Sharing good news of great joy to all people.
Elation Church. Let's talk about names. What's
in a name? Well, first of all, names give us
identity. Everybody say identity. Names signify
identity. Now, here's my name. This is my name.
You might say, how is this your name? Well, my
mom and dad did not name me before we left the
hospital. And when I wanted to play junior high
football in the state of South Carolina, I had
to come up with a state birth certificate. And
when we ordered my state birth certificate, it
came in as no name Forrest. I was already in
junior high. But that's my name. To this day,
my birth certificate has an asterisk on it that
lets everybody know that my name's been changed
from my birth name. So technically, in the state
of South Carolina, my name is No Name Forrest.
You can't even make this stuff up, right? So
I didn't get to play like the first two or three
weeks of my junior high football career, which
didn't last very long. I didn't get to play the
first several weeks because I had to get my real
name on my birth certificate. And my real name
is Jeffrey Dean Forrest. Most people call me
Dean. I've always gone by my middle name instead
of my first name. But these are my names. This
is who I am. This is my identity. If you talk
to people, you say, you know Dean over there
at a relation church. That separates me from
everybody else in the room because I don't know
if we have another dean visiting today, but I
think I'm the only dean. Here's an identity name
that I am very happy to have, and that is that
I'm a Christian. It's not added on to who I used
to be. It's who I am, okay? So that's my identity.
I'm Jeffrey Dean Forrest. I'm Christian. That's
who I am. I am a Christ follower. When they first
used this word Christian, it was meant to be
derogatory. I don't know if you know this or
not from history, but people would say, oh, those
are just those little Jesuses running around.
They're trying to act like Jesus, Christians,
little Christs. But the followers of Christ came
to the point where they said, we'll take that.
If I look like Jesus walking around, then I'll
take that name, right? I'll take that name. So
names signify identity. Everybody say identity.
But they also signify relationship. You see,
I've got a lot of names. You probably have a
lot of names too. But I have some relationship
names. Now, my mom always called me baby because
I was the youngest of four. And every time she
would introduce me, even when I was in my 50s,
she would say, this is my baby. And sometimes
she would say, Dean, and sometimes she wouldn't.
She would just call me baby. My dad didn't call
me baby. He called me son. When we got married,
when Gannon and I got married, I became a husband.
It's one of my relationship names. But she doesn't
say, oh, husband, would you like to go shopping
today? She doesn't say that. She calls me honey
most of the time, unless I've been bad. I don't
even know what she calls me. She don't call me
anything when I've been being bad. She just starts
talking to me. Don't look at me like I've never
been bad, because I know that's not true. I even
said the wrong month for our anniversary last
week. But she still called me honey, which was
a good thing. She still called me. He still called
me honey. And when Jeffrey was born, I became
a father, but Jeffrey, since we don't live in
Great Britain, he doesn't say, oh, father, I
need $20. That's not what he says. He has called
me dad. He started out calling me daddy. Then
as he got older, we changed that to dad. So that's
one of my names. So as... I keep telling you
my names. I mean, I could throw in that I'm an
uncle. That's one of my names. I'm a nephew.
I'm a granddad to a grandpuppy labradoodle. Got
a lot of names. And as you hear these names,
if you don't know me, you're learning some things
about me, right? So names signify identity. They
signify relationship. They also signify activity.
What a person does. Here's some of my activity
names. I've been a student more than most people.
I was a cook. My junior year in high school,
over the summer, I was a cook at Quincy's Steakhouse.
They're out of business now, but it's not my
fault. they were still in business when i left
i was a salesman working for first of all moore's
lumberyard i was a salesman at let's see custom
recording and sound i was a salesman at my uncle's
nissan dealership i was a salesman at a recording
studio i've also been a sound man people have
actually paid me money to run sound for things
i was a custodian at disney for a little while
when we got here not only was i a custodian i
was a trainer i was a coordinator i was a janitor
my wife and i had a contract for after we got
done with our real jobs we would go clean offices
before we went home so i was a janitor i was
a screen printer Had my own screen printing equipment,
my own screen printing business, doing T -shirts
mostly. I was an A &R director for Mark V Records.
