Time to be On Duty

Introduction:

As I began contemplating what to preach today, the LORD directed me to a thought. Then through time, prayer & process, I ran across this message. The online itself the LORD gave me about 10 years ago, and as I looked over it, I I felt led by God to present it to you today.

With the upcoming elections of officers, and given the honoring of veterans day, it’s a message that addresses the qualities of serving the LORD within the church, as well as challenging the Christian to service unto the LORD.

Within the armed services and the church there are three things that determine the ability to serve. They must be:

Qualified

Able

Willing

One must possess all three things in order to serve.

You cannot be Qualified & Able, yet not Willing.

You cannot be Willing & Qualified, yet not Able

Nor can you be Willing & Able, but not Qualified.

All three are necessary in order to function, in order to serve.

In our text, Paul draws the simile between the Christian servant and a soldier. We will attempt to do that very thing today

I. Qualification

If one is to enlist in the military, they first go to the recruiting office. There a few things take place.

Inspected

When you go to the recruiter’s office, there is an examination that takes place. They want to make sure you are fit for the job. (In the army, you must be able to run the mile in a certain amount of time, do so many pushups / situps & such.)

In the army of the LORD there needs be an inspection done as well… although it’s different in principle.

Once you are face to face with the recruiting officer, you must make an inspection. You must inspect yourself and see that you are a sinner in need of God’s Grace.

Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

Listen friend, you’ll not get into the military unless you pass inspection – same goes for salvation. You can never be saved until you admit that you’re lost.

Know also that there’s another inspection that has been done.

The results of that inspection were uttered by a man by the name of Pontius Pilate John 19:4b “…Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him.”

When we examine ourselves against the Holy Law, we find that we are sinners - guilty before God and henceforth DESERVING of Judgment

Jesus was inspected by both man and the Father and found be perfect - without blemish or spot.

To be a solider, there is an inspection, then we see that they are inducted.

Inducted

If you’re lost today, listen to me - Jesus loves you. Jesus died for your sins! And when you place faith in Jesus Christ as your Saviour, YOUR SINS are reckoned unto Him, and HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS is reckoned unto you!

So, once a man passes inspection, then they are ready for the induction - the way that you’re inducted into the army of the LORD, is by faith in Jesus!

Jesus said: John 6:47 “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.”

John 3:18 “He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”

This is a simple ceremony - Paul & Silas told the Philippian jailor in Acts 16:31 “And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.”

(Ill.) Correct me if I’m wrong, but when a man is inducted into the military, they pledge themselves and are therefore inducted into the military. In other words, there is no great fanfare, no great commotion made that they went from a civilian to a soldier.

Same for when one is inducted into the army of the LORD. (Ill.) When I was inducted, it was by my bedside in our home in NC. I put my faith in Jesus and was born again - not by blood, but by the Spirit of the Living God! When I got up from that bedside, there was no parade, no fireworks… but I was in the army of the LORD just the same!

There may not be great fanfare down here, no big commotion that the world sees, but they’ve went from a civilian unto a soldier in the twinkling of an eye when they’ve trusted Jesus as their LORD and Saviour.

And with those two simple things, one has become a member of the Army of God.

Now, we’re talking about soldiers today and serving in particular… Understand that unless you have been inspected & inducted, you are not fit for service. You cannot simply

We see the Qualification. The next thing that happens to the soldier is Preparation

II. Preparation

Basic Training

The first thing that happens when you join the military is they send you to basic training. You’re not shipped out directly to war, but sent to a place.

We see first the Place

Place

You’re sent to Paris Island or Fort Bragg or another installation that is prepared to prepare you.. This is necessary as a solider needs ‘basic training’ in order to fit to fight.

When you enlist, the recruiter doesn’t tell you that they’ll send someone over to show you the ropes… No, you are sent to a place that has the tools, the trainers that can equip you!

In the Army of the LORD, He has such a place… it’s called the church house! It’s where you go to get your basic training.

In the church house, you’ll see people that have already been through the basic training.

(Ill.) There’s no drill sergeant that serves in that capacity that hasn’t gone through basic training themselves.

It’s within the church house where you’ll find:

Other trainees to bond & serve with

Sergeants who have the wisdom to glean from and offer help and instruction along the way.

Officers who can direct the plan for the platoon

Pattern

Once you enlist, you do not go to the base for a couple days then head to the house a few.

When you are training, you are immersed in it. You learn a different way of life - a more disciplined way of life.

