WHBC
07/21/2024 - Bro. Charles Hunt
They've got too much time on their hands. I mean, they just got too much time on their hands. I just want you to--well, Gloria, we better read. I'm going to get in trouble. A lot has happened since I left here and got back. And some of it good and some of it not good. 2 Timothy chapter 2, beginning in verse 3. Would you stand, please, in honor of God's holy, inspired, inerid, all sufficient word? The Bible says, "Thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ." No man that warth entangled himself with the affairs of this life that he may please him who had chosen him to be a soldier. Then look down at verse 7. Consider what I say, and the Lord give the understanding in all things. Remember that Christ--oh, wait a minute. That's not where I want to go. Go to chapter 4. The first part's in chapter 2. And then to chapter 7 of chapter 4. I've got to hear my notes. I just don't read my notes. It says, "I fought a good fight. I finished my course. I've kept the faith. Henceforth there's laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day." And then I love this part. And not to me only, but to all them that also love his appearing. Father, speak to our hearts, Lord Jesus. All we want to do is lift you up and glorify you. Lord, that's all. We're nothing. You're everything. So just come in and take over every one of our lives. We'll praise you. We'll thank you in advance for what you're going to do in these next few moments. In Jesus' name, amen. Thank you. You may be seated. We do well to remember that there are many people who have sacrificed their lives in America for the freedom that we enjoy right now today. We also have many people that we could go through in the Word of God who have sacrificed their lives to further the Word of God. We also can go through our physical lives. There have been men and women who have stood for Christ and who have been the backbone of this church like this all over the world. And we praise God for that. I want you to think this morning about some qualities of being a good soldier for the Lord. I don't know if you know it or not, but somewhere along the line and I don't know where you draw the line. Somewhere along the line, we left the fact that we're to be soldiers of the Lord Jesus Christ. And somebody has convinced us that we're on a Sunday school picnic. And I'm telling you this morning, the days ahead are treacherous. They're going to be more liberal than they've ever been before. We're going to see more sin exalted in the streets than we've ever seen before. But upon this rock, Jesus said, I'll build my church. It's not my church, it's not your church, it's his church. And so I want us to think, what are the qualities of a good soldier? Let me ask you a quick, simple question. You young people that are here, children. If you played your little league baseball like you served the Lord, would you be on the traveling team? If you played football or tennis or soccer, basketball, like you served the Lord, would you be on a team? If you hunted and fished like you served the Lord, would you ever kill a deer or catch a fish? You ladies, if you did your make up like you served the Lord, what would you look like this morning? A good soldier of the Lord. Let me give you five thing. Number one, a good soldier of the Lord is a follower. He's a follower. Verse 3 of 2 Timothy chapter 2, then door harnessed as a good soldier of the Lord. It implies a relationship, a relationship. You see, the first step is to join the army. If you're not going to join the army, you can't be a soldier. You can sit and talk about how good it is being a soldier. You can talk about how important it is being a soldier. You can thank God for those who have been soldiers and who are soldiers, but if you've never joined the army, you're not a soldier. And so the first thing to be a good soldier for the Lord is to have a relationship with Jesus Christ. Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3. He said, "Unless you're born again." And if I hear one more of these church gurus talk about, y'all not to preach them churchy terms. That born again is a churchy. That born again is right out of the Word of God. If people are trying to silence you on the Word of God, Jesus said, "Except you be born again, you'll never see heaven." You've got to have a relationship with Jesus Christ. You say, "Well, preacher, you talk about Ephesians 2, 89. "Yeah, by Gary Grace, or you say through faith, "that none of yourselves is a gift of God, "not of works, lest any mention of both." You said it's not of works. So why are you cramming these works down on us? Why are you telling us we need to build education space? Why are you telling us we need a good mission? Why are you telling us we need to run buses? Because somebody forgot to tell you that there's a verse 10 that follows verse 8 and 9. Verse 10 says, in Ephesians, it says, "For we are His "workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, "which God has before ordained that we should walk in them." You ought to serve the Lord this morning. You ought to be working for the King this morning. You ought to be in the Lord's army this morning, not because He's going to get you saved, but because you've already been saved. You've got to have a relationship