John 16:23-33 (Conquering the World)

The Shepherd's Church

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Thank you for subscribing to the Shepherds Church podcast. This is our Lord's Day Sermon We pray that as we declare the

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Word of God that you would be encouraged Strengthened in your faith and that you would catch a greater vision of who

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Christ is May you be blessed in the hearing of God's Word and may the Lord be with you the whole story of the

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Bible is The story of the conquering of the dragon is a story of the true man

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Being raised up to do war with the serpent now the first man

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We know Adam was the one who was tricked deceived and enslaved by the serpent in the Garden of Eden So that he lost dominion over the world and he handed over rule

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To Satan he was tricked his crown was stolen and instead of a crown he traded in for shackles and chains

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Now that led to a world in Genesis chapter 3 a world of subjugation

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From Genesis 3 onward we see the weighty clanking of chains and slavery of the people of God not just physically like we see in Egypt, but spiritually enslaved to the serpent and no one was found worthy to Lead the people out of slavery

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To Satan sin and death one by one new men would come and rise and each of them the

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Bible Graciously taints and tarnish and records their broken character. So that the end of the

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Old Testament There is no one not Noah Abraham Isaac Jacob Joseph most of Aaron Levites David and Solomon Hezekiah Josiah Elijah, Elisha Josiah Jonah Malachi none of them.

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Those are the good ones What Jonah's All of them fell short of the glory of God None of them were capable leading

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God's people out of slavery sin and death None of them were able to break the devil's chains that is the

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Old Testament so that we turn to the New Testament and we see that a child has been born a Child who the government shall be upon his back and the increase of his government his kingdom shall be no end this child

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This Messiah will be the one who throws off the tyranny of the serpent and reclaims the world

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That is the story of the New Testament in Christ. That is the story the prophets told us was coming

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That is the story of history that Jesus Christ has conquered and in today's passage

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He's going to tell us the exact same thing If you remember we've been in the travel narratives or the travel discourse

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Where the disciples have been traveling from the upper room to the Garden of Gethsemane This is our final week in John 16.

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It's our final week in the travel narrative next week We'll be in John 17, which is in the

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Garden of Gethsemane John doesn't tell us the transition happens But the synoptics occur or tell us that Jesus and his disciples arrived at the

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Garden of Gethsemane His disciples fell asleep and Jesus goes through three sessions of prayer.

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That's where John 17 falls So today is our final section his final words that he's going to give to his disciples before he is arrested beaten and crucified and like most of us

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The last thing that we say is usually one of the most important things that we say everything in this passage has been in 15 through 16 has been building towards this statement that Jesus makes in verse 33 of John 16 that he is

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Lord and He will have the world as His he identifies himself as the dragon slayer now today.

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We're gonna do our sermon today in two parts Two parts with eight sub points underneath the second part

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So our first part is gonna be focused on the Christ who conquers. How is it that Christ conquers?

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We're gonna look at that. The second part is in light of Jesus's victory What does that mean for us?

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What are you and I supposed to do in light of his victory? Do we sit on our hands? Do we do nothing? Do we roll our or twiddle our thumbs or does he have a purpose and a plan for us and what that is that?

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We're gonna look at eight Activities that you and I can be doing in the world that Christ has already won

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To bring that world into alignment with him. So if you will turn with me John 16 23 through 33 as We look at these passages this morning

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John 16 Verse 23 begins this way in that day.

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You will not question me about anything Truly truly I say to you if you ask the

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Father for anything in my name, he will give it to you Until now you have asked for nothing in my name

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Ask and you will receive so that your joy may be made full These things

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I've spoken to you in figurative language, but an hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in Figurative language, but will tell you plainly of the

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Father and That day you will ask in my name and I do not say to you that I will request of the

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Father on your behalf For the Father himself loves you Because you have loved me and have believed that I came forth from the

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Father. I Came forth from the Father and have come into this world. I am leaving the world again and going to the father

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His disciples said no Now you are speaking plainly and you're not using a figure of speech

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Now we know that you know all things and have no need for anyone to question you

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But this we believe that you came from God and Jesus answered them. Do you now believe?

