What Flag Are You Flying - Leland Kropf

Greetings this morning in the holy name of Jesus. It's

good to be together on a Lord's Day morning this

way appreciated the service this far. Appreciated by the Earl's

talk on angels, and for the sake of time, I

won't go into that more, but it is interesting, and

I believe there have been more current day manifestations or

of these heavenly messengers and helpers. Appreciated the devotional Brother

Leland gave here. I believe it introduces well. But I'd

like to talk about this morning. I'd like to simply

ask the question, what flag are you flying? And you

may say, well, that sounds kind of kind of strange

here for a Sunday morning sermon, but I believe it is.

It is scriptural. It's something we need to ask ourselves.

What flag are we flying? Now? The word flag is

we're going to use it is not in the scriptures

as such, but there are other other words that would

could be interpreted that way. So I'd like for you

to turn with me to Psalm sixty. We've all read

the full Psalm. The whole Psalm here and especially verse

four would be I would consider my text. So we'll

read this at this time Psalm sixty. Oh God that

has cast us off, thats scattered us, that's been displeased,

Oh turn thyself to us again. Thus made the earth

to tremble, Thus broken it healed the breeches thereof. For

it shaketh that has showed thy people hard things, that

has made us to drink the wine of astonishment, that

has given us a banner, That has given a banner

to them that fear thee that it may be displayed

because of the truth Selim, that thy beloved might be delivered.

Save with thy right hand, and hear me. God has

spoken in his holiness. I will rejoice. I will divide

Sheikham and meet out the vallet. Sukof Gilead is mine

manask his mine. Ephraim also is the strength of mine head.

Jude is my lawgiver, Moab is my wash pot. Oh

read them, will I cast out my shoe felist ya triumph.

Thou because of me bring me into the strong city.

Who will lead me into eat them well? Not thou

will God, which has cast us off, and thou, God,

which didst go out with our armies, give us help

from trouble, for vain is the help of man through

God we shall do valiantly for He it is that

treadeth down our enemies bursts four again, that has given

a banner unto them that fear thee, that it may

be displayed because of the truth. So this morning, what

flag are you flying? The US flag? A Trump flag,

Maybe it's a I would hope not a beaver's flag

or a duck's flag. People like to identify. People want

to tell others what they stand for and who they support.

People that God had brought his people through a hard time.

I think that's we can see that here in this Psalm.

And yet down in verses eleven and twelve that we

just read, it does speak of confidence that the psalmist

had here in God. So again, we don't have the

word flag as I'm using it here this morning, but

we do have several other words, and I like for

you to take note of that. One is standard, the

other is ensign, the other's banner. All have the thought

of a flag or a staff raising the flag. But

I think through it all it has the thought of

to be conspicuous. To be conspicuous, like Jesus said about it,

you don't light a candle and put it under a bushel,

but it's to give light. And so it is with flags.

People don't usually just roll up a flag and stick

it under the bed. They want it out where people

can see it, and it gives a message. So I'd

like to think about that today that was given a banner,

a flag to them that fear thee that it may

be displayed because of the truth. I'd like to have

five points here I'd like to think of this morning.

I'd like to think about a flag is identification, ownership,

and it is the banner of truth. It is to

be displayed, and it speaks a victory at the concluding

point there. So hope this makes sense to It impressed

me as I looked into this into the scriptures. Pretty

much all of this would be in the Old Testament.

So I'd like to think first about a flag is identification,

and I'd like to go back to the history of

the children of Israel. This was interesting to me, and

if you want to look at it, We're not going

to do much reading here on this, but if you

go in numbers chapters one and two, it talks about

this and it uses the term standard, which is the

same Hebrew word I believe. But did you ever think

about it. How many Israelites were they're camped out there

in the desert. I think it was there six hundred men,

six hundred thousand men of war, and so if you

do some estimations and so on, maybe there were two

or three million people out there in the camp of Israel.

That's a big that's a big crowd. But things were

done orderly, and Moses was possibly a good man for

I'm sure he was a good man for this job.

I think Josephus would say that. Joseph was a general

in the Egyptian army, and so he had military training.

And things were as Israel was camped out there in

the wilderness. It wasn't just a haphazard you pinch your

tent here and all pitch mine there and all mixed up.

That isn't the way it is. And you can see

that there in numbers one and two. It was orderly.

It was we could say, with military precision. So you

had the tabernacle which was the center of it, was

God's presence there, and they were all camped around that.

There were twelve tribes that were camped around that. Three

tribes on the east, three tribes on the northwest and south,

and each one had a standard, each one had a flag.

