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.

The Lusting Soldier

Good morning! Today we continue our series entitled Facing Your Enemy. This series has explored the Biblical view of Christians as soldiers, and I think there are two main ways this view of ourselves is helpful. First, it reminds us that we are not just here on Earth to enjoy its pleasures; we are here for a purpose, to be Christ’s hands and feet and mouth as we expand the Kingdom through telling people the good news of the Gospel. As soldiers, we are taking back ground for God; as each additional person comes to their own personal saving faith in Christ, Satan’s world gets a little smaller. We are involved in a rescue operation, freeing the captives, replacing darkness with light, despair with security and hope. We are on a glorious mission as we reveal to the world the true glory of Christ.

Second, although we are on the winning side, we are under attack, by multiple enemies. From I Peter 5:8, Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. And from I John 2:16, For everything in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life – comes not from the Father but from the world. Satan and the world and even our own flesh seek to conspire against us, to make us abandon the field of battle, to make us useless and completely ineffective as soldiers. This week, our focus is on this second aspect of being a soldier, especially as it pertains to the area of lust. This is a difficult topic to teach on, and it is a difficult topic to hear, because it is so personal, so private. But it is a terribly important topic to discuss because it is a stumbling block for so many believers.

The Coveting Soldier

Welcome! Today we continue our series entitled Facing Your Enemy. As I mentioned at the beginning of the series, there is a very real sense in which, as Christians, we are “soldiers” for Christ. The Bible repeatedly uses military analogies to describe our role and purpose in this world. God desires that, by His help, dependent on His power and His direction, we advance His kingdom, taking back ground for Him that has been taken by the enemy, the one called the Great Deceiver, Satan.

Our title today is The Coveting Soldier. I love Isaac’s picture of coveting; our hapless Christian soldier is coveting the other soldier’s gun. In what this symbolizes there is a great irony here. As Christians we know we are not supposed to covet, but how frequently do we not only covet but even covet other people’s faith, their spiritual gifts, in short, their Christianity? How wrong is that?

The Anxious Soldier

This morning I want to talk with you about anxiety.  I told Miriam that if she went into labor, I would lead her into the hospital, open the door and cry out for a doctor, exclaiming, “My wife is in labor.  We need pain medicine, nausea medicine and something for anxiety.  And my wife will need all those as well.”  

 

No matter what stage of life you’re in there’s always something to be anxious about.  When you’re in school you’re anxious about getting out.  Once you get out you become anxious about finding a job.  Once you find a job you get anxious about being single.  Once you get married you get anxious about kids.  And once you have kids...you give them to their grandparents.  

In Max Lucado’s book, Traveling Light, he shares an insightful story about living life with many burdens:

Choosing Your Army

 Those of you who have been with us for the last couple of weeks will know that we are in the midst of a series called “Facing Your Enemy.” The New Testament uses military analogies in several places to describe our life of faith. We have looked at several of them already: fighting the good fight, wanting to please our commanding officer. Last Sunday, John talked about the gear that we need as spiritual soldiers, in particular the armor of God as described in Ephesians. Today’s topic is Choosing Your Army. In what sense do we choose our army? Clearly there are choices to be made. There is no middle ground, as our cartoon friend is realizing, as he attempts to keep a foot in both camps – or is it a hand?

Knowing Your Gear

Today, we continue in our new series titled “Facing Your Enemy.”  Last week, Carl introduced the series and talked about “Choosing Your Battles.”  I told Carl afterward I thought it was one of his best messages.  It really struck home with me.  I often feel like I have a hard time articulating what brought me from where I was in my walk with Christ to where I am now.  And as Carl was talking, I could relate again and again the mistakes and pitfalls he described to my poor decision making and how I was confused along the way over the years.

The biggest point was how we can easily get pulled into fighting the wrong battles.  In particular, I used to exert a lot of energy in praying that I do not sin or praying repentantly after I have sinned.  I’ve got journals at home with those kinds of prayers written on pages and pages.  There was not a point in my life where I remember thinking, “I’m fighting the wrong battle.”  But, I don’t dwell on myself nearly as much as I did, but rather put my focus on Christ.

Choosing Your Battles

Welcome! Today we begin a new series entitled Facing Your Enemy. I hope you enjoy the illustrations; Isaac has made one for each message in the series. The character in the illustrations in one from a comic strip Isaac has been developing that he calls Iggleton.

I am really excited about this series and where it will take us. We will have multiple speakers as we go through this topical series, but our approach is not to micromanage what each person will speak on. Each speaker is given the title, just as you can see the list of titles in your bulletin, and that is really all they are given! We don’t plan out the details but instead pray and trust that the Spirit will direct each speaker and, combined with each speaker’s own gifts and life experiences, we pray that the Spirit will weave together the messages into a powerful unified whole.