3ABN On the Road

Being An Overcomer In Christ

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Pastor Mark Finley

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Series Code: OTR

Program Code: OTR000678


01:01 Our first question for this evening says,
01:04 I know that I should spend time
01:06 alone with God in prayer
01:08 and reading the Bible as a Christian,
01:10 but I don't feel like it, I don't enjoy it,
01:14 I would rather do homework instead.
01:17 What is wrong?
01:18 What I can do so I will enjoy time with my Bible?
01:22 Could I jump in for a moment there,
01:23 I don't want to trivialize the question,
01:25 but I would definitely take stay in the Bible
01:28 over doing homework,
01:30 but maybe one of our panelists has
01:32 a better answer for that.
01:35 Well, if you like,
01:37 if you like to study more than study the Bible,
01:39 you've already accomplished
01:40 something that is harder to do.
01:43 The truth of the matter is that,
01:45 in order to fall in love with someone,
01:48 we need to spend time with that person.
01:50 And sometimes it may take a little time of habit.
01:56 It's a habit that it is a wholesome habit.
01:58 We sometimes don't like what we eat
02:01 or what we eat is not, you know,
02:04 does not set off all kinds of fireworks
02:06 in our minds, oh, we're so enjoying this meal,
02:09 but we need it, in order to eat,
02:11 to be nourished to have strength.
02:13 The Bible works in the same way.
02:15 You do not need to expect it
02:17 to be just a wonderful feast every time,
02:21 what you need is persistence
02:23 and what you need is confidence
02:25 and the fact that God is going to reveal His way
02:27 in you and your life, if you continue to do that.
02:30 I tell you, here's a small council,
02:34 a number of years ago,
02:35 I decided to listen to the Bible on tape
02:39 and that was helpful to me because I was able to see
02:41 the Bible as a bird's eye view,
02:44 in just kind of the whole activity of God
02:47 and that gave me such confidence in Christ,
02:50 perhaps that would be one way to jump
02:52 start your Bible study or your Bible reading. John.
02:56 Yeah, just something else
02:59 I don't know the person who turned this in,
03:01 but one of the things I would do is,
03:02 I would make sure you have a contemporary,
03:04 modern translation of the Bible,
03:06 and so that it's a little easier
03:08 to read than thee, thy, thou that kind of thing.
03:10 And read books that are a little more compelling,
03:14 you know, I love Psalms, Proverbs, the gospels.
03:19 If you start with Leviticus
03:20 it's gonna bog you down a little bit,
03:21 so that's just a little council I would have.
03:25 One of the things I've found helpful
03:26 in my Bible study is this,
03:27 I have a little acronym that I use I call it fim.
03:30 How to put fim, vigor, excitement,
03:32 vitalization into your Bible study?
03:34 And I take the, I am read the gospels
03:37 as John mentioned.
03:39 For example, if I'm reading the story of the disciples
03:43 on the sea and the storm coming up.
03:45 The first thing I do is visualize it my mind.
03:48 What would it be like to be on a boat in the sea
03:51 and the boat's going up and down,
03:53 up and down, so I visualize the story.
03:55 Secondly, I identify with the disciples.
03:58 What if I were Peter? What if I were in that boat?
04:01 What if the wind was blowing in my face?
04:03 What if I thought I was going to go down
04:05 then I mediate on a lesson for me that day.
04:07 Visualize it, identify it,
04:10 identify with it, meditate on it.
04:12 And don't worry about how much you read.
04:15 It's not a speed reading course.
04:16 It's far better to take one story,
04:19 read about it, think about it.
04:21 It's not that you have to spend an hour or two hours.
04:24 It would be better to spend five minutes
04:26 and get something out of it that it would be an hour
04:29 and be bored by it.
04:30 So spend short amounts of time, visualize it,
04:34 identify with what you're reading, mediate on it,
04:37 and get a blessing for that day and move on,
04:39 but be consistent in your devotional life.
04:41 We'll go with Jeffery and then Elder Douglas.
04:43 I just wanted to say is well,
04:45 when I first picked up the Bible I was 17 years old
04:49 and I learned something and that was this.
04:51 I wonder what my life would be like
04:53 if I only did things that initially felt good.
04:57 And I think that I learned that in my mind,
05:00 so long as I was convinced of my need
05:04 to spend time in the word,
05:05 that would transition from just something
05:09 that I was convinced of mentally
05:11 and it would grab hold of my heart.
05:14 And so what did not initially begin
05:16 as like gooey feelings in my heart.
05:19 It only began as a thought I desperately need this,
05:23 and that compelled me to read,
05:25 and it transitioned from that
05:27 and it grabbed hold of my emotions.
05:29 And so now, it's an accelerating experience
05:32 because my mind is involved and my emotions are involved.
05:35 I would say, don't let that hold you back,
05:38 follow mentally what you know you need
05:39 and it'll grab hold of your heart.
05:41 Well, Elder Douglas has something to add I believe.
05:42 I say, amen to everything here.
05:44 Something I've done over the years,
05:46 if I had a challenge,
05:47 especially if it's human challenge of some kind.
05:52 The Lord and I have a bargain.
05:53 I start with the first verse of Proverbs 1,
05:57 and I tell Him, I'm gonna keep reading
06:00 Proverbs until you give me a solution
06:02 to what I'm dealing with.
06:04 Sometimes I go to the fourth Chapter,
06:05 sometimes to the 8th Chapter,
06:07 but I never stop until I know
06:10 what I'm supposed to do that day. Amen.
06:13 One of the things that I'm finding helpful to me
06:15 right now personally is I'm going through
06:19 the Book of Acts and there was many exciting things
06:23 in the Book of Acts, but what I did
06:25 was I took the Acts of the Apostles
06:28 and started reading it and using it
06:33 as supplemental to my Bible study work,
06:36 and it's just so exciting.
06:38 In fact, there are times when I feel like
06:41 I can't wait to get to my morning
06:44 or evening Bible study because it's so exciting
06:47 from the Book of Acts and the Acts of the Apostles
06:50 because it's real, it's real people
06:53 and there are real events and real things happening,
06:55 it's like a story.
06:57 And so you can't put it down
06:59 and I found that just recently
07:01 when I started doing this.
07:03 It really has vitalized
07:05 my own personal worship experience,
07:09 my Bible study, and its enhanced
07:13 and enriched my own life.
07:14 Amen. Amen.
07:15 We're gonna move on, we could,
07:18 we could probably talk on that question
07:19 for quite a while, couldn't we?
07:21 And there are so many aspects of that
07:22 and so many ways that we can -- practical things
07:25 we can do to vitalize or devotional experience.
07:28 I have a question that's particularly pertaining to
07:31 Dr. Clouzet's seminar, but everybody else
07:33 is welcome to jump in as well.
07:35 But the question is how can I tell between God's voice
07:40 or the difference between God's voice
07:41 and impressions of the devil? Amen.
07:45 How can you recognize any one's voice?
07:47 And you begin by spending time listening to that voice.
07:51 The genuine article can only be recognized by being
07:56 so familiar with it
07:58 that everything else then is different.
