Sermon

”Victory Over the World” Pastor Tony Sandoval, July 11, 2026

McDonald Road Church Sermons

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  1. Hello and welcome to church. We're so

  2. glad that you were able to join us here

  3. at the McDonald Road 7th Day Adventist

  4. Church for our worship time. I hope that

  5. your time is blessed. I hope the music

  6. blesses your soul. I hope the message

  7. touches your heart. And if if it does,

  8. we would be honored if you would share

  9. this content with somebody else so they

  10. can be blessed as well. We're so glad

  11. that you can be a part of our online

  12. church here at McDonald Road and hope

  13. that you are blessed in your worship

  14. together with us today. God bless and

  15. enjoy our worship service.

  16. Pastor Jamie will start with God's help

  17. next week a fourpart sermon series on

  18. the signs of Jesus soon return. So today

  19. we will be looking at what message Jesus

  20. had before he left uh his disciples and

  21. and and it's a going away message if you

  22. will for us as well as we look forward

  23. to his return. By the way, how many of

  24. you appreciate this uh arrangement of

  25. flowers here in the front? This is uh in

  26. honor of Ashton and Macau Cron's fourth

  27. wedding anniversary and they're sitting

  28. right there. So congratulations guys and

  29. continue to persevere in in in the home

  30. in the marriage. It's

  31. >> it's not easy but it's worth it. So God

  32. bless you.

  33. So how many of you have been enjoying

  34. your summer?

  35. I with my family, my wife's a teacher,

  36. Elena's a teacher there at CA. And so we

  37. have this little window of time in the

  38. summer where we have to get out and go

  39. and do things because if not, you know,

  40. school starts soon here, beginning of

  41. August, and then it's like she can't

  42. it's really hard for her to take time

  43. off. So, we go if we can to the theme

  44. parks and uh I have a 14-year-old son

  45. and a 11-year-old daughter and they love

  46. to go walk around and it's hard to keep

  47. up with them and they want the roller

  48. coasters and the zip lines and you all

  49. know what I'm talking about. And

  50. I love I used to love roller coasters

  51. when I was younger, like 20 years ago,

  52. but my body can't keep up now. I don't

  53. know how many of you could could relate.

  54. And then the young people are like,

  55. "Well, you're getting old, Pastor Tony."

  56. And I I'll I'll admit that. But I just,

  57. you know, we go like a ride and and my

  58. daughter, she's like, "Come on, Dad."

  59. And I'm like thinking, you know, what

  60. happens if this thing breaks? And you

  61. just can't help thinking all these

  62. things, right? And I do one ride and

  63. then maybe two rides and then I just

  64. don't have any more adrenaline. I'm just

  65. like fatigued. I'm done. And so she's

  66. like, "Come on, let's go." And I'm like,

  67. "Okay, let's go." And I'm trying. I'm

  68. trying. Well, last summer we were at

  69. Kahuta Springs, the conference's uh

  70. campground, and they have a zipline

  71. there. It's like a 50-ft drop, and it it

  72. goes across the lake like 1,000 ft. I

  73. don't know how many of you are familiar

  74. with that. And so, there's there's two

  75. cables and so my son and daughter go

  76. before my wife and I and they made it

  77. look so easy. You know, my daughter is

  78. like 40 lbs and so she's like nothing.

  79. So, so innocent. But for me, as I'm stra

  80. as I'm getting harnessed and strapped

  81. in, I'm looking at the cable, you know,

  82. it's like it's like time slows down and

  83. I'm like feeling my heartbeat, my

  84. breathing, I'm sweating and the young

  85. man that's uh harnessing me in and I'm

  86. making sure the carabiner is good and

  87. everything. He's like, "Don't worry, we

  88. do this all the time. You'll you'll do

  89. great." And I'm like, you know, I'm

  90. trying to enjoy the moment and I'm

  91. looking down. I'm like, "Would I survive

  92. this fall? you know, I would I would

  93. probably break a leg and if I fall in

  94. the lake, I don't know how deep that

  95. lake is. And all these thoughts are

  96. running through your head. Like you want

  97. to enjoy the moment, but but reality

  98. kicks in. And Jesus when now that we're

  99. going to look at our scripture reading

  100. as he as he's telling his disciples,

  101. the world will give you tribulations,

  102. but but have peace, have joy. It's not

  103. easy, right? to to maintain the peace,

  104. maintain the joy in the middle of this

  105. storm. So, if you have your Bibles,

  106. let's look at John 16. And I want to

  107. start reading in verse 31.

