Churchill’s Long Hard Fight

Transcript:

Hello, this is Pastor Don of Christ Redeemer Church. Welcome to the Kingdom Perspective.

In this world of trouble, we should prepare ourselves mentally for the fact that life is a long hard fight fraught with many difficulties and setbacks. This is not pessimism. It is realism. And it only destroys our hope, if we let it.

On May 13th, 1940 with the fall of France imminent, Winston Churchill became Prime Minister of the UK and took a message of realism and hope to the airwaves. To most observers Great Britain’s situation seemed impossible. Nonetheless, at his first speech before the House of Commons, he rallied the nation to sacrificial action:

I would say to the House, as I said to those who have joined the government: “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.”

We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many long months of struggle and of suffering. You ask, what is our policy? I will say: It is to wage war, by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us; to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark and lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy….

He ended his speech with:

I take up my task with buoyancy and hope. I feel sure that our cause will not be suffered to fail among men. At this time I feel entitled to claim the aid of all, and I say, “Come then, let us go forward together with our united strength.”

And it did not fail. The “monstrous tyranny” of Nazism was eventually overcome, but not without a long hard fight.

And so, it is with our troubles.

Something to think about from The Kingdom Perspective.

“And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying:

‘Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
For He has visited us and accomplished redemption for His people,
And has raised up a horn of salvation for us
In the house of David His servant—
As He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from of old—
Salvation from our enemies,
And from the hand of all who hate us;
To show mercy toward our fathers,
And to remember His holy covenant,
The oath which He swore to Abraham our father,
To grant us that we, being rescued from the hand of our enemies,
Might serve Him without fear,
In holiness and righteousness before Him all our days.
And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
For you will go on before the Lord to prepare His ways;
To give to His people the knowledge of salvation
By the forgiveness of their sins,
Because of the tender mercy of our God,
With which the Sunrise from on high will visit us,
To shine upon those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death,
To guide our feet into the way of peace.’”

~ Luke 1:67-79 (NIV)

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