Okay, so Luke chapter 7, it's a long chapter and I just want to look at the first sort
of 10 verses again in Luke 7, so Luke 7 and from verse 1 reads, now when he had ended
all all his sayings in the audience of the people he entered into Capernaum and a certain
centurion servant who was dear unto him was sick and ready to die and when he heard of
Jesus he said unto him the elders of the Jews beseeching him that he would come and heal
his servant and when they came to Jesus they besought him instantly saying that he was
worthy for whom he should do this for he loveth our nation and he had built us a synagogue
then Jesus went with them and when he was now not far from the house of centurion sent
friends to him saying unto him Lord trouble not thyself for I am not worthy that thou
should I enter under my roof wherefore neither thought I myself worthy to come unto thee
but saying a word and my servant shall be healed for I also am a man under authority
having under me soldiers and I say unto one go and he goeth and to another come and he
cometh and to my servant do this and he doeth here when Jesus heard these sings he marveled
at him and turned him about and said unto the people that followed him I say unto you
I have not found so in great faith nor not in Israel and they that were sent returned
to their house and the servant hold their bring sick I want to focus on verse 8 here
where the centurion said for I also am a man set under authority having under me soldiers
and I say unto one go and he goeth and to another come and he cometh and to my servant
do this and he doeth here and the title of my sermon this morning is soldiers of Christ
soldiers of Christ father thank you for your word thank you for well you know the the ability
that we have to to be able to be part of your army Lord a soldier of Christ Lord help us
to take that take that responsibility seriously help me to preach this message just clearly
and accurately Lord help everyone to just take this as I as you know I'm trying to get
people to take this Lord to be a motivation to be something that's going to encourage
people Lord and help everyone to just have a tent of his a tent of hearts for him with
his spirit be Lord Jesus and for all of this I mean okay soldiers of Christ if you're sitting
here thinking is brother Ian has to again now with analogies of battle and you know
all that sort of stuff and I am okay I am and I'll tell you why because we we regularly
need some motivation a Christian life okay it is needed okay we need encouragement we
need motivation we need someone to come and give us a reminder what what it's all about
what's at stake okay because often look the Christian life can get hard can't it we need
motivation we need sometimes just just that constant encouragement to keep doing it Paul
Charles Timothy that's under a second Timothy 4 to to preach the word be into the in season
out of season improve rebuke exhort with all long suffering and doctrine and sometimes
we need some proof right sometimes we need some review but we also need the exhorting
to we need encouragement to do the right thing often in the Christian life but we do also
need the doctrine okay I mentioned it earlier in the announcements but don't be don't just
be a Sunday morning box ticker okay I appreciate the sort of church we have here where we have
people coming from a long distance it's not always easy however you know like I said don't
just eat the meat and ignore the veg on the plate okay don't just eat the meat and the
veg and ignore the dessert yeah you know you've got to have the whole lot okay and really look
this is the Sunday mornings are often a certain type of sermon okay and then we go to maybe a
Wednesday evening and we're doing a Bible study it's a different type of sermon then maybe a Sunday
evening is going to be a different type of sermon as well and you need the whole lot okay you need
it you need the whole lot I mean when I look at Paul in Acts 20 it sounds like he's preaching
every day well he's warning them night and day with tears listening about wolves he's preaching
every day okay so but we we need a lot of preaching preaching is there for us isn't it but
we needed all different types but we also need encouragement a lot okay we need encouragement
and today I want to try and encourage you we're gonna we're today we're gonna look at this subject
to bring soldiers across and I want to encourage you basically to keep on keeping on okay that's
my goal I want to help you to resist temptations to slack on the job okay because we'll get those
temptations sometimes resist the psychological attacks resist the devil's attempts to pull you
out of the army okay because he wants to pull you out and and I want to remind you that you're not
just a soldier you're a soldier of Christ okay that's my goal of today so I've kind of laid it
out on the table for you already okay so you kind of know what sort of sermon you're getting today
Luke chapter 7 verse 1 says this now when he had ended all his sayings in the audience of the
people he entered into Capernaum and a certain centurion servant who was dear unto him was sick
and ready to die and in Matthew's account of this story the servant is sick of the palsy which is
some sort of painful paralysis caused by muscle contractions it sounds horrendous and you know
I don't think we've got much of that unfortunately anymore maybe we do it's just called something
else but this often resulted in early death as well it's a very painful nasty way to die this
guy this servant of this centurion has this and it says in verse 3 and when he heard of Jesus he
said unto him the elders of the Jews beseeching him that he would come and heal his servant and
when they came to Jesus they sought him instantly saying that he was worthy for whom he should do
this for he loveth our nation and he build us a synagogue so this centurion which is basically a
Roman officer in command of a hundred men has some sort of influence where he's friendly toward the
nation okay he's friendly towards the nation here and I think that sometimes people maybe imagine
these Roman occupiers as being these aggressive abusers of the people and maybe maybe sort of you
know church history tries to kind of paint a picture it's gone so far away from you know who
was often to in fact most the time to blame for the persecution of the Jesus and the Apostles
after that being the Jews of the day and instead it's kind of like it's all those Romans those
horrible brutal Romans well in fact every time you see centurions mentioned in in the New Testament
they seem to be in a fairly good light okay and this guy is again in a good light he seems to
like the nation he seems to be good to them they seem to like this guy and it says here and then
Jesus went with them and when he was when he was now not far from the house the centurion said
friends him saying unto him Lord trouble not thyself for I am not worthy that thou should
have sent her under my roof wherefore neither thought I myself worthy to come unto thee but
saying a word my servant shall be healed so it's not that he sent others because he just wants to
delegate to everyone he doesn't consider himself worthy to come to Jesus or for Jesus to even enter
into his house and the opposite to what the Jewish elders said by the way what did the Jewish
elders say in verse 4 and when they came to Jesus they besought him is he saying that he was worthy
for whom he should do this is anyone worthy of the Lord Jesus Christ anyone think they're worthy
of the Lord you would no one worthy the Lord Jesus Christ are they instead of faith in himself what
this guy though he has faith in something else they thought he was worthy though verse 4 they
said that he was worthy for him we should do this and and look how many people do think they're
worthy by the way let's just pause on that for a second a lot of people don't they how many people
were you talking to yesterday when you're out soul winning out knocking the doors who thought
that they're worthy of salvation that they're worthy of Jesus Christ that they're worthy of
heaven I mean that seems to the majority of people now these guys are even saying he's worthy and it
goes to show the stark difference between this Centurion who we see that for or at least by the
