Preparation for Overcomers

I just want to say this, you know, it's a good thing when God can bring us conviction. In fact, if we ever get to a point where he can't convict us, that's a bad place to be. And we get to that place if we reject him over and over again and what he says to us. But you know, part of the struggle we sometimes face, and it's a struggle we've all dealt with at one time or another, in coming to the Lord is that if we find that we can't get relief in coming to the Lord, the problem is we're trying to pay for something that's already paid for. And God's rejecting that payment because it was already paid for. There is no foundation that any man can lay other than that which is already laid, which is Jesus Christ. That's what Paul said. Now, the challenge is how we build on the foundation. But the first thing we've got to know is what that foundation is. And that, you know, for all of us, the fact is, there comes a point, you know, when Brother Thomas, you know, would call people to the altar at different times over the years and people would come. And I can't remember how many times at the end of a thing he would just speak to encourage the ones that had come forward and said, now, thank God for saving you. Don't doubt him. There comes a point, brother, there's a place for conviction. There's a place for confession. There's a place for repentance. But the purpose of godly sorrow is to bring us to repentance. Paul talks about it in 2 Corinthians 8. You know, he dealt in the first book of Corinthians with a situation that was going on in the church or there was sexual immorality that hadn't been dealt with. And he instructed him how to deal with that. But there's in 2 Corinthians, he writes to him about how that situation, by the church taking that stand there, it brought repentance in that man's life. And so Paul said, now, if you've seen that repentance, if you've forgiven him, then I've

forgiven him. He said, if you've forgiven him, that's good enough for me, we'll move on together in the Lord. And that's how it is. But what he talked about there, what he said was, he said, I'm sorry, I had to write to you kind of firmly. And if my words hurt you or made you sorry, I'm sorry about that. That wasn't my goal. But look what God did through what I wrote you, because it drove you to do this. And through that, God delivered this brother. He set him free. He brought him to repentance. And that's what he said. Godly sorrow brings repentance. So there's a place for that, isn't there? There's a place for godly sorrow and genuine conviction to bring us to repentance. But then when we see what Christ has done, when we see the answer to that, there's a point where we have to stop repenting and start believing. The endless cycle of repentance and confession is a trap that becomes just, I'm not laying hold of what Christ did. I still somehow don't qualify. And usually what's at the root of that is I've still got to pay for it. I'm trying to pay for something that's already been paid for. And every time I swipe that credit card, it says payment rejected. It's already been paid for. I can't take a second payment on it. Christ put our sins away. He took them on himself. He took the sins of people on the cross that he knew would never come to believe in him. He took their sins too.

If he took the sins of the whole world, how much more of those who want to come to him? How much more of those who want to give their life to him? Did he take your sins for you, for you? He did that for you and for me. And he, there's gotta come a point where that becomes enough. Wasn't that the confession of that preacher? You talked about that time who himself had preached for years and it finally got to the point where he realized that he himself wasn't saved after all he had done and preached. God said, what'd he say? I'm fully satisfied with what my son did on the cross. When you get satisfied with it, I'll save you. That's where the struggle is. And not only do we have the human struggle with that in our own nature because our own pride wants to do something. I mean, what was Adam and Eve's response when they fell into sin? I mean, man hadn't fallen into sin five minutes and the very first thing they did was get religious. They went to go sow some fig leaves and said, well, at least we can make it better. Let's at least try. Let's at least help. And God had to tell them, no, I can't accept that. That doesn't help. What? And he had to provide the sacrifice. He had to through sacrifice, he had to provide a covering for them. But that is our nature. It's our instinct to want to do that, but we can't do that. And not only is it our human nature, we got an enemy that wants to keep us trapped where we are in this endless cycle and every thought we have comes through that filter. If those voices are there, you know, God sent us recently some really good instruction on

