A legendary battalion were inspired by a rallying cry. The same cry rings in the hearts of God’s people as they engage in the battle of the ages.

<p>A legendary battalion were inspired by a rallying cry. The same cry rings in the hearts of God’s people as they engage in the battle of the ages.</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

It Is Written

John Bradshaw

Kia Kaha

Let's pray as we do so and trust that God would bless us today.

Our Father in heaven, we come to you in the name of Jesus, asking that as we consult your word you would speak.

We thank you for the blessing of scripture, that your Spirit inspired the holy men of old to write.

And what they have written, I pray, would be a blessing to us now.

World War II, unfortunately, provides us with a wealth of lessons.

That kind of conflict on that sort of scale, when humanity was putting behind itself the really rather primitive methods of warfare utilised in World War I and was embracing the far more advanced and far more deadly means of destruction.

Tanks had been used in World War I, but by World War II they were far more advanced, much faster, and they were more deadly.

Aircraft by World War II were far more sophisticated than they had ever been.

Radar was used in war for the first time in World War II.

Aircraft carriers were now being used, and in World War II they were the most important ships in the Navy.

And of course, the weapons themselves were unlike anything used on a battlefield heretofore.

Exhibit A, the atomic bomb which killed somewhere approaching a quarter of a million people in just 2 Japanese cities.

Now war can bring out the best in people, and it can also bring out the worst in people.

After a war has been fought, we celebrate the gallant, we lionize the courageous, we honor the intrepid, and some warriors take a special place in the annals of human history.

The 28th Battalion, known as the Māori Battalion, was part of the 2nd New Zealand Division, the fighting arm of the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force, during the Second World War.

It was a front-line infantry unit, made up entirely of volunteers.

It was divided into 5 companies and it happened to be, or to become, the most decorated New Zealand Battalion of the Second World War.

Like other infantry battalions, the Māori Battalion was divided into 5 companies, 4 rifle companies of about 125 men each, and a headquarters company of around 200 men.

Each company was commanded by a major or a captain.

The battalion's 4 rifle companies, creatively named ABC and D, were organised along tribal lines.

The Māori are the native people of New Zealand, a tribal people, and so those 4 companies were tribally or more tribally oriented, while the Headquarters Company drew its personnel from all over Māoridom.

In the words of Lieutenant General Bernard Freyberg, who commanded the 2nd New Zealand Division, no infantry battalion had a more distinguished record or saw more fighting or alas had such heavy casualties as the Maori Battalion.

The Maori Battalion fought in Greece, on Crete, in North Africa and in Italy.

Rommel considered New Zealanders to be the finest troops on the Allied side.

They believed they were fighting for God, for King and for Country.

The Chief of Staff of Germany's General Rommel, the Desert Fox, his Chief of Staff said, give me the Māori Battalion and I will conquer the world.

The Māori Battalion had a battle cry urging them on in their fight, and it was, Ake, Ake, Kia Kaha e.

For those who have studied World War II, it is said that the name Tacrona evokes memories of some of the bloodiest hand-to-hand fighting of the Desert War.

Tacrona was a 650 feet high rock fortress in the Sahel region of Tunisia in North Africa.

It was held in 1943 by Italian and German troops, which blocked the Eighth Army's drive towards Tunis, which was about 45 miles away in a straight line.

On the night of April 19, the handful of B Company men, led by Sergeant Hane Manahi, scaled a sheer cliff face to reach the summit.

I don't need to remind you just how dangerous that was.

And after 3 days of desperate fighting, Tacrona was taken.

He came back with a section of C Company and another platoon and successfully pushed back the Axis counterattack.

A British lieutenant general described what Manahi did as, "...the most gallant feat of arms I witnessed in the course of the war.

That motto has become part of the fabric of New Zealand culture today.

After a tragedy, people are encouraged, Kia Kaha, be strong.

In a sporting contest, someone might encourage another person on the field by saying, Kia Kaha, be strong, give it all you've got, give it power, Give it everything.

There are high schools that have taken Kia Kaha as their school motto.

Now this concept of strength, This concept of being strong, this is a biblical concept.

Here we are on virtually the eve of what the Bible describes as a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation.

And God is looking for those who will embrace this idea, kia kaha.

God is looking for those who will be strong.

Jesus Himself said in the Bible in Matthew 24 and verse 13, Jesus said in Matthew 24, 13, But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

Now in the Greek, the word used there is hupomeno.

You find a word in Revelation 14.12 that's from that same word, the Greek, koupoumoné.

Revelation 14, 12, here is the patience of the saints.

Here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.

The patience, the steadfastness, the constancy, the endurance of the saints.

In Romans 4 and verse 20, you read about Abraham, and I want to turn there in my Bible and read it along with you.

If you have your Bible or your device handy then turn with me to Romans chapter 4, here it is, and we'll read in verse 20.

In fact, I'm going to back up and begin in verse 19.

We are reading about Abraham, and the Bible says, "...and not being weak in faith." Now, let's pause.

If you're not weak, by inference you are what?

"...and not being weak in faith." He did not consider his own body already dead since he was about a hundred years old and the deadness of Sarah's womb He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief but was strengthened or but was strong in faith, giving glory to God.

Now we get this word, you remember Romans 1 in verse 14, Romans 1 verse 16, I'm sorry.

I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ because it is the power of God unto salvation.

And you have heard it said that that word power comes from the word, the Greek word dunamis, and that's where we get dynamite from.

This is the kind of faith Abraham is described as having.

Abraham had dynamite faith, powerful faith.

And that's fascinating actually, isn't it?

Because this man who was so strong in faith, this man was so strong in faith that he slept with his wife's servant.

And he told a character named Abimelech that his wife was actually his sister.

Again, I share with you what the scripture says, being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead when he was about a hundred years old, neither the deadness of Sarah's womb.

He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God.

And being fully convinced that what he had promised, he was also able to perform, and therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.

Abraham's faith was strong when he believed that God was able to do what God promised to do.

If we were considering Abraham to have strong faith because he was good, he didn't relent, he didn't stumble, he didn't make mistakes, then we would never be able to say that about Abraham because there were moments when he was an abject failure of faith.

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Kia Kaha

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