Victory is Ours!

I heard about two brothers who were both terrible rotten sinful men, and one of the brothers died, and the other brother went to the pastor and said,

"I want you to do my brother's funeral, and somehow in that message I want you to call my brother a saint, and if you do, I'll give your church $10,000."

The pastor said, "Well, you know how difficult that will be because you know what kind of a man your brother was."

He said, "I do, but for $10,000 you call him a saint."

The pastor thought about it, and finally the day of the funeral he got up and he said,

"There are several things I would like to say about this man who has just died. He was a liar, a drunkard, a cheat, a womanizer, a blasphemer, a reprobate, and a bum. But compared to his brother he was a saint."

We could call those guys losers!

Isn’t that one of the worst things you could be called? Just the thought of some one thinking we are losers is horrible.

We don’t want to be losers.

My mother in law decided to buy the girls a new board game. This was no ordinary game because when we opened the package everything was blank.

Someone came up with the idea to package up a board game that was completely blank! The idea was that YOU get to create your own game.

Well, the girls LOVED this idea!

They came up with their OWN game.

With their OWN rules.

It was super cute, but to me it was pretty frustrating because they made it impossible for DAD to WIN!

I am pretty sure the rules kept changing right when I was about to win.

I was certainly the LOSER the ONE time I played.

And you know what? It wasn’t fun.

We all want to be winners in life. I don’t know that I’ve ever met anyone who likes losing. In our finances we want to win, as a parent we want to be the best, marriage, job, the list goes on and on.

What I’d like to talk about is winning in spiritual.

Are you winning in your christian walk today?

Isn’t that the most important thing?

Not just so we can go to heaven when we die, but are you living a victorious life as a follower of Christ?

I would say that you are more of a winner than you might know. You are more victorious than you probably realize.

God has made His own board game and already called you the winner.

The enemy has been defeated and has no claim over you if you are a surrendered follower of Christ. There are promises in the Word of God for us that we can stand on, and hold on to when we question whether or not we are victorious.

When things get dark we tend to operate in fear instead of faith. We start to forget that we are the overcomers through Christ.

I want to encourage you. I want to remind you of who you, who He is, and the promise we have!

2 Corinthians 5:17–21 CEV

17 Anyone who belongs to Christ is a new person. The past is forgotten, and everything is new. 18 God has done it all! He sent Christ to make peace between himself and us, and he has given us the work of making peace between himself and others. 19 What we mean is that God was in Christ, offering peace and forgiveness to the people of this world. And he has given us the work of sharing his message about peace. 20 We were sent to speak for Christ, and God is begging you to listen to our message. We speak for Christ and sincerely ask you to make peace with God. 21 Christ never sinned! But God treated him as a sinner, so that Christ could make us acceptable to God.

in order to walk in Victory you need to...

Know who YOU are

I am convinced we walk in defeat instead of victory because we don’t understand the transformation that took place when we placed our trust in Jesus as our Saviour.

We allow the old us dictate who the new us is and guess what? The old us isn’t right.

The Bible I read tells me that when we surrendered to Christ that we are a NEW creation. Our old ways should be left in the past. Don’t let the enemy tell you that you are still the same old person.

This is what steals our victory over sin. We think that we can never overcome the chains that have bound us for so long. This is a LIE.

Here’s some encouragement, you are set free from those things that have bound you before.

You just need to understand WHO you ARE.

Jesus tried to explain this to people.

John 8:31–34 (CEV)

31 Jesus told the people who had faith in him, “If you keep on obeying what I have said, you truly are my disciples.

32 You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

33 They answered, “We are Abraham’s children! We have never been anyone’s slaves. How can you say we will be set free?”

34 Jesus replied: I tell you for certain that anyone who sins is a slave of sin!

Did you hear what He said? If you follow Him then you don’t have to be slaves to sin anymore.

In other words...WE HAVE THE VICTORY.

It’s a matter of understanding who you are as a follower of Christ.

You need to say to God - I am who I am because of who you are!

You are a new creation.

You are reconciled!

That means that once you may have been far from God. Lost in your own selfish life. But God, because of His great love for you has reached down in grace and lifted you up to enjoy a position of intimate relationship with Him.

This is something to praise Him over. We can stand in His presence without spot or blemish because the blood that was shed for us covers all our iniquity!

That’s why Paul says in this verse that we are righteous!

21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

This certainly doesn’t mean that we are righteous in our own strength. No, this means that when we became a new creation that Christ who did live a righteous life traded places with us.

Who are you? How can you stand in the presence of a Holy God? Because of the righteousness of our Saviour!

That’s Victory!

Now listen to me today.