spiritual warfare. Didn't he? How to recognize the voice of the enemy and more than that, what to do about it. Something that we don't have to live with that. We don't have to tolerate it. We don't have to get everything through that lens. So let's do be in prayer for Addison, but for every one of us, because I know there's others that struggle. There's others that will come and struggle with this issue, how to lay it down and how to trust that God did that for us, for me, put your name in there. He took my sins. He didn't have to, but he did. If he didn't want to save me, he could have taken a bunch of other people's sins and not mine, but he didn't do that. He took mine. And the scripture says, that's how we even know what love really is, is because Christ came and died for us. So let's indeed be in prayer and let's pray that everyone that Lord is, if there's a touch in your heart, if you feel something, then we need to come to him and be able to lay that down. Find that you can't, examine it, ask why it is. Is it your own pride that you wanna help, you wanna make it better? If that's what it is, you're gonna have to stop repenting and stop confessing and start trusting. If it's more than that, if even that you can't get past, we need to come against the enemy that has gotten a hold in your mind and your life to where you can't hear the truth because when you hear the truth, it gets filtered through a different lens.

It's like the game of telephone. You whisper the phrase and it goes around the room and by the time it gets to you, it's something completely different because it's been filtered through a bunch of other voices. We need to pray that God will bring peace, will bring repentance where it's needed, yes, because it starts there. We have to have conviction, but then also bring confidence. What does he tell us when we're in a spiritual battle? He shows us the belt of truth and we gotta take it and put it on and acknowledge what's true about a situation but then there's a breastplate of his righteousness and we gotta put that on too because truth alone without the breastplate of his righteousness, that's a hard place to stay. But he paid it all. He paid it all. Praise God. I had this song come to me and I just wanna read some of the words, but when we are singing Jesus Messiah, that part of all our hope, not half of it, not part of it, all our hope, if we have hope in anything else, guess what? We're not gonna make it. Our hope is in him. But I thought of this hymn and Lord help us to understand what the writer of this rock of ages was saying.

Rock of ages, cleft for me. Let me hide myself in thee. Let the water and the blood from my rib and side which flowed, be of sin the double cure, save me from its guilt and power. But the second verse here in the third, not the labor of my hands can fulfill thy laws demands. There's nothing in us that can ever pay the price that he paid. And I tell you, if there's something in you that thinks you can pay that price, you're way off base. Because I tell you, he's the one that paid that price. We sing Jesus paid it all because he's the only one that could pay it all. Could my zeal and my respite? No, could my tears forever flow? All for sin could not atone. Thou must save and thou alone. Nothing in my hand I bring. Simply to thy cross I cling. That writer knew something, didn't he? It was revealed to him that there wasn't anything in him. He might've tried just like we all try and come to the same conclusion. Naked come to thee for dress. Hopeless look to thee for grace. Foul, I to thy fountain fly. And I tell you, there's a fountain flowing. It's flowing, it washes white as snow.

Wash me, Savior, or I die. While I draw this fleeting breath, when my eyes shall close in death, when I soar to worlds unknown, see thee on thy judgment throne. Rock of ages, cleft for me. Let me hide myself in thee. That's where I wanna be. I wanna be under his wings. Amen. Praise God, I could've just sat there and listened. That was wonderful. And so appropriate. Well, praise God, this is one of those Sundays where I'm gonna have to walk in what's on my heart. Imagine that. But I appreciate the fact that the Lord has, Jesus has paid it all. Thank God. It's the foundation for everything. It certainly is the foundation for coming to faith in him. And having our sins forgiven and actually being reconciled with God. That's the foundation of it all. There's nothing we can add to what he did. But it doesn't stop there, does it? Because we're still living here and we still got issues. We still got things that he's working on because being reconciled is certainly part of it, but salvation begins there.

