How to Overcome the Devil with Pastor Greg Laurie

let's pray lord we know one day we'll be doing that in heaven and we look forward to that day and so we're asking in this service you'll bring some heaven to earth and help us get a heavenly perspective as we look at our lives as we look at our nation as we look at our world as we look at the future and so we ask your blessing now in this time of bible study because you have indeed promised a blessing to the person who reads hears and keeps the words of the book that we're about to open the book of revelation so lord we are people in need of a blessing right now bless your people we pray in jesus name we ask it amen you can all be seated good morning good to see you all in the sanctuary right now [Applause] so just a little update what do you think of our really super cool screens that we have we saved a lot of money uh we're gonna put an old black and white tv in there know what we have new screens that will be installed soon and uh and then we have our lights that we're gonna bring back in again our balcony will be open really soon all of this by easter uh there's a slight delay in the pews so we're gonna have we're gonna get you out of those really funky chairs those are bad chairs aren't they they're the worst thank you for your patience uh we're gonna put in some nice upholstered chairs in the interim and uh and then we'll have our pews pretty soon and we'll get everything fired up and opened up across our campus so that's what we're looking for do so i'd like to hear from the folks out in the amphitheater on the count of three i need you to yell as loud as you can jesus i'm talking to you empathy theater people ready you see jesus on three one two three go wait you guys can't do it because then i can't hear them okay amphitheater are you hearing me okay here we go jesus on three one two three forget it okay i didn't hear them did you hear them okay i must be going deaf i don't know what's going on hey uh of course easter is coming we have some flyers for you as you leave today they come in packets of five use them if take one if you use all of them if not open it up and share with somebody else but it's just a straightforward easter invitation it says he has risen on the cover death died when christ rose i am the resurrection of the life from jesus and then just kind of the service times basically palm sunday we're going to obviously have our services and next sunday which is palm sunday we're going to be joined by our special friend phil wickham it's going to be awesome and we're going to hear a message from pastor jonathan laurie that's next sunday palm sunday and of course tomorrow is jonathan's birthday was that a way to get presents telling us all that okay good friday of course we'll have services they're going to be at 12 in the afternoon 7 p.m at both harvest and riverside and harvest orange county and easter sunday uh we're going to have early service at eight o'clock in the morning and then let's see eight no six a.m excuse me 8 a.m 10 a.m and 12 p.m so we're adding a service for easter grab these as you leave and you know these are to give out to invite people to come and join you to church i want to welcome harvest orange county right now and also harvest kumalani on the island of maui let's welcome them with some applause it's our extended church glad you're all with us let's turn in our bibles now to revelation chapter 11. we're going to look at revelation 11 and 12 and the title of my message is how to overcome the devil well spring is officially here and i like that i like to get all that daylight back i wish we could just do away with daylight savings time here in california but still when we get to spring forward though i lose an hour of sleep i love having daylight going on longer and that means summer is coming so some of us might be thinking a little bit about our summer vacation hopefully it'll be better than last summer and we'll have more freedom to get out and about and and we're maybe thinking about where we might go maybe some place warm wouldn't it be nice if the devil took a vacation wouldn't it be nice if satan took summer off and went someplace really warm like hell reminds me of a story i've shared with you before of a of a man in chicago a businessman who was going to go on vacation with his wife to florida but he was going to leave a day before so uh he he flew and landed in florida and uh and he texted his wife but here's a problem his wife just changed her phone number so when he texted her the text did not go to his wife but instead it went to an elderly pastor's widow the pastor had just died and her family was gathered in the home and her phone lit up and she got a text from her husband uh which wasn't her husband at all was this other guy but it was from her husband she read it shrieked and feigned it and the family came rushing in to see what happened they picked up her phone and this was the message she got dearest wife just landed yesterday looking forward to your arrival tomorrow p.s it sure is hot down here yeah how many of you have heard that before okay what do you want a medal okay i changed it a little i don't know if you noticed it i changed it it used to be an email now it's a text this never happened it's just a story but anyway coming back to my point it would be great if the devil took summer off a month off a week off a day off a week an hour off even no but he doesn't do that the bible describes him as restless roaming about looking for trouble let me ask you a question have you ever been overcome by the devil i think