end of this is it's a picture of faith and believing Christ and then we see these these
elders of the Jews who think that this guy's somehow worthy of the Lord Jesus Christ big
difference there but not him so he had faith in the Word of God look at verse 7 it said wherefore
neither thought on myself worthy currently but say in a word and my servant shall be healed that's
what his faith is in faith in the Word of God yeah that's where it all comes from doesn't it
the Word of God and and if you if you're having faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and the real Lord
Jesus Christ having faith in the revelation of Jesus Christ from the Word of God you have faith
in the Word of God okay this guy has faith in the Word of God and the Word of God it does have power
doesn't it he recognized that he knows that it's a word of the hills it's a word that gives life
and he then says this for I also am a man set under authority having under me soldiers and I
said unto one go and he goeth and to another come and he cometh and to my servant do this and he
doeth it so he said at the beginning there I believe he's basically saying yes you do the
will of him that sent you right Jesus Christ did the will of him that sent him yes you willingly
submit to the authority of the Father which Jesus Christ did it but you're still the boss
yeah Jesus Christ is still the boss he still has under him soldiers we're all in subjection to the
Lord Jesus Christ are we and and this isn't just like a common workplace objection though is it he
said for I also am a man set under authority having under me soldiers he's comparing his
position commanding soldiers to Jesus Christ isn't it but who are Jesus Christ's soldiers
well that'd be us right that'd be us I mean everyone here that's saved that's every believer
out there today every believer out there today is the soldier of the Lord Jesus Christ and not
just a man either by the way okay women soldiers as well in this in this army of the Lord Jesus
Christ children and soldiers as well and and you know what a great thing about that is is that as
women as soldiers unlike the county see you have to wear a beret either you know to wear a
berry especially in this can you imagine that those poor women in this weather in those churches
right do they keep with the woolen beret anyone know do they keep with the woolen beret in this
weather this is a bizarre I hate that direction anyway we're not gonna go off on a tangent
okay they like a beret but you don't have to wear a beret okay with believing on Christ came
instead of a beret came some military issue white combat fatigues okay spiritually you got some
white fatigues the ability to use the sharpest sword out there okay that's what came with
salvation and your feet shod with the shiniest boots you can get okay your feet shod with the
shiniest boots out there ones that you can see your reflection in right okay but but it's your
choice what you do with it all isn't it okay we have all of that we have the ability to use all
of that we are drafted into the army but you can still be a lousy soldier okay you know you're not
going to automatically be a good soldier you can be a lousy soldier or you could be the elite
special forces and it's your choice it comes down to you at the end of the day and the sad truth is
that most of the God's army out there do act like the laziest spineless rebellious conscripts you
could find don't know that's the vast majority the vast majority of God's army the vast majority
of believers aren't doing a thing for God sadly or doing very little okay and and but they're
still soldiers aren't they they're soldiers they're just bad soldiers the majority of Christians out
there avoid warfare don't they they avoid staff headquarters and openly disobey their commanding
officer but that doesn't seem to be the case of centurion soldier okay you notice this centurion
saying well when I say go they go when I say they come they come what did I say to my servant do
this he does it that's a bit of a strange thing isn't it verse verse 8 to 5 I also am a mass at
under authority having under I say unto one go and he goeth and to another come and he cometh and to
my servant do this and he doeth it so you've got Roman soldiers obeying their centurion and
nowadays you have NATO soldiers all over the world obeying their centurions don't you I mean
that's pretty much what we see out there as opposed to the Roman Empire it's pretty much the NATO
Empire isn't it okay and and there those soldiers seem to obey what they're told if you look at the
modern soldier the vast majority seem to obey what they're told so what's their motivation I
mean some maybe of kind of claim to believe that the protecting the world from weapons of mass
destruction and other laughable nonsense like that okay well I think probably most know that
that's just a complete complete load of lies maybe protecting the wolf and the bogeyman maybe some
of them still believe that there are people sitting in caves making fire missiles at them
okay I think probably most have thought on that that was a load of nonsense as well maybe it's
money I think for a lot it's just money isn't it it's a career it's a job it's a fun job it's an
exciting job they like to appeal I don't know if they still do it in this station they used to
appeal to the young to the 16 year olds because when you're 16 that sounds like great fun that
sounds exciting doesn't it I mean I remember I was thinking about the one where I was 16 I was
thinking that sounds exciting that sounds fun that sounds like a lot before they should be
anywhere near warfare they shouldn't be any 16 years old what sort of age is that to make decision
like that but they try to get them early because it appeals doesn't it we you know as young young
men you're thinking or young not even men yet boys you're just thinking that sounds like fun
that sounds like excitement okay but what's really the goal a career it's a laugh it's fun
it'll be it'll be a good crack turn the first Samuel chapter 17 many of these men and women
now have risked life for limb but for what I'll tell you what most of the time for rich and
powerful people to get more rich and powerful that's the reality of modern warfare the the
general thing is rich and powerful people manipulating nations and armies around the
world debate that they're more rich and powerful and manipulating the people to support it
and I'm sure here's the thing though with that in mind so they're doing it for that reason they'll
have their own individual reasons to be in the army but I'm sure that if brother let's just
pick on someone here anyway let's go uh I'm doing no apology okay so look say brother junior okay
was in the army okay and he's in the army and he's after the service we're all drinking tea and
coffee and he's chucking away saying how he dragged his way through the last tour you know
to get away with it and go on the last toy just kind of managed to get this job somewhere else
and he pulls sick he's regularly and he doesn't really do much he ignores his officer they tell
him to do stuff he finds a way out everything else well this must probably still be a little
bit disgusted wouldn't we okay even though we know that that all of this stuff is really it's
being manipulated by by you know the people that really seem to be in charge in the world and
you know those principalities and powers and the rules of the darkness in this world but we'd still
be like what's going on g you know you're in the army man up yeah shape up what are you doing all
this all this behavior and even if I was thinking about it even if there was just so there's a
military procession going through wickford okay and you were watching it you were oh man I'm stuck
in traffic and the military procession went past and all marching in step and you know playing
trumpets or whatever else stuff they could do and then there was this one who just slightly dressed
was a bit out of step with everyone just a bit weak on the other trumpet you would be a bit you'd
think what's wrong with you wouldn't you you'd think what are you doing mate like you're in the
army like shape up sort yourself out but why why would we think that because what's really the
importance what does it really matter what real value do those people have what real value does
