HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN?

Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong.  (1 Corinthians 16:13) 

Today is a day to remember the worst terrorist attack on American soil.  We are too quick with the passing of time to move on with our lives.  Darryl Worley’s haunting lyrics remind us: 

They took all the footage off my T.V.
Said it's too disturbing for you and me
It'll just breed anger that's what the experts say
If it was up to me I'd show it everyday
Some say this country's just out looking for a fight
Well, after 9/11 man I'd have to say that's right

Have you forgotten how it felt that day?
To see your homeland under fire
And her people blown away
Have you forgotten when those towers fell?
We had neighbors still inside going thru a living hell
And we vowed to get the one’s behind bin Laden
Have you forgotten? 

Behind this terror attack—and all evil in the world—is that which was launched in heaven when Satan led a third of the angels in rebellion against God.  It is a war that shifted theaters to earth.  This conflict is not with bullets and bombs, but fought with the weapons of truth and love.  It is a struggle for the souls of men and women, for the direction of a nation, and ultimately, for the freedom to share the Gospel with the world.  There was a time Christians sang enthusiastically, “Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war with the cross of Jesus going on before.”  Much Biblical imagery testifies to this truth.  The verse before us does. 

DON’T FORGET WE ARE SOLDIERS OF VIGILANCE: “Watch….”  Christians are sentries posted in the camp.  Jefferson said, “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.”  Until the end of time, there will always be foes to face and forces to fight.  The enemy will probe our defenses and we dare not drop our guard.  He sneaks in behind the church’s walls with a Trojan Horse of compromise—doctrinally or morally—with disastrous consequences. 

DON’T FORGET WE ARE SOLDIERS OF VERACITY: “stand fast in the faith….” Veracity means, “habitual observance of truth…conformity to truth.”  That is what Paul demands.  He is not speaking of faith as a belief in truth, but THE faith as a body of truth.  It is the system of doctrine that had been once for all delivered to the saints.  We cannot waver in the withering assault of heresy and apostasy—from the cult that adds to the Word and the liberal that subtracts from it.  Dig in your heels.  “The B-I-B-L-E, yes, that’s the Book for me; I stand alone on the Word of God, the B-I-B-L-E!” 

DON’T FORGET WE ARE SOLDIERS OF VALOR: “be brave….” Courage enabled Noah to stand alone against an unbelieving world as he successfully got his family on the ark.  Courage led Moses’ mother to hide her son contrary to Pharaoh’s decree.  Courage provided a boy named David with victory over a giant, armed only with a slingshot.  Courage stiffened the spines of three Hebrew lads willing to be cast into a fiery furnace rather than bow to an idol.  It is a clarion call to courage that we need in these days. 

DON’T FORGET WE ARE SOLDIERS OF VIGOR: “be strong.”  God never said it would be easy.  What He promised is the power of Christ to equip us.  The old hymn reminds us, “Stand up, stand up for Jesus, Stand in His strength alone.”  That is all the power we need. 

Let us never forget these truths!