THE EMBATTLED CHURCH

Matthew 16:18 AV

And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Ever since the rebellion in heaven, when the archangel Lucifer rebelled and took a third of the angels in heaven with him, He has been trying to destroy the work of God. His goal and one purpose is to destroy as many peoples lives as possible and taken as many people as possible to hell with him.

Even from Genesis this battle has been, in Ge 3:15 we see:

Genesis 3:15 AV

And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

Ever since then Satan has been trying to do harm.

Throughout the Old Testament he was trying to fight against Christ redemptive work of mankind. He tried to destroy Abraham’s seed over and over again. He tried to kill off the Israelites; he tried to destroy the kingly bloodline. If he could not destroy the kingly bloodline, then he would try to pollute it. Over and over again his attempts would come to naught. He would then try to destroy all the male children, in order to destroy Jesus. But it would not work.

You notice that the idea here was to destroy Christ before he was born or while he was still in his infancy.

That is what Satan is going to try to do our church ultimately. He has tried to stop it from ever starting, and while it still somewhat in its infancy stage, he will still be battling against it until it matures.

We need to recognize this as a church. We need to seek in each of our lives to be the strong, resilient, moving ahead kind of Christian we ought to be.

I. The Battle is either going on or it is imminent.

- Moses was in the Wilderness for 40 years with children of Israel, they were either in a spiritual or physical battle or they were headed for one.

- David fought battles from his teens to the grave.

- Hezekiah was constantly having a crisis in which he had to fight against to win

- Christ had many battles in him ministry

- The Early church had many spiritual battles to deal with throughout the book of acts

- The other churches of the New Testament all had areas that had to be dealt with.

They all had battles.

“Everyone of us can see in our own lives the battles that have been and how quickly the next one comes at varying degrees.” But they always do come. You might be fighting a battle right now, if not, one will come shortly.

II. The Battle can be from outside or from within.

A. Some are external

These are the battles that are occur in life, in places we go, with people we meet, the result of things we see, hear, smell, touch and our conduct.

- In our personal lives, conflicts can arise from other people we meet

o From their attacks on us

o From financial difficulties

o From the workplace

o From school

§ Applying to the church:

§ Government can cause problems

§ Other so called-churches

§ Unbelievers making false accusations

B. Others are internal

Other battles are inward battles, and these can be even more dangerous

1. Internal personally

a. We can have a problem with sin

b. We can have a problem with in our thought life

c. We can have problems with a hard heart

d. We can be cold and callous

e. We can be indifferent towards the lost

f. We get to busy to spend time with the Lord

2. Internal in our congregation

a. Bitterness towards other church members

b. Hurt feelings

c. Self-centeredness

d. Doctrinal divisions

e. Sin in general

III. The Battle is a proving ground

1 Peter 1:6–7 AV

Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:

A. It proves our faithfulness

- In the times of testing, does it not prove our faithfulness.

§ I don’t know all the trials that each of you have had the last few years, some I can guess at, some I cannot. But the one thing that is evident, that those trials have proven your faithfulness

B. It tests our devotion

Once again, your faithfulness is shown in the midst of the trial, it also test our devotion.

One thing I like about this church is that there people that show there devotion to God, not to a man. Loyalty and devotion certainly plays a part in working with a pastor, a leader, but the preeminence should always belong to God

Of course there is a proper respect and honor for the Pastor and leaders of the church, but we do that in the proper perspective as to our devotion to the Lord.

C. It confirms our resolve

And when I say it confirms our resolve, it confirms what it is we are living for and our dedication to it. Are we here to please Christ in our lives or someone or something else.

The Battle confirms whether or not our resolve is to live for Christ and whether or not that resolve is firm.

Sometimes that battle will confirm whether we are on track, or way off track. Other times it show us what needs “firmed up” revealing areas of weakness or needed attention.

Remember we read this verse last week:

Acts 20:24 AV

But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.

D. That Battle ultimately proves God’s faithfulness to us

You go to God for your needs and you will find that He always supplies. He cares for them all, he is always and completely faithful to us.

Let me remind you:

He has never failed you.

He has never failed in His promises.

He has never made a mistake.

He has always kept His Word.

When He sends you, He will supply the way

When He calls you He will enable you.

Let me plainly say God is faithful and will prove it as You trust in Him and put feet to faith.

IV. The Battle proves that we are soldiers in His Army

- When we see the bullets flying, the casualties, the attacks, the battles, don’t be amazed, that means you are in His Army.

- Reservists are getting mad these days, saying, “I don’t understand why I am being activated, I did not join up for this.” In reality is in the battle that you realize that you are truly in the service.

1 Peter 4:12–13 AV

Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.

Romans 8:16–17 AV

The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

V. There is a proper attitude every soldier should have

Ps 100:4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

A. He should always be thankful

Ephesians 5:20 AV

Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;

B. He should remain positive

Ephesians 6:8 AV

Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free.

If I am doing well and right, I need not worry about the clouds.

Remain positive.

When we were out at our Men’s retreat, the guys had several calls about inclement weather coming. On e of the guys told me about it, and were already out there, it was my brother Troy and his wife kept giving him the forecast and how bad it was going to be.

He had her on speaker phone and I said I won’t worry about a forecast, I’ll deal with the weather.

We remained positive. Had lightning all around us at 10:30, it drizzled a while, and then started raining around 11:00 am Saturday but we had almost all of our fill from shooting for two hours or more already. We must remain postiive.

C. He should seek to encourage his comrades

Lift each other up, encourage one another. Notice one of the things we are to attend to as Believers:

1 Timothy 4:13 AV

Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.

E. He always goes the extra mile

Willing to make the sacrifice, willing to perform the task, out to make a difference.

F. He does not take the easy way out.

The Church is embattled, the battle is imminent, it is from without and from within

We do have an enemy who is seeking whom he may devour, he wants to destroy this church and he wants to destroy your Christian Family and you as an individual.

Lets not let him.

The Embattled Church