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06-30-24 (Romans 8:35-37) More Than Conquerors Through Jesus
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The speaker discusses various ways in which their Bible teachings can be accessed, including YouTube videos, Facebook posts, audio recordings, and books on discipleship. They emphasize the need to live according to the victory already given to believers by Jesus, even in the face of difficulties and challenges. The passage in Romans 8 is read, highlighting the need to live as more than conquerors through Christ. The speaker then introduces the idea of learning from the lives of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who, despite their flaws, became overcomers and examples of victory in Jesus. The importance of continuously working with Jesus to enforce the victory is emphasized. The concept of being more than conquerors is explained as overwhelming victory that is ongoing and continuous. The speaker encourages listeners to engage in the battle and live out the victory in their daily lives. Now, so we have YouTube videos. We also have those videos posted on Facebook. And then recently, at the very bottom, is we have started just making audios of all of our Bible studies and everything. So if you have time, you can just turn on the audio. These are long. These are like over about an hour. But you can just turn it on and listen to it. So it doesn't have to have your visual eye on it, because it's just all going to be on audio. And that is at audio.com. And then, of course, you all know about the books that have been written on discipleship. It's a free book series. And then the latest book is God's Explosive Intervention. It's called Revival. Those can all be found on Amazon. We are right now busy writing another book, and it's all about Jesus. Jesus is a lamb, but he is also a lion. So stay tuned for that. That is coming. Take your Bibles, please. Turn to Romans chapter 8. Now, our circumstances today have given us a wonderful platform so that we can understand the power of the Scripture. Because we're going to see the need, why it's so necessary to live according to the victory that has already been given to us. Now, how many of you all know that Jesus has already given us the victory? But how many of you know that sometimes it doesn't look victorious? But does the lack of looking victorious, does that diminish the victory that is ours in Christ? No. It means that we are called upon to live according to that which has already been declared by God to be true. So, Romans chapter 8, we're going to read verses 35 through 37, so stand with me with the Word. I'll be reading from the NIV. If you have another translation, that's fine. Just follow along with us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble, or hardship, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, for your sake we face death all day long. We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered. No! Say no! No! In all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. Say amen. You may be seated. Now, this passage presents several different types of difficulties. Some of these you may have gone through. Most of them you probably have not. These are heavy duty difficulties. Hardship. How many of y'all have gone through hardship? Everybody's gone through hardship to some degree. But then he says persecution. Now, if you talk about the way that we maybe have been persecuted, and the way that others have been persecuted, like when they were thrown into a lion's den, then there's all different levels of persecution, but maybe we have suffered that to some degree. Famine. I don't know that we've ever, any of us, gone through a time of famine where we literally had no food to eat. Zero. Nakedness, danger, sword. These are difficulties of all different types, of all different degrees, but the Bible makes it clear that in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loves us. Now, if we want to experience victory and live as more than conquerors, we're going to have to do our part. You see, Jesus has loved us so much that he has given us the victory. The victory is in him. But yet, Jesus invites us to work with him to live out the victory. To live it. To experience it. And that's what this message is about. We're going to learn today on how to put principles into practice. Now, we have Jesus. He has given us his promise. All the promises are yes in him, and we say amen to the glory of God. So he's given us the promise. But yet, who has he lifted up to to say amen to it? Us! He said yes, and we say amen. He has given us principles. He's given us the word. He's given us truth. This is what Jesus has done. He has given us all that we need to have victory. And so victory is assured. It has already been bought and paid for. It has already been accomplished. When Jesus said it is finished on the cross, he meant victory has been signed, sealed, and delivered. But yet, how many of y'all still have problems with the devil? How many of y'all still have problems with your flesh? How many of y'all still... It's like this. When a policeman pulls somebody over for speeding, is he pulling them over because he is making a law? No. He is enforcing the law. What we do, we are not achieving the victory. The victory has already been achieved. But yet, when we battle against our flesh, when we battle against Satan, we are not accomplishing the victory. The victory has already been accomplished. You know what we are doing? We are like that policeman that is enforcing