THE OVERCOMER

 

You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

 

1.       I am today going to give you a practical message on being an overcomer.  John starts in this scripture to teach you.  Five things.  

 

a.      First, you are God’s child.  He loves, cares, protects, helps and guides you.  You are His because of Jesus Christ and your acceptance of Him. 

b.      You are from God.  When you accepted Him as your Lord and Savior you joined His family.  You have all the rights and privilege of being His Son.  All of heaven is at your disposal and every benefit of being a joint heir with Jesus Christ is yours.  You are a child of God.   

c.      You have overcome them.  Who are them?  The World with its passion, pride and possessions no longer have value, power and desire for you.  You know all you have to do is seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all things will be added to you.  You know that prosperity and health come from God and begin from the inside out.  You know your flesh and sinful nature will destroy you if you do not master it through Christ.  You know that saying no to yourself and your selfish ways is your way to victory.  I will in a minute become more practical in this area.  Lastly, the devil.  Jesus destroyed his works on the cross.  No demon of hell is greater than Jesus who lives in you.

d.      The one who is in you is greater.  Let’s say it together.  He who is in me is greater.  You are the temple of the Holy Spirit.  You are the dwelling place of God.  You have resurrection power.  You have anointing, enablement, authority, power, dominion, victory and freedom in Christ.  You have the armor, weapons and protection to beat the enemy every time.  When you submit to God and you resist the devil he has to flee. 

e.      Than He who is in the world.  The devil may own this world and people in it but He does not own you.  You are not of this world.  Heaven is your home and destination.  You are no longer subject to the power and authority of this world.  You are looking for a city whose maker and builder is God.  You are a pilgrim passing through not a settler.  The devil has no right, authority or power over you.  Remember that. 

 

2.      Now I want you to remember five things.  You are not a victim, you are a victor.  You are not going to be conquered.  You are more than a conqueror.  You are not going to be dominated. You are a dominator.  You are not going to be a slave.  You are free.  Say it loud and say it proud.  I am free.  You are not going to be overcome.  You are an overcomer. 

 

George Frederick Handel was dogged with misfortune. He had debt upon debt, despair upon despair. He had a cerebral hemorrhage and was paralyzed on his right side. For four years he could neither walk nor write. The doctors gave up on him. He wrote several operas, but again he fell in debt. At age 60 he thought his life was finished. Then he was challenged by a friend to write a sacred oratorio. He read the Scriptures and decided to work on the Messiah. For 24 days, without eating a crumb, he worked fanatically to produce the Messiah, which many today consider the greatest oratorio ever written.

 

3.      Now I am going to get real practical.  There are five things we need to overcome every day.

 

a.      Time. If you don't use it wisely, it will become your enemy.  How can you redeem the time as Paul says?  Here are some practical things.  Set goals. Ask yourself which goals are important to you right now and what needs to be done to achieve them.  Make a to-do list. Calculate the time spent on each of your tasks.  Avoid distractions.  Avoid procrastinating.  Don't give up and stay motivated.  Remember all you do must be for the Lord and others. 

b.      Lack of focus. Keep your eyes on the prize.   You are running a race to win.  Remember you are doing this for the Lord, yourself and others.  Here are some more practical thoughts.  Get rid of distractions.  Shut of your phone and devices.  Keep down the stimulants.  Put a lock on social media.  Fuel your body and eat right.  Exercise.  Get enough sleep.   Pray, read the Bible, go to church and worship.

c.      Holding back.  You have to believe in yourself and who God made you.  There is something only you can do.  You have gifts, talents, skills and abilities that are your own.  God gave them to you.  I am not motivational speaking.  I am speaking to your core.  So many people miss it because they don’t think they can make a difference.  You can.  If you can breathe you can get a life.  Pray about what you can do and get busy.  Don’t hold back.  You can be an encourager.  You can love.  You can speak nice things to people.  You can be a friend.  Get out of your comfort zone.

d.      I love this next one.  Attitude.  I use to have written in our church in Trail.  Attitude is everything in the things of God.  Tyson told me that attitude is the only thing.  The importance of attitude is that it is the basis for everything in our lives. Our attitude determines how we react to adversity, our ability to grow and to learn, our ability to overcome challenges, and create bonds with others.  God put it in us.  Philippians 2:5, NLT: "You must have the same attitude that Christ. Jesus had."  Philippians 4:8 ESV.  Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.  This is Godly attitude.

e.      Fear is the word we use to describe our emotional reaction to something that seems dangerous.  We know that fear is a spirit.  It enters us when we are small.  Something happens and it grows.  It needs to be faced and cast out.  As a child of God you are not given to a spirit of fear but of love power and sound mind.  John says perfect love casts out fear.  When you are truly loved you have nothing to fear.  Here are some practical things to do when a fear comes.  Pray and read your Bible.  Talk to a trusted person about your fear.  Write down what you are grateful and count your blessings.  Cast your anxiety, fear, stress and cares on the Lord and remember He cares for you.  Exercise and get the tension, stress and fear out.  Focus on God.  Laugh and watch good clean comedy.  Do a mental inventory of the things you have already conquered.  Lastly remind yourself you are a warrior not a worrier. 

f.       I close with this wonderful scripture.  1 John 5:5, “Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.”