WEBVTT 00:00:00.702 --> 00:00:04.437 But let's take our Bibles and pick them up and wave them around. 00:00:04.437 --> 00:00:08.000 I mean, this is right here, this is what we care about, this word right here. 00:00:08.000 --> 00:00:14.669 And so let's just say this together Say Heavenly Father, I'm glad to tune in tonight. 00:00:14.669 --> 00:00:21.432 I'm eager to hear what Jesus is saying to me about the things that concern me. 00:00:21.432 --> 00:00:36.158 This Bible is if the Lord Jesus Christ talks personally to me, and that's how serious I take it and I thank you for meeting every need in Jesus' name, amen. 00:00:36.177 --> 00:00:41.960 All right, first John chapter four and also first John chapter five. 00:00:41.960 --> 00:00:46.231 We'll read first John four, verse four. 00:00:46.231 --> 00:00:57.000 First you are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. 00:00:57.000 --> 00:00:58.908 Oh, what a powerful scripture. 00:00:58.908 --> 00:01:03.960 Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. 00:01:03.960 --> 00:01:18.000 And then, first John five, four, for whatsoever or whosoever is born of God overcome the world, and this is the victory that overcome, with the world, even our faith. 00:01:18.000 --> 00:01:23.000 And so tonight I just wanted to bring a simple message entitled the overcoming. 00:01:23.000 --> 00:01:24.980 That's how God sees you and I. 00:01:24.980 --> 00:01:30.939 He sees us as overcomers and because of Jesus we are all overcomers. 00:01:30.939 --> 00:01:33.000 We've been born of God. 00:01:33.000 --> 00:01:39.000 You are God, little children Just states right there in black and white. 00:01:39.000 --> 00:01:48.000 Everyone who's born again has the greater one on the inside, greater than whatever's in the world. 00:01:48.000 --> 00:01:54.000 And in Romans, chapter 12, verse three, it says that every believer is born of God. 00:01:54.000 --> 00:01:58.310 It says that every believer has been dealt the measure of faith. 00:01:58.310 --> 00:02:06.052 And then it says in first John, five four, it's our faith that over, that enables us to overcome the world. 00:02:06.052 --> 00:02:12.341 So we have built in all the ingredients we need to be overcomers, amen. 00:02:14.000 --> 00:02:22.847 I like what the linguistic grid of the linguistic key to the Greek New Testament says, that faith acts as a weapon of war. 00:02:22.847 --> 00:02:27.000 Not good Faith acts as a weapon of war. 00:02:27.000 --> 00:02:28.825 You know the weapons of our warfare. 00:02:28.825 --> 00:02:31.787 They're not carnal, they're not of the flesh, but they're mighty through God. 00:02:31.787 --> 00:02:39.788 Your faith is mighty through God to help you to overcome, and when you have faith in a situation, that is the victory. 00:02:39.788 --> 00:02:44.370 I mean, this is good as done when the faith is on the scene. 00:02:45.461 --> 00:02:59.462 And so I like to talk about the legal versus the vital, and so the legal aspect of this is that we are overcomers, legally I mean, because why It'll be been. 00:02:59.462 --> 00:03:02.000 The faith has been, has been distributed to us. 00:03:02.000 --> 00:03:05.890 Every believer has been dealt the measure of faith, we are safe. 00:03:05.890 --> 00:03:11.377 So therefore the greater one lives in us and by definition, legally we're overcomers Period. 00:03:11.377 --> 00:03:20.187 But then there's a vital side to our redemption, or I like to say vital means in vissiae, according to life. 00:03:20.187 --> 00:03:28.323 But I like to say it this way there's the vital side or the legal side, the legal side versus the functional side. 00:03:28.323 --> 00:03:37.425 And the functional side is we overcome the world to the degree that we use our faith. 00:03:37.425 --> 00:03:41.760 Because if you're not using your faith, you're not using your weapon of war. 00:03:41.760 --> 00:03:53.040 And so when you're not using your faith, when you're just going like how it seems, like it feels, you know the just doesn't live by how it feels, doesn't live by how it seems. 00:03:53.040 --> 00:03:55.180 The just shall live by their faith. 00:03:55.180 --> 00:03:59.675 And so we overcome the world. 