Overcoming Evil

You know, jesus said in the world, you will have trouble, but be of good cheer, get happy about it.

Now we don't get happy about the trouble.

He said be of good cheer, get happy about it, because I have overcome the world.

I have overcome, the connotation being that I did this and I set you up for success, and if you just do what I do sort of being crucified we don't have to walk through that.

That was a one-time complete work for all.

But we can do what he did and we can have what he said we can have.

And so he overcame so that we can overcome.

So the title Claire, tonight's message is overcoming evil, and I wanted to.

Before I dive into all the scriptures that I have for you tonight, I wanted to compare, or at least contrast, a couple of verses here.

In Acts 13, 8 is one of them, and the first one is in Romans 12, 17.

So this isn't really part of the message.

I'm just going to set this up here Romans, chapter 12, verse 17, on page 1570.

Romans 12:17

So in Romans 12, 17, it says Repay no one evil for evil.

Have regard for good things in the sight of all men, if it is possible, as much as depends on you.

Live peaceably with all men Beloved.

Do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath.

For it is written Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.

Therefore, if your enemy is hungry, feed him.

If he's thirsty, give him a drink, for in so doing you'll heap coals of fire in his head.

Do not overcome evil, do not become over, do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

So we're charged there to not be overcome by evil and we're charged to overcome evil with good.

But and so the context of this right here is people that you've got to live with, your neighbor, your family, people you work with.

You know that you got a little strip of grass between you and your neighbor's driveway and they mow right to the edge of the center and they won't cross that for nothing because they're not going to be caught doing anything for you.

And so you've got this nice cut grass here and then the tall grass on the other side and you're just like why it was another foot, I would have mowed it for you.

And so you know they do that for you.

And so you just turn right around and mow their whole yard.

Overcome evil with good.

And so these are people that you have to live with.

But when it comes to Acts, chapter 13, again, I haven't started yet, but Acts, chapter 13, verse eight, it says Elimus the sorcerer for his name is translated withstood them seeking to turn the procounsel away from the faith.

Acts 13 · chapter mention Acts 13 · chapter mention

This was somebody who was fighting against, actively fighting against, the Christian faith, paul's trying to preach the gospel, and this is somebody that is fighting against that.

So then Saul, who was called Paul, filled with the Holy Ghost key word, right there, he was filled with the Holy Spirit looked intently at him and said oh, full of deceit and all fraud, you, son of the devil, you enemy of righteousness, will you not cease to pervert the straight ways of the Lord?

And then he said and indeed the hand of the Lord is upon you and you should be blind, not seeing the sun for a time.

And so that was not mowing his yard or baking him a cake or heaping coals of fire in his head.

He lit him up with blindness under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

So we got a little contrast here.

People you got to live with and so far as it's possible for you, we ought to live peaceably with others.

And if they're going to do something mean to you.

We don't get vengeful about it and turn around and and short sheet the bed or put their underwear in the freezer or whatever you know, hide their stapler off their office desk, rig their office chair so that it sinks to the lowest setting every time they sit in it.

We don't.

We're not getting.

Even God will get, even I will repay.

And so let God be God and you be an ambassador for God.

But we are not to be overcome by evil.

We are to overcome evil, without a doubt.

So now I can, now that we've set that up, we can dive into the message tonight.

We're going to start in Revelation, chapter 12.

Revelation 12 · chapter mention

I'm going to read verses seven through 12.

So Revelation chapter 12, beginning verse seven, and war broke out in heaven.

Revelation 12 · chapter mention

How many know we're at war right now?

Okay, so heaven had a war and we're reading about it.

Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail.

Nor was there a place found in heaven for them any longer.

So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world.

He was cast to earth and his angels were cast out with him, and I heard a loud voice saying in heaven now, salvation and strength in the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ have come.

The accuser of the brethren he accuses them before God day and night has been cast down and they overcame him by the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto the death.

And let's see verse 12.

Therefore, rejoice O heavens and you who dwell in them.

Woe to the inhabitants of earth and the sea, for the devil has come down to you having great wrath because he knows his time is short.

So heaven rejoices and for you people who got to live on earth, I'm sorry for you is what it's saying right here, and in verse 17,.

And the dragon was enraged with the woman.

