Endure Hardship As A Good Soldier.
By Mike Warlick.
Subject: Endure Hardship as a Good
Soldier by Mike Warlick.
Date: Monday, November 22, 1999 3:48
PM
Part # 1.
Endure Hardship As A Good
Soldier of Jesus Christ------By Mike Warlick
of North Carolina.
Now this sermon has merit in it is the
reason why I have it presented
for the Glory Of Jesus Christ,and the
blessing of the Saints of God in this
last and evil day in which we now
live.
This sermon was
preached in 1973,and here it is.
11 Tim. 2;3--"Thou therefore endure
hardness, as a good Soldier of Jesus
When you go down to
the Post Office and sign up for the United States
Army, you are told that you becoming a
part of the greatest fighting force
on the earth. You are now a part of the
United States Army. You are to
like a Soldier,talk like a Soldier,look
like a Soldier and dress like a
Soldier, because you are now a part of
the Army.
that when he signed up for basic
training, they put them on a bus and
sent them out to where they were to take
their training. When they got to
their destination, a seargent got on the
bus and bagan to tell them:---you
had a good home, but you left. Now, I am
your Mamma, I am your Daddy, I am
your sister and I am your brother. If at
any time you don't like me, or
way I do things, and you think you are
man enough to change it, then go
ahead and leap over here on
me.
After he got through cussing
them out and calling them everything in the
book, he said, you've got five minutes to
get off this bus, and I have
already used three of them talking to
you. That boy said, I want you to
know that we were scared to death. He
said, we started getting off the bus
in a hurry. The Seargent tripped one of
the boys and he fell to the
and several of the other boys tumbled
over on top of him. The Seargent
said, what's wrong boys, can't you walk?
He told them to get back on the
bus.He had them on the bus, off the bus,
on the bus,off the bus,on the
off the bus. The boy said, what in the
world have I joined? However, it
didn't take him long to realize that
being a Soldier wasn't going to be
easy. if he was going to make a Soldier,
HE WAS GOING TO HAVE TO ENDURE
That's what the Word of God
tells us, to endure hardness as a good
of Jesus Christ. You may say, My preacher
told me when I came to God, He
would make me rich; there would be my pot
of gold at the end of the
rainbow. I would have a flowery bed of
ease. Let me tell you, neighbor,
your preacher lied to you. It is not
going to be easy to be a Soldier in
this hour, in this age of APOSTACY
!
You are going to have trials
and tribulations, and they that live Godly
Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
"If we suffer, we shall also reign
with Him: if we deny Him, He also will
deny us:" ( 2 Tim.2;12) You are
going to be hated of all men for His
Name's sake. And he that endures,
ENDURES, ENDURES unto the end shall be
saved. (Mark 13;13) I have heard
people
say before, " I have stood it as long as I can stand it." Let
me
tell you neighbor, if you are going to be
a Soldier in the Army of the
Lord, you are going to have to stand it
even longer. The Bible said, having
done all to stand, still
stand.(Eph.6;13,14)
God, in no way, shape or
form, gives you permission to throw up your
and retreat to the devil. He said to
press on toward the Mark of the Prize
of the High Calling, which is in Christ
Jesus.(Phil.3;14) The Apostle Paul
tells us that we are none of them that
draw back into Perdition; but of
them that believe,BELIEVE to the saving
of the soul. (Heb.10;39)
This young man also told me
about the time when he was in basic
He said, one day the Seargent walked over
to him and said, "You like me
boy, don't you?" He said, yes Seargent, I
like you. The Seargent said,
"Well liking leads to loving, and loving
leads to getting messed up, and
you are not going to mess me up. You like
me, don't you?" He said,no
Seargent, I don't like you. "Why don't
you like me, do I stink?" He said,
no Seargent, you don't stink."What do you
mean I don't stink. The way I
work around here and you try to tell me I
don't stink. I stink, don't I?"
