Overcoming Life! (Part Two)

Greeting Video and visitor welcome

Wednesday March 8th is the annual business meeting.

Friday March 13th is our next Dart Exchange from 6-9:00 pm. The cost is $2/person for pizza and drinks. Sign up sheet in the foyer.

Baby dedication for Arrow Ezra Zielke (Keenan and Chelsea Zielke)

Mention about the classes that we are offering: currently there is the airsoft ministry class with Duane and Wilma Dishman and starting soon, we are going to be offering a class on emergency preparations. Like if disaster hit, what would you need, how would you prepere and what things can you be getting ready for emergencies.

Like when we had the ice storm several years ago that shut down a lot of Crossville. Or, like in the news, with the continuing move of the Coronavirus, what if it spread to our area and you were told, do not go out. How would you prepare?

These are the sort of things that this class will entail, as well as others. So, there are sign up sheets out in the front with different areas on interest that you can circle that you might interested in learning more about. Just circle those areas and then give your name and some contact information, and you will be contacted, once the initial class is going to begin.

Next Sunday is the sports regalia Sunday and also the dinner following (sign up sheet in the front foyer) and it also, the Sunday in which the time springs forward one hour, so plan accordingly!

I would like to start off this morning, for the sake of continuity and consistency, by revisiting last week’s message with you and then moving forward. Last week, I began a message that was entitled, “Overcoming Life”. In that message, I mentioned that there are circumstances and situations that happen in our natural/physical lives, that we have control over and they are things that happen, based upon our choices and actions in life, (the “sowing and reaping”, if you will). I then mentioned that there are still other circumstances and situations that take place in our natural/physical lives, which we do not have control over.

In both of these arenas, I stated that we must choose to either succumb to the circumstances and these painful situations and let them master us and our lives, OR we could muster up the strength and gumption to move over, or around these obstacles in life and persevere and OVERCOME them.

That choice is ours to make. And I gave some examples last week of people who were born with, or developed physical limitations, or that experienced obstacles in life that could have held them back and dominated them and their futures!

And yet, these people in the examples that I gave, did not lie down and let the circumstances master them. NO, they buckled down and OVERCAME the gauntlets in life that stood before them, and went on to be victorious!

People like, Helen Keller, whom I briefly mentioned last week, who was born normal in 1880, but at the age of 19 months old, became ill and permanently lost, both her sight, as well as her hearing!

She learned to communicate through sign and adapted to the use of her other senses to experience the world around her.

She learned to experience music through feeling vibrations of table tops. She learned to speak before others and she learned to read others speech, by using her acute sense of feel and feeling their lips, as they spoke to her!

She went on to become a WORLD famous speaker and author! She wrote a total of 12 published books and several articles and she visited 35 other countries!

You see, Helen Keller overcame the barriers in life that could have held her back and kept her in a world of darkness and fear and loneliness. She decided that she wanted to OVERCOME her physical limitations and make positive, life altering changes with and in her life!

And it was Helen Keller who made the following statement, “All the world is full of suffering. It is also full of overcoming.”

I went on to mention last week, that my message was not going to be directed towards the “natural/physical” things in life that we must OVERCOME, but rather, I wanted to focus on the other realm that exists around us, the spiritual realm.

As I read last week, it was the apostle Paul who reminds us that, “We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.”

Our walk in the kingdom of God, as His children, as believers in and followers of Jesus the Christ, is built upon the understanding that the God which serve and love, is a SPIRIT and those who worship/serve Him, MUST do so in spirit and in truth!

And thus, we are spiritual beings, who exist inside of a physical shell!

I used the Biblical example last week, of the prophet Jeremiah and his dialogue with the Lord God, in , where Jeremiah questions God in frustration about the current state of mankind. It is here, that he asks the Lord, “Why does the way of the wicked prosper and why do all who are treacherous thrive?” (Many of us have wondered that very same thing, right? Why do bad people, who wrong and hurt others, seem to prosper, while the good people suffer, or barely get by?!)

And then Jeremiah asks God the question that others found within the Bible have asked, as well as every generation that has existed since the Bible was completed, have asked, “How long must this land mourn?”

Jeremiah asked God of how long must they wait for justice, King David, a man after God’s own heart asked God in despair, “O Lord, how long will you forget me? Forever? How long will you look the other way?”.

Habakkuk the prophet asked the Lord God, “How long, O LORD, must I call for help? But you do not listen! “Violence is everywhere!” I cry, but you do not come to save.”