08:02 I think that the beginning of
08:04 that is simply reading the Bible.
08:06 We know the God has spoken in the written word.
08:09 If that is something that we can internalize
08:11 and read and read and re-read,
08:14 many times the applied word when we hear God
08:17 in an application mode.
08:19 We will find a real consistency
08:22 with what we have read.
08:23 Now, if we do not know
08:24 what we have read or if we do not,
08:26 if we do not read then we are a lot more liable
08:30 to be in subject to other voices
08:32 that may appear as God,
08:34 but indeed they're not necessarily God.
08:36 And I think, Marquis,
08:37 would you have something to add to that?
08:38 I wanted to kind of piggy back
08:42 on what Dr. Clouzet said.
08:44 Isaiah Chapter 8 verse 20 says
08:45 "To the law and to the testimony,
08:47 if they speak not according to this word,
08:48 there is no light in them.
08:49 " And so everything that you hear,
08:50 all these impressions you must again
08:52 reference back to the Bible and see what the Bible says.
08:55 If these things are consistent with the Bible
08:56 and when you find the lack of consistency,
08:58 you know that this is not the voice of God.
09:00 Sometimes feelings are fooling
09:02 and we have to be careful not to go with feelings,
09:05 I mean, go with the fooling feelings,
09:07 but go with the word of God.
09:09 Last comment and we'll move on. Thank you for that.
09:11 Not everything is always an impression of the devil,
09:13 it maybe a human impulse, that is mean
09:15 the devil's standing next me whispering in my ear.
09:18 So it maybe a human impulse.
09:20 For me, here is the way I distinguish between
09:22 human impulse and divine impression.
09:24 A divine impression is a growing consistent,
09:28 constant, awareness that God wants me to do something.
09:31 A human impulse is flighty.
09:34 If I don't act on it today and I let it go for a week,
09:37 it maybe gone totally.
09:39 So divine impression is regularly consistent,
09:42 it's that voice of God that is in my soul
09:46 in which I have a conviction
09:48 that God wants me to do something,
09:49 but impulse flighty.
09:51 Here today, gone tomorrow,
09:52 but don't think everything that it's not
09:55 a divine impression is whispered you by the devil,
09:58 certainly not, it may be a human impulse.
10:01 Another great question.
10:02 How can the person tell
10:04 if they're supposed to be a missionary? They are.
10:10 Well, let me go back a little bit.
10:12 I really appreciate what you just said.
10:15 I believe that God is calling people
10:17 to serve as missionaries
10:18 and just like Elder Finley was saying,
10:21 it's a growing experience,
10:24 you will hear the Holy Spirit speak to you,
10:25 in one way you'll sense him
10:28 leading you to do certain things,
10:30 you'll look at your life and you'll say,
10:31 you know, why did I do this?
10:32 How, why am I getting this education?
10:34 God has been preparing me to do something special for Him
10:37 and He is calling me to be a missionary.
10:40 And I really encourage you to start,
10:43 you know, if you're sensing that,
10:45 pray about it, investigate resources,
10:49 and see if God will continue to lead you,
10:52 make sure it's not just a human impression.
10:55 I don't think the devil is gonna tempt you
10:56 to be a missionary, but, you know,
11:00 God will confirm this calling for you
11:02 because He wants people to go,
11:04 that's what God is all about is sending people out.
11:07 So the question isn't should I be a missionary,
11:09 but where does God want me to be a missionary?
11:11 Right, and in fact, there was an article I read
11:14 recently in Mission Post Magazine that said,
11:17 we're all missionaries.
11:18 You know, whether it's -- here
11:20 I spoke about this morning.
11:23 This is Jerusalem here,
11:27 Southern Adventist University is Jerusalem,
11:29 then He's calling people to go to Judea,
11:31 which maybe let's say, Chattanooga,
11:33 then He's calling people to go to Samaria
11:35 which I don't know Nashville, New York City,
11:38 and then He is calling people
11:39 to go to the ends of the earth.
11:40 And I believe God leads people in progression,
11:43 He doesn't just say, okay, go here and then, boom,
11:45 you're in the middle of nowhere land.
11:48 So God does want each one of us
11:50 to be a missionary for Him, wherever we find Him
11:52 and then find yourselves
11:53 and then it's listening to His voice to discover
11:55 where He may want us to go.
11:56 And I can see a couple of people wanting to jump in.
11:58 Well, we're gonna move on actually.
12:00 Here, Glenn, I'll pass those off to you.
12:02 Another just excellent question,
12:05 it says, I'm struggling with bitterness.
12:09 How can I give it to Jesus?
12:11 How do I give anything to Jesus?
12:14 We could put guilt,
12:16 we could put anything in that situation.
12:18 How do we give those things to Jesus?
12:20 Bitterness is a very unique phenomenon.
12:24 It's a unique attitude.
12:26 Bitterness often grips your soul,
12:28 ruins your life and sours it.
12:31 If you have felt bitter over a period of time,
12:33 here's my suggestion very practically.
12:35 Sit down and write out a letter,
12:39 that simply says God, I'm writing to You
12:42 why I'm bitter and you write that out.
12:45 Then you say this, Lord,
12:47 I'm giving this to You right now and You tear it up.
12:51 You simply express yourself on paper,
12:54 give all that to God and then tear it up and say,
12:57 Lord, by Your grace,
12:58 You've forgiven me, I'm gonna forgive others.
13:00 I think you also should write a letter
13:02 to the person you're bitter about.
13:04 Not that you're gonna send it,
13:05 but I think you ought to write it out
13:06 as long as you want to make it
13:08 and tell them just why you feel this way.
13:10 And something may happen to you on the third page.
13:14 Or the second sentence.
13:16 Well, I want to thank each one of you
13:18 for joining us for this conference,
13:20 this entire weekend and also for joining us
13:22 as our panelist this evening.
13:23 You know what, it's seems to me as many of these answers
13:26 we've been receiving goes back
13:28 to spending time in God's word. Amen.
13:31 And spending time with Jesus and getting to know Him.
13:34 And I wonder sometimes if the questions we have
13:36 and it's always good to have the questions
13:37 and to ask the questions, but I wonder,
13:40 if sometimes we have fewer questions,
13:42 if we took the time you today
13:44 to spend time getting to know Jesus.
13:46 And so I'm sure it's the encouragement
13:47 of each person up here
13:48 and it's my encouragement to you as well
13:50 is to spend time getting to know Jesus. Amen.
13:53 And you can always take your questions
13:54 directly to Him. Amen.
13:55 I wanna thank you all you again for joining us,
13:57 and thank you for your questions.
13:59 Well, tonight we're gonna open God's word.
14:01 But before we do that,
14:02 I'm gonna invite you to bow your heads
14:04 with me as we pray.
14:06 Father in heaven, we thank You today for Jesus.
14:11 We thank You that there is something big for us
14:14 to be involved in.
14:16 We're thankful that, we're thankful that
14:17 the littleness and the shallowness
14:19 of the world does not entice us.
14:24 But we're thankful that we can give our talents
14:27 and our abilities and the gifts
14:29 that you've given us to the big cause of God
14:32 to cooperate with Christ, and sharing His love
14:36 in the message of His truth with the lost world.
