OVERCOMING
II Thess. 3:1-5
INTRO.- ILL.- A university student was seen with a large "K" printed on his T- shirt. When someone asked him what the "K" stood for, he aid, "Confused." "But," the questioner replied, "you don’t spell "confused" with a "K." The student answered, "You don’t know how confused I am."
ILL.- President Harry Truman enjoyed telling the story about the man who was hit on the head at work. The blow was so severe he was knocked unconscious for an extended period of time. His family, convinced he was dead, called the funeral home and asked the local undertaker to pick him up, which he did. Early the next morning the man suddenly woke up and sat straight up in the casket. Confused, he blinked several times and looked around, trying to put the whole thing together. He thought, "If I’m alive, what in the world am I doing in this casket? And if I’m dead, why do I have to go to the bathroom?"
Our lives are somewhat like these two stories. Life is sometimes so confusing that we don’t where we are or what we are doing or how we got here. We often wonder: Is this for real? Am I for real? Is my life for real? Where am I headed? What’s going on?
To add to our confusion, many unexpected things come into our lives to upset the apple cart.
ILL.- Nearly two years ago one of our church members accidentally sent me a computer virus to our home computer. It was called the “Happy 99” worm. And he didn’t even know he sent it to me. That little squirmy worm, that little bug, that little virus caused me all kinds of trouble. I didn’t have a de-bugger on my computer at that time, no anti-virus program so I eventually had to completely reprogram my computer with Windows 98. It took hours to repair. It was really frustrating.
Likewise, our frustration increases when certain bugs or viruses hit our lives. The kinds of viruses I’m talking about are those that plague the soul and drain the emotions right out of us. Such as: marital discord, divorce, prodigal or problem children, work hassles, road rage, grocery store rage, restaurant rage, stand-in-the-line rage, can’t-get-in-the-line rage, ill health, death in the family, financial woes, family squabbles, etc. All these and more contribute to our frustration and confusion in life. Right? You know this is true. And they happen to all of us.
What can we do about them? How can we endure? How can we overcome?
ILL.- Professional golfer Paul Azinger was diagnosed with cancer at age 33. He had just won a PGA championship and had ten tournament victories to his credit. He wrote, "A genuine feeling of fear came over me. I could die from cancer. Then another reality hit me even harder. I’m going to die eventually anyway, whether from cancer or something else. It’s just a question of when. Everything I had accomplished in golf became meaningless to me. All I wanted to do was live."
Then he remembered something that Larry Moody, who teaches a Bible study on the tour, had said to him. "Zinger, we’re not in the land of the living going to the land of the dying. We’re in the land of the dying trying to get to the land of the living."
Golfer Paul Azinger recovered from chemotherapy and returned to the PGA tour. He’s done pretty well. But that bout with cancer deepened his perspective. He wrote, "I’ve made a lot of money since I’ve been on the tour, and I’ve won a lot of tournaments, but that happiness is always temporary. The only way you will ever have true contentment is in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I’m not saying that nothing ever bothers me and I don’t have problems, but I feel like I’ve found the answer to the six-foot hole."
Golf pro Paul Azinger has hit a hole-in-one. He’s right on target. He’s found the answer to life’s frustrations. And that answer is Christ and His Word.
PROP.- In our text, the apostle Paul gives us some specific things that we can do to endure and/or overcome life’s frustrating viruses.
1- Spread the message
2- Stop the evil
3- Strengthen the obedience
4- Secure the love
I. SPREAD THE MESSAGE
V. 1 “Finally, brothers, pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you.”
ILL.- Only one person showed up on Sunday morning to hear the preacher’s sermon and he was a farmer. The preacher asked him, “Do you think I should preach my sermon to you?”
The farmer replied, “Well, Reverend, if I put hay in the wagon and go down to the pasture to feed the cows and only one shows up, I feed her.”
As long as there is one lost soul in this world we should do our best to get the message of Christ to that person! But as we all know, there are millions upon millions who need to hear the message of Christ.