And it’s here that many, if not most of us, in despair and anguish and fear and anger, cry out very similar questions to God, “HOW LONG GOD, HOW LONG?!”

Right after Jeremiah questions God, in , God answers him and says, “If you have raced with men on foot, and they have wearied you, how will you compete with horses?”

how will you compete with horses?

I pointed out last week that these “men on foot”, that God mentions in His answer, in other versions of the Bible (KJV and NASB) are called, “footmen”.

And in mentioning this, I said that the “footmen” in this passage, represent those things and people and situations in our lives that happen in everyday life and they are the little things that keep us weighed down and spending all of our energy and attention and time worrying about them!

And so, God was asking Jeremiah then, the same thing that I ask you now, “if you’re worn out and weary from the “footmen” in life (all of the constant little struggles and daily situations , that occur), what are you going to do, when the “horsemen” (the really big and formidable adversaries and problems) come against you?”

In other words, we get soooooooooo beat down and weary from life’s usual issues, that when the enemy (or real adversary) comes against us, we are to spiritually and physically broke down and unable to fight! (ATTRITION WARFARE!)

And thus, many of us just quit fighting and yield to the devil and and return to thing that he wants, our carnal nature; A.K.A. our sinful nature!

So, in closing last week, I mentioned that the Bible never tells us that we are to go out and challenge and take on the enemy in a fight, but that it is always God who fights for us and on our behalf.

In fact, the Bible tells us to strengthen ourselves in the Lord and put on our spiritual armor and STAND firm against the enemy and his attacks upon us, while we wait on the Lord!

And so, as we wait upon the Lord, (which really means, to HOPE and TRUST), He will strengthen us and renew our ability to keep on STANDING and resisting the enemy in this spiritual battle.

Which is what tells us,

Isaiah 40:28–31 ESV

28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. 29 He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. 30 Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; 31 but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

So, the two take away points that I left you with last week, was that our ability to spiritually overcome the enemy, is based upon the premise that we STAND in the face of the attacks as they come upon us AND while we are standing (resisting) the enemy, we are to put our HOPE and TRUST in God alone, and in return, the Bible promises us that He, will renew our strength and give us the ability to keep on going.

And this is where we will pick up today, gaining more understanding about our OVERCOMING LIFE and what it looks like and how it is possible!

And just as a reminder, when I am speaking about an OVERCOMING LIFE, I’m speaking about our spiritual life, in particular. Just so everyone knows and understands this.

Although, living an OVERCOMING LIFE, spiritually, will dramatically effect your natural/physical life as well!

It is vitally important that each one of us here knows and understands, that our ability to OVERCOME the enemy of our souls and the attacks and temptations that come against us from the enemy, is not found in our own strength or our own will-power!

TURN TO SOMEONE NEXT TO YOU AND SAY, “YOU CAN”T DO IT ON YOUR OWN!”

You see, the weak, watered down version of the gospel message that way too many preachers and teachers of the Word have pawned off and propagated for way too long to church members over the years in this country, has produced a culture and a generation of so called “Christians” who now live a life of words and deeds, but whose lives are completely devoid of true FAITH and BELIEF, and whose lives have NO fruits or works whatsoever, to demonstrate that they have true any faith and belief in the Lord!

When people who claim the Christ as their Lord and savior NEVER, on any occasion, go out and share the gospel message and declare its good news to the world around them in their daily lives, nor feel the unction and the desire to, then what in the world are these people?

You can’t call them Christians, because the Biblical definition and understanding of a Christian, is someone who has received Christ as their Lord and who thus behaves and acts and walks and talks, like Christ, to the world around them.

A Christian is literally, a FOLLOWER of Christ!

Well, how can you profess Christ as Lord of your life and say that you are following Him and that you love Him , when you never do what He did and you have no desire in your heart to share His good news with others?!

At best, these people should simply be called “church-goers”, because the way that Christianity is being packaged and sold today by many, requires NOTHING of its adherents and it costs them nothing more than their time in filling the pews and chairs in their local church buildings!

A Christian follows and emulates the Lord Jesus in all of His ways, a “church-goer” simply shows up for service, looks religious in front of others in the building and then goes back to their regular weekly life!

Trust me, I know that what I am saying is not popular and many people don’t like to hear it, but being a Christian and thus, being an OVERCOMER of this world for the kingdom of God, is not easy and it’s not cheap!

It will cost the believer their fleshly desires in this world and it will require you to leave the things of this world and follow a strict path of moral purity and self-denial.