It begins a process where I need to be changed so that I'm set free from this. And the thoughts that I had are related to this and I certainly don't wanna move away from it in any sense. But you know, there's a thought that gets repeated and I'm not gonna turn to it right now, but there's a thought that gets repeated in the letters to the seven churches in Revelation. And in every case, there was a need in the church of some kind. Maybe it was encouragement, maybe it was dealing with some false teacher, maybe it was you lost your job. your first love, all you've got is an outward show and you don't really have anything, whatever it was. But there was a promise at the end to the one who would overcome. Well, overcoming tells me that there's something to be overcome. That we're not simply left here and just, you know, we're suddenly lifted above it all and we just have a beautiful life in the earthly sense. But there are things to overcome. And the Lord has a way of reminding us of that. And I suspect I'm not the only one that has, that is, is discovering and maybe is wrestling right now with issues in your own life. Like, I thought I was done with that. I thought I had overcome that. Where's that coming from? What's going on here? Why is this taking so long? Why is Lord having, you know, on and on and on. And here we are. Now, it could be the issue of really coming to faith. And there has to come a point where we let go and come to a place of rest. Now, what was it that enabled, at least for a short time, Adam and Eve to enjoy the garden? Why did God stop on the seventh day? Because it was done. There was a finished work of creation and all they had to do was step in and enjoy it. Now, they messed it up with their disobedience. But there's a picture there of what Christ did for us on the cross. Praise God. And when we enter in, we can come to a place where that issue is settled. And if there's someone here today, and that issue is not settled in

your heart, God wants it to be, and the devil is going to do everything he can to argue you out of it. And whether it's, I've got to do something, there's a problem, I've got to fix it. I'm this, I'm that. Exactly what's been said. God help you to let go and to get your eyes off of your need and onto his supply. But how many have discovered that that's not, again, that's not where it stops. Because at every point in our walk with the Lord in this world, we're going to have to get our eye, we're going to have to see our need, but we're going to have to get our eyes off of our need and onto his supply at every single point. Because the Lord just didn't say, all right, I've got you in the kingdom, now work it out. He provided everything, as we've said so many times, that we need for life and godliness. Everything is everything. And the devil will do everything in his power to cause us not to reckon on that. But I guess the thought I had was the process of how does God produce overcomers? I don't know how to title that, but anyway. How do, how, where does overcoming come from? How do we become overcomers? And everyone here has got something to overcome, don't you? The first thing you got to overcome is what you see in the mirror. And all that the enemy has, the access the enemy has to us, as long as we listen to him, as long as we go by that, as long as we seek for its interests, then we're going to be, we're going to be in a world of hurt. We need the Lord and I need him. And I just, you know, it just was really brought to my attention in a very real way when I went through that very thought, Lord, I thought I was done with this. I thought I had a handle on this. And here it is, and I'm still fighting the same battle. What's going on? And the Lord had to show me my need, but then he had to remind me, hey, don't just get bogged down seeing how bad you are and how, and what's the matter with you and get, get right. And all those kinds of things. You're going to have to look to me actively and believe the things that I have told you are really true. Okay. I'm sort of jumping ahead a little bit, but I don't know. I'm just trusting the Lord to guide my thoughts this morning, especially in light of everything that's been said, but who are those who overcome to begin with? First John chapter five tells us in so many words, verse four says, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. That's the starting point. Folks, if we're trying to overcome the things that are wrong with us,

