Gospel Knight

For Christ, be ready to die.

Tag: Courage

  • Happy Birthday, Marines!

    Happy Birthday, Marines!

    Today is the 250th Marine Corps Birthday! It’s the time of year when a lot of my Marine Corps brethren I don’t usually talk to reach out to wish me a happy birthday. To my great shame, I usually don’t say much back to these amazing men other than “Happy birthday”. This year, I want to have something more to say, so this is for you, Marines.

    I’m extremely grateful for the time God has given me in the Corps, and I’m especially grateful for the men and women He put in my life through my service in the Marines. The Marine Corps is a brotherhood of warriors, and it often comes to dominate the identities of those who claim the title “Marine,” even years after their active service ends. It’s a great brotherhood, and it’s an honorable identity… but “I will show you a still more excellent way.” (1 Cor 12:31)

    You Marines mean too much to me to keep quiet about the best brotherhood you can join and the highest identity you can claim. You have all spent some amount of your lives serving your Corps and country. Now I want to challenge you to serve your King.

    Jesus Christ is Lord. He is the Son of God and the Firstborn from the dead. Though we have seen amazing feats of courage from the Marines of old, no Marine has ever defeated the ultimate enemy – death. No Marine can say what the King of kings and Lord of lords says: “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.” (Rev 1:17-18)

    Jesus will return one day, and He will judge the world in righteousness. (Acts 17:31) He will open the books, and you, Marine, will have to stand before Him and give account. How will you fare on that day when every knee bows before your Lord, and He judges all men? What side will you be on during that final battle when the mightiest warrior in all eternity comes riding in on a white horse, His robes dipped in blood, leading the armies of Heaven? When His eyes of flaming fire turn their gaze on his enemies and the sharp two-edged sword comes from His mouth to strike down the nations, where will you be? (Rev 19:11-21)

    You’ve served your country honorably. You’ve stood firm for the values of honor, courage, and commitment. But that won’t earn you any merit when you stand before a righteous Judge “who will by no means clear the guilty”. (Ex 34:7) And trust me: you are most certainly guilty. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Rom 3:23)

    Jesus Christ is the greatest leader of all time. As an infantry officer, I had to read the book Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield. I really enjoy that book, and the best quote from it is about how a real king provides service to his people instead of requiring service from them. Servant-leadership is taught in this book by the fictionalized depiction of an ancient pagan king. But the King of kings is the true servant leader. Listen to His words:

    “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matt 20:25-28)

    Many Marines have laid down their lives for their friends. It is a noble thing, and we honor their sacrifice. But the King of kings laid down His life to save even His enemies:

    “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Rom 5:6-8)

    So that is what I want you to know today: the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus is Lord. Right now He reigns from Heaven, seated at the right hand of the Father, and He is coming back one day to judge the world. But in the meantime, He extends an offer of mercy and grace to you. The ultimate King is also the ultimate Servant, and He loved you enough that He died so that you may live. He offers mercy and forgiveness to all who will come to Him with empty hands, confessing their sins. But that offer will be withdrawn one day. So repent of your sin today and put your trust in the atoning death of Christ alone. Then spend the rest of your life serving Him.

    The last stanza of the Marine Corps Hymn says, “If the Army and the Navy ever gaze on Heaven’s scenes, they will find the streets are guarded by United States Marines.” Fortunately, that’s not exactly true because Heaven won’t need a guard. But I do hope there will be a lot of Marines there, serving Christ and receiving from Him the gift of eternal life. I love you guys. Semper Fidelis, brothers.

    Click here to learn how to become a Christian and serve your King
  • Bibles I Never Read

    Bibles I Never Read

    I have been going through a lot of my old junk recently. My wife and I are borderline hoarders, tenaciously clinging to every material possession we own that carries with it even the scantest trappings of sentimental value. But enough has truly become enough. We have five kids now, and we have moved cross-country multiple times with items that haven’t left their boxes in nearly 15 years. We don’t have the room for this junk, so it’s high time for a purge.

    While going through my stuff the other day, I came across several Marine Corps issued Bibles and pocket NT + Psalms dating back to between 2005 and 2012. These are Bibles I never read.