It is a life that demands servitude of the follower, to the Lord first and then to others second.

And that is why Jesus said that the path that leads to eternal life in following after Him, is difficult. This is why He said that the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

In our own carnal/physical self, (our FLESH), we are incapable of OVERCOMING the desires and the temptations and the sins of this world.

People have been duped into believing that as long as they are not living a life of the really nasty sins, like murdering or living the life of a thief, or an adulterer and the like, then the relatively few little sins that they keep committing in their lives are inconsequential and that God will just let these sins slide and go ahead and allow them on in to heaven after they die, because compared to others in the world and even in the churches, they are still, “good people” and by merit, they do not deserve eternal punishment!

They only see the physical side of sin and weigh it out according to the natural mind. In other words, by someone saying, “Well I’m not a murderer” may set them apart from others in the world, and yet they deny that Jesus taught that having anger in your heart for someone is the same in the courts of heaven as murdering that person, because of the intent of the heart!

You may not have committed adultery with that co-worker so you feel justified and that you have “overcome” sin and yet you ignore or are ignorant to the fact that Jesus said that lusting and desiring after that person in your heart and mind is still the same in the courts of heaven as having committed adultery with them, because of the intent of your heart!

Understand this people, when God said, “BE HOLY, AS I AM HOLY”, He meant it, period! And then when He sent His Son Jesus to die the most horrid death there was on the cross, so that we could become holy for Him and to Him, He didn’t leave ANY room in the plan of redemption for those “little sins” to continue on in our lives!

The only way that you and I can OVERCOME the enemy of our souls and leave behind the desires and cares for the sinful pleasures of this world, is if we: 1) Truly, receive the Lord Jesus the Christ as the Lord and redeemer of our lives through true repentance of our sins and through our faith and belief in Him and His perfect work on the cross through His shed blood and 2) If we daily deny our flesh and it’s lust for the things of this world and keep our hearts and mind and our spiritual eyes fixed upon Jesus and by following the commands of His Father for our lives in a true and lasting intimate relationship!

So like I said last week, we must draw near to God by putting our HOPE and TRUST in Him, then stand firm/resist the devil and his temptations and attacks on us and then the Lord will continually strengthen us, so that we can keep on running and not grow weary and walking and not faint!

That is the basis for OVERCOMING in our spiritual walk!

The ability to OVERCOME the enemy and all of his temptations has already been achieved and demonstrated for us, by the author and perfecter of our faith; Jesus the Christ!

In , we read of Jesus, having just been baptized by John the Baptist, being led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

Many of us think that we have it hard and that the devil is really coming against us in our lives and that its one attack after another, but understand this, Jesus was literally led by Holy Spirit into the barren wilderness, for the sole purpose of being isolated and for “the” devil to come and spiritually attack Him!

And if you have read this passage before, then you know basically what happens.

The devil watches Jesus and begins to attack Him, based upon what he thinks will be Jesus’ weakest areas. Which is exactly what the enemy does with us in our lives.

Just like

He watches us and listens to us and then attacks us, based upon what he finds to be our weakest and most vulnerable areas in our spiritual life.

And as is most common, the devil attacks through the weakest point in all humans first, THE FLESH!

So, Jesus is hungry and weak from fasting for an extended period of time and the enemy first tempts Jesus with the most obvious thing..........food, by saying to Him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.”

Now note, this temptation was both an allurement to “feed the flesh”, but also to control the spirit of Jesus.

The devil knows God’s power and he also knows that ONLY God has the power to create. So, look at what he tests Jesus with.

“If you are who you say that you are, then COMMAND these stones to become bread.”

Not just produce some manna from heaven, or call down a loaf or two, but rather, take something that has absolutely NO chance of being something else and command it to become that!

He was not only testing the flesh of Jesus from His hunger, but he was also trying to make the sovereignty of God manifest at his command, because only God can, “call those things which are not as though they were”.

Only God can take one thing and make it into something completely different! (stone into bread)

Just like, only God is able to take a sinner and create a new creature from it, that is called righteous!

Now take note at how Jesus addresses the temptation. He doesn’t begin to list all of His attributes and break out His resume of what all He has accomplished and read them to the devil. He doesn’t even waste His time and energy showing the devil why, theologically, the devil’s plan is wrong.