and the works will follow. If you don't do anywhere, let me tell you this. This is a screen door on the submarine. God created you to do good works. That's what He created you for. It also implies rank. There's someone who's higher than you. I know that hacks a lot of people off because we like to be the big shot. We like to, you know, "Man, no you not, "that your body is a temple of God, the Holy Spirit, "which is in you, you're not your own, you're bought with a price." Therefore, He said, "Glorify God in your body and in your spirit." It implies rank. Someone is over us. Now, you say, "Well, no, you're the pastor. "You're going to be preaching that you're in control of the church." That's the biggest lie I've ever heard in my life. I have people. I remember with Agent Rogers, they used to call him a dictator. He's a dictator. Let me tell you something. If I was a dictator, every one of y'all would have died when the plate passed. But I can tell you that 20% of you didn't know. I can tell you 20% probably died and probably 6% gave nothing. And I have no problem with that. You can park on our dive. You can ride that. But I'll tell you when you get your ride relationship with God and you find out that He is a rank above you, that He is all superior, you'll do what He asks you to do. You won't argue over 10%. You'll be worried about not being able to give 50%. You'll want to do more and want to do more. It involves a rank that is above us, but it also implies rule. To refuse to follow orders, we call it treason. When we're in the large army, we've got a command to obey His orders. We have an obligation. Matthew 16, Jesus told His disciples, He said, "If any man will come after me. Any man, let him deny himself. Take up his cross and follow me." James 4 17, to him to know what to do good and do. They're not in his sin. It's what God tells you to do in the light. Don't you let the devil tuck you out of it in the dark. If God is moving through the Holy Spirit and speaking to you, you stay with that. Being a part of the large army, I always wanted to be in the army. I really did. I think I'd love the army. I liked structure. If I could have got through boot camp, I think I would have really loved it. But I did the next best thing. I married a sergeant. Isn't it wonderful? I mean, my wife is a... I'm not joking with you. I could not do a tenth of what I did if it were not for her. I'm just saying. I'm sitting in a red light. I'm confused. It's a dream. See, I would have never. No, I'm telling you. I thank God. I'm not lying to you. I could not be anywhere near the pastor I am. And I'm not a very good one. I know that. But could be nowhere near it were not for her. You got to work with those. It implies rank. It implies rule. Let me get on here now. He's a follower. Amen? He's a follower. A good soldier is a follower. But he's also... I made all these start with F to try to make it easy on you. He's a follower, but he's faithful. He's faithful. He says, "Thou endure hardness as a good soldier. No man warth against him, entangling himself with affairs of this life. And he may please him who had chosen him to be a soldier." Scripture says that in John 1633 these things I've spoken to you. Jesus is speaking that you might have peace. Peace. Peace. It goes on to say that in this world you'll have tribulation, but be a good chair. I've overcome the world. We can have that peace. We're to be faithful in patience. I wish that wasn't in there. I want patience. I just want it right now. I mean, why would we wait for patience? Why can't we just have it right now? Endures hardship. And he doesn't quit. One of the most agonizing things that I do about every two, three weeks is I sit down and I try to picture everybody and it's more and more difficult because of the multiple services and everything. But just so we were talking in staff meeting the other day about those who have stood behind this pulpit and sang or testified, those who have taught Sunday school, those who have worked in bus ministry, and today they've quit. They've thrown in the towel. Let me tell you a good soldier ain't going to quit. He ain't not going to throw in the towel. He's going to run with live patience. And I can document it. I've outrun teenagers all my life. I know I'm big and heavy, but there's not a teenager in a church. Now, in the last ten years, that's changed. But before ten years ago, there's not a teenager in the church could run faster than me in a 50-yard dash. I'd smoke every one of them. Now, when it got 60 yards and 70 yards, I'd give out. There are a lot of you today trying to run life like it's a little old sprint of 50 yards. And you run as fast as hard as you can. But life's not a 50-yard sprint. Life is long. And you can't just give it all for a short period of time. You've got to run the long race. He said he endures hardness. Could I tell you the devil probably knows what it'll take to make you quit? For some people that don't take much. I mean, if somebody don't shake hands with them, they're mad and they quit. For some people, if the preacher says something they don't like, they're mad and they quit. And I just remind people all the time, I have people that say, "Preacher, I quit because I didn't agree with you. I didn't like this." I said, "Really?" So you just quit serving God altogether? You do realize there's 97 Baptist churches inside East Texas right here within a 10-mile period of long view. If you didn't like me, surely you could find one of them 97 that you could get along with. It ain't got nothing to do with me. It's got to do with you don't want somebody telling you what the word of God tells you to do. That's what that is. His priorities, they're in check. He seeks to please the commander. The good soldier has no higher goal in life than to please the commander. And that commander is the Lord Jesus Christ. Who is it that comes first in your life? Who is it or whatever it is that's your God? Pleaseing Jesus ought to be the first priority of every child of God, every born-again believer. 