It means Artisan Repertoire. I don't even know
why. I don't even know what that means, and I
was one. One day they walked into my office and
they gave me a business card with Vice President
of Heart Look Records. We had three record labels.
Mark 5, heart, look, and evidence. They came
in and gave me a vice president business card.
So I've been the vice president of a record company.
I didn't get a raise. I just got business cards.
I've been the music director of state and national
organizations. I've been an event planner all
over the United States. Even when I didn't live
here, I planned events in Florida. I planned
events in Alabama. in Georgia, in Texas, in Louisiana,
in Arizona, in Indiana. There's probably some
more. In Tennessee. Where? South Carolina. That's
where I was from. So I planned events, rented
event space all over the place and planned events.
I was a crusade director. We did like 31 crusades,
area -wide crusades. I was only the director
of a couple of those. J .T.'s dad was the director
of the rest of them. I've been the president
of state and national organizations, president
of a nonprofit corporation, been a worship leader
at events that I didn't preach. Me and my family
just went in and led the worship for the events.
I've been the worship leader. My claim to fame
is one day that was in the Ryman Auditorium in
Nashville. Did I hear somebody say ooh? Is that
just because I said I didn't get any oohs last
week? All right. I heard somebody make a noise.
Ooh, ooh. It's supposed to be like ooh. Everybody
try it. One, two, three. Ooh. No, it was nothing.
That and $12 to get you a cup of coffee at Starbucks.
All right. I've been a conference director. We
started a conference that ran for 21 years for
teenagers in Myrtle Beach over New Year's. Like
1 ,800 people a year would come to that conference.
I was an evangelist on the road for 20 years.
I was a chaplain in Myrtle Beach for nine years.
I'm a preacher. Some people call me preacher.
Some people call me pastor. So I've got a lot
of names. But especially now, for those of you
who don't know me, you know that you pretty much
know most of my life and the things that I've
done, right? You find out about what I have done
and what I am hopefully equipped to do. If I
had to do it again, I still remember how to do
those things. So names tell a lot. And this is
not a message just about Dean. I mean, I've given
you well over 30 names. I'm still one person.
I've talked about my identity, my relationships,
and my activity. But this isn't about me. This
is about God. The Bible says in Psalm 910, this
is our foundation verse for the series. It says
this, and those who know your name, everybody
say God, those who know your name will put their
trust in you. For you, Lord, have not forsaken.
Those who seek you. Let's break it down. When
we know who God is. See, if we don't know who
God is, we can't really put our trust in Him.
That word trust can also be defined confidence
in English. So when we know who He is, that's
when we can put our trust and our confidence
in Him. One name that we use for God is Savior.
Right? If you don't know that He's Savior, then
you can't put your trust and your confidence
in Him to be your Savior. Right? Does this make
sense? By your faces, I don't know if this makes
sense or not. So if I preach too long today,
it's because your expressions were saying that
you didn't understand what I was saying. So it's
your fault, not mine. Those who know your name
will put their trust, their confidence in you.
And here's why we can put our trust and confidence
in Him. Because He's not going to forsake us.
When we seek Him based on who He is, He's not
going to turn His back on us or forsake us. Over
and over in the Bible it says, I will not leave
you or forsake you. God's not going to turn His
back on you. Now if you seek Him to be something
that He hasn't said He was going to be, you might
not experience that because you're seeking Him
in a way that that's not what He wants to do.
Hello? It has to be based on who He is. and what
He does and what He wants to do. So through His
names, we can find out these things about God.
Now, we looked at the very first week. I hope
I don't get in trouble because by the time we
get to week 13, I might not be able to remember
all these names. But we started out in week one
by looking at Elohim in the beginning, God, Elohim.