Who you are is so very important and claiming victory in your life is very important, because in this new life we have some responsibility.

God is counting on us to bring that same victory to other people.

Wouldn’t it be sad to understand WHO you are in Christ and never let anyone else know the good thing you found?

Kristen made these amazing “can’t leave them alone” cake bars. Oh how good they looked. Well, she made them on a night that our girls spent the night with their Aunt Emily and we had this entire cake pan of these amazing bars.

We had a choice...gobble them all up and keep them for ourselves or share the love with our family and friends.

I promise next time we will share the love!

Just kidding, we took some to my parents, delivered some to the girls.

I didn’t even get to eat one!

See that’s kind of what it’s like to walk in victory. We are to SHARE the victory we have in Christ with others.

Now, in our scripture, Pauls tells us that we are part of God’s plan.

He says that we now have the ministry of reconciliation. We now are ambassadors for Christ.

That’s who you are!

Hey, don’t get the idea that pastors are some sort of special thing…that some certificate on a wall somewhere makes them more qualified to share the Gospel of Christ.

No way!

Who are you? You’re God’s plan A - There isn’t a plan B.

You are forgiven.

You are set free.

I love how excited Paul was to share the Gospel:

Romans 1:16–17 (CEV)

16 I am proud of the good news! It is God’s powerful way of saving all people who have faith, whether they are Jews or Gentiles.

17 The good news tells how God accepts everyone who has faith, but only those who have faith. It is just as the Scriptures say, “The people God accepts because of their faith will live.”

Can we honestly say the same as the Apostle Paul? Are we proud of the good news?

When something good has happened to us we want as many people to know as possible. When our baby is born, buying a new house, getting married, graduating, or any other important moment in life that we are excited to share...are those things more important than the gospel?

I guess it comes down to the question of what matters the most to us in this life. *** Prioritize the good news of Christ. *** It's the biggest and best news we could ever share.

God accepts EVERYONE - Who are you going to telling this great news?

You are on a mission from God to bring people into the kingdom.

Bottom line. You are VICTORIOUS.

My second thought is that… in order to walk in Victory you need to

Know who HE is

Who is God?

For this sermon I had all my thoughts together except for this point. I saved this for the end because this is a big topic and one that really needs to be pondered, researched, and taught with accuracy.

In 2 Corinthians we can see a glimpse of who God is and that can help us KNOW His character...and I believe when we understand WHO He is then we can certainly understand that we can walk through the days of our lives in victory.

When we know who God is then we are empowered to do His work in this world.

We all have had opportunities to encounter God.

Take right now for example. You have an opportunity to connect with God. We sang songs about Him, we are reading scripture that was inspired by Him, and we will pray to Him.

During this whole time you can make a choice to focus your attention on what happened before this service or focus on what is going to happen after this service or you can choose to focus on WHO this service is supposed to glorify.

We also have all experienced or encountered God outside this place.

He showed up just in time. Or some kind person spoke words of life at the right moment. Maybe you’ve had a brush with death and realized it was only by His grace that you are alive. I’ve known people who have been healed, had visions, felt His presence...

The writer of our scripture had an encounter with our God one day.

As you know, Paul was certainly not a friend of the early church. He was focused on wiping them off the face of the earth. Until one day He met Jesus on the road to Damascus and it changed his life.

Who is God? I think for me, when I read the scripture for today I am reminded of one of the many attributes of our God.

God is love.

You see, for me, that’s His best definition because throughout the entire Bible He proves over and over this overriding drive to have these encounters with humans.

He seems to desire nothing more than to have a relationship with His creation.

This desire and love for us knows no bounds. He was willing to pay the ultimate price for you.

What does our scripture say?

2 Corinthians 5:17–21 NLT

17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! 18 And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. 19 For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. 20 So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” 21 For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.

There are two things that I want to point out here that show us WHO God is and WHY I believe He can be defined by LOVE.

...God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin...

Think about this incredible thought - God is completely and absolutely Holy. Yet, because of His great love for us He took on our sin. The blood that was spilt on Calvary is what atoned for the sin of the world.

Do we hear this so much that we don’t remember that we have all sinned and fallen short of the Glory of a Holy God? That we should be condemned to eternal hell?

This is the greatest love that has ever been.

...no longer counting people’s sins against them...

because of this sacrifice of Jesus we live in victory because He doesn’t hold our sin against us anymore!

This is absolutely incredible! The only thing separating us from our relationship with God is US. The price has been paid. We can be in communion with the Father.

We have the Victory. We can walk in Victory each and every day!

