¶ Introduction to Peace and Overcoming
Open your Bibles to John chapter 16 and meet me at verse 33. John chapter 16 and verse 33. And the word of the Lord from the Lord Jesus Christ written by the disciple John. He says, these things I have spoken to you that in me you may have peace. In the world you will, you will have tribulation. But be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. The same author in 1 John chapter 5 verse 1, and we'll read 4 and 5. Same author, 1 John chapter 5 verse 1, and we'll also read verses 4 through 5.
Verse 1 says, whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. Now, skip now to verse 4, if you don't mind, guys. Verse 4, and it says, For whatever is born of God overcomes the world, and this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith. Look at verse 5. Who is he? That's me. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.
And so we find through these passages of Scripture, first we find out that you are simultaneously in the world and in Christ. Because in verse 33 of John 16, Jesus says to us that in me you'll have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. So there will be extreme difficulties in the world. And I want you to know that I can relate to extreme difficulties. I can relate to pressure. I can relate to pain in my body. I can relate to bad doctor reports. I can relate to not having enough funds.
I can relate to children not always being obedient. I can relate to whatever situation that we're all involved in at work and being overlooked at work and feeling insignificant and feeling invaluable and feeling invisible. I can relate to all of that. And Jesus said in this world, you will experience these things. There's no one immune, I don't care what they tell you, no one is immune from experiencing difficulties in this world.
¶ The Nature of Peace in Christ
Now, the good thing is, is Jesus said, if you're a believer, then you're in me. And in me, you will have peace. And we understand that peace is safety and security, and it's not the absence of problems, it's actually the presence of Jesus. And one definition I like for the word peace is it's undisturbed composure.
Meaning you are unaffected There's trouble, there's difficulty But I'm unaffected because I'm in Christ And this is a level that you are already positioned in If you're in him, you can operate in undisturbed composure You just have to remind yourself that I'm in him And I am operating in undisturbed composure I am unbothered by what's going on around me Because I'm in him Now, that doesn't mean you're not going to go through anything.
It simply means I am in him and I have this peace and I am composed. I'm unemotional. I'm not up and down and schizophrenic. I operate with peace. I am composed. I have poise and I'm unbothered by what's going on around me. Now, when you realize who you are, you're not you're not trying to attain this peace. you already have it. Now you just have to appropriate it. I have to recognize and realize, okay, I'm not going to allow that to bother me.
And as I've gotten a little older, I've found out that a lot of stuff that used to bother me don't bother me anymore. I mean, stuff that used to mess with me, they don't mess with me anymore. Why? I've got some experience. I've got some know how. I know how to operate in the peace of God because I have been through this before. Some stuff that keeps bothering over and over and over, at some point you got to stand up and say, I've been through this before and I'm not going to react
like that anymore. Come on, somebody say amen to that. I've gone through that before and I'm going to stop responding like that because I'm in Christ and I have peace.
¶ Born of God: Our Identity
And in the first John, we find out that he says, whoever is born Born of God. Now say born of God. Born of God. Born of God means born from God. In John chapter 3, Nicodemus, who is a ruler of the synagogue, goes to Jesus by night. He didn't want to go to him by day. He appears to him by night and says, man, all these wonderful, miraculous works are you doing? How are you doing it? Jesus says to him, you must be born again.
Born again literally means born of God or born from God, but it also means born from above. You must be born from above. Jesus was telling us, I'm not from here. So we're in the world, but we are not of the world. We are not from the world. I live here. I'm not from here. I am from above. Somebody say, I'm from above. I'm from above. I'm from above. I'm not from here. I'm from above.
I'm born of God, and I'm from above. You know you can tell a lot about a person when you find out where they're from? I mean, you can tell a whole lot about a person. One of the first questions we ask people is, where are you from? Why do we ask that? Because it tells us a whole lot. Latoya's from Mississippi. That tells me a whole lot about Latoya. Guess what? I was born in Mississippi as well, right? And so you know a whole lot. Somebody say that I'm from Detroit, that tells you a whole lot.
