A Time for War: A Battle for Time
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A Time for War
Ecclesiastes 3:8
Romans 7:23
2nd Corinthians 10:3-5
Ephesians 6:13
Galatians 5:1
Galatians 5:17
2nd Timothy 2:24-26
It is for freedom that Christ has saved each of us. Freedom to rule and reign with Christ and where should the ruling and reigning with Christ begin? Within our own personal kingdoms that make up our whole empire of being. If we are to rule and reign with Christ in unseen heavenly places, then we are to begin our training in ruling over, with Christ, the things that pertain to this life. If Christians concede the liberty(freedom) that has been granted to them in any area of life the bright life we hold forth to the world becomes dim and our kingdom looks as theirs, full of gloom, dread, and headed to destruction. What are the “kingdoms” that constitute our own “empire” (full being)? The Sword (God’s Word mainly the gospel contained within) is the only weapon given to us in this war. Yes, we have armor that is very important, but the only weapon we wield is the bible you hold in your hand.
The knowledge of what is contained within the blessed pages is of upmost importance. The art to communicated and desire to live it is equally important. Bethany Baptist Church is aware of how important the Word is as a weapon. This is why we are equipping families to know the word together through our “blueprint”. You need to know the word it needs to be read in our homes daily. Bethany Baptist will also launch its Bible institute in February because the Word is a necessity in this warfare. We will also apply the Word to our marriages at our Made marriage conference. There is no better way to defend and delight in marriage than through God’s Word. Bethany is aware of how important the Word is as a weapon and we intend to train each soldier how to use it properly. When the Word is put to good use we will discover how to win back and beat the enemy back from the following Kingdoms of our godly empire.
When I think of our kingdoms that we are empowered to reign over here is what comes to mind.
When I think of our kingdoms that we are empowered to reign over here is what comes to mind.
The Kingdom of time: Our time here on earth is most precious and at our redemption Christ purchased for us all the time we are to spend in this body. Our time was ruled and reigned over by our enemies prior to the Conquering of Christ. Now we stand in liberty (complete freedom) to do the will of God with our time.
The Kingdom of Our Body: Our bodies were for sinful lust and pleasure only. We were told what to eat, drink, dress, and do to please the body. We were trapped by addictions and carnal desires, but in Christ freedom has come to do what is holy, right, and pleasing to God. The body is the place of worship and is to be holy and sacred place dedicated to God.
The Kingdom of Our relationships: Our allegiances were dictated by our skin color, nationality, social statue, and whatever lifted up our fallen ego, but in Christ all men and women have our allegiance. We are free to love, without any measure of hate, all people.
The Kingdom of our Spirit: The Spirit is our grand castle where the supplies for our warfare flows. When the spirit is captive the whole man is captured by the enemy. When worship flows from our Spirit in truth to God all other kingdoms are supplied for adequately.
A Full Revolt
It would be a bit ignorant of me if I did not acknowledge that many believers here today are fighting from a point of captivity. Your Time, Body, relationships, and Spirit are shackled by many satanic and fleshly chains. Your time is filled with things of no value. You have committed to things that matter none in eternity and your fallen ego tells says you cannot afford to change those things now. Your body is addicted to medication, alcohol, perversion, self-image, and social ideals. Once your time is chained your body soon falls. Relationships spin out of control.
It would be a bit ignorant of me if I did not acknowledge that many believers here today are fighting from a point of captivity. Your Time, Body, relationships, and Spirit are shackled by many satanic and fleshly chains. Your time is filled with things of no value. You have committed to things that matter none in eternity and your fallen ego tells says you cannot afford to change those things now. Your body is addicted to medication, alcohol, perversion, self-image, and social ideals. Once your time is chained your body soon falls. Relationships spin out of control.
Today I call on a full revolt of every captured Christian. I call on you to take back each kingdom granted to you in Christ. I call on you to wage full out war on the enemy. Give your neighbors a glimpse of what a beautiful bright kingdom your life can be in Christ. Show them life and power in the Empire of your being. It is time to war for our faith with our faith. In this war you are either fighting or captured. You are beating back the enemy or being beat by the enemy.
I call every warring Christian to take heart, reload, and guard the walls of your kingdoms. Pay the price protect the cities of your children and heritage to come. Are you tired? Then be renewed in the strength of the preaching of the gospel. STAND FAST IN THE FREEDOM CHRIST FREED US FOR. Plant your flag of freedom in the overrun kingdoms of your life put on the full armor of God and declare WAR!
I call every warring Christian to take heart, reload, and guard the walls of your kingdoms. Pay the price protect the cities of your children and heritage to come. Are you tired? Then be renewed in the strength of the preaching of the gospel. STAND FAST IN THE FREEDOM CHRIST FREED US FOR. Plant your flag of freedom in the overrun kingdoms of your life put on the full armor of God and declare WAR!
What You Need to Know About War
War is a contention by FORCE
War protects a way of life
Our Enemy in this War is Our flesh and Satan
I define the “flesh” not as the body, but the fallen ego (See Galatians 2:20)
Paul states that one “I” was crucified and another “I” lives. There is the fallen ego that only looks after its own pleasure that needs to be crucified and the new “I” governed by the Spirit of Christ that needs to emerge. The “new man” needs to put the “old man” in submission.
