Sermon Notes: The Battlefield Pt 6-Avoiding Dishonorable Discharge or being Disqualified

Confidence-Conviction-Clarity

• Welcome to the department of Spiritaul warfare.

• Welcome to your Platoon… The Refuge Community Ministries.

• Every Platoon has a Commander. 

• But theres only one Commander and Chief.

• And I would like to introduce him.

• He has done the impossible time after time.

• He has defeated death hell and the grave.

• In the bible he is described as………

• The way the truth and the life
• The Redeemer of our Soul
• The Good Shephard
• The life giver 
• The light of the World
• The bright and morning star
• The Head of the Church
• The Chief Cornerstone
• The Rock of our salvation
• The living water
• The bread of life
• The Prince of Peace
• The Beginning and the End
• The Lion of the Tribe Of Judah
• All Powerful
• All knowing
• King of all Kings
• The greatest Commander and Chief of all times
• The one and only
• Jesus The Christ

• If we are not careful we can lose sight of this.

• Pastors are worship and idolized. “They love it”

• Now lets get to the teaching for today 

• 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 (NLT)24 Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! 25 All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. 26 So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. 27 I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified. 

• We have to be disciplined.

• Theres two more things I want to point out.

1. We have to Follow The Rules or we will run the risk of getting a “dishonorable discharge”

• 2 Timothy 2:5 (NLT) 5 And athletes cannot win the prize unless they follow the rules.

• What are the rules? The bible and the Holy Spirit.

1. Continue To Grow – 25 All athletes are disciplined in their training. 

• 2 Peter 3:17-18 (NLT) 17 You already know these things, dear friends. So be on guard; then you will not be carried away by the errors of these wicked people and lose your own secure footing.(be disqualified)18 Rather, you must grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. All glory to him, both now and forever! Amen.

• Once we sign up to be in the Lords Military we have to follow the rules and continue to grow, otherwise we will run the risk of being disqualified. 

• Paul gives us a short illustration of the life a Soldier must live.

• 2 Timothy 2:3-4 (NLT) 3 Endure sufferingalong with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 Soldiers don’t get tied up in the affairs of civilian life, for then they cannot please the officer who enlisted them.

1. Civilian – People who are not born again.

• The Military fights for everyone. “On Gods team or not”

• We fight for our family
• For our friends
• For our enemies 
• For our Community.

1. Tied up – entangled or tangled up

1. Affairs – Cares of the world.

• Getting tied up in the cares of the world is illustrated by a person becoming so focused on their career, financial worries, and other earthly pursuits that their attention is diverted from their spiritual life and relationship with God, causing their spiritual growth to become stunted or “tangled up” running the risk of being disqualified.

• Untangling fishing line. 

• Theres times when I wanted to disqualify people on my boat.

• Your not paying attention, your not alert and the wolf is watching.

• It’s a dangerous way to live as a Christian Soldier.

1. How do we get untangled from the cares of the world?

• 1 Peter 5:6 (NLT) 6 So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor. 7 Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.

1. How do we prevent from getting Tangled up in the cares of this world?

• Matthew 6:33 (NLT) 33 Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.

• Live a life lead by the Holy Spirit.

• The Standard has been set and we have to maintain that standard or we will run the risk of being disqualified.

• The Standard – Follow the Rules and Continue to Grow.

• 2 Corinthians 3:18 (NLT) 18 So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.

• God set bar high, he set standard high. 

• Reflect me – Follow the rules and continue to grow.

• As we grow a couple of things happen.

1. We start seeing things from a more heavenly perspective. “Gods perspective”.

• The cares of this world become smaller.

• As we witness growth in our life it brings encouragement.

1. We start Understanding the way God views us.

• You are more than a conqueror 
• You are strong in the lord
• You are God’s treasured possession.
• You are fearfully and wonderfully made. 
• You are set apart. 
• You are a victor not a victim 
• You are made in God’s image. 
• You are favored and valuable.
• You are more than conqueror through Christ Jesus.
• Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. 
• No weapon formed against you will prosper.

• I’m gonna challenge you to train yourself in such a way that you wont get disqualified.

• We can’t shave off the edges of the gospel so it can be more appealing.

• Upholding and demanding high standards is what we should do.

• Why?

• Because There is an enemy hell bent on killing us?

• So Train like your life depends upon it, because it does.