Knight for Christ Ministry
      Statement of Purpose     
by Shawn Smith

"And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God" (1 Corinthians
2:1-5).

I could not think of a better way to launch the Knight for Christ Ministry than with a quote from Paul about he felt as an apostle of Christ. As John MacArthur points out in his book, Hard to Believe--The High Cost and Infinite Value of Following Jesus, Paul ". . .didn’t shy away from the hard truth of the cross but embraced it instead saying in effect, ‘I’m not looking for a popular position from which to proclaim this message or advance it on the back of public favor. I preach the shameful cross because that’s what I’ve been told to preach. And I leave it to the sovereign power of God to work through that message to produce a faith that rests not on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.’"

The hard, unglamorous, narrow-minded gospel is hard enough to swallow in its true form. But to add insult to injury, from the beginning, those promoting it were rejected and had no respect in society. Like Paul, who preached this despot message with faith. "The people proclaiming the most important and hard-to-believe truth are generally the ones the world despises, belittles, and ignores" adds John MacArthur. "In A.D. 178, Celsus wrote that Christians were the most vulgar and uneducated people around." Paul tells us this was by divine design--that God has purposely chosen the foolish and the non-intellectuals to shame the wise.

"For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence" (1 Corinthians 1:26-29).

This describes what I want to say and my direction for this ministry. It is of the utmost importance that we take on the tough questions of our day with biblical simplicity and truth. God is sovereign in the three persons of Himself, His son, and His Holy Spirit—and you and I are not. MacArthur is right when he says, "You are not the captain of your soul or the master of your fate. You do not hold your destiny in your own hand." I think one of the most important biblical statements is that if God did not choose to open our eyes we would remain spiritually dead in sin. The higher learning and intellectualism of our society today has nothing to do with redemption. God in his sovereign knowledge requires that divine revelation through the Holy Spirit be the first step in salvation, not human foolish wisdom. Man cannot know God through his intellect.

However, never doubt that we have the free will to deny that invitation. There is a line in the sand--on which side do you stand? If any of us our going to answer the call of the Holy Spirit, we have to count the cost of following Christ. Have you taken the time to count the true cost of this commitment? Jesus Christ is perfectly clear what that cost is.

"Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn "'a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother in law—a man's enemies will be the members of his own household.’

"Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me." (Mathew 10:34-38)

In essence Jesus Christ says, "Don’t follow me unless you are ready to pay the price of self-denial, self-crucifixion, and self-submission." My prayer is, "Temper my behavior, my sinful desire, but not my words of truth for the kingdom, AMEN."

I must stress that true biblical Christianity has nothing to do with self-esteem. On the contrary it’s about being able to turn our backs on satanic pride, which, dear brothers and sisters, runs counter to our society’s secular belief system. We in the United States are all about the awards, the positions we can ascribe to, and independence—doing our own thing, being individuals. Knightly Christianity is learning to bow to the personal creator of the universe through the three- person trinity. It’s being able to be a true leader by first bowing and becoming a follower. To gain self esteem we must lose it. We must realize the reprobate, wicked, nasty thing we are—sinners. This goes against every self-help guru out there, whether secular or liberal Christian.

Jesus Christ was blunt with us when he told us, "I am sending you out like sheep among wolves." As biblical Christians we must learn to see the wolves in sheep’s clothing and stand firm in our true biblical beliefs. In Mathew 24:4-11, Jesus talks twice about not being fooled by false prophets. In verse 13 He says, "But he who stands firm to the end will be saved."

Jesus told us that Satan would attack the truth by working through all people who believe they can earn salvation—which includes Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and many liberal Protestants and Roman Catholics. He also said "many false prophets will appear and deceive many people" (Mathew 24:11).

As Christians, we must "stand firm to the end" and realize what the "truth" is that Jesus talks about in the New Testament. That truth is this: When Jesus breathed His last on the cross, His death gave us life through the atonement to God via His shed blood. Salvation comes only through a belief in that truth.

John MacArthur’s statement about truth in his book, Hard to Believe, should be every Christian’s truth: "The absolute exclusivity of it has always been a shameful, embarrassing, inconvenient message to worldly-wise sinners, but the truth is nonnegotiable. Other religions are not truth and lead only to eternal damnation. Islam is a damning system. Buddhism is a damning system. Hinduism is a damning system. Simply not believing the gospel is itself enough to damn a person."

As the Blue Knight for Christ, I am striving to reach as many people as possible who have erred in their thinking and beliefs. But I also realize that I can only reach those whom God wants me to reach. And when He sends someone my way, I will teach repentance, obedience, and submission, always remembering that the glory will be to God, and not me—the messenger.

Oh Father,

Give me the strength to lead, the wisdom to teach, and the faith to fight. Don’t hold against me the wretched and vial things that creep into my mind. Pull me ever so closely and hold me so tight. By denying myself and fighting the good fight, by doing so make me Your Knight for Christ, Amen.

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