So, going back to the woman who gave birth to Christ, this is Mary.

So this is the woman who gave birth to Jesus.

And the dragon was enraged with the woman and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring who kept the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

So the devil has been cast out of heaven.

He cannot accuse us to God anymore?

Why?

Because the blood of Jesus is there at the holy of holies and it speaks to our righteousness.

It made us righteous and so God won't hear another accusation against us, because the blood paid for it in its entirety.

But the devil can accuse you to you, and he is the accuser of the brethren, and he's come to wear out the saints and he's come to bring trouble.

But be of good cheer.

Jesus overcame and we can too.

And so here he is.

He's making war with the offspring of Mary and he's making war with those who keep his commandments, to keep the commandments of God and have a testimony of Jesus Christ.

He is not making war with those who commit evil.

He's not making war with the anti-Christ spirit.

He's not making war with everybody here on earth.

It was very clear that he makes war with those who have a testimony of Jesus Christ.

He picked a fight and he picked it with us, and so those who don't have that testimony, he's really not at war with them.

He's already beat them and they can have salvation and they can overcome him.

But right now they are overcome.

We are not.

First John, chapter five, verse two.

By this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and keep his commandments For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments and his commandments are not burdensome.

When we love God, we keep his commandments.

So it's equating the two, for whoever is born of God overcomes the world.

How many are reborn?

You're born again.

Okay, so you overcome the world and this is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.

So the just shall live by faith and we overcome the world.

Who is he that overcomes the world?

But he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

It's that simple.

If you believe Jesus is the Son of God, you love God and keep his commandments.

Congratulations, you are an overcomer.

Welcome to the club.

So that word overcome Greek word I want to take a stab at pronouncing it here as the Greek word nikka'o and it means to subdue, to conquer, to overcome, prevail against or to prevail over and to get the victory over.

So this has connotations of you're in a fist fight, you're in a battle and you've got to prevail against your enemy.

You've got to destroy your enemy.

My daughter goes out to play soccer and I look at her and I say you know, anna, when you get out there, destroy your enemy.

She's like dad no, I mean it.

Go out there and destroy your enemy, and when it's all over, you can shake their hand and say good game, and I'm sorry I made you bleed.

And no, we want to destroy our enemy, though, and it means we're not going to play nice.

We have to get medieval on our enemy to destroy our enemy.

Our faith, according to 1 John 5 that we just read.

According to that, our faith provides spiritual weapons by which we can combat two things temptations and persecutions.

So if we're going to overcome the world, we have to overcome the temptations and we have to overcome the persecutions.

We have to not be drawn away and enticed into that side, and we have to overcome the persecutions that come when we're not drawn away and enticed into that side.

And so our faith provides the spiritual weapons by which we can combat all of that.

Ephesians, chapter 6, you're familiar with this, putting on the whole armor of God, but I wanted to read it in the Amplified here Ephesians 6-10, because it really puts on a quality picture here.

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

So in verse 10, amplified Bible, it says in conclusion be strong in the Lord, be empowered through your union with Him.

Draw your strength from Him, that strength which His boundless might provides.

Put on the whole armor of God, the armor of a heavy armed soldier, which God supplies.

You're a heavy armed soldier.

We're not light infantry, we're heavily armed and God provides it, so that you may be able to successfully stand up against all the strategies and the deceits of the devil Every one of them.

But we wrestle not against flesh and blood, contending only with physical opponents.

Sometimes you have physical opponents and you got to take out your physical opponent, but they are not your enemy.

Sometimes we stop the physical and that's one battle.

But really here, our spiritual warfare, our weapons are for spiritual warfare.

So we are equipped to stand against despotisms, against powers, against the master spirits who are the world rulers of this present darkness, against spiritual forces of wickedness and heavenly supernatural sphere.

Therefore, put on God's complete armor that you may be able to resist and stand your ground on the evil day of danger and, having done all, the crisis demands to stand firmly in your place.

That means we don't back down.

That means we don't give up any real estate.

We don't go backwards, we stand.

Having done all to stand, we stand.

And so then it goes on.

Stand there for hold your ground.