we're all honest we would answer yes does it always have to be that way do you have to constantly be his punching bag do you have to be defeated again and again and again and trapped in some vice or addiction or some other area of your life where he has control the answer is no and i want to talk to you in this message about how to overcome the devil listen we need to know we are in a spiritual battle it's real if we could pull the veil back and see into the supernatural world it would blow our little minds the realm of god and of satan of angels and of demons the the world that is to come the world will all enter into one day and it's a spiritual battle that rages in ephesians 6 paul says we're not wrestling against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers and spiritual authorities in high places therefore put on the whole armor of god well now we come here in revelation 11 to the midway point of the book of revelation we're half way through and there's a shift in the narrative as well let's compare revelation again to a movie up to this point john has been an observer remember he was on the island of patmos banished there and the lord came and gave this amazing revealing of the future and so up to this point as we read the gospel of john john is observing he's recording he's describing to the best of his ability in first century language what he was seeing but all of a sudden he's brought into the story maybe you've watched a movie and you relate to a certain character and you're thinking oh i wish i could go into that movie i wish i could live in that movie or if i were that character what would i do under those circumstances in effect john is brought into the movie if you will and he plays an actual role in it in revelation chapter 10. a powerful angel gives to john a small scroll and he tells them to eat it so this scroll or little book if you will is a revelation of what is coming and it's hard so as he eats it it's sweet at first and then then it turns bitter in his stomach sort of like my experience with krispy kreme donuts they're great going down but after 20 minutes you you're thinking why did i do that i think my record is six six late don't judge me you know they're smaller than normal don't you've ever looked a little smaller and when it's a hot doughnut come on but anyway so this is a revelation of what's coming he eats it but then it turns bitter in his mouth and we shift gears now and uh revelation 11 starting in verse 1. john writes there was given a rod like a measuring rod or a reed like a measuring rod and the angel stood saying rise and measure the temple of god the altar and those who worship there but leave out the court which is outside the temple so all of a sudden johnson this story now he's part of it and he's measuring the temple uh don't measure it uh leave out the outside of the temple uh that's given to the gentiles and they will tread the holy city under foot for 42 months and i will give my power to two witnesses and they will prophesy 1260 days and they'll be clothed in sackcloth by the way that's three and a half years there are two olive trees and the two lamb stands standing before the god of the earth and if anyone wants to harm them fire proceeds from their mouth and devours their enemies and if anyone wants to harm them he must be killed in this manner they have power to shut heaven so no rain falls and they have power over waters to turn them to blood and to strike the earth with all plagues as often as they desire you know it's interesting chapter 11 of revelation opens up with the city of jerusalem and what it is saying is jerusalem will play a key role in the end times that's so important think about this this was written 2 000 years ago and a finger is being pointed look to israel and look to jerusalem they will play a role ironically the name jerusalem means city of peace but more wars have been fought at her doorstep than any other city in the entire world the other day i had the opportunity to be in a phone call with a handful of pastors with a consul general of israel who's based in los angeles so we were sort of giving us an update on what's going on over there and uh we all know that iran is the avowed enemy of israel they're the number one sponsor of terrorism around the world in fact today i read in a news site that they're directly threatening us right now the united states and they're always threatening israel and have made no secret of their desire to eradicate the jewish nation take over the city of jerusalem and drive the jewish people into the sea now up to this point iran has engaged in her acts of terrorism by proxy through other terrorist organizations like hezbollah and hamas but the consul general told us for the first time israeli troops are directly fighting iranian troops and it's happening over in syria you say well what does that have to do with anything has a lot to do with what the bible says about the last days we'll get to this in the future but in ezekiel 37 38 and 39 we read we read of a large force attacking israel in the last days known as magog many believe that could be modern-day russia and one of the allies of maga is identified as persia which is modern-day iran so we know one of the signs of the end times would be hostility from iran toward israel and so we look at this situation here that that's happening and it just continues to escalate i saw just the other day that iran is boasting of some missile city that they have basically it's all these missiles that they have collected in a high-tech underground base that they intend