Gaining Life by Losing

Thank you for that beautiful music. That was lovely. I'll take my glasses off now that I've seen you out there. It's good to be with you. It's like I've been going out and speaking in different places. We have some really good speakers here, and occasionally they let me fill in for them. We're here today to praise God, to learn His ways, to learn about true life, to learn what it means to do God's will. In John 10.10, we're told by Christ, He says, The thief comes not but to steal and to destroy, But I have come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. Truly, God's Son came to give life. True life. I've titled this sermon, Gaining Life by Losing. I might think it's about the Olympics with all the games going on, but that's not what it's about. I think I'll understand it when I get through. It was interesting in working with Mr. Armstrong and learning about the plan of God through the Holy Days, And from the time of my youth always having great encouragement by God's plan, The message of the feasts, that Christ is the center of all the feast days. He truly was put back in the church. And the fact that they were given to us and restored like Josiah in the Old Testament when he found the book of the law, They found that they should be keeping the feast of unleavened bread and did it for two weeks instead of one. They were so excited. It's always exciting to me that these feasts were brought back in the modern times, That we understand the time for rejoicing. Indeed, this plan was a springboard for many of the meetings that Mr. Armstrong held with world leaders. And many of the campaigns when the Gospel was basically being preached by one man who traveled around the world. And he used that in talking to world leaders. And so many heard these words, but they didn't really understand them. Because without God's Spirit and a willingness to yield to truth, wanting to prove truth and know what truth is, as we heard in the sermon at, Mostly it went over their heads. Michelle and I were fortunate to meet many of the people that heard this message. Most of them didn't understand it. A lot of them appreciated it. Even the supreme patriarch of Buddhism said, if the world believed what Mr. Armstrong taught, we'd have peace. That he was for the world what Buddhism was for Thailand. One couple we met, though, did recognize that there was more to this than just the message. More than met the eye. It was in Kathmandu, Nepal. In Kathmandu, we had been asked to meet the king and queen. Armstrong met with King Mahendra, who died in the late 70s, and his son King Berendra became the king and his wife Queen Ashwarya. They wanted us to do a project in their country because the queen of Nepal had gone to see the queen of Thailand, and had talked to her about what they did for their people.

As they talked, she told them how it started. The few buildings up in the northwest corner of Thailand, and the projects there, and how an older gentleman had helped them by providing buildings and things to have them teach their people how to grow vegetables, and how they'd eliminated the opium trade in Thailand as far as growing it there, although they're still smuggling and things.

They wanted to meet Mr. Armstrong and have the same successes in Nepal that they had had in Thailand. We were asked to do a project, and we sent students over there. We sent Leon and Gloria Sexton, and they lived there. They lived with a man named General Rana and his wife Sunita. They lived on the property, at a separate home in their property, that they stayed in. It was interesting because he was a fairly quiet man, and he had very dignified.

While we were there, Mr. Armstrong was asked to go to lunch by General Rana to his house. Although we were staying in the hotel, and Mr. Armstrong really didn't necessarily always want to go to people's houses because overseas you never knew what you were going to be served, but he was too kind a man, so he didn't say no to him, and he accepted the invitation. Since Cap Man 2 is fairly high altitude, that's most of Nepal, when he was there having lunch, he had some heart problems. He began to take oxygen and nitro, and General Rana and his wife were there and kind of panicked and told me that, well, we need to cancel the meeting tonight because that night he was going to banquet with all the Parliament of Nepal to give a message to them.

And he said, you can't go. You have to cancel this meeting. He said, you're going to kill him. Well, I never intended to kill Mr. Armstrong, and didn't. But I told him, no, don't cancel the meeting. And they said, but you need to. And I said, no, no. Don't worry about it. So we went back to the hotel, and Mr. Armstrong rested for a bit. And as we came down that evening, about 6 o'clock, there was a dinner before the meeting, and before the Ranas were sitting at a table, it would be like this was the hall.

They were on one side, and they could see down the hallway, and they could see Mr. Armstrong coming down to speak. And they saw him as he came in about halfway down the hall, before anyone else could see him, they saw him take oxygen again in the hallway in nitro and stop him leaning against the wall. Again, they thought, what is going on? And I sat down at their table, and Mr. Armstrong went up to the head table, and Mrs. Ranas leaned over to me and said, what are you doing to that man? And I said, just wait. And she watched him as he picked a little bit of his food, didn't eat very much at that meal.

But then they pushed a microphone in front of him, and he stood up, and he began pounding on the table and telling that God was coming, and there'd be peace on the earth, and they'd give him the whole message that he gave. And the older people that saw the telecast saw that message, so they made it into a telecast. But within a couple minutes into his speech, Mrs. Rana leaned over to me, and she said, that's not him talking. He's not that strong. That's God talking. They saw that. It was interesting. Turn to Matthew 10, verse 18. We read about God speaking through his servants, which he does.

