Speaker 1: God brought a scripture to my memory from First Corinthians,
Speaker 1: chapter fifteen. I read from verse fifty four Verse Corinthians,
Speaker 1: Chapter fifteen, Verse fifty four. When the perishable has been
Speaker 1: clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then
Speaker 1: the saying that is written will come true. Death has
Speaker 1: been swallowed up in victory. Where oh death is your victory,
Speaker 1: Where oh death is your sting. The sting of death
Speaker 1: is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
Speaker 1: But thanks be to God he gives us the victory
Speaker 1: through our Lord, Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters,
Speaker 1: stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully
Speaker 1: to the work of the Lord, because you know that
Speaker 1: your labor in the Lord is not in vain. What
Speaker 1: a word today. I want to talk to you from
Speaker 1: an unusual topic. I want to speak about the gift
Speaker 1: of victory. I want to give you. Go ahead, put
Speaker 1: your hands out, because I want to give you your
Speaker 1: first Christmas gift. You hadn't open anything yet, have you
Speaker 1: all right? We'll get ready for this, the gift of victory.
Speaker 1: Somebody shot is mine, It's mine, It's mine. I want it.
Speaker 1: I take it. I receive it. It's mine, it's got
Speaker 1: my name on it. Huh, let's unwrap this together. Today
Speaker 1: you be seated in God's presence, the gift of victory.
Speaker 1: I think my oldest son, Elijah put it best one time.
Speaker 1: I don't remember how many years ago this was, but
Speaker 1: he was having a hard time in school because they
Speaker 1: were dividing up and playing this certain game with this
Speaker 1: certain team at recess, and they kept losing. And one
Speaker 1: of the girls in his class said, Elijah, quit having
Speaker 1: such a bad attitude. It's not if you win or lose,
Speaker 1: it's if you're having fun. So he came home mad
Speaker 1: every day. You know, we lost again, and whatever her
Speaker 1: name was said, it's not whether you win or lose,
Speaker 1: it's whether or not you have fun. After about three
Speaker 1: days of this, he comes home. This is the most
Speaker 1: brilliant thing that has ever been said in the furdic howhole.
Speaker 1: Listen what he said. He said, Dad, today I got her.
Speaker 1: I said, you got who you'll want. He said, no,
Speaker 1: we still lost. But when she said that, after we lost,
Speaker 1: his teammate who kept saying it's not whether you win
Speaker 1: or lose, it's whether you have fun, he said, I
Speaker 1: was ready, and this time when she said it, she said, Elijah,
Speaker 1: it's not if you win or lose, it's whether you
Speaker 1: have fun. I said, well, I'm not having fun if
Speaker 1: I'm not with that's my boy. That's my boy. He's
Speaker 1: got that anointing of antagonism, not anointing us counter attack
Speaker 1: based in sound logic. That's the truth. Man, I'm not
Speaker 1: having fun if I'm not winning. And maybe you're not competitive,
Speaker 1: you little Pollyanna positive. It's not whether you win or lose.
Speaker 1: That's fine. But our family is very different. Our family
Speaker 1: does not have game nights. Oh we try. They were
Speaker 1: too bloody and traumatic. I figured if I kept having
Speaker 1: game nights with my kids, the therapy bill would be
Speaker 1: through the roof when they get older. Because it just
Speaker 1: always it always ended poorly. And y'all pray for Holly
Speaker 1: because she has this competitive spirit that would come out
Speaker 1: at game night. You'll believe that, y'all believe she was
Speaker 1: the problem. Be a first time guest. If you believe that.
Speaker 1: Now it was all of us, really, every single one
Speaker 1: of us. We're now we have a lot of good
Speaker 1: family traditions. I mean, I think that our family is
Speaker 1: pretty cool, really cool I'm really proud of our family
Speaker 1: we got we have. We had a family lunch club.
Speaker 1: When the kids were smaller, we had a uh, we
Speaker 1: had a Pixar challenge. You know. It's funny though, even
Speaker 1: when we set out a few summers ago to watch
Speaker 1: every Pixar movie as a family. We made it a
Speaker 1: competition of which Pixar movie was the best? Oh man,
Speaker 1: we got issues and Monopoly no, mm hmmm, I can't
Speaker 1: even say Monopoly without my family feeling some uh some PTSD.
Speaker 1: But I think the reason I wanted to use that
Speaker 1: kind of as an example before I get to this
Speaker 1: scripture that I read you in First Corinthians, I really
Speaker 1: want to illustrate isolate and hopefully the Holy Spirit will
Speaker 1: illuminate the principle in the contrast that Paul is giving
Speaker 1: here in First Corinthians. Because he speaks about the victory
Speaker 1: that God gives put up verse fifty six again or
Speaker 1: verse fifty seven rather where he says thanks be to God,
Speaker 1: he gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: That's a wonderful scripture. Is the kind of scripture that
Speaker 1: you often see hanging up like in a weight room
Speaker 1: or football locker room. God gives us the victory because
Speaker 1: he doesn't like the other team. His favor is on us,
Speaker 1: So we're going to win because God is with us.
Speaker 1: Mighty warrior, and other scriptures that are taken out of context,
Speaker 1: But it's good. It's a good scripture to put up
Speaker 1: in a locker room, is an amazing scripture to put
Speaker 1: up anywhere. I just want to point out that in
Speaker 1: this particular passage, Paul is not so much concerned about
Speaker 1: external victories as he is about the internal victory that
Speaker 1: God has promised us over sin. Is no good to
Speaker 1: win in every other area of your life if the
Speaker 1: victory over sin in your life is theoretical and abstract.
Speaker 1: In other words, Paul is saying that there will come
Speaker 1: a day where the perishable will put on imperishable, where
Speaker 1: the corruptible will put on incorruptible. He's talking about the
Speaker 1: resurrection of the righteous, which will come in the last days.