to the world war is really have now some people say people's lives brother in don't they echo
you if it wasn't for those men involved we'll be speaking german i've grown up hearing that
this actually everyone else got up that we could go up here if it wasn't for those you'd be speaking
german at least i'd have a second language because the truth is and i don't know you'd be under not
strategy no i don't know because the truth is it all seems to become the same way for me and i
wouldn't things be a hell of a lot different here because i'm looking out there right now
and i'll drive down the road and i admit wherever i am it doesn't just have to be the most wicked
places and i don't look out and go thank god we're not speaking german i look out there and think
this is pretty messed up our nation is a wicked place isn't it a wicked place full of wicked
people full of a load of perverts out there and look don't get me wrong i felt bad for all those
people that went through they went through the first time i mean the trench warfare the first
world war was absolutely horrendous didn't it i mean what what an experience so many of those
people so many of them were young as well i mean young kids basically 16 17 being some of them even
conscripted into the military to or at least conned and brainwashed into thinking that they
were somehow doing something good and and just just the amount of wasted lives i mean it was
terrible wasn't it however i don't think i might just be acidic here but i don't think the cause
was probably quite what we're told it really was and i think there was a lot of power grabbing a
lot of people just trying to get rich a lot of people paying two sides off and everything else
and but regardless of all of that regardless of that even with the world wars okay
was there any real eternal value even with those terrible ones that was there really eternal value
not really look even if even if even if the worst even if out of it there was literally like
eating jewish babies or whatever they claim now yeah even if he was like the worst scum out there
and just the worst lever what was really the eternal consequences because i don't see this
i don't see a godly nation here and and it's eternity that counts isn't it and my point is
this is that it's eternity that really matters and being god's zombie fighting for the creator
of heaven and earth has surely got to be of much more importance than any of this stuff
yet we look at this stuff and we would understandably criticize a lazy soldier in the
army yet we're all soldiers in god's army we're all in an eternal army in first samuel 17 where
you are the giant goliath has been challenging israel to send a man to fight him they're all
scared okay it says in verse 26 and dave inspired the men that stood by him saying what shall be
done to the man of this philistine and take away the reproach from israel for who is this
uncircumcised philistine that he should defy the armies of the living god that's that's good talk
that isn't it yeah and the people answered him after this man is saying socially be done to the
man that killed him and alive his eldest brother heard when he spake unto the men the lives angle
was kindled against david and he said why came to sell down hither and with whom has our left those
few sheep in the wilderness i know thy pride and the naughtiness of thine heart for thou art come
down and i might see the battle and david said what have i now done is there not a cause he said
is there not a cause when it comes to being a soldier across my god's army is there not a cause
there's the cause isn't there i hope everyone here sits there going no there's a cause david
went home with a literal giant and he said is there not a cause is there not a cause
and there was a cause wasn't there there was a cause the cause was battling for the lord
it was taking on the philistine that was defying the armies of the living god that was a good cause
wasn't it and today there's a good cause isn't there today there's the cause you've got people
going to hell by the droves in this nation don't you this nation alone i mean let alone the rest
of europe people the vast vast vast vast vast i couldn't say it enough times majority of people
are going to hell okay we'll end up in hell you have to know it's like 5 14 says therefore hell
has enlarged herself and opened her mouth without measure and their glory and their multitude and
their pomp and he that rejoiceth shall descend into it because often when you see these people
you think well they're having the right life for hey oh oh well they seem happy enough whatever
else where they're going where are they going to spend eternity eternity is a long time isn't it
and we often and sometimes i just think because it's an unpleasant thought we can't just put it
over here don't we rather than reminding ourselves oh eternity burning in hell that's what the word
of god says clear as day doesn't it i know you get these clowns to try and try and deny it turn
eternal hell and everything else it's pretty clear it's eternal isn't it you know okay where the fire
shall not be quenched right whenever one dark night this is it's eternal it's eternal fire
eternal damnation is there not of course is there not a cause we're surrounded by the way we are
surrounded in this we're surrounded in this time we're definitely stranded in south end when we
move there by gospel pervertors by fake bible peddlers by by a world of literal filth and
perversion everywhere aren't we we're surrounded by i mean it's bad out there isn't it it is
smart perversion abusers anywhere they're literally celebrating abusers okay it is
i know it is because it's pride month for the family i don't know maybe it's just me i don't
see much about this okay maybe it depends kind of what you're reading and stuff and then they start
sending you all those stories you like it's everywhere you know and i but but it is primer
they literally got and i think here they because i've tried to look at some dates of this and it
seems it's not just july they just kind of like do stuff everywhere but i think next week they're
basically they've got their big pride thing in london okay so i think it's first of july or
something like that and they basically will have they are expecting over a million people they're
celebrating literal abusers celebrating it that's how about i mean that's it's so messed up that's
how bad it's got in this nation but it's not just that stuff is it then while that's going on you've
got so-called churches just welcoming in welcoming in all sorts of perverts all sorts of just
disgusting just weird stuff trying to get them all in you you've got just literal whores and
whoremongers everywhere the place is an absolute mess isn't it it's an absolute mess is there not a
cause is there not a cause of biblical preaching is there not a cause for going out and trying
to reach the people reach people that actually live right as well get them saved and get them
living right because just as they say it doesn't mean that they're avoiding all this stuff as well
right get them away from those abusers there is of course but most of god's people are AWOL
most most of god's people out there are AWOL back in luke 7 we read back in luke 7 verse 9
when jesus heard these things he marveled at him and turned him about and said unto the people that
followed him i sound sure i've not found so great faith no not in israel so he said that this
gentile centurion had more faith than basically all of his people than his supposed nation
what was the result of that faith well look at verse 10 and may it was sent returning from the
house found the servant hole that had been sick and look there's a separate lesson about the
effects of faith on those around us okay the servant was healed because the faith of centurion
and for me there's just a picture of them when you have that sort of faith that sort of strong
faith that you can really affect those around you okay your family friends etc loved ones
people in your workplace okay strong faith can do can do great things but back in verse 8 this
faith-filled centurion told it how it is in the armies of the secular world and for me how it
should be in the army of god okay it should be not there in fact it should be better than that
shouldn't it in the army of god because their cause is nothing cause our causes is an eternal
