We are in the middle of a series called “Exit Strategies”. We have been discussing some of the things that we may encounter when we get home. Tonight we are going to discuss finding a church off the FOB.
When I began putting this series together, one of my biggest concerns is that you continue in the faith, continue in church, and continue in spiritual growth when you get home.
It would be easy for all of us, when we leave, to simply drop out of church. If you have ever been to a church camp, you would know that. You’ve gotten all excited while you’ve been away, surrounded by people who are all verbally committed to staying the coarse, and then two months down the road all that is left are the memories. I know because I’ve been there.
But this isn’t church camp.
We have spent a year here and hopefully have developed habits of spiritual growth, one being going to chapel and making time for chapel.
But it is easy here. The service has been set at a time where we thought most people could make it, from what worked in the past and based on work schedules and the typical shifts. Not to mention, that after dinner one can just stroll right over to the big blue chapel that is easy to get to and, in most, cases within walking distance.
It won’t be that way when you get home. You will have to get out of bed, get the kids ready, and drive to the church on a Sunday morning when all of your buddies are sleeping in.
Some of you have already found the church of your choice, and that’s good, in many of those cases your family is already involved in the ministry and active in that community.
For other, this is the first time—ever or maybe in a long time—that you have been involved in any kind of regular attendance at church.
Either way, in the Army life, we will all being looking for a new church again, because you and I will PCS someday.
I wanted to take some time tonight and look at what the Bible tells us is a good church.
We are going to look at Revelation 3 on page 1089 in the red Bible under your chair.
The Bible shows us in Revelation 2 and 3 different kinds of local churches. If you have the Red Bible open, you will see headings that say “The Loveless Church”, “The Compromising Church”, “The Dead Church” and “The Lukewarm Church” .
But there are two churches that nothing negative is said about them.
One is “The persecuted Church” in Smyrna, and the other is “The Faithful Church” in Philadelphia.
We are going to focus our attention on the Philadelphia Church, because I believe that the Smyrna was following similar principles that the Philadelphia Church was following—which is why they were being persecuted.
One of the characteristics the Bible says about the church in Philadelphia is that it is a
1. Faithful Church
Revelation 3:7-9;
7“And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, ‘These things says He who is holy, He who is true, He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens” 8 “I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name. ? (Rv. 3:7-9, NKJV)
Verse 8 begins with the phrase “I know your works”. James 2:17 teaches us that “Faith without works is dead.” For a church to truly be a faithful church, it must be doing the work that God has designed it to do.
And it is easy to get off the wrong track and think that a church is doing “good things”, but not necessarily doing the right things.
Some of you may or may not know this, but I am an Amateur Radio Operator, some call it a HAM radio operator. I’m licensed by the FCC, to talk long distance over selected radio frequencies and, in fact, am licensed to modify different types of radio to make them more powerful and more effective.
One of the big disappointments came to me about two years ago, when Radio Shack, the communications company, closed their line of Amateur Radios and began the move toward the Best Buy/Circuit City market.
Radio Shack was formed for Ham Radio. That is why, you can find all of the wires and radio parts that you’ll ever need there. The reason why they are called Radio Shack is because the place where a Ham Radio Operator works is called his/her “radio shack”. The disappointment came to me because the company left their original market, abandoned it for an easier and prettier model.
They left their first love.
We need to belong to a church that remembers our first love is Christ. The church we need to look at is one that stays faithful to the things of God. We can become a great network of social organization but that is not what we are called to do.
When you are looking for a church back home, find a Church that seeks to be faithful to the things of God. Good programs are one thing, but don’t choose a church by its children’s programs. If they have good programs, that’s fine, but there needs to be substance, otherwise your waiting your time. They church is to be a faithful organization; faithful to the things of God.
The second characteristics the Bible says about the church in Philadelphia is that it is a
2. Foundational Church
10Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. (Rv. 3:10, NKJV)
Verse 10 says Because you have kept my command; Peterson’s The Message reads this as “Kept my word.” Because you have kept MY word.
We need to find churches that keep God’s Word. A foundational church is one that keeps God’s Word, to preserve and in other areas as well. A foundational church is one that seeks to follow the scriptures.
