Well, good morning. Let’s begin with a word of prayer.
Lord Jesus, we come this morning. We ask for the anointing, Lord, that in these very treacherous days in which we live—the end of days—we would sense Your burden and Your heart for these days. Lord, that we would be a part of Your soon return.
Lord, that we could look up in these days, not be confounded by what we see, nor overcome by the things of this world, but, Lord Jesus, that we might see our great Victor, our great Conqueror, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. So, Lord, give us eyes to see this morning and ears that can hear with the heart. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Well, this morning I am going to share on a passion to fight the good fight. I think I need to give you a little history and review this morning.
As some may remember, I had gotten to Revelation 12 in the series that I had been on. That is the chapter where we see the woman, the man-child, and the call to overcome.
That chapter in the book of Revelation is extremely critical. In the first eleven chapters, we see the revelation that the Lord gave to our brother John. Toward the end of Revelation 10, He tells John that he must prophesy again. From Revelation 12 until the end of the book is that second prophecy.
Through the first eleven chapters, we see everything coming to completion. It is more like a timeline until the Lord Jesus Christ is declared Lord of lords and King of kings. Then the Lord begins to give us details.
The very first thing He wants us really to see is the condition of the church and the need for overcomers. That was the chapter I was sharing on.
I shared two messages out of that: one on completing the course, and then again on overcoming. You may remember that Paul said:
I have fought the good fight,
I have finished the course,
I have kept the faith.
Then the Lord deeply touched me through Luke 7, where the woman came to Simon the Pharisee’s house and fell at the feet of our Lord Jesus Christ. She had such passion for the Lord. She bowed at His feet, and her tears of love poured out upon the Lord Jesus’ feet. She began to wipe His feet with her hair. Brothers and sisters, what passion she had.
As I was touched by that story and shared one Sunday on this matter of passion, the Lord really opened up my heart and said, “Jerry, there is no way that you will finish the course. There is no way that you will overcome unless there is a real passion for Me.”
So, brothers and sisters, my whole perspective on this little series of messages has changed to the key word, and that word is passion. If I had to rename those messages, I would say:
The reason for that is that passion is critical for the Christian life. The word passion comes from the Latin word suffer. That is why we hear of the passion of Christ—His suffering.
Passion means that something has really gripped your heart—something that grips you so deeply that you totally commit your life to it. That is passion. Passion means that you are willing to suffer to see that passion fulfilled in your life. It means that you are willing really to lay down your life because of that passion you have for this thing.
That certainly says a lot about our Lord Jesus Christ. You remember how, on Calvary’s cross, His passion for mankind, His passion to do the will of the Father, and His passion to restore all things back to the Father caused Him to give Himself totally and completely on Calvary’s cross. He overcame there because He had such passion for you and me.
I think passion becomes a key word in these messages. As I say, if I were to summarize them, I would say that they began with a passion for Christ—this passion that the woman had.
She probably was not an invited guest to the feast Simon had for the Lord Jesus, but she came because she had such a heart to be with the Lord. She could not be separated from Him. She had such a desire to be there with Him, and she came, even with the possibility of being rejected and put out of the home. She came out of a passion for the Lord Jesus Christ.
Simon, unfortunately, did not even offer the common courtesies of the day to the Lord when He came to his house. Normally, they would put a little olive oil in the hair for refreshment. Then they would wash your feet and give you a kiss on the cheek as a welcome. None of this was done for the Lord Jesus by Simon.
Simon had no passion for the Lord. He had little regard for Him, other than curiosity about who this Man was. But it was far different with this woman.
She had obviously been deeply touched by the Lord, and she came. When she saw that His feet were still dirty, she fell down at His feet. The tears began to flow, and they flowed down on His feet enough that she could actually wash His feet with her hair.
Not only had He not received the kiss, but she kissed His feet—not His cheek. She poured out ointment upon His feet. It was not olive oil, which was rather inexpensive in those days, but a special perfume, most likely a perfume to be used at her marriage. So precious was the Lord to her. She had such passion.
Brothers and sisters, this is first love. Our first love should never leave us. We should always have a passion for the Lord Jesus Christ.
I ended that message by asking, “How do we gain such passion?” Probably only when we see the passion the Lord has for us.
