Be a Winner
The title of this message today is called “BE A WINNER.” You’ve probably heard it said, “Its not whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game.” But don’t believe that.
I) Sure there may be some things in the natural, like sports where that’s true. Somebody’s going to win and somebody’s going to lose.
A) But God has designed you and I to be winners.
1) Man was created to be a winner. And we can see that early in the Bible.
a) Turn with me to Genesis 1:26.
b) God created man to be the head over everything that breathed on the earth. In fact, he was the head of earth itself. (Genesis 1:26).
2) Man didn’t know what losing was until he separated himself from God through disobedience in the Garden of Eden.
a) But when that happened, man ran into a wall of defeat.
(i) He was forced to except failure in his life, a position that he was never meant to occupy.
3) But if you’re a Born-again child of God, I have good news for you.
a) Through your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, a transformation has taken place.
b) You’ve been made a winner once again.
B) Now, you might be thinking, “I don’t feel like a winner. I feel like a loser and I have plenty of failures in my life to prove it.”
1) All of us have failed from time to time. So don’t worry.
2) The 1st thing you need to do in order to become a winner is get a new ATTITUDE.
a) And you can get it from the Word of God.
3) Turn with me to Ephesians 4:23.
a) That’s what you and I need to do.
b) We need to renew our minds to the Word of God, to base our thinking on the fact that Jesus has overcome the world.
4) Let me read (Ephesians 4:22-24) from the NIV translation. “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”
(i) You need to begin to see yourself as a winner in Him.
C) George Patton who was, I believe, a Five Star General in the United States Army had a God given insight into war.
1) He knew how vital a winning attitude could be.
2) When he was addressing his troops he once said, “Some of you men have come with your minds made up to die for your country. That’s not the way to win a war. The way to win a war is to make your enemies die for theirs.”
a) George Patton had his mind made up to win and he knew that dying wasn’t the way to do it.
b) He had a winning attitude.
3) We too are in a war.
a) (2nd Corinthians 4:10) says, “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down strongholds.”
b) (Ephesians 6:12) says, “For he wrestle (or do battle) not against flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this world, again spiritual wickedness in high places.”
4) But you know what? You have an even better reason to have a winning attitude than George Patton did.
a) God has guaranteed your success.
b) Let me give you an example; imagine just for a moment that you’re about to tackle the really tough job.
(i) And before you even get started on it, God speaks to you right out loud and says, “I just want you to know, I’m going to personally see to it that this project you’re working on succeeds.”
(ii) Now wouldn’t that give you a tremendous feeling of confidence?
(iii) Even if things got rough, you wouldn’t worry about it because you have God’s Word that you’re going to succeed.
(iv) That would make it easy to have a winning attitude.
D) Well, let me tell you something. You do have God’s promise that you will succeed.
1) He has said in His Word that you’re an “OVERCOMER.”
a) In Him, you can overcome any problem that the world throws that you.
2) Turn to 1st John 5:1-5. (Thru 9)
a) Very clearly, in these verses, God tells us who the overcomer is.
b) Who is it that overcomes the world?
(i) He that believes that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
(ii) That’s you and me, born-again believers.
3) Now when the Bible talks about “THE WORLD,” it’s usually speaking of SATAN AND HIS KINGDOM OF DARKNESS.
a) The Bible says in (2nd Corinthians 4:4) that Satan is the god of this world.
4) But if you’re born of God, you have ABSOLUTE, PERFECT, GOD GIVEN, BLOOD BOUGHT RIGHT to overcomer every aspect of the world-everything it could possibly send your way, over Satan and every principality and power of darkness.
a) It doesn’t matter how much you feel like a loser.
(i) It doesn’t matter how many times you failed in the past.
b) If you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God, then you are an overcomer. And you’ve been given the power to do it. (1JN 5:4-9)
5) Turn to Romans 8:37.
a) The NASB says, “We overwhelmingly conquer through Him.”
b) If you believe the Word of God, then you should respond to every challenge by saying, “Well, praise God, I’m an overcome.”
(i) That should be your attitude.
II) Now, does having a winning attitude guarantee you won’t have any more troubles?
A) No. It simply means you can go through that trouble and emerge triumphant.
1) Look at John 16:33.
a) In other words, Jesus is saying, “The world will come at you with everything it has to offer, but don’t worry about it-I’ve already beaten it-I’ve already overcomes the world.”
b) Now when Jesus said He’s overcome the world, He wasn’t referring to just 99 percent of it. He said, “I have overcomes the world.”
(i) 100 percent of it.
c) In that same verse we just read, it says that Jesus has overcomes the world, but it also says that we are “in Him.”
(i) If he has overcome the world and we are in Him then we too are Overcomers.
d) It makes no difference what problems the world brings your way. Just turn to Jesus and your guarantee to conquer them because he has overcome everyone and we are in Him.
B) Turn with me quickly to John chapter 17.
1) This is the last prayer that Jesus prayed for His disciples before going to the cross, but not only is this prayer for his disciples it’s also for us.
2) John 17:13-15.
a) Jesus’ prayer reveals to us that it’s His will that we would live above the evil in this world.
b) Does that mean we’re not going to have any more troubles?
(i) No Jesus said, “In the world ye shall have tribulation, but be a good cheer I have overcomes the world.”
(ii) But his prayer for the disciples and for you and I is that we would be victorious over everything the world offers.
c) Oh, how do I know that he is praying for you and I also? John 17:20.
3) But now look at something else Jesus said in the very next verse John 17:21.
a) Paul said the same thing in (1st Corinthians 6:17) which says, “But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.”
(i) One translation says, “Is one spirit with Him.”
b) You are one with Almighty God.
(i) Is he loser? Of course not. He’s the greatest winner of all time.
(ii) And that makes you will winner too.
4) That’s why we need to change our attitude so that it’s more like His.
a) God has a winning attitude. There’s no defeat in Him. There’s no failure in Him.
(i) He has the attitude of victory.
b) Turn with me to Romans 8:29. He’s talking about us.
(i) Our attitudes should be CONFORMED or CHANGED to be like the Son of the living God.
c) Jesus has a winning attitude because he is a winner.
(i) You and I should have a winning attitude because we are in Him.
(ii) He has made us to be the head and not the tail. He has given us the victory. He has made us an overcomer and he always causes us to triumph. You’re a winner.
W. O. L. C. C. Sunday, January 31, 1999, taken from Kenneth Copeland’s book called “The Winning Attitude.” Sunday, August 06, 2000.