  108. John 16:31. Jesus answered them, "Do you

    John 16:31

  109. now believe?" Verse 32. Indeed, the hour

  110. is coming, yes, has now come that you

  111. will be scattered each to his own, and

  112. will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone

  113. because who is with me?

  114. >> My father.

  115. >> The Father is with Jesus. These things I

  116. have spoken to you that in me you may

  117. have peace. In the world you will have

  118. tribulation but be of good cheer for I

  119. have overcome the world. Other

  120. translations say say I have victory over

  121. the world. I have prevailed. I have

  122. basically won against the world. There's

  123. a very famous athletic brand. I think

  124. we've all seen it with the swoosh. Many

  125. of us pronounce it Nike. I used to

  126. pronounce it Nike. Uh but in in the

  127. Greek it's Nik. and it means victory.

  128. And in this specific verse that was our

  129. scripture reading of John 16:33 when

    John 16:33

  130. Jesus is saying, "I have overcome the

  131. world." It's a specific tense of the

  132. victory word in Greek that's only found

  133. once in the whole Bible. And it is in

  134. this verse. And the real translation is,

  135. I have victory over the world. I am

  136. overcoming the world. And I will always

  137. be overcoming the world.

  138. >> Amen. That's what Jesus is telling his

  139. disciples. That's what Jesus is telling

  140. us. And how do we have this victory is

  141. knowing that the father is with us. The

  142. father will not abandon us. And we have

  143. that cheer and that peace that the world

  144. should not be able to take away from us.

  145. And as Jesus is saying this, he's about

  146. to demonstrate it, right? He's about to

  147. put on a master class. He's like saying,

  148. "Now I'm going to show you as I get

  149. arrested, as I get tortured and

  150. executed, how even in the midst of this,

  151. I'm going to maintain my peace and

  152. maintain my joy,

  153. as relative as that may be, because I

  154. know the father is with me." And how is

  155. the father with Jesus? How is the father

  156. with us? He's only a prayer away. How do

  157. I know this? How do I come to this

  158. conclusion? Well, the very next verse,

  159. the the entire chapter 17 of John is

  160. what is Jesus praying? He's praying for

  161. himself. He's praying for his disciples.

  162. And he he's even praying for us, the

  163. future believers, for all believers. If

  164. you read the entire chapter, and it's

  165. incredible. It's powerful to know that

  166. Jesus has us in mind while he's praying

  167. back then. And I'm sure he has this in

  168. mind now, right? He's aware of what each

  169. and every one of us are going through.

  170. What is threatening your joy? What is

  171. threatening your peace? And and he is

  172. encouraging us to to pray to know that

  173. the father is right there. When we go to

  174. John 18, and I'm I'm doing a little

  175. preamble because I want to get into um a

  176. specific discourse here. But when we

  177. look at John 18, Jesus arrives at a

  178. garden, and it's that it says he was

  179. familiar going with with his disciples.

  180. And what does he continue to do in that

  181. garden?

  182. >> He continues to pray. And it doesn't say

  183. it in in in John in the gospel here, but

  184. when we compare Matthew, Mark, Luke, we

  185. see that when Jesus was in the garden,

  186. his disciples couldn't keep up. They

  187. were disinterested. Maybe they were just

  188. exhausted. And and Jesus is there

  189. praying. He knows what's about to

  190. happen. He probably had some anxiety. He

  191. probably had emotions. He knew the hour

  192. was was at hand. He was about to to go

  193. through very difficult time and he

  194. needed to pray there more than ever. But

  195. is prayer only when we're going through

  196. difficulty?