Do you ever wonder how you have all these children

running around and people going here and there. I'm sure

they probably intermingled somewhat. How did they know where to

go to get back to their tent, to their tribe. Well,

I think a flag there was what helped them and

identified them out of each tribe, out of each group

of three on the east, north, southwest, there were three tribes.

One was the leader, and it would sound like it

that tribe was also a flag or a standard that

represented that group of three tribes. We don't really doesn't

go into detail in the scripture what was on that.

Some have suggested that that there were symbols that represented

the tribe and you can look it up. I wouldn't

have it for all of them, but you know, when

Jacob blessed his sons there, he let me see here.

I think I have some of that written down. Judah

was a lion, maybe his flag had a lion on it.

Zebulun was a haven of ships. Maybe there was a

ship on that flag, and so on. We don't really know.

It doesn't really matter, but it was something that identified

the tribes. It was a point of identification. So the

banner that we read about in the Psalms here or

the flag thus given a banner to them that fear,

them that fear Him, the fear thee, the fear God.

What is that banner? Galatians three twenty six says for

year all the children of God by Jesus Christ. So

we have something in common. It's kind of like a tribe,

it's a people, it's a nation, as Peter describes a

royal priesthood, a holy nation, a pe kill your people.

But what is it that I that identifies as well?

I believe it's and we'll touch on this here in

a bit. But God has saved us. God has called us.

We've been we've been saved from this present evil world

and we have become children of God. So we could

say that salvation is what is the underlying truth or fact?

And we'll be talking about that a bit more. But

as children of God, what does identify us? We know

we live in an evil world, and we believe in

the two kingdoms. There's a kingdom of this world and

the Kingdom of God. We live together in this world.

But there are. Could we say that each each kingdom

has a flag, that the that identifies them. One John

two fifteen and sixteen talks about all that is in

the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of

the eye, the pride of life is not of the Father,

It's of the world. And so as you look out

in the world about us, we see it. We can

see it in the way people dress. We can see

it in the way they the color of their hair,

the vehicles they drive. I've it all identifies them with

a certain kingdom. It's their flag. They're displaying that. And

Paul writes to the Corinthians there second Corinthians six. He says,

come out wherefore, come out from among them, and be separate,

saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing. And

I will receive you and will be a father unto you,

and you shall be my sons and daughters. And I

think it should be clear in our minds, and you

have we as parents, have a responsibility to teach our children.

What does it take what identifies the people of God?

And I don't think that means we go around condemning

everyone else. Many times, I think we're glad that God

is the final judge. But there are things that we

need to be convinced of that identify us. And the

scriptures are clear, and I think we need to be careful.

I'll just throw this in, you know, in our society

with all the mixed up and perverted ideas and sinful ideas,

I think sometimes and it's somewhat refreshing, you find someone,

maybe it's even someone in politics. They're against abortion, they're

against the gay lifestyle and a lot of other things,

and we kind of gravitate towards them and think, well,

you know, maybe we're on the same team. We're on

the same in the same tribe or nation. I think

we need to be careful about that. Just because someone

is morally conservative does not mean that they're a part

of the Kingdom of God. We can appreciate it. It's

refreshing to us when somebody respects a principle of God,

of the Bible, in God's plan and order. But let's

be careful, that's not necessarily the deciding factor under which

flag someone is well. In the church, we believe in nonconformity.

We already referred to that in tewod Corinthians six. Come

out be separate Romans twelve one and two don't be

conformed to this world. And when we obey that, when

we make that practical in our lives, it's a little

bit like raising a flag because it identifies this. People

looking on can see that there's something different, something other

than the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye,

the pride of life that's motivating these people. Now, it's

not simply a matter being different. It has to go

deeper than that. As you move about society, there's you

definitely see people sometimes that are that are trying to

be different. It's not necessarily godly, but I believe that

if we follow the scriptures and apply them to our lives,

and you can talk about your church standards where a

group of people have agreed that this is how we

want to apply these principles, I believe that's right and

it's good, and it's the way God wants us to do.

But I think sometimes we're tempted. We like to just

blend into the society around us. We don't really want

to stand out, and if we're not careful, we can

become what i'll say Protestantism, where it really doesn't matter

what's in the outside. It's simply just a matter of

the heart. We're not really accountable to one another. Believe

that that's the New Testament plan. It's not what Jesus

has has planned for his church. And I want to

be clear here just our non conformed lifestyle is not

just the banner that we hold up. You know, if

you just fit into the into the prescribed standards and rules,

that somehow you're in the right tribe. But I believe

first of all, we want to hold up Jesus Christ

and the Gospel message, and that includes obedience to Jesus Christ. Actually,

the position that our that our churches take as we

try to apply Bible principles to our lives, should should

be a compliment to the Gospel message and should show

that we are we are not of this world, that

we are flying a different flag. So today are we

are we willing to take up the banner that God

has given us. It's to be displayed. We'll talk about that.