Someone says, I'm from New York, you know a whole lot. I'm from Georgia. That tells you a lot. Where are you from? Many years ago, Stacy and I were dating, and we were, you know, having all of the questions in our initial sort of connection. We started out as really good friends. And anybody in here that is looking for a spouse or anybody online, I declare, marry your best friend. Yeah, I know people all the time. and they're like, well, that guy,
well, tell me about that guy. Well, he's just a friend. He might be your husband, okay? I'm telling you, Stacey and I were really good friends. We didn't start out full of lust. We started out as a friendship, and it developed. And so we were asking the questions, and she asked me one time, where are you from? I said, I'm from above. She was like, what? I said, I'm from above. She was like, what are you talking about? And I started telling her, I'm not from here. I'm from another dimension,
glory to God. I'm born of God. I got to preach in hallelujah. I'm born of God, and I am not from him. She thought I was crazy, but that was a test. I was testing, can she live with me? You know what I'm saying? I might be a little crazy sometime. And so when you're from above, then you will recognize that all of the difficulties in this earth. You can overcome them. Verse 4, he says that he who was born of God overcomes the world.
¶ The Fight of Faith
The word overcomes means to be declared victorious, overcomes the world. And how do we do it? This is the victory that overcomes. What is it? It's faith. It's faith. We believe God. I think it was R.W. Schenbach said this before he went on to heaven. He says, you don't have any problems. All you need is what? Faith in God. You ain't got no problems. All you need is faith in... Why did he say that? Because faith overcomes obstacles. Faith overcomes any type of challenges that you have.
Faith in God will overcome it, but you have to understand that the challenge is there so that you don't use your faith. The challenge is there to overrule your faith. But when you know, I trust God. Say that I trust God. Say, I believe God. Say, I depend on God. Say, I am God. When you begin to understand you are God's, he owns you and you came from his loins. When you begin to understand this, challenges and difficulties are now temporary.
They're extremely temporary. They will change and they must leave. But you got to know who you are and you have to know how to position yourself in order to overcome any obstacle. And that's faith in God. Faith in God overcomes difficulties and obstacles. And so I took some time this week and in the last few weeks.
Many of you know, I know if you don't, I'll tell you, I had the opportunity, the privilege several years ago to travel with a UFC fighter and he would invite Stacey and I to all of his fights. So we were all over the country and you know, these guys fight once or twice a year. So it's not much, unless you're crazy, unless you're crazy, you fight more than that. But once or twice a year, they would fight, and he would fight, and he would ask us to travel with him.
And by God's grace, man, he would pay for the whole thing. I mean, he would just cover, hey, I got you. Just come and hang with me, and I really need you when I travel to fight. And I had the opportunities to pray with him before he went into the octagon several times. And he was the champion, so he won a whole lot, right? And so I would pray with him before in the room, and he would be in a posture preparing to go into the octagon.
And one particular day after a fight, I never asked him before, but I would go in there and pray with him, and then I would leave, and then they would come pick him up and take him to the arena. I asked him, I said, tell me about your posture before you go into a fight. Now, understand, I want you to know this. I want to locate you.
¶ Preparing for Life’s Fights
You are in one of three positions right now. You have either just come out of a fight, you are headed into a fight, or you are currently in a fight, okay? This is where you are. You're not coasting, all right? You are either just come out, get ready for the next one, you are currently in one, or you are about to head into another. And I asked him, I said, what do you think before you go into the octagon? Like, what's going through your mind?
I mean, there's millions of people watching. There are thousands of people in the arena. What are you thinking? And I thought he would say something different. He goes, I'm very composed. I'm relaxed. I'm thinking about what I have to do in order to defeat this opponent. I thought he would have been wild, crazy, unemotional, right? Screaming, you know. He said, no, you'll lose like that. He said, you've got to be composed.
You've got to think through what I have to do in order to beat this opponent. He says, no hard feelings against him. I said, do you hate the opponent? He said, I don't hate him at all. He's just in the way. And he kind of got me thinking about our fight. We're all emotional and upset. Oh, Lord, do something, God. Do something. No, no, we should be positioned knowing who we are.
Knowing that I'm a child of the king and I'm not from here and I'm from above and I'm going to operate in undisturbed composure. And I'm about to go into a fight and I'm going to think through what I have to do. I ended up talking to a friend of mine who actually introduced me to this fighter. He actually is a silver medalist wrestler. And I asked him, what do you do to prepare to go into a match and i love this answer he said one i only think about the the controllables.
The controllables what can i can what can i control that's the only thing i think about and the second thing he said to me is and i remind myself that i am ready and i am prepared, for this fight notice neither two of these champions one is a multiple champion belt the has medals notice neither of them said anything about the opponent. Nothing about the opponent. They're not even thinking about the opponent. They're thinking about, I need to be calm. I need to be relaxed.