14:39 Thank You, Lord, that our eyes are on something bigger
14:43 than the things of this world.
14:45 There are men and women and boys and girls
14:48 who are lost and need to know Christ,
14:51 need to know the message of His soon return,
14:54 need to know the message of His truth
14:55 and grace before He comes.
14:57 So consume us and fill us
15:01 with that desire to share Your love,
15:03 we pray thee in Christ name, amen.
15:06 It was in 1988,
15:07 I was the Minister of Secretary,
15:08 the Trans-European Division with headquarters
15:11 in St. Albans, England,
15:12 and went into the office one day
15:14 and I noticed a copy of the London Times
15:17 that was sitting there on the little table
15:19 in the entry way.
15:20 I don't know why I picked it up,
15:21 I had a little time before my first appointment
15:23 at the office and I picked it up.
15:24 And I noticed the fascinating story
15:27 of a Seventh-day Adventist Church
15:28 in Bucharest, Romania.
15:30 At this time, Nicolae Ceausescu
15:33 was the ruthless dictator who hated religion
15:37 in Romania in Bucharest.
15:41 He had ordered Seventh-day Adventist
15:44 to leave this church
15:46 and under the pretext of wanting to build a bridge
15:49 over that section of the city and put a new road through.
15:55 He ordered Adventists out of the church
15:56 and he was going to bulldoze the church down.
16:00 Now the national news picked up the story for this reason.
16:03 The Adventist said to the dictator,
16:05 Nicolae Ceausescu, we are more than happy to cooperate,
16:09 we are faithful citizens of the state,
16:11 we do not want to defy law.
16:13 If you'll replace our land and replace our church
16:16 and just give us another facility
16:17 and that seems logical, we don't want anymore money
16:20 than what the land and building is worth.
16:23 We will gladly move.
16:24 Although the church has
16:27 certain sentimental value to us,
16:29 we many of us have worshiped there for years,
16:32 we will move.
16:33 The dictator said nothing doing do it.
16:34 The church is mine, the state is seizing it,
16:37 we're not giving you a penny for it,
16:39 and we're not replacing it for you.
16:42 The Adventist believed that that was a violation
16:44 of their religious rights.
16:46 So, in 1988, they went down into the church
16:49 and they said, if you knock down the church,
16:51 you've got to knock it down with us in it.
16:54 The dictator surrounded the church with his militia
16:58 and he also got prisoners out of prison
17:01 and brought them down to the church.
17:03 Our believers prayed in the church,
17:04 they sang hymns in the church.
17:06 And on the order of the dictator,
17:08 these militia came and broke down
17:10 the doors of the church,
17:11 pulled the Adventist out of the church
17:13 and totally destroyed the church,
17:16 a great defeat for the true God.
17:21 About 15 years later, I was visiting Romania
17:25 and I had visited Romania many times
17:27 in the ensuring15 years by visiting Romania
17:29 and I remembered the story, God brought it to my mind.
17:32 And I asked our Union President,
17:33 who at the time was Adrian Bocaneanu
17:35 and I said, Adrian,
17:36 what about that Church that I read about in 1988,
17:40 that was destroyed.
17:42 I was there to hold a satellite
17:43 of evangelistic series in 2000
17:45 in a place got Salo Plato,
17:47 which was the Former Communist Center,
17:50 their former communist party building.
17:52 And I said, Adrian, what about that Church
17:53 that Nicolae Ceausescu knocked down,
17:55 I'm interested in.
17:57 He said, Mark, I want to take you to the new facility
18:02 that we built not far from the place
18:04 where they knocked down that Church.
18:06 there's an interesting story behind that.
18:09 Although the devil apparently may win a battle,
18:13 he never wins the war. Amen.
18:15 And he said this Church is the nicest Church
18:19 in Bucharest today.
18:22 And he said, I want you to talk to the people
18:24 that were actually in the church during the days
18:29 that they were pulled out, and how they came back
18:32 to that very site that was rubble and broken glass
18:36 and steel and how they prayed there and they said,
18:40 God we know that you want a house of God
18:42 to the glory of your name in this area of the city
18:45 and how God led them to another piece of property.
18:48 Now, Mark, I want to tell you something.
18:49 The dictator is dead in the revolution
18:53 of 1989 and 2000, 1989 and 1990.
18:59 The dictator tried to flee, he was shot and he is dead,
19:02 but we have a new Church and do you know what
19:05 the name of the street of that new Church is on?
19:07 I said, no, I don't know.
19:08 He said, it's on Winner Street. Amen.
19:11 And he said, you know, what number the Church is?
19:13 It's a number seven Winner Street.
19:17 A dictator tries to destroy the Adventist Church
19:21 and to the glory of God
19:23 you can do nothing against the truth,
19:24 but follow the truth.
19:26 To the glory of God,
19:27 all things work together for good.
19:29 To the glory of God,
19:30 in Christ we are more than conquerors.
19:32 To the glory of God, a new temple for the worship of God
19:36 is built on number seven Winner Street
19:39 because the truth of the matter is this.
19:41 In the battle between good and evil,
19:44 Christ has called you to be a winner, not a loser.
19:48 In the battle between good and evil,
19:50 there is no power that is greater than
19:53 the power of Christ.
19:54 I am not concerned about the devil,
19:57 I'm concerned about the power of the living God.
20:00 Too many Adventist Christians
20:01 today are putting more thought
20:03 into what the devil is doing,
20:05 then what more than the thought
20:06 into what God is doing.
20:08 Too many Adventist Christians today are talking about
20:10 the power of the devil, the power of Satan.
20:13 I remember, I was helping a man quit smoking one night,
20:16 and we gathered all his cigarettes up
20:19 and I read him First John Chapter 5,
20:21 this is the confidence that I have in Him
20:23 the confidence in Christ, the confidence in His power
20:26 that if I ask anything
20:27 according to His will, He hears us.
20:29 And I read that text and I said look,
20:31 it doesn't say,
20:33 this is the confidence that I have in Him,
20:34 if I ask anything according to His will
20:36 except quit smoking. He hears me.
20:38 I said my brother, you can come
20:40 with all of your weakness,
20:42 you can come with your tobacco laden blood,
20:46 you can come with tobacco saturating
20:49 the cells in your body,
20:50 you can come and cry out to God
20:52 and He will give you the power to overcome.
20:54 So we knelt down and began to pray.
20:56 And this man prayed like this,
20:57 oh, dear Lord, I'm so weak.
20:59 Dear, Lord, the devil is so strong.
21:01 Dear Lord, I can't overcome
21:03 because the devil is so strong,
21:05 but please Lord help me.
21:06 About halfway through his pray I got tried,
21:07 I shook the man, stop praying brother, stop praying.
21:10 You're gonna be worse at the end of the prayer
21:12 then at the beginning.
21:14 Now he had not had a preacher tell him that,
21:15 but it was the truth, it was the truth.
21:18 He was reinforcing his defeatist attitude in prayer.
21:22 And psychologically he was conditioning
21:24 his mind for failure
21:26 and I couldn't let that happened as a minister.