the victory. Now, do you understand the difference? The Lord is not going to put you in a position to where you have got to achieve the victory. You are going to enforce the victory that he has already accomplished. Big difference. So, we are going to learn today how to put these principles of promise, the principles of faith, into practice. Now, so we have what Jesus has done. But what is our part? Well, we have got to put it into action. That means we have got to begin to live it out. We have got to change the way we think. Amen. Remember what Romans chapter 12 verse 2 says, that we have to renew our minds. There is no better way to renew your mind than to get it washed out with the Word of God. Washing by the Word of the Lord. So, we change our thinking, but we also change our lifestyles in many cases. But all these things are things that we do. Now, when we think about victory, we pray. We pray for the Lord to give us a miracle, give us a victory in certain situations. We, very seldom does the Lord just give it to us on a silver platter. Because he brings us into the process. And some people are waiting for the Lord just to do his thing. To zap that thing and get rid of it. And sometimes he is waiting for us to change what we are speaking. Change what we are thinking. Change what we are doing. Because we may be the very hindrance that is keeping the victory from being manifest. The victory is there! He's already said, it's finished! But he's waiting for us to join with him in putting his principles, his promise, into practice. So today, we're going to look at three men from the Old Testament, they're called the Patriarchs. And we're going to see how they literally became overcomers by working with the Lord. More than conquerors through Jesus. We're talking about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They're called the Patriarchs. Now, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob weren't perfect men. All you have to do is read about their lives in Genesis. These men are messed up in many ways. But yet, God uses messed up people. That means that messed up people can still experience victory in Jesus. Aren't you glad? I'm wonderfully glad. But they all became more than conquerors. Hallelujah! Now, each one of them has much to teach us. But we have seen there's one aspect of each one of these men's lives that really just blossoms. That really has a story to tell. And we're going to take that one virtue from each person, from each Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and we're going to learn what they had to teach us. By the life that they live, it's going to make them more than conquerors, and it will also make us more than conquerors through Jesus. So we're going to learn some lessons today from the Patriarchs. Romans chapter 8 verse 37 tells us we are more than conquerors. Now, what's very interesting about this verse that we're really building this whole teaching lesson on is this. We are more than conquerors is actually one word. Now, not to us. To us, it's several words. But in the Greek, it's one word. More than conquerors is one word in the Greek. And it means to defeat something or someone decisively. Overwhelmingly defeating them. Now, you might have seen some races in the Olympics where it was a photo finish. That means that they couldn't decide who won because it was just so close that they had to look at the picture. And even with the picture, they would have debates on who got through the finish line first. This is not the case. You are an overwhelming victor. You have overwhelmingly conquered. So you were leading the head of the person behind you. More than conquerors. Say that with me. More than conquerors. More than conquerors. Hallelujah! How many of you would rather be more than a conqueror than just a conqueror? Overwhelming victor. But also, in the Greek, the Greek is such a wonderful language that the Lord has the New Testament written into because it has so many different ways that it can teach us things. For instance, in the Greek, they have different tenses in the verb. And one of the tenses is called the present tense. The present tense of the Greek language means that it is an action that is continuous. It's not something that they're emphasizing just took place, but it continues to take place. That is the case in this verb right here. More than conquerors. This is put in the present tense. That means that if not that we conquered what? I mean, how many of y'all have gone to a service where somebody stands up, usually an old mother in the church, and she says, I thank God that I'm saved, baptized in the Holy Ghost, and speaking in tongues. But yet they're living not so much. Well, you don't doubt that they had that experience maybe 30 years ago. But you do wonder where they're at today. Well, that's not what the Lord is speaking here. He said, That means that you conquered yesterday, and you are going to conquer today, and you have all assurance that you are going to conquer tomorrow. Why? Because you are going to work with Jesus in enforcing the victory that he has already given you. Can I hear an amen? So, more than conquerors. It is a continuous action. But let me tell you. Conquering implies there's a battle. That means that the Lord doesn't give you victory on a silver platter. He has accomplished it through his own death on the cross, and his resurrection defeating death, hell, and the grave. So, it is a battle, but you are going to be part of the battle. Amen. Rasondo! How many of y'all know that it is a battle? Hypernekeo