We saw His passion in the garden of Gethsemane. Brothers and sisters, so intense was the battle, and His willingness to do God’s will on Calvary’s cross for your salvation and mine, that blood actually came out of His pores. So intense was that hour that angels had to come and help support Him in prayer.
On the cross of Calvary, you would think that the Lord Jesus would simply hang there and pass away, concerned about all that He had to go through. But, brothers and sisters, the first words out of His mouth were, “Father, forgive them.”
He had such passion even for those who had yelled, “Crucify Him, crucify Him.” He knew they had been deceived, and He had such passion for them. He said, “Father, forgive them; they do not know what they are doing.”
Brothers and sisters, is that not us? Is that not our lives before we came to the Lord? We did not want to have anything to do with Him. “Away with Him” in our lives. But the Lord Jesus touched our hearts.
He said, “Forgive them. Forgive Jerry Amon, Father. He did not know what he was doing.” Passion.
Then there is this matter of finishing the course: a passion to finish the course.
In Romans 8:28, it says that all things work together for good. It does not say all things work together for good for everybody. It says that all things work together for good to those who love the Lord and are called according to purpose.
Not only that, but He has predestined us to be conformed to the image of Christ. In other words, He desires to bring many sons to glory. That means being transformed into the image of Christ.
Brothers and sisters, it is a great thing to know that we have come into God’s eternal purpose. God’s eternal purpose governs everything. It governs the universe. It governs creation. It governs why you were born. It governs your life. It governs what your passion should be in life: the eternal purpose of God.
He wants us, brothers and sisters, to come into sonship, to be about the Father’s business, and to reign and rule with Him during the kingdom age, in His government over the nations. That is the course He has chosen for us. That is the course on which we have been set. It is the destiny the Lord would have for us all.
I remember an illustration by David Jeremiah that shows so well the need to stay in God’s purpose. There was a baby camel with his mother. He said, “Mom, why do I have these big three-toed feet?”
His mother said, “Well, son, that is for when we go through the desert, so that your feet are so big, you will not sink in the sand.”
He thought a minute and said, “Well, Mom, why do I have such big, long eyelashes?” She said, “Son, that is because when we are in the desert, there are often windstorms, and this helps keep the sand out of your eyes.”
Then he said, “Mom, why do I have these two big humps on my back?” She said, “Son, that is because when you are in the desert and going on a long trip, you can store up water in those humps and go very long distances without water.”
The little fellow thought a few minutes and said, “Mom, why am I in the zoo?”
Isn’t that really so descriptive of our Christian life? Are we really walking in God’s purpose for our lives? He wants us to finish the course. He has set us on this course. It is a purpose-driven life, and He wants us to finish the course.
I used the illustration last time of the nation of Israel. They were delivered out of Egypt and spent all those years in the desert. All those who came out, from twenty years of age and above, passed away in the desert because they refused to obey God and go in after He led them to the border of the promised land.
They said, “There are giants there, and we cannot go in.” So they rejected the Lord and His counsel and decided not to go in. The Lord spent another thirty-eight years, and all of those from age twenty and above perished. Theirs was an uncompleted course.
Their divine destiny—what God had purposed for them—was to enter into His rest, that promised land. Our rest is Jesus Christ. He is our promised land.
It is God’s desire that many sons come to glory and that we be brought into His full purpose, that we might serve in the Father’s business in the kingdom age, in God’s government, in the reign and rule over the nations.
An uncompleted course is such a sad thing. But we should have a passion in our hearts and say, “Lord, I want to complete the course.”
Paul said at the very end of his life, “I have finished the course.” May it be that at the end of all our lives, we might know that assurance from the Lord that we have completed the course.
Then I talked about overcoming, and that message should also be titled “A Passion to Overcome.” We should be given to overcoming, brothers and sisters.
We know from Revelation 12 that the church was clothed with the sun. She should be glorious, but she is weak and not what she ought to be. The enemy is not even concerned about the woman. His concern is about the baby in her womb, called the man-child in Revelation 12.
These are the ones who overcame. They are overcomers. They are not overcoming just for themselves; they are overcoming for the entire church.
When the fullness of overcomers comes about, an amazing thing will happen. Those overcomers who are alive at that time, the Lord will call them up to the throne, and they will be raptured before they die, even to the throne of God.
