Preparing for War – #2 Offensive/Defensive

We begin with the second week of our 9 week basic training course on “Preparing for War”.

Last week we began with the first component for our “training” (if you will) as OBJECTIVE: purpose is ultimate destruction of enemy forces… and the will to take  every thought captive to Christ.

LESSON ONE we learned was that we cannot allow the evil we encounter I our lives to even slightly remain in our thoughts…..we need to plan on utterly destroy

2.   Offensive/Defensive – seize, retain and achieve the objective….prevail.

Initially when I was looking at this second key I thought of only offense. That an offense is the best component of in a strategy of war. When thinking about this I decided that we needed to add another component which goes right along with the old saying of “Sometimes the best Offense is a strong……..DEFENSE”.

a.      Football – only 1 defense player since 1935 (2) others played both ways.

                                          i.    When in doubt, punt!    
- John Heisman

                                                             ii.      Heisman! Most coveted college football award was named after……should be offensive! So many times you think you can make it when what you really need to do is punt so your defense can do its work.

b.      War

                                         i.    You may have heard many times about launching an offensive. Not too long ago I watched the movie “Saving Private Ryan”. The film is notable for the intensity of its opening 27 minutes, which depict the Omaha beachhead assault of June 6, 1944. The assault force expected to execute this plan totaled over 34,000 men and 3,300 vehicles, with naval support provided by two battleships, three cruisers, 12 destroyers, and 105 other ships. It is loosely based on the real life story of the Niland Brothers.

                                        ii.    Defensive could be the Germans stronghold or even later in the movie where the small group of soldiers held a defensive of the bridge while waiting on the additional troops.

c.       Bible Battle

                                                              i.       Joshua 6:1-5 ¹ Now Jericho was securely shut up because of the children of Israel; none went out, and none came in. ² And the LORD said to Joshua: “See! I have given Jericho into your hand, its king, and the mighty men of valor. ³ You shall march around the city, all you men of war; you shall go all around the city once. This you shall do six days. ⁴ And seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark. But the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. ⁵ It shall come to pass, when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, that all the people shall shout with a great shout; then the wall of the city will fall down flat. And the people shall go up every man straight before him.”

d.      Little Known Fact

                                         i.    The Angers Bridge in Angers, France, collapsed on 18 April 1850 when 478 French soldiers marched across in lockstep; 226 soldiers died in the river below. "Because the soldiers were marching together, they caused the bridge to vibrate and twist from side to side, dislodging an anchoring cable from its concrete mooring."

                                        ii.    The Manhattan Bridge reacted dynamically to two recent mass pedestrian exoduses from the island. The cables groaned and the bridge swayed visibly from side to side as masses of pedestrians crossed the bridge after 9-11 and again during the blackout of 2003.

                                      iii.    Nikola Tesla (10 July 1856 – 7 January 1943) established a laboratory in New York. While experimenting with mechanical oscillators, he allegedly generated a resonance of several buildings causing complaints to the police. As the speed grew he hit the resonance frequency of his own building and belatedly realizing the danger he was forced to apply a sledge hammer to terminate the experiment, just as the astonished police arrived.

Matt 16:18 ¹⁶ Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” ¹⁷ Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. ¹⁸ And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. ¹⁹ And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

                                                              i. Verse :17 Jesus responded to Peter and tells him that man (flesh and blood) didn’t reveal this wisdom.  Man cannot do that.  We cannot understand the big picture.

a.   When you are a football player or warrior out on the battle field, you do not see the big picture.  Your small part adds to the masses and makes the picture whole. The coach or the general understands the implications of each soldier.

b.   Joshua’s men had to wonder why are we doing this?

c.   This is why the king used to stand on the hillside and watch the battle and direct the action.   Coaches are up in the box at the top of a stadium and watching the action of the entire field.

d.   God is over us and can see all of the action and understands the big picture. Jesus explains to Peter that his understanding has been revealed to him by His Father in Heaven.

                                                            ii. We have heard in football the players claim, “This is my house!” Basically meaning that the ground their opponent is coming to compete is theirs and no one is going to take it away.  They are going to make their stand. On this rock! Verse :18

a.   Many have said Jesus is calling Peter the man the rock. Even calling him a Pope, They said that the church of built on Peter. But they are wrong. That isn’t what Jesus was talking about.

                                                          iii. On this Rock. Not even the gates of Hades shall prevail against it, Jesus claims. You can call it offense or defense but the fact remains is that none other be able to bring it down. But by mentioning the GATES of Hades, I envision this as a defense against the church.  The wave of good (or the offense) will attack Satan.

All of this is figurative. The rock…..is the confession. By some the confession is a sign of weakness, but this is where so many are confused.  The best defense is a strong offense.  Jesus spins it all around just like he did in his death, just when Satan thinks he wins by Jesus dying on the cross, he realizes Jesus has won the battle wins by his resurrection.

Just punt! It isn’t a weakness.  It is turning it over to Jesus to finish the fight. That is what Jesus is telling Peter. On this rock……on this confession! I will build my church.

EPHESIANS 2:19-22 ¹⁹ Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, ²⁰ having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, ²¹ in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, ²² in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

Jesus is the cornerstone, that is what we build upon. But he has to have a place ready to be placed in order to build that temple.  A smooth place ready to receive Him.  Ready and willing to receive the word. Peter’s confession in verse :16

“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Sower of the seed…what kind of soil

This is our offense and our defense.  Sometimes the best offense is a stronger defense.

This is our victory. By this we are given the keys to heaven verse :19¹⁹ And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

² In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. ³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. John 14:2-3

Thru Christ we have won the war already…we just need to continue to fight the battles….that is a twist as well.

INVITATION: He has prepared a place for us……but first we must prepare for the war….by first making the confession. 

Romans 10:10
For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Hear  - Believe  - Repent – Confess – Be Baptized

We are here as your re-enforcements to pray on your behalf, come forward and share your need as we stand and sing the invitation song.