and we're trying to do it with the human energy with which we were born, we've used the illustration in the past. You know, we were born physically into a world ruled by gravity, weren't we? I don't care how high you jump, you're going to come back down because gravity rules. And if our need is to overcome gravity, we can't do this by what we were born with because I wasn't born with the ability to fly. It just isn't in there and there's no matter how hard I try, it ain't happening. I'm going to have to have a power that's greater than gravity. And that's the starting point, folks, you're going to have to be born again. You're going to have to come to a place where you surrender this being that you were born with and all that's wrong with it and say, Lord, I can't fix it, I just give it to you. Come in, reign, rule, change me, do whatever, I don't belong to myself anymore, I belong to you. Come and wash my sins away and begin the work that you promised to do. And I'm pointing to one source as my help, what Jesus did. I don't care what comes up today, tomorrow, the next day, it always goes back to that same thing. It was done, either it was finished or it was not finished. And I find myself and I suspect I'm not the only one, I know I'm not the only one, where we know what the Bible says. We can quote it, we know what it says, but actually putting that into practice and believing it in a practical sense that, hey, that means me, that means now, that's actually true for me right now and I can rely on that, that's a different deal. Anybody know what I'm talking about? Yeah. And as I say, the Lord's had to work on me, well, surprise, surprise, I haven't arrived either. But I thank God for His mercy. I thank God that even when He has to show me my need, it's with a heart of love. Isn't He the one who said, I know the plans that I have for you? Plans to give you a hope and a future.

Oh, do you see His heart this morning? Even if you're aware right now that there's something really wrong and you're worried about it, it might be a situation, it might be just you, lift up your eyes to the one who gave us that word. That's His heart for you to give you, give you, not help show you how to earn, to give you a hope and a future. Well, as I was thinking about this overcoming, we talked recently about how the Lord's written the story. In one sense, it's all done. In another sense, we're still living it out. But here we are, and do you think the Lord knows what's coming? Yeah. He knows everything that's coming. What kind of a world is it that we live in? And where are we in history? We are living in the period of time in which Satan has been loosed and he is strengthening his grip moment by moment, day by day on the hearts of those who will not listen. God's reaching out for His. There's a harvest going on, but boy, the devil's gathering His. And it's happening and it's not going to get any better, and this world is not going to get any friendlier as a place to live. We've said many times, we've got brothers and sisters today who are struggling, who are in prison, who are being killed simply because they will not give up. I don't know how many of us here are ready for such a thing, but do you know God knows what's coming? And His heart is that we have what it takes to be able to stand no matter what comes. Has He made a way so that no matter what comes, we can be overcomers and inherit all the promises that He has given us? Yes. That's the heart of it.

Oh, may God help me this morning because I feel my weakness more than usual. But thank God. Thank you, Lord, for my weakness. Thank you. It reminds me that I can't do anything and I need you and I need to have a thankful heart regardless. I don't care what happens and what the Lord allows in your life, every bit of it is designed to prepare us to be overcomers. Well, how can I be prepared to be an overcomer unless He puts something in my path that I have to overcome? I mean, it's so obvious. If you want to be a champion athlete, you're going to have to do some hard work. You can't just study a book on how to play that game or perform that stunt or whatever it is, that athletic event. It takes so much more than that. You're going to have to get out there and work hard in days when you don't want to work hard. and you'd rather do something else and the coach says no, so many more laps or so many more whatever, because the only way that a person, that a champion can overcome is by developing muscles, okay? Now what are our spiritual muscles? Look at the next verse. We were just read for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Praise God, that's the heart of everything and every time you run into your own weakness, every time I do, or we run into a situation, it winds up being a challenge to what we say we believe. If something bad happens, the devil is faithful to stand right there and jump on you and say you did something wrong, God's punishing you, you need to work this out or something, there's some other worldly answer to what's really happening and here's God saying I sent that to you because I've already taken care of the issue but I want you to get strong enough so you can handle it and the only way