00:03:59.675 --> 00:03:59.955 Now. 00:03:59.975 --> 00:04:01.100 So what's in the world? 00:04:01.100 --> 00:04:05.175 What is it that exactly is in the world? 00:04:05.175 --> 00:04:09.474 Well, john 16, 33, jesus said in the world you shall have tribulation. 00:04:09.474 --> 00:04:16.620 So, in the world there's trouble, there's tribulation, there's anguish. 00:04:16.620 --> 00:04:19.961 Even so, we're overcoming those things. 00:04:21.115 --> 00:04:22.100 What else is in the world? 00:04:22.100 --> 00:04:26.060 Well, the devil and demon powers is in the world, but Jesus has already defeated them. 00:04:26.060 --> 00:04:28.975 I mean, there's not much to overcome there. 00:04:28.975 --> 00:04:30.339 Jesus did that already. 00:04:30.339 --> 00:04:34.134 And then, what else is in the world? 00:04:34.134 --> 00:04:34.978 Well, there's sin. 00:04:34.978 --> 00:04:41.863 Where you look in the world, there's sin, and but the greater one conquered it for us. 00:04:41.863 --> 00:04:45.745 We've been redeemed from the power and penalty of sin. 00:04:45.745 --> 00:04:47.201 Sin has no hold on us. 00:04:47.201 --> 00:04:50.084 I mean, when we miss the mark, we know it. 00:04:50.084 --> 00:04:53.725 We simply confess our sin according to 1 John 1, 9. 00:04:53.725 --> 00:04:55.300 And it's wiped away. 00:04:55.300 --> 00:04:59.420 You know, the devil tries to get you to believe that you're being punished. 00:04:59.420 --> 00:05:01.942 No, if you confessed it, that's, it's over with. 00:05:01.942 --> 00:05:04.541 God's not holding anything against you. 00:05:06.134 --> 00:05:07.180 What else is in the world? 00:05:07.180 --> 00:05:10.002 Well, sickness, disease, pain. 00:05:10.002 --> 00:05:14.875 It's not of God, there isn't anything of that in heaven. 00:05:14.875 --> 00:05:20.182 And so sickness is of the world, and the greater one is the healer. 00:05:20.182 --> 00:05:28.360 Praise God, I tell you, the greater was in there, the greater one is in you to put you over in every circumstance. 00:05:29.454 --> 00:05:30.399 What else is in the world? 00:05:30.399 --> 00:05:33.336 You saw a lot of things bad in the world, aren't they Lack? 00:05:33.336 --> 00:05:37.880 Trouble, adverse circumstances, seeming impossibilities. 00:05:37.880 --> 00:05:42.899 I tell you, sometimes it seems like what we're facing is an impossibility. 00:05:42.899 --> 00:05:51.541 But when we face and we will face, these kinds of things in our lives, I mean, jesus said we would. 00:05:51.541 --> 00:05:53.077 Oh, don't say that. 00:05:53.077 --> 00:05:54.954 Well, jesus said we would. 00:05:54.954 --> 00:06:03.564 He said, in the world there is and tribulation, trouble, there's gonna be these things, but when we face them it's not even a matter of prayer. 00:06:03.735 --> 00:06:05.201 I want you know I believe in prayer. 00:06:05.201 --> 00:06:06.499 We pray all the time. 00:06:06.499 --> 00:06:12.002 We're gonna pray here tonight for people that need prayer, but a lot of times my prayer is not even prayer. 00:06:12.002 --> 00:06:24.235 My prayer is a declaration, and we need to get mature enough in our revelation of how good God is and how good the greater one is Is. 00:06:24.235 --> 00:06:29.800 It's not about a matter of prayer, because Jesus has already taken care of most things that we face. 00:06:29.800 --> 00:06:31.581 So it's not a matter of prayer. 00:06:31.581 --> 00:06:36.045 It's a matter of standing our ground and resisting the devil. 00:06:36.045 --> 00:06:51.422 I mean, sometimes all we need to do is just shout the victory right in the face of these seeming impossibilities, let's remember that the greater one is on the inside for us to overcome. 00:06:51.422 --> 00:06:56.920 You know, there very word overcome means that we're gonna have to win a contest. 00:06:56.920 --> 00:07:01.560 I mean, he's brought something into our lives and we're gonna win the contest. 00:07:01.814 --> 00:07:04.043 It's not by praying and asking God, begging God. 00:07:04.043 --> 00:07:05.761 Oh God, help me, I'm sick. 00:07:05.761 --> 00:07:12.322 Nope, no, you gotta stand strong in your covenant that says by his stripes you were healed. 