Satan is the leader of the dark forces we battle against
There are two conditions of this war
I define the “flesh” not as the body, but the fallen ego (See Galatians 2:20)
Paul states that one “I” was crucified and another “I” lives. There is the fallen ego that only looks after its own pleasure that needs to be crucified and the new “I” governed by the Spirit of Christ that needs to emerge. The “new man” needs to put the “old man” in submission.
Satan is the leader of the dark forces we battle against
There are two conditions of this war
Warring
Captured
Captured
War is not pretty nor pleasant. In my office are replicas of newspaper articles from World War II. War became a way of life in order for America to be victorious. Sacrifices were made, ordinary items became useful items to build machines for war, and big and small decisions alike were made with winning the war in mind. War occupied the lives and minds of Americans to the point of obsession, but we won. As I flipped through articles there was zero evidence that the war was fought half way. You lose wars when the all-in mind set is dead. It is evident from the scriptures we read this morning that we live in an on-going war with an alliance between two major enemies “Satan” and “the flesh”. The enemy desires for the unsaved to remain captured and the saved to be unproductive and unholy; thus, rendering the mission of the Church, which is to glorify God by living holy and bring souls into Christ Kingdom, obsolete.
During the month of January Bethany Baptist Church will be encourage and equipped to make radical changes that we reclaim the realms of life that have been captured by the enemy. The goal is to be warriors aimed at holiness and bringing souls to Jesus Christ through 2018.
Battle for Your Time
“You can not kill time without injuring eternity”
“You can not kill time without injuring eternity”
Every person in here feels the stress of time. It is such a heavy wait that it gets ignored or squandered. Years of our lives are spent watching T.V., movies, and scrolling though social media. Hours a day are given to those things yet we find it near impossible to make simple things at home happen. Worship surely takes a hit. We wait till we have an idle moment then we attend church or worship God. I think most of us agree that our time is precious and that we are wasting precious time on things that are not so precious. So how do we reclaim the freedom of our time? We are not trying to create more free time, but more freedom with our time. How can we do this? We must make war with our daily schedule. Our calendar that is loaded with unhealthy, ungodly, unproductive, unsatisfying things must bleed.
Every Believer can reclaim their time by:
Requesting Hard Truth from God (Psalm 39:4-5)
The Plea- Teach me that I will die. Remind me that I am very fragile and that the time I have here is precious. Put me in reality and move me from fantasy, is the plea of the song writer. Once the reality of our time running out takes hold on us in a godly way the desire of our heart leads us to war against things that would still our time. Prayer is the walkie talkie that gets us through to the Commander. Praying that our knowledge of limited time increases the quality of our lives is the first step to winning back our time from the enemy.
The Plea- Teach me that I will die. Remind me that I am very fragile and that the time I have here is precious. Put me in reality and move me from fantasy, is the plea of the song writer. Once the reality of our time running out takes hold on us in a godly way the desire of our heart leads us to war against things that would still our time. Prayer is the walkie talkie that gets us through to the Commander. Praying that our knowledge of limited time increases the quality of our lives is the first step to winning back our time from the enemy.
Request To know the Power or Value of Your Time (Psalm 90:12)
The Idea- The idea behind this verse is not counting, but valuing. It is very easy to fill as if your time will make no difference and will accomplish so little. We can think: The world is very large and the population very high. There are important people out there that the world needs, but is it me, of course not. Moses planned to finish his life out on the run on the backside of nowhere. God showed him the value of his days. Your days are valuable. They are very important to you, your family, friends, church, and community. Your days are powerful do not waste them. Beg God to teach you to value your days, though they be short they are powerful!
The Idea- The idea behind this verse is not counting, but valuing. It is very easy to fill as if your time will make no difference and will accomplish so little. We can think: The world is very large and the population very high. There are important people out there that the world needs, but is it me, of course not. Moses planned to finish his life out on the run on the backside of nowhere. God showed him the value of his days. Your days are valuable. They are very important to you, your family, friends, church, and community. Your days are powerful do not waste them. Beg God to teach you to value your days, though they be short they are powerful!
Strip Your Calendar and Prioritize Your Time (Colossians 4:5)- Look at your daily schedule, right it down as it is, then war with the things that are not worth keeping. How do you know what is worth your time? Measure it in three dimensions to see if it has the height width and depth of value.
The glory it brings to God- Does the thing in question bring glory to God? That is does it exercise your fatherhood, motherhood, childhood, position, or calling in such away that people are in awe of God? If you are a boss, student, employee, mom, dad, child is what you do for the benefit of gospel? Is an hour a day on social media glorifying God? If the answer is yes then keep it going and enhance it. If the answer is no remove it.
The help it brings to man- Is what you doing with that thing at that time bringing help and hope to others? Are you spending valuable time with your wife and children? Are you working as a boss to make pay, working conditions, and training opportunities, to be the best they can be? Are you showing people through the use of your time the grace of God? Does your time help others in anyway?
The quality of Life it gives to you- Is what you doing with your time adding value to your life. Does it give you joy and fulfillment? Are you walking carefully with your time by allowing it to add fulfillment to your life?