there's some video right there if you look at the screen and they intend to use these missiles against israel so they're making no secret about what the real desires but it's fascinating how the name of jerusalem keeps coming up again and again in scripture as a super sign of the end times zechariah 12 3 says on that day when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her god says i will make jerusalem and a moveable rock for all nations all who try to move it will injure themselves but there are some things that have to happen there in jerusalem for these events to unfold number one jerusalem must be in jewish ants and it is of course on may 14th 1948 israel became a nation but they did not have control of jerusalem that actually happened in the six day war in 1967 so for the first time jerusalem was under the control of the jewish nation again so that's been fulfilled but then number two as we're reading here the third temple must be rebuilt there's been two jewish temples uh first the temple of solomon then what we sometimes call herod's temple that was taken down stone by stone exactly as jesus predicted it would be but the third temple has not been built but that's actually something the antichrist is going to do so any movement toward the rebuilding of a third temple is of interest to the prophecy students and something significant is going to happen when that third temple is rebuilt by the antichrist something called the abomination of desolation is going to take place in matthew 24 jesus said when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by daniel the prophet then it's just let the reader understand that's fascinating because as i've said to you before we need to understand bible prophecy it's not god's desire to conceal but to reveal so there's a little footnote when you see the abomination of desolation understand what this means jesus goes on to say when you see the abomination of desolation that those that are in judea flee to the mountains and pray that your flight was not on sabbath day for then there will be great tribulation such as not happen since the beginning of time nor ever shall be so antichrist emerges on the scene as a good guy he appears as a good guy remember the four horsemen of the apocalypse the first rider the antichrist is on a white horse he's an imitation jesus remember the prefix anti doesn't just mean against it means instead of some will hail him as the very messiah he'll bring peace he'll bring economic solutions he'll rebuild the temple for the jewish people and everyone will be so happy you know though i'll be singing like in the lego movie everything is awesome right not so then he'll show his true colors at the halfway mark of the tribulation that lasts for seven years antichrist will show his true colors when he commits or does the abomination of desolation he'll say but what is that it's when he erects an image of himself in the temple and demands that people worship it 2 thessalonians 2 4 says of antichrist he opposes and exalts himself above all that has called god or his worship so he is god sitting in the temple of god whose coming is after the working of satan with all power and pretended miracles and lying wonders so we look at this and we say wow that could happen soon right but before antichrist can be revealed the church must first be removed so if anti-christ is getting close then the coming of jesus christ for his people is even closer right so that's good news for us anti-christ will deceive with his peaceful i put in quotes solutions in fact the bible says through peace he will deceive many and is that not the cry of so many today no more wars we want globalism we don't want walls we don't want barriers we don't even want to identify as nations we don't care if tyranny reigns we don't care if we lose our freedom or liberty we just want peace man all we're saying is just give peace a chance well antichrist will give you the peace and that's how he will come in and get control and so in the midst of this darkness of the tribulation period god raises up two powerful witnesses two radiant lights in this time of darkness who are these witnesses let's see if we can figure it out by rereading a verse six they have power to shut heaven so no rain falls in the days of their prophecy they have power over waters to turn them to blood and strike the earth with all plagues as often as they desire i have to admit that would be a pretty cool superpower to strike someone with a plague when you wanted to someone cut you off on the freeway you're like i'm plaguing you right now may your car be filled with frogs i'm going to throw in some locusts too turn your bottle water to blood whoa of course they don't do that in a vindictive way but who are these witnesses well two mind two people come to mind moses and elijah moses of course touched his staff to the nile river and it turned to blood moses demanded the release of the jewish people and the pharaoh resisted and a series of plagues came upon egypt so i believe one of these witnesses will be moses brought back again but greg when people die they're dead yeah but you know god can do what he wants though it's true that it's appointed unto when man wants to die it appears that god is bringing moses back for a final performance and then we also have i think elijah he's a prophet that is identified as stopping the rain remember he went into king ahab and said it will not reign but according to my word and calling fire down from heaven upon mount carmel he faced off with the prophets of baal and and he prayed and fire came