Having tightened the belt of truth around your loins, having put on the breastplate of integrity and of moral rectitude and right standing with God, having shod your feet in preparation to face the enemy with firm footed, stability, the promptness and readiness produced by the good news of the gospel of peace, lift up over all the covering the shield of faith with which we can quench all the flaming missiles of the wicked one and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Pray at all times, on every occasion and every season, in the Spirit.

You got to be Spirit-filled to do what this is asking you to do here, With all manner of prayer and in treaty.

To that end, keep alert and watch with strong purpose and perseverance, interceding on behalf of all the saints, god's consecrated people.

This right here is painting a picture of the soldier that God expects us to believe and what he's provided for us to have the tools of warfare.

And so we're at war here.

Not that we picked a fight, but remember we read the devil picked a fight with us.

He's coming against those who are in Christ, not the world.

He's coming against us.

And so if you don't know, you're at war.

You can't defend against it.

We've got to know.

We don't leave anything undone.

Our efforts are not to be half-hearted.

Remember Jesus talking to Peter asking his disciples questions you know, who do you say that I am?

Who do other men say that I am?

And but Peter?

When Jesus asked Peter, he said but who do you say that I am?

Peter said you are Christ, the Son of God.

Jesus said flesh and blood and reveal is to you, but my Father, who is in heaven and on this rock, I'll build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.

On revelation knowledge, we have the right to revelation knowledge.

We get to know the mysteries of God.

We have a secret communication with God through the Holy Spirit and our spirit.

We get to know stuff.

And then he said and I'll give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven.

In other words, you're authorized, I'm giving you authority and access to heaven.

Whatever I have, you have authority and access to, and you'll bind and loose.

You can have what you allow and you cannot have what you disallow.

And so we are charged to not allow some stuff, not allow evil.

We are not to be conquered by evil.

But we are to conquer evil, we're in win, and wherever it shows up.

So that's not a passive thing, this is a very active role.

We're to be watchful, vigilant, constantly alert, praying always with all manner of prayer in the spirit for all saints, and looking for the next attack because it's coming, and so when it comes we've got to be ready.

I'm going to use as an example part of the Declaration of Independence and I'm going to read part of it here and then relate part of this to Scripture.

So this is the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence.

It says when, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume, among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and nature's God entitle them.

We've got laws of nature and nature's God and we're entitled to operate under both of those laws.

And these founders were declaring some stuff and they acknowledged that there's laws of nature and nature's God, that nature has a God and there's two sets of laws.

And then they say A decent respect to the opinions of mankind require that they should declare the causes which impel them to separate.

In other words, we ought not just pull away from Great Britain without listing the causes of why we're going to cut off these ties that have bound us for this period of time.

And so then they go into the 27 grievances, and I'm not going to read all of those.

But they were putting their lives on the line, they were signing their death warrant when they put together this declaration and sent it over to England to King George.

In Romans, chapter 12, paul writes I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present yourselves a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.

Romans 12 · chapter mention

These men presented themselves a living sacrifice, literally a living sacrifice, to put together this document, to go through these actions and these steps.

And they didn't do it without God, and what they did was holy and acceptable, and God considered it their reasonable service.

And then it says in verse two and do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is the acceptable, good, acceptable and perfect will of God.

And so do not be conformed to this world.

They could have been conformed and just go along to get along.

It would have been a lot easier for them if they had just submitted to the authority, no matter how egregious it was.

If they just submitted, it would have been easier for them.

But we weren't called to do easy stuff.

It's easy when we do it under the power and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and so it's easy to do it under the power and the power of God, and so it's seemingly hard for them to go through and do what they did, but they were empowered by the Holy Spirit to do that.

I don't know that these were really spirit filled men at that time.

They were influenced by the Holy Spirit.

Most certainly.

They prayed to God.

Most certainly.

I don't know that these were spirit filled, as we know what spirit filled is today, but they did this under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and they were not conformed to the world.

They were transformed by the reading of his word, and so it's up to this moment what was taught in the pulpits was God's word as it related to their current events at that time.

The pulpit engaged society at that time to help people with their way of thinking, to recognize and understand that they were coming against a despotism, a demonic influence, a demonic power, a demonic spirit, and so they had to be helped in their way of thinking.

The pulpits at that time were full of messages related to those current events at that time and through those messages our founding documents are quoting those messages from the pulpit Many, many times.

