Direct Orders (sermon)

 

A Song: Love God and love people.

A show of hands of those who served in the military. How many of you have obeyed the Direct Orders given to you by your CO?

 Direct orders are commands that must be obeyed when handed down.

         

   If I said you are a soldier in God’s army, would believe me?  Don’t let's instead look at what the word of God says.

Join me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.

No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs but rather tries to please his commanding officer.

 (2 Timothy 2:3-4).

 

So, it is Paul who calls you soldiers in God’s army!

 

The Scribes, Pharisees, and other religious leaders tested Jesus, trying to find fault in Him. In the book of Matthew, a lawyer asks Jesus, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”

In response.

 

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.³⁸ This is the first and greatest commandment.

³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

⁴⁰ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

(Matthew 22:37-40).

 

You have been given Direct Orders. My question is what are you going to do about it?

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. The First is to love GOD with all your hearts and soul in doing so you.

³ “You shall have no other gods before me.

⁴ “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, or in the water under the earth. 

⁵ You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me,

⁶ but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

⁷ “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. (Exodus 20-3-7).

 The church was given   Direct Orders. When Jesus says I give you 2 commandments These are Direct Orders from your king Himself! when we say that we are believers then we should be found doing the thing that our King commands. So that the world could see God moving in the church? So that they might believe the gospel to be more than words. Uttered in hypocrisy. hypocrisy” refers to the act of claiming to believe something but doing something different.    

2. Second Direct Order Tell us how to treat others aka your neighbors

You will honor your father and mother (Exodus 20:12).

 You will not murder anyone (Exodus 20:13)

 You will not commit adultery (Exodus 20:14)

 You will not steal from anyone (Exodus 20:15)

 You will not lie (Exodus 20:16)

 You will not covet anything that belongs to someone else (Exodus 20:17).

We can keep the entire law simply by obeying these two Direct Orders. However, the kicker is without the power of the Holy Spirit. The church has zero chance of ever adhering to Jesus’s Direct Orders. Only through the Holy Spirit and not our flesh,   can  the church begin to follow Jesus’s Direct Orders.

 

In the gospels, Jesus teaches the church what God’s Direct Orders are. We are to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

In other words, we are to love God with our whole being. Love your neighbor as yourself.

Jesus is not asking you He has commanded you!

 

Why hide your light under a bushel or put it out? If all you ever do is shine your light in church how does that bring the pre-Christian to Christ? Is that what you were commanded to do?

 

Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age”

(Matthew 28:19-20).

 

We are commanded to go the highways and byways to share the good news. We send missionaries over sea’s but what about the mission fields here in America? What about making followers of Jesus here? Church, do you understand this is not your home, Jesus says in His Father’s house there are many rooms! How many of you are inviting others to come home with you to your Heavenly Father’s house?

 

But if ye will not obey the voice of the LORD, but rebel against the commandment of the LORD, then shall the hand of the LORD be against you, as it was against your fathers.

(1 Samuel 12:15).

Ruth Graham once said if God does not deal with America He will have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah. Many times, the Jews focus too much on being the chosen race. Instead of focusing more on what God commanded them to do.  So, Church what are you going to do?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am a soldier in the army of my King.
The Lord Jesus Christ is my Commanding Officer.
The Holy Scripture is my code of conduct.
Faith, prayer, and the Word are my weapons of warfare.

I have been taught by the Holy Spirit, trained by experience, tried by adversity, and tested by fire.

I am a volunteer in His army, and I am enlisted for eternity. I will not get out, sell out, be talked out, or be pushed out. I am faithful, reliable, capable, and dependable. If my King needs me, I am there. I am a soldier. I am not a baby. I do not need to be pampered, petted, primed up, pumped up, picked up, or pepped up. I am a soldier. No one must call me, entice me, or lure me. I am a soldier. I am not a wimp. I am in place, saluting my King, obeying His orders, praising His name, and building His kingdom!
I do not need to be cuddled, cradled, or catered to. I am committed I cannot be discouraged enough to turn back. I cannot lose enough to cause me to quit. When Jesus called me into His army, I had nothing. If I end up with nothing. I will still come out ahead. I will win. My King has and will continue to supply all my needs. I am more than a conqueror. I will always triumph. I can do all things through Christ Jesus. The devil cannot defeat me because I’m in Christ. People cannot disillusion me. Weather cannot weary me. Sickness cannot stop me. Battles cannot beat me. Money cannot buy me. Governments cannot silence me, and hell cannot handle me. I am a soldier in the king of the king’s army! Even death cannot destroy me. For when my Commander calls me from His battlefield, He will promote me to captain and then allow me to sit at His right hand. I am a soldier in the army, and I’m marching claiming victory. I will not give up. I will not turn around. I am a soldier, marching heaven-bound.
Here I Stand! Will you stand with me?

 

 unknown author