And then we saw where He told Abraham. Moses
said, I'm sorry. Moses said, who should I say
sent me? And he said, you tell them I am that
I am sent you. And my eternal name that my people
should know is Yahweh. Everybody say Yahweh.
So in week number one, we looked at Elohim and
Yahweh. Then we looked at the two most impacting
names of God. We looked at Yahweh Shalom. Everybody
say Shalom. God is our peace. And see, if you
don't know that He is peace, then it might be
hard for you to receive His peace. Then we looked
at Yahweh's Sidkenu. We found out that He is
our right. Our righteousness is not based on
our ability to perform. Our righteousness is
based on what Jesus did on the cross. And He's
clothed us, we look at it, He's clothed us in
the garments of salvation. and draped us in a
robe of righteousness. I'm the righteousness
of God in Christ Jesus. And if we don't know
that He is our righteousness, then we might try
to work up our own righteousness to be right
with God. Works righteousness. Let me go ahead
and help you. No one's ever been righteous based
on their works. Only Jesus. That's why we're
clothed in His righteousness when we're in Christ.
I can't preach those other weeks. We've got to
get to today. So today we're going to focus on
one of the names of God that's found over 235
times in the Bible. I found one list that was
235, and then I found another list that's 270.
If that name is in the Bible that many times,
we should know what it means, right? And the
name that we're looking at today is Yahweh Sabaoth.
Sabaoth. Everybody say Yahweh Sabaoth. That's
God's name. That's God's name. Most of the time
when we hear the translation into English, we
see that he is the Lord of hosts. The Lord of
hosts. What does that mean? It's easy for us
to see this line and say, well, okay, I know
what that name is, but do we actually have a
working understanding of what Lord of hosts means?
So, we're going to break it down. Digging into
the Hebrew word, we're going to break it down.
And to put it in our modern day understanding,
this is who God is. He is, I am. The commander
-in -chief over a great mass of people are servants
who are organized for war or for battle. Does
that give you a little wider understanding on
Lord of Hosts? We understand what the commander
-in -chief is, right? Commander -in -chief. And
he's over. God is over a great mass. And in Hebrew,
this word is a great mass of people. But we also
understand that he is the commander -in -chief
over a great mass of angelic beings who are organized
for war. You know what? We're in spiritual warfare.
Whether you realize it or not, as a follower
of Christ, the more... You are concentrated on
being a Christ follower and living for His kingdom
and representing His kingdom. The more you do
that, the more warfare you're going to experience.
Because we have a spiritual enemy who is against
us. I mean, we have a spiritual enemy that does
not want over 100 ,000 people to be in a relationship
with Christ. Relationship with God through Jesus.
He doesn't want the 100 ,000 people up and down
27 to be part of a faith family. He does not
want that to happen. He does not want a move
of God to break out in this area that impacts
the rest of the world. He doesn't want that.
Do you think God wants that? I think God wants
that. But our enemy doesn't want that. Here's
the good news. God's on our side. He's the commander
-in -chief of our great mass. Thousands upon
thousands upon ten thousands of angelic hosts.
So we don't have to be afraid in our battle.
I want to give you an example of this. I'm pulling
out of 2 Kings 6, verses 8 -22. I want you to
see what this looks like. When the king of Aram
was at war with Israel, he would confer with
his officers and say, we will mobilize our forces
at such and such a place. Now this is... the
king that's against God's people, Israel. But
immediately, I mean, he's in his war room, he's
talking to his leaders, he's saying, let's go
attack them in this place, on this day, at this
time. Let's go attack them. But immediately,
when he would say that to his advisors, Elisha,
the prophet, the man of God, would warn the king
of Israel. Do not go near that place. For the
Arameans are planning to mobilize their troops
there. Don't go. So the king of Israel would
send word to the place indicated by the man of
God. Okay. Our enemy's going to come and our
enemy's going to try to attack us at this time,
but, you know, I don't know how they did it,
but they were ready when the enemy came. They
were ready or either they left and the enemy
got there and said, where are the people at?