Speaker 1: He's basing this expectation in the example of Jesus Christ,
Speaker 1: who did exactly that when he got up out of
Speaker 1: the grave. I mean, that's a pretty big win when
Speaker 1: you beat death. Floyd Mayweather is still undefeated, but death
Speaker 1: isn't death got its first loss after Jesus hung on
Speaker 1: the cross said is finished. But I'm not done, because
Speaker 1: after I get the keys to death, hell and the grave,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go tell my brothers you get up too.
Speaker 1: That's awesome. There is a principle in the text of
Speaker 1: Already and not Yet that is as Paul is giving
Speaker 1: them an expectation of a future event of resurrection in
Speaker 1: their life, he is giving them an exhortation, which simply
Speaker 1: means to urge in a very determined fashion. It's an
Speaker 1: expectation and an exhortation. He says that God has given
Speaker 1: us the victory, or more specifically, he gives us the victory.
Speaker 1: And I make that distinction because it's something that continues
Speaker 1: to happen, not something that happens once and then just
Speaker 1: stays that way. He gives us the victory. Every day
Speaker 1: I wake up is a choice will I win this day?
Speaker 1: Every time that the sin in my life that rears
Speaker 1: his head and says you belong to me, tries to
Speaker 1: defy the righteousness of God that Jesus Christ imparted through
Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit into my life, it is an opportunity
Speaker 1: for me to either fi the sin that claims to
Speaker 1: have mastery over me, or to deny the power that
Speaker 1: lives in me, because of what Jesus already did for me.
Speaker 1: He gives us the victory. You see what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: And it doesn't happen all at once. It doesn't happen
Speaker 1: all at once. It happens incrementally. It happens gradually. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: it's a victory that you can depend on, But it
Speaker 1: is not a victory that you can deposit and forget
Speaker 1: about it and live off of the dividends. It is
Speaker 1: a victory that is given to be received with every
Speaker 1: rising of the sun. And nothing feels worse in life,
Speaker 1: I'm telling you right now, especially for a competitive person,
Speaker 1: nothing feels worse in life than to give yourself to
Speaker 1: something that you can't win at. Nothing feels worse. That's
Speaker 1: why I quit tennis. I was going out there all
Speaker 1: the time and Larry Hubacka beat me, and he had
Speaker 1: not played in six years, but he played in middle school.
Speaker 1: And once I figured out I couldn't win, I quit.
Speaker 1: That was my last tennis lesson that day he beat me.
Speaker 1: Still feel bad about it. I'm thinking about challenging him
Speaker 1: to a wrestling match, because that's what I did in
Speaker 1: middle school. Let's see who wins on the mat. How
Speaker 1: about that? I came across the term in Harvard Business
Speaker 1: Review recently that was describing what the author claimed was
Speaker 1: a social phenomenon, yet the Bible has been clear about
Speaker 1: long before they got a hold of it in the
Speaker 1: business community. He was talking about how employees are now
Speaker 1: rather than leaving their jobs, withdrawing their hearts, and he
Speaker 1: called it the quiet quit. If you feel underappreciated and
Speaker 1: undervalued in the workplace, don't leave your paycheck or your benefits.
Speaker 1: Don't walk in the office, stand up on the desk,
Speaker 1: burn something, throw it in the trash can, light the
Speaker 1: place on fire, and go to jail. Just show up,
Speaker 1: but not really. Just come at the last minute and
Speaker 1: leave at the first opportunity. Don't stay late, don't offer
Speaker 1: to do anything that's going to inconvenience you in any way.
Speaker 1: It's called the quiet quit, That's what he said. He
Speaker 1: said that this is not only a trend that we
Speaker 1: now have a cute name for, but it is a
Speaker 1: human instinct that when I am giving to something where
Speaker 1: I do not feel i'm winning, that it may not
Speaker 1: happen all at once, and I may not announce it.
Speaker 1: I may not throw a party. This is my last day.
Speaker 1: Y'all can kiss my ring finger. This is going online.
Speaker 1: So I just say things in a certain way so
Speaker 1: it can be acceptable. It's called a quiet quit. Quiet
Speaker 1: quit when Paul says in First Corinthians, and I'm going
Speaker 1: to illustrate this in just a moment, but first, let
Speaker 1: me preach the principle that God gives us the victory
Speaker 1: through our Lord Jesus Christ. That's the expectation when he
Speaker 1: says in verse fifty eight, Therefore stand firm, letting nothing move.
Speaker 1: You always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord.
Speaker 1: That is the exhortation. And I wonder did God give
Speaker 1: me this word today, called the gift of victory To
Speaker 1: someone who is in the middle of a quiet quit
Speaker 1: in your life. You have not announced that you are
Speaker 1: an atheist, and you don't plan too. You didn't change
Speaker 1: your bio on Instagram too. I hate good dot com.
Speaker 1: But deep down in your heart, since you're not winning,
Speaker 1: it seems like the only logical response is to quietly
Speaker 1: quit trying. Because if I quit trying, then when I
Speaker 1: don't win, I'll understand why if I quit trying, if
Speaker 1: I completely give in to the sin, I will no
Speaker 1: longer have to resist it. So I won't feel weak
Speaker 1: because I won't be fighting. If I lay down and
Speaker 1: die and quit trying to be a joyful, positive person
Speaker 1: and completely give into the cynicism that tries to run
Speaker 1: the operating system of my life, I won't lose because
Speaker 1: I didn't show up. And if I take my ball
Speaker 1: and go home, if I take my belief and go home,
Speaker 1: the devil can't whip me, because if he can't find me,
Speaker 1: he can't beat me. So I'm going to hide behind
Speaker 1: excuses and pretend like I don't want it and settle
Speaker 1: for stuff that I used to struggle against. And I'm
Speaker 1: not going to announce it because if I announce it,
Speaker 1: somebody might come get me and pull me out of it.