If Christ is indeed the way, the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father except through Him, then all people need to hear that message! And it’s our responsibility to do something to get the message to them.
Paul said, “pray that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly.” We do need to pray that this kind of prayer. “Lord, spread your Word. Spread the message of Jesus. Somehow. Anyhow. And right now. Lord, spread it through the preacher. Spread it through the church. Spread it through me.”
Generally, those who pray, are also those who preach! And witness and testify!
We all need to be concerned about spreading the message of Christ. We all need to be concerned about church growth! It’s not just “my” business. It’s “your” business as well!
Some people are doing an effective job of spreading the message and some aren’t.
ILL.- I received the “newsletter” from the Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, KY, this week and here it is! Yes, it’s more of a newspaper than a newsletter. Thirty-eight pages to be exact. And they have a newspaper because they are a growing church! THEY ARE DEFINITELY SPREADING THE MESSAGE OF CHRIST!
Listen to these stats: For the weekend of July 28-29 (Saturday and Sunday). In three worship services they had 14,456 people. They’ve had 1352 additions to their church thus far this year. Of course, I don’t know how many of those are baptisms and how many are transfers. BAPTISMS ARE WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR, because this means people are coming to Christ!
And just for fun, do you want to know what their offering was? $351,039.47. And another $13,321.88 for the building fund. They must be doing something right! And I know one thing they are doing. They have faithfully preached the message of Christ for the last 36 years since the church started.
AND HOW LONG HAS MATTOON CHRISTIAN CHURCH BEEN IN EXISTENCE? Sometime like 35 years, I believe. And where are we?
I’m not suggesting that we are doing something wrong. I’m just saying that we need to step up our efforts in spreading the message of Christ anyway we can. By any means or method.
ILL.- Here’s something else to chew on or think about. David Cho is the pastor of the Yoido Full Gospel Church in Seoul, South Korea. Want to know how many members are in that church? Well, I’m going to tell you. 750,000! And their goal is to be the first church in history to reach the million mark.
How did they get that way? WELL, THEY DIDN’T GET THAT WAY BY KEEPING THE MESSAGE TO THEMSELVES!
Would you like to know about their services? On Sunday they have 7 of them: 7, 9 and 11 a.m. 1, 3, 5, and 7:30 p.m. (Wears me out just thinking about it!)
Wednesday: 11 a.m., 2 and 7 p.m.
Thursday: Praise service 6:30 p.m.
Friday: Prayer service 10 p.m. to 4 a.m.
Saturday: Prayer service 3 p.m.
Daily: Prayer services 11 p.m. to 3 a.m.
And they have more services than these!
While I don’t agree with everything the Full Gospel Church preaches, I do agree with the Jesus they preach! As far as I know, they do preach Jesus Christ as the only Savior of the world! And that’s gospel truth!
With 20,000 new converts a year, Pastor David Cho said there is no way that his church can match buildings to membership. So he’s encouraging younger converts to stay home and worship through Internet. Interesting thought. (That’s one reason why I use the Internet and send my sermons to Sermon Central. Hopefully, the Lord can use them somehow to reach somebody for Christ.)
He said, “We are so jammed that we have no way to keep growing except by going to cyberspace.” He tells young people, “Don’t come to church, just stay home and get your teaching through Internet.” BUT I’M NOT SAYING THAT! WHY? Because we’re not full and overflowing!
He also said and I definitely agree, “It’s silly to build larger and larger church buildings. It’s silly to spend more money on branch church buildings!” (apparently, that’s how their people attend services). He said, “You’ll never have enough. No matter how much land you have, it eventually fills up. Besides, just think of that money and how it could be used for missions.”
Brethren, all I know is: we need to help spread the message of Christ as rapidly as possible! We must do our part! Through our church, through preaching, through fervent praying, through our personal witnessing, through the newspaper, through the radio and TV, through the Internet, and all ways.
And guess what? When we begin to focus on others, on lost souls, our personal problems will not be nearly as bad as they once were! WHEN WE DIG OTHERS OUT OF THEIR HOLE, WE WILL DIG OURSELVES OUT OF OURS AS WELL!