It's quoted out of there.

And so just know that it was influenced by pastors and preachers of the day to do what they did, and we have a country because of it.

It was not legal for them to do what they did.

They could have feared King George, but somewhere along the way they read Matthew 10, 28,.

That says and do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul, but rather fear him who is able to destroy both body and soul in hell.

And so they had a healthy fear of God and not man.

And so we've got to fear God, not man.

Do that first.

And I quoted some of this this morning.

But when Peter and John went to pray this is out of Acts, chapter 4, and they healed the lame man on the porch Remember, we don't have any silver or gold, but what we have we give you and they grabbed him by the hand and pulled him up and immediately his ankle bones received strength and they caused quite a ruckus and people were beginning to believe in Jesus and they preached Jesus, and that was a violation to the Jewish faith at that time.

Acts 4 · chapter mention

And so they were arrested and threatened, and threatened some more, and they were in violation of the political rules and the religious rules of that time.

And so their response to that was whether it was right in the sight of God to listen to you more than God you judge.

But we cannot speak of the things which we have both seen and heard.

And so they threatened them some more and then let these guys go.

But on our side we have got to fear God and not man, no matter what.

And we've got no matter what.

It doesn't matter what the law says, it doesn't matter what an executive order says, it doesn't.

None of that matters.

It doesn't matter what the IRS says.

We cannot help but speak of the things.

It's our testimony.

Remember we read they overcame them by the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony.

Your testimony has power.

Don't shy away from this.

We got to what we do.

We have to do with all boldness, all outspokenness, and so I'm going to continue with the Declaration of Independence.

It says we hold these truths to be self-evident.

There were truths in that time that were self-evident.

They were evident to everybody.

Today, there is no truth.

It's whatever you want to believe or not believe.

That's what our society says.

So we have to combat that way of thinking, wherever we go, that there are truths that are self-evident.

And what are those truths?

Well, they listed right here that all men are created, equal One.

That we are created, all human beings are created.

That is a truth that is self-evident.

We are God's creation and that we are endowed by our Creator.

God gave us something.

He gave us something very precious.

We ought not be so quick to give it away or disregard it, but we ought to treasure what God gave us.

What did he give us?

He gave us certain unalienable rights.

What does unalienable mean?

It means you can't give it away, you can't give it back.

It belongs to you.

It's inseparable.

You as a human, as someone God created, have this inherently and it cannot be taken away and you cannot give it away.

It is part of the creation as a whole.

It belongs to you.

So what are these With certain unalienable rights?

Among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

They recognize these truths to be self-evident that life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness belong to you, and that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

The only just powers that government has is when we consent that they can have it.

Anything outside of that is a violation of our contract and it's a violation of God's word.

And so when they violate God's word, we're charged to not be overcome with evil, but to overcome evil.

So we're charged to overcome this mess.

So then it gets into the list of 27 grievances, and I'm going to fast forward to the end here, to the last paragraph.

It says we, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America and General Congress assembled, appealing to the supreme judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions.

They said we do this in complete submission to the great judge, the supreme judge of the God.

They're talking about God here.

We're not doing this without His consent, his approval.

We've prayed about this.

We believe this is right.

We know with every fiber of our being that what we're doing is right, and we submit this to God, who is our judge.

Do in the name and by the authority of the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare that these United colonies are, and, of right, ought to be, free in independent states.

They declared it in that moment that we are free right now.

Those 13 states are free right now and we ought to continue to be free.

And so we're just making that declaration and we'll skip to the very end there.

And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance and the protection of the divine providence, we firmly, wholeheartedly lean back on and rely on God with everything we got.

We completely rely on Him and on His protection.

Tell me, these weren't believers.

They leaned on God.

And then it says we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.

We're not our own, we're bought with a price.

This is our reasonable service.

It was reasonable for them to do this kind of thing.

And so everything that was listed and this is just the declaration.

There's more that went into this, but God has evidenced all the way through our founding documents the founding of this nation.

And they declared it at their own risk of peril.

They declared it.

Hebrews 10.23 says let us hold fast the profession of our hope without wavering.

They professed we are free and we ought to be free, and we're the product of a Creator who created us and there are certain things that he put in us that are inseparable and cannot be taken away and we cannot give away, and those are our inalienable rights.