    It’s a shame what pride and arrogance can do to a man. Pride has done a lot of damage to me over the years, but the spiritual damage of my pride has been the worst by far. The Bible tells us that God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6). Psalm 1:2-3 also tells us that the man who delights in the Law of the Lord is like a prosperous, healthy tree planted by the river. Pride certainly kept me from delighting in the Law of the Lord for many years – both my pride, and the pride of others.

    I grew up in a nominally Christian household. I went to church (sometimes). I got saved when I was young (I think). I was baptized at the baptistry in my family’s pond (by an unqualified elder). I read the Bible (casually, sporadically and partially). But my small town brand of cultural Christianity was about one hair’s breadth away from being KJV only. The NKJV was an acceptable Bible translation, but you must never – and I mean never – dare to open the Non-Inspired Version (NIV).

    That foolishness stuck with me for a long time. So when I was given numerous copies of the Bible in the NIV (and GNT) translations, I wouldn’t even bother looking inside them. The foolish pride of others had laid a trap for me, and I walked right into it. When the only Bible I had in front of me wasn’t a KJV or NKJV, I would just rather not read at all than read a “fake” Bible.

    But the reality is that the excuse of other peoples’ pride can only get me so far. My own foolish pride is really what kept me from God’s Word. I didn’t really read my KJV or NKJV Bibles, either. I generally didn’t carry one around with me, and even when I had one, I wouldn’t really read it except for maybe a few verses here or there. I thought I knew everything. I thought I was strong. But I was wrong.

    And for much of my life, I essentially ignored God’s holy and inspired Word. Pride has cost me a lot. And it made things much harder for me during a time of my life when I needed His Word the most – when I was in the darkness of military life and combat. I didn’t realize just how boxed in I was by the devil, the world, and my own sinful flesh (Eph 2:1-3).

    “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” (Eph 2:4-7)

    Now I am a little more humble than I used to be. I still struggle with pride, but God has done a lot work on this sinner. I’m in the Word every day now. Every single day. And the Gospel really is the power of God for salvation (Rom 1:16). So please learn from my mistakes. Don’t accumulate a stack of Bibles you’ve never read.

    Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some reading to do. I don’t think that the NIV or GNT will ever become my go-to translations, but I certainly plan to check them out in the near future.

  • Charlie Kirk: Bold Soldier for Christ

    Charlie Kirk: Bold Soldier for Christ

    Growing up, I had occasionally heard references to people saying that their parents cried when JFK was assassinated. I always thought that was really odd – that the death of a public figure would spark that sort of an emotional reaction in people.

    And then Charlie Kirk was assassinated on September 10, 2025, and I understood. My wife and I cried like babies. We both liked Charlie and listened to a lot of his stuff. It came as a huge shock, and it broke our hearts. As a true brother (not a cultural or fake Christian), his death hurt deeply but also brought a renewed sense of boldness to preach the Gospel.

    On September 11, I changed up our family worship routine (we are currently reading through the Gospel of Mark) to read Acts 4. This is the account of Peter and John being hauled in front of the Sanhedrin because they preached in the name of Jesus. After the council had ordered them to stop preaching in Jesus’s name, the Apostles replied, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.” (Acts 4:19-20).

    I believe that Charlie Kirk is a Christian Martyr. Some might object by saying that he wasn’t killed for preaching the Gospel, but I think that Mike Winger’s assessment of that claim is dead-on: If you’re going to say that Charlie Kirk wasn’t a martyr, then you would have to say the same about John the Baptist. Charlie was unashamed of the Gospel and proclaimed it regularly to the college youths he engaged. He was killed by a left-wing activist who hated Charlie for his Biblical stances on gender and sexuality, just like John the Baptist was killed for calling Herod on his sexual sin.

    Charlie said that he wanted to be remembered for courage for his faith, and I think that’s exactly how people are going to remember him. Let us be inspired by his example. We don’t fix our eyes on him; we fix our eyes on Christ. But I think that we can consider Charlie as part of the great cloud of witnesses that testify to us of the glory of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. (Heb 12:1-2)

    So let us not be afraid. Let us instead dive headlong back into the fight with renewed vigor. Let us run our race to obtain the prize. As the church in Acts 4, I pray to God for renewed boldness in preaching the Gospel within Christ’s church. Let us boldly take a stand, share in suffering as good soldiers of Jesus Christ, and preach the word whether the time is favorable or not.

    Below are some sermons and talks from Pastors that I think are particularly relevant during these trying times. I encourage you to check them out!