Overthrown by God

    Call to Worship: Deuteronomy 4:10 “Assemble the people before me to hear my words so that they may learn to revere me as long as they live in the land and may teach them to their children.”
     
    Songs:   Love the Lord   - Lincoln Brewster     
      Hosanna (Praise Is Rising) - Jadon Lavik 
      Hallelujah Reprise [Hallelujah To The King Of Kings/Hallelujah Chorus]- Ron Kenoly           
     
    Scripture: Deuteronomy 28:15-68
     
    Deuteronomy 4:9 “Be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them fade from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them.
     
    Song:   You Are / You Are Lord- Hillsong
     
    Communion:            “Do Not Forget”                              
    1 Corinthians 11:23 “For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. 27 So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. 29 For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves. 30 That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. 31 But if we were more discerning with regard to ourselves, we would not come under such judgment. 32 Nevertheless, when we are judged in this way by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be finally condemned with the world. 33 So then, my brothers and sisters, when you gather to eat, you should all eat together. 34 Anyone who is hungry should eat something at home, so that when you meet together it may not result in judgment.
     
    Songs: While I'm Waiting - Travis Greene          
     
    Sermon: “Overthrown by God”
     
    Closing Song: Hear Us from Heaven  -  Ross Parsley
      
    Benediction:             Isaiah 40:27 “Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel,
    “My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God”? 28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. 29 He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. 30 Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; 31 but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” Psalm 27:13 “I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living! 14 Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!”
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    Sermon: “Overthrown by God”
     