cause but state says i also am answer under authority having under me soldiers i say and i
sound to one go and he goeth and to another come and he cometh and to my servant do this and he
do it and totally this morning is soldiers of christ point number one soldiers of christ go
okay soldiers of the christ go he said i'm also a master under authority having under me soldiers
and i sound to one go and he goeth turn to matthew 28 what does jesus tell soldiers of
christ to go well mark 16 15 says he said nothing go ye into all the world and preach the gospel
to every creature he tells going all the world to preach the gospel to everyone doesn't he
because it turns to going all the world to preach the gospel to only a certain time person
only preach the gospel to those that can be bothered to actually turn up at your church
he didn't say go you into all the world and preach the gospel to only those that may be a
very wealthy or maybe only preach the gospel only those that are very poor but no he said preach
gospel to every creature didn't he and look the best way we can do that like i said i've already
said a couple of times is when now we have a permanent building is we're going to preach
gospel to every creature in that area okay we're going to knock every single door we're not going
to just do this sort of well it won't be receptive in that particular mode and that particular name
it doesn't matter yeah okay don't start chirping on that sort of soul winning when it does come
we're going to preach to every every creature and sometimes then the way something works it's kind
of nice you knock on one door and it's like a million pound house and next door as we split up
split up in five flats or something you know and what but it doesn't really matter does it because
we are told to picture every creature and the best we can do is in our local area we're going to
preach every creature all right we're going to preach to everyone around we're going to knock
every door for a year and then once we've done a year we'll restart again close the church again
and see how far we get next year and as we grow we're just going to knock more and more and more
he said go you get into the world and preach gospel to every creature and another way that
we do that is by then trying to look to our churches abroad as well look to go out and
preach the gospel in other areas of the world as well another plan i haven't forgotten that it was
upon the sky and something i want to start announced is our first start of our cities in
england as well i want to preach to every city in england i want to spend at least three months each
time trying to market and promote a bit and see if we can get anyone anyone like anyone around
to get involved as well okay we want to preach we want to preach in this nation as well but we
want to preach abroad as well and south africa should hopefully be the sign that we want to do
more we want to get the gospel out to every creature he told us to go matthew 28 where
you've turned verse 18 says if jesus came and spake up them saying all the power is given unto
me in heaven and in earth go ye therefore and teach all nations baptize them in the name of the
father and the son of the holy ghost teaching them to observe all things whatsoever i command
you and lo i am with you always even up to the end of the world amen we're told to go and teach
all nations mark's gospel said to go into all the world to preach the gospel it's the same thing
isn't it we preach and teach it because it does need explaining to the lost doesn't it okay when
you preach the gospel you know just stand there and just preach preach preach preach preach and
i'm letting them get a word in edgeways we have some funny characters who used to do that sort
of thing before we would literally go can i leave you a verse then and then just speed talk for like
sort of 15 minutes ago you're ready to pray okay that's not preaching gospel you're teaching people
and you know the best way to know if someone understands what you're teaching them is by
having a two-way conversation okay now you have to be a bit varied with this because some people
you're trying to have a two-way conversation that conversation goes all over the place yeah
and it's really hard to get back to gospel then you have to start limiting how much they talk
but then you might get someone else and you you know ideally you want to with experience
you get someone else who you're trying to ask him questions it's like getting blood out of the soul
but you still need to know what they believe what they understand you need to stop and check in
regularly okay we do teach don't we as well by teaching is understanding that they've learned
what you've taught them as well we preach we teach we're commanded by our commanding officer
to go and preach teach okay to everyone that's one of the commands it's not to wait for them to come
okay it's not to give them a flyer you didn't say go into all the world and give them a flyer
not to preach the gospel to our church members every service okay not just might put some
adverts out there and just keep preaching the gospel week in week out we save that for the
care home but you're only there once every six weeks right those guys they're loving it anyway
okay but truthfully no that's not what church is for those yeah i mean that's the care home
front of the lost okay but when we're here when we're here and we've got people coming you don't
need to hear the gospel every week do you okay i have been at churches like that at least where
they will come in one of their services to that they'll call it the gospel service he says to go
and what should be the response to our commanding officer to the lord jesus christ telling us to go
well he says go and he go we should go shouldn't we we're told to go we should go
and it's not just to preach the gospel though so and the non-soul winners like that one
anyone ever had someone go well that's only a part of the great commission
well that's suddenly part of the great commission is preaching the gospel
yeah it is it is only part of the commission right soul wing is part of the great commission
we also want to baptize them don't we we also want to teach them to observe all things how
if you don't go with them in the first place how are you going to do the next two if you're not
preaching the gospel in the first place you're getting to say how are you going to baptize them
and teach them to observe all things and what it is is like well they have to come to church
that's what they're basically trying to say you know if they don't come to church well they're
not going to do the rest of the great commission now i don't have to go out and solve them i can
just sit here and preach gospel with me i'll tell you that's easy sermon writing as well
oh man that's good you know little springboard little slightly different scenario
bang gospel again you know i mean it's just laziness all day long however however we do need
to we do want to baptize we do want to teach them but do you know what all things are do you know
when we teach them to observe all things well one of those the most important of those is to go
here to all the water preach gospel to every creature so how are you going to teach someone
to observe all things if you're not going out and doing the most important of those all things
it's going out and preaching the gospel to people the people aren't getting saved unless you go and
preach the gospel okay well that's why we're told that's why we're commanded to do it okay however
once we do it yeah we want to encourage them to get back to us we want to encourage them to get
into church we talk those things but the thing is sometimes when you go to far out places they're
not going to necessarily come to church are they in fact it seems like if you go 20 minutes away
they go oh oh that's a long way that's how people feel don't they but with time you know you'd hope
they might you can accomplish them but in the meantime we want to as well plant churches don't
we part of that now some people will take that and go that's just about church planting no it's
about preaching the gospel all over the world and then part of the rest of it is by planting
churches places where there are those believers there who need the teaching they're baptizing the
