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

Hello and welcome to church. We're so

glad that you were able to join us here

at the McDonald Road 7th Day Adventist

Church for our worship time. I hope that

your time is blessed. I hope the music

blesses your soul. I hope the message

touches your heart. And if if it does,

we would be honored if you would share

this content with somebody else so they

can be blessed as well. We're so glad

that you can be a part of our online

church here at McDonald Road and hope

that you are blessed in your worship

together with us today. God bless and

enjoy our worship service.

>> How many of you have been enjoying the

summer so far? Isn't it incredible how

fast time is going? like school back to

school's like in two weeks it feels like

my uh wife's a teacher Elena at CA and

so during the summers when we try to

enjoy as much as we can and get out

there and do things and I have a

14-year-old son Juan Felipe and an

11-year-old daughter Victoria and they

love to go on the roller coasters and

the zip lines and I used to like roller

coasters a lot more like 20 years ago

some of you are laughing you know what

I'm talking about but it's like my body,

you know how they say the spirit is

willing but the flesh is weak. I go on a

couple rides and then I feel like just

like I have no more adrenaline. I'm like

I'm like done. I'm tired. And my

daughter's like, "Come on, let's go."

And she she's pretty fearless. Last um

summer we were at Kahara, the Georgia

Cumberland Conference's campground. And

we went on the zipline and it's like a

50-ft drop and and the cable probably

goes like a thousand feet across the

lake. And my children go before me. They

were harnessed and clipped in and they

went off like like nothing. They're so

innocent, right? They they don't know

the danger. Meanwhile, I'm up there. I'm

sweating. I feel my heart beating. It's

like going in slow motion. And I'm like,

could this thing hold my weight? And

what if it were to snap? And would I

survive this 50 foot fall? And and all

these thoughts are racing my head. And

I'm looking at the cable, making sure

it's good. and and the young man, the

college student that's there, he's he's

harnessing me and putting the carabiner

and everything. And he he could tell I'm

like distracted and he smiles at me and

he goes, "Look, everything's going to be

fine. You're going to you're going to

enjoy it. This happens all the time and

nobody has gotten hurt and and it'll be

great." And I'm like trying to enjoy the

moment. I'm I'm trying I want to believe

him, but I'm still nervous. And I'm

thinking if I were to fall from here,

how long would I be in the cast? like

would I break my leg or would I die? And

and all these terrible thoughts racing

through my head. And then finally like

we went down and and everything went

well and and we had we had fun, right?

Despite all the nerves and and emotions,

our scripture reading found in John 16,

Jesus is trying to comfort the

disciples. He's trying to tell them that

despite the world's tribulation, have

peace, have joy. And I'm going to start

reading from verse 31. It says, "Jesus

answered them, do you now believe?

Indeed, the hour is coming. Yes, now has

come that you will be scattered each to

his own and will leave me alone." Yet, I

am not alone because who is with Jesus?

>> The father.

>> The father. So, that's I think point

number one. Verse 33 it says, "These

things I have spoken to you that in me

you may have peace. In the world you may

you will have tribulation but be of good

cheer. I have overcome the world."

What's another expression for

overcoming? Prevailing. I have won. I

have victory over the world. In this

specific verse of John 16:33

John 16:33

in the Greek tense of that word nine is

only found one time in the whole Bible

and it is in that verse and it comes

from the root word nik which we may

sound

like for sports apparel companies

sounding familiar. Some say Nike, some

say night, but it means victory, right?

The Greek word for victory. But

Jesus is saying in this verse, I have

victory over the world. I am overcoming

the world. And I will always be

overcoming the world. Isn't that

encouraging that we have the victory

because Jesus has won that victory?

And so he's telling us that we are not

alone because the father is with us and

nobody or nothing should take away our

peace and our joy. How is the father

with us?

Well, the very next chapter, the very

next verse, the whole chapter talks

about Jesus praying to who?

>> To the father. And so the father

McDonald Road 7th Day Adventist Church

family is always a prayer away. We are

never alone because we could always

whisper a prayer and the father is right

there to cheer us on, to give us cheer

and and to keep our peace despite of

what's going on. And Jesus is trying to

prepare his disciples for what they're

about to go through. It's going to be

rough. It's going to be incredibly

agonizing. the arrest and the torture

and and finally the execution. But I

imagine Jesus

as as best as he could is going to go

through that joyfully and peacefully.