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Behold an hour is coming and has already come for you to be scattered Each to his own home and to leave me alone and yet I am

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NOT alone because the father is with me These things I've spoken to you so that in me you may have peace in the world

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You will have tribulation but take courage. I have overcome the world

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Let's pray Lord the climax of this great travel narrative is your declaration that you have overcome the world

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Not that you will overcome the world Not that you desire to overcome the world, but that you have in fact already done it

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Lord help us today to even in the midst of The evil that goes on in the world not to lose heart not to lose courage and not to lose faith in the trustworthiness of Scripture When the scripture tells us that you have overcome the world, let us not

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Take our anecdotal experience as evidence against your scripture help us to try to understand your scripture rightly

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So that we can see what it means that you have overcome the world that you have conquered it and that you are in charge

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Lord, let us today understand what it means for us individually and for us as a church that you are in charge of the world and Let us

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Lord live in a way that is consistent with your vision for our lives Lord help something that we say today in this service

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To help the Saints to grow deeper in love with you more willing to serve you and Lord help this

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Help this passage that we were preaching through to even give clarity on how to do that. It's in Christ's name.

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We pray. Amen Everything in this passage from chapter 15 all the way through 16 is building to this dramatic crescendo that happens in verse 33 where Jesus says that he has overcome the world and In this passage, this is chapter 15 and 16.

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He's been teaching them lots of things that to build up to this He's been teaching them who they are in relation to him

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Who they are in relation to the Spirit who they are in relation to one another who they are in relation to the world

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And who Jesus will be in relationship to the world as well If you'll remember a couple passages just to recap where we've been he is the vine that feeds them

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He is the one who's going to give them great joy. That's John 15 and John 16 So it teaches us who we are in relationship to Christ He's been teaching us who we are in relationship to the

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Holy Spirit The Spirit is the one who's going to testify about Christ lead us into all truth comfort his people convict the world

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Bring them into judgment for a lack of righteousness Those are all scattered passages throughout our text that we've been through you'll remember sermons that we've preached on those topics

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The disciples are to have a relationship with one another to that I love one another and by that you will know that they have been called the disciples of Christ That's John 14 and John 15.

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The disciples are gonna have a relationship with the world We learned that the world is gonna hate us persecute us make us outcast

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Excommunicate us from the worldly system and religion and they're gonna do that all for the sake of thinking that they are serving

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God John 16 1 through 4 but all of this all of our relationships our relationship with him our relationship with each other our relationship to the

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Spirit our relationship to the world is Predicated upon one relationship that all of this has been building towards and it's not our relationship with anyone it's

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Christ's relationship to everything including the cosmos our Relationships are defined by his relationship and we're gonna learn that he

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Has a relationship with this world and with this system where he has overcome it

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The reason we have relationship with him is because he's overcome the world the reason you and I Have relationship with one another by the power of the

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Spirit is because he has overcome the world Everything is building to the fact that he has conquered so instead of Instead of preaching this message 23 24 25.

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We're gonna start with 33 Because everything is built upon that and then in the second half

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We're gonna go back and look what that means for us in 23 through 32 So let us begin with 33 these things.

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I have spoken to you So that in me you may have peace in this world. You have tribulation but take courage brothers and sisters

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I have overcome the world This is not like Leo and the

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Titanic on the deck of the boat saying I'm the king of the world and then later floating to the bottom of the abyss

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This is not optimistic Ungrounded in anything. This is Jesus press conference to the world making a declarative statement that he is now in charge

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The world that he made that fell into sin is now under his rule and authority again

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That he has conquered and let me just tell you what the word is here because our word

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Overcome is not quite the best word in English to describe what is going on Here when

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Jesus says I have overcome the world. He's using a Greek word called Nika.

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Oh It's fun to say try it Very good, very good.