                The sermons these past weeks have been focusing on spiritual warfare and the war we are in with satan. Today the country remembers those who gave and give their lives for the freedom of others. For the church though this is a paradox of belief. We think we are free but we are not. Yes the world hates evil and wants to rid itself of it but continues in it and does not change from its ways. The same goes for the church. They want to fight flesh and blood. The world’s solution is war against flesh and blood, which seems to be the popular answer. Today’s wars and we were warned there would be wars and are very difficult, as the enemy isn’t wearing a different uniform; it could be anyone. No matter how you slice it, war is hell. William T. Sherman said “It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, more vengeance, more desolation. War is hell.” But unlike hell God is still present. Yes people are upset when they see the atrocities of war and yes they will remember every November 11 but they will still promote war as the solution to evil and continue in their ways letting satan reign. The world is not filled with evil men but men who are controlled by satan. Here is the paradox of the church. The church must change and not continue in its ways. In order to be truly free we must be slaves. Romans 6:18 “You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.” There is a far greater war taking place as we speak, yet no one seems to care. So today there will be services in churches across the country remembering yet forgetting at the same time.
                Today the video game industry has turned war into a game with eternal life and no consequences. Just hit reset. These games where no one really dies have glorified war. The church has done the same. Go to church each week set reset and continue on. Yes the news gives us pictures of wars across the globe but we in Canada live in a country free of war and for the most part free of terrorism so we should be very thankful yet again the paradox is we are under attack and are loosing the battle. We think we are free but we are not. Yes people today will remember what happened in the wars that have past and the wars that are present but have forgotten that we are at war with the greatest enemy ever with the greatest number of losses. We are loosing that war because we turned our backs on Gods covenant. We act as though we remember by going through the motions but yet we are far from God. In most countries there are those who are training for combat and are willing to give their lives for their countries yet the church is not trained nor does it know its enemy nor is it really willing to offer their lives as a living sacrifice. The church does not understand the power of God but only a form of godliness. They do not know consequences of not being faithful. The church definitely does not understand the power of satan and the hold he has on this world. My people perish because of a lack of knowledge. Hosea 4 says “Hear the word of the Lord, you Israelites, because the Lord has a charge to bring against you who live in the land: “There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgment of God in the land. 2 There is only cursing, lying and murder, stealing and adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed. 3 Because of this the land dries up, and all who live in it waste away; “Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests; because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children. 7 The more priests there were, the more they sinned against me; they exchanged their glorious God for something disgraceful. 8 They feed on the sins of my people and relish their wickedness. 9 And it will be: Like people, like priests. I will punish both of them for their ways and repay them for their deeds.” Not only does the church not know their enemy they do not know the one who can defeat our enemies.
                In our communion we are told not to forget the covenant we are in with God. Obviously Remembrance Day is about remembering. As I have talked about before make every meal a time to remember and thank God for His promises to us and the opportunity he has given for us to have eternal life. Remember what Jesus did but also remember what we can do because of what Jesus did. Yes every November 11 we remember those who went before us and their sacrifices for us and continued sacrifices but unfortunately this present spiritual war we are in is because we the church have forgotten and disobeyed. Not only is the church in desolation, those around us are not being saved. We read earlier a hard passage to hear from Deuteronomy 28. Yes it is easier to hear the blessing side but this is what happens when we forget. Deuteronomy 4:23 “Be careful not to forget the covenant of the Lord your God that he made with you; do not make for yourselves an idol in the form of anything the Lord your God has forbidden. 24 For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.” Jeremiah 13:25 “This is your lot, the portion I have decreed for you,” declares the Lord, “because you have forgotten me and trusted in false gods.” This is exactly what we have been warned against when Matthew 24:4 “Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.” 22 “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. 23 At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. 24 For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you ahead of time.”
                Yet people forgot to listen and take heed. They turned away from the truth to follow false gospels and chose to go their own ways. Deuteronomy 29:19 “When such a person hears the words of this oath and they invoke a blessing on themselves, thinking, “I will be safe, even though I persist in going my own way,” they will bring disaster on the watered land as well as the dry. 20 The Lord will never be willing to forgive them; his wrath and zeal will burn against them. All the curses written in this book will fall on them, and the Lord will blot out their names from under heaven. 21 The Lord will single them out from all the tribes of Israel for disaster, according to all the curses of the covenant written in this Book of the Law. 22 Your children who follow you in later generations and foreigners who come from distant lands will see the calamities that have fallen on the land and the diseases with which the Lord has afflicted it. 23 The whole land will be a burning waste of salt and sulfur—nothing planted, nothing sprouting, no vegetation growing on it. It will be like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboyim, which the Lord overthrew in fierce anger. 24 All the nations will ask: “Why has the Lord done this to this land? Why this fierce, burning anger?” 25 And the answer will be: “It is because this people abandoned the covenant of the Lord, the God of their ancestors, the covenant he made with them when he brought them out of Egypt. 26 They went off and worshiped other gods and bowed down to them, gods they did not know, gods he had not given them. 27 Therefore the Lord’s anger burned against this land, so that he brought on it all the curses written in this book. 28 In furious anger and in great wrath the Lord uprooted them from their land and thrust them into another land, as it is now.” This is the anger that now burns against the church. We do not want to be overthrown by God.  