They profess these things.

They were professing scripture, they were professing biblical truths.

In Hebrews 10.35 it says Do not cast away your confidence.

I talked about this Wednesday night, a little bit this morning but your confidence, that's Greek word, parisia, which means all outspokenness, boldness, free speech.

It's the opposite of timidity, shyness, cringing, fawning, fear.

It's the opposite of that.

And so do not cast away your bluntness, your boldness, your confidence.

Don't cast it away.

It has a great reward and you have need of endurance, which is an active fortitude that resists weariness and defeat.

You have needed that so that, after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise.

So we're not to be transformed, conformed to this world, but we're to be transformed in the image, likeness and character of Jesus Christ, and we don't apologize for that and we don't ask permission from anyone to do that.

In Psalm one.

This is a scripture that we oftentimes said over our kids, especially when they were little, we declared some things over them.

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the sea of the scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law shall he meditate day and night, and he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bring forth their fruit and their season, whose leaf also should not wither, and whatever he does will prosper.

That's a benefit of not walking, standing or sitting in the wrong place with the wrong people, but the ungodly are not so.

They're like a chaff that the wind drives away.

Therefore, the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous, for the Lord knows the ways of the righteous, but the ungodly shall perish.

They're doomed If they stay that way.

They have an opportunity for salvation, but people are having to choose.

The lines have been drawn.

The difference between good and evil is clear.

So our message ought to be what God said, and that is choose you this day whom you will serve.

This isn't a political thing.

This is good versus evil, and we're charged to overcome evil and not be overcome by evil.

But yet I know that there's a lot of Christians out there that are passive and don't want to stick their neck out and don't want to do things that.

I don't want to stir trouble, I just want to let things be at peace and calm, and they kind of back away from things.

Not too long ago we had a public safety forum.

It's something that happens I think it's the second Tuesday of every month in our youth room.

This is not something that we, the church, put on, but Precinct Four puts this on and there are different experts that come in there.

So the last one that came in was some constables that teach active shooter training or what to do to respond to active shooters, and one of the psychological events that occur is that people deny stuff immediately.

They go into a denial scenario.

So you're in your office and you hear pop, pop, pop and your immediate thought is, oh, it's fireworks.

And so your brain will naturally do this.

It naturally goes to the thing that is not threatening, because you don't want to have a threat.

I don't want the trouble.

I don't want trouble, no trouble, no trouble.

Fireworks are not that bad I can handle.

Fireworks must be fireworks.

How many of you hear the car alarm that goes off in the parking lot.

Oh, it's probably a false alarm.

And you don't go outside and look.

Meanwhile somebody's car is getting broken into and the thief is getting away with it and we're allowing some evil.

Fire alarm goes off oh, it's probably a false alarm.

It's not possible.

We could have a fire scenario and so you don't get up and you don't go anywhere and don't move and people die in those kinds of scenarios because they don't want to perceive the trouble.

But we know that we're under fire, under threat at war, and the devil's coming after us.

So we need to be people that perceive trouble and help others get out of trouble.

We need to be watchmen on the wall looking for this.

You hear pop, pop, pop.

Go ahead and assume it's fireworks.

You can always put your weapon away if necessary, but let's be first responders, immediate responders, wherever you are, to whatever scenario.

You got this feeling that if I don't engage in the fight, maybe I'll go unnoticed, if I don't rock the boat, I can just kind of get by in life, nobody'll give me any trouble.

Well, that's true.

If you're not doing anything good, the devil's not gonna give you any trouble.

You don't catch any flak unless you're flying over the target with the Bombay doors open, ready to drop some bombs.

That's when you start getting the fire.

But we're not charged to coexist with evil, we're charged to overcome evil.

I remember an Irish toast and don't ask me how I know about an Irish toast but it goes something like this may you find yourself in heaven 30 minutes before the devil knows you're gone.

You know, I hope the devil doesn't notice me.

Well, you're not doing much.

If you're catching a little fire, it's because you're doing something good.

And now you know you're over the target.

So go ahead and say, release and release that bomb.

We've got our whole culture and our society is shying away from the trouble.

They don't wanna engage in trouble.