you're going to handle it is you're going to have to believe me and not what the devil says. I mean we've heard these things a gazillion times but is anybody here who kind of ... you're in the middle of situations right now. There's things that people don't even know about that are going on on the inside. You're fighting battles and people around you don't even realize it. It could be external circumstances, we all have those as well, it could be just physical affliction, it could be a lot of things. But how many of us, you know, are fighting battles where ... temptation for example. The devil knows your weakness in a certain area, whatever it is, it could be an act of sin, it could be, you know, a form of unbelief, it could be fear, it could be a lot of things. And the devil knows where to push your buttons and if it happens don't ever forget God's not the one tempting you to do what's wrong. God is the one allowing the devil to tempt you so that you can learn how to fight, learn how to say no, learn how to take what he has accomplished at the cross and say wait a minute devil, that's mine, I have what I need to stand and you have no right to do that. I believe in action, what God said. Because faith is a conviction of the mind, it's a conviction of the heart. But how do you remember what James said about faith? Faith without works is what? It's dead. There are so many people that say I believe everything that's in here, but when you get into the issues of life and suddenly you're faced with a temptation in a particular area of weakness and the Bible says sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under the law, you are under grace, therefore don't yield your members and so forth. Romans 6 in case you want to know where that comes from. And all of a sudden is that something that we're willing to stand on and believe actually applies to me right now in the situation or is that just, I don't know, you know, is it real? Are we willing to walk in what we say we believe? And I don't believe the Lord puts us in those situations to make us feel discouraged or bad, but rather to show us our need. He certainly has ways of showing me my needs and I've got plenty. But I'm so thankful that He does that out of a heart of mercy, out of a heart of love. Because He says I want to

make you an overcomer and there are areas that you don't realize. You think you're kind of going along all right and you believe all the right stuff and you do the right stuff and all of that and you think you're okay. But I see a need. Remember how you did that with Paul? We've pointed out many times what the Lord had to do for Paul when he allowed a demon to oppress him. Paul said this is not working. I'm trying to minister and this devil's bothering me and I pray... and it's still bothering me. What's going on? Lord, I don't understand. Oh God, get this off of me. How many times do we have our own answer to what we think the situation is? Make it go away. That's our answer to most stuff. If it's a battle, make it go away. I want to be at peace. Well, a lot of times peace is going to have to happen in the middle of a storm, isn't it? So anyway, and you remember how the Lord finally, after a pretty good amount of time, finally came and explained to Paul what was going on. Was the Lord upset about all this or was he doing something in Paul through this? Was he bringing Paul to a greater level? How many of you have prayed this dangerous prayer? Lord, take me to higher ground. Take me to higher ground, Lord. Well, that's going to take some changes if we're going to go to higher ground because it's not just some magical thing he dumps on us and suddenly we're victorious. The only way we get victorious, again, is not reading about it in the book, it's putting it into action. And the only way to put it into action is to face real stuff and learn how to say, wait a minute, the Bible says this and the devil's saying that, which am I going to actually believe and put into practice? Am I going to really actually believe what God said or am I not? That's what it comes down to. And I just ... again, I see the Lord trying to do that in me. And I heard another me too in there. But you're not the only one, brother. Consider it pure joy, James said in James chapter one. Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds. Now, oh, we're going to talk about trials again. Well, the word trial is a test. It's actually the same word that's used of a temptation. But whatever it is, it's allowing the enemy to come to us and try to appeal to us, to work on us. And what he's appealing to are the interests of human nature. I don't want to be uncomfortable. I want to have enough. I want to be fed. I want the sun to shine, the breezes to blow. And I want to feel good about myself, that I'm a good person. And the devil is just going to ... he's going