Speaker 1: So what I'll do rather than announcing it, rather than
Speaker 1: quitting in a way that people can perceive, I will
Speaker 1: just show up in my body, but I will not
Speaker 1: be present in my mind. I will not bring my
Speaker 1: best I will not bring my heart, I will not
Speaker 1: bring my ideas. I will not bring my playfulness. I
Speaker 1: will not bring who I really am, because if I
Speaker 1: don't bring who I really am, then you can't beat
Speaker 1: who I really am. I will hide behind the excuse
Speaker 1: that I don't want it anymore. What could be more
Speaker 1: miserable than to live as a Christian with the promise
Speaker 1: that God gives you the victory, but to live far
Speaker 1: beneath the reality of that promise, to know that you
Speaker 1: are forgiven, but to live without victory over sin. I
Speaker 1: saw bumpersticker one time. It's that Christians aren't perfect, just forgiven.
Speaker 1: I'm like, dang, that's good, and that's kind of not true. Okay,
Speaker 1: we're not perfect, that part is true, but just forgiven,
Speaker 1: Like that's the whole goal, right, Like, Hey man, we
Speaker 1: run around, we lie, we talk just like everybody else.
Speaker 1: We're hateful just like everybody else. We don't really have
Speaker 1: any different standard. We're just forgiven. The world definitely wants
Speaker 1: to join our team. Hey, come to church with me.
Speaker 1: My life sucks just like yours. I make the same
Speaker 1: excuses you make. I have the same old broken patterns
Speaker 1: you have. Come to church with me, get some of this.
Speaker 1: You know. To be forgiven, but not to live in victory.
Speaker 1: It's misery because I know I'm supposed to be able
Speaker 1: to get over this. I know I'm supposed to be
Speaker 1: able to forgive this. I know I'm supposed to be
Speaker 1: able to say no to this. I know I'm supposed
Speaker 1: to be able to pray this away. I know I'm
Speaker 1: supposed to be better than this. I know I'm bigger
Speaker 1: than this petty offense. But I'm forgiven. So you think
Speaker 1: the whole goal for life is for God to just
Speaker 1: get you to fall into forgiveness and never get back
Speaker 1: up and live in victory. I see a lot of
Speaker 1: people in culture these days who are really good, even
Speaker 1: in Christianity. I'm not talking about the world. I'm talking
Speaker 1: about us who are really good at falling into forgiveness.
Speaker 1: And hey, I have to do it too. I had
Speaker 1: to do it Friday. Friday, I saw myself doing something
Speaker 1: so dumb. I'm like, oh God, wait, if I was
Speaker 1: gonna do something this done, why did I do it
Speaker 1: on Monday so I'd have time before I preach to
Speaker 1: get this out of my system. That's too close to
Speaker 1: preaching to be messing up like that. And I had
Speaker 1: to ask him, God, help me, help me. I got
Speaker 1: people coming to hear me talking I'm an idiot. God
Speaker 1: help me, I have to do that too. But is
Speaker 1: that all that he died for? Just so I have
Speaker 1: to fall into the same pit over and over again.
Speaker 1: And I'm just forgiving and I'm just frustrated because it's
Speaker 1: no fun if I'm not winning. It's no fun to
Speaker 1: come in church and sing songs about victory and go
Speaker 1: back to defeat over and over and over again. And
Speaker 1: that's why some people just watch online every six weeks now.
Speaker 1: Because I did a quiet quit, because I didn't stop
Speaker 1: believing in God, but I did stop coming to church.
Speaker 1: I'm not talking about those who are and are you fami,
Speaker 1: who are giving and contributing and serving and praying. That's wonderful.
Speaker 1: I'm talking about the quiet quit. I'm talking about when
Speaker 1: you keep on watching sermons in the background if you
Speaker 1: don't have anything more important. The quiet quit. I'm talking
Speaker 1: about picking the scriptures that aligne with your lifestyle, and
Speaker 1: never the ones that challenge you, and only quoting the
Speaker 1: ones that make you feel good, the cute ones. I'm
Speaker 1: talking about the quiet quit. But thanks me to God
Speaker 1: who gives us the victory. He didn't die just so
Speaker 1: I could be forgiven. He didn't die just so I
Speaker 1: could fall. He died so I could rise with him.
Speaker 1: And I expect resurrection because the stick promised it. He
Speaker 1: gave me an iou with him, We rise with him,
Speaker 1: We rie say with him, I rise just like he did.
Speaker 1: So there's an example of an expectation that the perishable
Speaker 1: will be swallowed up an imperishable. And he uses the
Speaker 1: best example. If Jesus beat the grave, what do you
Speaker 1: have permission to stay down in? Because that's the ultimate right.
Speaker 1: If I bene three hundred, you better get this one
Speaker 1: fifty five. And I did do that one time. I'm
Speaker 1: not going to tell you how long ago it was,
Speaker 1: but I did do it one time. Jesus said, if
Speaker 1: I got up out of this, do not use forgiveness
Speaker 1: as permission for failure. Am I preaching a good Christmas sermon?
Speaker 1: Or what y'all are like? Where's the manger? A little
Speaker 1: baby Christianity that just wants to keep Jesus quiet and
Speaker 1: cute the little Lord Jesus. What's the hymn that says
Speaker 1: the little Lord Jesus? No crying? He makes well? Not
Speaker 1: only did he sweat drop some great blood when he
Speaker 1: went to the cross, but the Bible says, because if
Speaker 1: we want to take Jesus like that, it's just a
Speaker 1: symbol of our salvation. But he does not become the
Speaker 1: spiritual dynamic by which we overcome temptation in our life.
Speaker 1: Then what are we to do with the fact that
Speaker 1: when Jesus was dying on the cross, it said he
Speaker 1: endured it, despising its shame for the joy set before him.
Speaker 1: He wasn't just dying up there. I know how this
Speaker 1: kind of message can sound. It can't sound super Baptist.
