OVERCOMERS OF THE WORLD NOT DEFEATED BY THE WORLD
1 John 5:4-5 (KJV) For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. 5Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?
"Words are of little effect without they have a personal manifestation of God. We must not look at the Word as only a written Word. The Word is a live fact to work in the human body living truths, changing it, moving it till the person is a living fact of God's inheritance, till He is in the body reigning in the world, over it. In conversation or activity he is a production of God." Smith Wigglesworth (1924). My friends, have we to come to where we believe the Word of God 100%? Because, if we want to see the things God has for us in our lives we must! Think about it, if you constantly did not believe or trust that your worldly parents would keep their word, you would never expect anything from them. You would not ask them for anything because deep down inside you just did not believe that it would happen! I have worked with many dysfunctional families and children in my life time. The one thing the children all have in common is a distrust of adults. Even those trustworthy adults that come to help them have a large wall to breakdown before trust can be established. Is this you with God? Has something happened in your life and now God's words are just nice stories? If so take sometime today and read on and I will give you some real life reasons to trust and obey. You can take this to the bank my friends, my God, Lord and Savior has never let me down no matter how bleak it has looked. We are to be over comers in this world, we have not been brought into God's Kingdom to be slaves, servants, downtrodden individuals. No we are sons of the most High and powerful God. We just need to learn to act like it. John 15:15-16 (NASB) 15"No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. 16"You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you. Hello! These are the words of Jesus, do you believe them? We are not slaves but friends, friends of the one and only son of God, a pretty elite place to be if you take time to think about it. So then why aren't more Christians' true over comers of this world?
Ok, now for a few true examples of just how much the Lord loves and protects those who love Him. Romans 8:28 (NKJV) 28And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. The Greek here is very plain and clear, all things, everything, the complete, nothing left out, the totally filled, works for good, the perfect, to benefit, the pleasant, agreeable, desirable. Everything under the sun and in the universe works for good for those of us who are called according to His purpose. Hallelujah, praise the Lord, wow, do you really understand or believe this?
So, let me go on with a few true examples from Mary's and my lives. Years ago Mary and I learned that if we wanted to be true over comers in this dark world we needed to trust God at His word. I was working with a small dying church in a small Colorado town of Hotchkiss. The Church was still alive but was kept that way by a group of "old set in their ways" Christians. We had our regulars every Sunday morning. They were so regular that they sat in the exact same place every Sunday Morning. Each one had their special stop in the pews and it would have taken a bomb to move them. Because this was one of the two churches we were working in at the time Mary and I did not spend as much time in prayer etc. for this little body as we should. One Saturday afternoon we decided to give the church a complete cleaning. I mean we went nuts; we even polished the old wood pews. I joked with Mary that I had best make sure my Sunday sermon was a church rocker. All we needed was someone nodding off and then sliding off the pews. But, the Lord led us to test Him and ask that the next morning the Church be filled with new faces etc. Mary and I anointed each pew and asked the Lord to fill that church more than ever. The next morning when we arrived after our other services 40 miles away, we were in total awe. The Lord had answered our prayers and that little church was filled to capacity.
One year when Mary, our daughter Sharol and I were traveling to Texas for our son's wedding Mary was having some health problems involving her stomach. Because of my miscalculations on how long the trip would take we had to drive some very long days to get to the wedding on time. We were somewhere on interstate 10 in the middle of no where and Mary started to have such great pains in her stomach she was crying. I can handle many things but I cannot handle my precious gift from the Lord hurting or crying. So at 75 miles an hour headed south I started to cry out to the Lord. I finally got to the point where I knew there was nothing I could do. Miles from medical help, no idea where the help would be even if we could get there. I told Jesus that He was all I had and He was my strength. My tears were so great I was having a hard time seeing the road. Then I looked up and saw a big road sign. That had to be 15 feet tall and 30 feet wide. The background was yellow in color. Along the top was Black lettering saying "THE ONLY SOLUTION IS:. " In the middle was "JESUS"! in rainbow colors. Along the bottom was "All His promises will come true! Psalms 18:30" in red lettering. The moment I saw this sign Mary was completely healed and had no further problems for the rest of the trip. I must also note that both Mary and our daughter Sharol saw the sign. What they saw was a rainbow background with a woman and Spanish lettering. Is God good or what? One further note is that the verse Psalms 18:30 in the King James uses "word" instead of Promises. Get it all God's words prove true!