Matthew 10, verse 18, it says, You shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles. Mr. Armstrong wasn't in any trouble with them in the way that some have been, but nonetheless he was testifying. And when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what you shall speak, for it shall be given you in the same hour what you are going to speak. Not only what you are going to speak, but the strength to say it as well.

For it is not you that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaks in you. Are you prepared for God to speak through you? Can he speak through you? Have you read your Bible enough to know what God says, to give you his words to speak? Do you have that close relationship with God and done your part, so that he can use you?

No, the Iranas never came in to God's church. They didn't understand. God wasn't calling them. And their knowledge of the truth was very limited. But as I came to spend time with General Rana, I was very impressed. Not because of his size, it was normal size for an Nepalese, maybe slightly taller but nothing significant, or the fact that he was a general.

Because in Asia, being a general, there's a lot of generals around. In Thailand, if you serve in the army for 30 years, you're a general. If you've got 30 years, you're a general. That's real easy. Everybody becomes a general. They stay in long enough. They didn't do anything great. They just become a general. So being in a general isn't that impressive, like it is in some countries where you actually earn your stripes, per se. He was not a great orator, but a fairly quiet man.

But he knew the ins and outs of every government building that we went into. He would tell me where everything was. And I wondered, everywhere we went, as we'd go by, people would get quiet and they'd whisper at each other, and often they'd stand at attention and salute. I studied a bit more about the Rana family and found that General Rana's grandfather was the last in a series of Ranas that ruled Nepal.

They had ruled for a couple hundred years. But the British, early in the 19th century, the 1900s, supported the Shah family, another leading family there, and put their family in and instituted them as king and queen of the country. And so General Ranas, a little boy, had run through all these government buildings, which were the palaces that he grew up in. It was interesting because King Mahindra and King Barandra, whom HWA met, were friends of the Ranas.

In fact, General Rana's son, Lieutenant Colonel, was the aide to the Crown Prince. But their crown, so to speak, was taken away from them and given to another. Revelation 7, we read about the Church of Philadelphia, and it talks about crowns there. And he says in Revelation 3, verse 7, to the angel of the Church of Philadelphia, I write, These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that has the key of David, that he opens, and no man shuts, and shuts, and no man opens.

I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, that no man can shut. For you have little strength, and have kept my word, and has not denied my name. Indeed, when we traveled, we had no strength, we had no ability to force anyone to meet us or talk with anyone. And he says, verse 9, Behold, I'll make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, being Jewish, doesn't seem to be a bad thing here, knowing what they understand. But they do lie. Behold, I'll make them to come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you.

Because you have kept the word of my patience, I will keep you from the hour of temptation. That's the scripture we hold dear, hoping that God will see us worthy to escape what's coming shortly in this world. Because this temptation, this tribulation, will come upon the entire world to try them that dwell on the earth.

Behold, I come quickly. Hold fast what you have, that no man takes your crown. Someone can take your crown if you let them. For him that overcomes, I'll make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out. Can't be taken away. Can't be removed. And I'll write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my God, and I will write upon him my new name.

General Raun is seen to bear no animosity toward having the crown removed. He had no aspirations of becoming king of Nepal again. There was a humility in this family. And although this of itself wouldn't seem to create such respect that they had for the general, but I came to see that this family, and this particular general Raun, saw their crown really as serving their people, not as a title or rank.

But why was he so respected by all the people? I finally asked someone why, and the answer I heard was he saved Nepal from the Chinese army. I said, what do you mean he saved Nepal from the Chinese army? I thought of Samson and the jawbone of the donkey slaying all the Philistines and the idol, how General Raun was in Samson. And I wonder what they meant by that. It surprised me. But you see, General Raun was a Gurkha soldier. In the 1950s, the Chinese had sent a division of soldiers to cross the Himalayas into Nepal. It was a surprise attack, and the Nepalese army wasn't ready to be moved.

There was little time to move very many people. General Raun was asked to go and intercept them. He took about 20 to 30 men, and they put their back cats a little food, not very much food, and the rest was filled with ammunition. The weight of it was heavy as much as they could carry. They took off hyping up through a pass that was 18,000 feet high. When they got to the pass, they realized that they would be too outnumbered to hold the pass off from a Chinese division.

And he couldn't stop them by just sitting there at the pass, so they hiked up another 2,000 feet above the pass and sat there waiting for the Chinese to come through, which soon they did. This little band of men, freezing and cold at that altitude with little air, held off the Chinese army for about a week until the Chinese finally gave up and went home.

The small band of gherkas that held off the entire Chinese army. Obviously, this one favored in respect for General Rana from the Nepalese people. He was special, and he had lived up to the reputation of the gherkas. Do we live up to the reputation of Christ? Do we know God enough to fight off Satan? Because it's only through him that we can do that. I was impressed by the story and wanted to buy a gherka knife. I'd always wanted one. I'd heard the gherkas. I'd seen Gunga Din as a child. Well, you old people know that movie about India.

Unfortunately, all the shops were closed that day. And as we were getting ready to leave the airport, I told the General, I said one thing I resented because I didn't get time. The shops weren't open. I was unable to obtain a gherka knife. I said I really thought it would be wonderful to have a gherka knife just to remind me of the story and things. And it was interesting because what he did at that point is he undid his jacket and he reached behind it and he pulls out his gherka knife. And he gives it to me. Now, when I received this, I was shocked, naturally.

I was stunned at this gesture of friendship. For a couple reasons. One, technically, you don't give a knife to someone. I knew that. In Japan, one of my friends there worked for a knife company and they were giving him a thousand dollar set of German knives as a wedding gift and he kept saying, no, no, it's too much, too much. And they said, no, no, no, don't take it. You earned it.

No, no, no, it's too much. Because if you give a knife as a wedding gift, what you're saying is that the wedding is going to be severed and that you're going to be divorced. So you really don't want to give a knife at a wedding for a gift in Asia.

In Swat, my good friend who was Thai, always knew I had some knives that I'd collected and things and he'd always say, Aaron, do you have a quarter? Do you have a quarter? Do you have a dollar? I'd say, yeah, I'll give it to him. He'd give me the knife because I could buy it but he couldn't give it to me without severing our friendship. So Jonah Arana gave me this and it was interesting because a protocol dictated I couldn't refuse it and so I accepted it.

And the first thing I wanted to do naturally is take it out and look at it. But you don't do that with a gurka knife because I knew the custom. A gurka doesn't draw his knife unless he intends to draw blood or die. And so I kept it in its sheath out of courtesy. We have to be willing to die as well. Turn to John chapter 10, if you will.

We have to be willing to die as he and other gurkas were and it reminded me of Jesus' words. He started in that scripture where he said he'd give life. Let's go to verse 11. He says, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life for his sheep. But he that's a hireling and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep.

Protects himself and not the shepherd. He doesn't. The wolf catches them and scatters the sheep. Verse 13, the hireling flees because he's a hireling and cares not for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep and I am known of mine. As the father knows me, even so, I the father, and I lay down my life for the sheep, which he did for all of us, for you and for me.

Another sheep I have, which are not of this fold, those of us who came after he was here on earth. Them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and they shall be one fold and one shepherd, one people. Therefore does my father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.

And no man takes it from me, but I lay it down willingly of myself. I have the power to lay it down and the power to take it again. This commandment have I received from my father. We've received commandments from our father as well. Christ had his knife, so to speak. It was the word of God, and his code of conduct was that of his father. General Rauner loved his people.

He was willing to die for them. But Christ gave us more than a gurken knife. He gave us more than that. He gave us the words of life. He died for us. It was a stumbling block for the Greeks. The Greeks, I read a book about Alexandria, and one of the men who wrote a book against Christianity, who said, why would God come down here and give himself up and be crucified and be shamed like that? They didn't understand what winning really was, what gaining life was about. It was then, though, that General Rauner sent something to me right before I boarded the plane to go home.

This surprised me even more. He said, Aaron, we made a big mistake. We should have lost to the British. We offer a soldier, a gurken, who is proud. This seemed rather odd. Those who win in the world's eyes win by winning. In God's eyes, we sometimes win by losing. We win with humility, by giving, not taking, by sharing, by being obedient, by loving our brother.

Why do I tell this story today? Because there's a lesson in it. To understand a bit of it, it's good to understand what a gurken is, and a little bit of the history of the gurkas. The gurkas were a very special people. The British, in their colonial pursuits, learned this when, almost 200 years ago, they fought to try to take Nepal in the Gurka War of 1814 to 1816. That was when the British East India Company, Army, raged war against them. The troops in support of the British East India Company invaded Nepal, and in doing so, they suffered very heavy casualties at the hands of the gurkas, and then signed a hasty peace treaty with them, because they were so fierce.

A soldier of the 87th foot of the British Army wrote in his memoirs, quote, I have never seen more steadiness or bravery exhibited in all my life. Run they would not, and of death they seemed to have no fear, though their comrades were falling thick around them.

They never gave up. They kept going. Reminded of Jacob in Genesis 32 when he was wrestling with Christ. And he said, I won't quit. Christ put his thigh, the hollow of his thigh, he put him out of joint, so he couldn't wrestle, and he kept going anyway.

And he gave up, and he wouldn't give up until he was blessed. That kind of attitude is what we have to have. Are we committed as Christians that nothing stops us, that we're not afraid?

The British were very impressed with the Gurkha soldiers after reaching that stalemate with them. They made an up a liaison of protectorate and offered to pay the Gurkhas to join their army. And who were these people that took on the British Empire in one? Something that was kind of unheard of. Except for America, that's about it. It was interesting because the Gurkhas are not a single people. There's no tribe called the Gurkha tribe at all.

The Gurkha soldier recruits were mainly drawn from a great many ethnic groups that lived around Nepal. When they began recruiting from the interior of Nepal, these soldiers were drawn, mainly from the Magar, the Gurung, the Rai, and the Limbu tribes. Ethnically, Gurkhas are all originally from Nepal, but are made up of so many groups. They comprise the Indo, Tibeto, and Mongolian, and ethnic Rajput. The Gurkhas of Tibeto-Mongolian origin are most of the Magar, the Rai, the Limbu, and the Gurung, the Tamang, and the Karanti tribe. The Gurkhas of Aryan origin are mostly belonging to the Chhatri, some of the Brahmin origin. And their name Gurkha is derived from the Hindu word for warrior saint, the Guru Karakaman, an eighth-century fighter. Turn to 1 Peter 2. The Gurkhas had one thing in common. They laid aside their tribal uniqueness for a greater purpose and a singleness of mind. In essence, they became one for a cause, and that made them a formidable force. In 1 Peter 2, verse 1, we're told to do a similar thing. Wherefore, laying aside all malice, and all guile, and apocracies, and envies, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word, that you may grow thereby. If so be, you have tasted that God is gracious. To whom, coming, is unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and very precious. You also, as lively stones, you, I, were precious to God as well, similarly, are built to a spiritual house, a holy priesthood. Why? To offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptably God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore, also it contained in the Scripture, behold, I lay Zion, a chief cornerstone. Christ is our stone, our leader, elect and precious. He that believes on Him shall not be confounded, will not be tricked, will not be fooled, will not turn back.

And unto you, therefore, which believe He is precious, that His values are different from this world's values. But unto them which are disobedient, the stone which the builder disallowed, that same is made the head of the corner. Yeah, they disallowed Him. They crucified Christ. The stone of stumbling, a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient, were unto, they were appointed. Most of the world is not called. They don't understand. But here we are, verse 9, you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, that you should show forth the praises of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. You are the gherketh spiritually, a set of people, different people, made one through God's Spirit, which in times past, verse 10, were not a people, but are now the people of God, which did not obtain mercy, but now have obtained mercy. Peter, beseeching them, has strangers and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lust, which war against the soul, having your conversation honest among the Gentiles, a world where the reality shows teach you to lie, cheat, and steal to win, not to be honest.

And they might speak against you as evildoers, but by your good works, which they shall behold glorify God in the day of visitation. Does the world see good works? Do they see oneness in our purpose? They may not like it or believe it, but they should see it. Do they see a group known as the children of God? Or do they see individuals seeking things for themselves, as the world does? Sadly, in the Church's history, we've had some fallen brothers who didn't have a singleness of purpose at times, and division has happened when it should not. It's sad, but there's repentance, and we can all get back on that road and build that relationship with God and with each other, and become a cohesive unit due to the work of God through faith to allow Him to work in us.

The Gurkhas' bravery and cohesiveness is legendary, but not without a cause. A famous quote from another British soldier of the 87-foot wrote in his memoirs, I never saw more steadiness of bravery exhibited in my life, run they would not, and of death they seemed to have no fear at all.

Field Marshal Sam Mckesha said about the Gurkhas, If a man says he's not afraid to die, he's either lying or he's a Gurkha.

History shows why he said that. During the Indian Rebellion of 1857, the Gurkhas then fought with the British and became part of the British Indian Army in its formation.

During that conflict, the 25 Indian Order of Merit awards were made to men from the regiment during the siege of Delhi. Three days after the mutiny of the Indians against the British, the Gurkha Battalion was ordered to move to Meerut, where the British garrison was barely holding on. In doing so, they had to march up to 48 kilometers each day to get there. During the four-month siege of Delhi, they defended the garrison, losing 327 out of 490 men. From the end of the Indian Rebellion of 1857 to the start of World War I, the Gurkha Regiment saw active duty in Burma, Afghanistan, the Northeast Frontier, the Northwest Frontiers of India, Malta, the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78, Cyprus, Malaya, China in the Boxer Rebellion of 1900, and Tibet in the Aung H between 1901 and 1906, the Gurkha regiments were numbered from the 1st to the 10th and redesignated as the Gurkha Rifles. In this time, the brigade of the Gurkhas, as they became known, was expanded to 20 battalions with 10 regiments. During World War I, in 1914 to 1918, more than 200,000 Gurkhas served in the British Army, suffering approximately 20,000 casualties and receiving almost 2,000 gallantry awards. There were large numbers who served in combat in France, in Turkey, in Palestine, in Mesopotamia. They served on the battlefields of France, in the Luce, in Gaventii, Nouveau-Chapelle, and Yipri. They served in Mesopotamia, in Persia, in Suez Canal, and the Palistines against the Turkish advance. They were in Gallipoli and Sala-Nike. During the ultimate unsuccessful Gallipoli campaign, there have been movies made about that in 1915, the Gurkhas were among the first to arrive and the last to leave. The 1st through 6th Gurkhas, having landed at Cape Hallas, led the assault during the first major operations to take out the Turkish high point. And in doing so, they captured a feature that became later known as Gurkha Bluff. At Séar-Bateur, they were the only troops in the whole campaign of the British Army and the Australians to reach and hold the crest line and look down on the straits, which was the ultimate objective. The only ones that made it. During World War II, there were 10 Gurkha regiments with two Batagans each, making a total of 20. Following the evacuation in Dunkirk, the Nepalese government offered to increase the regiments. It required 10 training centers to establish for basic training in regimental records across India because they all wanted to fight with the courage and bravery which they had known. A total of 250,000 Gurkhas served during World War II in almost all theaters. In addition to keeping peace in India, the Gurkhas fought in Syria, in North Africa, in Italy, in Greece, and against the Japanese in the jungles of Burma, Northeast India, and Singapore. They did so with distinction, earning another 2,734 bravery awards and suffering around 32,000 casualties in that war. One of the most famous detachments was served with Lawrence of Arabia. In the desert, while during the Battle of Luce, a battle of the 8th Gurkhas fought to the very last man, hurting themselves time after time against the weight of the German defenses, until they all died. Turn to Luke 9, if you would. It was kind of like the Alamo, where they all died. Although in the Alamo, men were fighting for their own land and their own freedom, but the Gurkhas were fighting for someone else. It was only a matter of honor for them to keep fighting and die. Do we have that kind of spiritual bravery at a time when the world is falling apart? Luke 9, 23. And he said to them, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. We have to be willing daily.

For what is a man advantaged if he gains the whole world, and loses himself, or be cast away? For whosoever shall be ashamed of me, and my words, of him shall the Son of Man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his fathers, and of the holy angels. If you are willing to die, you also will be legendary. What will you look like? The And the voice came in verse 35, saying, When the voice was passed, Jesus was found alone. They kept it close and told no man. In those days, they probably would be afraid they'd be ridiculed if they said, we saw this apparition or whatever. But they said it later, or they wrote it down for us. We're going to look like that as well. We're going to have a special uniform. We'll look like Him. 1 John 3, verse 1. We know that. 1 John 3. Talking about the love of God and what we'll be like. 1 John 3. 1. Behold, what manner of love has the Father bestowed on us that we should be called the sons of God? Therefore the world knows us not, because it knew Him not. 2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be. 3 But we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we will see Him as He is. 4 And every man that has this hope in Him purifies himself, even as Christ is pure. 5 A clean uniform. We have our gurkenife. It's right here in this book. This is what we have that He gave us so that we could fight. Our uniform is our conduct.

And sadly, at times, we get soiled uniforms. Our conduct is not as becoming as it should be. I didn't unsheathe this knife in General Rana, but I unsheathe this every day. And I let it cut, because it's supposed to cut. It's supposed to cut me. Quick. It's supposed to draw spiritual blood for me to see myself, as it is to show you who you are. It's interesting that everyone wanted the gurkas to fight for them in wars. Along with the fighting in World War I and World War II, they were stationed in Malaysia later, in Borneo, during the confrontation with Indonesia and the Foglin Islands conflict, and on various peacekeeping missions in Sierra Leone and East Timor, Bosnia, and Kosovo, and in Afghanistan. The gurkas in Hong Kong were there as part of the Indian forces. They served in Pakistan and against China in 1962 and then in Sri Lanka. Everyone wanted them. Turn to Zechariah 8, if you would. Why did they want them? Well, not only were they fierce fighters, but they were loyal to their word. They were willing to die to the last man, if that's what it took. It wasn't about trying to save yourself and come home. They were willing to die rather than betray a friendship or give up. Zechariah 8, verse 23, as the gurkas were in demand then in that militaristic world, when the world's at peace, the people of God are going to be in demand, and they'll look to you, and they'll know you're truly loyal to God. Verse 23, thus says the Lord of Hosts, in those days which will come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all the languages of the nations, take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you. And He will be. We are destined under Christ to teach the rest of the world, to serve from Jerusalem, and we'll be teaching all over the earth, just as the gurkas serve all over the world. We'll be teaching God's way. You're learning that now, because you're unsheathing your knife every day. You're knowing what Christ said, what He inspired to be written, the Old and New Testament of others, so that you'd be ready when He needs to use you, ready to help. We will teach the law of God because we've overcome the world, and we'll rule with Christ. Are we listening? We have to stay close to God, because that's what it takes. It's not us, it's Him. It's His Spirit. Many buy into false teachers. Many people buy into rumors. I've seen that so many times in my life, and I understand how people bought into Him in olden times as well. They buy into the weakness sometimes of their own flesh, and they get away from God. And we can as well. We're not close to Him. If we don't repent in Revelation 3.20, He makes a statement as well. He wants us. He's knocking. He wants us to overcome. Revelation 3.20, Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hears my voice and opens that door, I will come to Him, will sup with Him and He with me. To Him that overcomes, I'll grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I overcame, and am sat down with my Father in His throne.

God is doing this for us now. He's given us His Spirit. We can fellowship with Him through each other. We can sit down and eat together and talk together. And it's a tough time to overcome now. That's why the First Resurrection is a better resurrection. Blessed is He that has part in the First Resurrection, we read in Revelation. The Gurkhas became legendary through war and fighting and courage. We make our mark by being humble, by getting against what the world sees as strong. There have been 26 Victoria Crosses awarded to members of the Gurkha regiments. The first cross awarded in 1858, the last in 1965. Many were acts of bravery, but they also received awards for serving in other special forces, such as paratroopers, signals, engineers, and military police. Many Nepalese volunteers served in non-combatant roles, serving in units such as the armor-bear corps and the labor battalions, building things with the same honor and distinction. A bunch of small people, a diverse, peculiar people. Very few legendary names among the Gurkhas. I never heard of the general Rana. I didn't see statues for certain Gurkhas. They were just people.

They were all willing to die. They all were heroes. They all stood up. They all served for a common code. You see, you don't have to slay Goliath and be a David where you have everybody know who you are. History records you. You slew Goliath. History didn't record a whole bunch of individuals with the Gurkhas. It's not a whole bunch of single individuals.

It's a group of people like us, like them, being willing to sacrifice. People who value their future more than their present, who don't do any acts they do to be known for their glory but serve as Christ did and humbleness, knowing it's the right thing to do. It's about value in your future, by giving up yourself and making God and Christ the center of your life. And you do that by drawing your knife, your Bible, every day against yourself. Matthew 10, verse 27, shows us how we have to be willing to give up everything. Matthew 10, verse 37, Christ says, He that loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. We love God more than our brothers and sisters and our stuff that we accumulate and our gold metals and things. He that loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. He that takes not His cross and follows after Me is not worthy of Me. Verse 39, He that finds His life shall lose it, and He that loses His life for My sake shall find it. He that receives you receives Me. He that receives Me receives Him that sent Me. He that receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward. But he that receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward. And whosoever shall give to drink to one of these little ones. A cup of water. A cup of cold water. Simple, but that's what they need. In My name, or only in the name of the disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall have no wise lose his reward. Are you looking for cups of cold water? Doesn't sound like much. It's not Gatorade or some special thing. It's not giving it to an Olympian. It's a little one. A cup of water. Are we doing those things? Of course, we drop down to verse 35 of Matthew 25, a few pages over. And He talks about He was hungry and He gave Him meat. He was thirsty and He gave Him drink. He was naked and He clothed Him. That's what we have to do. We have to look for people that need help and see it, not be blinded by it. To the last man standing, like the gherkas, to help. The gherkas considered it a great reward to follow their code of bravery in death or life. They were so trained mentally. They were willing to go against all the odds. Indeed, they were willing to forsake everything for a cause. A cause that was not even their own land, not even their cause. You have to prove your willingness to do the little things, to prove, like the gherkas, the little things for people who can't do something for you. It doesn't really help you, but it helps them, for each other. And often for times, the people that might even hate you. But it's worth it. A quote from Sir Ralph Lilly Turner, who served in the Third Queen's Alexandria's own gherka rifles in the First World War. He wrote this of the gherkas. As I write these last words, my thoughts return to you who were my comrades, the stubborn and indomitable peasants of Nepal. Once more I hear the laughter with which you greeted every hardship. Once more I see in you, in your bivouacs or about your fires, on forced marches or in the trenches, now shivering with wet and cold, now scorched by a pitiless burning sun, uncomplaining you endure hunger and thirst and wounds. And at the last your unwavering lines disappear into the smoke and the wrath of battle, bravest of the brave, most generous of the generous, never had a country more faithful friends than you.