I have a job to do, and I need to control what I can control. I asked one of them. I said, you don't think about the opponent? He goes, no. Anytime I think about the opponent, I start losing. I only think about what I can control and what I have been preparing for in order to go into this fight.
¶ The Importance of Preparation
And it really caught my attention You're not coming to church To check off a box To say I came to church today You're not reading your Bible To check off a box saying I read my Bible today You're not listening to worship To check a box I listen to worship today What you're doing is you're actually Preparing for a fight Because a fight is coming I wish I could tell you There will be, some McDonald's coming at the end of the fight. No.
And I wish I could tell you that cotton candy will fall from the sky. No, no, no, no, no, no. You are right now preparing for a fight. This is why it's important to continue to listen to the Word. It's important why you continue to be faithful in reading the Word and spending time with God and coming to church because you are in preparation for a fight that is right ahead of you. And most people aren't prepared for the fight because they didn't prepare when
the fight came. And the fight is coming. Either you're in it or it's coming. And you got to prepare. And I started thinking like. Well, I'm reading this Bible today, not so I can say, well, I read my two chapters today. I'm reading it because I'm preparing for a fight. My whole mindset's changing. I'm praying in the spirit. Why? I'm preparing for a fight. When's the fight coming? I don't know, but it's coming, and I'm preparing for it.
I'm listening to worship me. Why? I'm preparing. I'm preparing for a fight. I'm singing. Why? I'm preparing. I'm preparing. I was with the heavyweight champion once, and we were in, actually, we were in Buffalo, and he dropped me off. He had a driver, and the driver dropped me off. And I said, what are you about to do? And this was probably 11.30 at night, and the fight was a couple days later. I said, what are you about to do? Because I was about to go to the hotel and go to sleep.
And I said, what are you about to do? He goes, I'm about to go for a four-mile run. I said, man, it's 11.30 at night. He said, when I get in the octagon, that's what time I get in. I get in at 11.30 at night. So my body needs to be ready to get in the octagon at this time of night because that's when the fight is. So he's going for a run when I'm going to bed. What's he doing? He's preparing. He's preparing. He's preparing for the fight. He's preparing. He's preparing.
He's preparing for the fight. And you and I are preparing for a fight.
¶ The Call to Fight
The scripture tells us, I know you just want to be in the family of God, but you're actually fighters. Wrestle not, you don't wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers and rulers. You're called to fight. Paul told Timothy, fight the good fight of faith. He even said the word fight twice. Fight the good fight of faith. We're called to fight.
Say, I'm called to fight. You're not called to roll over and let sickness and disease beat you up and let circumstances beat you up and let the devil beat you up. You're not called to just whatever happens, happens, and that must be the will of God. No, you're called to fight. Somebody say, I'm a fighter. When you recognize that you're called to fight, you'll start seeing everything as preparation. I'm preparing. I came to church today because I'm preparing for a fight.
I don't know when it's coming, but it's coming, and it's coming. It could be today, and I'm preparing. And then when it comes, you ain't freaking out, acting all crazy. I've been preparing for this. Somebody say amen to that. Amen. I've been preparing for this, so here we go. This is how we're going to fight this thing. We're going to fight it with the word of God, and that's how you fight. The word of God is the sword of the spirit.
I'll talk about this over the next couple of weeks, but the sword of the spirit is your weaponry to fight the enemy. You put the word in your mouth, and you fight against the obstacle and the opposition, whatever it might be. Well, they tell you, hey, your kid don't have the ability to learn. Well, thank you, doctor. I appreciate you saying that. But the word of God says that they have the mind of Christ. So you say, little Johnny, you got the mind of Christ. Johnny,
say this out to me. I have, I have the mind of Christ. Amen. And get Johnny believing that. Amen. And Johnny may not act like he want to say it, but make him say it. Amen. You ain't your kids' friends.
You're supposed to help lead and guide and instruct and direct and mold into what God's called them to be Somebody say amen to that And I'll get into that later, but I want to talk today about this preparation of a fight I want to come from there are four ways that the Lord showed me why we get defeated.