implies that being more than a conqueror means that you had to conquer something. Or sometimes someone. Maybe demonic forces. Maybe it was just your own flesh that probably gives you more problems than the devil himself. But you had to conquer. So, it is not going to be easy, but it is going to be possible in Jesus. Thank you, Lord God. So, what is the first virtue that we want to talk about? We want to talk about the virtue of faith. And there is no better person in the Old Testament that can exemplify this faith than Abraham himself. Abraham became more than a conqueror by putting his faith in the Lord. If you look in the Word of God, Galatians chapter 3 verse 9, it talks about Abraham, the man of faith. That is amazing to me. Can you imagine the Lord defining your life, your personhood, the man or the woman that you are by calling you a man or a woman of faith? That is exactly how God defined Abraham. A man of faith. So, Abraham must have had some superlative, I mean some wonderfully, a quality of faith that outdid everybody else. Well, Abraham certainly did live a life of faith like we started out. Abraham was not perfect. He did have his failures. He did have his sins that he had to seek forgiveness for. But yet, when the Lord spoke, Abraham always believed. Always. He had no reason to in the natural. The Lord told him that he, in fact the Lord changed his name from Abraham to Abraham. Abraham means father of many nations. And listen, back then your name was like your calling card. Your calling card is going to tell people not only what your name is, but what you do. You know, like I am an accountant. That's going to be on your business card. I am a teacher. Whatever you are, whatever you are known for, that's on your calling card. Back then, your calling card was your name. And so when they would say, answer, what is your name? And he would say, Abraham. Whoa! Father of many nations. What? Where? How many children you got? Well, they're coming. They're coming. They're coming. But Abraham proclaimed his name with faith. Even when he was beyond the age of having children. And his wife, the Bible says, was beyond the ability to bear children because her womb was dead. Abraham still believed God. And his faith in God manifested into that which God had promised. You would think that his days of trouble were over. But to Paul, you start with faith. Let me tell you, if you don't end with faith, you're not ending well. You start with faith. How do you end? You end with faith. How are you going to end your walk with Jesus? By faith. By faith. Every step of this journey is going to require faith. And so the day came that Abraham was a man who walked with God. He had pleased the Lord with his faith. And the Lord spoke to him, turning your Bible to Genesis chapter 22. And let's look at this verse together. Some time later, God tested Abraham. How many of you all, when I was a kid and the teacher said, put your books away. Oh, we knew what that was. Pop quiz. That was not my favorite time. And that was the Lord, every once in a while, in the lives of his children. Pop quiz. And this was one of those days. Abraham. And the Bible says some time later, after he had had his son, Isaac. And Isaac had grown. And the Lord said, Abraham, here I am, Abraham replied. And God said, take your son, your only son. Now this is interesting. I'm not going to preach on this today. But Abraham did have another child. Ishmael. But Ishmael was born according to natural means. He was born in the way that all children are born. Not Isaac. Isaac was a child of promise. It took a miracle for Isaac to be born. It didn't take a miracle for Ishmael to be born. So God did not even acknowledge Ishmael as being in the same grouping with Isaac. He said, your only son. Your only son. Now God took care of Ishmael. Because he was Abraham's child. But he said, Abraham, you've got one son. And I want you to take your one son. And listen to this. Take your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac. And go to the region of Moria. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on the mountain. I will show you. Now y'all, we have no indication of what Abraham was thinking in this. I've read all different commentators. All different books on trying to find a way out of this. Well, the Lord didn't really mean what he said. Well, the Lord doesn't speak. Is that what you mean? I mean, I mean. And so when God told Abraham to go take his son and sacrifice him. Abraham knew God doesn't chit chat. And God means exactly what he said. Thank you Jesus. And so he knew God did business. And so he, okay. And so there, in the word of God, there is no implication, no indication whatsoever that Abraham resisted or that he tried to just spend days, you know, staying at home before this thing had to be accomplished. He, by faith, set out on the journey. And you know, the Bible does tell us in the New Testament. This is interesting. The Bible does tell us what is in Abraham's thinking. Why? How could he have such thoughts? Because he was a man of faith. He said he believed that when he sacrificed his son Isaac, that that was the end of God's plan. That God would just have to raise him up. So he believed in a resurrection. Whoa! His faith even went beyond that which he could see and believe for a miracle. Amen! What is your faith doing? Is it believing for a miracle? Or is it just based on what you see? Or what you feel? Well, Abraham was saying, Lord, whatever you have to do, I know that you are a God of your word and you have promised that I am a