(Ill.) How well do you think our American soldiers would do if they weren’t immersed in this radically different culture? Not good!

The culture of a Christian - done right - is radically different than that of a lost person. Priorities, values, ambitions - they all change! And unless you immerse yourself in the things of God, you will not do well in becoming the solider that Christ wants you to be!

We must learn a new pattern

Purpose

To Mold You

(Ill.) Any military here? When you went into the military and sat down for your haircut - did you make request as to how you wanted it done? You see, that’s one of the first things they do is cut your hair… not to YOUR specs, but to THEIRS.

What Christians need today is to get in the proverbial barber chair. They need to allow the LORD to mold them into what HE wants instead of what THEY want.

I think every Christian wages that battle. Paul certainly did. Romans 7:18 “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.”

(Ill.) There was a time when I had long hair. I had had it for years. But there came a time when I realized that I needed to grow up and cut it. Let me tell you this - that wasn’t easy for me. I had to let go of the familiar for the unknown. (I didn’t know if I’d like it, what I’d look like, if others would - if I’d miss it…) But as you can tell, I ended up cutting it.

Now, ask me if I regret it? Ask me if I wish for the days when I had it? You know, I can’t even recall the day I got it cut - all I remember is before and after - and I’m so glad now & wouldn’t go back if I could!

Church, that’s the way it is when we finally let go & let God! We find that it’s SO MUCH BETTER THAN WE THOUGHT!

The purpose is to be molded into what Christ wants us to be, but also to prepare us

To Prepare You

They are training to get ready for what’s ahead.

(Ill.) Soldiers that are in basic training are doing so for a reason - to be prepared for when the bullets start flying.

Church, life is hard - regardless of whether you’re a Christian or a Heathen. When you’re born again, it doesn’t get easy, in many ways it gets harder. Job said: Job 14:1 “Man that is born of a woman Is of few days, and full of trouble.”

That being said, we need to be prepared for the battle - the Church is as good a place to be when it comes to that!

We see the Qualification. The Preparation, next the Designation

III. Designation

Once Basic Training is over, you are assigned a duty. There is a specialization, an ‘area of service’ that you might specialize in.

Now let me say this: Training never ends… but you shouldn’t have to go through basic training again! Some unfortunately never seem to quite get out of basic though.

The writer of Hebrews said: Hebrews 5:12–14 “For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.”

But providing they graduate basic training, we see that there is a designation - a plan / purpose God has for you in the Army of the LORD.

We see the Certainty of it

The Certainty of It

Once your basic training is over, you are placed into service… for certain.

At no time are the enlistees that finish Basic are told, ‘ok, we don’t have anything for you to do yet, just go home & we’ll call you.’

God has a place for you. God has a purpose for you. God has a position for you – but you must be:

Qualified

Able

and Willing to do it!

Make no mistake - God has a job for you!

The Variety in it

Some Commanding / Some Following

Some Local / Some Far off

Ephesians 4:11–13 “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:”

All of our positions aren’t alike. AND THAT’S A GOOD THING!

God made us unique for a purpose!

The Necessity of it

The Military has a multitude of people in a multitude of positions why? Because IT HAS TO IF IT’S TO FUNCTION PROPERLY & BE EFFECTIVE!

(Ill.) An army of all generals and no privates won’t function well. An army of privates with no generals won’t either.

And I want to make something abundantly clear - your position doesn’t equate to your worth. Not in truth, nor in the eyes of God!

We see the Qualification. The Preparation, the Designation, lastly Determination

IV. Determination

What kind of Soldier are you today? Are you one what I

Are You Enlisted?

Have you ever been born again?

Listen - if you’re not sure, you’d better get sure! You have no clue as to whether you’ll be afforded another chance!

Are you enlisted?

Are You in Training?

Have you committed yourself to train in the things of God? Have you immersed yourself at Fort First Baptist Church to get the Basic Training?

Mind you, you need more than that, you need to study at home, but you must at least glean the basics at the house of God.

Are You On Duty?

Has the LORD placed you in service? Are you actively serving?

Are You AWOL?

Are you absent without leave.

Understand that once you enlist in the LORD’s army, you are not granted leave. There are no 2 day passes for you to go & do what you want – you are His and there are no passes, no leave.

There is rest, but no leave. He offers you to rest in His bosom. He offers you to place your burdens upon Him so you need not bear them, but no leave.

So are you holding down the front, or are you absent?

Conclusion: