What is Your Raison D'etre?

The United Church of God presents Don Ward with a sermon titled, What is Yo Re Saint De Tre? It was recorded October 15, 2011, in Branson, Missouri. It is wonderful to be here with you and to have this first time of the family members that we have, my wife and I, want to have in the Church. They are here with us, so we're very happy about that.

The title of the sermon today is, My Re Saint De Tre. Re Saint De Tre is a French phrase meaning your reason for being. Do you have a reason or purpose for being? If so, what is your mission and commission? What do you plan to do with the rest of your life? We sing to Him, Onward Christian Soldiers with great gusto, but do we really mean it? Onward Christian Soldiers marching as to war with the word of Jesus going on before.

Onward Christian Soldiers is a 19th century English hymn. The words were written by Sabine Bering Gould in 1865. The music was composed by Arthur Sullivan in 1871. The hymn was sung at the end of the Academy Award-winning movie, Mrs. Minnivir in 1942. It was sung at Dwight Eisenhower's funeral. The Salvation Army adopted the hymn as their favorite processional. The theme, of course, is taken from the New Testament from 2 Timothy 2, verse 3, You shall endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

You know that Paul used the analogy of being a soldier in warfare with regard to our Christian battle. Are we indeed Christian soldiers, fully committed to and obsessed with our mission and commission? I fear that many of us, and I include myself, all of us from time to time, have become far too lax, too passive in our individual mission and commission, in our quest to be Christian soldiers and ambassadors for Christ. So what do I mean by passive?

We take on the attitude that nothing can change or can be done until Christ comes and the kingdom is established on earth. And to some degree, we've been conditioned to leave everything to the central office, or we call it the home office today. They will do the work. We will stand back and watch and feel free to evaluate how effective they are. But I'm thankful in recent months and times we have begun to, what I've advocated for a long time in God's Church, is to mobilize God's great army, that is the membership, and that's been done to some degree through the kingdom of God seminars.

And I think when all is said and done with that, they are going to bear a lot of fruit. Now I see many of our brethren come to church and passively sit with a pleasant look on their face, but if they bring their Bibles, they don't open it, much less take notes. It's as if we know it all and we're just waiting for Christ to return, sort of treading water.

We're on a spiritual treadmill, as it were. You know, apparently the Laodiceans don't know they are Laodiceans. Let's look at Revelation chapter 3, the message to the seven churches. As you know, there were seven churches on a male route in Asia Minor, and this letter apparently was sent to them and read. Paul talks about in Colossians chapter 4 of read this letter, one of the letters that he had written in Epistle, apparently, to the church there and then to read it at Laodicea.

Also, to some degree, reflecting the various predominant attitudes of the church through the ages, various periods of time, and then reflecting the condition of the church and the message to the church for all times. Because at the end of each message it says, "...he who hath an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." So in Revelation chapter 3 and verse 14, and unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, these things says the Amen, the faithful true witness, the beginning of the creation of God.

I know your works that you are neither cold nor hot, I would that you were cold or hot. One or the other, don't halt between two opinions. You know, like on Mount Carmel when Elijah had the great showdown between himself and the priest of Baal, Elijah God's prophet, and he turned to Israel and he said, if God be God, then worship Him.

And if Baal be God, worship Him. How long do you halt between two opinions? God wants us hot for Him. Laodicea was a very rich city. The great weakness of Laodicea was that they had no fresh water supply. The water supply had to come in for quite a ways through conduits, and by the time it got to Laodicea, it was Luke Warren.

And also, Laodicea had a well-known medical school famous for developing an ISAB that was known throughout the Mediterranean world, Asia Minor. So some of the symbolism here is taken from the very fact about Laodicea. Laodicea had a lot of rich Jews apparently living in it with a lot of gold. So these metaphors, figures of speech, play in. So in verse 16, so then because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I will spew you out of my mouth because you say, I am rich and increased with goods.

And the lesson in the Bible is more spiritual than physical. Of course, you could look at it to some degree in the physical sense, as I noted, but what is being revealed here, then this revelation has to do with the spiritual condition.

These people are saying, I am rich, in essence, spiritually. You know, I am more righteous than anybody else. I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing. And know not that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.

Of course, nakedness is used as a symbol or a metaphor for sin in the Bible.

I counsel you to buy of me gold tried in the fire. Gold is representative of the highest form of character. Peter writes in 1 Peter chapter 1, verses 6 and 7, that the trying of your faith is more precious than gold, and it is in the fiery furnace of life that we're refined and we come to have the very character of God created within us through being faithful to Him.

Obviously, this kind of gold cannot be bought and sold at the marketplace. It has to be earned in the arena of life. That you may be rich in white raiment. White raiment is the righteousness of the saints. That you may be clothed and that the shame of nakedness do not appear and anoint your eyes with eyesave, not the physical eyesave that they were noted for. That you may see spiritually and pray that God will open the eyes of understanding that you may know and you may come to see yourself as you really are. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten, be zealous, therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come into him, will set with him, and he with me. To him that overcomes will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame and am sat down with my Father in his throne. He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. So, brethren, it is a time for all of us to examine ourselves concerning our reason for being, why we're here, why do we profess what we profess, and what can we do to comfort, to edify, and to exhort the body of Christ. Sometimes you know I wonder, let's go back to Matthew 13 now, sometimes I wonder if the the tears that Christ speaks of here know that there are tears. And I wonder at times whether or not the Laodiceans know that they're Laodiceans.

Of course, a lot of people today say, oh well, we've entered into this Laodicean era, and that's just the way it's going to be. Well, does it have to be that way? Can we be hot? Can we be on fire? Can we be zealous and jealous for God's way? I submit to you that we can. And I submit that some will.

In Matthew chapter 13, Matthew 13, there are eight parables given, and some of them are only one verse.

I would encourage you to study those parables. If you haven't, in recent times we're going to focus on the one on the tears starting in verse 24.

Another parable he put unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like unto a man which sowed good seed in his field. But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. And when the blade was sprung up and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, did you know, didn't you sow good seed in your field? So where did these tares come from? He said unto them, An enemy had done this. The servant said unto him, Will you then we go and gather them up? But he said no, lest while you gather up the tares you rid out the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather you together first the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn. Now read a little note here that this commentary has with regard to the tares. There were actually, obviously, there are actually tares in wheat. My brother grows soybeans in the Mississippi Delta. He has some 22-2300 acres of soybeans, and every day after the soybeans get up a certain height, he goes out and begins to pull up pigweeds. Pigweeds can get up as high as your head, and they have become resistant to all of the chemicals or pesticides that they have developed now, and you just, the only way you can get rid of them is to pull them up. Well, it doesn't pull up the soybeans, but see these tares become resistant, and you can hardly get rid of them unless you go pull them up. The Christ said of these in the spiritual sense, you know, don't pull them up, but of course a lot of them reveal themselves. This is what this commentary says, sometimes we wonder, well, how can a person be in the church for 15 years? Basically, a study back in the 80s showed that it took 15 years for the average person to cycle out of the church.

How can they be in their 20 years, 30 years, and then do some of the things that they do? You know, God is the judge of who is tares, but sometimes I wonder, and I've asked myself, am I a tear? Am I a tear? Am I a laodicean? Am I on fire? I think we should all really examine ourselves at this critical, crucial time in human history. Look at verse 36. You know, of all of these parables, the one that the disciples zeroed in on and they really wanted to know about was this one, verse 36. Then Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house.

His disciples came unto Him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field.

He answered and said unto them, He that sows the good seed is the Son of man.

The field is the world, the good seed, or the children of the kingdom.

But the tares are the children of the wicked one. The enemy that sowed them is the devil.

The harvest is the end of the world, and the reapers are the angels.

As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so shall it be at the end of this age.

The Son of man shall send forth his angels. They shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend and them which do iniquity.

Brethren, do we remotely understand the gravity of the critical crucial times that we're living? Are we saying through our actions, My Lord delays his coming? Have we forgotten the reason for our being, the reason why we profess what we profess?

And are we smiting our fellow servants as a manner of some are?

Look at Matthew 24. Brethren, this is not the time to be offended at the Word of God.

During Jesus' day, you read so many of the times where He spoke to the people, and it says, and they were offended at His teaching. And then on many occasions, they tried to kill Him.

And my Bible says, Lift up your voice, cry aloud, spare not, lift up your voice, show Jacob his sins and Israel his transgressions.

In Matthew 24, verse 46, Blessed is that servant whom his Lord, when he comes, shall find so doing. You know the setting of Matthew 24, the Olivet Prophecy.

The Olivet Prophecy was given by Jesus Christ a few days before He was crucified, where He was living on the Mount of Olives or staying there in a house near Bethany, going in and out each day to the temple and teaching there.

He apparently arrived in Bethany somewhere probably on Friday, and then was Palm Sabbath, and was crucified on a Wednesday.

And so the disciples asked Him, What shall be the sign of your coming in the end of this age?

And that's the backdrop of Matthew 24.

Verse 46, Blessed is that servant whom his Lord, when he comes, shall find so doing. Verily I say unto you that he shall make him ruler over all his goods, but and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My Lord delays his coming and shall begin to smite his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken, the Lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looks not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, and shall cut him asunder and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

So, brethren, do we really understand what we're involved in, what we really profess?

The nations of the world are arming themselves with all the weapons they can possibly beg, borrow, steal. Go to Joel now. A little bit of the backdrop of the world in which we live and how tenuous the whole situation is. The world is literally a powder keg at the present time.

A fuse is there if the right spark comes along and lights this fuse.

Then this world is going to be in a time of trouble and travail as never before.

This recent situation with Iran, where even the elite revolutionary guard in Iran involved in a plot to assassinate the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the United States on U.S. soil, and in addition to that, set off some other bombs that would kill American civilians.

And they were going to hire Mexican drug lords to do the assassination, and it wound up that the U.S. had undercover people in some of these positions and discovered the plot, and now trying to decide how we're going to react to it. The day that the U.S. or Israel goes to war against Iran, you know that the world will never be the same. So they're trying to work it out and quote punish Iran and yet at the same time not have this all-out war.

In Joel chapter 3 verse 9, proclaim you among the nations, prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near, let them come up. And of course, the theme of the book of Joel has to do with the events surrounding the day of the Lord. Beat your plowshares into swords.

When the U.N. was established back in 1946 at the end of World War II, they eventually placed a statue in the plaza there at the U.N. headquarters in New York of a man beating a sword into a plowshare. And of course, the U.N. was to help ensure that there would never be a war like World War II again. In recent times, this has happened maybe, I don't know, 10 years ago or so, certain voices began to say, well, this statue has so many religious overtones and especially of the Jews and the Christians that this needs to be removed because this is the United Nations. This is representative of all nations, all religions. Of course, one world religion is coming, some kind of syncritic mishmash led by a dictator and a false prophet. So they took it up and put it out of sight. Beat your plowshares into swords, your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weak say I am strong. So the weak nations are trying to get nuclear weapons. Like North Korea, for example, and apparently they have the bomb, but they are starving their people to death. Just in the past couple of weeks, they've shown the poor starving children in North Korea. You have famine in many places of the earth, North Korea, Somalia, various other parts in Asia and Africa. A lot of people in this country now are going hungry every night, going to bed hungry because of the situation in this world. In addition to arming themselves with strategic and tactical weapons, several nations, especially in the Islamic world, have a religious raison d'etre, their reason for being. The raison d'etre is to, in the case of Islam, and that is the Shiites, especially in the Ayatollah and Ahmadinejad, even though I think in recent times Khomeini and Ahmadinejad have had somewhat of a falling out. But anyhow, they want to hasten the return of the 12th iman, the Mahdi. We should never forget that Satan is the prince of the power of the air, and he is on an insatiable quest to be worshipped. In his twisted, perverted mind, he has a raison d'etre, a reason for being. And his reason for being at the present time is to try to make God out a liar, to break prophecy, and to destroy the plan of salvation and humankind.

The major religions of the world are expecting a great messiah-like figure to come on the scene and lead the world into a new age, an era of peace and prosperity for all the peoples of the world.

The Hindus are looking for Krishna. The Buddhists are looking for the fifth Buddha.

The Islamic world is looking for the 12th imam, or the 12th Mahdi. Did you listen to Ahmadinejad's recent address back in September to the UN? He made it very clear what they were trying to do. The Jews are looking for the first coming of the Messiah and political Zionism, as its sights set on ruling the world. Christians are looking for the second coming of Jesus.

The New Agers are looking for Maitreya, their version of the one who will lead the world into an era of new age of peace. In addition to these groups, there are various political blocs that are struggling to gain dominance and hegemony. China, North Korea, Iran, Russia, European Union, United Nations, NATO, and the United States.

China's so-called economic miracle is based on slave labor that undercuts production costs around the world, with one of her main distributors being Walmart and practically every major retailer, especially the mega-retailers on Earth. It's hard to find much of anything that's not made somewhere in Asia, and especially in China. China is produced or gathered to itself a mountain of money, holds about a trillion dollars in U.S. Treasury bonds.

And even the dollars that they hold in Treasury bonds and so on doesn't really tell the whole story because they have invested in U.S. corporations and own vast holdings in real estate, banks, and other entities in the U.S. The United States is now trillions of dollars in debt, more added by the minute. But the U.S., on the other hand, is still the goose that lays the golden egg in this world's economic structure and still the greatest consumer nation on the face of the Earth. So it is a kind of osmotic, sycophantic kind of relationship, parasitic to some degree, of one feeds off the other. So sadly, the peoples of the world are being conquered without a shot being fired. We have come to the state that the nations have entered into a state of interdependency.

And when the stock market rockets in this country, it affects the rest of the world. Or when it tanks in this country, it affects the rest of the world. The people have been made dependent on the central government and the central banks, and now we have this movement going on called Occupy Wall Street. This movement is spreading around the world. It has now gone into cities in Florida, Colorado, California, and different places, Houston. If you would look at James chapter 5, if I were you, I would be aware of these things. And if these things don't help you to understand the critical crucial nature of the days in which we're living, I don't know what will happen. In James chapter 5, one of the most relevant prophecies in the whole Bible. You may not think of the book of James as prophetic at all, but it is. Particularly these nine or ten verses here in James 5 verse 1.

Go to now, you rich men, weep and howl, for your miseries that shall come upon you, your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth eaten. Your gold and silver is cankered, the rest of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. You have heaped treasure together for the last days.

Behold, the hire of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud cries, and the cries of them which you have reaped or entered into the ears of the eternal of Sibboleth.

God knows what is happening. He knows about the little children who are starving in Korea, in Somalia, those in Africa, those that go to bed hungry in any place on the earth that you want to know, name. God knows about the economic situation of the various peoples. He knows that the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. He knows all of these things, and people are crying out. You have lived in pleasure on the earth and have been wanton. You have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and killed the just, and he does not resist you.

Be patient, therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. So God doesn't ask us to go occupy Wall Street or to go out in the streets and lead a rebellion. That's really not going to accomplish anything. It may have some kind of short-term results. I doubt it. Behold, a husbandman waits for the precious fruit of the earth and has long patience for it until he receives the early and latter rain. Be you also patient, establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord draws nigh.

Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest you be judged. Behold, the judge stands before the door. Judgment is now on the house of God. Paul writes in Romans that we are standing before the judgment seat of Christ on a daily basis. There is no person. I think one of the great lessons that God has tried to teach us in recent years is that no man can lead you into the kingdom of God.

Men can help. They can teach. They can preach. They can try to inspire, try to help us stir up the gift of the Holy Spirit that was given to us by the laying on of hands.

But we are individually and personally responsible before God. We cannot say that so and so did this, and I didn't really know what was going on, and thereby I was deceived.

God holds us individually, personally, responsible. We have the Word of God, and we have this sheer word of prophecy, as Peter talks about in 2 Peter 1, and we know, and we should know, how to discern right from wrong. If we don't know how to discern right from wrong, then we are babes and in need of one that needs milk and needs to be taught the first principles.

But on the other hand, what Paul exhorts in Hebrews chapter 5, maybe we should go there for just a moment. This is sort of a side trip I don't have in my notes, but anyhow, in Hebrews chapter 5, I think this is so important about individual and personal responsibility. In Hebrews chapter 5, verse 12, for when for the time you ought to be teachers, it's Hebrews 5, 12, when you ought to be teachers, you have need that one teach you again, which be the first principles of the oracles of God, and are become such as have need of milk and not of strong meat. For everyone that uses milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But strong meat belongs to them that are of full age, that are going on to maturity, and what is the main sign of those who are going on to maturity in a full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. They are able to discern, and what gives them this discernment? It is the word and the Spirit of God.

And if you are going to base your decisions on human reasoning or hearsay, you will not make it.

See, there are four great enemies of faith. There are many other enemies, but broadly summarize with anxious care, fear, doubt, and human reasoning apart from the word of God.

Then, Paul, there really shouldn't be a chapter break. Therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works of faith toward God, the doctrine of baptisms, laying on of hands of resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permit.

So, brethren, we all are individually and personally responsible.