father of many nations and all those nations are in my son right here. So if we sacrifice him, then you'll just have to raise him up. That's right. Amen. And so we know that his faith was tested. Abraham, we do know, passed the test and showed himself to be an overcomer! More than a conqueror! All because of his faith in the Lord. But that's Abraham. What about us? The Lord, everything that was written in the Old Testament, according to Romans chapter 15 verse 3, for all that was written in the past was written to teach us. So if Abraham's faith was tested, what does that say about our faith? Oh! Our faith! No matter how small, how big, your faith is always going to be tested. And every step that you take with Jesus is going to require faith. And as you grow in God, you're going to find that the testing gets a little bit harder. Why? Because it is through the testing of your faith that you grow in your relationship with Jesus. Amen. So your faith is going to be tested. This really is all part of the crucified life. That's why Jesus was adamant. He called people to follow him in such an untwentieth century way. We went through a period in the church where people would go out to witness and evangelize and everything, and people would say, well, just give Jesus a chance. Have you ever heard that? Oh, just give him a chance. He sure that took me in the Word. Do you take what Jesus said? And did you ever say, give me a chance, guys? Jesus said, oh, you want to follow me? Well, if you want to follow me, take up your cross daily and follow me. Why? Jesus was being very in front of what it was going to really take to walk with him, ha, victoriously. Now there's some people that begin to follow the Lord, and then when times get hard, they fall away. Why? Because they say, this isn't what I signed up for. But see, they were maybe not told the real gospel. The real gospel. Then Jesus said to them all, if anyone would come after me, he must take up his cross daily and follow me. And that hasn't changed. But this is part of the crucified life, to have our faith tested. But how do we approach this testing? That is key to your victory, how you approach it. Because it is going to be tested. Now if I was going to be tested in any subject, then the best approach is to do what? Study for it. If I want to pass. Because while you might cheat your way through school, you're not going to cheat yourself through God. So when he tests, he knows the real answer. He knows what you really are passing or failing. So this is how you approach the testing of your faith. James chapter 1 verses 2 through 4. Consider it pure joy. My son, no! You mean this test is supposed to bring me joy? Well, maybe not at the present, but because you are doing what Jesus did. For the joy set before him. I've seen the end result is going to be glorious. It's going to be wonderful. And so in the same way, consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. And that perseverance finishes work, so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. So you see, the end result of the testing, if you pass, is that you are going to be better for it. You're going to be more mature. You're going to be complete. That's what Paul's goal was for every disciple. He wanted us to grow into maturity, to enter into the fullness of Christ. But he also knew that that is not possible until we begin to pass the test. Pass the test. Amen. Because we are going to be tested, Joe. Yes. And you know, let's be practical here. I have seen that if you don't pass the test, it's not like you don't have to take it again. You're going to pass it to you. You're going to take it until you pass it. That's it. And that's why some people, they were getting out of kindergarten, because they never passed kindergarten test. And so they stay a baby, and it's not like you're never tested. In fact, they are continuously tested, but over the same stuff. Staying in your feet. But let me say, just like Abraham, if you want to be an overcomer, you've got to begin to live by putting your faith in Jesus. Rasundo! Look at your Bible. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 7. This is going to be a great memory verse for you. Very simple. You can even learn it before we finish today. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 7. For we live by faith, not by sight. Hallelujah! Now listen, y'all. Can we get practical here? Can we just get real here? We had more people last week. What happened to all those people? I'm sorry that they weren't here. I think that they missed a great message. I think they missed a great teaching. But yet, am I going to let that hold me back from sharing with everything within me that which God has given me to share? Hallelujah! And so I live by faith, not by sight. But how are you living? Thank you, Jesus. Are you praising God because the atmosphere is electric? Sometimes our electric atmosphere isn't the Holy Ghost. You better say that now. Sometimes it's just we are excited that there's so many people here and this is going to be great. And sometimes the services are great, but not necessarily for spiritual reasons. Amen. And so, and so what the Lord is needing from us is for us, it's not that we are ignorant of what we see. It's not that we cease to see. It's just that my decisions, my mindset, my actions aren't based on what I see. My actions, my mindset, my speech, my life is based on what I know. And what do I know? I know the Word of God. I know Jesus. And so that's really the basis of my faith. Hallelujah! Why don't you raise your hands