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You said it just like you were Greek Nika Oh Nika Oh does not mean sugar -coated niceness

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It does not mean cowardness Cowardice to offend anyone or everyone.

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It doesn't mean slowly and surely like molasses Trying to overcome the world that is in rebellion to you with some sort of evangelical effeminacy that is alive and well today.

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No This word means that he has conquered it Actually, the word means total victory.

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It means that he has conquered it decimated it done it finished it This is a word that warriors would use not a word that you would use if you're in the struggle

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It is a word you would use on your march back home in victory Nika Oh is not a word about ongoing fighting.

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It is a word that the fight is done He's already won The Word overcome is too soft.

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I Love the fact that we have translations in English But you have to beware sometimes brothers and sisters that the

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Bible wasn't written in English The Bible was written in Greek and in Hebrew and sometimes our translators for various reasons translate words too softly and This is an occasion where I would tell you that this word is translated too softly.

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He is not overcoming the world He has already conquered it. That is what this passage is saying.

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The world is not his battlefield. He has Triumphed and I'll give you another example of why this is so important in the

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Greek This is not in the past tense. This is not in the present tense. This is not in the future tense

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This is in what's called the perfect tense and this is really important in English.

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We have past present and future Those are commons. We do have perfects also but past is an event that happened in the past present something that's going on right now

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Continuous action future something that hasn't happened yet But it eventually will this passage is not in any of those it's in the perfect which connects the past present the future together the perfect tense has

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Action that relates to all three tenses It is an event that happens in the past but an ongoing effect continues to the present and on to the future

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So in Jesus, let me give you an example when he's on the cross and he says to tell us die It is finished.

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He is not saying that I accomplished something in the past He is saying that the event happened in the past but the effect goes on forever.

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It is a perfect verb I have finished it and That effect comes down the ages all the way to you and I it's not a past tense verb.

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It's perfect a Way to illustrate this is if I were to say I cut my hand that's past tense

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I'm telling you I did something in the past and it's over one time action. It's over But if I say

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I have cut my hand, we don't speak this technically in English. We're sort of in The in the realm of grammar we can be a little lazy in our speaking when

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I say I have cut my hand I'm saying that I did something in the past that the wound that the bleeding that the bandage that the healing all has an effect

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That will continue on into the future Perfect tense verbs haven't have an action in the past that continues on into the future so when

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Jesus says I have Conquered the world. He's saying I did that in the past and I believe

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That when Jesus conquered the world was in the wilderness When he went out and was tempted by the serpent he triumphed where Adam failed where he triumphed where Israel failed where he did faithfully

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What no one before him could do and he crushed the serpents head

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So he has already Before the cross he's saying I have conquered.

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I Think that relates back to his wilderness experience, but he's also saying that this is not only a past event

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That's already happened It's an event that will continue to have effect into the future so that you and I are not

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Living in a world that can be taken from Jesus. He has conquered it. He is conquering it

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It is conquered. You cannot wake up tomorrow in a world that does not belong to Christ His victory continues his triumph continues.

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We are not living brothers and sisters in Satan's world This world belongs to Jesus We have many troubles.

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Yes, and amen But this world belongs to Jesus it is under new management and you'll say look at all of the evil in the world all of the abortions and child sacrifices and all of the the the main gunmen that happened recently or the

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Occult that's on the rise and Wicca and stuff that's on the rise or medical professionals not even knowing that boys are boys and girls are girls and they have to wait until the child tells them what they are before they can even

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I assign a sex or Politicians in bed with people like Epstein to abuse people like we live in a sick twisted evil world.

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No doubt No objections here But the world is not under the ownership any longer of Satan.

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It is under the ownership of Jesus Christ the question The wrong question is not is there evil in the world?

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Yes The right question is whose world is it? Is Satan's world or does it belong to Jesus Christ and if it belongs to Jesus Christ, then it then evil has a purpose

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That suffering has a purpose and that Christ is in control and he will have the victory and he will win in Good time

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But if it belongs to Satan, we may as well look at Christ Who said I have already overcome and call him a liar or a lunatic?