  197. >> No,

  198. >> I don't think so. The the way Jesus is

  199. framing it, it's it's it should be a

  200. constant relationship we're having with

  201. the father

  202. >> in the joy and the peace. And when the

  203. hard times come, which they will, we

  204. will have already established that

  205. relationship hopefully with the father

  206. so that we won't have our peace and our

  207. joy threatened. In in our society, in

  208. our culture, prayer is viewed as

  209. something that you do as a last resort,

  210. something out of desperation. In um

  211. football, NFL football, not World Cup

  212. soccer, but the you know the football

  213. that you throw with your hand, there's

  214. this play called the Hail Mary. And

  215. obviously we don't pray to marry, but

  216. it's a a a play that you do from one

  217. extreme of the field to the other and

  218. you just throw up the ball, launch up

  219. the ball as high as you can, hoping that

  220. your teammate will catch it. But it's

  221. it's it's it's like a last resort,

  222. right? And so that's the mentality

  223. unfortunately that we have nowadays with

  224. prayer. It's like when all has when all

  225. else has failed, now let's pray. I don't

  226. I don't agree with that. And I don't I

  227. don't think that is what Jesus was

  228. trying to show his disciples. It should

  229. be a constant communication with the

  230. father. And how difficult is it, right?

  231. Just to whisper a prayer to the father

  232. and he's right there to help us. So as

  233. Jesus is praying, there's conspiring

  234. going on behind his back.

  235. the Jews had to go through the Romans to

  236. get soldiers to come arrest Jesus as as

  237. we're going to see that happens here in

  238. this chapter. And I'm pretty sure it was

  239. Pilate that was behind the authorization

  240. of sending out that troop of soldiers

  241. that that group of soldiers to arrest

  242. Jesus.

  243. That's that's what I'm I'm deducing

  244. here. And even though things are falling

  245. apart, things are going haywire, the

  246. disciples will scatter, Jesus will get

  247. arrested, we still see here that Jesus

  248. is showing us the importance of praying.

  249. I was speaking to a young lady recently

  250. and she asked me to pray for her and she

  251. said, "Pastor Tony, your prayers are

  252. more her easily heard by God than mine."

  253. And I I I I said, "Yes, I'm going to

  254. pray for you, but I want to encourage

  255. you to pray as well because you are just

  256. as able to go to the throne of grace as

  257. I am able to."

  258. >> Amen.

  259. >> And and so she was like, "Well, I'm

  260. going through a lot. I haven't been the

  261. best. I have my struggles." And I was

  262. like, "The Father God is is ready to

  263. hear your prayer if you're willing to

  264. pray for him or pray to him." And so she

  265. was encouraged and I hope she um prays

  266. more. Now in all the four gospels,

  267. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, I've

  268. counted under 10 things. There's only

  269. nine things that are

  270. parallel in all the four gospels. And

  271. and the discourse that we're about to

  272. see with Pilate that is on the cover of

  273. of the bulletin is one of those nine

  274. things that's only found in all four

  275. gospels. So it must have been really

  276. important, right? And also it's the last

  277. thing that's in common in the four

  278. gospels. So as we study um the the word

  279. of God, we see that all authors were

  280. inspired to talk about this event with

  281. the prefect or the governor Ponteus

  282. Pilate. And in a weird way, it's good

  283. that there was an outside source that

  284. had to do something with the trial of

  285. Jesus, right? Because wouldn't it have

  286. been so biased if it was only with the

  287. Jews? No outside source, no outside

  288. party to say or to condemn Jesus. But

  289. because we have this account of the

  290. Roman Empire getting involved through

  291. Pilate and it's found in all these Greek

  292. ancient manuscripts or codecs or

  293. papyruses and and we have all this

  294. evidence. There was also an

  295. archaeological stone found in 1961

  296. in Cesaria Maritima which is now in the

  297. Jerusalem Museum which has Pilot's name.

  298. And so you can imagine the secular

  299. historians like wow the Bible is true.