The important thing is that this is the initial event—the kickoff event—for the Lord’s return. How critical it is that the Lord have overcomers.
He knows the church is not what she should be, but He looks for a remnant, as He did in the Old Testament: a remnant of those who overcome and live for Him, live for His purpose, desire to complete that course, and desire to bring pleasure to the Lord Jesus Christ.
They overcame by the blood of the Lamb, the word of their testimony, and because they loved not their lives unto death.
Brothers and sisters, you cannot go a day without the blood of Christ in your life. We still have that sin nature, and we still need the blood. The blood also speaks loudly.
I believe it was Martin Luther, the leader of the Reformation. The enemy appeared to him and listed all of Martin Luther’s sins. He said, “How in the world can you consider being the leader of the Reformation with all of these sins?” Luther wrote “the blood of Jesus Christ” over that document, and the enemy disappeared.
The blood of the Lamb is a great weapon against the enemy. Then there is the word of our testimony. What is a testimony? I will tell you very quickly: it is what you experience. It is not what you know about the Lord; it is what you have experienced of the Lord. That is your real testimony.
That is what stands before the enemy. That is what stands in this battle: what you have experienced of the Lord. That is what you can rely on, and you can give word to that testimony because you have experienced it.
Then there is loving not your life unto death. Brothers and sisters, the great weakness is that we have such a great love for ourselves rather than Christ, that we give ourselves to ourselves rather than to Christ. So, love not your life unto death.
This morning, I would like to continue this matter of a passion to fight the good fight. In order to do that, we need to read a few Scriptures.
Let’s go to 1 Timothy first: 1 Timothy 1:18.
This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare.
Now, 1 Timothy 6:12. This is Paul to Timothy:
Fight the good fight of faith.
Then 2 Timothy 2:3-4:
Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life;
that he may please Him Who hath chosen him to be a soldier.
Now 2 Timothy 4:6-7, Paul’s words:
I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.
I have fought a good fight,
I have finished my course,
I have kept the faith.
And now Matthew 16:18:
Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church;
and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
Brothers and sisters, we have an eternal purpose for our lives. But if we pursue that purpose, there will be spiritual warfare.
In order to be conformed to the image of Christ, you will encounter spiritual warfare. In order to overcome, you will encounter spiritual warfare. In order to finish your course, you will encounter spiritual warfare. In order to make it to the throne in the millennium age, you will encounter spiritual warfare.
For Christ to build His church, He encountered spiritual warfare. You, as a part of His church, will encounter spiritual warfare.
But, brothers and sisters, the spoils of this warfare for the victorious one, for the overcomer, is to reign and rule with Christ in eternity. You are able to reign and rule because you have been conformed to His image. What glory that is.
The reward for Christ is that He will see His bride. Not in fullness until the last chapter of Revelation, but as He looks upon the overcomers, He will see His bride there. So there is a reward not only for us, but for the Lord Jesus Christ.
It is important that we understand the nature of this battle, this warfare that we are in. Did you realize that when you were born, you were born in sin? You were born under the power of spiritual darkness. You were a part of the kingdom of darkness—Satan’s kingdom.
David realized that when he said in Psalm 51:5:
Behold, I was shapen in iniquity;
and in sin did my mother conceive me.
He realized that he was born that way. His nature was a sinful nature. Being as such, we are actually under the power of darkness, even as a baby when we are born.
So how did this situation come about? How is it that we are born into the kingdom of darkness, and how is it that we are delivered from the kingdom of darkness?
It really began in eternity past. Many of you know this story, so bear with me, but it is important that we be reminded of the nature of this battle.
Lucifer was probably the highest of the archangels, probably the one next in line under Christ. He was not deity; he was a created being. But he obviously had great power and authority in the kingdom of angels. He was full of intelligence, beauty, power, and position.
The problem was that he became self-conscious—a key word—self-conscious and self-centered. He began to think, “I have so many great qualities. I have so many capabilities. I should have the place of Christ. I should have His place.” He was not satisfied. Pride had entered his heart.
Let’s read Ezekiel 28:12-17, because you need to know where your condition came from.
Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God;
every precious stone was thy covering:
the sardius, topaz, and the diamond,
the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper,
the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold:
the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.
He was probably leading worship because of his great skills.
Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth;
and I have set thee so:
thou wast upon the holy mountain of God;
thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.
Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created,
till iniquity was found in thee.
By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned:
therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God:
and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.
Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty,
thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness:
I will cast thee to the ground,
I will lay thee before kings.
Now, Isaiah 14:12-15:
How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!
How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God:
I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will be like the Most High.
Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.
This is where it began, brothers and sisters. We know that he was cast out, and from Revelation 12:4, we know that a third of the angels followed in his rebellion.
Most likely, his domain and dominion was this solar system in which we live, the earth in particular. We know from the Word of God that his forces reside in the atmosphere around this earth.
That is probably why the earth was found to be in darkness and chaos. If you read the Hebrew, it had come into darkness and chaos. The Spirit moved upon this darkness and chaos. We believe this was created because of the enemy’s presence here and his forces, as he tends to turn everything he touches into darkness and chaos. I think we can find that true in our own lives personally.
In Genesis 1, we see that God begins to restore the earth with a purpose. For five days, He restores and brings forth the animals, the sea, the moon, the stars, and all these things. Finally, on the sixth day, He creates man in His own image and likeness.
Let’s turn to Genesis 1:28. Remember, He created man in His likeness and after His image, the only creature created that way.
Brothers and sisters, be aware that we are the only creatures that have spirit. Dogs and cats have souls and bodies, but man is the only one with a spirit. That is to be the place where the Holy Spirit and the life of God are to occupy.
God blessed them, and Genesis 1:28 says:
Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it:
and have dominion over the fish of the sea,
and over the fowl of the air,
and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
An interesting word: He told man that he needed to subdue it. Why? Because the enemy was here.
The Lord took the dominion from Satan—the dominion over this earth—and gave it to Adam. He gave it to man. Man would restore all things. Man would keep the enemy at bay and out.
But we know that our enemy is very subtle. He figured out that he probably could not deceive Adam, so he went to Eve. He began to sow a little seed of doubt in Eve’s mind.
He said, “Eve, has God said that you could not eat of the trees of the garden?” She engaged Satan and said, “Well, He said we could not eat of the tree of life, or touch it,” which the Lord did not say. So he had her hooked.
It was that seed of death. He was trying to say, “Is God holding something back from you? Something that you deserve?” He was trying to create self-centeredness, self-desire, and self-consciousness in Eve, and he did it.
He said, “You will be like God,” and that was the final hammer driving the nail in. “God wants to keep you under His thumb, but you can be like God. You can be your own person. You can live for yourself. You do not have to live for God. It is okay to be self-centered and selfish. You need to live for yourself.”
He injected this poisonous thought into Eve, and it got to her. She ate what she should not have. She disobeyed God.
Then she went to Adam and told him what had happened. The Word is very clear: Adam was not deceived. But Adam was selfish too. That selfishness came up in Adam because he did not want to give up his wife.
We might think that is admirable, but brothers and sisters, on Adam’s part it was not God-centered. He was self-centered, and the poison entered Adam. He too, purposely—being undeceived—ate that apple, or whatever fruit it was. We do not know that it was an apple.
The poison was there. Death entered in—not just physical death. They died many years later, as we know. But the spirit became dead before God. It was unable to contain the life of God. It had been defiled, and man was no longer the same.
That day, the enemy took back dominion of the earth from Adam.
The poison was transmitted to Adam and to all his descendants. I want to be biblically correct. Romans 5:12 says:
By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin;
and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.
We have all sinned because we are sinners by nature. We have that same self-centered nature that came from Adam and Eve.
If you do not believe me, just look at my precious grandchildren. Notice I said, “precious.” When they are little, that self-centeredness really shows. It is prominent. They have no apology about it. They are self-centered, and that is the way they want it.
It is part of that nature with which they are born. We are born in sin, conceived that way. Actually, as much as I hate to say it, they are born into the kingdom of darkness because of that sin nature. That is why I want them so much to come to the Lord Jesus, that they might be delivered.
We need to understand that something tremendous has happened. Not only is there this issue of sin, but Adam and Eve came under the kingdom of darkness, to be controlled by the kingdom of darkness.
This whole world lies in darkness. I do not care whether it is politics, social systems, or educational systems. Anything you can name about this world is under the influence, control, and power of the enemy.