I talked recently to a man not in the church. Several times he talked about Christ coming and straightening out the world. He even said, maybe it will be on Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish word for trumpets. I replied, he won't be coming this year. He said, why? I said, well, there are a lot of prophecies that have to be fulfilled before he returns.

And then there was deafening silence. We all want Christ to return, and we should be continually praying, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. But what are we to do in the meantime? What are we supposed to do now? Are we as dedicated to our reason for being as the other religions and the nations? Do you know and do you live life? Do you live like you've already been translated into the kingdom of his dear son? In the spiritual sense, in the figurative sense, if you would go to Colossians 1, we have been made to sit in heavenly places with all spiritual blessings. That's what Paul writes in Ephesians 1, verse 3. How have we been blessed? Well, we could say maybe physically, I'm in great pain. I'm suffering. We might say financially, I don't know how I'm going to make it after I get back home. We could say all kinds of things about the trials and troubles that we have in this life, but on the other hand, the blessings and the riches, as you heard in the opening prayer that we have in Christ Jesus, cannot be measured. Cannot be measured in terms of dollars and cents in any way. In Colossians 1, 12, giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us fitting to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear son. So we are supposed to live as if we have been translated into the kingdom of his dear son right now. This word translated means to move from one place to another, a change of situation or a place. It's a state of mind. It's a state of being. We have been made and allowed to sit in heavenly places.

In view of the fact that we have been spiritually translated in the kingdom of his dear son, what should we do? Well, obviously, we should live as if we understand that. Look at Colossians 3, verse 1. At one time or another, those of you who were baptized, you went under the water into the watery grave of baptism. Paul uses the analogy in Romans chapter 6 of this being crucified with Christ, buried with him in the likeness of his death, and then raised to newness of life.

After being raised to newness of life, the challenge is to keep that old man under the water.

In chapter 3 of Colossians, verse 1, if you then be risen with Christ, come up out of that watery grave. Your sins have been forgiven through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. You have gone through the ordinance of baptism. You have made a public profession of faith.

You have committed yourself to live the resurrected life, making the demarcation between sin and death and the new life. If you then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above where Christ sits on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things of the earth, for you are dead and your life is hid with Christ and God. When Christ, who is our life, if we don't have that which bridges the great gulf between this chemio-physical existence in the flesh and death, of course, is the Spirit of God, Christ in us. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall we also appear with Him in glory. Mortify, therefore, your members which are upon the earth fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil, concupiscence, covetousness, which is idolatry, for which things sake the wrath of God comes upon the children of disobedience. Then Paul goes through here in Colossians. I would encourage you to read it maybe sometime during the feast of various behaviors that need to be in action in the life of those who are risen with Christ.

So, are we living if we've been translated in the kingdom of His dear Son, or are we awash in the political correctness and multiculturalism of the day where everything is gray, evil is called good, good is called evil? God wants all of our affection, and He wants every ounce of our being right now. And with God, there is no middle ground. Jesus Christ says you cannot serve God and mammon. You cannot be a part of this world and serve God. You cannot pursue the things of this world and live the resurrected life. So once again, I ask each one of us individually and specifically, are you a Christian soldier? Are you an ambassador for Christ? And are you an ambassador for the kingdom of God? And I ask once again, what is your to raise on death? What is your reason for being?

Is Christ truly your life? Let's now go back a few pages to Ephesians during Feast of Unleavened Bread, a sermon in Houston, Texas, combined services. We had over 500 people there. About the size of what we have here this afternoon. Probably 75 or more here today than was there then. And of course, the various things that has happened during the past several months was in the air very much. I gave a sermon titled, Keeping the Unity of the Spirit and the Bond of Peace, taken from right here. The heartfelt pleading that the Apostle Paul presents to us in Ephesians, verse 1 of chapter 4, I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you. I am begging you. I'm pleading with you. I'm asking you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherein you are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with long suffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace. There is one body, one Spirit, even as you're called, and one hope if you're calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism.

I need to make a distinction here, perhaps. The Bible speaks of three baptisms.

There is the baptism by fire, symbolizing the baptism of judgment, the baptism you don't want.

We read about the terrors being burned at the end of the age. The baptism by water, which man can perform.

And then there is the baptism, the begettle of the Holy Spirit, that God performs.

And only God can put you in the body of Christ. One baptism into the body of Christ.

