Sermon Title: Prepare for change; Prepare to Change (Embrace The Win of God)
Dearly Beloved,
Greetings in the Name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!
To be “in Christ”, we must embrace His WIN!
Let’s be very clear.
Christ’s Victory is His alone; and can be ours only if we embrace the terms and reality of His Victory.
His Win, His Victory.
We are truly victorious only if we embrace and participate in the victory that Christ wrought for us.
And Christ is victorious.
There is absolutely no doubt about it.
History proves that He died on the Cross for the Atonement of the sins of the world; and on the third day, He rose again!
Christ Jesus appeared to his disciples after his resurrection; and before hundreds, He was taken up through the clouds into Heaven.
And yet, many ‘Christians’ constantly feel defeated.
If that is your condition, understand this.
Our bodies, hearts and minds are not as strong as we would like to think.
The reality is that we are easily affected, influenced, tempted by the circumstances, challenges and tribulations of the world.
And the reason is simple.
Your hope and innermost desires are not entirely in Christ and His Coming Kingdom.
You feel defeated because you harbour fantasies that the problems of this world can be resolved by the very human beings that have caused the problems.
Christ, alone, is the answer to the pain and suffering that we have experienced since the Fall; and only on His Return, will we – His Children - then live eternally, in the sinless and perfect world known as the Kingdom of God.
Here are three main reasons why depression and defeat is a regular feature in your life:
1. You have not truly embraced the reality that Christ’s Victory for us is over the bondages and wages of sin;
Out of greed and selfish expectations, many so-called ‘Christians’ have imputed their wicked human desires on the reality of Christ’s Victory, choosing to believe that His Victory is merely for the attainment of health and wealth on this side of eternity.
2. You misunderstand that we must feel victorious; in order to be victorious;
Know that your feelings are a terrible gauge of actual victory, especially when you are talking about someone else’s victory.
Honestly, what’s it to you if your favourite sports team wins?
Remember the riots that happened in both Vancouver and Boston when the Canucks lost to the Bruins in 2011. Even though their team was victorious, fans of the Bruins rioted in Boston where police were deployed in riot gear to stem the violence on the streets.
'Group-think', or otherwise also known as herd, or mob, mentality – which is, the inclination of humans to bypass their individual feelings and rationale in being part of a larger group, adopting instead, the actions, behaviour and expectations of the people around them – compounds the defeat of the Christian’s heart and mind, which is why we are instructed against conforming to the “pattern of this world”, and exhorted to “be transformed by the renewing of your mind” through Christ Jesus. (Romans 12:2)
The devastation of 'group-think' is observed recently when five black police officers were filmed by their own body cameras brutally beating up Tyre Nichols after a routine traffic stop; a beating so severe, that led to his death three days later.
Even though their body cameras were filming both their own actions and those of their colleagues, in the fog of 'group-think', the police officers were undeterred by the fact that their actions would be exposed.
Group-think is a real threat to the church.
For each Christian, our mentality must be based on ‘God-think’; in which we each ask and pray, “God, what do You think about this situation; and what do You think I should do about it?”
Our human feelings are a terrible gauge especially when we are thinking about Christ’s Victory – which is really the ultimate and most important Victory over the wages and bondages of our sin.
Even Christ ignored His human feelings when He prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done” (Luke 22:42) -in the knowledge that His Crucifixion must precede His Resurrection and Victory over death.
The Christian’s ultimate battle is the fight of faith; where in contention with physical death, victory is assured through faith in the Salvation of God through Christ Jesus.
Honestly, are your feelings really that important?
Do you actually think that God cares about your feelings when it comes to His guaranteed Salvation through Christ?
Do you think that Christ would allow a mere human being to suppress the Victory that He has already wrought on the Cross, and completely fulfilled in His Resurrection?
Praise be to God that our Salvation is not hinged on our feelings!
3. You expect that the Church should be ‘victorious’ over the intensifying and widening depravity of the world in the near or even coming future before the Return of Christ.
Here are the facts:
The world is spiralling in an unstoppable and irreversible cycle of depravity and wickedness which will culminate in the Great Tribulation and conclude only with our Lord’s Return. (Ref: Matthew 24:21, Revelation 20:4)
When Christ said in Matthew 16:18, “...and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it”, our Lord meant that the ‘realm of the dead’, or the reality of spiritual and final death, will not overcome the life of the Church, that is, bestowed upon us by the Holy Spirit.