21:27 So I have to shake him, brother, stop praying.
21:31 You're gonna be worse at the end of your prayer.
21:33 You are telling God how the strong the devil is
21:35 that all that's happening is reinforcing
21:37 your defeatist attitude in your mind.
21:39 Now, brother, pray like this.
21:41 Dear Lord, I know that on the cross of Calvary
21:44 you defeated Satan.
21:46 I know that in Jesus and by Jesus
21:48 and through Jesus I can be more than
21:50 an overcomer through Christ.
21:52 I know that His blood and He is great--
21:54 His blood is shed to cleanse me for my past sins
21:58 and the grace that flows from Calvary empowers me
22:01 to live a positive abundant Christian life today.
22:05 And that man prayed like that.
22:07 And by the grace of God,
22:08 Jesus gave him victory over tobacco.
22:10 He became a deacon in one of our churches
22:12 in Boston, Massachusetts.
22:13 I want to talk to you today
22:16 about being an overcomer in Christ.
22:17 Take your Bible and turn
22:18 to Revelation Chapter 12 verse 11.
22:22 The grace of God pardons our past.
22:26 The grace of God provides freedom
22:30 from the guilt and shame of sin,
22:32 but the grace that justifies me
22:35 is also the grace that sanctifies me. Amen.
22:38 The grace that pardons me
22:39 is also the grace that cleanses me.
22:43 Rock of Ages cleft for me, let me hide myself where?
22:49 In thee.
22:51 Be of sin the what? Be of sin the what?
22:54 Double what?
22:56 Cure save me from its, what?
22:59 Guilt and power,
23:01 and any gospel that doesn't save me
23:03 from guilt and power is not the real gospel
23:07 because the gospel is the gospel,
23:10 when it is the gospel, and if it's not the gospel,
23:13 it's not the gospel.
23:14 The gospel is not only the good news
23:16 what Jesus did for me on the cross
23:19 and He did a great deal for me there,
23:21 but it's the good news what He is doing for me today
23:23 in heaven sanctuary. Amen.
23:25 There is a Jesus in heaven sanctuary. Amen.
23:28 And from that sanctuary, He applies His death
23:32 on the cross to my life today.
23:34 And I see that sin brought Him
23:37 and nailed Him to the cross,
23:38 and I see the horror of my sin
23:43 and through His grace and by His power,
23:45 I'm changed from the gutter most to the uttermost,
23:49 from the depths of despair
23:50 to the delights of discipleship.
23:52 Revelation Chapter 12, and we look at the verse 11.
23:57 And they overcame Him, and they did what?
24:00 What did they do?
24:02 They overcame, they tried to overcome him.
24:05 They thought it might be possible to overcome him. No.
24:08 They wish they could overcome him,
24:10 but he was too strong and they could not. Amen.
24:14 Is that what the text says? No.
24:16 What does it say?
24:18 And they overcame him,
24:20 but it's impossible to overcome, right?
24:23 And they did what?
24:25 Overcame him.
24:26 The Bible said it and I believe it.
24:29 What about you? Amen.
24:30 And they overcame him how?
24:32 By the blood of the lamb
24:34 and by the word of their testimony,
24:35 they did not allow their lives to death.
24:38 Now notice the text says they overcame him.
24:41 Throughout the Book of Revelation
24:44 this idea of overcoming is used 10 times
24:48 in the seven Churches, of the Church of Ephesus.
24:51 To him who overcome, to the Church of Smyrna
24:53 to him who overcomes,
24:55 to the Church throughout Thyatira
24:59 and Philadelphia and Sardis, and Laodicea.
25:03 You go through the seven Churches,
25:05 Pergamos, all the churches, to him who overcomes,
25:08 to him who overcomes, to him who overcomes.
25:10 What is the message to the seven Churches?
25:13 It's possible to be an overcomer.
25:16 Revelation Chapter 17 verse 14.
25:20 Whatever you are struggling with today,
25:23 whatever attitudes that have gripped you today,
25:26 whatever habits are choking out
25:28 your spiritual life today through grace,
25:31 by grace, in grace, you can be an overcomer.
25:35 You don't have to be bound in that sin
25:38 and fold out it again
25:40 and again and again and again.
25:42 Somebody says, are you talking about
25:44 some super perfectionism?
25:46 I'm not talking about some super perfectionism.
25:49 I'm talking about what the Bible says. Amen.
25:51 The Bible says, it's possible to overcome.
25:54 That's biblical theology.
25:56 Revelation Chapter 17 verse 14.
25:59 "These will make war with the Lamb,
26:02 and the Lamb will overcome them.
26:04 " Jesus is going to overcome
26:07 all the evil foes of wickedness
26:09 and through your life by His grace
26:13 you can be an overcomer.
26:15 Revelation, we look there at the Book of Revelation,
26:19 again Revelation Chapter 21 and verse 6.
26:25 Revelation Chapter 21 verse 6 and 7.
26:29 "And he said to me, it is done.
26:31 " It will never be done in verse six
26:34 until the reality of verse 7 occurs.
26:38 He will never say it is done in verse six
26:40 until the reality of verse seven occurs,
26:43 and he said them it is done.
26:45 I'm Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.
26:48 I will give him of the water of life freely,
26:50 him who thirst, he who overcome
26:53 shall inherit all things and I will be his God,
26:55 and he shall be my son, but the cowardly
26:58 and the unbelieving and the abominable
26:59 and the murderers and the sexual
27:01 and the sexually immoral, sorcerers and idolaters,
27:04 and all liars shall have their part
27:06 in the lake of fire.
27:07 " What happens to those in verse eight?
27:09 They do not overcome.
27:11 What happens to those in verse seven?
27:13 They do overcome.
27:14 Tonight, I have good news for you.
27:16 This is incredibly good news. This is wonderful good news.
27:20 Grace is greater than sin. Amen.
27:24 It is not about gritting your teeth
27:26 and clenching your fists and trying to bear it
27:29 and resist evil.
27:30 That is the formula for failure every time.
27:34 It is not about what you can do.
27:36 It is not about what your will power it does.
27:39 It is not about choosing merely
27:41 to fight Satan in your strength,
27:43 but Revelation says, He who overcomes in Jesus,
27:47 through Jesus, by Jesus, and with Jesus.
27:50 You can be an overcomer
27:53 because grace is greater than sin.
27:55 The power of Jesus is greater than
27:57 the power of bondage in your life.
27:59 Whatever that bondage is, whatever attitude,
28:02 whatever habit, Jesus is greater,
28:04 but our text in Revelation 11.
28:07 Revelation 12, let's go back to it
28:09 because we want to look at that text,
28:11 word by word, phrase by prhase.
28:14 Revelation Chapter 12, and we look there.
28:18 The 12th Chapter, the Book of Revelation
28:21 and the 11th verse, notice what the Bible says.
28:24 Revelation 12 verse 11.
28:26 "And they overcame him.
28:28 " Point one, possible to overcome.
28:31 Do never accept some sin in your life
28:36 as genetically inherited or environmentally
28:41 that it's a predisposition of your environment.
28:45 You see, if I wasn't a Christian,
28:47 I would believe in the deterministic philosophy
28:50 in psychology of life.