right now and say, Lord Jesus! I put my faith in you! Amen! Thank you, Jesus. Isaac, second patriarch. He was a son of Abraham, the man of faith. What does Isaac have to teach us? Oh, what a lesson, y'all. What a lesson, what a lesson. Submission. Isaac exemplified submission of such a level that you only see it in one other man. Well, there are a few men that you really see it in Jesus. Submission. Isaac became more than a conqueror all because he was willing to submit. What am I talking about? We know that Abraham was tested when he was told by the Lord to sacrifice his son, Isaac, and so that was a testing to Abraham. But did you know that it was also a test to Isaac? Amen! Genesis chapter 22, verses 9 through 10 tells us, When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. Now, we gotta stop here for a second. Have you ever even thought how old was Isaac when Abraham was going to sacrifice him? How old was he? Well, the only way that you would be able to get this thing to work out is Isaac has got to be a kid. He's got to be almost a baby. But that is not the case. If you look at all the events and all the timelines that we're dealing with, most biblical scholars believe that Isaac was anywhere between 20 to 25 years old. Or older. Or older. But even if we don't know his age exactly, we do know this. That Isaac was at a point in his life that if he didn't want to get on that altar, there's no way that Abraham in almost 100 is going to be able to get him on that altar. Why? How can I say that? Very easily. Who did Abraham call upon to carry the wood to the altar? Isaac! He said, son, come here. And he put all that wood on Isaac. And Isaac had to be at a point in his life strong enough to carry the wood for the sacrifice. Genesis chapter 22 verse 6 says, Abraham took the wood for the burnt offers and placed it on his son Isaac. So Isaac was able, if he chose, to fight. And he didn't want to be sacrificed. Let me reword that. I'm sure he didn't want to be sacrificed. But he was willing to be sacrificed. Why? Because he was totally 100% submitted to his father. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! That makes Isaac a perfect type of Jesus Christ. Which is said of Jesus in John chapter 10 verse 17, The reason my father loves me is that I lay down my life only to take it up again. Jesus was fully submitted to his father. As Isaac had been fully submitted to Abraham. Abraham lived as more than a conqueror because of his faith. Isaac lived as more than a conqueror because of his submission. To be more than a conqueror. My son though! Being more than a conqueror flows out of a life that is submitted to Jesus. Thank you Jesus. Now I know that we go to some services and they have their declarations on the head and not the tail. All that. It's biblical. But that is who I am in God. What do we do when the Lord puts us through a season that we seem to be the tail? What do we do when we go through a season it seems as though When the Lord said you're going to be a lender not to borrow and you're having to borrow. What do you do if your season doesn't match up with God's promise? Have you been there? You put your faith in him and then you submit to his plan. My son though! Because see if you want to walk with Jesus and this is his plan for you. There's not a thing that you can do to change his plan. Except to get out of the plan. And let me tell you that you don't want to do. It's worse outside the plan. I remember once the Lord used my wife to literally put the fear of God in me. We had just joined the ministry and it was glorious beyond anything that we had ever experienced in our lives. I mean glorious, glorious. It just can't be described. But it got difficult. It was like a pressure cooker. It was like going through preparation. You know those little pressure cookers where they Anyway it was a cooking apparatus that just steamed it and baked it in an hour that would normally take all afternoon to do. Pressure cooker! Well that was what this ministry was. It was a pressure cooker. It just seemed like everything that had been working before all of a sudden wasn't working anymore. Our finances took a dive. Everything was bad. And I just in my heart just was thinking about leaving. Well not seriously but I really wanted to leave. I wanted to leave. I wanted to leave. And you know as husband and wives do even though I wasn't seriously thinking about it. I was talking about it to my wife. I just want to leave. And the Spirit of the Lord spoke to me through my wife. And you know that Carol doesn't mince words. If you know her. And she said David Fleming if you leave this ministry. And she started naming like bullet points. This is bad. This is bad. I thought oh my goodness. And I got into that church service and I worshiped. I gave it my all. Because see I knew that the only way to live victoriously as more than a conqueror is David just submits. David just submits. David just submits. Because this is just a season. Now that's my understanding. Now that was not my understanding then. This is the way life is. And I was just thinking this is the way it's always going to be. But listen to me. It's just a season. It might be a long season. It might not be over tomorrow. But it is just a season. But you'll never get. I'm speaking to you now. You're not going to get out of that season until you submit. Because the Lord is teaching you. And the lesson you're going to learn from submission is going to take you further in God than you've ever been before. Say faith. Faith. Submission. Submission. See right up there he gives strength to the weary and increases power to the weak. But who is he giving it to? To those who submitted. His strength comes to those who are submitted. He doesn't add strength to strength. He takes us from glory to glory. But he adds his strength to those who are weak. And so many times we have to be led through hard times so that we see how weak we really, really, really are. Say faith. Faith. Submission. Submission. And then what about the third paragraph? He does have a virtue that he is most known for and that is perseverance. His name is Jacob. Abraham. Isaac. And then Jacob. Now, Jacob is mostly known for the mess that he was. Jacob's name, remember his, your name is your calling card. Abraham, father of nations. Jacob, do you know what his name means? It means the planter, the seed farmer. Hi, what's your name? My name's the seed farmer. Do you think you're going to get any good business working on that? Do you think anybody's going to trust you on that one? Oh, that's who you are? Yeah, I'm the supplanter. I'm the saver. Oh, God has got to have a sense of humor to give a person a name like that. But constantly, God is telling Jacob, I know who you are. Amen, amen. I know you. And see, that's where religion comes in. In religion, we try to prove to God how good we are. And we do our best to prove ourselves. But when we understand who we really are, we're going to bypass religion and go straight to the Redeemer and say, Lord, I need redemption. I need you to save me. It's not me at all, it's all of you. Have you gotten to that point yet? Have you really just gotten rid of all the bondage of religion? And say, religion has nothing that's going to help me out. But only Jesus, only Jesus, only Jesus. Well, Jacob wasn't there yet. He's still trying to prove himself. But God's getting close. And so the time came that Jacob has lived most of his life, or a good bit of his life, and his character hasn't really changed a lot, except for this. All throughout his life, in all of its problems, Jacob has been spoken to by the Lord, and Jacob is holding on to God. Does he still have problems? Yeah. How many of y'all still got problems? I'm talking about problems with you. Yeah, me too. But I'm still holding on to Jesus. Still holding on. And that's called perseverance. Jacob persevered through all the things, through everything he went through, which we won't go into all that, but listen, his life was going, it was going from victory to victory, but getting that victory was so difficult. Trouble, trouble, trouble. But he was holding on to the Lord. So the day came to set up what happened, is he's going back home, he now has two wives and some concubines, he has a whole tribe of kids now, and he is rich. The Lord has blessed him, so he has all these cattle, and you know, a herd, and sheep, and camels, and servants, and he's rich. But he's going back home, and he knows that his brother is there, and when he left, many years before, he left with his brother, vowing that you're a dead man. I am going, I'm looking, and you're dead. Jacob had not only deceived his way into the birthright, but also into being, receiving all the blessings that would have normally gone to the eldest of whom they saw. So he was going with great fear, and so he went, and then he sent some scouts out to find out where Esau is, and they say Esau is coming, and he has raised an army of 400 men. That is exactly what Jacob wanted to hear. He's not thinking he's going to come and greet me, he's not coming to celebrate, he's coming to celebrate my death. And so Jacob sent everybody ahead, and he tried to appease, and this really shows that Jacob's not, his character's really not changed a lot. He's trying to deceive Esau into thinking things that weren't, I'm going to give you all these cattle, these camels, machines, and these are my children, and he's trying to buy them off. But Jacob stays behind, and God meets him. Why? Because God has taken Jacob through a season of great difficulty, but the Lord's about ready to change his life. Wow! Listen to this. Genesis chapter 32, verses 24 through 26. So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. Most Bible scholars, myself included, believe that this was the Lord himself, because he is called Lord later on in the passage. But this man wrestled with Jacob till daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob's hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. That means that he was totally disabled. And he would have been in great pain. Yeah. So here Jacob has the weight of fear trying to grip his heart that Jacob is going to kill him, but now he has this God-man wrestling with him that is trying his to fight Jacob off. He says, let go of me! And Jacob says, Lord, I will not let go unless you bless me. I will not let go. Then the man said, let me go for his daybreak. But Jacob replied, I will not let you go unless you bless me. The next thing that happens, the Lord says, what is your name? What is your name? And Jacob said, Jacob. It was told to me by my bishop in fact that this wasn't just a statement of fact, that this was a declaration of repentance. Finally. I am a deceiver. Finally. I am a supplanter, that's who I am. That's all I needed to hear. But no more are you deceivers, a planter, this man that would never see God's promise fulfilled because you keep on getting in the way. No more! You from now on are Israel because you have held on! You have overcome! So, Jacob became more than a conqueror because through the difficulties of the