We're supposed to attack. Now, the enemy planned
some surprise attacks. And just like in our spiritual
warfare, the enemy sometimes plans surprise attacks.
This is why it is important to walk in the Spirit,
to live in the Spirit, to be led by the Holy
Spirit. If you're in Christ, God lives in you.
God lives in you. You're the temple of the Holy
Spirit. He has moved on the inside of you. He
knows what's going on around you. As a matter
of fact, He knows everything about everything.
So why don't we consult Him more often since
He knows everything about everything? But the
enemy plans surprise attacks. But if we are being
led by the Holy Spirit, He can... give us information
about where an attack may be coming, that we
can be prepared. We can be spiritually prepared,
prayerfully prepared. Hello? Some of you are
looking at me funny. In this story, as our example,
these attacks were preempted by prophetic preparation.
Don't get me to say that five times real fast.
It's almost like she sells, she sells. These
attacks were preempted by prophetic preparation.
God spoke to the prophet. The prophet spoke to
the king. And they were prepared. I believe some
of the attacks that come against us, if we were
spirit -led, And walking with God, I believe
we would be prepared for some of them before
they got there. I believe that we would pray
and put on the armor of God and be ready when
that attack came instead of it catching us off
guard. Verse 10. Time and again, Elisha warned
the king so that he would be on alert there where
they were planning their attack. The king of
Aram became very upset over this. He called his
officers together and demanded, which one of
you is a traitor? Who's been informing the king
of Israel of my plans? We've got a mole. It's
not us, my lord and king. One of the officers
replied, Elisha, the prophet in Israel. Listen
to this. Tells the king of Israel even the words
you speak in the privacy of your bedroom. Glad
some of you smiled. Here's what the king said.
Go and find out where he is. The king commanded.
So I can send troops to seize him. And the report
came back. Elisha is at Dothan. So one night
the king of Aram. sent a great army with many
chariots and horses to surround the city. Here
we see that the enemy moved from attacking a
nation, the people of Israel. Now all of a sudden
the army, the enemy is attacking an individual.
They're going after an individual. It's good.
When the servant of the man of God got up early
the next morning, this is Elisha's servant. When
he got up early the next morning and went outside,
there were troops, horses, and chariots everywhere.
They were surrounded. So he runs back in the
house and says, Oh, sir, what will we do now?
The young man cried to Elisha. Do any of us ever
get in this place where we see trouble and all
of a sudden we start saying, oh no, what are
we going to do now? I call that getting in a
loop. What am I going to do? What am I going
to do? What am I going to do? How many of you
know we're not going to find victory in a loop?
Three of you. What am I going to do? What am
I going to do now? Here's this trouble. Here's
this thing. It's against me. It's going to take
me out. It's going to take me down. What am I
going to do now? What am I going to do? What
am I going to do? What am I going to do? Elisha,
what are we going to do now? Servant was overcome
with fear. And when he's overcome with fear,
he can only see the problem. And we're not just
talking about a story in the Old Testament, we're
talking about our daily lives, if you haven't
figured that out yet. When we're overcome with
fear, we'll make some terrible decisions. Hello?
When we're overcome with fear, what we're doing
is we're focusing on the problem instead of focusing
on the solution. We've got our eyes fixed on
the problem instead of having our eyes fixed
on the one who can solve the problem. Here's
what Elisha said. Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid,
Elisha told him. And listen to what Elisha said.
For there are more on our side than on theirs.
I could see this servant looking around saying,
well, There's me and there's you. There's me
and there's you. And I just walked outside and
there's hundreds of soldiers and chariots and
horses. Hey, Elisha, what in the world are you
talking about? They're more on our side than
on theirs? What are you talking about? Then Elisha
prayed, O Lord, open his eyes and let him see.