Can you imagine that? How many of you

before you go on a road trip, you make

sure your gas gauge, your gas tank is

full, and if it's maybe a quarter down,

you want to top it off, right? Make sure

it's filled up. Jesus is praying up

right now as best as he can because he's

about to go through a very tormentous,

tumultuous situation. And the whole

chapter, John 17, he's praying for

himself. He's praying for his disciples.

And who else is he praying for?

>> For us, for the future believers.

2,000 years ago, Jesus was already

praying for us. And I'm sure he's been

praying ever since. And right now as we

speak, I'm pretty sure he has each and

every one of us in mind, what is

threatening your peace? What is

threatening your joy? Jesus is well

aware of what is going on.

When we go to chapter 18, he goes with

his disciples, John 18, to a garden. And

what does Jesus continue to do in that

garden? As as we are very familiar with

the story, the garden of Gethsemane, he

prays some more. Even though while he's

praying, soldiers are on their way.

They're conspiring to arrest him. One of

his best friends is betraying him. He

suspects all this is going on. But what

is he doing in the midst of all this?

He's praying. How many of us probably

think, "Well, it might be too late to

pray or what's the point of praying?"

Prayer is is critical. It's it's vital

and it's so necessary. If if Jesus is

showing us that it's so crucial even

when apparently things are falling apart

anyway he's still praying in our culture

in our society I think we have a

misconception of prayer one of them we

see it in American football NFL not

world cup soccer but you know the the

oblong ball that you throw in the air

there's a play called the Hail Mary

right not that we pray to Mary but what

is the Hail Mary play. It's when you

launch the ball from one end of the

field to the other hoping your teammates

will catch it. And so it's like throwing

up a prayer, I guess, that it will be a

successful

um catch for for your team.

And there's this misconception that

prayer should be the last resort, that

prayer should only be when all else

fails. Jesus is reminding us that it's

never too late to pray and we should

always be praying, always having this

communication with our father. Amen.

>> And that's what he wants for each and

every one of us. Even though things may

look like they're getting worse.

The discourse that we're going to see

between Pilate and Jesus is found in all

four gospels. There's not too many

things found in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and

John. There's only about nine things

I've counted that are in all four

gospels. And this is the last of those

nine things in all four gospels. So, it

must be really important. And it's in

all the ancient ancient manuscripts and

codeexes and papyruses. But on top of

all that, there was a stone found in

1961

in Cesaria Maritima, which is currently

in the Jerusalem Museum, which is known

as Pilot Stone. Has anybody heard of

Pilot Stone? And secular historians

agree that Pilate was a real person and

along with all the ancient manuscripts

and and with the pilot stone, there's no

doubt that he existed. And it's pretty

we're pretty sure that Jesus was

condemned to death by Pilate. As Jesus

is getting ready to meet up with Pilate,

it's not a regular conversation. This is

a litigation, a trial, right? They're

looking for evidence and and your words

may be used against you and and they're

looking for witnesses and and all this

is going on. But I don't think Jesus was

getting too caught up on all the legal

terms or you know how I like watching uh

some law court shows or forensic movies

and I'm always impressed by the

attorneys and in real life when they

have like an ace up their sleeve, right?

a judge says something and they're like

habius corpus or double jeopardy and

you're like what is that and I have to

like Google it like oh wow and got that

out of right nobody saw that coming got

that out of thin air but I don't think

Jesus was getting ready in that fashion

Jesus is praying and he's focusing that

the father is with him and

he had a suspicion he was going to go

through some sort of trial but I don't

know if he knew that it was going to be

before pilot it

in John 18:19 we see it's almost like

John 18:19

the first round of this process and

Jesus is before the high priest

and asks and what is this high priest

asked Jesus about 18:19 it says the high

priest then asked Jesus about his

disciples and his doctrine does Jesus go

on to

rat out his disciple friends

No, the Bible says that he does not

mention the disciples. He keeps

the discretion and not rat out his

friends. So, if any of you are ever

caught or I'm ever caught, I won't rat

you guys out. Don't rat me out. Okay?

Can we agree on that? I saw somebody go,

"Well,

so Jesus

tells uh the the high priest

about what he believes, but never about

his disciples." Meanwhile, ironically,

verse 25, we have Peter denying Jesus.

It says, "Now Simon Peter stood and

warmed himself. Therefore, they said to

him, you are not also one of his

disciples, are you?" He denied it and

said, "I am not." Even when we deny

Jesus, he is still sticking up for us.