Speaker 1: It's like stop sinning. I'm not saying stop sinning. I'm
Speaker 1: saying stop stopping. That's what I'm saying. Because if I
Speaker 1: were going to say stop sinning, then I would have
Speaker 1: had to reach a state of sinless perfection and I
Speaker 1: would be Jesus and I would not be here. If
Speaker 1: I was Jesus, I'll be in heaven with the angels,
Speaker 1: getting ready to have my birthday party on December twenty fifth.
Speaker 1: But thanks v to God. Don't you love the way
Speaker 1: he frames that? He said, the sting, how do you
Speaker 1: say it? I want to get it right? Verse fifty six,
Speaker 1: Verse fifty six. The sting of death is sin and
Speaker 1: the power of sin is the law? Oh no, what
Speaker 1: am I going to do? If the power of sin
Speaker 1: is the law that God gave so that I would
Speaker 1: know how to live, But that very law that had
Speaker 1: the power to show me how to live, I was
Speaker 1: powerless to do it because of my sinful nature? Then
Speaker 1: what what thanks be to God? In this phrase is
Speaker 1: very paradoxical. Who gives us the victory which doesn't even
Speaker 1: seem to be a real thing because a victory is
Speaker 1: not something that is typically given, is something that is won.
Speaker 1: Think about, think about, think about, think about when he
Speaker 1: said give me the verse again, he gives us the
Speaker 1: victory that in itself is a miracle, because a victory
Speaker 1: again again, If somebody wants to give you socks this Christmas,
Speaker 1: they can give you socks. If somebody wants to give
Speaker 1: you this Christmas, I mean, what are you hoping for
Speaker 1: for this Christmas? A microwave oven? Where they can give that.
Speaker 1: If Oprah wants to give you a trip to Australia,
Speaker 1: she can give you a trip to Australia. I can't
Speaker 1: do that. I'm not on the Oprah level. But when
Speaker 1: he said he gives us the victory, it's almost confusing
Speaker 1: because it almost sounds as if God is co opting
Speaker 1: a participation trophy mentality of salvation, like He's just gonna
Speaker 1: give you stuff without you having to go for it.
Speaker 1: That's why I'm really excited about the exhortation that follows
Speaker 1: the expectation. He said, he gives us the victory verse
Speaker 1: fifty eight. Therefore, stand firm, let nothing move you. Always
Speaker 1: give yourself fully to the work of the Lord. So
Speaker 1: here's what I want to ask you today, brothers and sisters,
Speaker 1: like Paul asked the church at court, I want to
Speaker 1: ask you on behalf of the Holy Spirit. Are you
Speaker 1: more committed to verse fifty seven than you are verse
Speaker 1: fifty eight? Cause verse fifty seven talks about what God
Speaker 1: gives the victory. Verse fifty eight talks about what you
Speaker 1: give yourself. And if you don't give your self to
Speaker 1: it and expect God to give it to you, you
Speaker 1: are gonna live your whole life frustrated, wondering why I'm
Speaker 1: still staying down in stuff that Christ gave me the
Speaker 1: power to rise from. That's the message God said, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna give it to you. But then because you've got it,
Speaker 1: somebody shout, I've got it. No, I need you to
Speaker 1: shout that better than you shouted it. Say I got it.
Speaker 1: I've got the victory, I've got the joy, I've got
Speaker 1: the promise. I've got the assurance. I've got the blood
Speaker 1: of Jesus. I've got the pardon of sin. I've got reconciliation.
Speaker 1: I've got the name of Jesus. I've got a great
Speaker 1: high priest who intercedes with me. I've got wisdom. I've
Speaker 1: got knowledge that God wants me to have. I've got
Speaker 1: the experience for the thing I'm going through now. Shout
Speaker 1: I got it. Look at your neighbor like you got
Speaker 1: something to be proud of. Say I got it. I
Speaker 1: got that thing. I got it on the inside. You
Speaker 1: didn't give it. You can't take it. I'm not asking
Speaker 1: you for it. I'm not begging for it. I'm not
Speaker 1: posting about it. But that doesn't mean I don't got it.
Speaker 1: I got direction from God. I got new mercies when
Speaker 1: I woke up. I got it in my cup of coffee.
Speaker 1: I got it when I lay my pillow, I got it.
Speaker 1: I got the assurance and the hope of Heaven. I
Speaker 1: have a heavenly calling. I got a shame breaking annointing
Speaker 1: that makes it possible for me to triumph over the
Speaker 1: works of the devil. Let's get out three high fives.
Speaker 1: Tell somebody, I got it. I got it, I got it.
Speaker 1: I got that thing. I got that thing. I got
Speaker 1: the anointing. What got the victory? He cut the power?
Speaker 1: What cat resurrection? This in my polls. I got wrecked
Speaker 1: the prasim. I got strength to praish. I gotta right
Speaker 1: the prashm. I got permission to praism. I got the
Speaker 1: INDs to do the thing he gave me the deal.
Speaker 1: I got the seed of the world of God. It's
Speaker 1: a little bitty, but it's gonna grow. I got faith.
Speaker 1: I got not moving faith. I got grace, gully washing, grace, sideration,
Speaker 1: and grace. I got it. I got it, I got it.
Speaker 1: I got it. It's a gift. I didn't learn it,
Speaker 1: don't deserve it, but I got it. Couldn't work for it,
Speaker 1: couldn't clide to it, but I got it. Try to
Speaker 1: run from it, fright for the diet. Tried to get
Speaker 1: away from it. But I got it. I got good this,
Speaker 1: I got mercy. I got him like it. My dad
Speaker 1: gave it to me. I got it. He put it
Speaker 1: on the tree, not under the tree. When he died
Speaker 1: on the tree, on the old rugged cross and his
Speaker 1: flood ran down, he gave me the victory. Thanks be
Speaker 1: to God. You got me if I fall for this
Speaker 1: indescribable gift. He gave it to me. He gave it
Speaker 1: to me. He gave it to me. But sometimes I
Speaker 1: don't give myself to it. And Paul said, is expectation,
Speaker 1: But there's an exhortation. If he gave it to you,
Speaker 1: you gotta give yourself to it. You can't quiet quit.