¶ Four Reasons for Defeat
We're victorious. We are seated in heavenly places with Christ. Jesus overcame the world, deprived it of the power to harm you and I. That's what John 16, 33, the Amplified Classic says. First John, we found out faith overcomes the world. So why do we get defeated in a fight? Why do we see people look defeated and come out limping and beat up and have lost? Why is that the case? And the Lord gave me four different words. I was asking the Lord because there was a situation where someone died that
I was not expecting to die. And I said, what happened? And a lot of things the Lord may not tell you because those are secret things and they belong to the Lord. That's between a person. Some things, you're not going to know everything that happens. But the Lord graced me with the revelation of what happened in this situation, and I start seeing it across the board. There are four words that we're going to talk about today that cause us to be defeated when it comes to a fight.
Number one is denial. We deny that we even have a problem. It's complete denial. You deny, you and I deny that there is an obstacle, that there is a situation, that there is a doctor's report, that there is something that the sociologists have said, there is something that the therapists have said, and we completely deny that it even exists. I've heard people literally say, the doctor says you have cancer, and they say, no, I don't.
No, I don't. Well, the report says, I don't have cancer. I do not. No, I don't. And Scripture never tells us, listen to me clearly, Scripture never tells us, call things that are as though they are not. Scripture tells us to call things that are not as though they are. All right, I'm going to help you with this. What we unintentionally do is something happens, your son's going to be in this condition the rest of their life.
And then we say, that's not true. That's not true at all. That's not true. That's not true. Nope, that's not true. I'm not even going to listen to that because it's not true. It's just not true. It's not true. And then all of a sudden, they end up in that condition, and you sat there the entire time and denied that it even existed. What we're supposed to do is get that report and begin to look at it and say, okay, the report says this. I'm not going to deny that it exists.
That is what it says. Now, what I'm going to do is I'm going to now call things that be not, Romans 4, 17, as though they were. What does that mean? I'm calling the future as if it exists currently. So I'm calling things that be not. Okay, they're saying you got a sickness in the body that's incurable. Or no, I don't. No, I don't. That's denying the problem. No, I call healing by his stripes. I am healed. So now I'm calling I'm calling things that be not as though they were. I am not.
I'm going to get healed. I am healed. Well, the doctor said, yes, I respect what the doctor says. Yep, the doctor did say that. But the word says by his stripes, I am healed. Somebody say, I'm healed. I'm healed. I'm healed. So I'm going to call things that be not as though they were. I'm not going to call things that are as though they are not. This is important. I've been around a long time, and I've seen people miss it here. They're saying, I don't have it, I don't have it, I don't have it.
You have it. Now get rid of it with the Word of God. You don't deny that it exists. It exists. But use the Word to get rid of it and then have the doctors confirm it. Somebody say amen. Amen. Years ago, one of my children didn't talk as fast as my other children. I mean, just was quiet and didn't talk as much. And then, you know, we went to the doctor and said, well, he's going to this one is going to always have some sort of kind of, you know, speech impediment
and this and that. And so we said, thank you, doctor. And then we went to Mark chapter seven, verse thirty five that says Jesus loosed his tongue. And he began to speak to speak distinctively as he should. And we begin to declare over one of my children, in the name of Jesus, your tongue is loose and you will speak distinctively as you should. Somebody say amen. And we begin to declare it. And we begin to declare it. And next thing you know, I can't stop them from talking. Be quiet.
Five minute break. What happened? I call things that be not as though they were. I didn't deny what the doctor said. And if I would have denied it, I'd have never spoke to it, and it would have continued. Denial is the number one. The Lord showed me this. People are denying that they even have a problem.
¶ Denial: The First Barrier
They're literally, you tell them, I didn't even hear it. And that, you don't get better by denying an issue. You say, listen, we got a problem. And now I need to address it with the word of God. Somebody shout amen. Amen. Number two, the Lord showed this to me. He said fear. He said fear. He said people fear bad news. So they fear it so they don't want to hear it. Matter of fact, in Psalms 112 verse 7 in the New Living Translation, it says, this is what the righteous people do.
They do not fear bad news. They confidently trust the Lord to care for them. So righteous people, that's you and I, born of God, we don't fear bad news. We confidently trust the Lord to care for us. So here's what typically happens. Someone doesn't want to hear the bad news. Matter of fact, I just had lunch with someone this week. They were talking about their knees were in a lot of pain. And they asked me what I was preaching this weekend. And I told them.
And they said, I don't even want to go to the doctor. I said, why not? They said, because I don't want them to tell me I need knee replacement. So fearing the bad news. So he's going to stay in pain because he fears the bad news. when he could easily go, find out what they say, and I'm not saying they're always right, but I would want to find out what they say. Come on, somebody. Don't be ignorant. Let's find out what they say. Okay, now I know more.