28:52 I would say, you are what you are largely
28:54 because of your heredity or environment.
28:57 Heredity does play a nature factor in your personality.
29:01 Environment, how you've been brought up
29:03 does play a major factor, but I say to you today,
29:07 there is something stronger than heredity.
29:10 There is something stronger than environment.
29:13 As Christians we do not deny
29:15 the effect of heredity environment,
29:17 but what we say is the power of the Gospel
29:20 of Christ is stronger than your heredity
29:23 and stronger than your environment.
29:25 I don't know what kind of home you were brought up Him.
29:27 I don't know what kind of background you had.
29:29 I don't know what kind of code
29:31 dysfunction came out of your family,
29:33 but I will say this to you today.
29:35 You can live a happy, joyous life in Jesus Christ
29:39 because whatever the dysfunction is,
29:42 He will give you greater function through His grace.
29:46 Whatever the scar is,
29:48 He is-- there is a balm in Gilead
29:51 that heals the sin-sick soul.
29:53 Jesus is stronger than your heredity.
29:56 Jesus is stronger than your environment.
29:58 Revelation Chapter 12 verse 11,
30:00 "And they overcame Him. Point one, you can overcome.
30:01 Now you list three ways to overcome,
30:04 three reasons you can overcome,
30:06 and they overcame him verse 11,
30:08 first by the blood of the lamb.
30:11 It's an understanding of what happened
30:13 at the cross that enables you to overcome.
30:16 Now the cross is like a multi-faceted diamond
30:20 that the more you look at it in your hand
30:23 the more the sun irradiates off the sides of that diamond
30:27 and the more beautiful it becomes.
30:29 You can approach the cross from a variety of ways.
30:32 There is one aspect of the cross
30:35 and I acknowledge, I get into it,
30:36 it's only one aspect of the cross that I want to look at.
30:39 And it's this aspect, when Jesus died on the cross,
30:43 He gave a death blow to Satan
30:46 and He defeated the principalities
30:49 and powers of hell in His death. Now that is scriptural.
30:53 First I'd like you to take your Bible please
30:55 and turn to Colossians Chapter 2,
30:57 Colossians Chapter 2, "They overcame him
31:00 by the blood of the lamb." And my question is this.
31:04 How can an understanding of the blood of Christ
31:08 enable you to be victorious day by day?
31:12 What does that mean practically
31:15 in the Christian life? Colossians Chapter 2,
31:19 Colossians Chapter 2,
31:21 and we're going to look there at verse 15.
31:24 Colossians Chapter 2 verse 15,
31:28 "This is describing what Jesus did on the cross and He says,
31:32 'Having disarmed principalities and powers.'
31:36 " Having disarmed principalities and powers,
31:38 He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them.
31:42 That is triumphing of all the powers of hell,
31:45 triumphing over all the powers of wickedness,
31:48 triumphing over all the temptations of Satan.
31:51 In it, that is in the cross Jesus gave a death blow
31:55 to Satan as was predicted in Genesis
31:59 where Jesus would have a bruise in His heel,
32:01 but He would crush Satan's head.
32:05 Because Jesus died on the cross.
32:07 Satan has no control over your life.
32:11 When you feel tempted,
32:12 when you're struggling to do something,
32:14 you know it's not right.
32:16 When there are attitudes in your mind
32:18 of jealousy and bitterness and lust,
32:20 you get on your knees, cry out to God and say,
32:22 Jesus, I believe by faith.
32:24 You triumphed over all the powers of hell on the cross.
32:27 Jesus by faith, I claim the victory that you came for me.
32:31 And therefore, I claim Romans Chapter 8.
32:34 Take the Bible, quote Jesus promises back to Him
32:38 and find strength and power in what Christ did for you
32:41 on the cross at Calvary.
32:43 Romans Chapter 8, look there please
32:45 in Romans 8 verse 32, verse 37.
32:48 Romans Chapter 8 verse 37,
32:53 we look there to get the background in verse 35 and 36
32:57 and we come down to verse 37.
32:59 Romans 8, background, verse 35 and 36,
33:02 "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?"
33:05 Shall tribulation, shall distress,
33:07 shall persecution, shall famine,
33:09 or nakedness, or peril, or sword?"
33:10 Think about those things tribulation,
33:12 everything that troubles me from without.
33:14 Distress, everything that hassles me from within.
33:18 Persecution, every physical,
33:22 every physical sickness in my body,
33:25 every physical pain in my body.
33:27 Famine, hunger, nakedness, peril, sword,
33:30 what else separate us from the love of Christ?
33:32 Tribulation, distress, persecution,
33:34 famine, nakedness, peril, sword as it is written.
33:37 For your sake, we killed all day long
33:39 where counting sheep for the slaughter.
33:42 Verse 37, Yet at all these things in what for,
33:46 and all these things in tribulation, distress,
33:48 persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, or sword,
33:51 in all these things, we are more than what?
33:54 We're more than what? Conquers through Him that loved us.
33:57 Can you believe that this afternoon?
33:59 On the cross Jesus dealt a death blow to Satan.
34:04 So when you're hassled by the devil,
34:06 when you feel that the temptations are too strong,
34:11 speak to Jesus in His own words.
34:12 Say Lord, you said in Colossians Chapter 2 verse 15,
34:15 you triumph over all the powers of hell.
34:17 Lord, give me your grace. By faith I receive it today.
34:22 When you're hassled by Satan,
34:23 when temptations seem to be out of control
34:26 in your life say, Lord, you've said
34:27 we're more than conquerors and today I believe it
34:30 that through Your blood I can be an overcomer.
34:32 I've seen God work incredible miracles.
34:35 One thing that I love about evangelism is that
34:38 as I preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ,
34:40 I see Jesus transformed the attitudes of men and women.
34:43 I was in Eastern City a number of years ago
34:45 and it was the last Sabbath of our evangelistic meetings
34:49 and I saw her walking to the baptismal pool.
34:51 Her name was Maria. Her eyes just sparkled
34:54 and she had this look of peace and joy
34:57 and serenity on her face,
34:58 and this sense that she was one with Jesus.
35:01 I stood next to one of my pastoral friends
35:03 watching Maria walk into the baptismal pool
35:05 and I said to my friend,
35:07 this girl is the picture of one who has come to Jesus.
35:10 Look at that radiant face, look at that smile,
35:14 look at the glow of joy in her life.
35:16 And he said, if you only knew.
35:18 I said, what do you mean? He said, if you only knew.
35:22 I said, after the baptism I really want
35:23 to learn something about Maria,
35:25 I want to learn about her life and her story.
35:27 And so we sat down and my pastor friend said,
35:30 Maria, it was at the time in her mid 30s, 35, 36,
35:35 he said, Maria was married at 17.
35:38 She had her first child at 18 and her second child
35:42 when she was a little older than 19.
35:44 So by the time she was 20, she had two kids.
35:47 Her husband divorced her for another woman
35:50 and so she had to bring up the two children alone.
35:54 For just about 13 years, she decided
35:58 that she would not date anybody,
36:01 but poured her life into the children.