Let him see. Let him see what I know. See, the
real problem was the servant's perception of
his present condition. That was the real problem.
Because he was just going by sight. He was going
by his physical sight, what he saw, instead of
going by a spiritual sight or a spiritual vision
of the truth. And Elisha was going on a spiritual
vision of the truth. While the servant was just
going on his physical site. If you come to church
here often, you hear us sing and talk about,
we're going to walk by faith and not by sight.
We're going to walk by faith and not by sight.
Some of you might say, well, you haven't seen
what I've seen. Well, you haven't heard what
I've heard and you haven't heard what I know.
And Elisha said, let him see it. Servant was
moved by what he saw. Elisha was established
in what he knew. Verse 16. The Lord opened the
young man's eyes. And when he looked up, he saw
that the hillside around Elisha was filled with
horses and chariots of fire. Paul Harvey used
to say, now here's the rest of the story. The
rest of the story. Some of you don't even know
who that is. As the Aramean army advanced towards
him, because they're coming in. They had them
surrounded. Now they see them outside and they're
coming in. They're on a mission to take Elisha.
And Elisha prayed, Oh Lord, please make them
blind. Make them blind. So the Lord struck them
with blindness as Elisha had asked. So all these
soldiers are coming in and then all of a sudden
it just goes black. They can't see a thing. Then
Elisha went out and told them, you guys have
come the wrong way. This isn't the right city.
Follow me and I will take you to the man that
you're looking for. And he led them to the city
of Samaria. As soon as they had entered Samaria,
Elisha prayed, Oh Lord, open their eyes and let
them see. So the Lord opened their eyes and they
discovered that they were in the middle of Samaria.
When the king of Israel saw them, he shouted
to Elisha, My father, should I kill them? Should
I kill them? Because the enemy's here. Should
I take them out? Of course not, Elijah replied.
Do we kill prisoners of war? I mean, they were
already captured right there. Give them food
and drink and send them home again to their master,
to the king. Just send them back. I want him
to hear this story. I mean, that's what he's
saying, right? Treat them nice. Give them some
food. Give them something to drink. Send them
back. Let the king of Aram hear this. Here's
a question. Are we moved by what we see? Do we
live our lives by what we see? Is that what moves
us? Is that what takes control over us? Always
just what we see with our natural eyes? Are we
so wrapped up in this natural world that all
we see is what's going on in the natural world?
Or are we established in what we know? You can
be established in what you know. But it's going
to take more than just showing up at church on
Sunday morning to be established and grounded
and rooted in what you know. When troubles arise,
and Jesus said, in this world there will be tribulation,
and when you translate that word from the Greek,
It means trouble and pressure. In this world,
there's going to be trouble. There's going to
be pressure. Has anybody experienced any trouble
or pressure this past week? Any? Well, Jesus
told you. I like to put it this way. Thank you,
Jesus, for such an encouraging word. But he didn't
stop there. He said, in this world, you're going
to have... Pressure, you're going to have trouble.
But then he says this, but be of good cheer.
You're going to have pressure, you're going to
have trouble. But Jesus says, cheer up, buttercup.
Be of good cheer. Right in the middle of your
pressure and trouble, cheer up. How can you do
that? How can you cheer up in the middle of your
pressure and in the middle of your trouble? How
can you cheer up? Because you know something.
You know that God's a good God. You know because
you can look back and see how He has brought
you through before. Has God ever brought anybody
through before in something that they were facing,
in some trouble that they were facing? Has God
been faithful? Has God been good? So I can cheer
up. Because even though I'm facing trouble, even
though I'm facing some pressure, you know what?
I can go ahead and get happy because God's a
good God. And that He's going to see me through
again. Listen, it's just like this story that
we just looked at. Elijah got a report that he's
surrounded by an army of horses and chariots
and soldiers. What did he do? It's no problem.
