(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

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