If I just allow this, maybe they'll leave me alone.

And so you've got whole corporations.

That's the woke movement, the woke corporations making room for this stuff.

You know, did HEB really care about having a trans dressed man's story time for kids?

Is that really their purpose?

No, they're a grocery store chain.

Do they really?

Are they really there to promote LGBTQ agenda?

Is that their purpose?

No, they're there to sell groceries.

And try not to rock the boat, try not to offend too many people and take the path of least resistance so they can maintain their customer base, and so, whatever society pressure puts on them to do, that's what they're gonna do.

Let me ask you, what kind of pressure are we putting on HEB for wanting to coexist with evil?

What pressure are we pushing back with?

We need to be pushing back against this stuff.

When somebody said, you know, you gotta call them by the right pronouns.

No, god made them male and female.

There's pronouns that go with men and there's pronouns that go with women, and we don't mix the two up and there's no extras, and so we don't concede that.

Let's not concede any ground when they wanna say something that's anti-God and anti-Christ and anti-America.

We gotta have something different coming out of our mouth that confronts that evil, because we'll have what we allow.

We can bind things and we can lose things and we can coexist, sort of, but not really.

Because they won't share a country with you.

They're unwilling to share a country with Christians because what we stand for violates what it is they want.

They're not willing to share.

They're not a resident in chief Biden.

He just said that Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans represent extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic.

So how many Christians voted Trump and consider themselves part of a group that wants to make America great again?

I'm part of that group that wants to make America great again.

What makes America great again?

Getting back to the foundation and the principles that made America great in the first place, and so I care about this country.

God gave us something and I don't want to lose it, and so I'm part of that group that, according to resident Biden, threatens the very foundations of our republic.

No, what we pose is a threat to evil, and they want to push evil.

And so I have here I'm not going to read all of this, but this was recorded in the congressional record back in 1963.

This is current communist goals.

The reason it was recorded into the congressional record is so that they could identify on record what the communist goals were and not fall prey to them.

That was the intent of it being recorded in there during these hearings, and so I'm going to read a few of these right here.

Current communist goals, again going back to 1963.

Us acceptance of coexistence as the only alternative to atomic war.

In other words, if you don't agree to coexist with communism, we're going to have nuclear war, us willingness to capitulate in preference to engaging in atomic war.

So we have to take that off the table and be willing to capitulate with our enemies so that we don't have to go there.

Capture one or both of the political parties in the United States.

These were 1963 goals of communism.

Get control of schools.

Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current communist propaganda.

Soften the curriculum.

Get control of teachers' associations.

Put the party line in textbooks.

Here's another one.

Infiltrate the press.

Get control of book review assignments, editorial writing and policymaking positions.

Gain control of key positions in radio, tv and motion pictures.

This is what the communists in 1963 said they wanted to do, they would do.

Are we seeing any of this has happened already.

Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them censorship and a violation of free speech and free press.

Breakdown cultural standards, morality by promoting pornography and obscene books, magazines, motion pictures, radio and TV.

This is the demoralization of America.

This is what the communists wanted to do and have done.

Why?

Because people didn't want to push back.

It was easier to go along than to fight.

Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with social religion.

Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity, which does not need a religious crutch.

Infiltrate the churches.

How many woke churches have you seen?

Religion has a warning about this.

The church is an artist.

You have a name, that you are alive, but you are dead.

Therefore, strengthen what little remains, jesus said.

Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis.

Discredit the Constitution and let's move towards a global community and being global citizens.

1963, where are we today?

We're there.

Discredit the American founding fathers.

Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the common man.

Last one I'll read is discredit the family as an institution, encouraged promiscuity and easy divorce.

These are goals of the communist movement and we are there because we didn't resist, we didn't speak out, and so it was just easier to not confront that.

When my neighbor said something, when my coworker said something, when my boss said something, it was just easier to call them by the pronoun that they wanted and not have a fight in that moment.

I just wanted to get along.

I just wanted to get along.

Martin Neomoller was a prominent Lutheran pastor in Germany and he just wanted to get along.

He spent eight years in Nazi prison and concentration camps before the end of the war because he just went along.

He said first they came for socialist and I didn't speak out because I wasn't one of them.

Then they came for the trade unions, but I didn't speak out because I wasn't one of those.