Speaker 1: You can't loud shout in church and quiet quit at home.
Speaker 1: Shout on that. But you better keep south. And when
Speaker 1: it gets hard this week, you better get shouting when
Speaker 1: you look at those bills this week. You better get
Speaker 1: shouting when it comes over you this week and you think,
Speaker 1: O God, I'm about to go crazy. I can't quit
Speaker 1: something eternal, imperishable, incorruptible, the seed of the Word of God.
Speaker 1: Y'all sit down before I break my neck. I got it.
Speaker 1: I got it. I got it. I got it. I
Speaker 1: got it. I got it. I got it. Catch it,
Speaker 1: I got it, catch it, I got it, catch it,
Speaker 1: I got it. I got it. I got it, I
Speaker 1: got it, I got it, I got it. So when
Speaker 1: you won wrestling yesterday, that's different than this text. Five
Speaker 1: matches in a row he won. Uh uh huh. I
Speaker 1: tell him all the time. This is Graham our middle
Speaker 1: So Abby's gonna be mad because I hadn't told a
Speaker 1: story about hering the sermon. They always I told you,
Speaker 1: we're so competitive. They fight over who got to be
Speaker 1: in my sermon the most. This is how dysfunctional your
Speaker 1: first family is. All right, let me say our Christmas
Speaker 1: card us smiling. One day, I'm gonna send you all
Speaker 1: the Christmas card of what happened before the smile and
Speaker 1: after the smile, and put it on your fridge when
Speaker 1: your family is freaking out and you feel better. And
Speaker 1: I always tell him, hey man, you know I'm a
Speaker 1: state champion because when I was in eighth grade, seventh grade,
Speaker 1: they gave me the state championship medal. And you know
Speaker 1: what I did to get it. Nothing. The resting program
Speaker 1: in South Carolina was so pitiful. Nobody else showed up
Speaker 1: in the weight class, so they gave me a medal.
Speaker 1: No takedowns, no half melson, no cross faced cradle, just
Speaker 1: gave it to me, and I think we shout over
Speaker 1: fifty seven kind of like that. I want a medal,
Speaker 1: I want a miracle. I want maturity. So what really
Speaker 1: got me going on this text about the gift of
Speaker 1: victory is that it is an oxymorn, which becomes true
Speaker 1: because of the Gospel. That's what God does. He makes
Speaker 1: stuff that makes no sense makes sense by his spirit.
Speaker 1: So then I can be like it. I don't feel victorious,
Speaker 1: but I got it. I don't see how this is
Speaker 1: gonna work out, but I got it. And truth be told,
Speaker 1: some of us have never lost bad enough to appreciate
Speaker 1: when we win. When when I was growing up watching
Speaker 1: the Clemson Tigers, a ten and two season would have
Speaker 1: been a miracle. But now Dabbo has got these fools
Speaker 1: so used to win in they're talking about ten and two.
Speaker 1: Oh God, we lost to the game Cocks, and you
Speaker 1: know what, I'll come back down there, lay hands on you,
Speaker 1: all right, Pray for me that one game everything on
Speaker 1: that season when the Clemson Tigers lost to South Carolina
Speaker 1: Game Cox last weekend, like the sea, Yeah, go ahead,
Speaker 1: go ahead, you can do it again in eight years,
Speaker 1: eight years from now, you can do it again, Go
Speaker 1: and get your eight years shout in every eight years
Speaker 1: you can shout about that. But watch this, Watch this.
Speaker 1: You mean one loss ruins the whole season. You mean
Speaker 1: one area of your life where you don't have it together.
Speaker 1: Even in Ezekio, when they saw the river flowing from
Speaker 1: the sanctuary, he said, there's still gonna be salt marshes,
Speaker 1: even though the river's fresh, Even though it's going to
Speaker 1: turn from the Dead Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, there
Speaker 1: are still gonna be some swamps. There's still gonna be
Speaker 1: some secrets that you keep about what you deal with.
Speaker 1: And are you really gonna let that make you quit
Speaker 1: on all the good things God has given you? Are
Speaker 1: you really gonna make the three annoying things about your wife?
Speaker 1: Tell me about your wife? My wife is perfect. The
Speaker 1: three annoying things about your wife keep you from seeing
Speaker 1: the three hundred amazing things about her and the three
Speaker 1: thousands screwed up things about you, You little jack, a
Speaker 1: lowe hyphocrit, you pharisee, you whitewashed to them. No victory.
Speaker 1: Not only is it a gradual realization, it is a focus.
Speaker 1: It is a choice. And I feel like there are
Speaker 1: some things that God has given to you, that you
Speaker 1: are not giving yourself to it. You're in a quiet
Speaker 1: quit all right. I went home and I'm gonna give
Speaker 1: you Old Testament scripture. We're gonna get out of here.
Speaker 1: But let me tell you a story. I went home
Speaker 1: and told Holly a while back, I think I'm gonna
Speaker 1: quit songwriting. No sooner did I finish saying it to
Speaker 1: her and go off by myself. The Holy Spirit had
Speaker 1: this very frank comversation with me, Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1: But this was just between me and God. Okay. You
Speaker 1: know how when preachers say God spoke to me, and
Speaker 1: you wonder like, why don't he do that to me?
Speaker 1: I never hear anything like that. Man. Okay, first of all,
Speaker 1: because preachers are crazy, and second they're lying and exaggerating.
Speaker 1: The Lord don't talk out loud like all that to
Speaker 1: most people. Most people that the Lord talks out loud to.
Speaker 1: I just want to give you this little word of wisdom.