                Because of this lack of obedience to God’s word, this is why desolation has been brought upon the church. King Hezekiah said in 2 Chronicles 29:6 “Our parents were unfaithful; they did evil in the eyes of the Lord our God and forsook him. They turned their faces away from the Lord’s dwelling place and turned their backs on him. 7 They also shut the doors of the portico and put out the lamps. They did not burn incense or present any burnt offerings at the sanctuary to the God of Israel. 8 Therefore, the anger of the Lord has fallen on Judah and Jerusalem; he has made them an object of dread and horror and scorn, as you can see with your own eyes. 9 This is why our fathers have fallen by the sword and why our sons and daughters and our wives are in captivity.” Daniel prayed Daniel 9:4 “I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed: “Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments, 5 we have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws. 6 We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes and our ancestors, and to all the people of the land. 7 “Lord, you are righteous, but this day we are covered with shame—the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, both near and far, in all the countries where you have scattered us because of our unfaithfulness to you. 8 We and our kings, our princes and our ancestors are covered with shame, Lord, because we have sinned against you. 9 The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him; 10 we have not obeyed the Lord our God or kept the laws he gave us through his servants the prophets. 11 All Israel has transgressed your law and turned away, refusing to obey you. “Therefore the curses and sworn judgments written in the Law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against you. 12 You have fulfilled the words spoken against us and against our rulers by bringing on us great disaster. Under the whole heaven nothing has ever been done like what has been done to Jerusalem. 13 Just as it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come on us, yet we have not sought the favor of the Lord our God by turning from our sins and giving attention to your truth. 14 The Lord did not hesitate to bring the disaster on us, for the Lord our God is righteous in everything he does; yet we have not obeyed him.” 2 Kings 22:13 “Great is the Lord’s anger that burns against us because those who have gone before us have not obeyed the words of this book; they have not acted in accordance with all that is written there concerning us.”
                This is exactly where we find ourselves. 2 Chronicles 36:16 “But they mocked God’s messengers, despised his words and scoffed at his prophets until the wrath of the Lord was aroused against his people and there was no remedy.” There is no remorse or repentance and we continue in our own ways. Jeremiah 8:6 “I have listened attentively, but they do not say what is right. None of them repent of their wickedness, saying, “What have I done?” Each pursues their own course like a horse charging into battle.” As we talked about before even the remnant was taken into captivity. 2 Kings 21:14 “I will forsake the remnant of my inheritance and give them into the hands of enemies. They will be looted and plundered by all their enemies; 15 they have done evil in my eyes and have aroused my anger from the day their ancestors came out of Egypt until this day.” 2 Kings 24:20 “It was because of the Lord’s anger that all this happened to Jerusalem and Judah, and in the end he thrust them from his presence.” Yes today people want to believe God is loving, all the time. They want to believe God is merciful no matter what and they are banking on God not doing what he says in his word. They continue to go their own way and do not fear him. They think the bible is just a book that they can tear out the pages they do not like. But we cannot do that and get away with it.
                Today people all around the world are terrified of the threat of terrorism. People in many countries are terrified of the wars in their lands and they flee but the greatest threat to us is to be rejected by God. Matthew 10:28 “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” Yes many have decided there is no hell to appease the conscience and have reasoned that God would never do that. But His word, his very own words have said He would. He has warned us what would happen if we disobey. Why because people have gone their own way and rejected the truth of His word and have forgotten the covenant. 2 Kings 17:12 “They worshiped idols, though the Lord had said, “You shall not do this. 13 The Lord warned Israel and Judah through all his prophets and seers: “Turn from your evil ways. Observe my commands and decrees, in accordance with the entire Law that I commanded your ancestors to obey and that I delivered to you through my servants the prophets.” 14 But they would not listen and were as stiff-necked as their ancestors, who did not trust in the Lord their God. 15 They rejected his decrees and the covenant he had made with their ancestors and the statutes he had warned them to keep. They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless. They imitated the nations around them although the Lord had ordered them, “Do not do as they do.”
                We need to be very afraid of God. James 4:4 “You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.” We read all through scripture what God does to His enemies. Deuteronomy 8:19 “If you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed. 20 Like the nations the Lord destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the Lord your God.” We read in Deuteronomy 28:45 “All these curses will come on you. They will pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the Lord your God and observe the commands and decrees he gave you.” Deuteronomy 31:16 “And the Lord said to Moses: “You are going to rest with your ancestors, and these people will soon prostitute themselves to the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will forsake me and break the covenant I made with them. 17 And in that day I will become angry with them and forsake them; I will hide my face from them, and they will be destroyed. Many disasters and calamities will come on them, and in that day they will ask, ‘Have not these disasters come on us because our God is not with us?’ 18 And I will certainly hide my face in that day because of all their wickedness in turning to other gods.” Deuteronomy 32:28 “They are a nation without sense, there is no discernment in them. 29 If only they were wise and would understand this and discern what their end will be!”