Then they came for the Jews and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.

And then they came for me and there was no one left to speak for me.

This is what happens when we don't confront evil, when we allow ourselves, our nation, our society to be overcome with evil and we don't overcome evil.

We're at war.

The devil's coming after us.

He's coming after you.

The family is coming after the church, he's coming after your kids and if we don't push back, we will violate what God said to do.

We will be overcome with evil instead of us overcoming evil.

We are charged to overcome evil.

What do you do when you're in this situation?

Winston Churchill said you can't reason with a tiger when your head is in his mouth.

Well, you've got to fear the one who can destroy body and soul in hell and not worry about your flesh, not worry about your body here.

Don't fear man.

Don't worry about your body with his head and his mouth.

Speak the truth.

You can't win by negotiating with the devil.

You can't win by negotiating with the God of this age or the anti-Christ spirit.

He will not negotiate with you and he will not share a nation with you.

We don't win by tolerating or affirming our enemy.

We just need to affirm someone's transgenderism or homosexuality, or these kids have feelings and Johnny feels like he's a girl.

So we need to affirm that Parents need to be parents and they're not doing it.

They're affirming evil in their child and they're losing the generation.

We cannot affirm evil.

We don't win, we lose that way.

You know I'm applying all this to our society right now and things that we're going through in society.

But this holds true.

These principles hold true with your personal life, your personal relationships, with your health, with your finances, with your peace.

Don't give up ground.

Don't give place to the devil.

Don't let him steal from you.

Push back every time.

How much are you willing to put up with?

Ephesians 511 says have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.

That means name names.

That means call evil evil and good good.

That means put light on stuff when it happens, no matter what kind of persecution and pushback you're going to get, it doesn't matter.

You've lost too much to be fearful of what we might lose now because we're about to lose the rest of it if we don't push back.

Just how many turds do you want in your pan of brownies?

If it's just a quarter teaspoon, is that okay?

Then why do we allow it in our family?

Why do we allow it in our schools?

Why do we allow it in our workplace?

When we hear something coming at us?

It looks like a turd, smells like a turd.

It's a turd.

I don't want it in my brownies.

Throw the whole pan out.

I don't want to accept any of this.

Remember those rights came from God.

They're unalienable.

They're inseparable from who we are and who we're created to be.

We win by asserting those rights, by being that.

That's who we're called to be.

This nation was called to be a people who love God, who recognize that God is their Creator and that he endowed us with something special and we ought not give it away.

We ought to treasure it.

And people give it away, or they try to and they violate what God did for them.

They trample the blood of Jesus.

When they do that, because that's what Jesus paid for, they trample it, they step on it.

They don't value it.

Romans 8.35 says who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

Shall tribulation or distress or persecution, famine, nakedness, peril or sword, shall any of those things separate us from the love of Christ?

The answer is no.

In all of those conditions and all those things, we are more than conquerors.

Through Him who loved us, jesus was the conqueror we conquered.

We get to be more than conquerors because we get the prize.

We get the prize money.

He boxed and defeated the devil and got the prize check and the belt.

And he turned right around and he said here you wear this belt, this is yours, I won this for you, and here's the prize check.

You can have my prize check.

And so now we're more than conquerors.

But we've got to be vigilant.

We've got to hold on.

Let's not give up what Jesus did for us.

We got to be sober, be vigilant.

We have an adversary.

His name is the devil, and he's walking about like a lion, seeking whom he may devour.

So he's looking for easy pickings.

Let's not be that.

Let's be the people that put up a fight that have an answer for the hope that lies within, that are unwilling to do and put up with anything less than what God said we can have.

We don't give up the truth.

We speak the truth.

We're not having vengeance on our neighbor here.

We're not putting shaving cream on his car.

We're not toilet papering his yard, we're not getting even here.

Let God be God.

He's going to be God and repay.

But we are not to be overcome with evil.

We don't bake a cake for evil.

This is a spiritual thing, and so we are to resist the devil, Request him steadfast.

James 4.7 says Resist the devil and he'll flee from you.

Be sober, be vigilant.

Devil's walking about.

It didn't say the devil's walking about seeking whom he may devour.

Therefore, we need to hide, run and fight.