One God and Father of all who is above all and through you all and in you all. Quickly turn back now to 1 Corinthians 12.

In 1 Corinthians 12, perhaps the two greatest unity verses showing how we are all joined together as one body in Christ. The great rhetorical question of 1 Corinthians is found in 1 Corinthians 1, verse 13, where Paul asks the question, is Christ divided?

He then says that some of you are saying that you are of Cephas, that you are of this person or that person.

Some say you are of Paul or some say you are of Christ.

And then from chapter 1 through the rest of the epistle, Paul shows that from your calling to the resurrection, Christ is not divided. These two verses here somewhat summarize 1 Corinthians 12. For as the body is one hath many members, and all the members of that one body being many or one body, so also is Christ. Christ is not divided. For by one spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles. See that by one spirit we are all baptized into one body. That is the work of God. The Holy Spirit is sent into each one of us. Whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free and have been all made to drink into one spirit.

For the body is not one member, but many.

Verse 25, that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care, one for another. And brethren, I believe that we have grown quite a bit in that area in recent months. We have seen, using the colloquialism of people coming out of the woodwork, we have seen members step up and begin to serve. There are people now who are giving sermonettes, split sermons, maybe even sermons. If you go back a year and say, when would they be on the speaking list? You'd say, well, maybe never. Or when would they do this or do that? So brethren, we see that through the spirit of God and through obedience and humility to God and Jesus Christ, we can do whatever it is. Paul writes, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. And the gifts of the spirit are not limited. I know that God basically works with us through our innate abilities, but we all have talents and abilities that we can use to exhort, to edify, to comfort the body of Christ and serve the body. And we're seeing that. And those of us in the ministry, I know those at the home office, the people there, the council of elders, the ministry, elders, everybody. I guess ministers are elders. They are really encouraged by that. Now, we are sad that many are, and some, I don't think it's so many anymore. Go back to Ephesians chapter 4. Some are being tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine and split loyalties between organizations. And in those cases, Satan couldn't be happier. He has us where he wants us. If that's the case, you cannot serve two masters. In Ephesians 4 and verse 13, Paul writes, Ephesians 4, 13, But speaking the truth, and love may grow up unto him in all things, which is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body fittily joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplies, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, makes increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.

Brethren, we cannot treat our spiritual life as if it were a sideline activity. And on the Sabbath, oftentimes, we're so exhausted that it's very difficult to get in gear. But I began to see a new energy in the Church of God. And once again, as I said, we are thankful for it. We want to thank you for stepping up to the plate at this critical, crucial time.

Brethren, we understand the seven greatest questions of the ages. What are the seven greatest questions of the ages? The greatest question of the ages is, does God exist?

That's the first article of faith. If you go forward to Hebrews 11, Hebrews 11, verse 6, I teach a class. I taught it for years at Ambassador. Now I teach it at ABC.

I taught the very first class that was taught at ABC. And I started that class with this verse. First article of faith. What is it? In Hebrews 11, verse 6, We must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. Must believe that God is. Does God exist? And we know that God exists.

Psalmist writes in Psalm 14.1, The fool has said in his heart, there is no God. And we had no other proof of the existence of God other than this, Nothing else makes sense. I don't care what Richard Dawkins or Hawking or anybody else writes or says.

Nothing else makes sense other than a great, wonderful, loving Creator God.

So does God exist. We know the answer to that. Who is God? God is our Father, our loving Creator. What is God? God is Spirit. That is His essence. What is His purpose? One of the greatest purposes of God, of course, is to bring sons and daughters to glory in the kingdom of God. Then the corollary to that, the other three great questions, Who is man? Man is made in the image of God with faculties akin, faculties of mind akin to God. He can think, he can reason, he can think about life after death and all kinds of things. What is man? Man is physical, made of the dust of the ground, subject to sin and death.

But what is His great purpose? His great purpose and the reason why we were born is to be in the kingdom of God, to be members of the family of God. So let's look at the trunk of the tree here back in 1 Corinthians chapter 13 about our ultimate goal and reason for being. We have asked the question and mentioned it several times. What is your raison d'etre, your reason for being, what is your mission? In 1 Corinthians chapter 13, the Corinthians were really hung up on spiritual gifts and those things that made an outward show and especially speaking another language.