Christ certainly does not require us to destroy the gates, and deal with the occupants of hell.
Christ is Victorious; and His Victory is absolutely imputed upon our lives, if and only if, we utterly embrace the terms and reality of His Victory, which is, over death - the wages of our sin. (Ref: Romans 6:23)
The terms of Christ’s Victory are clearly stated in the following Scriptures:
55 “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15:55-57)
If you sense injustice in the world and demand immediate justice, you are still held in “the power of sin”.
If the Holy Spirit truly gives substance to your life, God’s victory through our Lord Jesus Christ would be more than sufficient for you to be free to completely trust God’s Will and Time in every matter; including the clear injustices that pervades the world today.
And such is the main point of Christ’s Victory - that when we truly embrace His Win, we embrace the Holy Spirit giving us new spiritual birth through Christ’s finished work on the Cross, and nothing else matters!
When the terms of Christ’s Victory becomes your sole reality, you would find yourself totally unafraid of physical death, and even have divine courage to mock death, along with the sicknesses and suffering that may precede it.
“31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave Him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. (Romans 8:31-37)
Through Christ, we are already victorious - because we are already saved and loved by God.
Do you believe?
“4 For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.” (1 John 5:4-5)
We overcome the world when we embrace the reality that Jesus is the Son of God sent to save and deliver us from the wages of sin - which is, death.
The day would indeed come when “the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet”, but today, “the Grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.” (Romans 16:20)
Understand Christ’s Victory based on the terms of His victory; which is the irrefutable fact that when we believe in Christ, we have overcome the wages of sin – spiritual death.
To stop feeling defeated is to stop doubting; and simply believe that Jesus is the Son of God - the Messiah - who has atoned for our sins through His Death on the Cross and guaranteed the Promised Gift of the Holy Spirit, and the gift of Eternal Life, when He rose from the grave three days later.
Is the Grace of our Lord Jesus – the Holy Spirit - with you each and every moment?
Each and every moment, by the Power of the Holy Spirit, we must “throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles.
And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before Him He endured the Cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:1-2)
Have you set the joy of God’s Salvation and Gift of Eternal Life before you?
Or do you still harbour wicked fantasies about some ill-conceived concept of how Christ must come through for you in this world?
Victory belongs to Christ alone.
His Win, His Terms.
Have you embraced the terms of His Victory?
Are you prepared to run with perseverance the race God marked out for you; each and every moment fixing your eyes of Christ, the source, and perfecter of your faith?
Christ’s Win is the divine victory that would keep you alive through physical death, and usher you into an eternal existence in the perfect world of love, joy and peace known as the Kingdom of God.
You win only when you fix your eyes on Christ alone.
Be victorious today; make God’s Salvation through Christ the very basis of your victory in the world.
Be in Christ; embrace His Win!
Shalom.
Let us pray.
Our Father in Heaven,
Hallowed be Your Name.
Your Kingdom come, Your Will be done; on earth, as it is in heaven.
Thank You, Father for delivering me from spiritual death – the wages of my sin - and giving me victory through my Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ!
Holy Spirit, You have given me spiritual re-birth; and today, I ask that Your Power would saturate my life to live solely in the reality of Christ’s guaranteed redemption and victory in my life.
Father, You did not spare Your own Son, but gave Him up for us all – how will You not also, along with Christ, graciously give us all things? (Ref: Romans 8:32)
You, O God, are for us; no one can be against us, nor condemn us – for You alone, have justified us as righteous in Your Holy Sight, because we believe in Christ’s finished work of Atonement on the Cross.
Such is Your Victory!
Grant that I may live each day embracing Your Victory and Salvation!
Yes, in the fight of faith, I am more than a conqueror through Christ who loves me (Ref: Romans 8:37); and I have overcome the world because I believe that He is Your Son sent to save me from the wages of sin, death.
Holy Spirit, may I live in Your Power each and every moment of my life; that I may “throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles”, running with perseverance the race marked out for me, fixing my eyes wholly on my Lord Jesus Christ, “the pioneer and perfecter of faith.” (Hebrews 12:1)
Lord, set the joy of God’s Salvation and Gift of Eternal Life ever before me; that when it comes time to pass from this world, I would courageously endure my cross, scorn its shame, and enter into Your Holy Presence for all eternity.
Lord Jesus, may my eyes be fixed utterly upon You!