He said, yes Seargent, you stink."What do
you mean I stink. I'll have you
know I take a bath every day." You may
say that they shouldn't do
those
boys
minds like that. Let me tell you neighbor, that Seargent knows
that
they wanted to and do what they wanted
to. You know they are back home
you see the whites of their eyes. An Army
of this caliber would not last as
long as a snowball in
hell.
That Seargent has to
break their minds down. He has to break their
morals
down, so that when the time comes and he
tells them to jump, that won't
stand there and say, why? Why? Why? When
he tells them to jump, all that
on their minds is how high.When he tells
them to leap, they'll think, how
far.When he tells them to holler, they'll
think how loud.When he tells
to roll
over, they'll think, which way. Would to God that the church,
which
is to be the fighting force of God in the
earth today, would come to the
place to where they wouldn't say why this
and why that.When God says to
your Tithes, don't ask Him why, just do
it. When God says to assemble
yourselves that much more as you see the
day approaching, don't ask Him
why, just do it. When God says to love
your neighbor as yourself, don't
Him why, just do it. When God says don't
take your liberties as an
occassion to sin, don't ask Him why, just
do it. IT IS NOT YOURS TO REASON
WHY, IT IS YOURS TO DO OR
DIE.
For too long now, the church
has been looked upon as some namby-pamby,
side-winding, sawed-off beat
down,oppressed,turn the other cheek,step on
them, stomp on them, do anything to them,
type of individuals. Well, I am
here to tell you that the Church of the
Living God is not that at all. He
likens the Church unto an Army that has
banners. It is not something that
the devil can converge upon and take
captive at his own will; for Inside
this church is an Army who has power to
resist the devil and he will flee.
I am here to tell you that we are not the
Victim, we are the VICTOR !
I saw a movie not long ago of Patton. He
was walking through the barracks
checking on the men that were in a dying
condition and the wounded ones.
walked up to this one boy who was
trembling and crying like a baby and
said, "What's wrong boy?" The boy
answered that he was nervous and scared
to death. Patton looked at him and said,
"You sorry, low-down, good for
nothing, coward. You stand here in front
of these men that are dying, and
cry
like a baby." He told the men to take him out in front of the
firing
squad and let them kill him. Better
still, he said, I'll just kill him
myself, and he pulled out his gun and
started to kill him, but the men
jerked the boy up and took him outside
before Patton could kill him.
God in this hour is not
looking for a bunch of Cowards. Those jokers
that
are running to Canada---it is not so much
that they are conscientious
objecters, as much it is that they are a
bunch of Cowards. They are scared
to stand on their own two feet; to stand
up like a man and fight. THEY ARE
A BUNCH OF COWARDS.
If you want to look for Cowards today,
you can start looking among the
preachers. There are more Cowards in the
ranks of preachers than you have
ever seen before. They will stand up and
tell you, "I've got to protect my
name." "I don't want to get involved."
I'll tell you what the Truth of the
matter is, their backbone is so small,
that if it wasn't for such a
big
yellow streak down their back, their
pants would fall down. They are
nothing but a bunch of
Cowards.
Cowards were the first thing God got rid
of in the day of Gideon. God
him to get all the people together.
Gideon started with 32,000 people, and
God said, I want you tell every one of
the Cowards and those that are
fearful, those that are afraid, tell them
to get out of here. About that
time, 22,000 cowards left the scene; only
10,000 left. God said, you have
still got too many, take them down to the
water. That has always been a
means of seperation. Gideon took them
down to the water, and God told him
what to
do. After that, he looked and there were only 300 on one side
and
the rest on the other. I imagine Gideon
said, I've done lost 22,000 people
and it looks like I'm getting ready to
lose about 300 more. God said, no,
you are going to keep those 300 and get
rid of the rest. He ended up with
just 300 people, but you remember what a
Great Victory was won that day.
God doesn't need something
big.