  300. this pilot guy did exist and um you

  301. could read more about it but they found

  302. how it's from the first century and it's

  303. totally in sync with the biblical

  304. account

  305. what Jesus is preparing to go through

  306. with Pilate. It's not a regular old uh

  307. conversation but this is this is a

  308. litigation. This is a trial. This is a

  309. prosecutor trying to gather evidence to

  310. execute a a criminal Jesus in this case.

  311. And I'm always impressed by the court

  312. shows and the forensic movies and you

  313. know the attorneys sometimes they come

  314. out with these terms right in Latin like

  315. habius corpus or double jeopardy and

  316. you're like what? I didn't even know

  317. that existed. And it's almost like like

  318. this ace they have up their sleeve like

  319. ha I got you. Well, as Jesus is

  320. preparing for for this situation that

  321. he's in, I don't think he was so much

  322. brushing up on his Latin legal

  323. terminology and, you know, if they come

  324. out with this, I'll I'll hit him with

  325. this legality. I think it was more the

  326. prayer. He was relying more on his

  327. prayer and his relationship with the

  328. father.

  329. So Jesus is before Pilate. But before he

  330. goes through Pilate, there's a high

  331. priest that

  332. interrogates Jesus. And if you have your

  333. Bibles, let's go to John 18. Let's look

  334. at verse 19. It says, "The high priest

  335. then asked Jesus about who?"

  336. About his disciples and his doctrine.

  337. Very interestingly enough, as we go

  338. through Jesus response, does he ever

  339. mention the disciples? Does he ever

  340. throw them under the bus?

  341. >> He does not. He stay He stays quiet. So,

  342. just keep that in mind. If any of us

  343. ever get caught, don't throw the rest of

  344. us under the bus, okay? Just worry about

  345. yourself. Pray pray for us, but don't

  346. don't mention us. No, but seriously,

  347. Jesus protected his disciples, right? He

  348. he did not um mention them. He he he did

  349. not have anything derogatory to say

  350. about them. And ironically enough in

  351. verse 25, Peter is denying Jesus. It

  352. says, "Now see Simon Peter stood and

  353. warmed himself. Therefore they said to

  354. him, you are not also one of his

  355. disciples, are you?" He denied it and

  356. said, "I am not." And and as we go on,

  357. uh Peter continues to deny Jesus. So now

  358. we finally come to Pilate and let's go

  359. to verse 29

  360. where Pilate is trying to figure out

  361. what is going on with this guy named

  362. Jesus. Pilate then went out to them and

  363. said, "What accusation do you bring

  364. against this man?" And the the Jews had

  365. this sort of approach that they just

  366. wanted to speed the trial along. And

  367. they were like, "Pilate, just trust us.

  368. Don't worry about all the the details.

  369. Just execute this guy. And Pilate was

  370. not convinced. Pilate suspected there

  371. was some foul play here. There was

  372. something suspicious, something fishy

  373. going on. And and he sense that they

  374. were trying to pull the wool over his

  375. eyes. Right? So he was like, "No, no,

  376. no, no. What has this man done?" So now

  377. the the Jews are trying to explain as

  378. best as they can what the problem had

  379. been.

  380. Pilate tries to get out of condemning

  381. Jesus four times because as soon as he

  382. hears that Jesus is the Nazar Nazarene

  383. which is part of uh Galilea, he sends

  384. him to Herod. Remember that. And so

  385. that's number one. He's like, "Ah, I'm

  386. trying to get rid of this guy. Let me

  387. send him to Herod." And then there was

  388. another situation where he says, "Let's

  389. have this guy beat. Have Jesus beat."

  390. and then uh we'll get rid of him. And

  391. then there's also the famous washing of

  392. the hands. And finally, the fourth and

  393. final time is when he finally has Jesus

  394. crucified. But it's almost as if every

  395. way Pilate is trying to get out of this,

  396. he's meeting, he's hitting dead ends.