to allow ... the Lord's going to allow him to come. And if we're paying attention, we're going to discover a need. Imagine that. And we're going to suddenly say, oh, wait a minute. I thought I had a handle on this. What's going on? Oh God, make this go away. Or I need strength, or I just feel a sense of failure in the sense, oh God, how could I let you down? It goes into every area, every kind of temptation. Do you think we're the only ones? I seem to remember something about a guy named Jesus who was actually sent into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit. Why? To be tempted by the devil. If the Lord himself needed that in order to be the overcomer that he obviously is, do you think maybe his brothers and sisters need some of the same thing? Yeah. And so there he was in the greatest weakness, and yet he was tested, tempted in all points, as we've said many times, just like we are. And yet, where did he find the strength to do that? Yeah. His father came and lived in him. He said, I can't do anything without him. So there's a perfect example for us of somebody who knew where to look. He knew what God says when the devil said this. He said, it is written. He was constantly going to it, but it wasn't like a proof text kind of thing. This was a conviction of his heart. He says, this is where I stand. I know what God said, and you can't talk me out of it. I'm going to stand there, and that's the end of it. That old shield went up because the devil is ... I know that there's people right here today. The devil's been talking to you. Boy, it got quiet. It got quiet. Telling the truth? Yeah. He's stirring up things you thought you'd solved, you thought were in your past. He's bringing situations and you're wondering, oh Lord, like David, oh Lord, how long? How long am I just going to go on and you're not going to... And there you are and you just, and what is the one thing that will hold us in that situation? It's called faith. And faith itself is a gift of God. It's a fruit of the Spirit. It's something that, it's an ability that I wasn't born with. God has to plant it in my heart by speaking. I'll tell you, just that same word that went out of the lips of Jesus, actually, the one

that God used to create, those words that went out and said, let there be light in all that he said, let there be the stars, the galaxies that are out there. That same word is the word that he speaks to us. And if we're, if our hearts are listening and open, if we are the ones who have ears to hear, as he said in Revelation, there's faith that is born. But you know, I was thinking about, about a lot of this, this basic issue of how we become overcomers. Everything has been provided, right? We've said that so many times. It's been well said this morning, everything was accomplished at the cross and was given to us without our being able to, our needing to earn it. But there's one thing that God will not do. He will not make the choices that you and I need to make. And that's what it comes down to on a day-to-day basis. When you and I make a choice to listen to what he said, to rely on it, to go by it, and to take our stand, even when we don't see the answer immediately, that's the thing that will bring every one of us through and make us strong. And even the delays that he allows, and there are plenty of them, even when we're standing and we're waiting and we're standing and we're waiting, guess what's happening? The muscles are getting stronger. I've still got a few of them, I don't know. But praise God, but our muscles, that what we need to be able to stand gets a little bit stronger and a little bit stronger. Oh, I wonder how many times we just, I'm just tired. I'm feeling so sorry for myself. And we're given into that instead of cooperating with what God sees that we need. He knows why he made you, knows your purpose. He's got a place for you in his kingdom. He knows how to equip you to fill that place. But there's no equipping without this kind of spiritual training, where we are going

to be placed constantly in this life, in places where it's a choice. Am I going to believe what my old nature wants and the enemy says and the lies that he plants? Or am I going to agree with God's plan and God's purpose and God's provision? It's really for me right now. And I wonder how many times we just, we get tired. We get weary in well-doing. What does the Lord say? I can't remember now, actually. Be not weary in well-doing, for in due season you will reap if you don't give up. Where do I get the strength not to give up? I guess I'm going to have to get that from him too. I've got his promises here and I'm going to stand and I'm going to just say, Lord, help me. You think about Abraham, the father of our faith. And I'm going to say this because it's a point I've made many times, but I believe it really has to be made, especially for some. It didn't say that Abraham believed what God said. He did, but it went deeper than that. He believed God. There has to be such an apprehension of who he is that it doesn't matter what he says or how he carries out his purpose. I don't even have to, I don't have to understand it. See, I can come to him as a little child, but I know his character. I know everything about him. And so I put my entire trust and hope in him. If He's waiting, there's got to be a good reason. It's not that He's mad at me or there's something wrong that I've got to fix. I'm just going to say, Lord, You said it. I believe it. That settles it.