1 Corinthians 10-34, whether you eat or drink, whatever you do, do all for the glory of God. 1 Corinthians 6-20, "For you bought with a price, therefore glorified God in your body, and in the spirit which art God's." The good soldier is faithful in his patience. He's faithful in his priorities. He's faithful in his practice. He's guards the truths of the Word of God of his faith. He takes care of the things that are delivered unto him. And he determines that he's going to do a good job no matter what anybody else is doing. He wants to live his life in a manner that brings honor and glory to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what a good soldier does. Philippians 1 tells us this, "Let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ, that whether I come and see you or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel." Colossians 1-10, "You might worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being faithful in every good work and increasing the knowledge." He's a follower. He is faithful. A good soldier, though, is also familiar. He's familiar. Several things he's familiar with. Number one, he's familiar with the sound of the commander's voice. We were in Busea in the jungle part. We drove the van as far as we could get it. The thing stops and there's just a one trail and we're walking and going on. There are homes everywhere, houses everywhere. Animals roaming around cows, pigs, goats, everything, even a couple of horses and donkeys. They're all just wandering around. Nobody asked, I can't remember who it was, said, "How do you keep these animals separated?" They're everywhere. They're just all good together. And the guy through the interpreters said, "The animals know who their mastery is." Could I ask you this morning, do you know who your master is? Is he really the king of kings and Lord of lords? Is he really the creator of the heavens and the earth? Is he really the one that developed the plan of salvation so that you and I can have an atonement for our sin? Is that who your master is? Oh, praise the Lord. He's familiar with the sound of the commander's voice. To him in John chapter 10, the porter opened it and the sheep hear his voice and he called it his own sheep by name and leads them out. The way to get more familiar with the master's voice is to spend a little bit more time with him. Just talk to him. He'll talk to you. He'll show you what he wants you to do. But he's not only familiar with the masters and the commander's voice. He's familiar with the skill of using his weapons. I've heard and read many stories and heard testimonies of the weapons that would jam up. You were always cleaning your rifles and always getting them ready. You want him to be clean. You were familiar. You knew how to tear down a rifle. Our weapons are not the flesh. Our weapons are the word of God and the power of God through the Holy Spirit. We ought to be familiar with this. Some of you are still looking for job in the Bible. My soul inside exile. You need to grow up and get in the Word of God. This is your weapon. This right here. It'll cure any elm that you got. This right here. I ask the Lord, let me pray more at night. So he gives me a condition where I get up every hour and a half now on the spot. I'm saying, "Lord, couldn't I sleep just a little while longer?" And he said, "You wanted to talk with me." It's a quick talk. Thank goodness I go back to sleep easy. You've got to get used to the skill of your weapons. He's engaged. A good soldier is in mortal warfare. And he knows to be proficient in spiritual weaponry. And then he's familiar with the strategy of the enemy. The devil's got a strategy. The Bible says, "A Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light." Don't you let him fool you? He said in 1 Peter 5, "Be sober, be diligent because your adversary, the devil, is as a roaring lion." Walking about, seeking whom he may devour. Our enemy is always active. He's always trying to wipe us out. He's always trying to destroy us. And listen to me, guys. Every one of us in this congregation are going to fall. We're going to sin. Every one of us in this congregation, I'll be honest with you. I'm just transparent. I woke up the other morning at 3 o'clock, couldn't go back to sleep. The things that were going through my mind, and this upcoming radiation and everything, I mean I could not get it on my mind. And I prayed, and I prayed, I read Scripture. Finally about 5.30 I went back to sleep. But I want to tell you, in the middle of all of that, I realize that the devil