  397. And when Jesus is before Herod, I'm

  398. going to read a quote from a

  399. compilation, third volume, the spirit of

  400. prophecy. But I want you to notice how

  401. Jesus is described before Herod. It

  402. says, "Herod was greatly perplexed when

  403. he looked upon the pure pale face of the

  404. prisoner, questioned if he might not be

  405. a god come down to earth. The very

  406. silence of Jesus spoke to the conviction

  407. to the heart of the king." Herod was ill

  408. at ease, dared not ratify the

  409. condemnation of the Jews, and he

  410. therefore sent Jesus back to Pilate. Can

  411. you imagine the peace on Jesus' face

  412. where it said the pale pure Jesus had

  413. this peace to him despite what was going

  414. on around him. When we look at uh John

  415. 18 and let's look at verse 33. It says

  416. that now Pilate entered the ptorium

  417. again called Jesus and said to him are

  418. you the king of the Jews? Why did Pilate

  419. ask him? Where did where did Pilate get

  420. this from? It's not in John, but when we

  421. look at Luke 23 2, it said that when the

  422. crowd brought uh Jesus to Pilate, they

  423. said that Jesus was a king. And I'm I'm

  424. guessing there was a language barrier

  425. there because the the Jews spoke Hebrew

  426. and Aramaic. And maybe at the time, uh

  427. there was no word for the Messiah or or

  428. or Christ. And so they were probably as

  429. best as they can trying to describe it

  430. and they said a king. And so uh Pilate

  431. is is is running with that and he asks

  432. uh Jesus if he is a king. Now he ends up

  433. asking Jesus a total of four questions.

  434. And then he presents Jesus as behold the

  435. man when Jesus comes out with the thorny

  436. cross and and and the purple robe. And

  437. then at that moment he he gets a message

  438. from his wife that she has had a dream

  439. and she says through the messenger, "Do

  440. not have anything to do with this man."

  441. So it gets really personal, right? What

  442. what Pilate is just thinking maybe it's

  443. a ordinary run-of-the-mill

  444. trial for another prisoner.

  445. There's so much going on. So so much

  446. like intellect and emotions and and the

  447. wife. And then at at the at at that

  448. moment we're going to see in uh John

    John 19:7

  449. 19:7

  450. when he has had Pilate has had Jesus

  451. beaten. It says the Jews answered him,

  452. "We have a law and according to our law,

  453. he ought to die because he made himself

  454. the son of God." So now they're

  455. explaining themselves better. He's not

  456. so much the king of the Jews. He is the

  457. son of God. And and at this moment, I

  458. could imagine everybody was like,

  459. "What's going to happen?" And it says

  460. that Pilate was even more afraid. So, so

  461. we conclude that he was already a little

  462. afraid. So, let's see verse 34

  463. in John 18 what what um Jesus answers to

  464. Pilate. He says, "Are you speaking for

  465. yourself about this or did others tell

  466. you this concerning me?" Jesus is

  467. empathizing with Pilate. Jesus is

  468. getting semi-personal with Pilate. Is

  469. this what you think or are you just

  470. going by what other people think? And

  471. and Pilate resists, right? He pushes

  472. back. He says, "Am I a Jew? I'm not from

  473. your nation. These people are accusing

  474. you." So the the the personal approach

  475. Jesus is trying to have with Pilate.

  476. Pilate rejects it and he has this sort

  477. of like I'm just doing my job uh reply.

  478. But we could see that Jesus is is trying

  479. to knock on Pilate's heart, right? He's

  480. trying to get personal here with him.

  481. He's trying to empathize with him. So we

  482. see the response. Verse 35. Am I a Jew?

  483. Your own nation and chief priests have

  484. delivered you unto me. What have you

  485. done? And Jesus replies, my kingdom is

  486. not of this world. If my kingdom were of

  487. this world, my servants would fight so

  488. that I should not be delivered to the

  489. Jews. But now my kingdom is not from

  490. here. Can you imagine the reaction, the

  491. body language of Pilate at this moment?

