As soldiers on a mission, we haven’t been sent without our orders. In fact, the chief mandate has been derived from the paperwork with which we have been commissioned. You know, of course, that I speak of the scriptures.

In it’s original form, the Bible is Christ’s narrated word. Conceived by the Father, existing through Christ, and delivered by the Spirit, the very Words of God must not be taken lightly. I refer to all of scripture as the Torah, or God’s Law-Word. Scripture, being sufficient for all of life, primarily consists of doctrine (belief) and experience (action). In other words, what we must believe and what we must do. Faith and Obedience.

Our battle is between the truth and the lie. And we have the truth–start from the solid ground of Scripture, and your feet will not be shaken. Presuppose that truth is true and the lie is false, and you’ve laid the groundwork for a successful campaign, and can stay on the correct side of the conflict.

Carry on, follow the true standard.

When the world around seems dark and grim,
When the wrong seems strong, and hope has fled;
Preserve me Lord from violent men,
You are my God, be quick to save.
We are your redeemed, adopted as sons,
Saved by the blood of the Lamb.
Disperse the fear of unrighteous men,
Instill in us Your holiness.
Let us fear Your Name, fear God alone:
Unholy terror melts away in the Light of your Glory, Lord,
Peace comes to control in the presence of your spirit
Break our sinful hearts and rebuild them as yours,
Take our wicked lives and reform them as Christ!
He is our Lord, our God, our King;
Now His standard and His word we will follow and obey.
Make us worthy o Lord, of your love.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One brings understanding.

To properly fear God, you must have a correct understanding of who you are, and who God is. For example, I was (apart from Christ) a worm, sinful, hopeless, powerless to change even the color of one hair on my head. On the other hand, God is all glorious, all just, all wise, and all powerful creator who spoke the world into being. And before I was in Christ, God was at war with me and I was his sworn enemy. God could snuff my life into everlasting damnation with one word, and all I could do was bring glory to Him anyway by my destruction.

If that doesn’t strike terror into your heart as an enemy of God, your heart is hard and callous. You see, it’s a good thing that the sinner fear God. It makes his heart soft and supple for the rest of the message.

You see, while I was yet a sinner (the avowed enemy of God) Christ died to clear my record and set me straight with God. Now, God is no longer at war with me, and through the sanctifying power of Christ, I am becoming no longer at war with God. Now, God is no longer angry with me, but it is still wise to fear His name. Fear of the holiness of God will only serve to mortify my flesh more and more. Not only should I fear the holiness of God, but also His displeasure, and that out of love.

In the sight of the holiness of God, mere men are nothing. In comparison with His power, the greatest of earth are but mites. So, if you have a correct understanding of God, the fear of men, the unholy terror, will simply fade away. For if God is on your side, who can be against?

One of the outward expressions of worship is evangelism. We can express God’s glory back to Him (upward worship), to ourselves (inward worship), and to the world (evangelism).

Not only are we commanded by the great commission to go forth into all the world and preach the gospel, but the very essence of the message demands that it be told. If, as in fact, every man on earth should die in a state of horrific sinfulness, alienated from God and under His Wrath, but the all-powerful God of all the universe–even while these men were still His enemies–made a propitiation for the sins of an elect, and ransomed them from their condition of filth, not only imputing His own righteousness to us but guaranteeing by Himself that He would sanctify us and glorify us as to be perfect, righteous and worthy to spend eternity with Him. When that story includes One of the glorious Persons of the Trinity becoming a little child, teaching with infinite wisdom, focused on one purpose, and dying as a passover lamb to redeem the elect; When God His Father raises the King of life back to life, conquering sin, death, and the curse. When the story has been revealed to you by the Hand of God Himself (through the Apostles and Prophets), are you going to timidly sit back and keep it a secret? Not a chance. The gospel is a story that needs to be told. How badly do you have to hate someone to not proselytize?

As an outward expression of worship, evangelism is core to the mission of glorifying God. In addition, it is the chief means of expanding Christ’s kingdom, and bringing all men under the dominion of Christ.

Don’t be timid.

Military leaders are ranked in success based on their ability to pull victory from horrible conditions and impossible odds. None considered that George Washington could defeat the world power of Brittan with a rag-tag band and poor supply lines. But because he persevered, God granted him success.

It’s easy to loose focus when things get tough–when sickness and pain cloud your mind, when hope seems to fade or when your enemies block the way. But these are the times that build faith; God is as capable to deliver you out of difficult trials as he is from an easy afternoon of sunshine.

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” – James 1:2-4

Without trials, our faith would not be strong. When your faith is tested but you carry on in obedience and faith, then you will receive fulfillment and joy. So carry on, seize the day and take up the full armor of God. When you are tempted to sin in a time of trial, call on the Lord, and He will be faithful to deliver you up out of it.

As we pass through life, it’s easy to get off track–driving on the sholder of the road, or crashing headlong into the ditch. But if we are Christians indeed, Christ has promised to pull us out again and straighten our paths through the process of sanctification. Distracted driving can get you killed, but spiritual distraction is far more dangerous.