00:07:12.322 --> 00:07:18.483 I mean, sometimes we face seeming impossibilities, but we've got the greater one on the inside. 00:07:18.483 --> 00:07:20.523 Let's look at who we have on our side. 00:07:20.523 --> 00:07:21.439 He's our ally. 00:07:21.439 --> 00:07:25.459 Oh praise God. 00:07:25.459 --> 00:07:27.538 You know, I've been. 00:07:28.341 --> 00:07:31.343 You know, sometimes you just have to tell the devil. 00:07:31.343 --> 00:07:31.836 You know what? 00:07:31.836 --> 00:07:37.115 If I don't make it over you, I'm gonna make it around you, and if I can't make it around you, I'm gonna make it under you. 00:07:37.115 --> 00:07:39.517 And if I don't make it under you, I'm gonna get through you. 00:07:39.517 --> 00:07:41.744 That's all there is to it. 00:07:41.744 --> 00:07:42.725 I'm getting through you. 00:07:42.725 --> 00:07:45.512 I'm getting on the other side of this situation. 00:07:45.512 --> 00:07:50.016 I mean, that does more than a bunch of begging and crying and pity party. 00:07:50.016 --> 00:07:58.608 That all that does you make you feel good for about five minutes and then you get all through with that Crying and whining and having a pity party. 00:07:58.608 --> 00:07:59.610 We get all through with it. 00:07:59.610 --> 00:08:02.769 You still got the problem you had when you started. 00:08:02.769 --> 00:08:07.161 No, the way to do it is to lean on the greater one A bit. 00:08:08.423 --> 00:08:14.673 I tell you, we just laugh at those things that are in the world, because when we do, they just go off and hide. 00:08:14.673 --> 00:08:21.033 I like to picture them going and hiding from me because they've discovered somebody that knows his covenant. 00:08:21.033 --> 00:08:23.064 You know Revelation 12, 11,. 00:08:23.064 --> 00:08:26.732 They shall overcome him by the blood of the Lamb and the Word of their testimony. 00:08:26.732 --> 00:08:42.933 And so when you know what Jesus' blood is bought and paid for, it's again I say it's not a matter of prayer, it's a matter of standing your ground, it's a matter of facing what it is that's before you without fear. 00:08:43.780 --> 00:08:46.331 I'm not saying you won't have an emotion of fear. 00:08:46.331 --> 00:08:48.580 You know, our flesh is our flesh. 00:08:48.580 --> 00:08:54.440 Sometimes just hearing certain words will engender a feeling in your body. 00:08:54.440 --> 00:08:58.628 Well, that's not really a fear, that's just an emotional reaction. 00:08:58.628 --> 00:09:00.672 You don't have to confess that you're afraid. 00:09:00.672 --> 00:09:09.033 You know, when doctor says you have cancer, there's going to be a certain emotional reaction in your body and in your mind. 00:09:09.033 --> 00:09:10.663 But that doesn't mean you're afraid. 00:09:10.663 --> 00:09:15.893 And so don't let the devil, you know, buffalo you about that. 00:09:17.061 --> 00:09:22.131 Sometimes, when people get a letter from the IRS, you know there's a certain discomfort, there's a certain tension. 00:09:22.131 --> 00:09:25.506 You're uncomfortable with that letter. 00:09:25.506 --> 00:09:27.490 Well, that's okay, you're going to overcome it. 00:09:27.490 --> 00:09:29.022 God's going to make. 00:09:29.022 --> 00:09:31.287 He's the way maker, he's the way outer. 00:09:31.287 --> 00:09:32.950 Praise God. 00:09:32.950 --> 00:09:35.942 I mean you laugh long enough. 00:09:35.942 --> 00:09:37.525 Those things will go off and hide. 00:09:38.427 --> 00:09:39.831 Everybody say I'm an overcomer. 00:09:39.831 --> 00:09:42.807 Amen, amen, amen. 00:09:42.807 --> 00:09:52.964 So I've just got three things here that I want to remind you of and I know most of you have heard these before, but we need to refresh your course. 00:09:52.964 --> 00:09:56.292 We need to be reinvigorated and reencouraged. 00:09:56.292 --> 00:09:59.087 Our faith comes by hearing and hearing not by having heard. 00:09:59.087 --> 00:10:04.940 And so there's three things about an overcomer. 00:10:04.940 --> 00:10:08.207 Number one the overcomer thinks right. 00:10:08.207 --> 00:10:11.615 The overcomer thinks right. 00:10:11.615 --> 00:10:13.559 There's wrong thinking and right thinking. 00:10:13.559 --> 00:10:16.207 And to be an overcomer, you've got to think right. 