Finally, I was preaching at a small church in Southern Wyoming. To be honest I cannot even remember what the message was about that day. But, a middle aged gentleman in a leather jacket (biker type) entered the sanctuary just before I started to preach. As usual at the end of the message the Lord gave me I asked all those who needed prayer or the Lord to come forward so I could pray over them. This gentleman, named Gary came forward that day. He told me that he did not attend this little church but today he had rode his bike to the church looking for his son. He could not really explain it but in the parking lot he was strangely drawn to come into the church and sit down. He told the story of a life lived very hard and he now had an incurable blood\nerve condition. On top of that he was going to be fired on Monday for costing his company so much in medical costs due to his hard lifestyle. I was lead by the Spirit to pray for him to not lose his job and to be completely healed to show Jesus to him. With tears in his eyes he thanked me and that was the last I saw of Gary for a year or more. A year later I was again in that Church preaching and one of the parishioners came up to me and told me that Gary had come back looking for me. He had given his testimony that the following Monday he went into work expecting to lose his job. His boss just told him to get to work and forget it. Within a few weeks his doctor told him he could not explain it but Gary was healed. Needless to say the day that Gary gave his testimony he also gave his live to Jesus.
These are only three examples in thousands, yes really thousands in my life alone, of the "being an over comer in this world." It has nothing to do with me, except for a total trust in the Words of God.
John said is best. John 1:1-5 (NLT) 1In the beginning the Word already existed. He was with God, and he was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3He created everything there is. Nothing exists that he didn't make. 4Life itself was in him, and this life gives light to everyone. 5The light shines through the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it. John makes it plain and clear that the Word of God has a life of its own. Not separate from our Lord or His father but together in a heavenly relationship that I cannot fully comprehend. John 1:14 (NASB) 14And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. Do you see the total connection? The Bible, the Word of God is not just some pretty stories written long ago, that have been changed by man. No! it is the living Words of God set down over the centuries for man. I can honestly say that when I am alone studying the word of God it comes alive. I can be reading the Gospels of Jesus and find myself walking with the Lord. I can hear His words to the crowds and see the faces of those who feel His healing touch. Can you my friends.
We read in Job chapter one Job 1:8-11 (NASB) 8The LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil." 9Then Satan answered the LORD, "Does Job fear God for nothing? 10"Have You not made a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. 11"But put forth Your hand now and touch all that he has; he will surely curse You to Your face." Job, did not even know of Jesus Christ as his Savior, yet he was an over comer. Why? Well to find that answer we must go back a verse or two. Job 1:1 (NLT) 1There was a man named Job who lived in the land of Uz. He was blameless, a man of complete integrity. He feared God and stayed away from evil. And Job 1:4-5 (NASB) 4His sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each one on his day, and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 5When the days of feasting had completed their cycle, Job would send and consecrate them, rising up early in the morning and offering burnt offerings according to the number of them all; for Job said, "Perhaps my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts." Thus Job did continually. Job was an over comer of the world for one reason, He feared the Lord above all things and trusted His word. Job did three simple things 1) he was blameless; the Greek here means to be perfect or complete in either a good or bad way. Job was also a man of total integrity. In other words before man Job was even righteous. So Job was perfect in his goodness in God's eyes. Why? Because he followed the Word of God to the letter. Second; he feared God more than anything else. If you have a Bible search program or concordance do a quick search of the phrase "fear the Lord". I think you will be surprised just how many promises are attached to fearing the Lord. Finally; Job stayed away from evil. He did not flirt with it. He did not bind it. Job put on his hat and ran away from it. He did not say " I can watch this racy immoral play at the theater because I am right with God." He did not say " it is all right for my kids to party on without some consequences." He did not say " I do not need to follow God's words today. They are old and irrelevant to my world today." He did not say "God will understand if I do not sacrifice today. It is so nice outside I will just go and play God will understand He is the one who made it so nice outside." NO! Job overcame the world and even satans attacks because he was "blameless, a man of complete integrity. He feared God and stayed away from evil."
Do you want to overcome the world? Do you want to be a conqueror? Then you have to believe in Jesus. No, not just the pretty sermon that tells you to accept Jesus into your heart to be saved but really believe that Christ came to give you a better life. Re-read the book of Job and notice that no matter how down Job got, no matter what satan threw at Job he never sinned against God. Why? Because Job feared the Lord God Almighty more than anyone or anything else in the universe, Job knew the truth of how to be right before God.
1 John 5:4-5 (KJV) For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. 5Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? Do you want a better life, a life filled with abundance? Do you want to smile when the world is crying? Do you want to keep your peace when there is no peace? Do you want to see wonders, signs and miracles in your life? Then you must be an over comer. You must as Wigglesworth said over a hundred and fifty years ago. "Words are of little effect without they have a personal manifestation of God. We must not look at the Word as only a written Word. The Word is a live fact to work in the human body living truths, changing it, moving it till the person is a living fact of God's inheritance, till He is in the body reigning in the world, over it. In conversation or activity he is a production of God." Where will you stand in 2008? Will you be over come by the world because of your unbelief or will you be an over comer because of your belief and faith in the one true Savior of the World Jesus Christ.
Your choice my friends, as for me and my household we will hold to the truth of God's word until our last breath.
God Bless
Pastor A. J.
