All posts tagged: Victory

Victory in the face of Opposition

Published by

One of the fundamental truths about the kingdom of God, the church or believers is that that kingdom, church, the believer always seems to thrive or triumph or win even in the midst of intense opposition. Jesus left us these promises – He said: “I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.” “The Kingdom of God shall advance and the voilent shall take it by force.” “If God is for us who can be against us?” Nehemiah reminds us in chapter 4 about a few things we need to do when faced with opposition.  And I looked and arose and said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes.” When our enemies heard that it was known to us and that God had frustrated their plan, we all returned to the wall, each to …

Day #10: I am more than a conqueror

Published by

I’ve heard His story. I’ve tasted His glory. I’ve read the end of His Book. We win! – End of story. Romans 8:37 “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” It is best for us to outline or provide a list of things we overcome in Romans 8 to understand the fullness or depth of our victory over the enemy of our soul. Check this out: Tribulation Distress Persecution Famine Nakedness Danger Sword Death Life Angels Rulers/Demons/principalities Things present Things to come Powers Height Depth Anything else in all creation WOW! Who shall bring any charge against? No one! Who can condemn us? No one! Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? No one! Who can curse us? No one! Scripture says “no weapon forged against us will prosper. And every tongue risen against us in judgment – we will condemn.” W are Shielded We are eternally shielded and secure in the love and protection of our Savior. Scripture says, “By God’s power are protected …

Joy Is…

Published by

Most of my reading and preaching this month has been about Joy. I just completed a three part Christmas Series on Joy at my Church. And you can discover how to increase your joy here. In this post, I want to, at least try to answer the question – “What is Joy?” I made a statement during one of my sermons about joy that left a lot of questions. I could hear the murmuring in the congregation while I tried to explained what I meant. Let me share it with you and you can leave a note about your feelings or thoughts about it: Joy is not affected by afflictions; it’s only affected by sin. Sin decreases joy; affliction increases it. I believe joy is … An indestructible Assurance in who God is and everything He promised. This includes the following: The assurance of his covenant relationship with each and everyone of us. The assurance that comes from the joy of His salvation within us. That he is able to save to the uttermost. That …

The Greatest Chapter in All of Scripture is the greatest chapter of my life

Published by

It was the summer of 1991. I was young and had discovered the joy of salvation, the hope of eternal life. There was a fire burning in my heart. I felt like I had been made new. I was born of God. His seed had budded within and I would never be the same. We had completed our baptismal classes. We were baptized. My spiritual father insisted that we memorize Romans 8. Everyone of us had committed the chapter to memory. We stood before the congregation, just before our first communion, and with one voice, one proud, loud and joyful voice, we recited the greatest chapter in the entire bible – Romans 8: The Spirit of Life There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of …

In case this morning sermon didn’t do it for you, Here is a song and a text.

Published by

Whatever it is you may be going through I know He’s not gonna let it get the best of you You’re an overcomer Stay in the fight ‘til the final round You’re not going under ‘Cause God is holding you right now Mandisa: Overcomer Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:35-39

It is not he who swims the fastest time, but he who can touch the wall first

Published by

Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise (smart) as serpents and innocent as doves. Matthew 10:16 You’ve heard it said that the race is not to the swift but to him who endures to the end, but at the 2012 Olympic games in London, we are learning that, it is not he who swims the fastest time but he who can touch the wall the first. The former is about perseverance and taking one day at a time. It’s about getting up when you fail and trying again. It’s about moving forward in the face of detours, and setbacks and adversity. But the latter is about smarts, creativity, ingenuity. It’s about doing what you have to do to outsmart your enemy. It is about learning all the wiles, schemes and tricks of the enemy, and a few of your own to beat him at his game. In 2008 Jason Lezak anchored the US men’s relay to gold by out-touching French swimmer Alain Bernard by .08 seconds. …

Too hot for him to handle

Published by

A few years ago one of best friends lived in Accra, Ghana. He got his monthly pay check one beautiful Friday just before he left work. His first stop was at a local bank where he cashed his check than sped to the local market to get supplies for the weekend. After walking around for a few minutes, he reached into his pocket to retrieve his wallet. To his surprise, it was gone together with every penny he had to his name. He didn’t know that someone had picked his pocket and lifted his wallet. He sat down in disbelief wondering how he was going to get through the month. Well, being a godly, praying man of God, he bowed his head and said a prayer. After the amen was said, my friend decided to stay seated for a few more minutes, as he braced himself for a few difficult days ahead. All of a sudden, a young man showed up with my friend’s wallet in his hand . The young man shaking and sweating, …

Defenestration

Published by

Webster-Merriam People’s Top Ten Favorite Words and how the Bible might have something to say about it. Part 1 Defenestration:  a throwing of a person or a thing out of a window; or a usually swift expulsion or dismissal. Defenestration comes from Latin (de- means “from; down, away;” and fenestra means “window”). The word first appeared in English in 1620. Have you ever been kicked out of a church? Have you ever been kicked out of your job? Maybe you know how it feels  to be kicked out of school or dumped by a girlfriend or a boyfriend. How do you model genuine faith in those times. There is a young woman in my church going through the feeling of being dumped. She now sits on the other side from where she used to in church and the guy is claiming that she should not come to church because this is his home church. But she says he is the one who needs  to find another church because this is her home church as well. They are mean and …

Edging God Out – Episode Four

Published by

Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. Ephesians 5:14 Today we are going to talk about the fourth lesson in the story of a prophet going down. Jonah not only refuses to share his faith, cultivate intimacy with God in his presence, care deeply for the welfare of others, but today we see him edging God out of his prayer life. The bible tells us that Jonah was asleep at the bottom of the ship. Someone may say well, hold it right there, Jonah prays in the belly of the fish.. That’s prayer! You are right, that is prayer – but that is not a prayer life. Unfortunately, for a lot of people, the only time they pray is when they are in trouble or when they want God to do something for them. They seem to have no use for God or no relationship with him when things are going great. Prayer is more than just coming to God for something – it is …

Spiritual Warfare 101

Published by

Part 2 Powlison’s Intentions Truly all Christians believe in spiritual warfare; we all believe that Christ delivers us from evil. Powlison seeks to answer two crucial points of confrontation regarding spiritual warfare. The first question engages how we understand the Christian life. What are we fighting? How does the evil one actually work? How does he exert—or attempt to exert—his dominion? The second question engages our practice of the Christian life. How should we fight? What is the way God delivers us—and tells us to deliver ourselves and each other—from bondage to the devil? What is the mode of warfare? Our Common Ground The large majority of Christians give assent to four propositions, whatever our other differences. We are involved in spiritual warfare. Jesus Christ is the triumphant Deliverer and King. The modern age deadens people to the reality of spiritual warfare. Errors and excesses occur in deliverance ministries. If deadly rationalism saps spiritual vitality on the one hand, the exorcistic mentality spawns mutant spiritualities on the other. Both the disenchanted world of modern rationalism and …