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Satan Can’t Win – Unless you quit part #1
Quitters never win – winners never quit
John 17
Ric:
Over the next 2 or 3 weeks we are going to deal with the topic of giving up
If there is one factor that prevents people from achieving goals, or even being blessed –
It’s the fact that they quit, or give-up, instead of forging ahead, persevering and making it
It is a rarity that someone has lived for more than a few minutes without thoughts of quitting every time there is a hardship or difficulty.
Christy
I suppose all of us at some time or another get depressed, or want to give up and quit.
In the heat of a moment we’ll say, "I’ll just leave this job, on school, students, or this family.
Several times this week I was asked how long I had been married.
When I told them 34 years this month they were amazed, one man said, “to one man, consecutively?”
It was like we had performed some kind of marvel.
Now people, do you think we have made it to 34 years because I am such a pleasure to live with, or that he is?
Yes, one reason that I married him is because he could make me laugh.
But guess what sometimes things are just not that funny.
Beach., floor of ocean gave way
We would like to share with you principles that have sustained us in the ministry for over 30 years.
Ric:
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1] Principle # 1 – Everything we do must bring glory to God
Let’s look at John 17:1
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John 17:1 (NLT) After saying all these things, Jesus looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son so he can give glory back to you.
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John 17:2 (NLT) For you have given him authority over everyone. He gives eternal life to each one you have given him.
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John 17:3 (NLT) And this is the way to have eternal life—to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth.
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John 17:4 (NLT) I brought glory to you here on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.
Note verse 4: I brought glory to you here on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.
Christy:
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John 17:1 (TMSG) Jesus said these things. Then, raising his eyes in prayer, he said: Father, it’s time. Display the bright splendor of your Son. So the Son in turn may show your bright splendor.
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John 17:2 (TMSG) You put him in charge of everything human. So he might give real and eternal life to all in his charge.
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John 17:3 (TMSG) And this is the real and eternal life: That they know you, The one and only true God, And Jesus Christ, whom you sent
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John 17:4 (TMSG) I glorified you on earth by completing down to the last detail what you assigned me to do.
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John 17:5 (TMSG) And now, Father, glorify me with your very own splendor, The very splendor I had in your presence Before there was a world.
Christy:
The part in that scripture that says “completing what you called me to do, down to the very last detail”
That is our clue, in times when we are contemplating quitting, Jesus, He is our example, these words are Jesus’ final words before he went to the cross.
When I want to quit, all I need to do is remember that no one is beating me, no one is spitting on me, no one is hanging me on a cross.
Jesus could have given up on the way to the cross
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John 12:27
Jesus said now is my heart troubled, father glorify your name
That is the motive that took Jesus to the cross
What will my motive be when my heart is troubled.
Will my quitting bring God glory?
God has a plan and purpose for each of us.
A good plan, and usually the more we feel like quitting the closer we are to a major part of that plan coming together
We have examples from the Bible
Moses wanted God to just kill him.
Job wished he had never been born
Elijah, after having called fire down from heaven, got so depressed he said to God, just take my life away.
Jonah after seeing all those people saved in Nimivah, he said, “just kill me God.”
I Cor. 2:3 Paul says of that time in Acts: “I was with you in weakness and in fear, and in much trembling” (could be translated: “I was far from strong, nervous, and rather shaky!”
But God came to Him and told him
2Cor. 12:9 9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
There is that word, glory.
Pauls purpose was to bring glory to God
Quitting does not bring glory to God.
They might have killed the apostle Paul, but not until he was able to say, “I have finished my course.”
They killed the Lord Jesus, but not before He said, “It is finished!”
God has a plan for each of our lives.
Lets finish our course.
Ric:
It’s very easy to go about our every day life just doing what we know we’re supposed to do
The problem is when we get tired of doing what is right simply because it is the right thing to do
And that’s when we want to throw in the towel and just quit
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Some times we do the right thing – but with the wrong motive
We have to get what the Holy Spirit’s motive – bringing glory to God
It’s all about bringing glory to God
If we’re ministering, or doing good things –
But we want something other than to give God glory – then we will grow weary and give up.
Joke -Calvin and Hobbes: “God put me on earth to accomplish a certain # of things…right now, I’m so far behind, I will never die!”
Christy
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Psalm 19:14 (NKJV) Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.
