As soldiers, the Bible says, they don't entangle themselves in civilian matters. They are too busy learning to be strong. Learning to be effective. In other words, as a soldier, there is a kind of life that you would need to live so that you can please the one that enlisted you. You can please the commander-in-chief. Hallelujah. So this afternoon or this morning, I just want to encourage us to live the life of a soldier. The life of a soldier is hard. Hello. Because it's filled with a lot of, sometimes, scars. The life of a soldier is hard. Because sometimes the journey can be difficult.
But because the soldier is committed to the commander-in-chief, he's committed to the one that enlisted him, he would have to stay on track. He would have to stay within the confines of his calling or the confines of his registration as a member of the army. You know, this is what, this is the attitude that is required of us. We'll be like Esther. The Bible says concerning Esther, that when she came to herself and realized that, oh, I'm going to have to see the king. But this is dangerous. It's dangerous to see the king without being, you know, summoned.
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Soldiers are not afraid to die. They live their lives knowing that I might have to die, but I'm going to obey the order of the master. Hello? So Esther knew that it's possible that this might be the end of her. But she reckoned that the calling that she was about to fulfill was higher than her death. And so she said that favorite phrase that we say, if I perish, I perish. How does that relate to me? I mean, the New Testament, I beg, I don't want to die.
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The journey of a soldier in Christ, it includes all different levels of dying. For example, let me give you some examples. He says, the soldier of Christ will not result to fornication because he doesn't have a husband. You just allow that desire to die. Why? I'm a soldier and I'm on a mission. I must obey the one that enlisted me in the army. I won't try and find another route to obey the word of God. I'm trying to find another route to enjoy something that God promises and then disobey the word of God.
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She said she had made up her mind that since it is not a requirement to get married, to get into heaven, she's not going to give up the word of God because she wants to get married. All sorts of options. I mean, you know Nigeria now. So many options. But she said, no, I'm not going to do this. I'm not going to do this and discredit the name of God just because of something that God promised. I'd rather not have it than go the alternative way.
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That's the kind of death I'm talking about. I'm not yet talking about you've been in the northern part of Nigeria and somebody puts a knife across your throat. And that is even available as well. It's a kind of death that we have to be ready to take. Why are you talking about gory things? Because this journey of the soldier of Christ is not a walk in the park. It is a walk where you are determined to see that God's command comes to pass.
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Sometimes the challenges will look at you in the face. Make mockery of you. Make you look like you're just wasting your time. Make you look like you're just, this, your Christianity is, please, you better look for something to add to this, your Christianity. There's not much going on. Make you look like you're wasting your time. Hey, be prepared to die to that shame. See, as you continue to press in with the word of God. Press in with the word of God.
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There are different levels of dying that are before us as we're trying to walk the walk of faith, as we're trying to walk in the things that our father has provided us. But as soldiers, as what? Soldiers. Not as civilians. Soldiers. You know, like even in our lives, there are things that we do as civilians that the soldiers can't do it. They don't have that kind of luxury. We can, we, we can choose to sleep till 10 a.m. The soldiers don't have that kind of luxury.
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You have to determine that if I perish, if I perish, I perish. Did you know that when Paul was going to Rome, he knew he was going to die there. In fact, a prophet came and said, ah, the person that owns this belt, he took Paul's belt. He said, as if, as if Paul does not know his belt. He took Paul's belt. He said, the person that owns this belt, and he bound the belt around it. I said, so shall he be bound if he goes to, I was like, thank you for telling me what I already know.
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Everybody has different levels of death that they need to die. Is that making sense to anybody? And I'm saying all that because the journey can be rough. The journey can be difficult. It can feel like an uphill task. Why must I pray so much for these children to live for the Lord? All of us started raising children at the same time in this church. All of us raised these children together. Why must my own be the one that is not listening? Hello, die yourself. Die to the shame.
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There's a way that seems right to a man, the end thereof is, his death, you know. So many things that the commander-in-chief is saying, and you have to listen to it, until there's a manifestation of your heart's desire, over and above all those opportunities to disgrace God. Ask yourself, just because of, what is it, just because of what you're going to eat, Nigerians would say, because of what you're going to eat, you now begin to call the cow your senior brother, that you like steak so much.
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Did you know that we don't get married in heaven? Actually, we are the bride of Jesus, and Jesus is not going to share his bride with anybody. So when we get to heaven, we all will be married to Jesus. So this marriage that we're grabbing here, or this having children that we're grabbing here, at the expense of the authority of the word of God, it all ends here. And Jesus is on his way back. As a soldier, we need to keep looking to the return of our commander-in-chief.
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The fact that you are standing in the power of the word of the commander, to stand against the onslaught of Satan, is you fulfilling the purpose of God upon the earth. So, whether the devil likes it or not, you are on top of his neck. Hallelujah. And that is the fulfillment of the purpose of God. It's not just in the thing coming to pass. Yes, it will come to pass. Yes, our children will grow up to serve the Lord. Yes, our marriages will flourish. Yes, we will have plenty of provision and all that.
