operations Order. Hold on and understand that "we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places" (Ephesians 6:12). But yet while you are wrestling I still need to tell you to hold on.
The enemy may have an arsenal of weapons; he may have tried to keep you suppressed, depressed, compressed, or distressed, but be encouraged in the midst of the fight. Be encourages, and Isaiah 54:17 that says "no weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper. Allow me to tell you that there will be no changes to this order. Somebody ought to sound off and shout hallelujah.
?If the enemy has had you pinned in your position, your position of troubles, your position of financial bondage, your position of agony and seemingly defeat, remember "the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds" (2nd Corinthians 10:4).
You must know that the anointing, the comforter, and the Commander-in-Chief out rank any foe, any adversary, and opponent that you may encounter on the battlefield, and He can destroy any yoke (or bondage).
I understand that, that "Ole Slewfoot," Christian Enemy number 1, the devil, may seem to be winning the fight right now, but Hold On Good Soldier. I have received word from Headquarters; the Commander-in-Chief is going to make your enemy your footstool.
?Furthermore, any Good Soldier knows that he doesn’t always know what to do; for this cause, God has given us a Soldier Manual. A Manual of a common tasks of army regulations (Reg’s). In other words, God has given us the basic instructions before leaving earth, commonly known as the Bible.
When you find yourself trapped in your foxhole trapped of guilt, trapped in complacency satisfaction, or trapped with a trouble mind, just read your manual. When you don’t know what to do or how to do it, read your manual. When you are trying to know what the Commander-in-Chief says about your situation or how He would handle it, just go to the corresponding "Reg" (book Isaiah), the chapter is 59, paragraph is 19, and the lines are 4, 5 and 6. I assure you that the Lord will reveal Himself and His will to you through His Word that says Isaiah 59:19 “When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.”
?When you are going through, in your Soldier’s Manual, you will find out that "weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." So, I need to you to hold on good soldier, because in your holding you will find out that "the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong" but to him that endureth to the end. So endure hardness, and Hold On Good Soldier.
If you read your "Manual," you can be like Job and say, "all the days of my appointed time all of my enlisted time, on my tour will I wait, until my change come.
Hold on soldier, and wait till your change comes, wait until your promotion comes. As you wait, read your "Manual;" in it, you will find that if you wait on the Lord, you "shall renew (your) strength; (you) shall mount up with wings as eagles; (you) shall run, and not be weary; and (you) shall walk, and not faint."
So, Hold On Good Soldier! "Finally, my [fellow soldiers], be
strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might. Yes, there will be some wiles of the devil, some tricks and schemes by the devil, but you just hold on.
?Hold on through your trials.
Hold on through your disappointments.
Hold on through your struggles.
Hold on through your battle.
?I know someday its hard being enlisted, but I also know that we have a Commander-in-Chief who knows all about your struggles.
And what Paul was telling Timothy in this 2nd chapter 2 Timothy 2:3 Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. What Paul was saying is the Christian believer is to be a strong soldier for Jesus.
He was saying that the strong soldier of Jesus suffers hardship—no matter what the hardship is.
He suffers hardship so that men and women, boys and girls may be saved from sin and starvation, evil and disease, corruption and emptiness, wrong and loneliness, death and judgment.
He tells Timothy, as a strong soldier, the solider does not become entangled with the affairs of day to day living. He stays focused upon the cause of the Lord, which of reaching a dying world with the message of life.
Telling them that people can have life now, a life that is abundant and overflowing.
And they can live eternally, knowing that beyond any question that they are going to live forever, never tasting death.
But note: they have to hear about the commander-in-chief who can give them this life.
This is the task of a good soldier; never diverts from this cause. He does not become entangled with the affairs of this world.
And a good solider don’t have to worry about his Calvary, because Calvary has already been addressed.
One day he went to Calvary
One day he died on Calvary, but Calvary has been address, because although he died there somebody say early, come say early one Sunday morning he got up and declared that all power was in his hands
What I love about being a solider there are different branches.
The Army say as a solider be all that you can be.
The Marines say The few, The Proud The Marine good men
The Air force says Aim High Fly-Fight-Win
The Navy says Get Real –Get better
But there is one more branch I want to tell you about and that branch is God army, and there slogan is Glory to God, and on earth good will towards men.
We may not have a hooorah or a hoooyah but we do have a hallelujah.