I heard this week that in Fairfax County, Virginia, the school system was told by the Department of Education that they could not discriminate against transgender individuals and would have to change their policy. They are now being forced to have an educational course teaching seven-year-olds that gender is not determined by the physical body but by how one determines in one’s mind what one is.
That is going to be taught in that county, and probably it is only the beginning of the dominoes as it flows through the whole country. That just shows you, brothers and sisters, the darkness of this satanic world.
I came up in the 1950s. Everything was wonderful. In fact, if you declared yourself to be a Christian, you were admired, particularly if you stood and walked as a Christian. But today you are ridiculed for it.
Today, not only will you be ridiculed for it, I believe you will be punished for it. You will be persecuted. But the great thing is that the Lord says if you are persecuted for His sake, rejoice. Rejoice, for great is your reward.
Ephesians 2:1-5 summarizes this thought:
And you hath He quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air,
the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh,
fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind;
and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
But God, Who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us,
even when we were dead in sins,
hath quickened us together with Christ,
by grace ye are saved.
Spiritual forces of darkness—by nature, children of God’s wrath. Why is that? God has already initiated His judgment against fallen man, against Adam, against this poisonous self-centeredness. He has already judged it, though He has not yet executed His judgment or wrath.
But it is upon us, even at birth. We are born under the wrath of God. But God had mercy, brothers and sisters. He had mercy on you. He had mercy on me, that we could be brought to Jesus Christ and delivered out of the kingdom of darkness.
The whole world has been deceived. They think they are okay. They think they are just like everybody else—better than most.
They think they are free to do as they please, yet they do not understand that they are under the kingdom of darkness and are being ruled by the prince of the power of the air. In other words, they are slaves to this dark world and do not realize it. They fight for it. They stand for it. They stand against God, and they think they are free. But they are slaves to the enemy.
As I have thought about it recently, I have to think, “Lord, these people are deceived. Their minds are darkened.” That is Romans 1. He gave them over to darkened minds because they refused to accept Him as God.
What is a darkened mind? It is not a lack of intelligence at all. You can be extremely intelligent and still have a darkened mind. A darkened mind is a mind without the light of God in it. That is what a darkened mind is. You are born with a darkened mind.
But thank God, you have accepted Jesus Christ. Brothers and sisters, thank the Lord that God did not give up on His plan for man to have dominion.
He came into this world. He overcame Satan, sin, death, and the grave, and He was raised from the dead. He is the Overcomer. He came to deliver us from the kingdom of darkness.
Let’s read Colossians 1:13:
Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness,
and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son:
in Whom we have redemption through His blood,
even the forgiveness of sins.
The Word of God is very clear. When we accept Jesus Christ, not only are our sins forgiven, but He does a tremendous thing: He takes us out of the kingdom of darkness, from under its rule, and puts us into His kingdom, under the rule of Christ.
Now, the problem seems to be that we want to live under both kingdoms. We still have that self-centered nature. It will be with us until we die, but we do not have to live under its power any longer.
There is a whole other series on being dead in Christ and alive in Christ. But believe me, you have been delivered from the power of sin, even though it is still with us and you have the possibility of sinning and operating under the power of darkness.
So what does all this mean? It means I am running out of time.
When you accepted Jesus Christ, you became a real target of the enemy. He did not have to worry about you as long as you were in his kingdom and under his dominion. But when you accept Jesus Christ and are put into the kingdom of Christ, then you come under his assaults.
You probably were not very much assaulted before you accepted Christ. That is why there is great conflict in our lives when we accept Christ.
In Galatians 5:17, it says that the Spirit fights against the flesh, and the flesh against the Spirit. In the beginning, this battle is more a battle between our flesh and the Spirit: our desire to follow the world, and the Spirit’s desire that we follow Christ.
But the Victor in this is the Spirit. You cannot fight your own flesh. You cannot stand against your own flesh. That is why it is a battle between spirit and flesh.
Let’s see if I can make it a little clearer. The nation of Israel, when they came out of Egypt, was greatly delivered through all the plagues upon the Egyptians. Finally, Egypt sent them out.
They came to the Red Sea. The Egyptians changed their minds and sent their army against them. They saw the army coming, and what were the first words out of their mouths? It was not, “Lord, You have delivered us, and now You can make a way for us.” No, they complained.