That’s how to overcome! Get your mind, heart and soul on the people around you who need Christ!
II. STOP THE EVIL
V. 2-3 “And pray that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men, for not everyone has faith. But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.” What powerful words these are!
ILL.- The little six-year-old girl was playing with her infant brother after returning from Sunday School. She asked her mama, “When will he start talking?”
Her mother replied, “Well, babies don’t start talking until they’re two or three years old.” The little girl said, “Oh, they start talking before that. They did in the Bible.” Her mother asked, “Who did?” She said, “Well, Job for one. The teacher said this morning that Job cursed the day he was born.”
I’ve seen a few kids that I wondered about. It sure seemed like they started cussing awful early in life. AND DO YOU KNOW WHY? Do I really have to tell you why? Generally, it’s because they hear it in their own home.
Cussing may not be the worst evil in the world, but it’s certainly not good. And when someone invades the Lord’s territory, it’s really bad.
ILL.- Here’s what I mean. My dad was a truck driver and I remember one particular time that he took me to the stockyards with him. As we were walked through the yards, a man who helped to load livestock saw dad and started cussing a blue streak. Actually, he was just blowing off and showing off because he quickly started laughing. But what impressed me the most was when he used the Lord’s name in vain. He was GDing this and JCing that.
I WAS IMPRESSED, BUT NOT A POSITIVE WAY. There’s a lot of evil going on in our world today. And that’s just a very small portion of it.
And sometimes we find that evil invading our own lives. Yes, we all struggle with sin in this life. The old man of sin is still with us and often gets the upperhand in our lives. Some days we win, but it seems like he wins more often than not.
How are we got to put a stop to the evil in the world? And in our own lives?
ILL.- A young American engineer was sent to Ireland for a year. When he left, his fiancé gave him a harmonica. She said, "I want you to learn to play this: it will help to keep your mind off those Irish girls."
He wrote to her often and told he her that he was practicing his harmonica every night. After a year she met him at the airport, he grabbed her to kiss her and she pushed him back and said, "Wait before you kiss me, I want to hear you play the harmonica."
It’s going to take more than a harmonica to stop evil in people’s lives. It’s going to take prayer and a ton of it. Prayer for ourselves. Prayer for deliverance from the evil around us. The evil in the world.
Paul said in our text, “Pray that we may delivered from wicked and evil men...”
ILL.- When Elaine and I were in Cancun, Mexico, we got a bus (ten pesos per person please!) and went downtown to the flea market. Many of those merchants would say, “Come on in here and let me rip you off.” We got tired of that after a while and started walking down the street. We walked for several blocks and suddenly Elaine said, “I don’t like this. I don’t like the looks of this. I see no Americans. Let’s get out of here.”
Elaine was getting concerned. She was concerned for “her” safety, not “our” safety. Just kidding. She saw that we were possibly in dangerous territory.
Brothers and sisters, we are living in dangerous territory! It’s called a sinful world. A sin-filled world.
It’s not that someone is going to nab us or kidnap us, but someone is trying to nab us and kidnap us! WHO? THE EVIL ONE, THAT’S WHO!
And he’ll use every dirty trick in his book to deceive us in order to nab us and kidnap us. He is a dirty fighter. We must be on guard! We must pray! We must look up! And keep looking up and clinging to the person who can save us and keep us safe!
I Pet. 5:8-9 “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. RESIST HIM, STANDING FIRM IN THE FAITH...”
James 4:7 “Submit yourselves, then, to God. RESIST THE DEVIL, AND HE WILL FLEE FROM YOU.”
We when we run, resist and rest in the Lord through prayer guess what else will happen? SWEET PEACE WILL COME INTO OUR LIVES! We will be overcomers! Calmness will invade our lives and thinking. And life will not be so stressful for us.
