The LORD is Fighting for Me: YHWH Sabaoth

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

2 Kings 6:8–22

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.