They said, “What have You done? You have brought us out here to be destroyed by the army of the Egyptians.” They were concerned not about God and what God wanted to do with them; they were concerned about their lives—their self. That old self-centeredness came right up.
They came to Marah, and the water there was bitter. They were thirsty, and they started complaining: “Lord, You brought us out in this desert to kill us through thirst.” Then the Lord had that tree thrown in there, and the waters became sweet.
It went on and on. They came to Mount Sinai. Moses went up for forty days to receive the Word from God—the Ten Commandments and the way to build the tabernacle—and they became restless.
They began to have a big party down there. They said, “We think God has abandoned us. We are going to go back to Egypt. We are going to build a golden calf, and he is going to be our god. He is going to lead us back.” Rebellion.
Remember, the earth ended up swallowing some of them. All these dealings in the desert brought out their flesh so that God might deal with it.
Ultimately, when they finally refused to go in, God said, “Okay, you are not going to finish your course. I am just going to lead you around in the desert. I will take care of you until this generation dies, and I will take a generation in that were not slaves to the enemy, to Egypt.” And He did do that.
So what is the secret, brothers and sisters? What is the secret of the Christian life? We are now in the dominion of Christ. How is it that we can remain there? How is it that we cannot be drawn back into the kingdom of darkness and live in that kingdom, or try to keep a foot in both kingdoms?
Abiding in Christ. It is that simple. Abiding in Christ—that is the secret of victory.
Follow the anointing, the Lord says. You have an anointing from the Holy Spirit within. He not only alerts you through your conscience concerning what is right and wrong, but He alerts you to what you should and should not do.
If you will just abide in the anointing, obey the anointing, then you will abide in Christ, and you will be safe.
That is what Psalm 91:1 is about:
He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High
shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
This morning, I went to Panera. Chick-fil-A was not open, of course. There is a little pond out there with fish, geese, and ducks.
I noticed the geese had their little babies. There were three little babies. Boy, that papa goose had his head up. He was the big guy. You could tell he was the dad.
The mother also had her head up in the beginning, but eventually she started eating as well. He kept his head up. He kept looking. Every little bird that flew around, he would look.
What was he concerned about? He was concerned about the hawks. That is what he was concerned about: a hawk coming down and getting a little baby.
As long as they stayed close, there was really no danger. But if you get outside of the shadow, you put yourself in danger.
That is what it means to abide under the shadow: abiding in Christ and obeying the anointing. It was really interesting to watch. Finally, the father would take a few little pecks, but then his head would come straight back up.
He always kept those little bitties between him and his wife—between him and the mother goose, I guess. Whatever.
That is the secret of living in the kingdom of God. Brothers and sisters, that is what much of the battle is about. That is our initial experience of the battle.
The second stage of the battle is similar to when the nation of Israel went into the promised land. They immediately came up against Jericho.
There they had to dispossess the enemy, overcome the enemy, and take the territory from the enemy. It is an altogether different battle, but it is a battle to which we are called.
Since I have run out of time, I will stop there and share more next time.
Brothers and sisters, I began today with those Scriptures about being a soldier of Jesus Christ. Let me just say this much:
No Christian is a civilian. No Christian is a civilian. You are a soldier in the army of God.
The church is His army, and you are a soldier. You will encounter warfare if you intend to follow your course, if you intend to overcome, and if you intend to honor the Lord.
I will go over this next time, but brothers and sisters, this warfare is not just to destroy the enemy or to overcome. This warfare is to mature us. It is to bring us to the place where we are overcomers. It is to bring us to the place where we live in the good of being the man-child in the church, to overcome.
So warfare has a great deal to do with bringing many sons to glory. It is a part of our life. It is a part of our DNA as Christians. We are soldiers.
Lord, we just come to You today. I just have to say, Lord Jesus, I not only thank You for delivering me from my sins; Lord, I thank You that You are delivering me from this sinful nature.
Lord, You are bringing me more fully into Your image. Lord, You have brought me into the kingdom of the Son of God. What a great place, Lord.
What a great transition has taken place in my life and the lives of my brothers and sisters. Hallelujah. No longer under the kingdom of darkness, but into the kingdom of God’s dear Son.
Lord, we ask that You bless us, help us, and show us, Lord, what this means to us in these days. We ask it in Jesus’ name. Amen.