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Psalm 26:2 (NKJV) Examine me, O Lord, and prove me; Try my mind and my heart.
I teach a class every Sunday morning, what is my motivation.
Is it to hear someone say, “Oh, that was a good lesson today.”
Or is my motivation that someone might hear the Word of the Lord and not only hear the word but that they would put it to work in their lives,
producing good fruit in their lives, thereby, bringing glory to the Lord.
If that were not my motivation, I would have quit long time ago.
I must examine my motivation to see that it is pure.
Make the tree good and the fruit will be good
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No matter how bad you want to bear good fruit
If you have the wrong motive it will be bad
Ric:
Being where God wants us to be – doing
what God wants us to do – is not easy
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Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 10:31 (NKJV) Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
Paul said “eat or drink” as unto God – eating and drinking are pretty small things.
We do those things all the time – but Paul says even in the small things – do them to the glory of God.
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Then Paul wrote: Philippians 1:20 (TMSG) I can hardly wait to continue on my course. I don’t expect to be embarrassed in the least.
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On the contrary, everything happening to me in this jail only serves to make Christ more accurately known, regardless of whether I live or die.
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They didn’t shut me up; they gave me a pulpit!
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Philippians 1:21 (TMSG) Alive, I’m Christ’s messenger; dead, I’m his bounty. Life versus even more life! I can’t lose.
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Philippians 1:22 (TMSG) As long as I’m alive in this body, there is good work for me to do. If I had to choose right now, I hardly know which I’d choose.
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Philippians 1:23 (TMSG) Hard choice! The desire to break camp here and be with Christ is powerful. Some days I can think of nothing better.
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Philippians 1:24 (TMSG) But most days, because of what you are going through, I am sure that it’s better for me to stick it out here.
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Philippians 1:25 (TMSG) So I plan to be around awhile, companion to you as your growth and joy in this life of trusting God continues.
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Philippians 1:26 (TMSG) You can start looking forward to a great reunion when I come visit you again. We’ll be praising Christ, enjoying each other.
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Philippians 1:27 (TMSG) Meanwhile, live in such a way that you are a credit to the Message of Christ.
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Let nothing in your conduct hang on whether I come or not. Your conduct must be the same whether I show up to see things for myself or hear of it from a distance.
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Stand united, singular in vision, contending for people’s trust in the Message, the good news,
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Philippians 1:28 (TMSG) not flinching or dodging in the slightest before the opposition. Your courage and unity will show them what they’re up against:
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defeat for them, victory for you — and both because of God.
Paul was saying “whether by life or by death” we are to glorify God
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In the small things and the large things – we should glorify God
Christy:
We cannot see God doing great things in our life if we are trying to get the glory for ourselves
To keep from quitting – principle #1 is do everything to bring God glory
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Colossians 3:23 (NKJV) And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men,
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Colossians 3:24 (NKJV) knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.
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The second principle we want to share is learn the power of praying through
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Praying until we hear from God – or until we know that God hears us
As a male – this one is tough
Because men are people of fewer words than women
So we want to tell God the way it is –
And then move on
And for some of the time I really feel that is a working relationship with my father
But – there are times when it requires staying in God’s presence until we receive a fresh touch
Jacob and his wrestling match with God is proof of that in genesis 32
Jacob had to have an answer –
It wasn’t so much what he said – it was what he did
He hung on – he stayed there – he remained in the presence of God
So much of powerful praying is not the words we say – it the time we spend in his presence
Now – when what we say is important – then it is more powerful to allow the spirit to pray through us than for us to struggle with words on our own
The spirit knows the mind of the father – he searches the deep things of God
He knows the perfect will of the father
Praying in tongues will allow us to move from our ideas to God’s solutions
Praying in tongues will move us from our desperation to God’s victory
Christy:
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In the word it tells us to cast all of our cares upon Him, in other words pray it through.
Lord, when I don’t know how to pray, I will pray in the spirit and in doing so, I’m casting all my cares upon you.
Rejoice in your desperation.
You see, desperation is good for you.
IF you were not desperate you would not be seeking God perhaps.
Therefore, pray it through instead of quitting.
There is a close correlation between desperation and miracles.
Ric:
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I honestly believe that the reason some people seem to move from crisis to crisis is because they only cry out to God when they are in a crisis
They only call on God when the situation is beyond their control
So consequently – God makes sure that their whole life stays just beyond their control.