  492. He was probably scratching his head,

  493. right? Wait, so you're a king but not of

  494. the Jews? And and so Pilate's just like,

  495. "What is going on here?" I I could

  496. imagine um Pilate is is is confused. And

  497. and and and it's a sort of an

  498. intellectual dilemma.

  499. And so he asks him, Pilate, in verse 37,

  500. Pilate therefore said to him, "Are you a

  501. king?" Then Jesus answered, "You say

  502. rightly that I am a king. For this cause

  503. I was born. For this cause I have come

  504. into the world that I should bear

  505. witness to the truth. Everyone who hears

  506. of the truth hears my voice. So Jesus is

  507. appealing again to Pilate. Look, I am

  508. from the kingdom of truth. I belong I am

  509. representing truth and if you believe me

  510. then you are accepting the truth. Does

  511. Pilate believe him? We know the story.

  512. Obviously not. Pilate rejects and

  513. brushes it off getting I guess

  514. rhetorical uh asks what is truth and it

  515. is at this moment that he goes out and

  516. he says I have no I find no fault in him

  517. and and um he says there's a custom to

  518. release Jesus or Barabus and then it

  519. says starting in chapter 19 verse1 that

  520. Pilate took Jesus and scourged him or

  521. had him beaten

  522. So we are familiar with this story and

  523. after Jesus has been beaten and and

  524. mocked

  525. uh he still finds no fault in him but he

  526. presents him as the man in verse 5 after

  527. Jesus has been beat uh wearing the crown

  528. of thorns and the purple robe and Pilate

  529. said to them behold the man and it's

  530. very interesting because now is when

  531. they said well he's actually pretending

  532. to be a god. And there is where I think

  533. was the the the the pinnacle the the

  534. most critical time in this conversation

  535. in this discourse where Pilate

  536. could have accepted Jesus as a god but

  537. he doesn't because after this he

  538. presents him as the king.

  539. He he says, "Behold your king." Uh, a

  540. few verses later. And in Matthew chapter

    Matthew 27 chapter mention

  541. 27, it is at this specific time as well

  542. that the wife sends a message about the

  543. dream. So, it all happens at the same

  544. time. I remember when I was in junior

  545. high school, there was a teacher that

  546. was talking about Jesus as a historical

  547. figure, but he he referred to Jesus as

  548. Jesus Christ. And I remember I was like

  549. probably like 12, 13 years old and it

  550. was a big deal. The administrators came

  551. and that that teacher of mine had gotten

  552. in trouble because he didn't refer to

  553. Jesus just as Jesus but as Jesus Christ.

  554. And this wasn't a big uh inner city

  555. school in the in the city where I grew

  556. up. And so there's this whole respect of

  557. all religions, the Muslims and the Jews.

  558. And if you're referring to Jesus as the

  559. Christ, then you're imposing

  560. Christianity right on on these other

  561. religions was was the argument. But he

  562. had gotten in trouble for saying Jesus

  563. Christ, Jesus the Messiah, Jesus our

  564. Lord. That is we what we believe by

  565. faith. That is what Jesus is appealing

  566. to Pilate's heart at that moment.

  567. And what happens immediately after this?

  568. Immediately after Pilate hears all these

  569. things, all these all these signs, if

  570. you will, it says verse 9, "And went

  571. again into the ptorium and said to

  572. Jesus, where are you from?" But did

  573. Jesus give him an answer?

  574. >> No. Why do you think Jesus remained

  575. quiet? Okay, granted, he just got beat

  576. up. He's probably all bloody. is

  577. probably shocked at this moment. But I

  578. would I would venture I would dare to

  579. say that Jesus was praying for Pilate at

  580. this moment because this was critical.

  581. He has just heard no Jesus is not just a

  582. man. No, Jesus is not just a king, but

  583. Jesus is potentially a god in human

  584. form. And this is what you've just

  585. heard. And and there's several evidences

  586. and there's several emotions going

  587. through um Pilate's mind and heart at at

  588. this moment.