I thank You and pray all these in the Name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Dearly Beloved,
Greetings in the Name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!
To be “in Christ”, we must embrace His WIN!
Let’s be very clear.
Christ’s Victory is His alone; and can be ours only if we embrace the terms and reality of His Victory.
His Win, His Victory.
We are truly victorious only if we embrace and participate in the victory that Christ wrought for us.
And Christ is victorious.
There is absolutely no doubt about it.
History proves that He died on the Cross for the Atonement of the sins of the world; and on the third day, He rose again!
Christ Jesus appeared to his disciples after his resurrection; and before hundreds, He was taken up through the clouds into Heaven.
And yet, many ‘Christians’ constantly feel defeated.
If that is your condition, understand this.
Our bodies, hearts and minds are not as strong as we would like to think.
The reality is that we are easily affected, influenced, tempted by the circumstances, challenges and tribulations of the world.
And the reason is simple.
Your hope and innermost desires are not entirely in Christ and His Coming Kingdom.
You feel defeated because you harbour fantasies that the problems of this world can be resolved by the very human beings that have caused the problems.
Christ, alone, is the answer to the pain and suffering that we have experienced since the Fall; and only on His Return, will we – His Children - then live eternally, in the sinless and perfect world known as the Kingdom of God.
Here are three main reasons why depression and defeat is a regular feature in your life:
1. You have not truly embraced the reality that Christ’s Victory for us is over the bondages and wages of sin;
Out of greed and selfish expectations, many so-called ‘Christians’ have imputed their wicked human desires on the reality of Christ’s Victory, choosing to believe that His Victory is merely for the attainment of health and wealth on this side of eternity.
2. You misunderstand that we must feel victorious; in order to be victorious;
Know that your feelings are a terrible gauge of actual victory, especially when you are talking about someone else’s victory.
Honestly, what’s it to you if your favourite sports team wins?
Remember the riots that happened in both Vancouver and Boston when the Canucks lost to the Bruins in 2011. Even though their team was victorious, fans of the Bruins rioted in Boston where police were deployed in riot gear to stem the violence on the streets.
'Group-think', or otherwise also known as herd, or mob, mentality – which is, the inclination of humans to bypass their individual feelings and rationale in being part of a larger group, adopting instead, the actions, behaviour and expectations of the people around them – compounds the defeat of the Christian’s heart and mind, which is why we are instructed against conforming to the “pattern of this world”, and exhorted to “be transformed by the renewing of your mind” through Christ Jesus. (Romans 12:2)
The devastation of 'group-think' is observed recently when five black police officers were filmed by their own body cameras brutally beating up Tyre Nichols after a routine traffic stop; a beating so severe, that led to his death three days later.
Even though their body cameras were filming both their own actions and those of their colleagues, in the fog of 'group-think', the police officers were undeterred by the fact that their actions would be exposed.
Group-think is a real threat to the church.
For each Christian, our mentality must be based on ‘God-think’; in which we each ask and pray, “God, what do You think about this situation; and what do You think I should do about it?”
Our human feelings are a terrible gauge especially when we are thinking about Christ’s Victory – which is really the ultimate and most important Victory over the wages and bondages of our sin.
Even Christ ignored His human feelings when He prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done” (Luke 22:42) -in the knowledge that His Crucifixion must precede His Resurrection and Victory over death.
The Christian’s ultimate battle is the fight of faith; where in contention with physical death, victory is assured through faith in the Salvation of God through Christ Jesus.
Honestly, are your feelings really that important?
Do you actually think that God cares about your feelings when it comes to His guaranteed Salvation through Christ?
Do you think that Christ would allow a mere human being to suppress the Victory that He has already wrought on the Cross, and completely fulfilled in His Resurrection?
Praise be to God that our Salvation is not hinged on our feelings!
3. You expect that the Church should be ‘victorious’ over the intensifying and widening depravity of the world in the near or even coming future before the Return of Christ.
Here are the facts:
The world is spiralling in an unstoppable and irreversible cycle of depravity and wickedness which will culminate in the Great Tribulation and conclude only with our Lord’s Return. (Ref: Matthew 24:21, Revelation 20:4)
When Christ said in Matthew 16:18, “...and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it”, our Lord meant that the ‘realm of the dead’, or the reality of spiritual and final death, will not overcome the life of the Church, that is, bestowed upon us by the Holy Spirit.