This week, I went up to Talafar to see some of our soldiers who are there. Yesterday, I flew back. When we left Talafar we went around the city and followed a ridge of mountains.
I thought it was pretty cool; I had my little camera taking pictures out the window of the mountain range. Here I was, the hero chaplain taking pictures of the Syrian border!
I got on the ground and feeling pretty good about myself, I asked the S3, where exactly were we. That would help my story a lot.
He shook his head and said, “Mosul”.
So all this time, we were flying around Mosul—which is cool in and of itself, but it wasn’t the Syrian border, by a long shot.
Without a map, I am simply lost. In fact, I can’t even find Tikrit on the map!
The same is true of our churches. Without the Bible, they are lost without any direction.
When you are looking for a church back home, find a Church that Preaches the Bible.
The psalmist writes
Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.(Ps 119:105, NKJV)
And so it is for churches. Churches need to constantly look to the Bible for guidance. This is why it is so important to listen to the preaching of the church. Don’t be swayed by a sermon that makes you feel good; don’t be swayed by a great speaker; don’t be swayed by creative presentations—be swayed by the use of the scriptures.
None of those things; creativity, motivation, or speaking skills, are bad. I try very hard to do all of those things—but they also can be misused to simply put people in church rather than to teach the word of God.
Look for a church that faithfully teaches the Bible.
The third characteristics the Bible says about the church in Philadelphia is that it needs to be a
3. Focused Church
11Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown. 12 He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name. 13“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” (Rv. 3: 11-13, NKJV)
God encourages the church to stay the course.
They have the faith with the works; they have the Bible, now they must stay the course. This is not to say that it isn’t already—but it needs to maintain the commitment.
We are looking forward to leaving over the next eight weeks or so. The new units will be rolling in and we will slowly move out. There is not a day that goes by that we don’t here somebody mention the daily or weekly count.
But we can not lose focus on what we are doing. We still have combat missions planned, there still are Air Assaults being planned, and there are still dangerous conditions that we are experiencing. We can not lose our focus, no matter how much we are longing for home, no matter how tired we say we are, and no matter how comfortable we are with our jobs—we still must maintain our focus.
The same is true with the church. Jesus is coming soon. He could come while I am preaching this sermon. He could come while we are sleeping. He could come anytime.
But that doesn’t matter—we should not give up the fight. We should not stop sharing the gospel; no matter how tired we are or how comfortable we have become.
When you are looking for a church back home, find a Church that will stay focused on the work of God. We can find many of good things to be doing. We can find political issues to fight. We can find many social programs to start. But we need to stay the course. Find a church that seeks to stay the course on its mission to bring people to worship the God of the Universe and to celebrate His son; Jesus.
The church back home you need to be apart of needs to be focused, foundational, and faithful. I’m not talking about denomination or specific beliefs—we all have them. I’m talking about a church that you can be apart of that will draw you closer to God.
I was reading a book the other night about hurricanes. The book opens with a story about Christopher Columbus, who discovered America. The story went on to reveal that on his last voyage back from America, he looked at the sky and felt in his joints, that the weather was going to be getting bad. He had lost sailors before in hurricanes. He had experienced there destructive power.
Once again, the people around him thought he was crazy when he said that they should wait and not go out to sea. The other ships left anyway. He stayed back.
Of the ships that went all 21 ships were lost.
Of Columbus’s all four ships were lost.
When you get home you need to be apart of a church that can give you guidance in this troubled world. The world around it may say that they are crazy or foolish. But you need to be apart of a church that seeks to be faithful to the things of God, foundational in its commitment to the scriptures, and focused on its mission.
Tonight, I want to give you an opportunity to know Jesus personally. We’ve been talking about attending church when you get back—but that is not enough to simply attend. God has given us these churches to preach the wonderful good news to the world He loves so much.
This good news is that Jesus died in our place because we are all sinners. We have all disobeyed God and must pay for that sin by our death. Jesus died so that we wouldn’t have to. We must simply accept this payment.
You can do that tonight. You can accept this payment right where you are sitting. After the service I will be available to talk to you more about this. Don’t let another day pass you by.
Let us pray.
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This sermon was preached at FOB Speicher, Iraq on 17JUL06
All scripture Marked NKJV: The New King James Version. 1996, c1982. Nashville: Thomas Nelson.