Because God's on my side. There's more with me
than there is against me. He didn't have to see
that with his natural eyes, but that poor old
servant, he needed to see it. So he prayed that
God would open up his eyes and then he saw. I
bet that knocked him right out of the loop that
he was in. What are we going to do? What are
we going to do? What are we going to do? We're
surrounded. This is it. We're going down. Nope.
Because I know something. I've shared this illustration
before, but how many of you like college football?
I love college football. I don't get to watch
much pro ball, but I love college football. It's
my favorite sport. And, you know, if something's
on ESPN or whatever, they always have it available
after the game to watch it. So sometimes I'm
not available to watch my favorite team. So I
can go after the game and watch the game. I want
to tell you something. I can't just, like, not
know the score. You know, it's like I've got
to know the score when the game happens, and
my phone rings it in automatically on my favorite
teams and tells me what the score is every quarter
and things like that. So here's the deal. If
my team wins against a team that, you know, I
mean, if they're just playing somebody, sorry,
I don't even care to watch it. But if they're
playing somebody that I'm like, hmm, this would
have been a good game if I could have watched
it. If my team wins. I'll watch the game. And
when I watch a replay of a game, listen, when
I watch a replay of a game when I already know
who won, I watch it a lot different. Now, if
you're anywhere near me when I'm serious about
a football game, you'll know that I get a little
boisterous. I like to act like I'm the coach.
Does anybody like that? Anybody do that? I mean,
I'll say, like to the quarterback, why didn't
you throw it away instead of taking a sack? I
mean, I'll be loud. I'll start hollering, throw
the ball away. I mean, before the guy tackles
him, when I'm watching the game, I'm like, throw
it away, throw it away, and he'll get sacked.
I should be the quarterback. He wasn't listening
to me. When an interception happens, did you
not see? I mean, I could see it on the TV. You
were there. You should be able to see to not
throw the ball right there. I mean, I get loud,
not just negative, even positive. When my team
does something, you know, like, yeah, we got
the interception. I used to be a defensive back.
Now I look like a... but I used to be little.
So watch those defensive backs. You know? But
when it's a replay, and I know that my team won,
I don't get near as excited. Especially towards
the negative things. You know why? Because we
won. We won. I can calmly watch that football
game. Yeah, he threw an interception. Yeah, he
got sacked. But that's okay. Because we won.
Especially if we're playing Clemson. Especially.
We won. I want you to get this so bad. When you
face pressure and trouble, can you get a hold
of the fact that you've won? Even before it comes?
Jesus said, in this world you will have tribulation.
You'll have pressure. You'll have trouble. But
be of good cheer. Here's why. Because I have
overcome the world is what he says. And I'm in
Christ and he has already won. So I already know
the end. I win because he wins. Hallelujah. That's
my amen button. There's people in the church
saying amen. They gave that to me for my birthday.
I'll let you press it after church if you want
to. Here's the deal, 2 Corinthians 5 -7. We walk
by faith and not by sight. We need to walk by
what we know, that God's a good God, that we've
already won. No matter what we're facing today,
we've already won. He's going to bring us through.
We walk by faith and not by sight. 2 Corinthians
4, 8, 9. This is encouraging too. We're pressed
on every side by troubles, but we're not crushed.
We're perplexed. Sometimes we get in that place.
What are we going to do? That's perplexed, right?
But not driven to despair. We are hunted down,
but never, never, never, never abandoned by God.
I mean, this is Paul talking. He had a group
of people that said they weren't even going to
eat again until they killed him. Has anybody
not eaten this week because they had to kill
you before they ate? We get knocked down, but
we're not destroyed. Our present troubles are
small and won't last very long. Yet they produce
for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and
will last forever. So we don't look at the troubles
we can see now. Rather, we fix our gaze on things
that cannot be seen. Everybody say God. Everybody
say Yahweh's Sabbath oath. Everybody say the
promises of God. We fix our gaze on things that
cannot be seen, for the things we see now will
soon be gone. But the things we cannot see will
last forever. Here's what we need to know. Battles
are temporary. We're all going to face battles.