  589. And I I think here is the critical

  590. moment where Pilate rejects that and his

  591. heart is hard and he falls back on his

  592. authority. Verse 10. Then Pilate said to

  593. him, "Are you not speaking to me? Do you

  594. not know that I have the power to

  595. crucify

  596. and the power to release you?" And Jesus

  597. answered, "You could have no power at

  598. all against me unless it it had been

  599. given to you from above. Therefore, the

  600. one who delivered me to you has the

  601. greater sin." So, a couple things here,

  602. right? A couple things. Jesus is

  603. referring to some sort of hierarchy. Is

  604. he referring to a Roman hierarchy that

  605. gave the power to Pilate or maybe

  606. some deity higher than Pilate that had

  607. given that power to him? So I I imagine

  608. those thoughts crossed Pilate's head.

  609. Also, he said Jesus said that the people

  610. that turned him in have a greater sin,

  611. but it implies that Pilate is not

  612. getting off scot-free, right? He's he's

  613. some sort of guilt in in this whole uh

  614. situation as well.

  615. But Pilate has a hard heart and he

  616. rejects that Jesus could be a god. But

  617. he accept he accept Pilate accepts that

  618. Jesus is king of the Jews. And that's

  619. what he has on the sign above the cross

  620. in John 19:19. It says Jesus Jesus of

    John 19:19

  621. Naz Nazareth, King of the Jews. And he

  622. put it in Greek, in Latin, and in

  623. Hebrew. I want to read another quote

  624. from uh this author, same author that

  625. says, "His wavering and indecision

  626. proved his irredeemable ruin. Many like

  627. Pilate sacrifice principle and integrity

  628. in order to shun the disagreeable

  629. consequences. So many of us this author

  630. is saying when we are bombarded by the

  631. pressures and and and all these emotions

  632. that many of us also fold like pilot

  633. folded. But should we sacrifice

  634. principle and integrity?

  635. >> No, we should not.

  636. Jesus has a message for us specifically

  637. in Revelation chapter 3. In the first

    Revelation 3 chapter mention

  638. couple of chapters of Revelation, there

  639. are seven churches. And and as we

  640. understand the chronology of church

  641. history, we are living in that seventh

  642. and final church. And in Revelation 3

  643. 21, to each of those seven churches,

  644. there's a promise. If they overcome, if

  645. they have the victory, they will have a

  646. certain reward. But look at what it says

  647. for us, the final church in Revelation

    Revelation 3:21

  648. 3:21.

  649. It says, "To him who overcomes or to him

  650. who has the victory, I will grant to sit

  651. with me on my throne as I also overcame

  652. and sat down with my father on his

  653. throne." We have the victory, church

  654. family, because Jesus won the victory.

  655. >> Amen.

  656. And the victory is or the victory is

  657. accomplished through prayer knowing that

  658. the father is with us and nothing and

  659. nobody should be able to take away our

  660. peace and our joy. I want to close with

  661. a story of a young boy named Joshua

  662. Wright. This story happened about 5

  663. years ago. And this young boy, he was 9

  664. years old. He went on a hiking trip with

  665. his extended family with his uncle, with

  666. his cousins, some of the siblings were

  667. there. and he lived in Idaho, but they

  668. had gone uh uh hiking and camping in the

  669. mountains of Utah, which was like about

  670. a six-hour drive. And the father had

  671. stayed behind. He had to work. And the

  672. the the the boys, including Joshua,

  673. Wright, uh was having a grand old time

  674. with his cousins, and they were fishing

  675. and running around. And in one of those,

  676. he strayed away and he got lost.