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We must continue to live our lives as people who have been enlisted to the highest army that will ever be. We must continue to live our lives as people who have been called to walk with the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Not live as if things have us, instead of us having things. The Bible says, if you will be hasty to be rich, you will not be innocent. Find that scripture for me if you can. If that will be hasty to be rich, you will not be innocent.
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Because we still have territories to take. Hello. We still have children to raise. We still have impacts to make. We're still on earth for a purpose because if you are still here, as we say around here, then it means that God still has need of you. And so we need to continue to praise ourselves as soldiers for Christ. And so in verse 11, it says that it is, there are three, I'd say the three cardinal points of the overcomer. One, the blood. Hello. The blood of the Lamb.
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God calls you into partnership and says, come. I will bring the blood. And it's the most important ingredient here. But you come, bring your mouth. Put your mouth on the table. And then bring your tenacity. That's the third thing. Bring your perseverance. Bring your ruggedness. Instead of just crying about the situation. Say, no. I will cry, but I will tell you what God says. As you are crying, you are yelling what God says. Telling your body, body, you are the temple of the Holy Spirit.
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Great grace is upon the church. Great grace is upon the body of Christ. That we need to, that we need to become more mission centric. We need to become more, more soul winners. Great grace is upon us. You know, when, who was it? What was that testimony again? That pastor was talking about somebody who was talking to somebody on the bus. I'm like, eh? Talk to somebody on the bus. I mean, I'm, I can be chatty, but somehow I have been kind of conditioned to mind my business.
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What am I saying today? I'm saying that you are a soldier and a soldier does not have things easy. In fact, for a soldier, sometimes you will get bullet marks, you'll sustain, some will be serious injuries, some will be near death injuries, some will be, you know, just slight injuries. Whatever kind of injury it is, continue to fight. There are some near death injuries that you think, ah, can I make it? It may be like a broken heart. Can I make it? Will I be able to make it? Oh, God.
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So as soldiers, we must rise up. Take the royal banner. The banner of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we must steadily, 1 Peter 5, we must steadily resist the enemy. Steadily. Steadily. He hits you. He will hit you. Don't, don't, he will hit you. But he hits you, you hit back. Why? Because God said, he will bruise your heel, but you will bruise his head. He can't go past the heel because he's on the floor. Hallelujah. He is not allowed to go past the heel.
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You can't stop giving because somebody mismanaged what you gave them. You can't stop being kind because somebody misused your kindness. Face that death and say, Hey, I come in the name of Jesus. The resurrection life of Jesus is always available. Like the writer of Hebrews said, you have not even endeared to the point of giving up your life. So keep dying. There's some people that all they needed to do was to wake up and be in church and they get shot.
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Sometimes we behave, Christians, we behave as if we're on holiday. Like Pastor Ian will say, devil on a holiday. We behave as if we're on holiday. So we're just, you know, coasting. Hey, there are arrows everywhere. And you have to learn the skill of bending the bow of steel. Like the Psalmist said, bending a bow of steel with your hand. You need to learn that skill. That skill comes with a lot of resilience, a lot of persistence. That's why it is a quality for the overcomer.
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When Jesus was teaching us how to walk by faith, he didn't say we should talk about the mountain. He said we should talk to. Hello? When you are talking to something, you are announcing to the thing. You are not conversing. Or you are not making, letting everyone know, oh, the mountain in my life. Oh, how are these sickness? Oh, this, that, that. You are just helping the mountain to grow bigger. Use your mouth. These are the three, three elements we can see in Revelation chapter 12, verse 11.
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So what I need from you, because Jesus has provided the blood, what heaven needs from you is your mouth and your resilience. In other words, I don't care what kind of death is involved in this process. I'm going to push all the way through. Hallelujah. And so we want to thank God this afternoon that he has called us as soldiers who are not just soldiers by mouth. We're soldiers in spirit and in truth. We have the same spirit that Jesus operated with.
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Because we have the Holy Spirit, Romans 8, 11 says that that spirit will continue to give life to our mortal bodies. He'll continue to infuse anything that is mortal with the life of God. Hallelujah. Anything that could be subject to death, he'll continue to infuse it with the life of God. So that we continue to operate as soldiers of God, of Christ on the earth. Hallelujah. And so let's stand up and begin to thank the Lord for this calling as soldiers of Christ.
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The things that we have learned in the month of November, that with this understanding of being a soldier, we'll be able to walk in them. We'll be able to walk in the grace of God. We'll be able to walk in the mercies of God. We'll be able to walk in the faithfulness of God. We'll be able to walk in the abilities of God that he has invested on the inside of us. Because we are soldiers and as soldiers, we're not going to give up. We are not giving up. It's a fight that the enemy wants and a fight he's going to get.
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