Christ certainly does not require us to destroy the gates, and deal with the occupants of hell.
Christ is Victorious; and His Victory is absolutely imputed upon our lives, if and only if, we utterly embrace the terms and reality of His Victory, which is, over death - the wages of our sin. (Ref: Romans 6:23)
The terms of Christ’s Victory are clearly stated in the following Scriptures:
55 “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15:55-57)
If you sense injustice in the world and demand immediate justice, you are still held in “the power of sin”.
If the Holy Spirit truly gives substance to your life, God’s victory through our Lord Jesus Christ would be more than sufficient for you to be free to completely trust God’s Will and Time in every matter; including the clear injustices that pervades the world today.
And such is the main point of Christ’s Victory - that when we truly embrace His Win, we embrace the Holy Spirit giving us new spiritual birth through Christ’s finished work on the Cross, and nothing else matters!
When the terms of Christ’s Victory becomes your sole reality, you would find yourself totally unafraid of physical death, and even have divine courage to mock death, along with the sicknesses and suffering that may precede it.
“31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave Him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. (Romans 8:31-37)
Through Christ, we are already victorious - because we are already saved and loved by God.
Do you believe?
“4 For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.” (1 John 5:4-5)
We overcome the world when we embrace the reality that Jesus is the Son of God sent to save and deliver us from the wages of sin - which is, death.
The day would indeed come when “the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet”, but today, “the Grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.” (Romans 16:20)
Understand Christ’s Victory based on the terms of His victory; which is the irrefutable fact that when we believe in Christ, we have overcome the wages of sin – spiritual death.
To stop feeling defeated is to stop doubting; and simply believe that Jesus is the Son of God - the Messiah - who has atoned for our sins through His Death on the Cross and guaranteed the Promised Gift of the Holy Spirit, and the gift of Eternal Life, when He rose from the grave three days later.
Is the Grace of our Lord Jesus – the Holy Spirit - with you each and every moment?
Each and every moment, by the Power of the Holy Spirit, we must “throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles.
And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before Him He endured the Cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:1-2)
Have you set the joy of God’s Salvation and Gift of Eternal Life before you?
Or do you still harbour wicked fantasies about some ill-conceived concept of how Christ must come through for you in this world?
Victory belongs to Christ alone.
His Win, His Terms.
Have you embraced the terms of His Victory?
Are you prepared to run with perseverance the race God marked out for you; each and every moment fixing your eyes of Christ, the source, and perfecter of your faith?
Christ’s Win is the divine victory that would keep you alive through physical death, and usher you into an eternal existence in the perfect world of love, joy and peace known as the Kingdom of God.
You win only when you fix your eyes on Christ alone.
Be victorious today; make God’s Salvation through Christ the very basis of your victory in the world.
Be in Christ; embrace His Win!
Shalom.
Let us pray.
Our Father in Heaven,
Hallowed be Your Name.
Your Kingdom come, Your Will be done; on earth, as it is in heaven.
Thank You, Father for delivering me from spiritual death – the wages of my sin - and giving me victory through my Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ!
Holy Spirit, You have given me spiritual re-birth; and today, I ask that Your Power would saturate my life to live solely in the reality of Christ’s guaranteed redemption and victory in my life.
Father, You did not spare Your own Son, but gave Him up for us all – how will You not also, along with Christ, graciously give us all things? (Ref: Romans 8:32)
You, O God, are for us; no one can be against us, nor condemn us – for You alone, have justified us as righteous in Your Holy Sight, because we believe in Christ’s finished work of Atonement on the Cross.
Such is Your Victory!
Grant that I may live each day embracing Your Victory and Salvation!
Yes, in the fight of faith, I am more than a conqueror through Christ who loves me (Ref: Romans 8:37); and I have overcome the world because I believe that He is Your Son sent to save me from the wages of sin, death.
Holy Spirit, may I live in Your Power each and every moment of my life; that I may “throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles”, running with perseverance the race marked out for me, fixing my eyes wholly on my Lord Jesus Christ, “the pioneer and perfecter of faith.” (Hebrews 12:1)
Lord, set the joy of God’s Salvation and Gift of Eternal Life ever before me; that when it comes time to pass from this world, I would courageously endure my cross, scorn its shame, and enter into Your Holy Presence for all eternity.
Lord Jesus, may my eyes be fixed utterly upon You!
I thank You and pray all these in the Name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.