Veteran's Day - 2 Cor 10:3-5

Title: Veterans Day
Date: November 11, 2009
Text: 2 Cor 10:3-5

Introduction

- History of Veteran’s Day
- Back in 1918, in the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, a stop to hostilities was declared, ending World War I. An armistice to cease the fighting on the Western Front was signed by the Allied powers and Germany.
- President Woodrow Wilson immediately proclaimed the day "Armistice Day," kicking off the annual commemoration on November 11.
- In 1954, Armistice Day was changed to Veterans’ Day
in honor of all U.S. soldiers of any war. But 11/11 still represented the end of the Great War in the public's mind, and the date stuck
- In 1921, unidentified dead from the war were buried in Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia., Westminster Abbey in London, and the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. The tradition to honor those killed in the war but never identified continues every year in the U.S. The ceremony is held at 11 a.m. at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery.
- This is a day designated as a time when we honor our veterans
- If you are a veteran who has served the United States flag in any capacity, would you please stand
- On behalf of the Reno-Sparks Gospel Mission, and on behalf of the moral majority of this nation, we want to thank you and all the men and women who have served in the armed forces, for your sacrifice on the behalf of this nation and in the cause of freedom.
- We know that many did not return alive from the battles that were fought. We remember you and honor you.
- Please be seated.
- This nation has been involved in may wars and battles
- The Christian as well is involved in a war, a spiritual war
- Our enemies are not physical troops, but the spiritual forces that want to keep us from experiencing the freedom that is available in Christ.
- This war is not fought on the sands of the desert, or the jungles of Vietnam – it is fought on the battlefield of our mind.

We need to be continually supplied

- The armed forces are made up of servicemen specialized in different forms of warfare
- We have the marines, the army, the navy, and the air force
- Each of these warriors needs to be supplied
- An army can be incredibly strong, but if food supplies don’t get forward to the front lines, this army will fail.
- During WW2 Germany attacked Russia, and they pushed on quickly, trying to do the job before the winter set in. They underestimated the weather, and were unable to keep the supplies coming in
- As a result they had to pull back in defeat
- As a Christian, we continually need to be supplied
- We need supplies of food, spiritual food
- The food has been provided for us in the form of God’s Word, the Bible
- Matt 4:4 – The Bible provides our spiritual sustenance and vitamins, so that we are able to continue the battle
- When we stop eating, we get tired and start making mistakes
- When we stop reading the word and listening to what God is saying to us, we make mistakes, and eventually we will die.

We need tactics

- God gives us ways in which we can fight our battles and win
- In the Bible we are given all the instruction we need in order to know how to attack the enemy, and capture his territory
- As we said, the battlefield is the battlefield of our mind
- Rom 12:1-2 Those of you who were just recognized for your service to the flag, have sacrificed.
- There is sacrifice involved in moving out to the front lines and facing the enemy’s firepower
- But we have a Commander In Chief who knows what he is doing
- Josh 5:13-15
- Jesus has stood the heat of battle
- He has lain dead on the battlefield
- But he arose again, and in doing so he vanquished the enemy
- Isa 53:8-12
- Jesus knows the enemy’s tactics
- He battled him himself in Mat 4
- And he won
- So can we

We need protection

- In a physical battle, the soldier needs protection
- That protection can come in numbers of soldiers fighting together
- The soldier who gets isolated from his fellow troops, is in a dangerous position
- The enemy can pick him off
- As we fight our battles, we too need the protection of not going it alone
- The Rambo concept does not work in the spiritual war
- We need the support of the church and others around us
- But in addition to that, we need armor
- The A-1 Abrams tank is reputed to be able to stop anything thrown at it short of a nuclear blast
- A tank provides protection for those who stay inside it
- The enmy can fire off any number of salvoes at your tank, but you are safe inside
- Now if you poke your head up, it could be shot off
- Pault tells us about our spiritual armor in Eph 6
- Eph 6:10-18
- Most all of the armor is protective
- The helmet, the breastplate, the belt, the shoes, the shield
- The shield is there to extinguish all the flaming arrows from the evil one, the enemy
- But sooner or later, defensive armor will break down
- We will drop the shield, or our helmet will fall off
- We do make mistakes as human beings
- When the enemy pushes in close, God gives us an offensive weapon, the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God
- We receive fresh energy from the Word, fresh instructions from our commander, and we are able to vanquish the enemy, using the truth of the Bible
- The enemy is engaged in deception and counter information
- He wants to portray himself as too big for us, a giant like Goliath
- But before God and his soldiers, the enemy is a weakling
- We need the courage of David, when he went after Goliath
- Our Goliath may be 10 feet tall, but before David, that giant fell
- Our giant can as well, so long as we do not lose heart.

Conclusion

- We are in a war, a spiritual war
- A war is made up of many battles and skirmishes
- It doesn’t matter if we lost a particular battle, the war is not over
- The committed soldier does not give up
- Just as Jesus lay on the battlefield, dead, and then rose again in victory, we too can rise again, and finish the battle