We're all going to have some struggle at times.
Battles are temporary, but victory is eternal.
Troubles will last for a moment. We're all going
to have pressure. We're all going to have trouble.
Jesus said we were. But the glory of overcoming
is everlasting. How many of you have gone through
some trouble? You know, I just stayed in the
trouble, but you've gone through the trouble,
and then now you see that God was good, and God
cared, and God brought you through, and now,
you know what? You can just talk about how good
God is. That's everlasting. That trouble that
lasted for a moment, you know, it's over now.
It's over now. But the glory of overcoming is
everlasting. Victory is eternal. Romans 8, 31.
If God is for us, who can ever be against us?
I want you to think about this story with the
army surrounding it. And it's like, oh no, oh
no, what are we going to do? What are we going
to do? Think of that pressure. Think about that
struggle. Think about that trouble. But if God
is for us, who can be against us? Listen to this,
Romans 8, 35 through 37. Can anything ever separate
you from Christ's love? Is there anything that
can ever separate you from God's love for you?
No. Listen, does it mean God no longer loves
us? If we have trouble or calamity, does it mean
that God doesn't love us anymore? When we're
persecuted? Does it mean that God doesn't love
us anymore if we're hungry or destitute or in
danger? Does it mean that God doesn't love us?
Even if we're threatened with death, does it
mean that God doesn't love us? Verse 36. Well,
as the Scriptures say, for your sake, God, we're
killed every day. We're being slaughtered like
sheep. Don't teach a Bible study on that verse.
It's funny, people get stuck without seeing what
the Bible really says. They get stuck on some
kind of example, and they miss what it says.
Did you hear what we just said right before we
got to this verse? No matter what we face, it
doesn't mean that God doesn't love us when we're
going through pressure and when we're going through
trials and all the things. It doesn't mean that
God don't love us. But some people, when they're
there, they say, well, you know, here's a Bible
verse. It says, God, you know, we just get killed
every day. We just get slaughtered like sheep,
but God, you know, just help us be slaughtered
well. What's verse 37 say? No! Don't say that.
It's a Bible, but don't quote that one. Don't
put that one on your refrigerator. Being killed
every day and slaughtered like sheep. Praise
God, it's going to be a great day. Some people
do that. Don't do that. No, despite all these
things. I mean, Paul went through a lot, but
he says, despite all those things I went through,
overwhelming victory is ours. Through Christ
who loved us. Overwhelming victory. Overwhelming
victory. Overwhelming victory. But here's where
most people miss it. They come to church and
they hear sermons like this and then they say,
well, I see that it says that, but that's not
my experience. It's not my experience. Whose
report are you going to believe? We sang that
song last week and this week. Whose report are
you going to believe? Are you going to believe
the report of your eyes? Are you going to believe
the report of the Lord, what He says about what
you're going through? In this world, you're going
to have trouble and pressure. But cheer up, because
I've overcome the world. And you're in me. Despite
all these things, all those terrible things I
just read, overwhelming victory is yours through
Christ who loves you. That's the promise. So
in the middle, see, here's what we've got to
do. First of all, you've got to hear that. Somebody
say, I heard it. Now you've got to believe it.
You've got to be confident that that's what the
Bible says. Somebody say, I believe it. Now see,
if you don't believe it, you're never going to
experience it. You've got to hear it. You've
got to believe it. Then, instead of saying, what
am I going to do? What am I going to do? What
am I going to do? You need to say, overwhelming
victory is mine. In this thing that I'm facing
today, yeah, it looks bad, and the people around
me think it looks bad, but I know something.
I'm established in what I know, and I've got
a good God, and overwhelming victory is mine.
