Romans 8:26–39; Matthew 13:31–33, 44–52
Title: More Than Conquerors
Scripture: Psalms 105:1-11;Romans 8:26-39;Matthew 13:31-33
NOTES
1 Sam. 14:47
So Saul established his sovereignty over Israel, and fought against all his enemies on every side, against Moab, against the people of Ammon, against Edom, against the kings of Zobah, and against the Philistines. Wherever he turned, he [a]harassed them.
1 Sam. 17 David & Goliath
45 David said "You come to me with a sword, with a spear and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you…"
It is said, many people actuall do better with adversity than with success. Give worldy success to someone who does not know how to deal with it, and watch them destroy themselves.
David behaved more wisely than all the servants of saul. Think of it, the silence of the hillside was replaced by noise of the palace, solitutde of a shepherds life was pushed aside for multitude of admirers. Success like other things can become a habitual drug, wanting more and more. But not David
Saul killed his thousands and David his ten thousands…
Become a conqueror Joshua 1:5-9
Three times God said be strong! When God repeats himself, you should pay attention!
Strong means' firm, resolute, not swayed
What child remembers the good times in reading the comics in the Sunday newspapers? Garfield, the sarcastic and witty cat, was tormenting his owner John, or how about Family Circus that gave a real insight into the daily life of a child's mindset. One of the comics that come to mind is Hagar the Horrible. A Viking man who has lots of adventure, but one thing he does best solves his problems by either beating something, or brutally overcoming it with force. Much like this, modern-day heroes have a much different realism, don't they? To overcome something, whether it is an illness, family problems, finances, emotions, and many other examples you try things out and see if they work. If its advice or a book you read! What we tend to forget, is what it means to not just get by, or take care of the circumstance immediately, but to be a conqueror. Putting that word amongst your own name is something that is sort of scary to some, and rather unwelcoming to others. That word alone doesn't seem to register for most of us because it resonates power, authority, thrushing stronghold, capitalizing the moment of a indecisive battle with results expecting to be won. As the marines would say ‘Hoorah’.
I think about a trageity we seem to face far more often than not, is war! War on terror, war on drugs, war on peace, war on drunk driving, war on other nations and war with sin! Some nations or nationalities attempt in becoming the winner of the battle to claim the glorious title of ‘Conqueror’. Nepolean claimed himself to be ‘Emporer’ of France, Hitler claimed to be the chosen one while Conquering people with fear and retaliation, and so many other leaders in history have proven similar methods. Self portrail in a time of separation. That’s not the right reason is it?
If I was to tell you, you are a conqueror, would you believe me? What would it take to convince you? Would it be a 5 step program with guarantee results as long as you follow them exactly as described? Would it be doing all you can do towards bettering yourself and making sure you don’t hurt people in the process? Stepping up for the just and right things in life regardless of the outcome! Mmm sounds like a thought!
How about this philosphy, some days you may feel like you can conquer the world, and other days it takes hours to convince yourself to take a shower, clean the dishes or even pickup after yourself. What is missing here!
There was an article I read recently that gave the reader four steps to become a Conqueror. Hesitant in reading it, I saw some similarities in the thinking of the writer and previous leaders of the world that I mentioned, but I still questioned it. For starters, the head of the page portraited a valiant warrior mounted on a horse with a sword in hand while rearing the horse up into the air. The representation alone would probably give the reader a sense of anticipation to keep reading the article. What started me to see this article a hoax, the very first thing it had the reader to do is to 'THINK.' Now it continued to say 'think hard.' I laughed to myself, 'what in the world are you to think about!'. The next step was to Believe, but it didn't say what to believe, and then finally, the last step to become a conqueror was to 'Become' what you want to be. My friends, what a dangerous way to start your journey in being something when you start off thinking about whatever and become whatever you want. There isn't no direction in this philosophy is there!
When we hear the word conquering, we tend to think high level, much like being a General defeating a worthy foe on the battlefield, or finally figuring out that puzzle you been working on for weeks, and even when you cleaned out that closet you been putting off for a few years now. Conquering something is suppose to be a good thing to benefit us.
How about being a conqueror against cancer, negative thoughts, bad habits, better prayer life, bible study, church attendance, tithing, serving others, and so many other examples… is that conquering? It could be!
But what exactly is this conquering, how can I reach that? Well, I can tell you friends, there is a for sure way, that is not even closely related to the article I read to you.
