Wednesday, February 16, 2005

A Soldier's Day of Renewal

Last Sunday was our Soldier's Day of Renewal. Many brought their original Covenants with them for reference. We talked about our Covenant as Soldiers and whether or not we were actually fulfilling what we promised when we signed on the dotted line. We swore-in our newest Soldier: Clarise Smith. She loves the Lord and is so excited about joining this Army for the fight! Glad to have you by our side, Clarise! Get out there and bring them in from the fields of sin!

There's eleven good points in our Covenant, but we specifically looked at three.

Point 9: I will be actively involved, as I am able, in the life, work, worship and witness of the corps, giving as large a proportion of my income as possible to support its ministries and the worldwide work of the Army.

Point 1: I will be responsive to the Holy Spirit's work and obedient to His leading in my life, growing in grace through worship, prayer, service and the reading of the Bible.

Point 8: I will be faithful to the purposes for which God raised up The Salvation Army, sharing the good news of Jesus Christ, endeavoring to win others to Him and in His name caring for the needy and the disadvantaged.

To our Soldiers: Are you living out the Covenant you signed? Are you fulfilling your promises? Hey- don't get mad at me for challenging you- no one's drafted in this Army! We all signed of our own free will. You promised. You signed the Covenant. It's up to you to be faithful.

To those not Soldiers (yet): Are you ready to make a serious commitment to wage a real knock-down, drag-out fight-to-the-finish war? Only those aching to win the world for Jesus need apply. We have no other jobs in this Army.

1 comment:

Christin ><> said...

Amen bro! I was just having a conversation with some asbury seminary students today about our articles of war. They said that it was the most serious document they've ever come into contact with regarding simple 'membership' in the church. They were floored to think that we put so much responsibility into the hands of our members --- and my response was "Shouldn't ALL christians WANT to live up to Christ's standards?!?!" .....the answer, without hesitation....is yes. We should want to live HOLY....i've been thinking about that topic a lot lately....to live HOLY....perhaps i will blog on it soon....