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If we believe that this world is under the dominion of Satan under his control we are calling

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Jesus a liar The best question that we could ask ourself this morning is do we believe the scriptures do we believe what the word says and if We do will we forego our skepticism to believe what it says if Satan is in charge again

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Jesus is a liar, but if Jesus is in charge Suffering has purpose and he will accomplish his purposes

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Again, I know that evil is discouraging in the world But my question for you is would you rather trust that Christ owns the world and he will deal with the evil?

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Or would you rather trust that Satan is the one in charge and that Christ has no power? That's the better question now

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What about passages like Satan is a roaring kitten, I mean lion Who is prowling about trying to devour whom he may that's first Peter 5 8

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Yeah, he does prowl But that passage doesn't say that he owns the world

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It's like in John Bunyan's classic pilgrims progress. He's on a leash and he can only go so far as Christ allows him

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So he is a roaring lion. Yes But he doesn't own the world. What about that?

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He's disguised as an angel of light take that example and look at it He's disguised because he can't show up the way that he intends because the world is not his own

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He hides and he tricks and he plays games in the dark because this world doesn't belong to him

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He is sneaking about as one who is intruding upon a world. That is not his because he most certainly is

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James says if we resist him, he will flee that's not the world that Satan owns That's the world that Christ owns who he's given authority and dominion to his people if you resist the devil

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He will flee James 4 7 Paul says that the church will crush the head of the serpent along with Jesus.

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That's Romans 16 20 and Matthew It says that the gates of hell will fall down if the church advances, that's

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Matthew 12, I believe One of the chapters of Matthew, what about Satan being the god of this world little

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G little G He's the god of this world that Many worldly unclean people

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Worship him as a filthy idol like the gods of Canaan But he is not the God of this world the capital

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G God of this world. There's only one of those and it's not him Here's what

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I know for sure Christ has conquered the world. He says it here. He says it Matthew 28 Matthew 28 he says even more strikingly all authority in heaven and earth now belongs to me all authority on earth is mine

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How much authority to Satan have in that? all How much is left?

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none Satan may have waning influence in a battle that has already lost but he is an imposter a squatter a terrorist and a burglar

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That's the only legacy that he has left little pop shots in a war that is not going his way

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Let me give you an example of this because I know that the American Empire right now is waning and we watch it and we see it and you can list

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Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of examples of areas where evil still exists in this country and it's getting worse

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So your experience my experience of living here in this time in this place is going to work against this theology of Jesus being in Charge, so let me give you an example

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I live in a place called Lowell, which is the modern -day Babylon of Massachusetts but imagine that I wanted to do something to fix it and I said

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I'm gonna pull my resources and let's just say for instance I had a ton of resources at a trillion dollars or two trillion or whatever and I said

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I'm gonna buy the entire city I'm gonna buy every building. I'm gonna buy every government agency.

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I'm gonna buy every police car. I'm gonna buy every Street I'm gonna buy every mortgage. I'm gonna buy every bank. I'm gonna buy it all everything every street lamp

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Would I be right to assume that Lowell is going to automatically clean itself up just by the simple fact that I purchased it

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No, I would need to fire the leadership Which needs to happen? Then I would need to appoint my own leaders who are gonna execute my vision for the city

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That is exactly what Jesus Christ has done on the cross He purchased the world and he fired the first century leaders of Judah who had turned that Nation into a ghetto instead of a gospel centered glorious paradise

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And he appointed his 12 people to be his emissaries and his disciples and then baked into that He gave them the the command to make disciples, which means he's not just gonna leave 12 of them to do it

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He's gonna have more of them do it So when the 3 ,000 come in the in the pit and Pentecost you have 3 ,000 people now who are working to make this world

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In accordance to Jesus's vision. He owns the world. It's his and now he is appointed his people to fix it

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To go out and work in it to build in it to see his kingdom advance in it We are not passive agents in Jesus's Roadshow He has bought us paid for us and Brought us into his kingdom so that you and I can be at work to see this world look like him

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It started with 12 and then 70 and then 3 ,000 by the end of the first century There was 10 ,000 to 20 ,000

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Christians by the end of the first century By the end of the second century, there was a little less than a hundred thousand

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Christians by the end of the third century There was nearly a million by the end of the fourth century

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There was 10 to 20 million when Constantine said that Christianity is now the official religion of the Roman Empire.

