Camp Law

Good Morning! My name is Danny Watton and I am your service pastor. I want to thank you all for coming this morning! I hope you all had a good week and that God has revealed Himself to you in amazing ways.

I also want to thank you all for having a desire to learn more about God and know that He is a present God. We have talked about that God is Active in all of our lives today just as much as He was active with the Israelite’s. He was active with them and He is active today on this base an in your lives. I get the pleasure of being a Chaplain here on this instillation and I get to see Him active everyday as I interact with the Airman of all ranks.

God is teaching, comforting and revealing Himself to individuals in powerful ways. He’s revealing Himself to people that once didn’t believe and now they see that He is the only One True God.

I get to have the privilege of witnessing God everyday in my own life and in others. This month alone I have seen two people make a public declaration of being Baptized and they are committed to not living for the world but living for God. Going out into the world as a foreigner and doing exactly what Jesus has commissioned them to do.

19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in[a] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

That is what I wish for us here at Minot AFB. Our Chief of Chaplains wants our Chaplain Corp to Love Airman more than anyone thinks possible. And that’s what we are to do as Christians. God said to love the Lord your God and to love your neighbor as yourself.

And my prayer for all of us is that as God reveals Himself through His Word that we will fall deeper in Love with Him and that because of His love for us that He displayed for us on the cross that we will pour out that same love to a perishing world. A world that still desperately needs Jesus Christ.

As Christians we know that every page, every golden letter in the Bible tells of His love for us. May His world penetrate every aspect of your heart, mind and body,

every aspect of who you are so we can be a people who loves more than we ever thought possible.

We are continuing through our study in Deuteronomy and we find ourselves in Chapter 23:14.

We recall that we have learned through our study of Deuteronomy so far that Moses has reminded or warned the Israelites of their forefathers generation rebellion against God. And How they have wandered in the Desert for 40 years. But He was going to let them, the new generation, enter into the promised land.

We have learned that God is an active God and that He is watching us from the beginning of the year till the end of the year. He did not want to delegate His authority but take personal interest in us.

We saw in that we were once slaves in Egypt and that we were rescued and set free. And we were rescued through the one true mediator who had to come because of sin and has the authority written on His thigh to come back and claim His church.

And this week we are going to look at what God calls the Israelites camp should look like.

But before we hear His beautiful Word let us go to Him in prayer that He might give us the wisdom and insight to hear everything that He has for us this morning.

14 Because the Lord your God walks in the midst of your camp, to deliver you and to give up your enemies before you, therefore your camp must be holy, so that he may not see anything indecent among you and turn away from you.

I. First, The church of God is in many respects comparable to a camp.

II. Secondly, I come to notice A SPECIAL PRIVILEGE.

III. A CORRESPONDING CONDUCT.

Conclusion

Good Morning! My name is Danny Watton and I am your service pastor. I want to thank you all for coming this morning! I hope you all had a good week and that God has revealed Himself to you in amazing ways.

I also want to thank you all for having a desire to learn more about God and know that He is a present God.

We have talked about that in our previous sermons that God is Active in all of our lives today just as much as He was active with the Israelite’s. He was active with them and He is active today on this base. He is changing hearts and lives in people we don’t know and in your lives. I get the pleasure of being a Chaplain here on this instillation and I get to see Him active everyday as I interact with the Airman of all ranks.

We have talked about that in our previous sermons that God is Active

in all of our lives today just as much as He was active with the Israelite’s. He was active with them and He is active today on this base. He is changing hearts and lives in people we don’t know and in your lives.

I get the pleasure of being a Chaplain here on this instillation and I get to see Him active everyday as I interact with the Airman of all ranks.

God is teaching, comforting and revealing Himself to individuals in powerful ways. He’s revealing Himself to people that once didn’t believe and now they see that He is the only One True God.

I get to have the privilege of witnessing God everyday in my own life and in others. This month alone I have seen two people make a public declaration of being Baptized and they are committed to not living for the world but living for God. Going out into the world as a foreigner and doing exactly what Jesus has commissioned them to do.

