The "Guns of Navarone" part 2

John 10:11-16, Ephesians 6:10-18, and or 1 Corinthians 12

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If you missed part 1


“Guns” part 2


Each one, a specialty: a professional mountain climber, an explosive expert, a military strategist, an engineer, a street smart assassin, an expert knife fighter, and a commander.

So, your local church should look the same, right?

Well, to an extent, yes! We are each gifted by the Holy Spirit in distinct and different ways – one NOT more important than any other, as we are told by Paul. So, why do we sometimes act as if they are? Selfishness and pride!!

Remember the 2,000 prisoners! They are our purpose; they are our motivation, they are our goal!

If the team from “Guns” were focused on their own individual needs or desires, the mission would have failed – completely! See, Mallory and Stavros, though they had worked as a team for years on Crete, were now hated enemies. Stavros had vowed to hunt-down Mallory after the war ended and kill him. He blamed Mallory for the death of his wife and children. He had to lay aside his personal goal/desires to successfully accomplish the mission, which was greater than all their combined “issues.”

Maria had been part of the rescue of Anna from the Germans. They had worked side by side for years, Anna, suffering from psychological muteness from her experiences by German hand. Saving and serving one another, one life dependent upon the other’s, and still, when discovering Anna was spying for the Germans, Maria didn’t to kill Anna! She had to lay aside her personal goal/desires to successfully accomplish the mission, which was greater than all their combined “issues.”

We, too, are on mission – a direct order. We cannot deny it. We are each uniquely blessed, talented, and gifted by the Master. For a specific purpose of fulfilling our mission, we each have “specialties.” Coupled with a uniqueness of gifts, we each must put aside our own personal desires, goals, agendas, and purposes, if we are successfully to achieve our mission. In order to successfully achieve something far greater than ourselves, we must empty ourselves of ourselves, know ourselves better than we now know ourselves, and value others more than oursleves!