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It was winning After the fourth century the world itself slowed down during the

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Dark Ages, so the world itself Slowed its pace

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But by the end of the Middle Ages a hundred million Christians by the end of it up to the

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Reformation After the Reformation a hundred and fifty million Today 2 .4

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billion professing Christians on this planet. Is that the story of a world that is owned by Satan?

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Or is that the story of a world that has been purchased by Jesus Christ where the gospel is winning?

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We have to get out of our defeatist American mindset where we're watching our country go down the tubes

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Yes, it is, but expand your vision Look at something bigger than the next five minutes that we're living and I know it's tough

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But widen your glance to the next to the last hundred years a hundred years ago

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There was if you look at all the Christians in the world today It was four times less

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Christians in the world a hundred years ago. That means that 400 % gain in the last hundred years of Christians.

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That's not a gospel of losing and defeat every century. It's advanced There's not been a single century that it hasn't

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That is the story of Christ in his triumph in his in his world conquering gospel

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Did you know? today This year 2023 there will be 3 million converts to Jesus Christ on earth 3 million that's more than the first 200 years combined

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Tell me that this Gospels not winning tell me that Christ is not on his throne and reigning

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Tell me that I laugh at that This passage

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Climaxes in the victory the total victory of Jesus Christ That he will reign

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That the world will be filled with the knowledge of God as the water covers the sea that every family on earth

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We blessed all of his enemies would be put under his feet if you don't believe me I've got 20 centuries of evidence of him doing it and When we're old

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I will point to this century and I and it will be no different The question is do we have the courage?

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to believe Scripture Or do we live in our skepticism of our current moment?

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We must believe Scripture because Christ wins We must reject defeatism because Christ wins we must reject the false gospel of Dispensationalism and futurism that says that we lose down here.

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We don't It is Christ winning and his victory through his church.

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It's 20 centuries now deep and it's 20 centuries now done and Just so we know

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It took four thousand years for the world to get into the shape that it's in I don't believe in millions of years.

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I believe that the earth was created young just like the Bible says 4 ,000 years it took for this world to get into the squalor that it exists in today

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We're only 2 ,000 years into the cleanup project and look at what's happened so far We've got to have a bigger vision for what

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Christ is going to do in this world in his kingdom And we have to have a vision that encompasses us it includes us we are not bench warmers

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We're not we're not water boys in Jesus's kingdom Or water girls.

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I don't is that a thing? We're not We have a purpose in his kingdom and he lists eight different things in verses 23 through 32

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That you and I get to do so if we can just acknowledge for a moment the foundation Jesus owns the world.

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He is triumphing in the world and he will continue to win That's the foundation if that is true and it is in Scripture Then what are you and I to do about it?

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How are we to join in? How are we to participate in the ongoing victory of Jesus Christ number one?

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Pray in his name. You want to talk about weapons of warfare? I'm not talking about Scuds missiles and and a k -47s or any of that.

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I'm talking about weapons of warfare is prayer Jesus says in that day you will not question me about anything truly truly

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I say to you if you ask the Father for anything in my name He will give it to you when he says in that day

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He's talking about the day of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit of God from that moment forward the Saints of God Have a weapon and it is a weapon of war and it is called prayer

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It is sort of like a radio that you that you radio your commander

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Prayer is like a wartime radio. It is you are always in contact with your general Where you can speak with him you can ask for help or you can ask for reinforcements

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What fool would go into a battle without his radio? What fool would go into the war of this world without prayer?