And I'm going to praise You and I'm going to thank You. I'm going to get my eyes, lift my eyes off of whatever's going on and just continue to look to You. Even those times when, like David, I'm saying, oh Lord, how long? Then he, at the end of that very psalm, Psalm 13, I think it is, he wound up with a positive confession. You know, God knows we go through those times. He understands it. I expect Jesus felt pretty rough in the wilderness too. But yet there was this basic principle, this reality that I know my Father. I know what He's planned. I am all in and whatever it takes for me to be the overcomer, to accomplish that purpose, I'm willing to lay down to my very life because I know I got brothers and sisters who won't get here if I don't do it. Wow. What a heart. But that's what He's reproducing in us and God help us to understand. We are so prone to be so selfish and so careless and I'm, you know, the older I get, the tireder I get, the more I'm, the easier it is to kind of coast and think, well, okay, I've got it now. I know the Bible. And the Lord has to remind me, whoops, you still got a need. I thought that was a thing of the past. What's going on here? Oh Lord, help me. He said, I am helping you. I let the devil come and talk to you because I wanted you to know you had a need. I don't want you to get so bogged down that you become defeated by that. I want you to lift it up to me and get your eyes back on me. Walk with me, talk to me, read my word, all the things that you know to do and just trust

me for the strength to do it. Everything is from him. But how many choices do we make that put us in those weak places sometimes? Yeah, I just praise God for his mercy. But consider it pure joy, I'm starting to read this. My brothers and sisters, pure joy, wow. My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, now why would that be through? Why would it be a cause of joy? Because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. That's the ability to just keep going and to push through and to push back against the enemy and all of his attacks. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. Is there anybody here who doesn't lack anything? You've arrived, you got it. You've got every issue in your life totally resolved. You're the victor, you're the overcomer and everything. Every single one of us has got things that God's working on you today. And it's like Peter says, I think it's in 1 Peter 4, don't think it's strange, concerning the fiery trials which are to try you as though some strange thing were happening to you. It's the purifying of our faith that God is after. And I praise Him, I thank Him that I'm tired. Praise God because He knows that if I don't react to that correctly, I will be saying, thank you Lord, I get this, you see a need, but what you want me to do is to get my eyes off of that and stop feeling sorry for myself and say, thank you Lord, I'm looking to you for your strength because it's not my strength that's going to do anything any good anyway. But that's true of every single believer. God wants you to grow up. You know, I noticed earlier in 1 John, you can look it up, it's in chapter 2, he's addressing different people, little babies or young children, young men, older men, and both cases when

he's talking about the young men, I write to you young men because you have overcome the wicked one or overcome something, anyway. I guess I can go over and read it, it's a few pages. But anyway, you've overcome, interesting he didn't say that to the little children. Because God wants us to, it's not just that I give you faith and now you've got it all, He wants us to grow in our faith. It's like muscles, you've got ... with muscles, but they got a whole lot of developing and growing to do, and they only do that against resistance. And so that's what happens. A little baby needs to be fed, needs to be bottle fed. But John says, I write to you young men because you are strong and the word of God lives in you and you have overcome the evil one. Finally got turned over there, chapter two. But praise God. That's what God wants for every single person here. If he sends something into your life that is a challenge, that is difficult, he's doing it because he loves you, because he sees where you're going. He sees what you're going to, he sees the muscles, spiritual muscles you're going to need to fulfill your place. And he wants every person here, every person who hears this, be able to stand there in white one day and he says, here, you are one of my overcomers and you did it because you simply, you believed in what I did at the cross. It's a hundred percent that, but you put it, you were willing to take the words off of the page when I spoke them into your heart and you were in a place of need and put them into practice. You were like Abraham who had to wait so long and he wasn't weak in his faith. You know, you can be weak in your faith and strong in your faith. You know, the Bible speaks about that. Well, he wasn't weak in his faith.