rest of it right okay so that's obviously a goal of ours i praise god that we we do have a church
full of soldiers who are told to go and the response is that they go it
yesterday it was a hot sticky afternoon i can imagine that a lot of people
could have probably would have liked to have been sitting in a paddling pool maybe or
you know or maybe those either had an aircon hotel or man i'm still guided about that
did they climb an aircon as well did you not get the aircon
oh neil got the aircon but look i'm sure a lot of people would have loved loved to have found
somewhere cool anything else and instead we had 36 people out on a on a hot saturday afternoon
sweating buckets knocking on doors preaching the gospel okay and you know what you know because
look sometimes it could be sometimes the pulpit is just some man he's at me on this he's honest at
that but but also we do have like a great group of people this church we do marathons every single
month there's so many churches that do marathons every single month and it's not that we do
marathons every single month and a couple of blokes turn up you know and one poor child gets
dragged along and we're like yeah you know we do marathons every month and we end up i don't know
because it's hard to put somewhere to eat every time you know we always have around 30 plus people
sometimes more okay it's great it's great you know he tells us to go and we go and but what i want to
say don't give up okay don't give up doing that don't go well i've done it for a bit i need because
there'll always be that temptation to stop the flesh wants you to stop the devil wants you to
stop don't stop keep doing it keep grafting keep getting up keep up work keep marching to battle
turn some 126 because look there might be some of you again this happens for various reasons
that maybe i'm getting the opportunity to preach the gospel maybe you are but you're not getting
the salvations at the end of it maybe some people are like i'm hardly getting my bible out for one
reason or another okay and and sometimes it's not because well you've just got a problem getting the
conversation started there is a big there is a big skill to that obviously but also as well don't
forget that that can be too far the other way where they're very good at making someone listen
they don't want to listen okay that's just the time it's a lot of time just get a fake salvation
as well okay so just just you know we want to get the balance right you obviously don't want to be
like oh do you fancy it you know if there's some confidence people are more likely to want to
listen but on the other hand don't go too far the other way where you're just forcing someone to
hear of us for something here and everything else because that's again you're not really going to
get proper salvation to that either okay so but some maybe have that problem have an issue where
they're like i just i'm getting it i'm not getting those people safe is it something to do with me
is it me am i the problem okay what what what's the problem well galatians 6 9
well you turn some 126 galatians 6 9 says let us not be weary in well doing okay by the way soul
winning is ultimate well doing for in jew season we shall reap if we faint not okay you will reap
if you keep going and you might be looking at someone else but they seem to be getting
salvations all the time okay however you shall reap if you keep going listen to other people
and hopefully people look we do want people mixing it up and going with different people in this
church okay so please don't get in some clique where you're just like requesting your best mate
or something else because we should all be trying to learn from each other okay learning how to soul
win learning how to go differently with learning different things it might be look you you might
a way i might do it might not work for you but maybe brother so-and-so does it works for you
right and that may be actually that's a bit more me and i find that gets people talking to me a bit
more that gets that gets that conversation started it comes to practice doesn't it and the
more we do the more we go don't give up and you could go you could go a year a year without a
salvation and find that person that would only ever have listened to you and isn't that worth it
is there not a cause that person's then saved and going to heaven instead of hell okay look
we all we all have a heart playing this okay every single one of us is told to go into all
the world and preach across the world bearing creature and some 126 says the same thing that
relation 69 said where it says they that sow in tears in verse five they that sow in tears
shall reap in joy he that goeth forth and weepeth bearing precious seed shall outless come again
with rejoicing bringing his sheeps within okay just keep keep plucking away guys yeah and i know
look i'll be honest but often for a lot of ladies it can be tough as well because the way it is a
lot of men don't really want to listen to a lady preaching in the gospel because of pride because
of ego because of their own issues because they they're so puffed up that then even it's even
worse when they got a lady they're saying well let me show you how to say that's the reality
whereas a lot of the time for the men the men and women a lot of time will listen but now and again
it's going to be that person there's going to be maybe that lady that's just doesn't want to hear
like maybe she's had some issues whatever else just doesn't want to hear a man and she'll hear
you it might take a while to find that lady but still go out and still preach to us all because
it is worth it the more you do and the more you have those hard and look you know for the ladies
as well because it's sometimes hard to get that conversation going because of those issues you're
learning so much though you're probably more you'll get more expertise that starts the
conversation because you already have it set up a little bit against you but it doesn't mean stop
doing it keep going out keep going out you will doubtless come again with rejoicing bringing your
sheaves with you and I think look if you sow that seed you go forth with the word of God
you will come again you will eventually get something from that it might be that you just
get someone where that seed's planted and sown and then they're going to get stabbed by someone else
but but had you not planted that seed maybe they would never have got never have got saved
and you are then directly responsible as well for that salvation okay every little bit helps
don't give up don't reduce the output keep playing keep marching right and I would say
when you when you're in heaven and you look back and hopefully I don't know maybe we'll get the
highlight reel I don't know how it'll work yeah but what I do know is that you'll look back you've
got I never knew I finally had known how much effect I was having going out preaching the gospel
week in week out okay trying to get out there trying to get people saved trying to find people
knocking on doors find those people that are rejecting to wipe off those doors you know and
then we go to the next one next one and look someone else got to get someone saved oh we
didn't get anyone saved on our route yeah but I'll tell you what they didn't go there and not get
someone saved and they got someone to save somewhere else okay it's a team effort as well
go back to Luke 7 and verse 8 Luke 7 verse 8 says for I also am a man set under authority having
under me soldiers I sound to one go and he goeth and to another come and he cometh and to my
servant do this and he doeth it the title of this one is soldiers of Christ number one soldiers of
Christ go and number two soldiers of Christ come soldiers of Christ come he said for I also a man
sent under authority having under me soldiers I sound to one go and he goes and to another
come and he cometh now of course in member language 22 17 and if you want to turn it
quickly you can if you like there's a command pass through the spirit it's passed through the church
the soul winner to the lost to come and get saved okay revelation 2 17 says and the spirit
and the body say come and let him that heareth say come let him that is a thirst come and whosoever
will yeah that's anyone let him take the water of life freely okay however the lost aren't soldiers