I get to have the privilege of witnessing God everyday in my own life and in others.

This last month alone I have seen two people make a public declaration of being Baptized and they are committed to not living for the world but living for God. Going out into the world as a foreigner and doing exactly what Jesus has commissioned them to do.

19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in[a] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

That is what I wish for us here at Minot AFB. Our Chief of Chaplains wants our Chaplain Corp to Love Airman more than anyone thinks possible. And that’s what we are to do as Christians. God said to love the Lord your God and to love your neighbor as yourself.

That is what I wish for us here at Minot AFB.

Our Chief of Chaplains wants our Chaplain Corp to

Love Airman more than anyone thinks possible.

And that’s what we are to do as Christians. God said to love the Lord your God and to love your neighbor as yourself.

And my prayer for all of us is that as God reveals Himself through His Word that we will fall deeper in Love with Him and that because of His love for us that He displayed for us on the cross that we will pour out that same love to a perishing world. A world that still desperately needs Jesus Christ.

As Christians we know that every page, every golden letter in the Bible tells of His love for us. May His world penetrate every aspect of your heart, mind and body,

every aspect of who you are so we can be a people who loves more than we ever thought possible.

We are continuing through our study in Deuteronomy and we find ourselves in Chapter 23:14.

We recall that we have learned through our study of Deuteronomy so far that Moses has reminded or warned the Israelites of their forefathers generation rebellion against God. And How they have wandered in the Desert for 40 years. But He was going to let them, the new generation, enter into the promised land.

We have learned that God is an active God and that He is watching us from the beginning of the year till the end of the year. He did not want to delegate His authority but He takes a personal interest in us.

We saw in that we were once slaves in Egypt and that we were rescued and set free. And we were rescued through the one true mediator who had to come because of sin and has the authority written on His thigh to come back and claim His church.

And this week we are going to look at what God calls the Israelites camp to look like.

But before we hear His beautiful Word let us go to Him in prayer that He might give us the wisdom and insight to hear everything that He has for us this morning.

14 Because the Lord your God walks in the midst of your camp, to deliver you and to give up your enemies before you, therefore your camp must be holy, so that he may not see anything indecent among you and turn away from you.

I. First, The church of God is in many respects comparable to a camp.

- What is going on right now is that Israel is about to take over the promise land from the Caninities.

- And the Israelites were camped outside the city waiting for the day when they were instructed to take over the promise land.

- And verse 14 is talking about the purity of the war camp. Since God was in the midst of their camp to deliver them from their enemies they should avoid all uncleanness because the Holy God was with them.

As I read this verse I am reminded of a war camp. As we deploy and set up camp in the midst of our enemies in Afghanistan or Iraq we their representing the United States. We are there to take over our enemy and bring peace for the people that are there.

As a military we are called to a high standard of living and when we are deployed we are called to an even higher standard of conduct. That ranges from how we interact with our enemies and how we interact with them if we capture them.

We are called to be a light in the region we are in and that we are to be above reproach when we engage in battle so that the World will give us their support to continue showing a presence.

If we were not above reproach, then the world would not be able to tell us apart from our enemies.

God was calling the Israelites to stand out from all the other people in their culture.

God was calling the Israelites to stand out from all the other people in their culture. And that did not change when God called them to be holy in their camp. Yes, God was with them and dwelled with them and He wanted them to be clean morally and ceremonially.

And that did not change when God called them to be holy in their camp. Yes, God was with them and dwelled with them and He wanted them to be clean morally and ceremonially.

We as a church are still called to be set apart from the world. We are at war and we are a camp trying to win souls for Christ.

If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

As Christians we are soldiers for Christ. We are battling a war everyday against what the world is telling us we have to do in order to find happiness and rest and the truth of what actually brings true happiness and rest.

As Christians we know that Christ is the only thing that brings true rest and happiness.

So if we are at war against Satan defending the cross and the Bible says that as Christians we hated by the world. Then we need to realized that we have set up camp inside the enemy’s country.

We must be armed at all times with the Truth of Gods promises.