00:10:17.421 --> 00:10:31.731 And so Romans 12, 2 says be not conformed to this world or to this world's way of thinking, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may know what is the good, acceptable, perfect will of God. 00:10:31.731 --> 00:10:34.381 So be transformed. 00:10:34.381 --> 00:10:43.427 Don't be conformed to this world or this world's thinking, but be transformed, transformed by the renewing of your mind. 00:10:43.427 --> 00:10:48.370 The first place to go to is when you've got something facing you. 00:10:48.370 --> 00:10:53.389 You ask yourself what does the Word say about my situation? 00:10:53.389 --> 00:10:55.115 That's number one. 00:10:55.115 --> 00:11:05.666 Not what the doctor said, not what the CPA said, not what some so-called expert said, but what does the Bible say about my situation? 00:11:05.666 --> 00:11:07.671 That's Jesus speaking to you. 00:11:07.671 --> 00:11:11.004 That's the Lord Jesus. 00:11:11.004 --> 00:11:17.383 This Word is the Lord Jesus Christ speaking to you, especially in the epistles, which is where we're reading tonight. 00:11:17.383 --> 00:11:21.673 I mean, jesus is saying these things to you directly. 00:11:21.673 --> 00:11:27.331 That's why I encourage people to spend time in the epistles, because those are written specifically to the church. 00:11:28.399 --> 00:11:33.340 But conformed, don't be conformed to this world's way of thinking. 00:11:33.340 --> 00:11:39.491 This world's way of thinking is fear, confusion, submission. 00:11:39.491 --> 00:11:42.211 They're just giving their rights away. 00:11:42.211 --> 00:11:43.440 They don't think anything about it. 00:11:43.440 --> 00:11:49.379 Well, some government experts said we need this, we need to that, we need to do the other. 00:11:49.379 --> 00:11:51.785 Well, what does God's Word say about it? 00:11:51.785 --> 00:12:00.231 And in Romans 8, 29 says that we should be conformed to the image of His dear Son. 00:12:00.231 --> 00:12:09.092 You know, I like that word conformed because it means filling up a space. 00:12:09.092 --> 00:12:17.105 I know sometimes when we think conformed, we think like God's going to chisel us and he's going to mold us and shape us. 00:12:17.105 --> 00:12:19.190 But really conformed is little difference. 00:12:19.190 --> 00:12:25.350 From the inside out it's like we pop out like a balloon and we're shaped like Him. 00:12:25.350 --> 00:12:36.975 The best description of that Word been conformed to the image and not conformed to this world. 00:12:37.759 --> 00:12:41.187 I have a cousin, max Griner Jr, who's an artist. 00:12:41.187 --> 00:12:48.427 He's been an artist for 40 years and in the last 35, it's mostly religious art. 00:12:48.427 --> 00:12:50.652 He does these wonderful sculptures of Jesus. 00:12:50.652 --> 00:12:57.913 I've got a miniature of his bronze sculpture, jesus washing Peter's feet, on my desk in my office. 00:12:57.913 --> 00:13:07.745 He's got one of Jesus coming back, king of Kings, lord of Lords, on his horse, got the whole thing it's huge out of bronze. 00:13:07.745 --> 00:13:09.229 Does he whittle bronze? 00:13:09.229 --> 00:13:10.311 Does he chisel bronze? 00:13:10.311 --> 00:13:11.732 No, he does not. 00:13:12.740 --> 00:13:17.331 And so he uses what they call the lost wax method of sculpture. 00:13:17.331 --> 00:13:24.746 And what he does is he has a special wax and he carves his creation out of wax. 00:13:24.746 --> 00:13:30.486 It's a lot easier carving that than it would be wood or stone or anything else. 00:13:30.486 --> 00:13:34.067 He carves it and gets it just like he wants. 00:13:34.067 --> 00:13:40.975 And then he builds a form and he lays that. 00:13:40.975 --> 00:13:54.428 He puts some sand in there it's a special kind of sand and he lays that sculpture down in that sand and makes sure that it's pressed in there real tight. 00:13:54.428 --> 00:14:01.811 Then he finishes filling it up all around it until the whole sculpture is covered in this sand. 00:14:01.811 --> 00:14:20.532 And then he presses the top of the form down and locks it down around the side and he has a funnel that fits on the top and a funnel, a little drain tube, that several drain tubes. 