No, Jesus only refers to His Father and His Father’s words by quoting Him and saying, “It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

Man shall not live by bread alone,

So, having failed miserably at this attempt, the devil then takes another angle of temptation. (And note that I keep saying “temptation”, because that is all the authority that the enemy has over you and I; he can only present the temptation to us. You are the one who decides to yield, take the bait and rebel against God and sin!)

but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”

The devil takes Jesus to the highest point in the holy city of Jerusalem, on the pinnacle of the temple and says to Him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’ ”

On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’ ”

The devil is now using God’s own Words, (albeit in a twisted way), to try and elicit a response from Jesus. (He does the same thing to us, if we are not using godly wisdom and if we do not TRULY know and understand what the Word says!)

lest you strike your foot against a stone.’ ”

And understand this, it wasn’t necessary for Jesus to actually leap from the building and prove Himself and His claim of sovereignty before the devil, but only that the enemy could produce and make the power of God manifest at his command and by his will. In any shape and form and fashion.

That is what the enemy was wanting and what he has always wanted. To have the authority and the power of God, for his own glory.

The same thing happens, when he tempts you and I with sin. If we take the bait and commit the sin, then yes, it does go against the will and command of God, but even more so, it glorifies the devil and empowers him.

A lost, unsaved person, is already operating under the power of sin and has NO authority in the kingdom of God and so, the enemy gains nothing from that.

BUT, getting a Christian to yield and follow his temptation, violates God’s authority and transfers that spiritual authority of the believer, back to the devil, if even for the moment.

Since we are filled with Holy Spirit, just as Jesus was filled with Him, then the devil wants the same thing. He wants to tempt us and produce an action from us, that was not directed by God and that ultimately produces an action that glorifies the devil and by a vessel that is full of the power of God!

Ultimately, the enemy wants to control the power of God, by controlling the vessel in which that power resides.

And so, again, what does Jesus do to OVERCOME the attack of the enemy? He quotes God’s commands, by saying to the devil, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ”

Strike two for the devil!

The final temptation that the enemy throws before Jesus is showing what he really wants, ultimately, and what he has always wanted since his fall. He wants to be worshipped, rather than God being worshipped.

So, the devil takes Jesus to a very high place and displays before Him, all of the kingdoms of the world and their glory and he says to Jesus, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.”

And again, look at how Jesus responds to the temptation. Jesus could have looked at the devil and said something like, “What do you mean, ‘you’ll give them to Me’? Chump, I created all of this, it’s already mine. ‘The earth is Lord’s and the fullness thereof’, you just get use this as a temporary playground!”

But what did Jesus do and what did Jesus say? Just as before, He quoted His Father’s words and showed His will, by saying, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’ ”

You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’ ”

And the end result of this direct attack upon Jesus and of the enemy tempting Jesus to sin, is seen in the very next verse, where it reads, “Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.”

and him only shall you serve.’ ”

Just as the book of James tells you and I, so also did Jesus do in this period of temptation. says, “ But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

The grace of God is an ALL sufficient equipping and empowering that allows us to OVERCOME the enemy!

This ties directly back in with Isaiah’s message of those who wait on the Lord, hope in the Lord, trust in the Lord; to these God gives more of His grace, which is to say, He increases their strength!

Because, when we trust in God and obey His will and His commands, then we are humbling ourselves and exalting Him.

Thus James says that if we humble ourselves, (ultimately exalting Him), He will give us more grace. more strength, to allow us to resist the increasing temptations of the devil.

And just like Jesus did, when you and I grow in God’s empowering grace and strength, by standing upon His word and heeding His will, the devil has no option, but to flee from us.

And just like Jesus was comforted after the attack, once the enemy flees from us, because God’s presence was increasing within us an around us, then we receive the fruit of Holy Spirit, (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control).

And take note, that in book of Galatians, chapter 5, where we read of the fruit of the Spirit, in the very next two verses, Paul says, “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives..”

25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit

Those who call themselves Christians learn to do this and desire to this very thing; to follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives!

Next week, I am most likely going to wrap up this message on OVERCOMING. And next week, we are going to look at two very specific and direct aspects of OVERCOMING. The Bible declares that we have already OVERCOME the world, and yet it also declares that we are still to continually OVERCOME! How can it say one thing and then say the other? That is where we will dive in next week!

For today, I will close by saying, that there is NO TEMPTATION that you or I will ever go through, that Jesus did not OVERCOME on this earth!

You know that the enemy threw everything that he had at Jesus, in order to try and make Him stumble and yet, according to Hebrews, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.”

Jesus OVERCAME temptation and never sinned. So, we, as true Christians, have that same OVERCOMING power within us!