He was strong in his faith, gave glory to God and he stood fast on the promise that God had given him. And when it was the time, when the time was right, God answered. And God's going to do that for every one of us. Oh, how, how much we are geared more than we are, more than we dare realize to life here. We want to be healthy and wealthy and prosperous and, you know, all comfortable, all of those things. You know, we don't know what's coming. You're going to serve God when it gets hard. God knows what's coming. Maybe He's getting us ready. You think? Do you think He knows what's coming, wants to get His children ready so they'll be able to handle it and be able to keep their eyes on Him and absolutely, we'll be the ones that He can actually use in the world instead of just hunkering down and hanging on till I get there. I believe God is with us in ways that we have no idea. But oh, how, what a glorious truth the finished work of Christ is, but how often we forget to lay hold of it when we actually need it, even as believers. And I certainly would raise my hands and say, Lord, thank You for every time that You remind me that I need You. Thank You. Thank You, Lord. But I thank You that You've got to turn my eyes, not to feeling sorry and upset and trying to fix it, but lift my eyes immediately to say, look what I did at the cross. And because I laid down everything for You, You have the power to lay down everything for me. That same Spirit is going to be living in You and giving You the power to say no to everything Satan throws in your face, because we are at war.

And so don't be discouraged. If you're facing an issue right now, and maybe it's, you know, oh Lord, how long? What's going on? Why is this so hard right now? What's going on? Lift your eyes and say, thank You first. And then say, Lord, show me Your Word and teach me what You're trying to teach me in this. It's great to say, oh Lord, teach me Your ways. It's a dangerous prayer. He just might do it. But I'll tell you, His ways are so far above the world's ways and the rewards are eternal. Praise God, it may lead to all kinds of things. Look what it led to for Paul. What was it that enabled Paul and Silas, after all they had gone through and then locked up in a jail, to praise God and sing praises at midnight when they were hurting, rejected all the things that they had gone through? I wonder how many of us would have the grace to do that or the faith to say, wait a minute, God, I did this for You. I'm in the middle of Your will and You've allowed this and You've got a reason and I'm just ... You're worthy. I don't care what the earthly circumstances are. You are worthy to praise. You think maybe they did some spiritual growth and demonstration? That doesn't mean every time that happens God's ... You don't want to send an earthquake and rescue the situation, but I'll tell you, that's what God is looking for. That's what faith looks like. The preparation of overcomers, maybe that's as good a title as any, I don't know. I'll tell you, God is going to have a company of overcomers here.

There's only one way He can do it. He is going to send and allow adversity in your life. You know, this is the time of year when those of us who are using the chronological Bible, the one that actually goes by the when things happen instead of where they're written. We're in Job, fun book. And Job was walking in what he knew. He was righteous, but he got to a point where he was so righteous in his own eyes that he began to doubt whether God was just. God, I don't understand this. I know I'm right. I'll tell you, we're going to have to get to a place where even when we don't have the answer, when it doesn't make sense, we trust the one who is in charge because we know it makes sense to Him. God's going to do a lot of things in our lives that we are not going to understand at the time. But I'm not, He doesn't have to explain it to me. It's not like He, all right, God, you explain your plan to me and then I'll consider it. And if I can understand it, then I'll agree to it and then we're good. That's not how it works. That's not faith. Faith is, I know in whom I believed. I know. I know the one I believed in. I'm confident that He's going to keep that which I've committed to Him against that day. To Him be the glory alone. So faith is the victory that overcomes the world. But how does faith come? It comes from testing. It's something that has to be put to the test. And the test is when we actually learn how to take the Word and the promise of God and

act upon it in such a way that we learn that, yes, His grace is sufficient. It's enough. It got me through because He is faithful and He has made me strong and He's taught me something about Himself. I could not have learned any other way. We've heard every one of these things, like I said, a gazillion times. Anybody here who doesn't need this this morning? You've got this. No hand. My hands were not meant to be up, but I'll tell you what, God is so merciful and faithful to us. And the first thing I want to do is learn how to thank Him when the test comes, to rejoice and to say, God, I know you're doing something that's right and good. I know whatever's happening is because you love me, not because you're angry with me. It's not because you're, you know, what's the matter with you? Dig deep and fight through this. No. Look to me. Look unto me and be saved, all the ends of the earth. To Him be all the glory and the praise. Praise God. Praise God.