My friends, there is hope! Hope in a way we can only comprehend if we was to accept it freely! Matthew tells us The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Lets look at this for a minute. What hidden treasure is worth selling everything you have to buy that field with the hidden treasure. You see friends, we have at our finger tips, a lush gift, a treasure available to all of us whom believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a priceless Spirit that indwells us, penetrates us and ultimately leads us to where we need to go. But what stops us? What un-despicable force drives us away?
Philip Ng, a Singapore business professional made a article that talks this subject. He starts of saying “Property development is for me, just a way of making a living. Before I cam to faith in God, I had always wanted to know him, perhaps in an intellectual way. I did not realise that knowing God involved a relationship. So I search, as there was something missing in me.” Continuing on he writes, “I took a biblical course that taught me ‘Believe so that you may understand and not understand so that you may believe.’ I dwelled on that and I believed. I know then that life only had meaning in God and Through God. As I read the bible, to me, the most piercing statement jesus made was John 14:6 ‘I am the way and the trugh and the life’.
My friends, you see here that this businessman through much turmoil, faith and perseverance became a conqueror but only through Jesus Christ. As I continued to read the article he spoke about some of his trials but he made a final statement “The words from Matthew 6:20-24 stirred in me. But store up yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy and robers cannot steal or break them.” We think we have things under control at times don’t we, and there are times when when we seem totally out of control, but in reality, if we have Jesus, he has control. Always has.
Have you ever heard of a ‘Minimalist’? It’s a term used as those that do NOT give themselves enough credit, enough recognition for successful works and accomplishments in their life. Making due with what you have! But on the other hand, it also has some people to live with less ‘stuff’ and have healthier life says psychologytoday magazine. I am not certain exactly how that works, but scripture tells us we cannot clutter our minds with junk and expect Godly results all the time. The more you fill your mind with success, love, peace, joy, the more likely you will respond likewise.
Being a conqueror is what paul tells us in Romans that even though tribulations, distress, persecution, famine, peril, sword or any other thing we are MORE than conquerors through Him who loved us unconditionally. Now to put a exclaimation point even further into this, Paul continues “For I am persuaded that neigher death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. I can quite literally end my sermon today with that remark couldn’t I?
Friends, none of us should want to boast about what ‘we’ have done because first of all we cant do anything without Christ, secondly as Isaiah states ‘Our righteousness is like filthy rags’. Nothing we do can liberate us into a free and sinless life apart from Christ. Does that mean we wont sin, No, but it means our sins can and will be forgiven IF we accept him as our Lord and Savior period.
When we have trials and tribulations, we think often times how painful it is first off don’t we! Then we think how can I fix this, and maybe what remedy can help resolve this. You see, our sinful flesh immediately responds to ‘self’ first and everything else second. Its almost like a hardwire response as if you was with a friend or family member that was about to fall and you immediately reached out to try and help. It’s a reactive response based upon your ‘will’.
Regardless of how we view ourlife, Christ works in his children and ‘being a conqueror’. So how do you become a conqueror? First you have to have the Lord Jesus as your personal Savior, if you don’t have that, there is no hope. To continue your journey there are 4 things to help complete your first step, say this with me:
READ
PRAY
TRUST
OBEY
Rather simplistic words that have a HOST of meanings. So as you continue your walk or journey, you learn to accept Jesus’ promise for all believers as your own. You will be MORE than conquerors as paul tells us.
No, its not going to happen over night, but it WILL happen. Regardless of who you are, these are steps ALL Christians had to take at some point in their lives to become ‘more’ Christ like. You can’t do it alone, only with the Holy Spirit can you accomplish it. You can’t pick up your bible once in a long while, pray not very often or fill your mind with junk and expect results that are promising. It takes work, but don’t think of it as a chore, but a joy my friends. Being a conqueor is something that absolutely will give us great hope in our future. As Christ has conquerored the grave, we have no need to worry about death, hell and the grave do we?
Well pastor I don’t seem to have faith to make it that far! My friends, none of us do, even I! That’s why we READ Gods word for guidance, PRAY without ceasing, TRUST him in all things we do and OBEY his HOLY SPIRIT. We can’t go wrong! What we lack, Christ will make whole, what we miss, Christ will reestablish, what we fail in, Christ will forgive. Friends, putting Christ first in all things we do is not just an important point, or good advice, it’s a NECESSITY! Even though we fail daily as paul stated, we are conquerors because we have the Lord Jesus Christ in our lives and by his stripes we are healed. We have a testimony to give, all of us. Let us start with ourselves, Amen.