They seemed like the weak of the world. Turn to 1 Corinthians 1. They were not big men, but small, not well educated, but peasants, but fully committed and dedicated. You couldn't ask for a truer friend. 1 Corinthians 1, verse 24. But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, all of us of different tribes. Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God, because the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men. We have his strength. For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called, a bunch of little gurkah soldiers by the campfires of the spiritual traumas that we face together. But God chose the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty. And the base things of the world and the things which are despised, has God chosen you and me, the things which are not to bring to naught the things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence. It's not about us, it's about him. But of him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God has made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. That according as it is written, he that glories, let him glory in the Lord. We only glory in Christ. He helps us with our battles. God has called the weak to confound the worldly strong. The gurkahs served as a band of brothers, heroic in their cause and what they did. And we can do no less, and I'm proud to serve alongside each of you. All in short, weak and strong, young and old, of different difficulties and trials that we face together. I hope, pray, that I can help encourage you, as you help me, to be strong by example and in prayer for you, just as you for me. Truly God and Christ through the Holy Spirit holds each of us up so we can win the true prize. Why did a man like General Rana, he became tired of fighting and the sacrifices that his people had made. For what, he recognized the futility of it. Why did this man so trained mentally that he could climb mountains, that he could go up to 18,000, 20,000 feet and hold off an entire Chinese battalion with 20 or 30 men, braving the severe cold and the conditions? Why did he say we made a big mistake, we should have lost to the British?

He said our pride helped us win. He said if we had lost to the British, we would have roads and bridges and schools today. We would not be so poor and so uneducated. We would not have to go around the world and fight all these battles. Indeed, he was right. They would have, because every place the British went and won, they built schools and roads and bridges and taught them. It was interesting, because indeed mankind, given way to Satan in this world, many have been very good at learning Satan's way. We've had wars constantly throughout 6,000 years of history. It has prevailed and it will prevail until Christ returns. In this world, we may appear to be the losers in what this world values. If I can paraphrase in reality what the General was saying, but didn't really know it, if mankind had only surrendered to God and his way of life, we would have had 6,000 years of peace instead of 6,000 years of suffering, 6,000 years of war, 6,000 years of famine and diseases and crime, corruption and poverty and general misery for most of mankind, with the very few enjoying the bounty of this earth. We have the knowledge through God's Word and through His Spirit. And as a group of His dedicated army, we serve to enjoy letting God win in our lives, to enjoy the shadow of His bounty and treasures that we see in the distance, and the peace we have with each other when we do it His way, to create a permanent Godly relationship with Him, with our Savior Christ and with each other. Indeed, when Mr.

Armstrong spoke at the banquet, it wasn't him speaking. As Serena Arana said, that was God speaking. God can speak through each of us in our actions, our way of life and how we treat others. General Arana was a true Gurkha soldier. He would have loved to have had the peace that Mr.

Armstrong spoke of, the peace that we have when we give the Kingdom of God seminars, what we teach and what we know. We know what's coming. And I have learned from General Arana, and many like him, who have been willing to die for causes that aren't so noble, that are temporary, that don't last. The war to end all wars doesn't end all wars. It never does. We join a group in Hebrews 11, in turn there, that have lived and died for the right cause, a true cause, a cause that we know in faith will happen, a true reality, truer than what we're experiencing now.

Verse 1 of Hebrew 11, I read this often, because it encourages me, the examples in the Bible, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. No, I haven't seen an angel. I haven't seen God's temple in heaven. God doesn't come down and talk to me in physical words. He's answered prayers at times, but it'd be nice. But He's there, I know it, through faith, not having seen it.

For by it the elders obtained a good report, and by it you and I can also obtain a good report. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God so that things which are seen were not made from things which do appear. We haven't seen it, but we have in our minds eye, each of us. Verse 6, Without faith it is impossible to please Him. For He that comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.