How many of you have heard the hide, run and fight scenario?

Active shooter scenario.

First job is to hide and try not to be noticed.

But the devil doesn't notice me and if he does, then I need to run away as fast as I can because he might hurt me.

That might work in an active shooter training scenario, where you're just trying to hold on to your life in that moment.

But I'm a fighter, I'm not going to be hiding and running, I'm going to be shooting when the devil comes for you.

Don't be hiding and running.

Don't say, well, if I can't beat him, I might as well join him.

That's how you get woke.

I can't beat him, might as well join him.

That's what the church did when it became woke, when they started having pastors that will do homosexual weddings.

I can't beat him, I joined him.

God's going to be like depart from me.

I never knew you, but thanks be to God.

Second Corinthians 2.14.

Thanks be to God, who always thanks.

Be to God.

Give God thanks, who always leads us into triumph, always, in every case, in every scenario, every time when we put His word to work.

He never fails us.

Thanks be to God.

You ought to express some gratitude to God when you're going through stuff and you're resisting and you're feeling the persecution.

Just give Him thanks.

Thanks be to God.

I just lost my job because I confronted my boss about this.

I was unwilling to do what my boss wanted me to do because it violated God's word.

I just lost my job and what am I going to do for an income?

I'm just going to thank God.

Thanks be to God, who always leads us to triumph.

Remember, triumph is that picture of when the Roman military leader won in battle and he's got all of his military parade going into town, followed by the army that was defeated and stripped of all of their weaponry, followed by the leader of that enemy, the leader of that army stripped down to nothing, in chains, and they parade him.

They made a spectacle, a show.

They had bragging rights.

Jesus did the same thing and he says I always cause you to triumph, I always lead you to triumph and, through us, diffuses the knowledge of His fragrance in every place.

We are to constantly be a witness with evidence, and have a testimony about God's goodness, about the gospel, about what Jesus did.

We are to be diffusing that everywhere, especially places where it's not welcome.

I will not be shut up.

We have freedom of speech.

That was given to us by God, not by our founding documents.

It was quoted by our founding documents but remember it said we ought not cast away our confidence or our boldness or our freedom of speech, which has great reward.

We ought to be constantly speaking the truth in love, wherever we go, not backing down off of that.

And so those are.

I've got some keys to overcoming here tonight overcoming evil.

I've got four don't do's and four do do's.

Four don't do's.

Number one walk, not stand, not sit, not Don't walk.

And there's a progression there.

You start walking and you're kind of walking by and then you pause and you end up standing and you're standing with the wrong crowd, the wrong people, the wrong voice, the wrong whatever, and the next thing you know you're sitting with them.

Don't walk, don't stand, don't sit in the seat of the scornful.

Number two have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness.

Have no fellowship with the devil.

Give no place to the devil, don't give up any ground to the devil we don't negotiate with, we don't have that relationship.

We're just there to beat.

And so have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness.

Number three don't be conformed.

We ought not look like the world.

If we're being conformed to the world and the world can't see a difference about us we look like everybody else then what are we representing to anybody?

We're to represent Christ to everyone that we encounter.

We ought to look like Him.

We ought to be pressed and molded into His shape and has His voice and His words.

We don't be conformed to the world.

And then I already quoted this one, chapter four.

Number four on here is don't give up ground.

Give no real estate to the devil.

Give no place to the devil.

We don't give up ground.

We don't give up the rights that God bestowed on us when he created us.

We don't give up what Jesus did for us.

We don't trample His blood.

We're not going backwards.

And then the four doodos that you were waiting for.

Fear God, not man.

This is the love of God that you obey.

So if we fear God, we're going to obey Him too.

Number two profess.

Confess the truth, profess your hope without wavering.

Number three hold on to your outspokenness, your boldness, your con.

This is the confidence that we have.

Remember that Greek word, peresia.

Number three hold on to your outspokenness.

And number four resist, like your life depends on it, because it does.

Let's overcome evil with good and not let evil overcome any part of our life.

I'm not willing to put up with any little bit of it, none.

And then let's help others do the same.

So that's the message tonight.

I hope that was encouragement and not a down message.

But we can be of good cheer.

Be of good cheer.

Jesus overcame.

We can too, and so this is how we do it.