36:04 And so for 13, 14 years, she poured her life
36:06 into these kids. She took them to school.
36:09 She stayed with them for extra curricular activities.
36:13 She would take them to piano lessons.
36:15 She worked 40-50 hours a week
36:17 to supply their needs in their humble home.
36:21 When she was about 34,
36:23 her girls now were 16, 17 years old,
36:28 and she said, you know, I've pulled my life
36:32 into my girls and she met a fellow that she thought,
36:36 she might be interested and they began dating
36:38 and dated for about a year
36:40 and she now had quite a bit of confidence, say amen.
36:43 She often worked late to 6 or 7 O'clock at night
36:45 and he came often over to the house at 4.
36:49 What she did not know is that he isolated the girls,
36:54 found out when one of them would be home alone
36:56 and he raped both of them.
36:58 At different times, the girls were too afraid
37:00 to say anything about it.
37:02 What she also didn't know was that he was HIV positive
37:04 and infected both of her girls.
37:08 Maria was incredibly devastated when she found out,
37:12 of course, the authorities were brought in
37:14 and this man's AIDS, the HIV positive was so far long
37:19 that he was dying of AIDS.
37:21 He was in a hospital because of it.
37:24 Maria was bitter, that's not her real name obviously
37:28 I wouldn't use that, but she was bitter,
37:30 she was angry. She said,
37:31 God, I spent 14 years of my life,
37:35 15 years, 16 years
37:38 raising my girls and now this happens.
37:42 Lord, where are You?
37:43 Lord, don't You have pity on a widow?
37:46 Don't You have pity on a single mother?
37:48 Angry, bitter, couldn't face life.
37:51 And she was walking down the street one day
37:54 and heard about our meetings and walked in,
37:57 and that night I was speaking about the Grace of God.
38:00 How, whatever pain you've gone through in your life,
38:03 when your head can't understand,
38:05 your heart can still in embrace His grace.
38:09 There is a peace that passes all understanding.
38:13 There are many things in life that have no good answers.
38:16 You can't figure them out,
38:19 but as you open your heart to God's grace,
38:21 there is an inner healing
38:22 even when your head can't understand,
38:25 your heart can be open to God's grace
38:27 and they can be a healing.
38:29 That night in that meeting, Maria knelt on the floor
38:33 and cried her eyes out with hundreds of others.
38:37 And something miraculous happened to her life
38:40 and she discovered that Jesus is going
38:44 to enable her to be a conqueror.
38:45 That Jesus is going to enable her to be an overcomer.
38:49 She continued to come to the meeting,
38:51 she continued to take Bible studies.
38:53 She was a new woman in Christ.
38:55 She was ministering to her daughters
38:57 now in different ways.
38:59 Three or four days before her baptism,
39:01 she learned that the man who infected
39:03 her daughters was in a hospital dying
39:07 and she knew that she had to go
39:11 to that hospital room and forgive him.
39:14 And so she said, I came to the hospital room
39:17 and I wanted to lash out, I wanted to yell,
39:20 I wanted to scream, I wanted to say,
39:23 look what you've done to me and my life?
39:28 But Jesus changed me. I felt only pity for him now.
39:32 I felt only sorrow for him.
39:34 And I thought, if Jesus could say on the cross,
39:37 Father forgive them for they don't know
39:39 what they have done. If Jesus could forgive
39:43 those who harmed Him,
39:44 if Jesus the divine Son of God,
39:46 the one who was so incredibly pure and sinless and spotless.
39:51 If He could forgive and if He has forgiven me I can forgive.
39:56 So she said, contrary to all my feelings,
40:00 contrary to all of my inner bitterness.
40:05 You see forgiveness is not justifying the act of another,
40:09 forgiveness is not condoning their sin,
40:13 forgiveness is releasing another
40:15 from your condemnation because Christ has released
40:18 you from His condemnation. Forgiveness is not justifying
40:24 their behavior, but it is releasing them
40:27 from all of the anger, bitterness,
40:29 and condemnation in you because if they hurt you once,
40:33 there is no need to let them continue to hurt you
40:37 by being bitter because as Confucius said,
40:39 an angry man is always full of poison.
40:42 And so she said, I went and sat on the edge of his bed
40:44 and I looked him in the eye and I said to him honestly,
40:47 she called them by name, his name wasn't John,
40:49 but I'll use that honestly, John.
40:52 You've hurt me, honestly you've ruin with my life,
40:55 the life of my girls, but I want to tell you something.
40:58 I found Jesus, and I've been telling
41:00 to my girls about Jesus.
41:02 And although our lives will never be the same again,
41:05 and although we've gone through intense pain,
41:07 I want to tell you, Christ has given me joy in my pain.
41:12 Christ has given me peace in my pain.
41:15 Christ has transformed me and because He's forgiven me
41:19 I want you to know before you die,
41:22 that just as Jesus forgave those who nailed Him
41:25 to the cross I forgive you.
41:28 He began to cry and she walked out.
41:31 She said, pastor, when I walked out,
41:34 it was like a burden was lifted.
41:36 All the bitterness and anger was gone.
41:40 All of the psychology in the world
41:43 could not have accomplished that.
41:45 But the blood of Christ
41:47 enabled her to be an overcomer.
41:50 And they overcame Him by what?
41:54 Revelation 12 verse 11, look at the text.
41:58 One text that bares its way into our mind,
42:02 one text that burrows its way
42:05 into our heart, one text that fills our soul,
42:09 Revelation 12 verse 11, they overcame Him
42:12 in Christ and by Christ and through Christ
42:14 you can be an overcomer. By the blood of the Lamb,
42:17 coming to the cross we come to Jesus
42:23 and He enables us through the cross
42:27 because He broke down all of the principalities
42:29 and powers of hell to be an overcomer,
42:33 and they overcame Him. How did they overcome Him?
42:36 Three ways. First, by the blood of the lamb.
42:38 Second, by the word of their testimony.
42:42 They overcame Him, how? By the word of what?
42:47 Their testimony. What He is saying here?
42:51 When you come to Christ and share your faith
42:55 by the word of their testimony they overcame.
42:59 In other words, the more I love Jesus
43:03 the more I will witness about that love.
43:05 And the more I witness about that love
43:07 the more I will love Jesus.
43:10 There is a direct relationship
43:11 between my love for Jesus and my witness.
43:14 The more I love Him the more I'm gonna witness,
43:16 but the more I witness the more I'm going to love Him.
43:19 That's why Ellen White says
43:21 in Acts of the Apostles, page 105,
43:23 "Strength to resist evil is best gained
43:26 through aggressive service."
43:27 Now that's rather fascinating.
43:28 He does not say strength to resist evil
43:30 is best gained through prayer.
43:31 Although prayer is incredibly important,
43:33 it doesn't say strength resist evil
43:35 is best gained through Bible study,
43:36 although Bible study is incredibly important.
43:38 Can you think of any group of people
43:40 that prayed most of the day
43:41 and study the Bible most of the day,
43:42 but they will be lost.
43:45 Who is it? You know, who is it?
43:46 They prayed mostly all day. Oh, they had prayer life.