I heard a fellow police officer say once that if he was downtown and saw someone getting mugged that he would not step in to help. I asked Him why would he not identify himself and go help someone from being mugged. He simply replied that he was

“off duty”

And I told him that we are never off duty. That we are commissioned through our police agency to act since we have been given the authority to protect and serve. To defend people.

So I pose the same question to you Christian! When are you off duty as a Christian?

The answer is NEVER!!!!!

You cannot while you are deployed in Afghanistan remove yourself from tent city and join the enemies camp for the evening telling them I am off duty for the night. So I will enjoy your customs and delights until morning where I will walk back into tent city and engage in war against you.

That would be absurd. As soon as you walked into the enemies camp you would be captured and killed.

If you are living for Jesus then you have to live for Him 24/7 and in every place you put your feet. You must remain on the defensive because you are dwelling in His camp and He is dwelling with you.

We will bring the fight to the enemy territory and liberate the lost and the oppressed that we find with the truth of Christ.

Church we are a camp going from place to place fighting against Satan’s plan to keep everyone lost and wandering.

And because we as a church are a camp, we share in the promise that God gives to them.

“the Lord your God walks in the midst of your camp, to deliver you and to give up your enemies before you”

As we talked about in an earlier sermon that God is active in our lives. That he did not delegate that authority to anyone else. No other watchman would do!

We see that God is present in His people’s camp with a special promise. He commands His people to be holy and clean. He see’s all things but His eyes and special purpose is fixed on the church.

Gods given them salvation and He is there to deliver them from their enemies, to rescue them from danger

To hear their cries and to save them in their hour of need and temptations

Just as God is walking in the midst of the Israelites camp so is He walking through the camp of our church.

To deliver us from our enemies, to give us strength to overcome our temptations from sin.

This very week God has saved me and has delivered me from trails in my life. He has been watching and teaching me. Changing my heart so that His ways will become my ways.

Are you troubled today Christian? This Word has promised that God is near you. Dwelling inside of you and His full attention is on His church. No matter what you are going through God will not abandon you.

It is only God that can deliver us from our enemies! His strength and love can overcome everything.

He is the only chance we have as a camp to do any good in this troubled and perishing world.

If any sinner turns from the world and into His grace, that can be only the work of Christ. He is the redeemer!!!

Let us be a holy camp! Let us stand different then all the camps on the earth so God can be glorified and His Kingdom seen dwelling in our midst.

Conclusion

Church, we must be holy in our camp. We are the body of Christ. As the body and church we are a camp that the enemy can see. As they peer into our camp we must look different then the rest of the world.

We are a Christian camp here on Minot AFB. We must be holy and we must be ready at all times to defend our camp against Satan’s intent to make us not affective to proclaiming Jesus has already come to die and rose three days later.

That He conquered Sin and Death so that we may dwell in HIs camp and enjoy His love for us. Satan does not want us to tell the lost that their is Hope in Christ.

And remember as we are a minot Christian camp make sure that when you retire to your individual tents, your homes that God calls you to be holy. Do not put your guard down as you are sitting in your most comfortable place.

Satan will try and tempt you and tell you its ok to be off duty. Stand guard against the enemy and have the love of what Jesus did on the cross dwell in your hearts and minds.

Engage His word on your own so that you may know you God more intimately like you would know a spouse or a parent. Those details you only learn and experience through building a relationship.

I am going to ask our ushers to come up and bring out communion.

It amazes me to see that God would care so much about us. That He dwelled among His people. Born a baby and lived a sinless life. And when He gathered His disciples around the table for His last meal with them, He gave them encouragement!

He broke the bread and He said this is my flesh broken for you. Eat it in remembrance of me.

In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

Remember that Christ died for you and that He is the only way to the Father.

Because of Him when God looks at us He only sees righteousness

Thank You Jesus for dwelling inside of us and granting us salvation and eternity with you!

Camp Law

Introduction

ESV

ESV

Secondly, I come to notice A SPECIAL PRIVILEGE.

Communion