Speaker 1: Most people that the Lord talks out loud to, he
Speaker 1: may do that occasionally, but if he has to do
Speaker 1: that for them all the time, that means they haven't
Speaker 1: matured enough to hear him speak in the silence as well,
Speaker 1: so you know, the Lord didn't speak over the intercom
Speaker 1: or anything like that to me in this, but here
Speaker 1: was the sense. Okay, And I'm gonna give you this
Speaker 1: because I think he wants to say it to a
Speaker 1: few hundred of you. I said, I think I'm a
Speaker 1: quit songwriting Lord said, did I say you could quit? Boom?
Speaker 1: Can't quit? I gotta give myself to it out of
Speaker 1: gratitude that God gave it to me. And if he
Speaker 1: gave me a gift, if he gave me a victory,
Speaker 1: if he gave me a seed and I quit on
Speaker 1: the gift, it will quit on me. Now take this.
Speaker 1: You're like, I don't write songs. What's the point you're
Speaker 1: raising kids? Well, I'm not gonna put them up for adoption. Preacher,
Speaker 1: I'm good. Have you quiet quit? Well, I'm not leaving.
Speaker 1: I'm good. This message is not for me. Have you
Speaker 1: quiet quit? Because Paul didn't say keep showing up for
Speaker 1: the work of the Lord, Teddy. He said, give yourself fully.
Speaker 1: You heard it, Give yourself fully, Give yourself fully. How
Speaker 1: can we expect total victory and live in partial obedience?
Speaker 1: How can I try three times? How can I try
Speaker 1: five times? I had a friend who went to therapy
Speaker 1: once said it didn't work. Well, maybe get a new therapist,
Speaker 1: but don't quit the issues you're wrestling with. You're gonna
Speaker 1: go to one therapist and because they didn't have the
Speaker 1: answers in an hour to fix the life you've spent
Speaker 1: fifty three years messing up. You're just gonna quit on
Speaker 1: the process. You're just gonna quit on the church. You're
Speaker 1: just gonna quit on your dream. You don't get to
Speaker 1: quit until God says quit. That's not how this works.
Speaker 1: He who began a good work will be faithful. But
Speaker 1: you gotta bring you to it. I got the gift
Speaker 1: I've got. God gave you a gift to do it.
Speaker 1: God gave you a charge to do it. God gave
Speaker 1: you the ability to do it. God gave you the sling.
Speaker 1: He gave you the stone. He gave you the opportunity.
Speaker 1: But you are not giving yourself to end. And it's
Speaker 1: no fun if you're not winning, and you won't win
Speaker 1: if you don't give yourself fully to it. That's why
Speaker 1: I was standing on your chair, because I'm giving myself
Speaker 1: to this. I'll come up here to preach to you
Speaker 1: and go. Are they ready for a word today, ready
Speaker 1: or not. Here, I'm gonna put myself in this message.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna sweat all the way through this sweater until
Speaker 1: it's nasty when I take it off. And if you
Speaker 1: don't want the word, somebody else can get it. On Tuesday.
Speaker 1: I'm giving myself to this. And you know what, some
Speaker 1: of you are just like me. You've got the gift
Speaker 1: of keeping going us. You have the belief that if
Speaker 1: I don't quit, that if I keep believing, that if
Speaker 1: I show up enough times not feeling it, that if
Speaker 1: I keep doing it in God's name, that if I
Speaker 1: keep getting better and learn from the losses and learn
Speaker 1: from the pruning, and learn from the cold nights, and
Speaker 1: learn from the mistakes, if I don't quit, I'll win.
Speaker 1: Why I got the gift. In the scriptures, there was
Speaker 1: a prophet named Elisha. Everybody say Elisha, Elisha with the sah,
Speaker 1: not Elijah. That's the one who came before him. Elijah,
Speaker 1: the one who came after him, did twice as many
Speaker 1: miracles as his predecessor. I love preaching about Elisha because
Speaker 1: he had the gift. Oh man, he had the gift.
Speaker 1: He could do it well. Listen what he could do.
Speaker 1: They'd come to attack Israel. He was the prophet of Israel,
Speaker 1: so they would come to attack. God gave him a gift.
Speaker 1: He could see him coming before they started lining up,
Speaker 1: so he go over tell the king. He'd be like, Hey,
Speaker 1: they're gonna attack you seven forty five am. And wouldn't
Speaker 1: it be good to have a prophet who could tell
Speaker 1: you when the devil was gonna get on your last nerve.
Speaker 1: Now look, your daughter's gonna bring in drama in here,
Speaker 1: So go ahead, get everything done an hour early. Pray,
Speaker 1: goot Philippians, listen to Bethel, and get ready for it
Speaker 1: because it's coming. Well, he had the gift not only
Speaker 1: not only the gift, not only the gift of power
Speaker 1: in the battle, but a preemptive gift of perceiving the
Speaker 1: battle before it happened. And that's why I love reading
Speaker 1: about his life, because you see things one scripture. I
Speaker 1: used to preach this this passage all over the world,
Speaker 1: and I quit preaching it for a little while. But uh,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna do it one more time in the next
Speaker 1: uh seven minutes and twenty four seconds. And it's over
Speaker 1: in Second Kings, chapter thirteen, And I'm gonna tell you
Speaker 1: this story, and I'm gonna get out of the way,
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna change out of this sweater and I'm
Speaker 1: gonna go home. I'm gonna eat eggs, bacon, cato, biscuits.
Speaker 1: Let's hurry up and get through this so I can
Speaker 1: eat my biscuits. In the Bible Book of tewod Kings,
Speaker 1: chapter thirteen, Get Ready for This, it says that Elisha
Speaker 1: had been suffering from the illness from which he died.
Speaker 1: And I watch this. He didn't die until God was
Speaker 1: done with him. So the illness didn't kill him. God
Speaker 1: took him. Because you don't understand how big God is,
Speaker 1: how suffering God is, how great God is, how vast
Speaker 1: his plans are, how awesome his might is, how strong
Speaker 1: his armies are. The devil can't do anything to you
Speaker 1: that God does not permit. He just can't do it.
Speaker 1: He can try it, and even if he does it,
Speaker 1: God will use it, because that's how big God is.