Paul talks about that in the first few verses of 1 Corinthians chapter 1, as if, and one of the things that happens to today is that people try to get some kind of physical sign to show that our group is more spiritual than your group because look at this. God is more interested in what we are becoming than what we are doing. What are we becoming? Notice this, though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not charity, agape, spiritual love. Twice in 1 John 4, 1 John 4.8 says that God is love. 1 John 4.16 says God is love.

So we could say that if I'm not becoming as God is and God is love, it profits me nothing. I am become a sounding brass or a tinkling symbol, though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith so that I can remove mountains and have not charity, if I'm not becoming as God is, I am nothing.

And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned and have not charity, if I'm not becoming as God is, it profits me nothing. So, brethren, that is our reason for being is to become as God is and to be born in the family of God at the resurrection.

We've already noted that Satan the devil has a great raise on debtra, that is to break prophecy, make God a liar, wreck God's plan of salvation, destroy humankind. Satan has tremendous spiritual power.

Paul talks about it in Ephesians chapter 6. Let's go there. Ephesians chapter 6 verse 10. Now is the time as never before to put on the whole armor of God, and Paul tells us how to do it in Ephesians chapter 6. In Ephesians chapter 6 verse 10. Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil, for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

The battle is spiritual, and sin is deceitful. And you can fall for his deceit in so many different ways. Therefore, we need the armor of God. Wherefore, take unto you the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand, stand, therefore, period. Punctuation is by some other verses by man. Having your loins gird about with truth, having on the breastplate of righteousness your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, meaning willing, ready, able to take this gospel to the world, and above all taking the shield of faith, whereby you'll be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

See, with the shield of faith, Satan cannot penetrate. He cannot get that dart through and lodge it in your mind and heart. Because if you know and know that you know that regardless of what happens, God is going to deliver you, then he is helpless. His fiery darts just fall at your feet, defeated, conquered. We have the power at our disposal that all of Satan's minions and devices combined cannot overcome us. What Satan fears most is copyright in 1996 by Jan MacIntosh.

What Satan fears most is a man on his knees, not vast marching armies with great weaponry. He knows he can stand against the power of men to engage us in battle as mere sport to him. But a man on his knees with his head bowed in prayer is something quite different to the prince of the air. For when he sees us in prayer to our God Most High, he knows we have seen through his devilish lies.

That's what Satan fears most, a man on his knees, and we'll keep him trembling if our prayers never cease. So, brethren, here we are at this critical time once again. So are we going to move forward? Will we stir up the spirit that is within each one of us? Will we fill our lamps with oil? Will we become living sacrifices?

Will we really take heed according to the Word of God? God used John the Baptist. John did no miracle. He prepared the way for Christ's first coming. Sometimes we limit ourselves too much. God is all powerful. We have his spirit. God used Apollos, who didn't even have the Holy Spirit until he met up with the Apostle Paul. God used a deacon named Philip to preach mightily after the great persecution fell on the church in Jerusalem, and the church was scattered after the stoning of Philip and the work of the Apostle Paul before he became an Apostle who went out to kill Christians.

God used a young woman named Esther of maybe age 19 or 20 to save a nation. I, therefore, submit he can use each one of you. We have the opportunity to be a light, to be the salt of the earth, to turn our hearts to the children so the children can be turned to God.

We can be turned on and zealous for the Word of God and live his way of life. We can begin in our own homes to teach God's truth to our children, teach a relationship with God and Christ. We can begin to exercise judgment, mercy, and faith in our interaction with one another. We can put away envy and strife and jealousy.

We can heed the message without judging the messenger. We can learn to discern between good and evil. We can be a source of encouragement to others and make a difference in our homes, neighborhoods, and our workplaces.

We can be ambassadors for Christ. We can be filled with hope, with a big picture burning brightly in our minds and hearts. We can put on the whole armor of God, especially the shield of faith. We can become new creations in Christ.

We can exemplify the righteousness of God. All of this and more can be done regardless of the governmental system or the definitions of the work of the Gospel or any other thing that you want to name. In short, we can do what God has called us to do. So we must rekindle the fire in our bellies for marching on toward the kingdom as Christian soldiers.

We must not draw back. We must put and we must march forward. An arm with the sword and the Spirit of God we cannot fail. If God be for you, who can be against you? So let us renew the zeal during this feast and dedicate ourselves to making a difference in our own lives and the lives of others. Let's march forward as God's great army, carrying forth the banner of truth and righteousness.