43:50 They studied the Bible mostly all day
43:52 and they actually drove a few nail.
43:54 They shout to crucify Him and they prompted the Romans
43:57 and drive a few nails through the hands of Jesus.
43:59 Who are these people?
44:01 They were called the Pharisees, weren't they?
44:02 Did the Pharisees pray?
44:04 Was the problem with the Pharisees
44:05 they didn't pray enough.
44:07 If you were counseling a Pharisee,
44:08 would you go say pray some more?
44:11 What about if you're giving counsel to a Pharisee,
44:13 would you say go study the Bible some more?
44:15 Did the Pharisees study the Bible?
44:16 Did some of the Pharisees memorize
44:18 the first five books of the Bible,
44:19 Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy?
44:21 Did they know the Old Testament?
44:23 What was the problem with the Pharisees?
44:26 They were self-centered egotists.
44:29 And religion consisted of trying
44:33 to live to save themselves.
44:36 Christianity is not giving up bad things,
44:40 so that I can be saved. Amen.
44:43 It's giving up at time good things so others can be saved.
44:47 How much bad was up there in heaven?
44:48 Was there a lot bad up in heaven?
44:50 The Jesus gave up before He came to earth,
44:52 that He give up tobacco and alcohol
44:55 and the honky-tonk and rock music,
44:56 and come to earth, is that what Jesus did?
44:59 There was nothing bad up in heaven.
45:00 Jesus gave up the worship of the angels,
45:02 and He gave up the fellowship of the Father
45:05 and He gave up the glory of the cherubims and seraphims
45:08 and the fellowship with unfallen worlds.
45:10 Jesus gave up nothing bad, so He could be saved.
45:13 He gave up that which is good so we could be saved.
45:16 Christianity is not praying all day so you can be saved.
45:22 And it's not studying the Bible all day,
45:24 so you know more than others,
45:25 so you can win some theological argument.
45:29 Christianity has to do with coming to Jesus.
45:32 And falling in love with Him and sensing the grace
45:36 that He gives to us, sensing the power
45:39 that he imparts in our life,
45:41 and being activity involved in service.
45:44 If you are not involved in some aspect
45:47 of service for Christ, you can't grow spiritual.
45:52 Our spiritual growth is intimately linked to service.
46:00 Do you have a prayer list?
46:02 Is your mind going out of yourself?
46:06 And are you praying for somebody else?
46:09 Are you giving out literature?
46:11 Sharing tapes with somebody else,
46:13 giving a Bible study.
46:14 Do you have some small group in your home?
46:16 Are you calling a friend or neighbor on the telephone
46:19 and inviting them to meetings.
46:21 What are you doing to be actively involved in service?
46:25 Not to save others merely,
46:28 but so that your own soul will grow.
46:32 The reason the Lord led me into evangelism
46:33 was maybe not to save others, but to save me,
46:37 because He knew that this man's heart is selfish,
46:41 and this man's heart is egotistical.
46:44 And He knew that I needed the disappoint of faith
46:48 sharing to grow spiritually.
46:53 Are you involved in some form,
46:56 wherever you're watching in the world,
46:59 are you involved in some form of witness activity?
47:03 You say, I could never do anything for Jesus.
47:06 What can I do? You know sometime ago just in October,
47:10 I was down in Curitiba, Brazil,
47:12 and there in Curitiba I was coming to hold
47:14 a satellite evangelistic meeting
47:15 and the church was involved,
47:17 people out giving Bible studies,
47:18 they had small groups in their home and a little group,
47:21 a small group of children,
47:23 they were seven, eight, nine years old,
47:24 they heard Pastor Finley was coming.
47:25 And so they said, Pastor Finley is coming,
47:27 we want to be involved in service for Jesus.
47:29 We want to do something.
47:31 And the adults said, you know, these kids seven years old,
47:33 six years old, what can they do?
47:34 One bright adult got this idea.
47:37 Let's get balloons and the stamp on the balloons
47:41 Revelation of hope prophecy seminar with Pastor Finley.
47:44 And let's blow up the balloons the kids would like that.
47:46 Let's take a hand bill, roll it up,
47:49 stick it inside a balloon and we'd go up on a mountain
47:52 with these hand bills in the balloons,
47:54 and now the windy day will send hundreds
47:55 and through the city and we'll pray about it
47:58 and these little kids will get involved.
47:59 So the kids were excited Pastor Finley is coming,
48:02 you know, kids anyway five, six years older
48:03 excited about these balloons and so they sent
48:06 the balloons off and the balloons are blowing
48:08 by the hundred across Curitiba, Brazil.
48:10 Now, Curitiba is a very, it's a kind of a secular city,
48:13 it's a very affluent city in Brazil
48:15 and the balloons are blowing over the place.
48:18 In one man's home, he and his wife and children
48:21 are praying, Dear, Lord, we don't know truth.
48:24 Dear, Lord, we want to know the Bible.
48:26 Dear, Lord, send us some messages,
48:29 if you have to send from the sky, send it, Lord.
48:33 Don't get ahead me in the story, please.
48:37 I can just imagine the angels.
48:39 One angel flying on one side of the balloon,
48:42 and the other angel flying on the other side of the balloon,
48:44 one angel says, laughed his wings,
48:46 the balloon goes this way.
48:47 No brother, that way.
48:49 The angel goes this way then they get over the guys house
48:52 and the angel says, down draft,
48:54 the balloon goes right down the guys yard.
48:56 I actually believe that angels guided that balloon into them.
48:59 And the balloon is bouncing in the guy's front yard.
49:02 That morning the guys out walking for walk,
49:04 walks out and here comes the balloon.
49:06 The guy looks at it, picks it up,
49:08 take that balloon for my kids,
49:09 revelation of hope, he pops the balloon,
49:12 pulls out the hand bill,
49:13 I mean, this isn't some preacher story,
49:15 this is the truth. No, I mean, you know, what I mean.
49:19 I mean, I witness this, this actually happened.
49:23 Pulls that hand bill out of the balloon,
49:24 revelation of hope, Pastor Mark Finley.
49:27 Answers to the promises of life.
49:29 How can you have hope meaning
49:31 and purpose in your life? He says, this is our answer.
49:34 The whole came to our meetings.
49:36 We've baptized two family members so far,
49:39 the other three under the baptismal class,
49:41 getting ready for baptism. Amen.
49:43 God looks for your availability,
49:48 not your ability. With God, He can take
49:53 a seven-year-old child who on their knees,
49:56 prays and guides a balloon to a house
49:59 and they can be more of a effective
50:01 soul winner than some egotistical.
50:05 I was gonna, than some egotistical Pharisaical
50:11 Church member that thinks they know how to do it all.
50:15 Give me an army of young people
50:18 and adults who are humble, who love Jesus
50:24 and who have the passion for witness
50:26 and you'll turn Chattanooga around.
50:28 You'll turn Tenseness around, you'll turn the South around,
50:31 you'll turn the United States around,
50:32 you'll turn the world around.
50:34 God is looking for your availability.
50:37 And the more you get involved in witness and they,
50:41 what's our text say, and they what?
50:43 What do they do? Overcame and is it--
50:45 possible to overcome? Yes or no? Amen.