Sometimes – the power to keep going requires more than ‘now I lay me down to sleep’
It requires fervent prayer – staying in God’s presence until there is a break through.
Christy:
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The third principle we want to share is: learn real dependency on God
[s40] In times of trouble there is a
7 step Cycle of success
1. depending on God
2. Obey God
3. seek God, keep seeking him until you
4. hear God
5. perseverance - keep on obeying God believing God
6. achieving the victory
7. return the glory to God
And it won’t be long before circumstances will bring you to the place where the cycle starts all over again. You find yourself desperate before God but by this time you have a history with Him. And you can trust Him.
Some of you who are new to the church may not know that we traveled for 14 years as Evangelist.
Now, like with any new adventure the beginning is very difficult.
I remember one Sunday morning being desperate before the Lord.
We had no money and no revivals booked.
I found myself, needing to do number one of the cycle “depend on God.”
It looked bad. We were desperate. We needed to depend on God.
Number 2 of the cycle: Obeying God.
God had called us, and of course it seems that if he had of called us he would meet all of our needs.
And when it seemingly was not happening, everything within you is crying out, go get a job, A GOOD JOB,
Ric is smart, he had scholarships in fields that he would have made big money.
Why are we putting ourselves through this.
If this was God’s will then we would not be suffering here.
Hey, don’t get confused with God’s will always being a bed of roses.
God’s will is almost always accompanied with hardship.
We stuck with obeying God.
Don’t get me wrong, Ric, didn’t just sit idle around the house all day waiting for funds to drop out of the sky.
How many of you have seen that show called “Dirty Job”
Well, Ric had a job where he was paid $2.00 an hour working in filthy nasty conditions.
Paul was a tent maker, Ric, was ‘what ever job he could find for the day guy’
The 3rd part of the cycle - seek God
We lived in a trailer, and I can remember kneeling in front of our brown plaid couch, casting my care upon God.
Crying out for him to hear us.
We did not feel like we were meeting our potential.
Then 4th - hear God.
You are my child I will take care of you
Along with hearing the voice of God I can assure you that there will be another voice in your ear, you know what, even the Devil knows how to quote scripture.
Hey, if a man does not provide for his household he is worse than an infidel
Then - 5th persevere - don’t quit,
Lord, you really want Ric to work in this filth, okay, but how long, God.
Desperate.
When all of a sudden the phone rang, it was a pastor in a neighboring town.
He asked if it would be possible for us to preach for him that day, Sunday.
Now, you could never convince me that that pastor was not a true man of God, because God heard my prayer that morning and he caused that Pastor to be motivated to call us to come and minister.
It was good that I was desperate before the Lord, he proved himself to me that day.
He proved that He loved me and that He was concerned about us.
Andre Crouch wrote a song that said, through it all, I’ve learned to trust in Jesus.
IF I never had a problem I’d never know that God could solve them.
We go through these times when it is hard so that we will know that God can be trusted.
It is our spiritual muscles that are being strengthened.
So it is not the time for giving up, it is time for holding on.
We held on through those difficult years and finally we were booked solid with revivals
Then # 6 - we were achieving our goal
And #7 - We were praising God and hopefully God was receiving the glory because of it.
Ric:
Again this one is I think hard for men
We don’t like to depend on anyone
We like to think we can handle just about anything all by ourselves
We have dependency and weakness all tied up together.
To admit we need help – even God’s help – it to admit that we have a weakness
And everyone knows that men struggle with that issue
I have seen this issue affect just about every aspect of a man’s walk with God
Men have their job and their self worth all confused
We equate what we do with our self worth
Which means – if we need help – then our self worth is devalued
The reason some men won’t tithe is because that would be to admit that they owe God something because God did something for them
And they are so strong willed that they honestly believe they earned their money all by themselves,
And God isn’t responsible for anything – they did it all – and so God is not entitled to money they earned themselves.
But if something is solely your own doing –
Then the burden and responsibility of that thing rests entirely on your shoulders
And when your shoulders get tired –
You will quit.
Or when circumstances pull the rug out from under you – you don’t know what else to do – so you quit.
It is a dependency issue –
We either depend on us or God
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If it’s us – may as well quit now, if it’s God – then Satan can’t win unless we quit.