00:14:20.600 --> 00:14:21.182 And what he does? 00:14:21.182 --> 00:14:35.004 He heats that whole form up to real hot I think it's over 300 degrees and all the wax melts and all the wax leaves exact images of his carving in the sand. 00:14:35.004 --> 00:14:38.025 It's see, that's that. 00:14:38.025 --> 00:14:39.389 It just is perfect. 00:14:39.389 --> 00:14:41.908 It's a reverse image of his carving. 00:14:41.908 --> 00:14:47.731 The wax leaves and there it leaves a perfect image of his carving. 00:14:47.731 --> 00:15:03.068 And then he fills it with molten bronze and the bronze flows in this form and it goes over to every little nook and cranny and that bronze goes, it's filled up and it conforms to the image that he created. 00:15:03.068 --> 00:15:13.128 And then, after it dries, he breaks that off, chisels the sand off of it, pulls it up and there is a beautiful finished work of art. 00:15:13.128 --> 00:15:18.932 And it's just amazing to see that process go through. 00:15:19.960 --> 00:15:21.726 And that's exactly how we're made. 00:15:21.726 --> 00:15:24.148 We're made to conform to Jesus image. 00:15:24.148 --> 00:15:27.370 We're not to conform to this world's way of thinking. 00:15:27.370 --> 00:15:28.945 We're not to look like this world. 00:15:28.945 --> 00:15:34.048 And you know Isaiah 55 said God's thoughts are higher than our thoughts. 00:15:34.048 --> 00:15:36.629 We're gonna have to find out what to think about. 00:15:36.629 --> 00:15:38.788 We need to think about what God is thinking about. 00:15:38.788 --> 00:15:55.029 We need to say what God is saying and be transformed by thinking correctly, thinking right, thinking biblically, thinking the thoughts of God, and they are always antithesis to the world's way of thinking. 00:15:55.029 --> 00:16:01.904 If you're gonna think the world's way of thinking about your situation, you will not have victory and you will not overcome. 00:16:01.904 --> 00:16:06.726 There's only one way to overcome that situation and that's thinking the thoughts of God. 00:16:06.726 --> 00:16:08.183 What does he think? 00:16:08.183 --> 00:16:09.745 What does he say about it? 00:16:09.745 --> 00:16:10.582 Praise God. 00:16:10.582 --> 00:16:13.405 I mean your thought life. 00:16:13.405 --> 00:16:14.328 You've got to think right. 00:16:15.279 --> 00:16:30.706 I knew of a preacher one time who ran off with a woman, left his wife, broke her heart and everybody was kind of surprised, except then they started thinking about what they had noticed in his personal life. 00:16:30.706 --> 00:16:33.248 He was just a regular preacher man. 00:16:33.248 --> 00:16:40.748 He dressed a certain way and talked a certain way and then, and suddenly, you know, he started going to the tanning salon. 00:16:40.748 --> 00:16:57.211 It's not wrong to go to the tanning salon, but anyway he was going for his woman and he started wearing jewelry around his neck, he started unbuttoning the top two buttons of his he's lost a bunch of weight, you know and started wearing kind of loud clothes. 00:16:57.211 --> 00:17:01.211 See, you could start to see that he was changing. 00:17:01.211 --> 00:17:03.567 He was getting more carnal as time went on. 00:17:03.567 --> 00:17:06.689 So this affair didn't happen overnight. 00:17:06.689 --> 00:17:08.226 He started thinking about this. 00:17:08.226 --> 00:17:16.709 He started thinking about it and turning it over in his mind and at some point in time he talked to her about it. 00:17:16.709 --> 00:17:21.766 He must have talked to this woman and talked to her about. 00:17:21.766 --> 00:17:24.386 Maybe would you like to run away with me. 00:17:24.861 --> 00:17:27.630 And so second thing is to talk right. 00:17:27.630 --> 00:17:29.807 See, you can't talk right if you're not thinking right. 00:17:29.807 --> 00:17:34.070 You have no chance of talking correctly. 00:17:34.070 --> 00:17:36.904 If you're not thinking correctly, you're not in the abundance of the heart. 00:17:36.904 --> 00:17:40.107 Jesus said the mouth speaks. 00:17:40.107 --> 00:17:46.604 So once you go down the road of thinking like the world, you're gonna act like the world, you're gonna talk like the world. 