yet and look and again you could probably apply these rises to different things couldn't you
but the command here is to his soldiers okay and he's giving the analogy the analogy to Jesus
Christ and his soldiers and to be a soldier you need to be saved okay turn to Psalm chapter 5
Psalm 5 and do you know where he wants his soldiers to come yeah he wants all to come to him Jesus
Christ is is saying all of you everyone come to me yeah if you're if you're born into this world
you have the ability to get saved however do you know where he wants his soldiers to come to
headquarters to to the briefing room to the training center to the armory
and you know what you're best you don't have to go to five different places for all of that
it's all in one place it's all in the house of god okay it's all in the house of god David said
in Psalm 5 and verse 7 Psalm 5 and verse 7 he says but as for me I will come into thy house
in the multitude of thy mercy and in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple and it
sounds obvious doesn't it it sounds obvious you're saved surely you want to go to the house of god
right yeah that's probably the area that the devil works hardest is to keep you from church
okay and in various ways that is probably where he's just working overtime one way or another
to keep you out of church because that is where it's all centered isn't it it's all centered
around the church that that's where you're getting sent out from okay look we've said this before and
I know that a lot of people here when they're trying to go you know people are here from the
beginning trying to go to kind of really dubbed churches and trying to organize your own soul
winning separately anyone here where they're so winning more than what is so different now isn't
it it's consistent like we said we've got monthly marathons we're getting out in a week we're getting
out on the weekend it's a lot of people just in the routine of solving right and you know what
look it all comes from the church I had a friend message me the other day going you know other than
solving what other good deeds what other good you know good deeds you know would you say you can do
for god because obviously giving money to the poor eventually a lot of the time just goes on
crack and heroin and alcohol right so so what what you know what good deeds are there and to be honest
so much of what I kind of reply to him with a sense around the church comes out from the church
being at church doing things in the church helping out with the church because it's such
a center of it all it's a bit of a round of the truth and rather than going off and going to go
down like the salvation army soup kitchen and stuff you could do so much more by helping the
church be more productive for example by encouraging other people in the church by encouraging your
fellow believers to get out and preach the gospel they're all ultimate good works because they have
lasting eternal effects don't they and is it is it um it's also by the way we looked at the three
parts of eight commission it's where the baptisms are isn't it where the baptisms in the church
where are the new where are the new believers or maybe the believers that you know that maybe
haven't been serving god where they're getting shined up in the church where they're getting
where the old believers getting sharpened up in the church it all comes from the church doesn't it
which well you don't have to turn there but paul said in uh it's a church of all called in first
timothy 3 15 the house of god which is the church the living god the pillar and grand the truth so
is it any surprise the enemy doesn't want you here it shouldn't surprise us shouldn't it the enemy
doesn't want you here the enemy wants to draw you away and he wants to attack the key to basically
that serving god and that doing those great things to god and the key is the church
and look like i said the salvation is the line would be minimal without this place
i don't know what we can do in 2000 and something whatever salations
there would be nothing like that okay that have come out of this nation as a whole without this
church yeah a few people don't out here and they're doing bits and pieces but nothing like
what we've achieved with this church so far thanks to everyone here being told go in a ghost right
but without coming to the church that wouldn't exist would it it wouldn't be happening it all
goes hand in hand so the enemy will try various ways to attack this place to get people out and
i've got a funny reminder about this yesterday it was quite a funny one but it's just a good reminder
that um we had um uh these guys told me at the meal yesterday because i hadn't noticed here
that um we had this clown that came to our church a few a few years a few times a year ago called
donovan this guy donovan yeah he literally came just a few times to our church was a very strange
character you know and then he seemed really annoyed after i preached a sermon i think i was
any announcer or something i said look if you if you're new to our church and you know we don't
really know you or anything else you need to learn how to soul win first you know you want to hit you
need to come along also we have a rule of when the column regardless of all me used to turn up in like
a just around that t-shirt and then the guy was kind of waiting to talk to me while i was talking
to someone else looked a bit annoyed oh here we go and then he just walked off and never saw him again
a year later and he's watching whole sermons and trying to find things he can kind of bend
and twist and make it sound like i'm some sort of you know weird and it's like it's so it's
the thing is these guys it's funny because when they do this stuff and you like you've been out
of this church you've left our church yeah fine anyone wants to leave they can leave but you're
still watching us that's weird isn't it yeah you're still watching our sermons and then a year
you're watching ourselves then trying to find ways you can attack me by watching our sermons
and make me like look you know in a different way and everything else and then put it all over
facebook or on the facebook comments and then when in the end last night i was i thought i'd
give him a quick reply i see what happened so i replied to him i just said to him that weirdo
that came to my church i said a couple of times but you know just said to him man you need to
find yourself a church yeah i was what's your problem i said uh i said the word stalker comes
to mind that's weird and then and they always do the same these guys it's like this line
they reply any attack he can try any way you can try and upset her and everything else it's like
you've just exposed yourself but what's his goal why is he doing that why is he not sending me a
private message because the goal isn't me the goal is to get other people to look at that and go i
don't i don't know if i'll go into that joke i remember we had a clown a ball back um that that
was that guy uh vj yeah who was kind of railing against us on his different site and then he did
this sort of and it was kind of all this weird stuff that they don't even provide food on the
sunday for everyone you went to this false church for like three years and i over where like i think
i think the guy made you provide food for him i'm joking but like it was so weird this place yeah
so anyway so this guy's like he's coming out with all this stuff and then but this is what happens
then someone who's never been to a church went oh what a shame i think about trying out that
church i won't go anywhere near it now and that's the goal isn't it and this is often the goal so
someone's that easy if you're that silly someone who's like you know obviously got an axe to grind
he's coming out with stuff you just go oh yeah it must be true oh yeah won't go there then sounds
terrible well you know probably you're not a good fit anyway but that's the goal isn't it the goal
is for people to see to look to and get their heads turned a little bit to get shaken get
demoralized and everything else should we be surprised no way that's just the way it is isn't
it because the goal is to stop people coming in in church and the goal is to demoralize people about