He is still vouching for us. Finally,

we're coming up to where Jesus has to

confront Pilate.

And in verse 29, it says, "Pilate then

went out to them and said, "What

accusation do you bring against this

man?" The Jews had this mentality that

they were just trying to rush along the

the trial and they were trying to tell

Pilate, "Look, just trust us. This guy

is bad. Just execute him. Don't don't

worry about all the details." But Pilate

suspected something. Pilate

suspected they were trying to put the

wool over his eyes or some foul play.

something doesn't smell right. And so

that's why he's trying to to figure this

out. But at the same time, he's trying

to get out of it because as soon as he

hears that Jesus is from Nazareth, which

belongs to Galilea, Galilee, sorry, he

sends Jesus to who? To Herod. And then

Herod also is in this situation. I want

to read a quote from a compilation from

the third violin called the spirit of

prophecy. And as I read it, I want you

to take note how Jesus is described. It

says, "Herod was greatly perplexed when

he looked upon the pure, pale face of

the prisoner, questioned if he might be

a god come down to earth. The very

silence of Jesus spoke conviction to the

heart of the king. Herod was ill at

ease. He dared not ratify the

condemnation of the Jews, and he

therefore sent Jesus back to Pilate."

So, could you imagine Jesus standing

there with his pale pure face? Doesn't

that imply he was at peace? Even though

this is going around him, everything

they're they're getting ready to to

execute him, but he is at peace. Isn't

that incredible? Isn't that worth

admiring? I want that. Pilate

since that first attempt to get rid of

Jesus wasn't successful he ends up

having Jesus beat say you know beat him

up scourge him and then I'll get rid of

him but that did not work right and then

there's a third attempt where Pilate is

trying to get rid of this whole

situation he washes his hands and says

I'm innocent of him and then finally out

of like just I guess he's he's desperate

to to get out of it he says finally just

crucify

I'm I'm done with this uh situation.

But before we get to that, let's see 18

chapter 18:33.

Then Pilate entered the ptorium again,

called Jesus, and said to him, "Are you

the king of the Jews?" Why did G oh

sorry, why did Pilate ask Jesus if he

was the king of the Jews?

Where did he get that notion from? In

Luke

Luke 23:2

23:2, it says that when the crowd

brought the Pilate, sorry, Jesus to

Pilate that they said that he Jesus was

trying to be a king. And I'm imagining

because they spoke Hebrew, the Jews or

Aramaic, and they were speaking to the

Roman Empire, which spoke in Latin,

there was probably a language barrier

there. They probably couldn't think of

the word for Messiah or Christ, the

anointed. And so they said he's a king.

But we're going to see later after Jesus

is is beat up in um John 19:7

John 19:7

that they say that Jesus was trying to

be the son of God. And so right there

they they paint the picture better for

for Pilate.

Pilate has Jesus beat.

And before that he asked him four

questions. And when Jesus is beat up, he

comes out with the crown of thorns and

the the purple robe on him and he

presents him as the man. He says,

"Behold the man." But after he hears

that the crowd said that Jesus was

trying to be a god and then we have a

messenger from the wife that she had had

a dream and she said what? Don't have

anything to do with that guy. This all

came out of nowhere or or or suddenly

for Pilate and then he says behold the

king. He had that opportunity to say

Jesus is God.

At first he said the man then the king

but he had the opportunity to say that

Jesus was God. Don't all of us go

through that series of uh

pro that that process that struggle that

wrestling in in our lives sooner or

later. I remember when I was in junior

high, I was about 11 or 12 years old,

and I was growing up in a big city,

inner city school, one of the teachers,

he was referring to Jesus as a

historical figure,

referred to him as Jesus Christ. And I

remember there was Muslims and Buddhists

and Jews in our classroom. And somebody

must have told their their parents

because the next day the school

administrators were making a big deal.

And this teacher, I remember, got in

trouble because he was imposing the

savior of Christianity on these other

religions.

So by us saying Jesus Christ, we're

proclaiming him as our Messiah. And this

is what Pilate is is wrestling with.

It's very interesting how Jesus replies

to Pilate in verse 34. Jesus answered

him, "Are you speaking for yourself

about this? Or did others tell you this

concerning me?" Do you feel like Jesus

is having some sort of empathy, maybe

getting semi-personal here with Pilate?