1- Spread the message
2- Stop the evil
III. STRENGTHEN THE OBEDIENCE
V. 4 “We have confidence in the Lord that you are doing and will continue to do the things we command.” Paul is talking about obedience. Obedience to God’s Word.
ILL.- Property Laws of a Toddler
1. If I like it, it’s mine.
2. If it’s in my hand, it’s mine.
3. If I can take it from you, it’s mine.
4. If I had it a little while ago, it’s mine.
5. If it’s mine, it must never appear to be yours in any way.
6. If I’m doing or building something, all the pieces are mine.
7. If it looks just like mine, it’s mine.
8. If I saw it first, it’s mine.
9. If you were playing with something and you put it down, it automatically becomes mine.
10. If it’s broken, it’s yours.
To me, that’s toddler selfishness and all toddlers go through that stage. Most do, anyway. And if toddlers are not taught and made to obey, they will continue in their selfishness until it will eventually become accountable sin at some point in their lives. Toddlers do grow up.
ILL.- A little two-year-old boy named Steve was given his very first responsibility in life. His daddy told him to watch his baby sister Susan while he stepped out of the room. His father had only been gone a few moments when he heard a thump and then Susan started crying.
He rushed back in the room to find that baby Susan had fallen from the couch and was stretched out on the floor. Meanwhile, Steveie just sat there, looking so innocent.
His father said, "Steveie, I told you to watch her." And Steveie answered, "I did." He watched her fall and he watched her cry.
What he did wasn’t extremely bad, but he was certainly going to need some instruction in life. All children can get into trouble. They can do some bad stuff. All children get into trouble. AND ALL CHILDREN DISOBEY. Even the best of them.
And all adult children disobey their father; their Heavenly Father. We all disobey our Heavenly Father at times. Even the best of us. Even the Bob Russell’s and the Billy Graham’s.
Even though most people think Billy Graham is a saint among saints, I am sure that he has had his struggles with sin. We all sin. We all make mistakes. We all make some bad mistakes. We all disobey God.
ILL.- Look at Jim Bakker of the PTL Club. Look at Jimmy Swaggart. Look at ex-President Bill Clinton. Look at Richard Nixon. Look at me. Look at you!
We all disobey God. Consequently, we need to strengthen our obedience to God and His Word. How do we do this? More church. More prayer. More Bible study. More surrender.
ILL.- Last week I noticed that it was time for Elaine’s car to be serviced. She needed to have the oil changed. I mentioned that to her and said she could take her car to Midas Muffler and get it changed pretty fast. She’d been there before so I thought it would be no problem. Quick in, quick out. That was Thursday evening. I wanted her to get the oil changed in “her” car. BUT GUESS WHO DID IT?
I decided to “give in” and get it changed for her. Do you know why I gave in and did it? BECAUSE SHE’S THE BOSS! Why else? No, no. That’s not it all. I gave in and took “her” car to get the oil changed because I love her.
We need to “give in” to our Heavenly Father who is super loving, super gracious, super kind, super giving. We need to grow in our surrender to Him out of love. We need to strengthen our obedience to God. Recognizing how much He loves us, how can we not do this? How can we not love Him?
AND GUESS WHAT? When we strengthen our obedience to God and His Word we will find greater victory in life. We will have greater strength to endure the pressures of this. We will have the strength to overcome!
Phil. 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
1- Spread the message
2- Stop the evil
3- Strengthen the obedience
IV. SECURE THE LOVE
V. 5 “May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance.”
If God’s love will invade our hearts and be involved in our lives we will be overcomers! We need to secure God’s love in our lives. Secure it and make it secure. Fix it firmly in our lives. GET IT THERE AND KEEP IT THERE.
ILL.- Bill once had a job as a truck driver. Twice a week, he hauled loads between Cincinnati and Atlanta. He always stopped for lunch at Joe’s Diner, a friendly little truck stop about halfway between the two cities.