00:17:46.604 --> 00:17:52.271 There's no possibility of overcoming with worldly methods. 00:17:54.099 --> 00:17:56.467 Mark 11, 23 says we have what we say. 00:17:56.467 --> 00:17:59.326 We don't have what we believe. 00:17:59.326 --> 00:18:01.684 See, a lot of people I've heard people quote that. 00:18:01.684 --> 00:18:03.305 Well, jesus said we can have what we believe. 00:18:03.305 --> 00:18:06.452 No, he said we can have what we say, whether it's good or bad. 00:18:06.452 --> 00:18:13.900 In fact, jesus came to Brother Hagin and says a man gets what he says, whether it's good or bad, whether it's good or bad. 00:18:13.900 --> 00:18:16.186 That's the kind of class of being we are. 00:18:16.186 --> 00:18:20.729 We have what we say, whether positive or negative. 00:18:21.900 --> 00:18:27.407 So when we think wrong, then we speak wrong and we start getting destruction in our lives. 00:18:27.407 --> 00:18:32.135 We start to be overcome of evil. 00:18:32.135 --> 00:18:33.567 Instead of overcoming evil, we become an evil. 00:18:33.567 --> 00:18:35.263 Evil overcomes us. 00:18:35.263 --> 00:18:39.788 And so we also don't get what we mean. 00:18:39.788 --> 00:18:44.946 Well, you know what I mean, well, when you say something, your angels have to take you at your word. 00:18:44.946 --> 00:18:49.748 If you're gonna talk in code, just be ready for your angels to misunderstand you. 00:18:49.748 --> 00:18:54.368 So, no, you don't get what you mean, you get what you say. 00:18:54.368 --> 00:19:06.089 And so, really, what we see is a progression from thinking to speaking, from thinking to speaking. 00:19:06.089 --> 00:19:07.472 See, there's a progression. 00:19:07.472 --> 00:19:26.421 You know, really, if you, if you address your thoughts and say, no, I'm not thinking that, and you don't speak them, those things that you were thinking, they die, they are dead and they go away, and but when you start speaking them, they start coming to pass. 00:19:26.421 --> 00:19:30.469 What you thought about and spoke about starts to come to pass. 00:19:31.358 --> 00:19:37.604 So and then the overcomer I'm talking about traits now of the overcomer. 00:19:37.604 --> 00:19:45.460 The overcomer thinks right, talks right, walks right, he walks right. 00:19:45.460 --> 00:19:52.960 Or in other words, he does right, he acts right, he lives right, he behaves right. 00:19:52.960 --> 00:19:54.665 Yeah, there's a right and a wrong. 00:19:54.665 --> 00:19:57.501 Don't let the Democrats lie to you. 00:19:57.501 --> 00:19:59.627 There's a right and a wrong period. 00:19:59.627 --> 00:20:04.641 Always has been, always will be, and the God has a side. 00:20:04.641 --> 00:20:05.564 You better get on it. 00:20:05.564 --> 00:20:13.105 Everything in life, everything, every time you go to the voting booth, god has a side on every one of those candidates. 00:20:13.105 --> 00:20:19.650 You better find out where his side is, and when you violate his side you let the devil in. 00:20:19.650 --> 00:20:24.788 I Don't know how many Christians have let the devil in in the last many years. 00:20:24.788 --> 00:20:26.595 I mean, a lot of Christians voted for Obama. 00:20:26.595 --> 00:20:30.125 I can tell you right now that was not God's side. 00:20:30.125 --> 00:20:33.761 And and Biden the same way. 00:20:34.936 --> 00:20:37.781 So you look at the look at the progression. 00:20:37.781 --> 00:20:43.460 Now you think right, you talk right, you walk right. 00:20:43.460 --> 00:20:44.785 See, there's a progression. 00:20:44.785 --> 00:20:49.016 Let's say it out loud a progression, see. 00:20:49.016 --> 00:21:09.388 And so what you think about, eventually, if it's not brought under Subjection to God's word, is going to result in actions that are a wrong, actions that are destructive, actions that will take you out of the word of God or out of the will of God. 00:21:09.388 --> 00:21:13.843 So Faith is acting like the Bible's true. 00:21:15.494 --> 00:21:17.339 Unbelief is acting like the devil's true. 00:21:17.339 --> 00:21:18.623 See, it's an act. 00:21:18.623 --> 00:21:20.667 Faith is an act, unbelief is an act. 00:21:20.667 --> 00:21:27.144 Unbelief is not just a stray negative thought, a Stray doubt in your brain. 