from heaven he also called fire on people that bothered him there's a story of a time when a new king replaced ahab and he fell out of his bed and was injured horribly and sent his representatives to go to the false temples and ask baal for some wisdom and direction and as these guys are on their way they run into this interesting character uh and he says what is there not a god in israel that you have to go to seek counsel from baal so they go back to the king and said we're we're going to find out what was happening from baal but we ran into this guy the king said what did he look like he was kind of hairy it's elijah so the king sends a captain with a group of 50 soldiers to arrest elijah who's on a little hilltop and they walk up to him he man of god the king says come down from there right now elijah says if i'm a man of god let fire come from heaven and consume you and your fifty well he was a man of god torched the king sends a second group of 50 soldiers with a captain they go to the hill where elijah is hey man of god the king says come down from there at once he wants to speak with you elijah says if i'm a man of god let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your 50. again they're torched a third group of 50 is sent with a captain and he says uh sir i'm a family man here's pictures of my kids please pretty please come down and the lord says go with them and so elijah comes down but the point is you didn't want to tick off elijah so these prophets who i believe are probably moses and elijah are bringing fire from heaven uh they're stopping the rain plagues are coming and so forth verse six speaks of the day of their prophecy prophecy in the new testament does not necessarily refer exclusively to predicting the future its primary meaning means to speak forth to proclaim or to preach so the gospel is going to go out in many ways during the tribulation period we all we have the 144 000 witnesses that i describe as you know kosher billy grahams right combing the planet we have an angel flying through the heavens ultimately proclaiming the everlasting gospel and we have these two witnesses and uh look at verse 7 of chapter 11 of revelation when they finish their testimony the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit will make war against them and overcome them and kill them and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which spiritually is called sodom and egypt where our lord was also crucified this beast that's being described as none other than antichrist he can't lay a finger on them until they have finished their testimony and as i've said to you before no one's going to lay a finger on you until you're done with what god has called you to do so don't sit around worrying about when you're gonna die you'll die when that day comes that has been appointed you will not live a day longer but you will not live a day less either so just finish your testimony finish your ministry they finished what they were called to do and they're killed and they're laid in the street and everyone's watching look at verse nine then those from the peoples tribes tongues and nations will see their dead bodies three and a half days and will not allow their dead bodies to be put in the grave so antichrist not only kills them he was allowed to do that but he wants to desecrate their bodies now i have a bunch of commentaries and many on the book of revelation and i was reading one commentary written over 100 years ago and the author was wondering how on earth could there come a moment in time when everyone in the world could see something at the same time well we know the answer don't we i'm holding the answer in my hand this is called a cell phone and of course through satellite technology and live streaming uh this could be streamed effectively or broadcast to the entire world and it even gets weirder because and by the way most people have cell phones today 96 of americans have them and uh i read that there will be 17 billion mobile devices in use by 2024 so the tech is here okay we don't even have to argue that point but now these people take this tragic death of these two witnesses and turn it into some perverse celebration look at verse 10 those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them make merry and send gifts to one another because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth excuse me how do they torment people they were telling them the truth coming back to the scroll of the book that john eats that turns sweet the word of god is sweet to the believer and it's bitter to the non-believer so i'll read the bible and it will comfort me and it will strengthen me and it will give me clarity and a non-believer will hear the bible and say i don't like that because it calls me out or tells me something i'm doing is wrong before god and so people say they're tormenting us tormenting us these prophets it reminds me of what the king ahab said to elijah when he came into his court in first kings 18 17 he said oh troublemaker of israel why are you here elijah wasn't the troublemaker king ahab was a troublemaker and often people will break the commandments of god reap the consequences of doing it and then blame god and blame christians right they're bringing it on themselves and that's exactly what's happening here and now they're having this weird celebration sort of like an upside down christmas you've heard of christmas well this is anti-christmas you know antichrist anti-christmas giving gifts to one another maybe they'll take some of our songs we wish you an enter christmas we wish you