Recap of Ignite Youth Service, September 16, 2009

The War Series, Week 1

Dictionary.com describes War as a conflict carried on by force of arms, or, a state or period of armed hostility or active military operations.

The War Series

We have this concept of war as a completely negative thing. Sure, many wars are over ridiculous things, and awful things happen.  But, in Matthew 10:34, Jesus says "I come not to bring peace, but to bring a sword."  So does this mean that the concept we've been preaching about now for so many years about a peaceful Savior is false?  Absolutely not! It simply means that our God is not a sissy! He's not afraid of a fight!  Yes He wants peace in our lives, but sometimes it comes at the cost of war.

Many times, the old testament speaks of war. In fact I'll go so far as to say that it was a constant. But it was a different kind of war.  Today, war looks much different than it did in Biblical days, so many of the illustrations and metaphors for war are lost on our modern minds. However, taken in context, we can learn much from these stories.

To illustrate, take for instance the medieval warfare tactics shown in the film series The Lord of the Rings.  The warfare here is a little more closely related to Biblical accounts of war.  Now, in this light, think about some of the Biblical references:

He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze. Psalms 18:34

Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy mountain. Joel 2:1

We will shout for joy when you are victorious, and will lift up our banners in the name of our God. Psalms 20:5

Strangely enough, there is a time in our church services when many of these types of phrases are used.  It's during worship!

That's right, worship. Worship is warfare--spiritual warfare.  Sure, there are several other facets to spiritual warfare. But worship is a large part of it.  And I think that many people these days don't realize that worship is so important. It is how we make war on the enemy!  It's how we overcome!

Next week we'll explore worship in a more modern sense.

So what do you think?  We had some great comments about worship from many people last week, but I want to hear from you!

Comments

[migraine solution]

Nice content indeed! i will visit as often as i can.

cheers

[Recap of Ignite Youth Service,]

[...] we continued our discussion of worship:  Warship is Spiritual Warfare.  Check out the recap of last week’s lesson to [...]