                We do not want to have God as our enemy. God will overthrow us and there is nothing we can do about it. We are not able to fight back and we will be defeated. Our only hope is to repent and wait upon the lord for His mercy. We pray that he will lift his hand from upon us soon.  Matthew 24:22 “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.” We are at war and God is allowing the enemy to stand against us. These verses summarize what is happening. 2 Thessalonians 2:9 “The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, 10 and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11 For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie 12 and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.” As Nehemiah said, Nehemiah 1:3 “The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.”
                Yes I know many will say but didn’t Jesus say to Peter “the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” Yes he did but before that he said Matthew 16:15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” 17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”  Jesus also said Matthew 28:20 “teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Jesus said on this Rock and to teach obedience to his covenant just as scripture tells from beginning to end. Yes people want to believe what they want, go their own way but they will be overthrown by God. Remember I am talking about the church.
                God is against us and has allowed satan to rise up against us. The church lies in desolation and delusion and has fallen. There is but a remnant left who have not bowed a knee to Baal. This means they have not bowed to the false gospel, the false teachings that are rampant in the church. I wanted to make an estimated comparison of the daily deaths and to the World Wars to show how bad it presently is. I took a quick look at the total deaths just in Canada from Stats Canada and in 2016 there were 267,213. In 2015 in the US - 2,712,630. I took a quick look and 151,600 die every day in the world. Looking at this website World odometer was frightening when you see the numbers increasing with real time estimations.  Now in comparison wars have taken a toll. I looked at some estimations and  WW1 and WW2 together lasting 10 years, over 37 million total from war and disease, military and civilian in WW1and 60 million died in WW2 so in these two alone 10 years 100 million deaths. Now take a look at world wide deaths. World wide you have 151,600 /day times 365 = 55,334,000 times 10 = 553,340,000 deaths over just 10 years. 6,316 people die each hour. Yes I realize the total population has grown but these stats give us an idea of how bad it really is. Yes people will die everyday but where will they spend eternity. Think if you will the deaths since Jesus came to save us. How many have rejected and continue to reject Him by ignoring the truth, promoting false gospels and not knowing the truth.
                Just looking at the stats from those two wars takes your breath away yet people do forget and other wars continue but most importantly because the church has forgotten who their king is, and no longer follow His covenant, we have been defeated by our enemies and the atrocities of war pail in comparison to eternal damnation. Yes war is hell but hell is worse than we can possibly imagine because it will be void of God. A while ago we looked at the census of Israel in numbers. They went to take the land and they refused to obey and feared for their lives. The people complained and said Numbers 14:2 “If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this wilderness! 3 Why is the Lord bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?” 4 And they said to each other, “We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt.” God responds ‘As surely as I live, declares the Lord, I will do to you the very thing I heard you say: 29 In this wilderness your bodies will fall—every one of you twenty years old or more who was counted in the census and who has grumbled against me. 30 Not one of you will enter the land I swore with uplifted hand to make your home, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun. 31 As for your children that you said would be taken as plunder, I will bring them in to enjoy the land you have rejected. 32 But as for you, your bodies will fall in this wilderness. 33 Your children will be shepherds here for forty years, suffering for your unfaithfulness, until the last of your bodies lies in the wilderness.” A second census was taken. “The total number of the men of Israel was 601,730.” The first was 603,550. All those people perished because they refused to believe. Will God yes he will!
                Today we serve the same God, a jealous God a consuming fire. Yes when you read the curse side of the Deuteronomy it sounds bleak and hopeless but there is hope. This is why we remember and turn from our wicked ways. Deuteronomy 28 starts this way 1 “If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. 2 All these blessings will come on you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God.” 2 Chronicles 7:13 “When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, 14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 15 Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. 16 I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that my Name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.” Jesus came that we might have life abundantly but that meant believing on that Rock, this gospel, the very one proclaimed by Jesus himself. Mark 1:15 “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” We must turn away from the empty ways as Daniel and Hezekiah said and return to the word of the Lord. Then we wait for God’s plan to unfold. Habakkuk 3:16 “I heard and my heart pounded, my lips quivered at the sound; decay crept into my bones, and my legs trembled. Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity to come on the nation invading us. 17 Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, 18 yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior. 19 The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights.”