i don't know and they're giving gifts to each other hey man happy dead prophet's day isn't it great those guys are dead look i got a feet on my phone they're still dead isn't that great this is wonderful and they're partying and they're celebrating having a great old time and then god crashes their party verse 11 after three and a half days the breath of life from god enters them they stood on their feet and great fear fell on those who saw them and i heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them come up here and they ascended to heaven and a cloud and their enemies saw them and in the same hour there was an earthquake and a tenth of the city fell uh in the earthquake and seven thousand people were killed and the rest were afraid and gave glory to the god of heaven wow wake up call reminds me of the story of king belshazzar in the book of daniel the grandson of nebuchadnezzar his grandson a father was a wicked man but turned to god and so he died and his grandson didn't pay much attention to you know grandpa's conversion and so when he came into power he had the bright idea of having a big party he said hey let's get all those you know cups and things those jews use in their worship of god and let's fill them with wine and let's give toast to the false gods of our nation especially dagon who is half man and half fish and so they're worshiping their false gods and the bible says suddenly there was a hand writing on the plaster of the wall in the words where many many tackle eufarsin which means you've been weighed in the balances and you've been found lacking and i love the king james description of what happened it says that when the king saw this his face turned pale with fright his knees knocked together in fear and his legs gave way beneath him it's actually impro implied in the original language he may have wet his pants which makes sense if you saw a handwriting on a wall just a hand right there right in on the wall you would probably be pretty shocked too and so god stops this party and now war breaks out in heaven you've heard of star wars of course and angels are described as stars now we see the original star wars no luke skywalker no princess leia no yoda no han solo but lots of angels duking it out in the supernatural world revelation chapter 12 verse 7 and war broke out in heaven michael and the angels fought with the dragon and the dragon and his angels fought but they did not prevail nor was the place found for them in heaven any longer and that great dragon was cast out the serpent of old called the devil and satan who deceives the whole world he was cast to the earth and his angels were cast out with him and i heard a loud voice saying in heaven now salvation and strength and the kingdom of our god and the power of his christ has come for the accuser of the brethren who accuse them before our god day and night has been cast down now pay very careful attention to this they overcame him by the blood of the lamb underline that they overcame him by the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony underline that too and finally they did not love their lives to death i would also underline that verse 12 therefore rejoice o heavens and you that dwell in them woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the seal for the sea for the devil has come down to you having great anger because he knows he has a short time now in these verses we learn a lot about our adversary the devil i would even say this is a chapter the devil doesn't want you to read so aren't you glad you're reading it because you're going to get some insights into his methodology number one the devil knows his days are numbered he knows his days are numbered his power working through a well-organized network of demons will come to an end one day it's interesting that michael and satan are fighting not not satan and god there's no contest there satan is nowhere close to being the equal of god god is omniscient knowing all things satan is limited in his knowledge god is omnipotent all-powerful satan is limited in this power god is omnipresent present everywhere satan can only be in one place at one time so now he's fighting with michael but michael is more powerful than satan michael is the archangel not a archangel there's only one identified specifically in the bible michael is the man he's the head angel he's the top guy and he's he defeats satan so basically revelation 12 gives the order from michael to take out the trash and satan is dumped so if you're following satan that's where you're going to don't follow a loser the grammatical construction of the phrase in the greek indicates satan starts this it could be translated michael and the angels had to fight the dragon why would you pick a fight with someone who can beat you answer sin makes you stupid satan's like come on let's go michael's like seriously yeah let's go michael's like you talking to me and he comes back and he defeats the dragon what is this fight over what ticks satan off i don't know maybe the brawl is triggered by the rapture first thessalonians 4 16 says the lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout and the voice of the archangel so maybe satan is angry specifically at michael because he is the archangel and so he throws a fit but he loses this battle so i raised the issue in the beginning how to overcome the devil but we've run out of time so i don't have time to tell you no we'll close with that how to overcome the devil first of all know this point number two the devil does not want you to know that he attacks with accusation he