Sin is constantly knocking at your door, Satan tempting you to give in, and your old man inside nagging for attention. If you for one moment let down your guard, lower the sword of the Spirit, lay aside the shield of Faith, and take off the breastplate of righteousness (obedience) the enimies of your soul will make mincemeat of you. The Christian soldier never gets to rest, never can sleep. We are in enemy territory, and even our own lust will arise at any second.

So stand firm, brothers, and take the field. Keep alert every second, and take your rest in the confidence of Him who will ensure the mission succeeds. Put on the whole armor of God that you may stand against the schemes of the devil, and having done all, to stand.

What is it to be a man?

When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childlike ways.” – 1 Cor 13:11

As a man, you have to stand on your own two feet. You have to walk with integrity. You must do your duty before God.

Manhood is not a macho facade of “guy stuff” or an effeminate extension of caution. God our Father showed us what it means to be a man when He sent His son, a man’s man, for the world to see. A real man is, above all, Christlike. He protects the fatherless, is kind to the widow, generous to the needy, and lays down his life for his friends. He humbles himself, is a man of prayer, honors his parents, exhorts his brothers.

He walks in faith and obedience.

Jesus was above all focused on His mission (to glorify the Father). Never wavering, never distracted. That’s what the chief mandate is about–focusing on the mission. Guarding against distractions, we must fight the sinful nature and the powers of darkness on all fronts, to bring glory to the Triune God, bring all things under the dominion of Christ our King, and enjoy His fulfillment and inheritance forever.

Over seas, many Christians know the rigors of fasting on a daily basis, simply because they don’t have enough food to eat. In America, land of fast food and home of the obese, skipping meals (or forcing children to do so) is considered abusive.

The physical reality is that fasting is a marvelous means for clearing toxins from the body. Spiritually, fasting is given to us to purge spiritual toxins from our souls. Simply abstaining from food will not help your spiritual condition. When we train our minds to deny our own sinful desires and to take up the desires of Christ, we become strengthened.

In scripture, fasting is almost always mentioned in the context of prayer. This conversation and worship of God is vital to our spiritual health, In the presence of other movable objects, physics does not tolerate a vacuum. So if you spiritually fast without drinking deep of prayer and the word of God, you will inevitably drawn in some other worldly matter to fill the void.

If you are pruning sinful habits from your life, you have to replace them with Godly habits. As you sanctify your desires, putting off the old, you must put on the new.

Watch and pray, that you may not fall into temptation.

Faith, Hope and Love.

In America today, there is a lot of hopelessness going around. As Christians, we know that our God is greater, stronger higher–mighty to save, a strong tower, the great deliverer. Or at least we should.

Perhaps we do not know the hope of God as well as David did (as expressed in the psalms), because we have failed to rest on Him. Spending his life in troubled times, on the run and in danger, David learned first hand the faithfulness of the Lord. We have the fullness of the mystery of God revealed to us as it was not revealed to the sons of men in other generations through the writings of the Apostles and prophets in the new testament. The hope of the Gospel has been revealed.

Yet American Christians on the whole do not have hope, because they do not trust God. And we do not trust God because we have weak faith. Taste and see that the Lord is Good! Ask, and it will be given to you! Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him, and He will act.

If you will but pray, the Father of Glory will indeed grant you your desires and show you his Glory. If you will lean on Him–if you will throw the rotten staff of your own strength and leap in to the chasm where God promises to catch you–God will prove Himself faithful.

Faith, hope and love are not optional for the Christian. God will fulfill your joy if you hope in His name.

Even the demons know God, and shudder. In a sense, because the Lord is Almighty Sovereign, even the demons obey him. Faith they do not have, and thus cannot receive salvation.

But we who are saved, what is Faith to us? Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, and conviction of things unseen. Faith is worked in our hearts by the Father’s immeasurable grace in kindness toward us according to his love for His Son, whose we are.

But on this physical plane of consciousness, our faith is a work of love. Our love for the Father (as Christ in us) produces faith. How can you trust someone whom you hate? How can you hold fast to a branch you do not know?

As the Apostle says, “So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

The American Dream. Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Of course, post-Christian modernism has expanded the definition to include your own home, minimum wage, free healthcare, sexual debauchery, and a million other entitlements.

What is the Christian dream? The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. The dominion mandate is to bring all of creation under the Lordship of Christ. It is our joy to be His servants and ambassadors to the kingdoms of earth.

I posit here that the chief mandate of the Christian is to worship the Creator God, to glorify Him, to enjoy Him, to serve Him. The Westminster Catechism’s first answer can be summed up in this act of worship. And how do we worship the Eternal Immortal Invisible? How do we bring glory to His Name? How can we be fulfilled in the life He created in us? Joyful fulfillment comes through faith and obedience.

And that is the primary directive of the Christian: faith and obedience.