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That's the first thing the second thing is Ineffable joy

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Ineffable just means a lot Just kiss Until now you have asked for nothing in my name asking you will receive so that your joy may be made full

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Look at the words of Scripture It doesn't say so you're so your joy may be mild

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So that your joy may be both the most soft level. No, it's the very hot level. So your joy may be full

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So you may be a joyful Christian a depressed Christian is a contradiction in terms have you ever thought about that a

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Discouraged downbeat and dejected depressed Christian is a contradiction Yes, we struggle with depressions, but we give them to Christ in this world you many troubles, but they take heart

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He's conquered We don't live in our sadnesses. We don't live in our depression. We don't live in our anxiety.

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We put we give them to Jesus because he wins a Real Christian is known by their joy and they're exceedingly joyful do not accept mediocrity and melancholy

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You were made for joy not navel -gazing You were made for delight and not despair.

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You were made not to be a grouch a grump or a grumbler But to glorify God and enjoy him forever

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Ladies and gentlemen fight for your joy Fight for the means of grace fight to be here on Sunday to eat at the

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Lord's table to read his word to pray to Know him do not let the enemy's darts of despair hit your chest fight for joy because joy is one of the ways that he conquers the world in The same way their car needs fuel you and I need the means of grace and the means of grace will give us great joy

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And great joy will be a testimony to the nation's that the Lord our Christ has won.

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I Have never seen a Super Bowl winning team sitting down in sadness. I Have never seen a

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NBA Finals team who's running out the clock at the end of the game With their hands on their hips like I don't really want to be here.

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We've won Christ has won. Why are we gone? Why don't we have full joy?

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It's that joy that infects every street corner that infects every schoolyard that infects every

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Office park it infects everything my brothers and sisters fight for great joy

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He's promised that it is yours in him the third thing We will pray we will have great joy

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Those will be weapons to win the world to clean the world up that Christ has already purchased The next is that we will love his word and that will be our weapon

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Jesus said these things I've spoken to you in figurative language But an hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language

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But will tell you plainly what the father has said the hour of that statement Happened when the final pages of the

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New Testament was written He said an hour is coming. Why I will speak plainly to you.

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We have the plain truth of the Word of God We're not waiting on anything else.

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We have it The Bible is for us to know the truth of God for us to know who we are as disciples

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The Bible has been given to us so that we can bring the truth of the gospel to a world that hates truth

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And the Bible tells us who we are let me just give you one example Matthew 28 19 through 20.

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We are the church the church baptizes the nations The church teaches the nations how to obey

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Jesus and then the church in the presence of Jesus Will not ever be abandoned by Jesus because lo he is with us always

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Even in the Great Commission you have victory That we will disciple and teach the nations who

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Jesus is The Word teaches us how to live how to walk how to move how to breathe how to think how to feel how to do

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Everything in this world that belongs to Jesus We do not live in a pluralistic world where everyone's opinion matters.

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We live in a world where God's opinion matters, and that's it and his opinion is that you are the children of the

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Living God and that you have been called according to his purpose and his purpose for your life is For you to teach the nations how to obey

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Jesus That is our purpose number four One of our weapons along with prayer and the

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Word and joy is that we would grow deeper into his love In that day you ask me this is verse 26 and that day you will ask in my name

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And I do not say to you that I will request of the Father on your behalf for the Father himself loves you

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What an incredible passage Jesus is saying that in that day when you are a meched when you have been regenerated when you've been brought into my kingdom

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I'm he's saying I'm not even telling you that I'm gonna put in a good word for you with the Father He's saying the Father will love you

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If you're in Jesus the Father loves you this oh I just I want this disease in Christianity to go back to hell

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Where we think that we have to earn God's love and approval through our works and through our deeds Where we think that we have to earn

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God's approval through our through our being good and our in our good behavior that Doctrine must die a thousand deaths and go back to hell because through Jesus Christ and through his work alone

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Through his death through his burial through his resurrection through his perfect obedience. You are loved

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When you look in the mirror, you are one who is deeply loved by God and I've said it before and I'll say it again You are as much loved as Jesus Christ because you are in Christ You are like me and like the rest of us in this room.