will do anything he can. He'll come in your mind. Listen to me this morning. There is nothing wrong with being depressed. Some of God's greatest soldiers. Everyone goes through that. The thing that's wrong is if we don't get into the Word of God and let God take over our mind. Yes, use medicine. Yes, use doctors. Yes, use anything you can. But for first and foremost, make sure your God is in your heart and your mind. Because that's what's going to end up keeping you clean and pure in the days ahead. Hebrews 13-5, "Let your conversation be without covetous. Be content with such things as you have." He said, "I'll never leave thee nor forsake thee." Here's one I wish wasn't in there. First Corinthians chapter 10 verse 13, "There has therefore no temptation taken you, but such is common to man. But God is faithful. Who will not suffer you to be tempted about that you're able, but will with the temptation also make a way of escape that you may be able to bear it." Wow, you're God-loved children. You've overcome them because greater is he that's in the world than he that's in the world. A good soldier not only is familiar with his strategy and with the skill and with the sound of the commander's voice, but a good soldier is familiar with the shadows of his friends. That's the church. He says, "We're to bear one another's burdens. We're to lift up each other." Hebrews 7 says, "Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season." We're to lift each other up. They're folk in this place right now. They'd give you anything if one of you who was sensitive would put your arm around and say, "I just want you to know I'm praying for you. I love you, and I'm going to stand with you. I'm going to stand with you." We must be familiar with those around us. This is the church. This is our family. When one rejoices, we all rejoice. When one cries, we all cry. A good soldier quickly is a follower. He is a faithful. He is familiar, but a good soldier is also a fighter. He's a fighter. First one says, "Holding faith in a good conscience which some, having put away concerning faith, have made shipwreck." And he begins to listen. Every one of us know people who one day said, "I'm going to follow God, and yet they're not following God today." They gave up. We got to be a fighter. He's got to be determined. There's got to be a determination in your life that you're not going to quit. That you're not going to give up. You're not going to let up. He's not only determined, but he's driven. He realizes that the battle does not run on his own time. Listen today, God is in control of everything that's happening. You say, "Well, I don't like what's happening. I don't like what's happening either." But the truth is, I'll just be honest with you, the whole truth is, we in America deserve a whole lot worse than what we got. We've murdered over 50 million babies and called it okay. We've taken God out of schools. Now praise God. There's some schools that are going to get back to teaching the word of God. I know it may not be a Christian teacher, but if they'll just read the word of God, that'll be alright. We've taken God out of our schools. We've taken God out of our country. We've taken God out of our cities. And then when things happen, we wonder, "Why would God let that happen? What we threw him out 50 years ago?" Good soldier is driven. He's dedicated. He's keeping his own oath. You don't need a better preacher. You don't need more preachers. What you need, what this city needs is Christians, who they can look at and say, "Man, that's what a child of God ought to be." God didn't sit in heaven and say, "Follow my commandments." He came to earth and said, "Follow my example." Jesus is our example. He's a fighter. He's driven. He is determined. He's dedicated. He's dedicated to keeping his oath. Let me give you this last thing and I'm through it. A good soldier, a follower, a faithful, a familiar, a fighter, but a good soldier is a finisher. And old Paul said, "I've fought the fight. I've fought the good fight." It's the only fight worth fighting. It's the only fight worth fighting. He's got to resolve and he's in it for the long haul. He doesn't quit at the first hand of trouble. He's a finisher. Oh God, give us attitude of being a finisher. I don't want to quit mid-stream. I want to be a finisher. He's got a reason. You remember when David went up to his brothers and Goliath was out there talking bad about God and all of that? And David said, "Why don't we try to do something?" Goliath didn't kick him. He said, "Let's do something." You don't understand, David. You don't understand. This guy's big. You remember David asked a question. One little simple question. Is there not a cause? Let me ask you something this morning. I know times are hard. We tell you, "Let us cause just as much for me as it does anybody else." We've gone from less steak to more hamburger and less God. Even in the meatloaf, we put more bread in it now than we did ten years ago. I know times are hard, but is there not a cause? We're facing the academy, some things that we didn't plan on, but God knew all along, and He's going to take more money. I prayed about it. One of my preacher friends said, "You better not get them in that church and ask for anything else." I'm just going to ask you, is there