Stay the Course
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Don’t Stop, It ain’t over
Don’t Stop, It ain’t over
THANK WORKERS FOR GRAD SUNDAY
AND THE YOUTHIES FOR THEIR HARD, HEARTFELT WORK
Our first text today is going to be
We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves. We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed. Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.
We open this prophetic message with a most powerful statement concerning the power of God in us
In the Book of Daniel we see him persecuted many times for his faith
in our text today. Daniel has been in service to foreign kings for about 50 yrs.
this is more of such service
Darius is the co-ruler or Regent for the Mede/Persian empire which has now taken babylon.
Darius decides to put a high officer over each of the 120 provinces as well as Daniel and two others to supervise said officers.
under the ruler daniel is one of the top 3 guys.
And King Darius seems to have a bond of friendship with daniel.
how many know that
With the favor of God or man shining upon you the jealousy of others will follow.
So the other 2 top dogs as well as the 120 underlings decided to find fault in Daniel.
Then the other administrators and high officers began searching for some fault in the way Daniel was handling government affairs, but they couldn’t find anything to criticize or condemn. He was faithful, always responsible, and completely trustworthy. So they concluded, “Our only chance of finding grounds for accusing Daniel will be in connection with the rules of his religion.”
We are all in agreement—we administrators, officials, high officers, advisers, and governors—that the king should make a law that will be strictly enforced. Give orders that for the next thirty days any person who prays to anyone, divine or human—except to you, Your Majesty—will be thrown into the den of lions. And now, Your Majesty, issue and sign this law so it cannot be changed, an official law of the Medes and Persians that cannot be revoked.” So King Darius signed the law.
Daniel went directly home to pray
Then the officials went together to Daniel’s house and found him praying and asking for God’s help.
His enemies tricked the king into setting a law in motion that they knew would lead to Daniels faith and obedience to God coming into conflict with the law of the king.
HE had the power to walk into the lions den even tho it was to lead to his death which was planned by man and servants of satan.
We have a power to continue even in the face of death.
But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.
4:7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
This verse declares victory in our spirits.
It has sister verses like:
But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world.
And
For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.
And
Look, I have given you authority over all the power of the enemy, and you can walk among snakes and scorpions and crush them. Nothing will injure you.
If you have lived very long you know that life is not always fair, bad things happen to good people.
Sometimes Christians have financial problems,
Sometimes Christians get sick,
Sometimes Christians fight personal battles
in their marriage, in their minds,
even in their flesh, or their appetites.
In our starting text Paul says:
I have been troubled on every side,
and perplexed, persecuted and knocked down),
but he also says (not Distressed, not in despair, not forsaken, not destroyed.
I came to tell somebody today:
That It does not matter what the enemy is working against you, or what you are struggling with
The bible says:
Isa 54:17 No weapon that is formed against you shall be able to prosper.
The bible did not say that satan would not form weapons against you,
or that he would not launch them at you,
or that they would not touch you.
But what the bible does say is: It shall not prosper,
it shall not accomplish it’s intended purpose.
As a matter of fact: The bible teaches us
And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.
It doesn’t matter who you are or how spiritual you are,
at some point life is going to deal you a blow
(T.D Jakes refers to it as the Pot holes of Life).
Unexpected Undesired situations and problems that catch you off guard, and send your life into a spin.
The good news is, that even though we all will at some point encounter these unexpected, unplanned attacks, problems, and circumstances.
We have the promise:
But thank God! He has made us his captives and continues to lead us along in Christ’s triumphal procession. Now he uses us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere, like a sweet perfume.
And
And they have defeated him by the blood of the Lamb and by their testimony. And they did not love their lives so much that they were afraid to die.
I want to talk to somebody today who has been knocked down,
life has thrown you an unexpected curve,
Divorce,
Sickness,
A Financial disaster,
Your child is on drugs, Your company down sized and they let you go.
Your church released you, Your dreams of ministry have been crushed.
It can be a thousand different things, But the bottom line is:
You didn’t expect it and it hurt,
It threw your life into a tail spin.
When I was a young man I was shot at, jumped you name it.
Around that same time my truck was overheating so I stopped to put water in it.
Back pressure caused the radiator to explode on me.
I was knocked to the ground. thought I was bleeding and thought I was shot
For a minute or two I could not breathe, I thought I was going to die.