                We will wait even though the enemies rage against us. We will not forget. This is about eternal life or death and we do have a choice where we want to spend it. Moses said Deuteronomy 30:11 “Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. 12 It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, “Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” 13 Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, “Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” 14 No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it. 15 See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. 16 For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess. 17 But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, 18 I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. 19 This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live 20 and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” God will come against as he has but he will also hear our cry and relent and have mercy. Psalm 106:40 “Therefore the LORD was angry with his people and abhorred his inheritance. 41 He gave them into the hands of the nations, and their foes ruled over them. 42 Their enemies oppressed them and subjected them to their power. 43 Many times he delivered them, but they were bent on rebellion and they wasted away in their sin. 44 Yet he took note of their distress when he heard their cry; 45 for their sake he remembered his covenant and out of his great love he relented. 46 He caused all who held them captive to show them mercy. 47 Save us, LORD our God, and gather us from the nations, that we may give thanks to your holy name and glory in your praise. 48 Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Let all the people say, “Amen!” Praise the LORD.”
                Solomon prayed 1 Kings 8:37 “When famine or plague comes to the land, or blight or mildew, locusts or grasshoppers, or when an enemy besieges them in any of their cities, whatever disaster or disease may come, 38 and when a prayer or plea is made by anyone among your people Israel—being aware of the afflictions of their own hearts, and spreading out their hands toward this temple— 39 then hear from heaven, your dwelling place. Forgive and act; deal with everyone according to all they do, since you know their hearts (for you alone know every human heart), 40 so that they will fear you all the time they live in the land you gave our ancestors.” King Jehoshaphat prayed 2 Chronicles 20:9 ‘If calamity comes upon us, whether the sword of judgment, or plague or famine, we will stand in your presence before this temple that bears your Name and will cry out to you in our distress, and you will hear us and save us.” He also said “For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”
                Since God himself said Jeremiah 21:5 “I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and a mighty arm in furious anger and in great wrath.” and send the enemy against us just as Babylon came against Israel. Jeremiah spoke of what would happen because Jeremiah 5:30 “A horrible and shocking thing has happened in the land: 31 The prophets prophesy lies, the priests rule by their own authority, and my people love it this way. But what will you do in the end? 11 The people of Israel and the people of Judah have been utterly unfaithful to me,” declares the Lord. 15 People of Israel,” declares the Lord, “I am bringing a distant nation against you— an ancient and enduring nation, a people whose language you do not know, whose speech you do not understand. 16 Their quivers are like an open grave; all of them are mighty warriors. 17 They will devour your harvests and food, devour your sons and daughters; they will devour your flocks and herds, devour your vines and fig trees. With the sword they will destroy the fortified cities in which you trust. 18 “Yet even in those days,” declares the Lord, “I will not destroy you completely. 19 And when the people ask, ‘Why has the Lord our God done all this to us?’ you will tell them, ‘As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your own land, so now you will serve foreigners in a land not your own.”
                Today we remember yes those who gave their lives but most importantly we remember that we must obey God’s commands and not follow false gods / gospels. The war we are in is a battle for where we will spend eternity. God did not prepare hell for us but satan but that is where will go if we do not obey. Matthew 25:41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” Revelation 12:9 “The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.”  Paul taught Timothy and said when dealing with the false 2 Timothy 2:25 “Opponents must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, 26 and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.” Paul himself was told Acts 26:17 “I am sending you to them 18 to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.” If we are going to win this battle we must have God fighting for us not against us. As we return to Him He will return to us and we will defeat our enemies. Instead of being overthrown by God we will overthrow the enemy.
                Hebrews 11 give us a story of faith of which we are to continue in. Hebrews 11:2 “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. 2 This is what the ancients were commended for.” Hebrews 12:1 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith” Our enemy is satan and God will fight against us also unless we join together as they did in Malachi 3:16 Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored his name. 17 “On the day when I act,” says the Lord Almighty, “they will be my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as a father has compassion and spares his son who serves him. 18 And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.” Our job is to continue the fight against satan. Yes those who battled in war were brave on both sides of the war. They gave their lives for what they believed in. But as the church this war is not against flesh and blood and we desperately need the power of God in our lives so we can defeat satan in the name of Jesus. We can’t use his name unless he gives us the authority and power to use it. We must turn back to him.
                Are you willing to take up the fight though it cost you everything? The sidelines are filled with the luke warm and the faint of heart and the pathetic, those filled with apathy. Will you bow before the king as His servant and be empowered to take on the enemy. 1 Samuel 17:45 “David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. 47 All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”