00:21:27.144 --> 00:21:29.075 If you don't speak it, it just goes away. 00:21:29.075 --> 00:21:30.778 You rebuke it. 00:21:30.778 --> 00:21:33.201 You say I do believe the God's word. 00:21:33.201 --> 00:21:34.986 God said it, I believe it. 00:21:34.986 --> 00:21:35.787 That settles it. 00:21:35.787 --> 00:21:38.837 See, you can turn back Stray thoughts. 00:21:38.837 --> 00:21:40.281 They didn't come from you anyway. 00:21:40.281 --> 00:21:48.243 They came from the devil throwing thoughts at you so you can arrest Bad thinking in the thought stage. 00:21:48.243 --> 00:21:57.134 But if you fail to do it, then you're gonna start saying, and Then at some point you're gonna start doing, you're gonna act out what you said. 00:21:57.134 --> 00:22:00.085 So faith is acting on the word. 00:22:00.085 --> 00:22:02.759 That's another definition of faith. 00:22:02.759 --> 00:22:04.604 Faith is acting, like the Bible's. 00:22:04.604 --> 00:22:07.128 True faith is acting on the word. 00:22:08.016 --> 00:22:11.898 Faith is an act, it's an action. 00:22:11.898 --> 00:22:16.515 It's not a concept, it's not a thought, it's not a, you know, a philosophy. 00:22:16.515 --> 00:22:19.042 It is what you do. 00:22:19.042 --> 00:22:25.943 And remember, if we don't think right, we won't talk right, that we won't act right. 00:22:25.943 --> 00:22:30.377 So our actions will not be faith actions Automatically by definition. 00:22:30.377 --> 00:22:31.580 Because why? 00:22:31.580 --> 00:22:37.039 Because we've been conformed to this world and it's thinking garbage in, garbage out. 00:22:37.039 --> 00:22:41.884 So you know one example where was the boat? 00:22:41.884 --> 00:22:42.887 On the rough seas. 00:22:42.887 --> 00:22:44.958 Jesus is walking on the water. 00:22:45.460 --> 00:22:47.324 All 12 of the disciples had faith. 00:22:47.324 --> 00:22:49.468 They all spent time with Jesus. 00:22:49.468 --> 00:22:52.624 I'm sure they all wanted to walk on the water. 00:22:52.624 --> 00:22:55.010 I'm sure they admired Jesus walking on the water. 00:22:55.010 --> 00:23:02.165 Once they figured out was him and so Peter is the only one that did he said Jesus, if it's you bit me, come. 00:23:02.165 --> 00:23:02.926 And he said come. 00:23:02.926 --> 00:23:05.496 And so he, he, he went over the side of the. 00:23:05.496 --> 00:23:07.497 Jesus just said one word come. 00:23:07.497 --> 00:23:08.718 All of them could have come. 00:23:08.718 --> 00:23:09.999 He didn't say Peter come. 00:23:09.999 --> 00:23:13.507 And what happened? 00:23:13.507 --> 00:23:14.825 Well, their faith was dead. 00:23:14.825 --> 00:23:16.182 Their faith didn't. 00:23:16.182 --> 00:23:17.507 There was no action. 00:23:17.507 --> 00:23:23.201 And Peter's faith had enough action to begin to walk on the water. 00:23:23.201 --> 00:23:24.406 Then he began to sink. 00:23:24.406 --> 00:23:30.545 Oh thou of little faith, not no faith, wherefore it's thou doubt. 00:23:30.545 --> 00:23:34.329 So doubt won out over his faith. 00:23:34.329 --> 00:23:35.082 He had faith. 00:23:35.082 --> 00:23:39.007 He had a little faith that actually walked on the water for a little bit. 00:23:39.007 --> 00:23:41.125 You don't give him credit enough. 00:23:41.125 --> 00:23:45.424 And so, until you walked on the water, don't criticize Peter. 00:23:45.424 --> 00:23:50.190 But Peter acted on his faith. 00:23:50.190 --> 00:23:57.269 And you know, faith without corresponding action, james two says, is dead being alone. 00:23:58.640 --> 00:24:04.269 You know, I was reading in Psalm one, which is kind of responsible for this message day. 00:24:04.269 --> 00:24:06.507 This is the first day of September, can you believe it? 00:24:06.507 --> 00:24:12.573 And so I generally read Psalm one 31, 61, 91, 121. 00:24:12.573 --> 00:24:18.048 I read five Psalms, one proverb, two verses in the old, two verses in the new. 00:24:18.048 --> 00:24:27.210 That's kind of my Bible reading plan, 10 verses a day, and I vary from that a lot since I've been doing it for so long, but I recommend it. 00:24:28.539 --> 00:24:46.720 But in today's Psalm, psalm one, it says blessed is a man who walks not, stands not and sits not, walks not in the council, ungodly, ungodly, sits not in the seat of the scornful and stands not in the way of sinners. 