But is it is it easier for us? Do we

feel more comfortable blending in with the world, not standing

out and maybe even using some of the symbols of

the world. Maybe it's putting that flag in the back

of a window, our pecket or or maybe it's a

trump sticker or something like that. We do we feel

more comfortable with that than to have an expression of

nonconformity that the Church would would ask that we have.

I think it's a good question to ask, really, what

what flag are we flying? What do we feel most

comfortable with? Well, I'd like to move on to the

next thing. That the flag stands for ownership. I think

recently in the news I was reading about the conflict

there in the Ukraine and Russia. And I can't even

remember which way the battle had gone in one of

those cities, but one thing I mentioned that they I

believe was the Russians had raised their flag on that city,

and it means that they had conquered. It means meant

that they were in control, that they were the owners.

Now that's that's significant in a military sense. Going back

before about anybody here, I guess, but in World War

two there in that little volcanic island in the Pacific, Jima,

and probably we've all seen pictures of that, or you've

seen the memorial back there, and is it Arlington or

in DC somewhere of those six men raising that flag,

it meant that they were in control. The US was

in control, and it was a terrible cost. I believe

there was about twenty five thousand US casualties wounded and dead.

I believe the Japanese lost about twenty thousand just for

this little eight square mile island out there. But it

was it showed that they had finally won. Although the

battles went on for a while, but they were in

control of that of that part of the of the island.

Raising that flag. So as we identify with Christ, as

we lift his banner, it's saying that he owns us.

We belong to him. Let's never be ashamed of that.

There's some beautiful verses there in the Song of Solomon

that that how would you say analogy of of that

portrays Christ and his church. And the wise man there says,

my beloved is mine, and I am his. Church of

Christ is mine and I am his. And then in

that same chapter it says that his banner, his flag

over me is love. We should account it the real

privilege to be to be a part of his kingdom.

Malachi three, verse seventeen says, and they shall be mine,

saith the Lord of hosts in that day when I

make up my jewels, and I will spare them as

man spareth his own son that serveth him. So the

psalm has said that He's given us a banner, and

it's to be displayed, and it's to show that we

belong to God. Jesus in his prayer to the Heavenly

to his Father John seventeen says, for they are thine

and all mine are thine. Speaking of his followers, God

loves us, God owns us, and we're precious to him.

Zechariah two eight talks about God says, there he that

touches you, touches the apple of mine eyes, something that

is very it's a very sensitive thing to God. It's

precious to him his people. Scripture just comes to mind now,

is that Paul the writes, you're not your own, You're

bought with the price. We're not our own. We belong

to God. And this banner, this flag, speaks of that.

God says, I own you, Okay. It is the banner

of truth. Back to the Psalms, Ere talks about that

it's because of the truth that He's given us this banner.

So what is truth? You know, pilot asked that question

as he was trying to determine the fate or sort

through the accusations that we're coming against Jesus. But you know,

there's that same question as being asked today. The I'll

call it the doctrine of relativism, where nothing is for sure.

It has been excuse me, has been so taught and

permeates our world today, our society. You really can't say

what is truth or else. Truth is kind of a

moving target. And well, one generation sees his truth is

not truth to the next generation. Well, we know that

as Jesus said, he is the Way, the Truth, and

the life, and he's the same yesterday, today and forever.

So we have something to portray as we hold up

this banner. This is where truth is. It's the truth

about man's condition, his creation, his fall from God, God's provision,

God's salvation, and the claims of that salvation upon our lives, surrender, discipleship.

That's all a part of truth. And we are to

be displaying this flag, this banner. Isaiah wrote back in

his is time, the truth is fallen in the streets,

and that certainly portrays what we see in our society today.

Truth is fallen in the streets, and I believe that

people are looking for answers. Read recently how many the

sale of Bibles, how it has increased just in this

past year, And I believe people are looking for a

foundation for something that's solid, not just this relativism and

the fruits of that. In our society. We have a

real privileged friends to be holding up this banner, this flag.