attacks with accusation verse 10 the accuser of the brethren who accuse them before god day and night has been cast down look the devil is no full here's how he brings people down he entices you he lures you in go ahead try it take a bite no one will ever know it'll be fun play now pay later maybe never pay go for it so you do it you give in and then the moment you give in to that sin he comes back as the accuser you miserable hypocrite do you think god will hear your prayers don't even think of approaching god see before we sin when he's tempting us he'll tell us he'll tell us we can get away with it but after we sin he shouts you'll never get away with it now here's what we need to understand the difference between satan's accusations and condemnation in the holy spirit's conviction the holy spirit will convict or convince you of your sin because he loves you john 16 8 says jesus speaking when he comes speaking of the spirit he will convince the world of its sin and of god's righteousness and of the coming judgment so if you do something wrong and you feel a sense of guilt and shame and realize you've sinned that's not a bad thing that's a good thing and what you should do now is turn to the lord repent of your sin and ask him to forgive you and he will but if you are driven to despair in hopelessness if you're like walking away from god and never opening your bible again or never showing up in church again you're listening to the wrong voice listen god's holy spirit will convict you through the word of god to bring you back into fellowship with your father satan will accuse you and use your sins in a hateful way to drive you from the father so how do we overcome the devil the answer is in verse 11. they overcame him by the blood of the lamb by the word of their testimony and they did not love their lives to the death how did we overcome the devil they overcame him by the blood of the lamb so we may feel as though we can approach god we'll say well i'm not worthy i'm not worthy to pray i'm not worthy to read the bible i'm not worthy to share the gospel i'm not worthy to go to church news flash you are never even on your best day even close to being worthy so let's just drop the worthy you're not worthy never will be worthy uh it just isn't going to be that way you have to know you're a sinner and the only way you can ever approach god is through the shed blood of jesus christ it's not based on what you do for god it's based on what god has done for you right that's it it's always going to be that way we think well i'm i've failed uh god's mad at me correction god is not mad at you god is mad about you god loves you god welcomes you god longs to hear from you after adam's sin what do we see happening in the garden of eden we hear the father calling out adam where are you did god say that because he didn't know where adam was no he knew where adam was he called out to him because he longed for adam he wanted to talk to adam he loved adam and he loves you and the story of the prodigal son that jesus told showing us what god is like we have the father running to his wayward son who has gone astray and welcoming him that's how god feels toward you so we overcome him by the blood of the lamb hebrews 10 19 says dear friends we can boldly enter into heaven's most holy place because of the blood of jesus this is the new life-giving way that christ has opened up for us through the sacred curtain by means of his death for us it's through the blood of the lamb i can approach him ephesians 2 13 says you who were sometimes so far off have been made near by your good works does it say that no it says you who are sometimes afar off have been made nearby the blood of christ first john tells us that we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another and the blood of jesus christ cleanses us from all sin so you've got to apply the blood and you're saying well what does that even mean okay remember when israel was still in bondage to egypt and god told moses and pharaoh that a time of judgment was coming on egypt and he told his people take the lamb slay the lamb take the blood of the lamb put it on the top of your doorway on the right and on the left and when i see the blood i'll pass over right so when the judgment of god came it passed over every home where the blood was applied so you've got to apply the blood you mean like literally put blood on my door uh no what i mean is apply the blood oh i'm feeling guilty i can't approach god apply the blood lord i have access to you right now and i'm not going to let the father of lies keep me from you i approach you now to the blood of the lamb [Applause] you've done you've done something you're ashamed of something you wish you had never done apply the blood of the lamb lord i know this was wrong i'm sorry i did it but i i know you've forgiven me and i accept your forgiveness there you just applied the blood of the lamb they overcame him by the blood of the lamb number two point number four they overcame him by the word of their testimony the word of their testimony you know when a believer is walking in fellowship with god they will want to tell others and the way you gain ground in the christian life is through evangelism see the best defense is a good offense you know so when you go into a work site and you're the new guy or new girl and somehow you let people know you're a christian not in a weird religious way i'm a christian no no just comes out you know they see the bible on your desk i remember talking with a former secretary of state michael pompeo and he talked to us about