church but all these people that always exhibit the same it's always all the behavior it's always
the same so this guy i mean he's a funny one okay but what he did say as well i think what he said
to me is he said um i've you know i've been to other baptist churches they don't have to
talk about whatever it was you know he said yeah yeah you don't get this at repent of your sins
baptist yeah funny enough you don't get this at reformed clownivist baptist do you yeah you don't
get you don't get it there you don't get it at faith cometh by reading baptist yeah you don't
get it at any of those places but does that surprise us and that's not because of me that's
because of everyone here going out and preaching the gospel and doing all of the stuff that we're
meant to do that's why we're just going to constantly get this stuff but the trick is to
just we don't need to be faced by that stuff but this guy was a funny one okay but what's
gonna weaken the church to moralize and whether or not he knows that or just actually on his own
anger you know he's just being i mean this guy was you know he's kind of explained himself pretty
easy i don't really know what he actually thinks his goal is but it does mean that when jesus
crosses come there may be some opposition and that's not the only opposite you you guys are
going to have opposition in every areas of your life okay you're going to have oppositions getting
up in the morning you're going to have opposition on a saturday night you're going to have opposition
getting here you're going to have opposition saying he can have opposition
finding a way to make it on the midweek or anything else but jesus christ says come
what should be the response we can't right that should be the response and there may be some life
changing decisions to make and they can be for some and look and when i say that look i know
look we have people who are in other areas of the country in the world i'm not saying
why everyone has to jack in their job just find a way to move to whatever maybe you might find a way
to to you think look i can come in here maybe once or whatever once a month whatever it is
and try and build something in my area and with other beliefs and stuff great yeah great you could
do that if you think that won't work if you don't get to church okay and it doesn't have to be here
if you think no actually i can find a way to do another church that look great in church though
yeah make sure it's all about church it all comes from church make sure you're in a proper church
and if you find a proper church and we know what makes a proper church make sure you're in church
but with that to get there to be there there might be some some old life baggage to shake off
there might be some interceptors to avoid and they come in various ways don't they family friends you
know old old family old problems issues work problems there's many ways but when jesus christ
says come the simple response should be we come yeah that's how it should be shouldn't it because
i tell you what when they say go to go go to the military base or go to whatever it is do you know
what that sexual soldier does he goes straight there doesn't he yeah he doesn't go well yeah
but okay and is there not cause there's a cause right go back to luke seven and verse eight
where he said this for i also am a man set under authority having under me soldiers i stand to one
bow and goeth for another come and he cometh to my servant do this and he doeth it the title of
this one is soldiers of christ number one soldiers of christ go number two soldiers of christ come
and number three soldiers of christ serve soldiers of christ serve he's he's sitting verse eight and
to my servant do this and he doeth it and in the roman army and most other armies in the world
the soldier is different to the servant isn't it okay the soldier focuses on soldier duties
whereas the home help or the office assistant or similar focuses on no serving duties yeah okay
they're usually different roles different jobs however when it comes to soldiers of christ
we not only go for war to war for him but we also get the privilege of serving him
okay and it is a privilege okay it's a privilege there are various ways that we can serve him
but but the most obvious way is through the church okay that's the most obvious way
whether it's smashing down walls in the new building okay that could be a good fun sometimes
or like stepping through light electrics and stuff like that you know hearing it
that sort of stuff that's some way that you could serve him but but there are various jobs that
that need doing every week okay various jobs in the church should be doing it's all serving the
lord now turn to some hundred for another overlooked way that we serve the lord
but there are many ways that we serve him but he says do this and we should do it okay we should
do it some hundred is is tell us about a way that i think we often don't really think about
it's in psalm 100 we look from verse one where some 100 says it's a psalm of praise and it says
make a joyful noise out of the lord of all you lands serve the lord with gladness come before
his presence with singing when we sing to god you know you're serving him you know that when you're
singing to god when you come to church to sing to god you serve him and it's another to be able to
do that isn't it serve the lord through singing to sing to him to lift up our voices to him
that turn to some 95 verse one says i'll come let us sing unto the lord let us make a joyful
noise to the rock of our salvation so we should want to make a joyful noise make it sound as
pleasing as possible it's not really a hardship is it i hope not i hope people aren't here going
i can't stand this you know where's the drums or maybe some people maybe
maybe earlier on they could be a bit like that because it strikes out stuff doesn't it
but really look it's it's not it's not clean isn't it there's something off about that you
want when you want to serve the lord you want to do it properly don't you we don't want to be
conformed to this world right okay and and look when you serve the lord is singing it's a great
thing to do but it is serving him okay that's the great thing to think about isn't it you're serving
the lord you're serving god he wants to hear you singing it's part of service to god he's
hearing his children sing to him you know i know many people and i've done this before given the
analogy but i just think it's a great analogy it's like when your kids are singing to you
your kids are singing to you and you've got a few kids and they're all kind of singing together how
great you are or something else that's pretty nice isn't it we don't deserve that do we yeah
none of us deserve to be told that you're amazing and great and wonderful and everything else but
god does and you can understand it's nice for him to hear his children singing and it's good for us
as well okay and god's not this kind of weird god who just says i need to be told that you know
it's ultimately because it benefits us as well because the more we're singing how great god is
the less joyful we are the more humility we have when we're giving all the praise and worship
to god for some it's a hard thing some of the pride gets in the way and i find it hard to open
their mouth singing because it's a bit like you know i'm gonna sound a bit silly or something else
yeah but we are told to do it okay we're commanded to do it and it's the way that we worship
that we worship lord and it's the way that we serve the lord but turn to Romans 12 because
it's not all the church there is stuff to do it there's many jobs to do it the church has
many things to do there's many ways we can serve him through the church just just turning up to
church in the first place is serving him as well okay just being there because you're encouraging
his other children to be there that's another form of service but Romans 12 shows us shows us
many uh another way before we do Ephesians 6 7 says of service to employees when they work
with good will during service as to the lord and not to men so we serve him when we've got to work
did you know that when you go and do your secular job you're serving the lord okay you're working
as unto the lord you're you're and and look people know you're a christian i hope they do
