Title: Three Steps To Victorious Living
Text: I John 5:4b
Intro: ABC Wide World of Sports use to come on with the words “The Thrill of Victory and the agony of defeat.” There is nothing as exciting as winning. The taste of victory in our lives is sweet. Victory is essential to our health and happiness. Defeat is destructive to our lives, and remaining in defeat can destroy our faith. It is not God’s will for your life to walk in defeat, but it is His will for you and I to rise-up in the middle of Satan’s attacks upon our lives and live in victory.
I. To Live in Victory you must think Victorious
1. Gloom breads failure
- It is impossible to live in victory without a victorious concept
1 Corinthians 15:57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
- The old saying goes you are what you eat.
- The same is true for our lives:
· If you are defeated in your thought life with negative thoughts of failure then you will never win.
· But If you put your mind into victory and HOPE you will always win.
Romans 15:13 Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.
- We have hope
· I don’t want to fall into the hands of a doctor without HOPE
· I don’t want to fall into the hands of a lawyer without HOPE
· I don’t want to fall into the hands of a minister without HOPE
Psalms 71:14 But I will hope continually, and will yet praise thee more and more.
- We serve the God of hope
· Not the God of defeat
· Not the God of pessimism
· Not the God of disillusion
· We have HOPE and beyond We have blessed assurance
- You can live in doom and gloom or you can live your life surrounded in HOPE
2. David never allowed himself to focus on problems
- He will never be remembered as a blues singer
- He had bumps in life
- He had battles in life
- He had failures in life
- He had difficulties in life
- He wept
- He mourned
- BUT he learned to live in praise
Psalms 42:5 Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.
3. Learning to Live in Praise in Essential to Victorious Living
- Praise builds our courage
· (Jehosphat) II Chronicles 20
· (Paul & Silas) Acts 16:20
· (John) Revelations 1:10
- Praise builds our faith
· Praise puts our faith into action
· The building of our faith pleases God; It excites God when we trust Him.
Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
· Praising God in the midst of our trials is like saying: “God you are my source of strength and though storms rise and winds howl, my trust is in you.”
- Praise brings the power of Heaven to our aid
2 Samuel 22:6 The sorrows of hell compassed me about; the snares of death prevented me;
2 Samuel 22:7 In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried to my God: and he did hear my voice out of his temple, and my cry did enter into his ears.
2 Samuel 22:8 Then the earth shook and trembled;
· God heard
· God moved
II. To Live in Victory you must get your eyes off of Circumstance
1. Peter got out of the boat
- Peter focused on Christ not the storm
- As his attention shifted he began to sink
2. Lame man at pool of Bathesda
John 5:3 In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water.
John 5:4 For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.
John 5:5 And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years.
John 5:6 When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole?
John 5:7 The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me.
John 5:8 Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.
John 5:9 And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked:
- The King of kings walked into the mans presence
- Jesus asked him, “Do you want to be healed?”
- The man focusing on the circumstance, “I have no man to help me…”
- Get your eyes off the circumstance and get your eyes on me.
3. Sometimes attacks come and they are so heavy that they overwhelm us, and it is hard not to focus on the problems that we are dealing with.
- When you are faced with loss in your life it is difficult to stay focused
· Loss of health
· Loss of loved one
· Loss of possessions
- Attacks are hard and they hurt, they bring pain and suffering into your life.
- But Jesus is our CHAMPION, our REFUGE, our STRONG TOWER, our SHELTER in the storm.
- He is the God of HOPE
- Focus on the Promise not the problems.
III. To Live in Victory you must never accept Defeat
1. To many Christians come under attack and they give up. They want to just sit down and not move.
2. They think if I don’t do anything maybe the devil want notice me, and he will leave me alone: WRONG. You merely exist in defeat.
3. When you are defeated forward progress is stopped
- When your Pray life is stopped you are living in defeat
- When your Devotional life is stopped you are living in defeat
- When your Commitment to service is stopped you are living in defeat
4. Some folks are sitting in pews and haven’t done anything for the kingdom in years.
- Blame lack of time; “I’m am to busy”
- Blame burn out; “I did it now let someone else do it”
- Look for any excuse not to be profitable for the Master
5. Don’t live in defeat do something
ILL. Put Johnson in!
It was the middle of a high school football game, and the home team was losing. They just could not do anything. One irate fan yells at the sidelines, “Put Johnson in!” The sidelines yell back, “Johnson is in!” The fan yells again, “Well take Johnson out!” In other words do something.
Ecclesiastes 9:10 Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.
- In II Kings 7 There is a story of Samaria under siege.
· No food
· Most of the animals had been eating.
· Many wear starving to death.
· 4 Lepers lay at the gate discussing their options
Ø We can go into the city and die
Ø We can stay here and die
Ø We can go over to the Arameans;
If they spare us we live
If they kill us we die
- They decided to do something
- God rewards faith put into action
· They found they enemy gone
· They found food
· They found treasure
· Because they decided to do something
- Peter When he got out of the boat and walked on the water didn’t hear a mad rush behind him of others jumping out of the boat.
- Peter did something
Conclusion: You can live in victory. You don’t have to remain in defeat.
1. Set your mind to thinking victory
2. Don’t focus on problem focus on the Promise
3. Do Something get up and get moving.
These are the steps to victory. As you begin to make these steps you will find that God provides victory in every situation of your life.