Do you think that or are you going by

what other people are telling you? And

how does Pilate reply? Verse 35, "Am I a

Jew? Your own nation and chief priests

have delivered you to me. What have you

done?" In other words, Pilate is just

saying, "I'm just doing my job. I don't

know what's going on with the Jews. I

don't know if you're really a king or

what, but cut me some slack, right? I'm

I'm only doing my job." So, so Jesus is

appealing to him personally, and Pilate

is pushing back. Pilate is rejecting

this. In verse 36, Jesus replies that

his kingdom is not of this world. If my

kingdom were of this world, he says, my

servants would fight so that I should

not be delivered to the Jews. But now my

kingdom is not from here. Can you

imagine Pilate hearing Jesus response?

My kingdom is not of this world, but if

it was, then I wouldn't be being turned

over to the Jews. Pilate must have been

scratching his head like, "Wait a

minute. Aren't you a Jew? Aren't the

Jews the ones that are complaining about

you?" So we see how Pilate is getting

challenged here intellectually

and and and emotionally, personally and

maybe even theologically with his uh

Roman mythological beliefs. Is this guy

a god in the human form or not? And what

goes on, what happens? What transpires

in verse 37? It says, "Pilate therefore

said to him, are you a king?" Then Jesus

answered, "You say rightly that I am a

king. For this cause I was born. For

this cause I have come into the world

that I should bear witness to the truth.

Everyone who is of the truth hears my

voice. So Jesus is appealing to Pilate

of the truth. And he is that truth. And

he's basically asking Pilate, do you

believe the truth? Do you believe me? Do

you believe that I could be a god or or

a king? And so there's a buildup, right?

We we see this crescendo. building up to

to that very moment where

Pilate could have proclaimed Jesus as

God.

So he finally says in verse 39, I find

no fault in Jesus, the king of the Jews.

And he has him beaten up and he says,

"Behold the man." And this is at the at

the same part in Matthew 27:19 that

Matthew 27:19

Pilate's wife sends the message. And now

it's gotten really personal because

his his wife Pilot's wife is is

perplexed and she has had a dream and

she's saying, "Don't have anything to do

with this man." And the crowd yells in

197, like I said a little minute ago, a

little while ago, it says, "The Jews

answered him, we have a law, and

according to our law, he ought to die

because he made himself what?

The son of God." And at this moment, I

think it was the pinnacle of the

intercourse of of the the the discourse

here, the the the conversation they're

having because Jesus doesn't answer

Pilate at this moment. Pilate goes up

and asks

Jesus, "Where are you from?" In verse 9,

did Jesus give him an answer?

>> No, he does not. Why do you think Jesus

does not give him an answer?

Do you think he was letting like the

truth settle down

for for Pilate to just feel the the

pressure of the moment?

I would want to say I'm using my holy

imagination here that Jesus was praying

for Pilate at that moment because that

was that was the crux right there. That

that was the making breaking point of

Pilate's decision.

And Pilate resorts back to the hardness

of his heart, to his authority. And what

does he say in verse um verse 10? Do you

not know that I have the power to what?

To crucify you or the power to release

you? And I think at this moment is where

Pilate has folded. He has failed. Verse

11, Jesus says, "You could have no power

at all against me unless it had been

given to you from above." And I'm sure

Pilate's thinking like Roman hierarchy

above or a deity above. Therefore, the

one who delivered me, Jesus go on goes

on to say, to you has the greater sin.

So Jesus is saying, look, the the people

that turned me in are guilty, but you're

not getting off scot-free. You're you

have some um guilt in this as well. And

finally, Pilate presents Jesus as what?

As the king of the Jews. And he even

puts it on the sign above the cross in

three languages. Wouldn't it have been

interesting if Pilate would have put the

God of the Jews?

That would have been so fascinating for

Pilate to have softened his heart and

accepted the truth of Jesus as our

savior. I want to read another quote

from the third volume of spirit of

prophecy. The author says, "His wavering

and indecision proved his irredeemable

ruin. Many like pilot sacrifice

principle and integrity in order to shun

disagreeable consequences."

God forbid that what any one of us here

are not going to

choose what's right because we're

sacrificing principle and integrity

because of the pressures around us. That

is what happened with Pilate. Jesus has

a message for each and every one of us.