Now I know how to address it or attack it or to overcome it when I know more, but man, I don't even want to go.
¶ The Fear of Bad News
And it could be something that they need to probably put a do-do and these needs will be completely fine, but he's too afraid to go because they may give bad news. I cannot tell you, I mean, people I've talked to refuse to address a known problem. I see it and you see it. It's a problem. But they won't address it because they fear the bad news. And then they end up in that situation, defeated, and they'll say, well, God's word doesn't work.
Well, it doesn't work because it didn't work for you because you didn't find out what the news was. And listen, Mark chapter 4 says three out of four times, it didn't work. It was the condition of the person's heart. The seed was sown, but their heart didn't receive the word, so it didn't work for them. So number two, we can't fear bad news. As a matter of fact, Psalms 112 verse 8 in the Passion Translation, Psalms 112 verse 8 in the Passion Translation, I like this. steady and strong.
They will not be afraid, but will calmly face their every foe until they go down in defeat. Hallelujah. Say amen to that. They're going to face every foe until the foe goes down in defeat. The foe can't beat you when you're prepared and you know how to fight. You can't lose. And so one, we need to stop denying. Well, little Johnny said something going on in their right eye. Well, ain't nothing going on. Ain't nothing going on in your eye,
Johnny. Ain't nothing going on. Find out what's going on in his eye. Amen. And then address it with the Word of God. So we're not going to, one, we're not going to deny we have a problem. Two, we're not going to fear the bad news. Just because they give you bad news doesn't mean that's going to happen. Do you remember the bad news Jezebel gave Elijah? Tomorrow about this time, I'm going to kill you. Elijah took off running. Then it said he ran for 40 days. He just kept running.
And I started thinking about that like, well, she says she's going to kill him tomorrow. Now we're 40 days after it. Jezebel lied. Are you listening? That news doesn't mean that it's a death sentence. That news just tells you what's going on. Now you address it.
¶ Pride: The Silent Struggle
Don't ever fear bad I tell people just tell me the bad news You want good news, bad news, or I want the bad news first Go ahead and tell me the bad news Let me hear it, let me digest it And then let me see what the Lord wants to do about it But don't be afraid to hear bad news, Say amen to that Don't be afraid to hear bad news Now don't watch the news 24 hours a day, 7 days a week That's all bad, okay, You're going to turn into another person All right, number three the Lord told
me So we got denial, we got fear Number three, the Lord said, pride. He said, pride. He said, people have too much pride. They will not admit. They won't admit that they need help, so they won't solicit help. This is just me and God. Me and God got this, and I don't need help. Scripture says pride goes before a fall, meaning you're going to fall off your path if you operate in pride. Pride doesn't solicit help.
There are many people that are fighting a battle that I could help them with, but they won't tell me. They won't tell you. You won't tell them. Now, I'm not saying you got to tell everybody.
There's something going on in my life I got a handful of friends that I call Man, that's going on Pray, you know, help me with I don't get up on the microphone and blast it and get on Facebook Let everybody, let me let everybody I don't do that Because then, you know, you're looking for sympathy at that point I'm looking for help I ain't looking for sympathy I need some help, And so pride will cause you not to tell someone, What's going on in your life Pride will cause you to think I got it.
I got it. And we're called to walk together. We're called to fellowship together to bear one another's burdens. But pride says, I got it. I got it. I can handle it. I got it. I don't need any help. I got it. I got it. I got it. And we have to be aware of pride because pride believes a deception. And the deception is a lie. You don't have it, and it's okay. It's okay. I need help. I need some advice. I need to know what to do. I need somebody to talk to. I just need to get it off my chest.
Nobody's going to think, nobody's going to belittle you, and if they do, then you tell them the wrong person. No, I just, I can't do this alone. And the truth of the matter is, nobody's even thinking about you that much. Well, they might think less of me. They're not even really thinking about you. I got my own stuff I'm thinking about. I ain't thinking about you. I bet not tell them that because they're going to think differently than me.
They already figured out how they're going to think about you. And so don't let pride cause you to be defeated. That's one of the ways the enemy got kicked out of heaven. Lucifer, who is now Satan, kicked out because of pride. And the last thing the Lord told me. So what was number one? Denial. What was number two? Fear. What was number three? Pride. Number four is lazy.
