There are billions of human beings today who are living their life without Christ. The pastor-congregation pattern of role expectations (the pastor preaches and the congregation sits and listens) never will reach the majority of this mass of souls as far as conforming them to the will of God is concerned.

But the Holy Spirit is calling out from these spiritually inefficient assemblings a warlike remnant of people, young and old, who are ready to be disciples of Christ in the New Testament sense of the word.

Before Christ returns from Heaven these new disciples will make an impact on every human being on the earth. Because of their acceptance of death with Christ on the cross, their absolute, single-minded obedience to the Father, they will accomplish more in the next few years than has been accomplished over the past two thousand years of church history.

There is a military aspect of the Christian discipleship. Discipleship and being a soldier have many points in common.

And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. (II Timothy 2:2,3)

Notice the close relationship between discipleship and being a soldier of Christ. A soldier is a man under discipline. He is dedicated to the service of his king. He will give his life for his country. He will obey orders, even to death. He lives to serve his king and country. So it is with the disciple of Christ.

A good soldier endures hardness without complaining. He realizes that in order to win a war there must be much suffering, much danger, much discomfort to one's self. He does not complain because complaining would weaken the hands of his fellow soldiers and aid the enemy.

No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. (II Timothy 2:4)

A soldier has one goal in life—to keep himself prepared to destroy the enemy of his king. Every other matter is secondary in importance. A good soldier does nothing that will enable the enemy to catch him off guard and do damage to what he has been assigned to protect.

Fred Smith is entangled with the affairs of this life. His heart is set on making money so he can get married, buy a house, own a new car, furnish his home with nice things, and gradually acquire additional articles of comfort and convenience. The church is a place where he goes on Sunday because that is what a "Christian" is supposed to do.

Fred's mind seldom is on "things above." He is not seeking first the Kingdom of God. He is seeking first the material riches. Matters pertaining to his religion are secondary in importance. He will give some attention to church activities when he finds the time.

To be continued.