I may not see it in the next five minutes. I
might not see it tomorrow. I might not see it
next week. But I'm going to see it because God's
a good God. That's what it looks like when you're
established in the truth. Overwhelming victory
is mine through Christ. He loves me. As we look
at those verses and all the things that he was
going through, and then we look at that, oh,
you know, we're just slaughtered like sheep and
killed every day. What we're finding out in this
text is the gospel breaks despair. The gospel,
the good news, the good God, the gospel breaks
condemnation. The gospel breaks... The gospel
fills people with peace and joy and hope. But
you've got to take it. You've got to hear it.
You've got to have confidence. Hey, you've got
to have confidence that God is your God and He
is Yahweh's Sabbath oath and He's fighting for
you. How many situations in the Bible... It's
like, oh no, we're surrounded, we're overcome.
And God even said, hey, just be still and see
my deliverance. Do you think that God cared about
these people more than He cares about you? See,
if you do, then you're going to struggle with
what I'm talking about. Do you believe God loved?
Elisha and his servant more than he loves you?
No. 1 John 4, 4. Greater is he who's in me than
he who's in the world. This is the way we need
to talk. This is the way we need to live. Instead
of saying, oh no, this is going to take me out
and take me down. We say, no, greater is he that's
in me than he that's in the world. God lives
on the inside of me. When we are established
in what we know, when we become established in
what we know, then we won't be moved by what
we see. Let's say this together. I'm not moved
by what I see. I'm established in the truth.
My God is Yahweh Sabaoth. My God is for me. He's
fighting for me. I'm a victor. I'm not a victim.
I'm a victor. Overwhelming victory. is mine in
Christ, through Christ. Just because we find
out God is the God of angel armies, just because
you know that information doesn't mean that it's
applied to your life. You have to hear it. You
have to believe it. You need to put your words
in agreement with it. And then you need to take
hold of it. You say things like this, and then
you say, Fear? Nope. I sense that you're trying
to take me down. I fear that you're trying to
overcome me and overwhelm me. But you're not
going to do it today. Because I know who my God
is. And I know that He's good. And I know that
He is for me and not against me. And I reject
this fear that's trying to take over me in Jesus'
name. I reject it because my God is Yahweh Sabaoth.
And as you do that, you're going to feel yourself
rise. And you need to stay in faith. Stay in
faith. Look at the person beside you and say,
stay in faith. Hold on. Tell them to hold on.
We've got to hold on to who God is. And then
we're going to see who God is. It's easy for
us to see receiving something by faith when we
talk about salvation. It's easy for us to see.
Because we've got to hear about God's love for
us, hear that Jesus died on the cross for us,
that He loves us and He wants to give us His
gift of eternal life. I mean, we hear that, and
then we come to the point where we believe that.
How many of you have believed that? You believe
that God loves you, that Jesus died for you on
the cross. You believe it. And then we confess
our sin to Him. Ask Him to wash us clean. We
take on His robe of righteousness. We talked
about that. That's faith. Is to take hold of
that. And if you've taken hold, of salvation
by faith, then you're here today and you're confident.
I'm a child of God. Right? I'm a child of God.
Same way. Same way you receive Yahweh's Sabbath
oath. He's commander -in -chief of the armies
of heaven. And He's for me. And no matter what
I'm facing, I know God's for me and He's fighting
for me. And He saw me through before and He's
going to see me through again. Then in the middle
of what you're facing, you won't be overcome
with fear and despair and worry because you know
something. Hello. My name is Yahweh Sabaoth.
Let's pray together. God, thank You for today.
Thank You for Your Word and Your truth. God,
I pray that we could take hold of this today.
Really take hold of it and apply it to our lives
in such a way that we're never the same because...
We know that you love us. We know that you're
for us. We know that you're going to see us through.
God, thank you. Thank you for being so good.
Thank you for loving us, caring for us. In Jesus'
name, amen. This online worship experience was
brought to you by the friends and partners of
Eulation Church.