They told about Bethlehem being least
among the nations, but I read where
it says"And thou Bethlehem, in the land
of Juda, are not the least among
the princes of Juda: for out of thee
shall come a Governor, that shall rule
My people Israel." (Matt.2;6) You may
think that you are small, minute and
can't do anything, but little is much if
God is in IT. God doesn't need a
big crowd or big numbers. One of the
worst things David got a whipping
was that he sent Joab out and told him to
number Israel, from Dan even to
Beersheba. Joab said he didn't want
to go, but the Bible said the word of
the King prevailed. Joab went out and
began to count the people, and the
anger of the Lord was kindled that day.
The Prophet Gad went to David and
said, God is angry because you have
counted those that are far you. God
told me to give you three choices; (1)
either you are going to have seven
years of famine; (2) three months you are
going to be chased by your
enemies, or (3) three days you are going
to have pestilence in the land.
David said, "I am in a great strait: let
us fall now into the Hand of the
That night the Angel of the Lord walked
down through the troops of Israel
and
killed 70,000 men and would have went on further, but God said,
stop
that is enough. I imagine David had a
hard time trying to substract those
70,000 men after he had gotten through
counting them. You go into churches
today, and they have got a thing on the
backboard that tells you how many
are in church, and how many are on the
roll, but that doesn't mean
to God. Some people have got to the place
to where they think the Kingdom
of God is based upon them. Let me tell you
neighbor, the Kingdom of God
stanndeth sure having this seal, God
knows them that belong to Him. (2
Tim.2;19) God doesn't need you, YOU NEED
GOD !
In the Old Testament, Israel was God's
Army. In the New Testament, the
Church of the Living God is God's Army in
the earth today. The Army of
Israel laid in trenches for forty days
and forty nights, because of one
man, a giant by the name of
Goliath.(Go-Lie-eth.My addition typing
Satan)..Goliath stood on a hill and
defied the Armies of the Living God.
All of Israel was scared to death. David
came down to give his brothers
some food, and as he walked down he heard
Goliath running his mouth. He
asked the men of Israel what was he
hearing. They said, don't you know
that's Goliath, and he has been standing
up there defying the Armies of
God. David said, why doesn't somebody go
out there and kill him? They
we can't do it, we are scared to death.We
are a bunch of Cowards. David
said, well, I am not scared of him. They
asked him, what gives you so much
courage? He said, one day I was out
tending to the sheep, and I was
the
Lord is My Shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down
in
green pastures: He leadeth me beside the
still waters. He restoreth my
soul: He leadeth me in the paths of
Righteousness for His Name's
sake.---and about that time a great
big bear came up, and I grabbed him and
slew him. Later on, a Lion came by; he
thought he would play the same
trick, but I grabbed him by his beard and
slew him also. Who is this that
stands up and defies the Army of the
Living God.
After talking with King Saul about
the situation, the King decided to
David go fight Goliath. King Saul offered
David his armour. David refused
to wear it. They didn't know that it's
not by might, nor by power, but by
My Spirit saith the Lord. (Zech. 4;6) We
do not need this world's armour.
All we need is God Almighty's Armour. God
said that He gave us the helmet
of Salvation, (HELL--MET), the
breastplate of Righteousness, the Sword of
the Spirit, the shield of Faith, and
having your feet shod with the
preparation of the Gospel of peace. (Eph.
6;13,18) And of you will notice,
ALL OF THIS ARMOUR IS FOR THE FRONT OF
YOU, BECAUSE YOU ARE NOT SUPPOSED
I am told that when Cortez went down to
Mexico, he got every one of his
drunk, and while they were in this
condition, he took several men and set
the ships on fire and destroyed their
means of escape. He went back to his
men and told them all the ships were
destroyed. Cortez said, if you are
going to get home, you are going to have
to kill somebody and take their
ship.
This is what the Church needs today, we
need to burn every bridge behind
us. We
don't need to look back, we need to move FOR GOD !
The end of part
1.