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We are Sinful still we struggle still we are broken still and we are tempted to despair despair not

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Because the work that saved you is not your work the belief that saved you was not your belief

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The actions that saved you are not your actions the faithfulness that saved you was not your faithfulness

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All of it you have been ransomed by caught by the hook got in your mouth by Christ and Christ alone

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You do not keep yourself in the love of God. You do not hold yourself in the love of God You do not increase the love of God.

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It is yours because of Christ Let's do a little tour of the Bible real quick I didn't write these verses down so you might need to get with me later on them

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You were given the love of God in Christ John 3 16 you abide in the love

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John 1 or 1st John 4 16 you can't be separated from his love Romans 8 28 his love endures forever for you

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Psalm 136 26 we were made alive in his love Ephesians 2 4 through 5 we live through his love

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John 1st John 4 9 his face beams with you when you pray his love is sung over you from heaven

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Zechariah His disposition is smiling towards you beaming towards you in worship number 6

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His joyful love is poured out for you at this table and his love fuels you and I to serve him in his kingdom

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I will tell you the greatest thing that changed my life And I will guarantee you that it will be the greatest thing that changes yours is understanding the love of God Understanding your sinfulness is necessary for a season

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Understanding that you are a pitiful worm and that you are utterly depraved and all of the good Calvinist words that we say are

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Great beat yourself up with them for a season, but don't you dare forget that in the midst of that that his love triumphed

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That his love is greater than your sliminess that his love is better than your sickness

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When you look in the mirror dear brother and sister you are loved by God on the basis of Jesus Christ He doesn't he's not looking at you as a cleanup project.

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He's not looking at you as someone who has disappointed him a thousand times He is not looking you as someone who screwed up yet again.

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He is looking at you and he is seeing Jesus on you To doubt his love is to doubt his faithfulness, which is a great sin

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Grow in the love of Christ pray be joyful have a relationship with this book and Grow in the love of God, it will change you it will shape you and it will fuel you for the mission number five

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Our faith must be renewed and that day you will ask in my name And I do not say to you that I will request of the father on your behalf the father himself loves you

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Because you have believed me and have believed that I came forth from the father. Why does God love you because you believe?

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Why do you believe because the Holy Spirit gave you belief? All of it redounds back to him The father loves you because ultimately he is good.

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He loves you because he is kind He loves you because he is merciful. He loves you because he is gracious.

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He doesn't love you because you were good He loves you because he is good. And if he loves you because he is good

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He can never not be good, which means he can never not love you That is the whole work

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That the father loved us and through his loving grace has saved us and made us his own and as you grow in your faith

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This is sort of like the catalyst out of all of these as you grow in your faith you grow in your prayer As you grow in your faith you grow in your understanding of the word as you grow in your faith

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You grow in your joy you grow in your service to the king This is an aspect of our life

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That while the Holy Spirit is utterly providential over it also requires our submission To grow in the faith that he has given us to grow in our

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Understanding of who he is to grow in our passion for who he is So that our joy may be full so that our prayers will be sweeter so that our time in the word will be richer and so That this world will bow the knee to Jesus Christ because that's the direction history is heading

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Evangelism will be increased as your faith is increased Discipleship will be increased as your faith is increased brothers and sisters cultivate your faith number six

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Imitating his work He says these things I have spoken to you so that in me

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You may have peace He's not saying that in you go do the works of Christ.

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He's saying that you must do everything in me Our motivation for everything that we do is union with Jesus Christ our motivation for prayer is that we belong to Christ?

