Victory/Our Glorious Captain

Welcome! Today we conclude our series called Facing Your Enemy; today’s message is entitled Our Glorious Captain. Throughout this series we have explored the Bible’s military analogies to our roles and positions as Christian soldiers, looking at the battles we face, both from within and without, battles for our hearts, battles for our desires, battles for what we are to do while we remain on this earth. We are called “soldiers” on multiple occasions in Scripture, and part of our role as soldiers is to spread the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ far and wide, being Christ’s hands and legs and mouth as we proclaim the salvation that is only found in Christ. 

Our roles on this earth include being godly parents, being godly spouses, being godly singles, being people who seek to remain pure and undefiled in this world, being people who seek to share the knowledge of Christ’s love all around us, being people who seek to work with other believers to demonstrate Christ’s love in “body life,” and so much more. All of this, even in an earlier age, could make one quite busy; in our modern times, with all the modern demands on our time, all of this can seem to be quite exhausting. 

The Rescuing Soldier

Hello and welcome to everyone!  Our God is so good, so faithful, and so true.  I want to pray again before we start this message.  My prayer is that He would speak into our time today.  We come to this place expecting to worship Him and to hear His Word proclaimed.  And yet, I do not want to presume upon our great God.  We have the promise that we can approach His throne with boldness and confidence.  

This week, I was reading in the book of Mark.  I read the story of blind Bartimaeus.  Bartimaeus was a blind beggar on the road leaving Jericho on the way to Jerusalem.  He heard that Jesus was passing by amongst a great crowd.  He began crying out, “Jesus, have mercy on me!”  The people rebuked him and told him to shut up.  But he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

Jesus stopped and said to the people, “Call him.”  They called the blind man, and it says Bartimaeus threw off his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus.  Jesus heals him and says, “Go your way.”  He immediately recovers his sight and follows Jesus on the way.

The Depressed Soldier

In this series of Facing Your Enemy we have looked at Choosing your Battles, Knowing Your Gear and Choosing Your Army.  We also looked at the Anxious Soldier, the Ashamed Soldier, the Coveting Soldier, the Lusting Soldier, the Bitter Soldier.  Today we will look at the Depressed Soldier.

Some of the objectives that I would like you to meet as a result of this message are:

1. Be able to identify the typical Depressed Soldier.

2. Be able to recognize the Depressed Soldier’s enemies and their locations. 
3. Be able to recognize some of the common symptoms of the Depressed Soldier.

4. Be able to provide the Depressed Soldier with immediate First Aid (we must learn how to do our part in helping the Depressed Soldier out of his or her depressed state).

The Bitter Soldier

Good morning! Today we continue our series entitled Facing Your Enemy. This is my third consecutive week in this series. In the past, my other co-pastors have jokingly (and maybe not so jokingly) remarked that I seem to give the hardest topics to them, saving the “choice lands” for myself. Well, last week I taught on the difficult topic of lust, and the week before that, on coveting, so I think I have had at least a share of the challenging topics. This week we shift our focus to the cheery topic of – bitterness.

What exactly is bitterness? In the Bible there are two main word roots for bitterness: mar or marah or maror in Hebrew, and pikraino or pikria or pikros in Greek. In these languages, as in English, the words have multiple meanings and connotations. In English, as an adjective, the four main meanings are:

1.  Having a sharp, pungent taste or smell.

2.  Painful or unpleasant to accept or contemplate.

3.  Extremely harsh; for example, intensely cold.

4.  Anger, hurt, or resentment because of one’s experiences or a sense of unjust treatment.