It's because of the truth, and whenever we dilute it

down with the philosophies of this world, the practices of

this world, it really loses what God has intended for

us to be portraying to the world around us. The

fourth point, then it is to be displayed. That's what

the Psalmist said there. He's given us this banner because

of truth, and it's to be displayed. Talked about that

a little bit ago, that God doesn't want us to

just roll this flag up and stick it under the sofa,

but it's to be displayed. I be think that's a

real challenge for us in our time. We're going to

talk a bit about being ashamed of it. God has

given us this banner to be displayed. Jesus said, they're

in the Sermon on the Mound, he said, you're the

light of the world. A city that is set on

a hill cannot be hid. And again goes into that

a little illustration of a candle, and then he goes

on to say, let your light so shine before men,

that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father,

which is in heaven. I think we could just simply say,

hold the banner high, let your light so shine before men,

that they may see your good works, glorify your Father,

which is in heaven. Paul, writing to the Philippians, says

that you may be blameless and harmless, the sons of

God without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and

perverse generation, among whom He shine as lights in the world.

That's our responsibility. First Peter nine, you're chosen generation, a

royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, that you

should show forth the praises of Him who has called

you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Jesus said

that I am the light of the world. That was

the purpose of him coming, to bring that light to

a dark world. Testimony or from the Life of the

Apostle Paul two Timothy one eight and nine. Be not

thou therefore ashamed of the Gospel of our Lord, nor

of me as prisoner, but be thou partaker of the afflictions

of the Gospel according to the power of God, who

has saved us, called us with a holy calling, not

according to our works, but according to his own purpose

and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before

the world began. And Paul also said, I'm not ashamed

of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power

of God into salvation. Where the Leland talked about that

of the peace that we live in, and I believe

it's right to desire peace. But how often are we

even though it doesn't mean being burned at the stake

or prison or the gallows. Yet it's so easy to

be a little bit ashamed, and we want to be quiet,

just some words of Jesus. I think it should be

sobering to us Mark eight thirty eight. Who'soever therefore shall

be ashamed of me and my words? This adulterous and

sinful generation of him? Also shall the son of Man

be ashamed when he cometh in the glory of his

Father with the holy angels. I don't know of a

worse feeling than to stand before Christ and he tells us,

I'm really ashamed of you because you were ashamed of me.

I think things that look so big to us in

this life are going to look pretty small when we

stand before the judgment seat of Christ. And maybe things

that look so small to us here and think they

really don't matter are going to look pretty big to

us again when we stand before the just judge of

all the earth. Along the same thought there Luke twelve

eight and nine. And I send to you, whosoever shall

confess me before men, him shall the son of Man

also confess before the angels of God. And he that

denieth me before men shall be denied before the angels

of God. Are we willing to display the banner that

God has given to us? Even if the world hates

us and despises us and may say all kinds of

things about us. Are we still willing to display? And

I realize that sometimes we don't know what to say

for sure. And I'm not saying we just brashly go

out without tact and let's not hide behind that. Let's

be sensitive to the Holy Spirit directing us to display

this banner. Remember, God has given us a flag, the banner,

and that implies that a flag is conspicuous, it's not

something to hide. We talked about being ashamed of us

of Christ and the beautiful verse there in Hebrews chapter two,

speaking of Christ coming and being made like his brethren.

It says that he's not a shamed to call him brethren.

That's beautiful to me, and so let's not be a

shamed to identify with him. Okay, the last point, then,

I believe that a banner. And we've talked about this

a bit already, but it speaks of a victory. It

speaks a victory, it speaks a conquest. And I'd like

to rediverse from Revelation chapter seventeen. I'm sure we all

want to want to identify with this be a part

of this Revelations seventeen fourteen. It says these, and I

believe he's speaking about the powers of the evil One,

the evil One in his kingdom. These shall make war

with the Lamb. The Lamb shall overcome them, for he

is lord of lords and king of kings, and they

that are with him are culled and chosen and faithful.

Don't we want to be under that banner, that battle flag.

It speaks of victory in Psalm twenty verse five. This

almost again uses this the term of banner. We will rejoice.

This is Psalm twenty verse five. We will rejoice in

thic salvation. And in the name of our God. We

will set up our banner, our banners for the Lord

fulfill all thy petitions. May that be our commitment this morning,

in the name of our God, we will set up

our banners. There was a song that I thought of.

I'm not going to sing it to you, but can

men tell that you love Jesus? Can they buy your

life and mind? Seeing daily walk and action that you have?

This life divine to me? That speaks of flying a flag,

the flag that God has given us. What flag are

you flying this morning? The one that God has given?

Or is it of the flag of self in the world?

May the Lord help us to be faithful. I'm are

you gonna have a song yet? Rather? Richard? I wonder

if you could uh Life Songs ninety seven you could

maybe lead us in that. So you want prayer now

or