You and I believe that. It's our code why we live what we do in our conduct. By faith Noah, being warned of God of things that's yet not seen, moved the fear and prepared an ark to the saving of his house. Someone told you, yeah, it's going to flood all the way up the mountain tops, you'd laugh. But Noah believed it, and he became heir of righteousness by faith. Abraham, verse 8, called to go to another place, to receive an inheritance obeyed. Didn't know where God was going to send him or what it would be. Verse 10, For he looked to a city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

That is what we look for. You and I look for a city whose building and maker is God. Why we're willing to go against all odds, to fight for what we believe, to give up jobs for the Sabbath, to understand obedience to Him, to have our code of conduct, and why we carry our sword and why we open it and we draw blood against ourselves to learn what we're to do. Verse 13, These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off.

Some of us will die before that comes, undoubtedly. And we're persuaded of them and embrace them, and confess that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly they seek a country, a country that you and I seek. And truly, if they had been mindful of the country they came from, and once they came out, and the physical things that seemed so nice, they might have had opportunity to return.

But they desire a better country, that is a heavenly country. For for God is not ashamed to be called their God, and He has prepared for them a city, because we're willing to band together and be one people, to give up our individuality, to give up the lifestyle of this world, to be like God's people. And like Moses, who is actually destined to be Pharaoh, he gave up more than any of us who had to give up in physical wealth.

Again, verse 25, choosing rather to suffer the affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. Do we see those pleasures? Yes. And we can enjoy some things, but that's not what it's about. Esteem in their approach of Christ's greater riches in the treasures in Egypt. That crisis is savored too. We're all saved through Christ whether before He lived or after He lived.

That's a physical human being. Who knew the reward was coming? Verse 33, skipping down. Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the surord, out of the weakness, were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.

Woman received their dead, raised to life again. But we all want that. We love those phrases, but then it goes on in others who were tortured, not accepting deliverance, willing to die to the last man, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Others had trials of cruel mockings and scourgings, moreover of bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned, were sauna sundered, were tempted, were slain with a sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, and tormented, of whom the world was not worthy.

They wandered in deserts and in mountains and in dens and caves of the earth. Verse 39, all of these, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise, having God provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect. We all will rise at the same time, from the grave or from life, to meet Him.

It's interesting, with the abolition of the Nepalese monarchy recently, the recruitment of the Gurkhas had been put in doubt, and the Communist Party said it's degrading that they should serve as mercenaries, and so they're banning them from being able to serve, with honor and courage that they have.

Someday, we may also be banned from practicing what we believe. We'll have to see what we do when we face that thing. Even in this country, we face some of it. We face people who are saying we're legalists, that others who claim to be free because they quit keeping God's law. The law doesn't matter. Believe in Christ is all. We have people that are teaching grace, taking a license to disobey the Sabbath in whatever command. But we also must not be afraid to die, to face our enemy, because we have a cause that we know is just and true, and our faith in God, that He will indeed fulfill His plan.

My comrades, my fellow brothers and sisters, we don't fight with a gurken knife. We fight with this. And it cuts us, not others. We use the words in that to answer questions, but we learn from it so that we can be like our older brother, Christ. And we fight for a future in a kingdom that we will inherit someday. We must not be afraid to suffer in standing up for God. We may seem to be losers for not chasing what the world chases.

We're not trying to amass money and stumble over other people. But indeed, we gain life by taking losses. We're building spiritual bridges. We're building spiritual roads and spiritual schools by our faith in God, our belief in Jesus Christ, and our study of our gurken knife, always ready to win for our Heavenly Father and His cause by forsaking the world's goals.

We are not afraid to die, and we have to become one people of many to give up our individuality in trying to be special, becoming special because of our collectiveness of God's Spirit in us and gaining life in God's family by losing in the eyes of the world. General Arana died a few years ago.

He will rise in a world that will see a courage in a different light. I imagine He'll have that courage because of the type of man He is. And He'll want to learn about those spiritual bridges and roads, and He'll have true bridges and roads taught to Him at that time. And He won't need His gurken knife because He'll have the same words that we have at that time.

Yes, indeed, in beating the British, they lost. In thinking they won, they lost the greater prize. No one can take our crown unless we give it to Him. Our crown is kind of like General Arana when he saw it as service to God and to Christ and to each other and to mankind. You know, in the Olympics, only one person can win the gold medal or one team. We can all win the gold medal.

It's not a matter of who comes in first or second or third. We just have to come in. We have to endure. People of the world may think they're winning when they're really losing to Satan. They may think our turning the other cheek is cowardice, not bravery. They may think giving up things that we want to do because they're on the wrong day makes us weak. But they're wrong because we're willing to die for our cause. Our cause is about life. Indeed, from what the world believes, we gain life by losing. May God say of us, never were there more steadiness or faithfulness of people, more willing to suffer for their cause. Run away you would not, and of physical death you are not afraid. Though there be trials many, this people overcame them all. May we all be such a people of God.