Speaker 1: He had been suffering from the illness from which he died.
Speaker 1: But that's not the part I want to preach. I
Speaker 1: want apprecibout this. Jeho Ash, king of Israel, went down
Speaker 1: to see him. Why do you go see him, because
Speaker 1: he had the gift. He needed to know who am
Speaker 1: I going to be fighting and how can I win?
Speaker 1: And some of us come to God only when we're
Speaker 1: in battles, because Jehosh the Bible says, what an evil
Speaker 1: king who did not do what was right in the
Speaker 1: eyes of the Lord. But now when he needs the
Speaker 1: word of the Lord, he knows where to go to
Speaker 1: the one who had the gift of discernment, the gift
Speaker 1: of prophecy, the gift of instruction. He went down and
Speaker 1: wept over him. My father, my father, He cried the
Speaker 1: chariots and horsemen of Israel. Elesa said, Uh, get a
Speaker 1: bow and some arrows, and he did so. Take the
Speaker 1: bow in your hands, he said to the King of Israel.
Speaker 1: And when he had taken it, Elisha put his hands
Speaker 1: on the king's hands. I don't know what God's going
Speaker 1: to call you to do when this sermon is over,
Speaker 1: but it's going to involve putting your hands on something
Speaker 1: that you already have. God is not going to speak
Speaker 1: to you about something you could do if you had
Speaker 1: someone else's stuff. Stop comparing, stop lusting, stop even wishing.
Speaker 1: Don't make a wish list. This Christmas. Make a weapon.
Speaker 1: List of what I already have that if I point
Speaker 1: it forward in the coming year, God will give me
Speaker 1: the victory. Say that God will give me the victory.
Speaker 1: And he told him what to do, and he did it.
Speaker 1: He said, get a bow, and he did it. And
Speaker 1: get some arrows and he did it. And look at
Speaker 1: verse seventeen, open the east window and he open. Everything
Speaker 1: is going good. He's doing everything that the Word of
Speaker 1: God says, everything that the man of God says, nothing more,
Speaker 1: nothing less. He doesn't know where this is headed. He
Speaker 1: doesn't understand how it all works together. He's just doing
Speaker 1: it because he knows that God has given the word
Speaker 1: that he needs for victory inside of this man who's dying.
Speaker 1: And even though he's a king, he knows that God's
Speaker 1: word is what gives him the wisdom to win the victory.
Speaker 1: I want you to get that it is God. Don't
Speaker 1: care how high you are, how smart you are, how
Speaker 1: good looking you are. It is God's word. It is
Speaker 1: God's will that gives you the wisdom to win in
Speaker 1: the areas of your life that matter the most. Now,
Speaker 1: he said, open the east window, and he opened it,
Speaker 1: and then he told him shoot and he shot, everything's
Speaker 1: going good. Watch this victory verse. This goes exactly perfect
Speaker 1: with what I read you to start my sermon. This
Speaker 1: goes so good together because he said, thanks be to
Speaker 1: God that gives us the victory. And watch what the
Speaker 1: brophet said, the Lord's arrow of victory. Who's whose victory
Speaker 1: is it? The Lord's arrow of victory, the arrow of
Speaker 1: victory over Aram. And we can substitute in whatever you're fighting,
Speaker 1: because everybody in this room and everybody online has an Arab.
Speaker 1: It might be addiction, it might be bitterness, it might
Speaker 1: be resentment, it might be a prodigal child away from
Speaker 1: God and away from you and away from how you
Speaker 1: raise them. Everybody has an arem, but everybody has an arrow.
Speaker 1: And if you've got the arrow of the Lord's victory,
Speaker 1: little weapon formed against you, shall be able to prosper.
Speaker 1: So he said this, he said this, He said this said,
Speaker 1: I'm closing. I'm closing. I'm closing. You will completely destroy
Speaker 1: the Aramians at Aphec. And if it ended there, I
Speaker 1: wis shall. But the Bible says that after he told
Speaker 1: him about the victory verse eighteen, then he said, take
Speaker 1: the arrows the king took him. Elisha told him to
Speaker 1: strike the ground, and he struck it three times. The
Speaker 1: next part is the quiet quit and stopped. Well, nothing
Speaker 1: wrong with stopping, pastor Steve. I mean, after all, the
Speaker 1: prophet didn't tell him how many times to strike? What's
Speaker 1: what the prophet said? Prophet was angry, Elisha had an attitude,
Speaker 1: Elisha had a temper. The Man of God was angry
Speaker 1: with him and said, you should have struck the ground
Speaker 1: five or six times. Then you would have defeated aaron
Speaker 1: and completely destroyed it. Now you will defeat it only
Speaker 1: as many times as you did what I told you
Speaker 1: to do. But you told me that the Lord gave
Speaker 1: me the victory. But then I told you that if
Speaker 1: you didn't get down on the ground and do something
Speaker 1: that corresponded with what I spoke to you, you would
Speaker 1: not realize everything that I reveal. How could he have
Speaker 1: known that he needed to keep going. I think it's
Speaker 1: pretty obvious, y'all. The prophet didn't say stop. You keep
Speaker 1: doing it until God says stop you hear me, I
Speaker 1: need you to stand up if this is your word,
Speaker 1: because it's a temptation to quit right now. In fact,
Speaker 1: there is a generational spirit that is not limited to millennials.
Speaker 1: It's all of us. We're all thinking we can just
Speaker 1: quit stuff whenever we want to quit stuff and walk
Speaker 1: away from stuff. The first time it doesn't work, and
Speaker 1: the moment it it's hard. We quit because we don't
Speaker 1: feel it. But feelings are not Lord. Jesus is Lord.
Speaker 1: We don't walk by feelings. We walk by faith. And
Speaker 1: if God didn't say quit, you don't get to quit.
Speaker 1: Let me be a prophet for a moment. You can't
Speaker 1: quit on yourself. You can't quit on your freedom. You
Speaker 1: can't quit on your destiny. You can't quit on your assignment.
