Thursday, November 16, 2017
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It sounded like strange justice. I heard about a judge who sentenced a juvenile offender to, among other things, go watch a movie. The movie was called, "Saving Private Ryan" - a movie that critics say portrayed with savage realism the D-Day Invasion and the awful brutality of war. I guess the judge wanted that juvenile offender to see what his freedom cost the people who fought for it.
The movie also introduced a new generation to that amazing invasion that was the turning point of World War II. The mission: retake Europe from the grip of Adolf Hitler. Now how did they capture something as big as Europe? By just dropping paratroopers in the middle and saying, "We are taking Europe!"? No-o-o-o. That's what D-Day was all about-tens of thousands of Allied soldiers putting everything they had into capturing a little beach on the coast of France. That's a long way from Berlin, but it's what the military calls a beachhead...a small piece of ground that you get under control. Then you move from that to another small victory and another beachhead. So the heroes of D-Day moved from that beach to take a farm, and then a bridge, and then a village and then another village. And one day they marched into Berlin. They had conquered all that ground, not in one blazing victory, but one beachhead at a time.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Beachhead Victory Plan."
God's ancient people had a similar challenge when God sent them to take the land of Canaan - a big piece of ground. God's strategy for taking a lot of territory is laid out in our word for today from the Word of God in Deuteronomy 7. In verse 17, God says to His people, "You may say to yourselves, ‘These nations are stronger than we. How can we drive them out?'"
Then He says in verses 21 and 22, "Do not be terrified...for the Lord your God who is among you is a great and awesome God. The Lord your God will drive out those nations before you, little by little." So, how do you conquer a massive piece of ground? Little by little.
Over and over, we've heard the challenge to "dedicate your life to Jesus Christ." And you may have responded and dedicated your life and rededicated your life and maybe re-rededicated your life. If you're like many of us, you've struggled with how to dedicate your life. After all, your "life" is a huge piece of ground. But God's plan for you giving control of your life to Him is a lot like taking Europe or Canaan...one beachhead at a time.
In other words, while you're trying to give Jesus everything, be sure you surrender a specific something to Him each new day. That's why Jesus said to take up His cross daily. There's no grand and glorious super dedication decision you can make that will settle this once and for all. But here's a commitment that will work: "Jesus, each new day I will consciously surrender a specific part of me for You to control that day." As you spend time in His Word, He'll show you the area He'd like to focus on in this 24 hours.
See, it's all about taking daily beachheads; letting Jesus take control of one little piece of your life each new day-one part of your life under His control. You go from there to take another beachhead the next day. And some day you're going to lay at His feet a whole life you gave to Him, one thing at a time, one day at a time.
Yes, you crown Jesus Lord of your whole life. But you act out that commitment with daily surrenders of real, specific parts of you, expanding His Lordship a little more each day. Living the Jesus-life isn't about some once-and-for-all super dedication commitment. It's a life of a thousand little victories...taking ground from the enemy and raising the flag of Jesus over it one beachhead at a time.