Now, here’s a scripture that should Equip you with the understanding of God’s great love:

Romans 8:31–39 CEV

31 What can we say about all this? If God is on our side, can anyone be against us? 32 God did not keep back his own Son, but he gave him for us. If God did this, won’t he freely give us everything else? 33 If God says his chosen ones are acceptable to him, can anyone bring charges against them? 34 Or can anyone condemn them? No indeed! Christ died and was raised to life, and now he is at God’s right side, speaking to him for us. 35 Can anything separate us from the love of Christ? Can trouble, suffering, and hard times, or hunger and nakedness, or danger and death? 36 It is exactly as the Scriptures say, “For you we face death all day long. We are like sheep on their way to be butchered.” 37 In everything we have won more than a victory because of Christ who loves us. 38 I am sure that nothing can separate us from God’s love—not life or death, not angels or spirits, not the present or the future, 39 and not powers above or powers below. Nothing in all creation can separate us from God’s love for us in Christ Jesus our Lord!

Who is God?

God is Love. He is perfect in love for His people. We walk in victory because of this great love!

We have talked about Who you are and we have talked about Who God is which has encouraged us to walk our lives in victory.

Only one problem. When you leave this place there is still a big hairy world out there that didn’t get the memo that you are victorious.

So, here’s my final thought…we need to...

Focus on the PROMISE

In order to walk in victory we must take our eyes off our struggle and hardships that are happening right now and focus on the promise that is to come.

Sometimes we know who we are in Christ and we know who God is and what He’s done, but we still struggle in the day to day life that we live.

We struggle because life is HARD. It’s just plain and simple, not easy.

Each of us have our own battles. These are real battles. Battles that can take us down if we aren’t careful.

We sometimes don’t know how we can have the victory day to day.

It’s easy to see the path to victory when life is at its’ best isn’t it? When we are on the mountain top of life we can see for miles ahead and know that God is in control.

But when we are in the valley of despair, hardship, depression, the valley of death we look around and we don’t see a path out..that’s when it gets real.

That’s when we need to look to the one who can see us through.

God doesn’t always take us away from trouble or hardship, but He does walk with us through it and He promises us a day when there will be no more tears.

You might not think much of yourself, but God sees His child and He will never leave you or forsake you. Sometimes we need to see what He sees in us.

I came across a story that I thought might motivate you.

A16-year old girl named Eliza married the 20-year old tailor, he had never been to school. Others might have written his education off as a lost cause, but Eliza didn’t.

She taught him to read, write, and spell. Those days were difficult, but he proved to be a fast learner.

In fact, he learned so well that years later he was elected president of the United States! When he ran for a second term he lost, but refused to give up. Instead, he won a seat in the U.S. Senate. Who? our 17th president, Andrew Johnson.

The struggles, difficulties, or seemingly impossible circumstances do NOT determine our future.

With God you can accomplish more than you could ever imagine! You’ve just got to understand the promises of God.

We can’t allow the moments of agony and what looks like defeat to steal our joy…or to steal our victory.

We must to decide if Jesus was still Lord. If God was Love.

I think of Christ on the cross. In agony. In pain. The very Son of God dying for you and for me.

What pain must have God gone through when he gave His greatest gift?

In our lives we have all experienced pain, but those pains are only a fraction of the pain Father God had to feel as His perfect Son hung on a tree to cleanse all of humanity.

You want to know the cost of victory? That cost that was paid so that we can read 2 Corinthians 5:17 and proclaim that we are a new creation in Christ. That we can say old things are passed away and all things are made new?

That victory was bought with the precious blood of a Saviour and the tender heart of a loving father.

Some things in our lives are not easy to endure or easy to understand. Oh Yes, we can stand on Gods Word that they will all work for the good of those who love Him, but that doesn’t always give us immediate relief of the heartache or pain we are facing.

You may be going through hard times, or you've gone through hard times, or you are about to go through hard times.

Remember this: God will give you strength when you are at your weakest point.

God will allow blessing, opportunity, joy, sorrow, even pain, but the greatest thing He allowed was His perfect spotless son to die on an old rugged cross.

We can make it because He made it possible through His precious blood.

This should empower us to stand strong on the promises of God. We know how this whole thing is going to end. We have a home waiting for us on the other side of this mortal life. Our victory is waiting.

Nothing this world can through at you can change the fact that God is in control. God has made a way where there was no way.

Stand up and face the storms of life like there’s nothing to lose, because with Christ there is NOTHING TO LOSE.

You just need to remember these three things:

You can know who YOU are - look to the word for truth about what God thinks about you. Look at the authority He has given you as His child.

You can know who HE is - look to the word for truth about who God is and what He’s done.

You can know the Promise - we live in victory when we know we HAVE the victory. You fine the secrets when you stand firm on the promises of God.

VICTORY is Ours!