¶ Laziness: The Work Ethic
He said lazy. People get defeated because they are lazy. One, they don't want to go find out what's going on. Two, they're denying it. Three, they're full of pride. And four, I just don't want to do the work that it takes. And a lot of times, it's going to take a lot of work in the natural to overcome these obstacles.
When things are going on in my life or in my body, I, and I'll tell you this in a few weeks, but I literally write out confessions from the Word of God, and I start talking to myself. And that takes a lot of effort. I mean, I can lay in the bed, but I get up and say, no, I need to address this thing.
I'll start talking to it Or I'll start running on the treadmill If it's something that If the blood pressure is too high Man, I gotta work out I gotta get this thing down And don't be afraid to take medicine either I ain't gonna take no medicine.
God created medicine I'm tired of hearing people say I ain't gonna take no medicine And can't believe God to get rid of a headache, Go ahead and pop that ibuprofen, okay Stop it, drink a glass of water Stop, stop I'm not pastor, I'm not going to take any medicine at all Have you ever believed God to get a headache? Never You better pop that medicine in And that's okay Lazy People want without the work What hard working people have. People want, without the work, what hardworking people have.
Pastor Sam said this a couple weeks ago when he was here, and he said that I told him this. My philosophy is I work in the natural as if there is no God. Like, I do everything I can in the natural, like God does this, and then I believe God at the same time as if nothing I'm doing in the natural is working.
I do it simultaneously. I go after whatever is in the natural, and then I go after God as if this natural is not working, and I do it simultaneously because I'm believing for results, and you will not look and say, pastor is lazy. I am going after it. I'm going to get the results. I'm going to fight. I am not going to quit. I'm going to keep going. I am not going to stop. You're not going to beat me in the submission. I am going to keep going. I'm going to keep going. I'm going to keep going.
I'm going to keep going because I'm not lazy. And one of the things I told a friend of mine just recently, I said, there's one thing that you'll hear about the Alexander kids. There are going to be more than one, but there's going to be one that you're going to know. They are not going to be lazy. My kids are going to be hardworking individuals. And you need to have a vision for your family too. What are they going to be? Mine are not going to be lazy. If I see lazy, I drive it out with the rod.
I drive it out. I don't believe in laziness. And so when you make sure that you are not allowing denial, fear. Pride, and laziness, those four will defeat you. They'll defeat you, and you're fighting the good fight of faith.
¶ Conclusion: Born to Win
But if those four are in operation and you haven't addressed them, they will defeat you. When I was asking the Lord about a particular person died, and I was like, how in the world did they die? We were believing. The Lord said this person actually had all four, all four in operation. They denied they had it, and they thought they were in faith. There was a lot of fear, so they stopped going to the doctor. I didn't realize until after they died. Stopped going to the doctor.
A lot of pride, you know. I barely found out. And I'm supposed to know them, you know. And they were lazy because one statement they said, I don't want to do all that. I don't want to do all that. Lazy. And it'll take you out. It'll take you out. But when you are prepared for the fight, you are right now in preparation. You are in development. You are in construction. Foundation is being laid in your life right now. When that preparation is in your life, the fight will come and it's coming.
And now you know how to defeat it. If I don't allow these four things, I'll say this and we'll wrap it up. You are born to win. Amen. Amen. Say this. I am born to win. This is how you experience true life. Hallelujah. Come on. Put your hands together for Jesus. Stand to your feet. Let me pray for you. Glory be to God. Did y'all get some other word today? Hallelujah. You're born to win. Next week is pastor anniversary and I want to see you here. I want to see your smiling faces here.
Not anniversary, appreciation. Pastor appreciates, not my anniversary Appreciation, so I want to see you here And it's going to be a good Sunday Come ready, come early, come ready to, Love on the Lord, love on each other, and I'm excited about it as well. And know this, we're winners. We're winners in life. Everything, everything that comes against us is secondary. It's beneath us. You are above it. You really are. Jesus even, or I'm saying, sorry, Paul said this in 1 Corinthians 10, 13.
He said there is no test that can come your way that you're not able to overcome. God is faithful. He won't even allow it. So any situation that comes your way, you already should know. I might preach on that in a couple of weeks. You already should know that God would now not even allow it to come if it could defeat you. If it could overrun you and take you out he wouldn't even allow it. So what does that mean? That means I have everything I need to defeat it.
I have everything I need to overcome. I've got everything I need to advance and succeed and experience true life. Amen.