  677. And the family tried to search for him

  678. as best as they could, but they saw that

  679. the the clock was ticking. The hours

  680. were were going. And so they called the

  681. rangers. The rangers got involved. They

  682. brought helicopters. They brought

  683. rangers on on horses. And by now it was

  684. getting dark. The uncle calls the

  685. father, Joshua's father in Idaho and

  686. says, "I have terrible news, but Joshua

  687. has gotten lost, and we've been

  688. searching for him for hours, and I just

  689. wanted to let you know what the

  690. situation is is not good." The father at

  691. that point got a couple things ready,

  692. got into his car, and started to drive

  693. the 6 hours to go into those mountains

  694. of Utah. And when he got there, it was

  695. about maybe 2, 3 in the morning. They

  696. had set up a camp and and they told the

  697. father the the the authorities that were

  698. doing the rescue effort. They said,

  699. "It's too late. Um let's wait for

  700. daylight for dawn and then we'll go out

  701. and continue the search." The dad said,

  702. the father said, "No, I need to go out

  703. right now. I need to search for for my

  704. son." And the authorities were like,

  705. "Okay, but it's at your own risk." He's

  706. like, "It's okay. I'm I'm willing to

  707. take that risk." What they didn't know

  708. was that the father and the son had

  709. agreed that if they had ever were to get

  710. lost, the son was to look for an open

  711. area and just stay there and stay calm

  712. and wait for somebody to look for him.

  713. And the father knew that. And so he went

  714. out looking for the son and when he

  715. would look for the open where he would

  716. intentionally look around the open area

  717. specifically. And sure enough, when he

  718. got to an open area, and by now the the

  719. light of the day was starting to to peek

  720. through, Joshua saw this man approaching

  721. him. And he recognized that it was his

  722. father that was the one that had found

  723. him. And they embraced. And it was a

  724. tearful reunion. And they were so happy.

  725. And the authorities congratulated

  726. Joshua, the young 9-year-old boy, for

  727. even though he was lost, he stayed calm

  728. in that situation.

  729. Church family, Jesus is returning soon.

  730. The the father is sending Jesus to

  731. rescue us, but he wants nobody or

  732. nothing to threaten our peace and our

  733. joy in the midst of the world's chaos

  734. and tribulation. I'm going to call up

  735. our worship team as we sing our final

  736. hymn,

  737. We Have the Hope. I think it's 214.

  738. And as we sing this song, let us have

  739. that assurance that Jesus is returning

  740. soon for us and he wants to reunite us

  741. with our loved ones.

  742. Let us pray. Dear heavenly father, we

  743. want to thank you that we have the

  744. victory through Jesus and because he is

  745. sitting at your throne that we are able

  746. to sit at Jesus throne if we overcome.

  747. if we have the victory through Jesus,

  748. through your um help, Lord, that you

  749. will accompany us. You will not abandon

  750. us and you will maintain our peace and

  751. our joy despite the chaos of the world

  752. around us. Lord, we want to ask a

  753. special blessing on each person here,

  754. each of the homes represented here. We

  755. know some of us are suffering. We're

  756. going through some difficulties, but we

  757. want to trust in you, Lord, that you

  758. have great plans for us, and you are

  759. sending your son, Jesus, to rescue us

  760. and take us home. We are not of this

  761. world, and we look forward to going

  762. home. We ask these things in Jesus

  763. precious name. Amen.

  764. >> Amen.

  765. >> Thanks so much for joining us here at

  766. the McDonald Road 7th Day Adventist

  767. Church for worship. Each month we reach

  768. between 25 and 30,000 people with gospel

  769. content online. We're looking to expand

  770. our audiovisisual department this year

  771. and looking to raise $30,000 in this

  772. project. We would love for you to

  773. partner with us on this and consider

  774. making a donation to our audiovisisual

  775. department as we look at expansion and

  776. reaching more people with the gospel

  777. across the internet this next year. You

  778. can go to mrcsda.org

  779. oorgg to make a donation directly to our

  780. audiovisisual department. Thank you so

  781. much for considering making this

  782. donation and the privilege is ours to

  783. partner with you in making this a bigger

  784. and more effective ministry here at the

  785. McDonald Road 7th Adventist Church. God

  786. bless each one of you and thanks again

  787. for joining us here at the McDonald Road

  788. 7th Adventist Church.