not a cause? We have 123 plus students lined up to begin this fall. I'm not belittling anybody else. I'm just saying, as a Christian church, you may think we may not need a Christian school right now, but there will come a day when you'll thank God for a Christian school. You say, "Not us. We're going to run. You're going to see what the federal government is going to do." Is there not a cause? These buses are getting older. It used to be we could buy anything. Now we've got kids, even our kids. They want air conditioning. Now you adults, before you jump and laugh, you want it too. When an air conditioning unit goes out at home, we don't have to pray about it. We say fix it. If that don't work, we say repair it, then get a new one. He's a finisher. He's got reason. I want to tell you, the glory of God is the cause. We do everything we can to be as good stewards as we possibly can. And in some ways, I'm sold on that. I believe we ought to. But I look and travel this world, and I see the edifices that "other religions have built in honor of their God, and we've got a ten building with a ten roof." Now I'm thankful for that. I praise God for this. I think we're right to do this. But I tell you, don't ever lose sight of the fact that God is not worthy of our best. Our very best. Some of you've got children that are the cause. Some of you have got grandchildren that are the cause. I listen to Kara as she's saying, "Come, Jesus, come." And I'll be honest with you, I'm weary and I'm tired. I'd get on the first bus out here to go. But I'm thinking about all the lost people that we've got. I'm not talking about in Africa. I'm talking about right here. I'm not talking about in somebody else's house. I'm talking about in my house, in your house. That if the Lord were to come right now, they would be left fine. Yeah, we ought to pray, "Lord, come." But I'll be honest with you. Would you do something with me just for a moment? Would you just stand up where you are if you physically can, if you can't know? Would you turn around and look now at your seat? Could I tell you, God didn't create you to be a bench warmer? You sit back down now. God didn't create you to warm the bench. God created you to get into battle and to not give up, to not only be a fighter, to not only be a follower, to not only be a faithful, to not only be familiar, but to finish the race. Because we're going to look back, and we're going to thank God we did. I'm going to do something. I probably don't have any better than doing this, but I'm going to do it anyway. I'm going to ask Brother Aaron. Can I sing us home? Hi. We'll get ready for the invitation. This is my heart's cry this morning. We need our spirit filled preachers to teach us right for all. We need old fashioned seekers who pray all night long. We need some good gospel singing to help us go another mile. The church will try on Lord and go home in a little while. Well, it'll be worth an after all child It'll be worth an after all After all of these trials We'll hear Jesus call It'll be worth an after all child It'll be worth an after all After all of this climbing It'll be worth an after all When you're down in the valley Prayer is all I can do But the Lord sends deliverance Strength and cheer Now if you're up on the mountain And you see me struggling along Lift my name up to Jesus Let's help each other make it home Well, it'll be worth an after all child It'll be worth an after all After all of these trials We'll hear Jesus call It'll be worth an after all child It'll be worth an after all After all of this climbing It'll be worth an after all Maybe you hear this morning What you need more than anything else Is a relationship with Jesus Trust me, it's going to be worth it after all You need to be saved today, today's the day of salvation You're not guaranteed anything else But right now Maybe this morning you need a church home My, my, my, you couldn't pick a better one I really don't believe it with all my heart Maybe this is where God wants you to be Maybe not, somewhere else Get where God wants you to be Maybe this morning I'm looking at a lot of people Who would say, "Preacher, I lined up in the Lord's army a long time ago But there are a lot of things in my life That have taken my attention away from God And put them on myself And maybe today you want to come to this altar Preachers have been asking all week What's the difference about camp meeting? What's camp meeting? Camp meeting is a time when you get on your face before God That's what camp meeting is God give us a camp meeting spirit That we get on our face before God Seek His will What I ask you to do what God is asking you to do today Nothing more, nothing less Father, into your hands We commit ourselves Lord would you have your way Let the Holy Ghost of God speak to our hearts Lord Jesus May every soul that's in this place God don't let all one of them leave here Until they know you face to face And Lord help them to realize the day that as they come to put their faith and trust in you That is not a happy go lucky time It's a time of trials and tribulation It's a time of frustration and disappointment But it's also a time To be in the very presence of the Almighty God It isn't the love of Jesus, something wonderful Have your way, we appreciate it in Jesus' name