season he did not give up. But he held on to Jesus. My son, no! So many people have given up on Jesus. Why? Because in Jesus they were holding on to was a Jesus of their own making. They were serving a God of a gospel that was not the gospel of the Word, but it was a gospel of our own making. Listen, oh! If that's the Jesus you're holding on to I'd say, yes, let it go! But if you are holding on to Jesus as He has been proclaimed by the Father and the Holy Spirit, then hold on! Because He's got a life change. He's got a life change. He's going to change your name. Ho! Do you know, even in today's world the Lord has visited some people and literally changed their name. They still go by their old name, but the Lord calls them something different. Why? I know a lady that the Lord changed her name. And that's because she knows that she is before the Lord. Because she held on. For all the difficulties she personally endured. So, we too, are going to go through seasons, sometimes with great difficulty. What about the woman with the issue of blood? It says that for 12 years she was bleeding internally. She had spent all of her money, so she has no more money. And she's not any better. Now, if she is bleeding internally, that would make it probable that she is now anemic, very weak. And to get to Jesus, there is a crowd of people all around Jesus. So much so that when Jesus was touched by her, He turned and touched me! And the disciple said, Lord, look at all these people! So there's a crowd, so how did she get to Jesus? She would have to push her way through. What gave her the strength? What gave her the determination? Because she persevered! She had to get a hold of Jesus! Masundo! Are you so in need that you know that you've got to get a hold of Jesus? So once you get a hold of Him, what do you do? You never let go of Jesus or His Word. So if you want to be more than a conqueror, you've got to get a hold of Jesus, His Word, through all of life's challenges. Because see, until you do, those challenges don't go away. There's no victory until you get a hold of Jesus. So take hold of Him. Now why don't you just lift your hands. Do you know what you've been going through? Do you know what you've been dealing with? Some of you are dealing with just your own flesh. Some of you are dealing with circumstances not of your making. Some of you are dealing with powers of darkness that seem to have just come and swamped you. But right now, let your faith reach up and take hold of Jesus. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Thank you, Jesus. Hallelujah! Now I want the next scripture, the next scripture that you memorized, let it be dealing with this subject. I'm more than a conqueror, more than a conqueror, for Him who loves us. We're running a race, and we want it to be a sprint race. We want to run this thing and get over and enjoy the spoils of our victory. But y'all, that is not on this side of heaven. This side of heaven, it is a marathon. It is just that. And sometimes it's not even a marathon. You're not running at all. You're just walking as fast as you can. And sometimes you're not even walking. You're just crawling. But you're not giving up. You're going to persevere because you have your eyes focused on Jesus. You have put your faith in Jesus. You are submitting. You've tried to change the difficulties, but some of them just aren't changing. So what do you do? You're submitting to Jesus. You are putting your faith in Jesus. And you're just saying, Lord, I'm going to persevere this side of heaven until all this is over. I'm going to persevere. Amen. Mashado! Let's close this up today. We've talked about Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. We've talked about the faith of Abraham. We've talked about the submission of Isaac. And we've talked about the perseverance of Jacob. But there is one that I want to present to you today that tops them all. And that is Jesus. Jesus is more than a conqueror. More. More. And just think how Jesus ended his life here on earth. There was not a sight of victory. Nothing spelled victory when Jesus left this earth. Nothing. It looked like he had totally been defeated. He had totally been overcome. Where's the kingdom? What do you have to show for your life? But Jesus said, Hallelujah! It is finished! Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. Hallelujah! What faith this is! This is the very God that he said, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And now he's saying, Lord, I'm committing my spirit to you. Hallelujah! What faith! What submission! What perseverance! Thank you, Jesus. It's all in Jesus. So where are we going to get the ability to have such faith and such submission and endurance? It's all in whom you have a relationship with. It's all in Jesus. Amen. It's Jesus. Amen. Hallelujah. That's why it's so important that we must understand that if we are crucified with Christ, that he is living in us. Amen. Hallelujah! Thank you, Jesus. I've been crucified with Christ, Paul said. Nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me. Jesus lives in dead people. Oh! Can we say that again? Jesus lives in dead people. Dead people. Crucified people. Crucified people. So if you want to experience the faith of Jesus, then be crucified in Jesus. Do you want to experience the submission of Jesus? Then be crucified in Jesus. Do you want to experience all the perseverance of Jesus? Be crucified with Jesus. And as you know, it is going to be said of you, more than a conqueror.
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