00:24:46.720 --> 00:24:49.059 So you can see a progression there. 00:24:49.059 --> 00:24:51.019 You can see somebody walking by. 00:24:51.019 --> 00:24:55.327 See, I always, I always, you know, have to have these walk by patios. 00:24:55.327 --> 00:25:05.567 You know, here's people sitting out, you know, and they're drinking your booze or whatever Might even be smoking dope, and people are walking by. 00:25:05.567 --> 00:25:10.192 Here comes a Christian and they walk by that place. 00:25:10.192 --> 00:25:18.170 You better keep walking and really you ought to find another place to walk, because you're walking by people that are missing the boat. 00:25:18.170 --> 00:25:20.548 I mean, there might be something going on around there. 00:25:20.579 --> 00:25:29.848 You know, a lot of people get drawn into controversy just by virtue of they didn't let the Holy Spirit regulate their place where they walk. 00:25:29.848 --> 00:25:43.325 So you walk by and then you're tempted to stand there and listen, and if you stand there and listen long enough, you might pull up a chair and sit there in the seat of the scornful. 00:25:43.325 --> 00:25:47.490 So you see, blessed is a man that doesn't do that. 00:25:47.490 --> 00:25:50.148 I mean, you just don't walk by there, period. 00:25:50.148 --> 00:25:53.288 Then you never stand, in that you'll certainly never sit. 00:25:53.700 --> 00:26:03.013 You could avoid a whole boatload of not walking by evil, walking with evil, walking with people that are going to do evil things. 00:26:03.013 --> 00:26:03.619 Get rid of them. 00:26:03.619 --> 00:26:05.920 They have no godly purpose in your life. 00:26:05.920 --> 00:26:07.006 Oh, I'm. 00:26:07.367 --> 00:26:14.640 You know the famous saying I've heard before is some Christian girl dating some creep boy and she's gonna reform him? 00:26:14.640 --> 00:26:18.548 No, he's gonna pollute you, he's going to drag you down. 00:26:18.548 --> 00:26:23.559 He's gonna influence you and you're not gonna influence him a bit because he's not motivated. 00:26:23.559 --> 00:26:25.006 He's already got you. 00:26:25.006 --> 00:26:28.160 He's not motivated to change a bit. 00:26:28.160 --> 00:26:29.599 Grow a brain, girl. 00:26:29.599 --> 00:26:38.146 Oh well, anyway, I don't know who's who's that for, but you know my grandfather and my father's spirit comes out, you know. 00:26:38.146 --> 00:26:42.671 So you're blessed when you don't do those things. 00:26:42.671 --> 00:26:47.740 No, when you don't do those things, you're like a tree planted by the rivers of water. 00:26:47.740 --> 00:26:49.028 Who's you? 00:26:49.028 --> 00:26:50.539 Bring forth your fruit in your season. 00:26:50.539 --> 00:26:52.887 Leave shall not wither. 00:26:53.803 --> 00:27:00.067 I like what Jeremiah 17 says a man like a person like that doesn't even notice when heat comes. 00:27:00.067 --> 00:27:02.619 They don't even notice when drought comes. 00:27:02.619 --> 00:27:10.613 They're so blessed, they are just planted in the living water and they're all of their heart and mind. 00:27:10.613 --> 00:27:13.500 Their thoughts are redeemed. 00:27:13.500 --> 00:27:15.728 They're thinking the thoughts of God. 00:27:15.728 --> 00:27:18.519 They're transformed by the renewing of their mind. 00:27:18.519 --> 00:27:25.319 Praise God, and so that progression, your faith, then becomes a weapon. 00:27:25.319 --> 00:27:42.808 When you think right, talk right and walk right, your faith becomes a weapon of war that overcomes all that is in the world and you truly can laugh at the devil. 00:27:42.808 --> 00:27:46.205 Come on, lift your hands, the overcomer. 00:27:46.205 --> 00:27:51.488 Just a simple message tonight, but I really believe it's on time. 00:27:51.488 --> 00:28:03.749 I really do, I believe it's on time for you, your faith, in battles of one intensity or another, and this is the secret of overcoming. 00:28:03.749 --> 00:28:05.263 You know, don't doubt. 00:28:05.263 --> 00:28:06.307 Don't doubt. 00:28:06.307 --> 00:28:09.748 Just find out what the Bible says. 00:28:09.748 --> 00:28:13.005 Praise God, amen, amen.