Speaker 1: You can't quit on your anuiting until God says quit.
Speaker 1: And I prophesy over your life today that you have
Speaker 1: the gift of victory. It is not of works. So
Speaker 1: watch this. We don't fight for victory, We fight from victory.
Speaker 1: So what I know in my spirit, y'all help me,
Speaker 1: you'll help me. I know in my spirit it's that
Speaker 1: God gave me a preview of my purpose. He showed
Speaker 1: me what I could be in him. He showed me
Speaker 1: and told me what I could do through him. He
Speaker 1: gave me a word. I got a glimpse of it.
Speaker 1: I saw that arrow flying, I saw my kids getting
Speaker 1: through it. I saw myself recovering. I saw myself rebuilding it.
Speaker 1: I saw myself finishing it. And now I'm gonna do
Speaker 1: it as many times as it takes for me to
Speaker 1: receive what God has reviewed. This is a word for
Speaker 1: those who are weary and because you haven't felt like
Speaker 1: you were winning you Withdrew, I'm gonna tell you a
Speaker 1: secret hold on. You can play, but play something like
Speaker 1: pretty there we go. When you feel spread so thin
Speaker 1: that you feel like I'm not winning anywhere, that's the
Speaker 1: time you're tempted in when you feel like winning in
Speaker 1: one area of your life is always to the expense
Speaker 1: and detriment of another area of your life. The temptation is, well,
Speaker 1: I'll just carve myself into pieces, and I will not
Speaker 1: give myself fully to any of it, because if I quit,
Speaker 1: then nobody can see how hard it is for me.
Speaker 1: You might be like the King in Second Kings thirteen,
Speaker 1: who gave himself but not fully. You may be like
Speaker 1: Martha in the New Testament, who let Jesus in her home,
Speaker 1: but not like Mary, who let Jesus in her heart.
Speaker 1: You might be like the mom or the dad who
Speaker 1: feels like God Man, I keep getting it wrong, and
Speaker 1: every time I show up to try and make a
Speaker 1: mess of it. So I'm just kind of like, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna just check out. I mna show up enough to
Speaker 1: get credit for being in class, but I'm not applying
Speaker 1: myself to any of it. The danger for the Christian
Speaker 1: is not that you won't be forgiven of your sin.
Speaker 1: That's what Christ did, is that he would forgive you
Speaker 1: of your sin, and then you would never get to
Speaker 1: the place of victory over your sin. God wants me
Speaker 1: to live in victory. God wants you to live in victory,
Speaker 1: and you don't get that way with a little three
Speaker 1: time half effort, half effort. The grace of God doesn't
Speaker 1: make it so I could just give up and depend
Speaker 1: on him. It makes it so. I'm so confident. I'm
Speaker 1: so confident in this gift. I got the gift. I
Speaker 1: got the gift. I got the gift of grace. That's
Speaker 1: how I'm gonna fight it. Because I got the gift.
Speaker 1: That's how i'mnna show back off. Because I got the gift.
Speaker 1: That's how I'm gonna move through this swamp. Of shame
Speaker 1: and come out clean on the other side because I
Speaker 1: got the gift. Somebody suted I got the gift. You
Speaker 1: gotta be like David who said I see the giant.
Speaker 1: But guess what I got. I got the gift of victory.
Speaker 1: You know how, I know a fat of lion and
Speaker 1: a one, a faunt of bear and a one. So
Speaker 1: check my resume. If you doubt God can do this,
Speaker 1: look back on my past. I got the gift of victory.
Speaker 1: I am an overcomer. I am more than a conqueror.
Speaker 1: Come on, do like victorious people do. Lift your hand,
Speaker 1: say lift your hands, and say lift your hands, and say, ah, God,
Speaker 1: the gift. Now, Father, we lift our hands in victory,
Speaker 1: and we lift our hands in surrender. We lift our
Speaker 1: hands to you because we need you, and we lift
Speaker 1: our hands because we know you over every life. Today
Speaker 1: I declare, with Apostle Paul himself, thanks be to God
Speaker 1: who gives us the victory. And since we've got it, God,
Speaker 1: you've got us. We're coming back full on all the way.
Speaker 1: Not January first, but from the moment I say, amen,
Speaker 1: I'm moving forward in the gift. I'm moving forward in
Speaker 1: the grace. I'm moving forward in the glory and the
Speaker 1: restoration of God and in the power of His presence. Well,
Speaker 1: thanks for joining us today for the message, and we
Speaker 1: trust that God spoke to you right where you are
Speaker 1: as we're in this year end season. If God is
Speaker 1: speaking to your life and you'd like to begin tithing
Speaker 1: or give above and beyond, we would invite you to
Speaker 1: head over to Elevationchurch dot org. There you'll find all
Speaker 1: of the information available for you to take part in
Speaker 1: the year end offering. If you haven't begun tithing, we
Speaker 1: would always encourage you to start there. Place God first
Speaker 1: in the air of your finances and begin tithing and
Speaker 1: make that a part of your every day life. If
Speaker 1: you already tie, then would like to go above and
Speaker 1: beyond and help expand the ministry here at Elevation Church,
Speaker 1: you can also do that through the Year end Offering.
Speaker 1: All you have to do is click the banner at
Speaker 1: Elevationchurch dot org. You can select the campus that you're
Speaker 1: a part of. If you're a part of our online community,
Speaker 1: select online, and if you're part of one of our
Speaker 1: physical locations, make sure that you select one of those campuses.
Speaker 1: Then you can select how much you'd like to give
Speaker 1: and be a part of all that God is doing
Speaker 1: right here at Elevation Church. Again, we thank you for
Speaker 1: being a part of the family here and we can't
Speaker 1: wait to see how God works in and through your
Speaker 1: life as you open up your hands and ask God
Speaker 1: to use you right where you are. Thanks for being
Speaker 1: a part of God bless