I have fought the good fight, I have finished
my course, I have kept the faith.
II Timothy 4:7
It was only a short while before church was to start that I learned my chaplain was once again on vacation...
my course, I have kept the faith.
II Timothy 4:7
It was only a short while before church was to start that I learned my chaplain was once again on vacation...
However, a volunteer minister who regularly comes on the first Sunday of every month was scheduled to be here. So while I helped the elders set up our equipment, I didn't concern myself with today's sermon because, after all, the preacher was due in. But by ten o'clock he had yet to arrive. Then, with the chapel filling up with men, my assistant Philip and I, had no choice but to begin the service.
With only the two of us alone on the platform we quickly bowed our heads and asked the Lord for "guidance, wisdom and direction." Indeed it is a big responsibility to be behind the pulpit. A considerable level of trust has been extended to Philip and I by the prison's administrative stall to allow us positions of leadership in a correctional setting. He and I are inmates.
Nevertheless, God once again proved Himself to be faithful. With both our chaplain and the scheduled minister absent, I had to bring the message. My sermon was titled "Something to Fight For." I read out loud from I Timothy 6:12. I immediately followed it by reading
II Timothy 4:6-8. I told the congregation what Paul, in his letters to a young pastor in training (Timothy) said: "Fight the good fight of faith." And later on, somewhere in the middle of my sermon, I also included Ephesians 6:10-18 about putting on the "full armor" of God.
I explained that every member of the body of Christ is involved in a fierce spiritual war against the Devil and the forces of darkness whether we realize it or not. I said that Satan desires to destroy us. But at the same time we have the Lord on our side. "We're on the winning team," I added. Thus we need not fear our Adversary because God has already provided us with everything we need to fight the battle we're in.
We have the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit who provides his divine power to every child of God. He also guides us into all truth. In addition, we have the Word of God (the Bible) at our disposal, and we have access as well to all the defensive armor that's listed in Ephesians chapter six. Besides this we have available the necessary weapons for conducting such a warfare (II Corinthians 10:3-5). These weapons include prayer, the Scriptures (as I just mentioned), fellowship with other believers, and even fasting when necessary to help us become more self-disciplined, and more focused in our prayers.
I told the church that we have been given the authority by the Lord Himself to put the Devil on the run. That because of this we should try to take a more proactive and aggressive role against Satan and all forms of demonic powers and principalities rather than being passive by always allowing him to strike first.
I said to my brothers that far too often it seems we allow ourselves to become Satan's punching bag. He beats us up while incessantly bombarding our minds with all kinds of negative thoughts. The result is discouragement, depression and despair, and a host of other spiritual bondages.
Meanwhile, the truth is that we already possess the power and God-given authority to launch an offensive against the Devil as well as challenge all his wicked works. We're to put him to flight. So we need to become more aggressive and more fervent with our prayers, because prayer is powerful and it is one of the most important weapons available to the Christian. The Bible says we should "Pray without ceasing (I Thessalonians 5:17)."
We're not supposed to be victims, I told the men. Rather, the Scripture declares that we are "more than conquerors" because Jesus loves us, and He is always with us (Romans 8:37).
Of course there was more to my message. I discussed how that, while we have been called to fight a good fight of faith, it is the Lord who fights for us and through us. None of this kind of warfare can be fought in one's own strength or by one's physical skills.
I reminded the guys that we indeed have something to fight for. It is our faith. We don't want Satan to weaken it or steal it from us. Instead, in that final day, when every Christian must appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ, we want to be able to say to the Lord exactly what the apostle Paul wrote as his final words shortly before his death: "I fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith."
Amen!
D.B.
With only the two of us alone on the platform we quickly bowed our heads and asked the Lord for "guidance, wisdom and direction." Indeed it is a big responsibility to be behind the pulpit. A considerable level of trust has been extended to Philip and I by the prison's administrative stall to allow us positions of leadership in a correctional setting. He and I are inmates.
Nevertheless, God once again proved Himself to be faithful. With both our chaplain and the scheduled minister absent, I had to bring the message. My sermon was titled "Something to Fight For." I read out loud from I Timothy 6:12. I immediately followed it by reading
II Timothy 4:6-8. I told the congregation what Paul, in his letters to a young pastor in training (Timothy) said: "Fight the good fight of faith." And later on, somewhere in the middle of my sermon, I also included Ephesians 6:10-18 about putting on the "full armor" of God.
I explained that every member of the body of Christ is involved in a fierce spiritual war against the Devil and the forces of darkness whether we realize it or not. I said that Satan desires to destroy us. But at the same time we have the Lord on our side. "We're on the winning team," I added. Thus we need not fear our Adversary because God has already provided us with everything we need to fight the battle we're in.
We have the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit who provides his divine power to every child of God. He also guides us into all truth. In addition, we have the Word of God (the Bible) at our disposal, and we have access as well to all the defensive armor that's listed in Ephesians chapter six. Besides this we have available the necessary weapons for conducting such a warfare (II Corinthians 10:3-5). These weapons include prayer, the Scriptures (as I just mentioned), fellowship with other believers, and even fasting when necessary to help us become more self-disciplined, and more focused in our prayers.
I told the church that we have been given the authority by the Lord Himself to put the Devil on the run. That because of this we should try to take a more proactive and aggressive role against Satan and all forms of demonic powers and principalities rather than being passive by always allowing him to strike first.
I said to my brothers that far too often it seems we allow ourselves to become Satan's punching bag. He beats us up while incessantly bombarding our minds with all kinds of negative thoughts. The result is discouragement, depression and despair, and a host of other spiritual bondages.
Meanwhile, the truth is that we already possess the power and God-given authority to launch an offensive against the Devil as well as challenge all his wicked works. We're to put him to flight. So we need to become more aggressive and more fervent with our prayers, because prayer is powerful and it is one of the most important weapons available to the Christian. The Bible says we should "Pray without ceasing (I Thessalonians 5:17)."
We're not supposed to be victims, I told the men. Rather, the Scripture declares that we are "more than conquerors" because Jesus loves us, and He is always with us (Romans 8:37).
Of course there was more to my message. I discussed how that, while we have been called to fight a good fight of faith, it is the Lord who fights for us and through us. None of this kind of warfare can be fought in one's own strength or by one's physical skills.
I reminded the guys that we indeed have something to fight for. It is our faith. We don't want Satan to weaken it or steal it from us. Instead, in that final day, when every Christian must appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ, we want to be able to say to the Lord exactly what the apostle Paul wrote as his final words shortly before his death: "I fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith."
Amen!
D.B.
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