50:47 By the what? Blood of the Lamb.
50:49 Is grace greater than sin? Yes or no. Yes.
50:52 And they overcame and by the blood of the lamb and by what?
50:55 The word of their testimony.
50:57 As you get involved in witness,
50:58 you will grow spiritually.
51:00 Desire of Ages 143, in order to develop
51:02 a character like Christ, they must work as Christ works.
51:08 Steps to Christ, page 80,
51:10 if we go to work as Jesus designed
51:12 there would be a breath and mind,
51:13 the nobility of purpose or strength and character,
51:15 as it's not seen in our times.
51:17 If you want to grow spiritually,
51:19 get off your knees and get out in the street.
51:22 If you want to grow spiritually,
51:23 get your nose out of the Bible
51:25 and go share it with some lost sinner.
51:27 Amen. Amen, amen.
51:28 And Jesus Christ will empower you
51:32 and you will sense spiritual growth
51:35 and they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb,
51:38 by the word of their testimony
51:39 that was one more aspect to this look at it,
51:40 please, Revelation Chapter 12 verse 11,
51:42 we stay in the one text today.
51:44 They overcame him verse 11 is possible overcome.
51:47 By the blood of the Lamb, of the cross at Calvary,
51:48 the principalities empowers of hell were crushed.
51:51 And by the word of their testimony,
51:52 the more you witness, the more you love Jesus.
51:55 The more you share your faith because the Bible says,
51:57 it is more blessed to do what?
51:59 Give then to do what? Receive.
52:01 Who is more blessed? The one that goes out
52:03 tomorrow afternoon and gives out the health brochures
52:07 or the one who receives the health brochure
52:09 is more blessed to do what? Give then it is to receive.
52:12 Were you not blessed at GYC when you went out
52:16 and gave out the Bible study cards,
52:17 you know, not you more doubly blessed
52:19 when you know that there are some 14, 15 hundred people
52:22 that signed those cards and they're waiting
52:24 for Bible studies now. Will you not be more blessed?
52:28 As you go out and give a Bible study.
52:31 Wherever you are it is more blessed
52:32 to give than it is to receive.
52:33 Now last point, here it is.
52:35 They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb,
52:36 by the word of their testimony,
52:38 they did not love their lives to the death."
52:43 They did not love their lives to the death.
52:45 What is this talking about?
52:48 It is talking about early New Testament Christianity
52:52 that is passionate about pouring out
52:56 their lives for Christ, about sacrificing self
53:02 on the altar for Jesus.
53:04 In every heart there is a cross and there is a throne.
53:07 And if self is on the throne of your heart
53:11 Jesus is on the cross of your heart.
53:13 He is crucified of getting in your heart,
53:15 but if self is on the cross
53:18 Jesus is on the throne of your heart.
53:21 So in every heart there is a cross and throne.
53:23 Where is Jesus tonight? In your heart.
53:26 Is He on the cross because self is on the throne
53:30 or is He on the throne because self is on the cross.
53:34 They overcame him and they loved not their lives to death
53:39 that is to say, they said,
53:40 Jesus what do You want me to do?
53:43 And I will do it. That is to say Jesus,
53:46 I want to give my life for You.
53:49 And whatever that is, I want to do it,
53:51 comeback with me please to 1948, '49 and '50,
53:56 we're in the country of the Ukraine.
53:58 Communism dominates the land,
54:01 it's against the law to own a typewriter,
54:03 so Seventh-day Adventists know
54:06 that if they're gonna preserve the Bible,
54:08 they have to love their lives not to death.
54:10 They know if they're gonna preserve God's word,
54:12 they have to secretly type the messages of Jesus Christ.
54:16 Mrs. Olga Galan, Conference President's wife
54:19 in the days of communism received a typewriter,
54:23 it was smuggled into her and she dedicated
54:26 35 years of her life to secretly typing
54:29 and typed over 2,000 copies of Desire of Ages
54:32 and went blind typing. For about 15 years,
54:35 she spent under a table in the living room,
54:37 she go into the table,
54:38 they would put a quilt over the table.
54:41 So that nobody would hear
54:42 a tick, tick, tick, tick, tick of typing
54:44 and they're underneath that table.
54:46 She would type day after day, hour after hour,
54:49 Sabbath school lessons, Bible passages,
54:51 memory verses, Desire of Ages,
54:53 but it became too dangerous in the later years
54:56 particularly in Stalin years, so they put padding,
55:00 quilt padding in a closet and she type in the closet
55:03 until she went blind typing, could not see.
55:08 Hoping that through Jesus and by Jesus that those books
55:13 would make an impact, she sacrificed to her life,
55:17 poured out her life, 35 years,
55:19 many people say it's a waste, why do that,
55:22 would freedom ever come?
55:25 In 1954, Khrushchev came
55:28 to the Communist Cultural Palace in the City of Kiev
55:34 and he stood behind the lectern,
55:36 walked on the wooden bound, wooden slats of the platform,
55:41 and Khrushchev said, in 25 years
55:45 they were not be one Christian in the Former Soviet Union,
55:49 directed materialism will triumph,
55:52 humanism will triumph, we will destroy
55:54 the myth of God. Then he said,
55:57 there will be one Christian that remains
56:01 and when he dies we'll stuff him like a deer,
56:04 will stuff him like an animal and bring him up to Moscow
56:07 and there that Christian will be in a museum
56:10 for other generations to see because the Christian,
56:13 because Christians will be extinct
56:15 and at least we need a preserve one.
56:19 A few months ago, I walked
56:23 into the Kiev Cultural Center
56:26 and I stood there on that platform
56:30 and the cameras were turned on
56:33 and through the Hope Channel,
56:37 we satellited to all of the Former Soviet Union,
56:43 the message of Jesus Christ as I was standing
56:47 on the same boards that Khrushchev said
56:50 made his statement for the Christians
56:52 would become extinct. And thousands of people
56:55 with the word of God in their hands,
57:00 thousands of people listened to God's word,
57:04 accepted Jesus Christ, they were baptized.
57:07 The seeds that Mrs. Olga Galan
57:11 and hundreds and thousands of other faithful
57:14 Christians sowed, because they love God
57:17 their life to death came to harvest,
57:21 they overcame Him through the blood of the Lamb.
57:26 Satan is a defeated foe, they overcame him
57:30 by the word of their testimony,
57:32 Satan is a defeated foe. Would you share Christ?
57:35 You will grow, they overcame him
57:37 because they sacrifice their lives not unto death,
57:40 unto death. Are you willing to say to Jesus today,
57:43 Lord, everything I have is Yours, my life is Yours today,
57:48 my heart is Yours today, my mind is Yours today.
57:53 Who I am and what I am about is Yours today.
57:57 Would you like to say that to Jesus today?
57:59 How many of you like to say Jesus I'm Yours today?
58:01 Who I am? What I am about?
58:03 My time is Yours, my talents are Yours,
58:06 my treasure is Yours, everything about me today Lord
58:10 is Yours and through Christ and in Christ,
58:13 I can be more than a conqueror through Jesus.


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Revised 2014-12-17