That was over 21 years ago and I’m still here it didn’t kill me.
Since that time life has thrown me some unexpected curves and there have been times when it has spiritually knocked me out , but It didn’t kill me I’m still here.
Paul had a similar experience:
Then some Jews arrived from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowds to their side. They stoned Paul and dragged him out of town, thinking he was dead. But as the believers gathered around him, he got up and went back into the town. The next day he left with Barnabas for Derbe.
They thought Paul was dead:But he wasn’t: It just knocked him out. .
I’m talking to somebody today who has taken a hard hit, and there’s no denying it, It hurt, it knocked you down,
It knocked the breath out of you, It knocked you off your feet.
But you’re still here, It didn’t kill you.
It knocked you off your feet but this is the biggest mistake the devil made,
because when a Christian is knocked off their feet they fall to their knees,
and when they fall to their knees They touch heaven,
and when they touch heaven hell trembles.
I came to tell somebody: You may have lost a round but you’re still in the fight,
and it may have slipped your mind From previous sermons so I want to remind you (This fight is fixed)
Before you ever stepped into the ring it was already determined you were going to win.
I cannot say that I will never be knocked down
I cannot say that I will never be caught off guard
I cannot say that I will never be troubled or perplexed or even forsaken,
but I can say: (I’m going to make it).
I can say:
Nothing shall separate me from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord
I can say
That is why I am suffering here in prison. But I am not ashamed of it, for I know the one in whom I trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until the day of his return.
I can say:
And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.
I can say:
No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.
You may have lost a round, You may have been knocked out, you may have a black eye, and a busted lip and a bloody nose.
But the best is yet to come:
Your set back, is just a setup, for a comeback.
And ye are of God little children and have overcome them for greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. 1Jn 4:4
Somebody hearing this message today needs to know it ain’t over, the devil may have rung the bell and said it’s over, but that’s just the end of the round, the end of the chapter.
You’re getting ready to start a new round and a new chapter,
I prophesy new strength, new anointing, new faith.
I prophesy a new chapter in your life.It ain’t over
In fact it’s just getting started.
If I had more time I would talk a little bit about the 3 hebrew children and how they heated the fiery furnace up 7 times hotter, and how they bound them up and threw them into the fiery furnace.the end.(Not quite)
But it wasn’t the end, the wicked king looked into the furnace and saw not 3 but 4 men up loose walking around in the midst of the furnace and he said the fourth is like unto the son of God.
When the 3 hebrew boys came out of the fire, there was no hurt to them, and the smell of smoke was not on them, and not one hair of their body was singed.And the king promoted them in the kingdom.
JALEN
Or we could talk about Daniel and how because of his commitment to God, they threw him into a hungry den of lions
A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den. The king sealed the stone with his own royal seal and the seals of his nobles, so that no one could rescue Daniel.
The End).Not quite
Thats just chapter one:
Very early the next morning, the king got up and hurried out to the lions’ den. When he got there, he called out in anguish, “Daniel, servant of the living God! Was your God, whom you serve so faithfully, able to rescue you from the lions?”
Daniel answered, “Long live the king! My God sent his angel to shut the lions’ mouths so that they would not hurt me, for I have been found innocent in his sight. And I have not wronged you, Your Majesty.”
The king was overjoyed and ordered that Daniel be lifted from the den. Not a scratch was found on him, for he had trusted in his God.
Then the king gave orders to arrest the men who had maliciously accused Daniel. He had them thrown into the lions’ den, along with their wives and children. The lions leaped on them and tore them apart before they even hit the floor of the den.
I want to tell somebody today that life and circumstances and people, may have thrown you into a fiery furnace and closed the door behind you, butIt ain’t over,
Or you may have been thrown into a den of lions, and they rolled the stone over the door, and said this time it’s over for sure.
But the same God that delivered the 3 Hebrew boys from the fiery furnace, and the same God that delivered Daniel from the den of lions, Is the same God that is lifting you up.
Dont put stones in front of God.
Lazarus
The devil sent it to take you out, but God is going to use it to lift you up
Stay the Course
Don’t Stop
It Ain’t Over
The enemy can only defeat you if you give up. So NEVER surrender to the one who REFUSED to surrender to God
Do not gloat over me, my enemies! For though I fall, I will rise again. Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light.
Altar Call
Prayer
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