II TIMOTHY 2:1-7 (NIV)

There are three characters in this story:
SOLDIER • ATHLETE • FARMER

“CAN WE BE BETTER AND DO MORE FOR THE KINGDOM IN THE NEXT 20 YEARS THAN WE HAVE IN THE PAST 20 YEARS?”

2 Timothy 2:3-4
Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer.

SOLDIERS

• PEOPLE WHO WILL FIGHT THE RIGHT FIGHT.
• The first thing I’m looking for in this church are people who will fight the right fight in order to please the One Who enlisted them.

WORD: Some soldiers are being lost because they’re fighting a battle of rebellion. If you/I will not submit to the authorities God has placed over us, neither will anyone submit to the authority God has placed in your life. If you continue to fight in rebellion, you will lose all the favor and authority God placed in your life. The Holy Spirit says that the Spirit of Saul will not prevail and if we continue in rebellion, fighting the authorities in our lives, He will remove you from authority/favor. It’s God who raises up and puts down and if you/I cause casualties in the army of the Lord, He will ride the wings of the wind to the back side of the desert and pick up an obscure shepherd boy that nobody knows and elevate him to your place and position.

ATHLETES

2 Timothy 2:5
Similarly, anyone who competes as an athlete does not receive the victor’s crown except by competing according to the rules.

• A GOOD ATHLETE MUST COMPETE FOR THE CROWN AND NOT THE CROWD.
• I understand competition is inbred in us, but also understand that unless we are competing “according to the rules,” THERE IS NO CROWN!

I CORINTHIANS 9:24-27
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

FARMERS

• YOU MUST FIRST EAT BEFORE YOU ATTEMPT TO FEED OTHERS.

Zech. 13:7
Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.

Church, if we’re going to ADVANCE THE KINGDOM in 2025, then lets start BY…FIGHTING THE RIGHT FIGHT…COMPETING FOR THE CROWN, NOT THE CROWD…FEEDING OURSELVES BEFORE TRYING TO FEED OTHERS.

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