i hope it's not something that's like a secret or something and i'm not saying you have to like walk
around going hey everyone hi my name's dean i'm a christian you know first day on the job however
you would assume it would come a conversation fairly quickly if someone asks you what you
do on your weekend nothing nothing nothing at all you know i hope you know what i'm saying
yeah yeah i went to church yeah funny how funny what that leads up to as well okay but okay so
people know you're serving god aren't you your bit you should be a testimony should be a great example
of a christian in the workplace kids you serve god when you're doing your schoolwork
mum serve serve him when you're doing housework because we serve him in all areas of life colloshes
3 23 says that whatsoever you do do it hardly after the lord and not unto men okay everything
you're doing in life every every responsibility you have is for the lord romans 12 1 says this
it says i beseech you therefore brethren by mercy god that you present your body as a living sacrifice
holy acceptable unto god which is your reasonable service so our reasonable service just just the
reasonable service right not above and beyond is to live right is to keep our bodies holy
to sanctify ourselves to just live right it's serving god that's a reasonable service
okay to to basically keep that holy spirit in at least a fairly semi-acceptable vessel
okay and not just just be just some wicked temple of the holy spirit
but how do we do that how do we sacrifice ourselves how do we get holy oh it's all through
the word of god it always comes back to the word of god doesn't it roman uh sorry john 17 17 says
sanctify through thy truth living through thy truth so thy word is true okay thy word is truth
and that's how we're sanctified through the word of god that's how we're clean that's how we're made
holy it all comes to the word of god reading study memorizing and hearing it preached okay
that's there are ways it can sanctify us through the word of god
and it's our reasonable service turn actually 25 because last bit on this you might be sitting
there going okay this is the way to go i've heard all this stuff before but i just find it hard okay
well and the point of this sermon is i want to encourage you i want to i want to encourage you
to those and many here to just keep doing what you're doing those are maybe having kind of
weaker times to go no i need to get right i need to get back in i need to just be doing that stuff
i need to go when he says go i need to come when he says come and i need to be doing what he says
to do okay i need to serve god because there is nothing else in life that's of any value compared
to that is there then serving god right that's what we're told to do and and to get holy to do
that for that reasonable service it's through the word of god but if you if you need the extra
motivation if you don't feel that you're just getting it anyway well when all else fails
remind yourself of those rewards to come remind yourself of the rewards to come they're spoken
of for a reason okay the rewards are constantly mentioned in the bible sometimes i think you
feel a little bit carnal going thinking about rewards yeah and look if you literally think
about rewards the whole time then maybe you're kind of maybe a little bit off on that side
however there's nothing wrong with thinking about rewards sometimes because otherwise why they
mentioned they mentioned to motivate you to encourage you for you to sometimes to remind
yourself when things are hard when you're feeling weary when you're feeling tired when you're
thinking it would be much easier to do nothing this week to go no there are there we are going
to reap as well not just in this life that you can reap in the world to come okay and what does
he say he says in in matthew 25 there's there's a parable of the talents and you've got the guys
have worked hard done what they can with what god's given them are told this in verse 20 and so
he that had received five talents came of all other five talents saying lord thou deliverer
sent to me five talents behold i've gained to the side then five talents small his lord said unto
him well done now good and faithful sir wouldn't that be great to be told that well done now good
and faithful sir that has been faithful over a few things i will make thee ruler over many things
enter thou into the joy of the lord okay and look if you go i'm not power hungry or anything else i
think for me i think we're talking millennial reign there i think it'll be nice to to be
ruling and reigning with christ and have a position with christ and have a position where
where you're doing something you know you feel like yeah i'm being rewarded for everything i
did yeah i don't think it's going to be hard shit it's like yeah i don't really fancy that you know
i think that whatever he gives you will be suited for you and it'd be great to be told that a good
and faithful servant verse 22 says he also let him receive two it's not just about those uh
well they've done x y and z and all these jobs well what have you been given by god to work with
because he also let receive just the two talents here two talents came said lord thou deliverer
sent to me two talents behold i've gained two other talents beside them his lord said unto him
well done good and faithful servant that has been faithful over a few things i'll make you ruler
over many things so look whether or not you've been given at your disposal you know much to work
with or little to work with either way if you do it if you work for him if you serve him he'll
say well done now good and faithful servant and those rewards will come in heaven in millennial
reign and and look wouldn't it be great to just look back and instead of saying i wish i'd done
more i wish i'd just done more if only i'd just put a bit more into that a bit less into whatever
it was in life whatever addiction whatever past time whatever other distractions and there's
hundreds of different distractions on this thousand different distractions instead of all that to just
be told well done good and faithful servant uh that's got to be a great goal isn't it that'd
be great to finish your life you feel like that and that's what a soldier of christ should be working
towards you know that's what we're working towards quite being don't give up don't get weary keep
soldiering keep serving and you know this is like i said it's a servant too like so many people in
here just serving working crafting for the lord keep doing it keep plugging away and we will
reap yeah we will reap we aren't there or what's the calmness and even before that isn't it
fulfilling is it fulfilling serving god right and look i'm not trying to say you know that that
that everyone is rich this pinnacle you go yeah i know look but the more you serve him is it
and it's a great way to live in it and if and but you've got to keep that
discipline keep that motivation do so the title this morning was subject of christ number one
soldiers of christ club number two subject of christ come and number three soldiers of christ
so and on that we're going to fish the word of prayer
thank you for um well that you know the job of being a soldier the job of being a servant of
yours as well the the you know the the responsibility to us in this world lord
god i appreciate the loss to get the loss saved you're not willing that any should perish but
all should come to help us to just preach that out and clear get out there and just take it
seriously the job that you've given us but also lord you know to to when we have those hard times
and when we have those times we're feeling a bit shaken up to just focus on on what a cause it is
not only what cause it is but but also you know how you reward us for that how you appreciate
what we do how even though it's our reasonable service lord you're still gonna you're still
gonna bless us for that we thank you that we have such a loving god such a merciful god as well god
that puts up with so many of our weaknesses and and still just just is you know willing to use us
you know in in in the many ways you use this lord help us how to use us this afternoon please lord
help lead us to receptive people on receptive doors help the care high ministry to go well as
well lord helps get people saved and that helps return for this evening so it's just