One day Bill parked his truck, walked into Joe’s Diner, sat down on a stool at the counter and ordered lunch. Off in the distance, there was a roar and a cloud of dust. As the roar got closer, out of the cloud of dust came 12 bikers. They parked their hogs and stormed into the Diner. They crowded around Bill and started to snap their fingers in rhythm. Bill just acted like they weren’t there and kept eating. Then the leader of the pack silenced his men, pointed at two of them, pointed at Bill, and snapped his fingers.
One of them poured iced tea over Bill’s head, and the other one pushed Bill’s face into his mashed potatoes. Then the two of them pushed Bill off of his stool and beat the tar out of him. Bill never said a word. He got up, brushed himself off, paid Joe for his lunch and left.
The leader of the gang swaggered over to Joe and said, “that guy’s not much of man is he? He didn’t even try to defend himself.” “No,” Joe replied as he looked out the window, “and he’s not much of a driver either. He just ran over twelve motorcycles.”
Brothers and sisters, there will always be people who will not get along with one another. They will not even try to get along with one another. There will be discord, disunity and disfellowship among people. There will be anger, disagreement and evening fighting.
And that’s sad, because isn’t there a better way? Of course, there is.
ILL.- Preacher Wayne Smith ministered with the Southland Christian Church in Lexington, KY, for forty years. At his 30th anniversary the church gave him and his wife Marge a brand new Lincoln Town Car.
CHURCHES DON’T DO THAT KIND OF THING UNLESS THEY LOVE THEIR PREACHER VERY MUCH! And I have never been give a new Lincoln Town car. Does this tell you something about me?
Preacher Wayne was out of town for a meeting one time so one of the associate ministers preached that Sunday. And wouldn’t you know it, of all things, he preached about lodges and lodge membership. HE PREACHED AGAINST BEING A MEMBER OF A LODGE. Like the Masons, etc. He essentially told the people that they could not be Christians and be a member of any lodge.
Wayne got back into town that next week. And he said, “All hell broke loose in the church.” People were really mad about that minister’s sermon since obviously some of those people were members of lodges.
Wayne said that he had a talk with that minister and then he took him to visit a number of people in the church so he could apologize.
WAYNE SMITH WAS ACTING FROM A HEART OF LOVE. That young minister wasn’t thinking because he wasn’t preaching from a heart of love. Love doesn’t stir up people over matters of opinion.
I Cor. 13:4-5 “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking....”
Love doesn’t stir up people. Love doesn’t cause trouble. Love doesn’t cause disunity. Love seeks to unite. Look is patient with people. Even those it doesn’t agree with everything everybody does. Love seeks to make peace, not war.
If there was one thing the people at the Southland Christian Church could say about Wayne Smith, it was that he was a man of love and they loved him very much.
We all need to secure love in our lives. God’s love. Allow God’s love to fill our hearts and motivate our actions.
AND GUESS WHAT? The more we love people like God loves people, the more peace and contentment will come into our lives. Jesus put it this way.
“Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.” Matthew 5:7, 9
To be overcomers in this stress-filled life we must:
1- Spread the message
2- Stop the evil
3- Strengthen the obedience
4- Secure the love
CONCLUSION----------------------------------------
ILL.- A lady who had a small house on the seashore of Ireland at the turn of the century was quite wealthy but also quite frugal. The people were surprised, then, when she decided to be among the first to have electricity in her home. Several weeks after the installation, a meter reader appeared at her door. He asked if her electricity was working well, and she assured him it was. “I’m wondering if you can explain something to me,” he said. “Your meter shows scarcely any usage. Are you using your power?” “Certainly,” she answered. “Each evening when the sun sets, I turn on my lights just long enough to light my candles; then I turn them off.”
She tapped into the power but didn’t use it. Her house was connected but not altered. Don’t we make the same mistake? We, too-with our souls saved but our hearts unchanged – are connected but not altered. Trusting Christ for salvation but resisting transformation. We occasionally flip the switch, but most of the time we settle for shadows.
If we are ever going to be overcomers in this life, we must get plugged into the Lord. We must seek Him first in life and allow Him to work in us. We must surrender to Him. “Have thine own way, Lord.”