A personalized message that's found in

Revelation chapter 3. In the first few

Revelation 3 · chapter mention

chapters of Revelation, there's a

message to seven churches. And each of

the seven churches at the very end is

given a challenge. If they overcome,

they will get a reward, a prize. And let

us go to Revelation chapter 3 verse 21

Revelation 3:21

where

Jesus is saying to us, the last and the

seventh church, to him who overcomes, I

will grant to sit with me where? on my

throne as I also overcame and sat down

with my father on his throne because

Jesus accomplished the victory on his

father's throne. We have the victory to

sit at Jesus' throne. That's what he

wants for each and every one of us. I

want to end with a story of a young boy

that was lost in the mountains of Utah.

And this young boy, his name was Joshua

Wright. This story happened about five,

six years ago. He originally lived in

Idaho or he lived in Idaho, but he went

to hike and have fun uh in the summer

with his extended family, with his

cousins, with his uncles, and they're

about 6 hours from his house. His his

dad stayed behind, but he went on with

his cousins, and he's having a a grand

old time, and they're fishing and

hiking. But in in in in in all the the

adventure there, Joshua was lost

and the family was panicking and they

started to look for him and retraced

their steps, but they could not find

Joshua anywhere. And so they saw it was

starting to get dark. They called the

park rangers. The park rangers got

involved. The clock kept on ticking. It

was couple hours before it was going to

get dark. They brought rangers on

horses. They brought helicopters. And by

now it was about to be nightfall and

they still could not find Joshua. And so

the uncle called the father, Joshua's

father that was back in Idaho and they

said, "I have terrible news. Joshua has

gone missing and we've done everything.

We cannot find him." And I was calling

to let you know that the situation is

very terrible right now. The father got

a couple things together and got in his

car and started to drive the 5 6 hour

drive all the way to Utah. And when he

got there, it was about 2 or 3 in the

morning. And the authorities were like,

"It's too late to go out now. Let's wait

for the break of day and then we'll go

out when it's dawn and and continue the

rescue effort." The father said, "No, I

am going out to look for him now at 3:00

in the morning." And the authorities

were like, "Okay, but it's at your own

risk." And so he went out. What most

people didn't know is that the father

had trained his son Joshua, if he ever

were to get this place, if he ever were

to get lost, to look for an open field

and just wait there and stay calm. And

so the father knowing he had trained his

son and and taught his son this uh

strategy, he was going out and

specifically looking at the open fields.

And by now the the sun was coming out. A

couple hours had gone by and Joshua saw

this man approaching him. And at first

he didn't recognize him, but as he got

closer he realized it was his father.

And there was a tearful reunion where

they hugged and they were just so happy

that they had found each other. And the

authorities

commended and they congratulated Joshua

because he remained calm and he followed

the instructions of his father knowing

what to do. what when he was lost.

Church family, the father is sending

Jesus to take us back home soon and he

has he has he has left us some

instructions for us to through prayer to

be close to the father and the father

will not abandon us and through constant

prayer he wants to give us peace. He

wants to give us joy even though the

world around us may be chaos even though

the world around us may be falling

apart. How many of you want that joy and

peace that only the father could give us

through prayer? Amen. I'm going to ask

the worship team if they could come up

and we are going to sing the hymn 214.

We have this hope. How many of you were

at that general conference meeting when

they um presented this song? We have

this hope. We sing of the hope of Jesus

returning and we will be reunited with

our father and we will be reunited with

our loved ones.

Amen. Let us pray. Dear heavenly father,

we want to thank you that we have the

hope that Jesus is returning soon. You

are sending him back to retrieve, to

reclaim the lost. Lord, we want to thank

you because

through prayer, you will never abandon

us. You will always be there just a

whisper away. And you have promised us

joy. You have promised us peace.

>> Even though the tribulations of the

world surround us,

>> Lord, I pray for each and every one of

us here. We are all broken. We are all

sinful. None of us is perfect. We all

claim and and and look forward to the

blood of Jesus forgiving and and

cleansing us daily. Lord, help us in our

struggles. Bless each family here, each

home here. You know what we are going

through. Some of us are going through

some very terrible difficult times. And

Lord, I just want that your peace and

joy through your uh blessing Lord be on

each and every one of us that one day

soon we will meet Jesus in the clouds

and if we have loved ones that are

sleeping

in your name, Lord, we will be reunited

with them. I pray all these things in

the precious name of Jesus and I thank

you. Amen.

>> Amen.

Thanks so much for joining us here at

the McDonald Road 7th Day Adventist

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7th Adventist Church.