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We don't fake joy because it seems best to us. We have joy because we're in Jesus We have love for the

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Bible because we are in Jesus. We don't plumb the depths of God's love out of some sort of selfish sinful machinations

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We plumb the depths of the love of God because we are in Christ If you want to be a soldier in Jesus's army don't

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Work hard. Don't join a religion You must be in him and if you are in union with Christ He will produce these things in you and he will use you in his campaign to complete the world number seven

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Matchless peace these things I've spoken to you so that you may have Peace peace in the

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Bible is completeness peace in the Bible is being integrated when something has chaos

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It does not have peace peace is not the cessation of war. You can have peace in the midst of war

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Peace is when something is working and integrated and in full harmony and the

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Bible a wall Can have peace if every single brick is well placed and a wall can have chaos when a brick is taken out peace means integrity peace means unity

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So even if you feel like everything is going wrong around you When you walk through the valley of the shadow of death

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You Christians can have peace. You're the only ones on earth who can have peace and conflict You're the only ones on earth who can have peace and strife

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You're the only ones on earth that can have peace in the midst of war and battle and disease and cancer and whatever else

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You're the only ones because Christ himself gives his peace a Peace that even surpasses our understanding

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Every situation that you walk through as a believer can be walked through with peace and it cannot be so with the world because they

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Do not have his peace Brothers and sisters, let your family be peaceful.

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Let your life have peace let your job and your work and your friends and your hobbies and your food and your eating and your feasting and your

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Raising of children let it all have peace and if it has chaos right now pray that the

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Lord would bring peace Because peace is a fruit for you in your winning the world back to Christ If everything around you feels like it's chaos keep fighting

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Keep fighting until you see Christ as Lord over everything everything your life touches keep fighting until there's peace in every nook and cranny of your life and As you do that remember the final weapon, which is courage

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In the world, you will have tribulation but take courage take heart. I have overcome

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The world the Bible doesn't say that you don't have real sorrows real troubles real afflictions

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But the Bible does not give you an excuse to be bitter about it The Bible does not give you an excuse to be upset about it

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Christians have great joy because we have great courage that Christ has won This is a silly example,

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I didn't write it down so it might fail But do you remember when the Patriots were down like 28 to 3?

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That was an awful night. I was so solemn and glum how stupid of me.

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But anyway, I Looked over and the camera angle flipped over to the goat

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Tom Brady Didn't have a moment of chaos in his face all determination.

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He knew what was gonna happen He got on the field one play after another and before you know it the game is over and they had triumphed

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What a silly Example, but please let it be instructive the world may be falling apart around you, but you serve

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Jesus Christ and He will not let you fail and he will not let you lose and he will not let us lose

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This country may fall it may crash and it may crumble All countries do they have their time in the

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Sun and then they're gone But the kingdom of Jesus Christ still stands 2 ,000 years later

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It will still stand if the world exists 2 ,000 more years later. His kingdom will have great victory so brothers and sisters in that Do not lean into your flesh

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Do not allow your heart to be discouraged pray Like Jesus has won the world

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Have joy like Jesus has won the world Be saturated in his word like this world belongs to him and not our enemies

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Grow in the love of God like he has given you all good things because he owns the world and it's under his

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Ownership be renewed in your faith like he is winning and he's going to use you to advance his victory Imitate him imitate him here on earth with courage and great

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And great purpose have matchless peace in the midst of your trials and remember to take heart

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He has won These eight things are things you do for him as he has done everything for you.

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Amen Let's pray Lord Jesus you have won the victory

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Let us not be a people who live with the checked defeatism let us not walk out in the world with our head bowed low as if as if we are just the

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Impostors and the intruders and that we have something to apologize for for being here. This land is your land and Because of you this land is our land

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Lord, let us serve you with our heads held high with courage with love with joy with peace with patience with kindness and with courage

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Let everyone in this room Lord if the church exists to equip the Saints for the work of ministry and let us view the ministry as the world and let this church leave here in the courage of Jesus Christ armed with these eight weapons to do battle to see this world bow the knee to Jesus as We read in Hebrews 8

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Lord all will bow at some point Lord let us be a part of that expansion today

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Let us not be afraid let us not make excuses Let this people this church the

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Shepherd's Church be a people who are known as having great courage to serve her King It's in Jesus name.