how he had a bible on his desk he says i'm a christian i read the bible every day i want it on my desk someone said mr secretary you shouldn't have a bible on your desk he says leave that bible on my desk it's important to me see that's making this statement this is what i believe or maybe you pray and ask god's blessing before you have a meal or there's something else you kind of mark it like yes i'm a christian now you know you're being watched but in a way it's almost making yourself accountable because non-believers have certain expectations of believers don't they and there's nothing worse than being called out by a non-believer especially when they're right when you do something you shouldn't have done you said something you shouldn't have said they say i thought you were a christian yes okay so they overcome him by the word of their testimony in other words they come out and say we're christians we're followers of jesus were not ashamed as i've told you before every believer has a testimony maybe a good one it may be a poor one but you have one a testimony is primarily talking about what god has done for you they overcame him by the word of their testimony i mean we give recommendations for everything like maybe you're in a town you've never been to before and you're thinking about eating in a restaurant and you're thinking is this place any good let's go see what yelp says what is yelp it's a bunch of random people o'piney and who are the people that go on yelp and write these long things you know i mean do i really need to trust them and so they give their glowing recommendation but here's my point if you like something you'll talk about it so you'll go on yelp and you'll recommend your favorite hamburger place or your favorite place for this or your favorite place or that so you're telling me you'll talk about burgers but you won't talk about jesus make your recommendation they overcame him by the word of their testimony that's forward momentum the blood of the lamb the word of their testimony and finally they did not love their lives to the death what does that mean it means they knew their lives belonged to god do you know that your life belongs to god he bought you out of a slave market the bible says you're not your own you've been bought with a price therefore glorify god with your body i'm glad i belonged to god but not only am i his purchased possession i'm also his friend jesus said from this moment on i no longer call you servants but friends servant doesn't know what his master is doing but everything i've heard from my father i've revealed to you well that's amazing but then he calls me his son and his daughter for as many as received him he gave them the power to become sons of god and then he also calls me his bride i'm the bride of christ some guys are saying i don't want to be a bride you're a bride deal with it i'm good with it i'm his bride i'm his friend i'm his child i'm his purchased possession that means he's going to protect me and he's in control of my life and these folks knew their lives belonged to god no one could take their life if god didn't allow it and so they trusted the lord to the very end so let me ask you this in closing are you overcoming or are you overcome i've talked about overcoming the devil he's real only a person who's put their faith in christ has any defense against him when you have jesus living inside of you it's a game changer but if you're not a christian yet you're kind of open pray for our enemy who can attack you at will maybe there's some sin that's got a foothold in your life and you can't break free and you've tried and you've tried you need to ask god to forgive you jesus shed his blood for you on the cross 2000 years ago so you don't have to be under the power of sin any longer and if you've never believed in jesus if you've not asked him to come into your life you can do it right here right now because jesus died on that cross and he rose again from the dead three days later now he stands at the door of your life and he knocks and he says if you'll hear his voice and open the door he'll come in if you've never asked jesus to come into your life you can do it right here right now everything can change for you you can have the guaranteed hope that when you die you will go to heaven and not only that but you can find the meaning and purpose of life you've been searching for and you can do it right now let's all bow our heads for a prayer father i pray for all those that have joined us today those that are watching i pray that you'll speak to every heart and for those that don't know you yet i pray that your holy spirit will convict and convince them of their need for jesus help them to come to you help them to believe in you help them to receive your forgiveness right here right now not while our heads are bowed our eyes are closed and we're praying if you would like jesus christ to come into your life if you would like him to forgive you of your sin if you would like to go to heaven when you die you can just pray this prayer with me wherever you are just pray these words you can pray them out loud if you like pray these words lord jesus i know that i'm a sinner but i know that you're the savior who died on the cross for me i turn from my sin and i choose to follow you from this moment forward in jesus name i pray amen god bless you god bless you that prayed that prayer

Channel: harvest.church

Views: 2,046

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Id: 3gD_TblSez8

Length: 45min 46sec (2746 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 21 2021