”Overcoming Opposition” | Sun AM | Acts 19

[Music]

Acts chapter 19. This morning, Paul has

Acts 19 · chapter mention

completed his second missionary journey

in Acts chapter 18 and verse number 22.

Acts 18 · chapter mention

And when he had landed at Cesaria and

gone up and saluted the church, he went

down to Antioch. That's the end of

missionary journey 2. Chapter 18 23. And

after he had spent some time there, that

is at Antioch, he departed and went over

all the country of Galatia and Friia in

order strengthening all the disciples.

So now we have begun missionary journey

three. Paul is again on the road. He

spent some time, some commentators think

about a year was spent in Antioch

between verse 22 and 23. And now Paul is

on the road again ministering the

churches. Now, the author of the book of

Acts does not spend much time telling us

what happens at the beginning of this

journey. We know he went through

Galatia. We know he went through Friia.

We don't know where he stopped exactly.

We don't know every everybody that he

visited. It's just summarized in a verse

very quickly because Luke is getting us

to the city of Ephesus. Luke is

emphasizing and the rest of chapter 18,

all of chapter 19 is about the events

that are going to take place in the city

of Ephesus.

And things are going to go well for Paul

in Ephesus. In fact, he's going to be

there longer than any other place that

he stayed. He's going to be there two

years and a little over three months.

He'll spend in the city of Ephesus

teaching. We'll talk about some of those

things, Lord willing, tonight, and some

of the things and the events that took

place. Things are going well in Ephesus.

I'll just give you a summary of what's

taking place. Chapter 18, verse 24- 28.

There's a disciple in Ephesus named

Apollos and he is discipled. He's

brought up in the faith by Aquilla and

Priscilla. Chapter 19, the first seven

verses, Paul arrives in Ephesus and he

finds a group of religious men, but I

believe unsaved men, and I'll explain

why I believe that more in more detail

tonight. Verse 8 and N, Paul has a

three-month ministry, daily preaching

and teaching in the synagogue. But

people begin to get upset. They're not

believing. They're getting angry at

Paul. And so Paul instead of being

confrontational, he just withdraws from

the synagogue. He doesn't argue with

them. He doesn't get upset at them. He

doesn't get up in arms in them. He just

withdraws himself, removes himself from

the synagogue and begins to teach in the

school of Tyrannius. And there's a lot

of interesting details about the school

of Tyrannius, too. Here you go again. If

you come back tonight, we'll talk about

a little more about the school of

Tyrannius. Okay. In verse number 10

through verse number 20, uh Paul has a

two-year ministry in the city of

Ephesus. He's teaching every day in the

school of Tyrannius. He's uh great

miracles are being done. Many people are

coming to Christ. There's a lot of

fruitful ministry taking place in verse

10 through 20. Verse 21 and 22, Paul

under the leading and the guidance of

the Holy Spirit recognizes that his time

in Ephesus has come to an end. So, he's

been there 2 years and 3 months by the

time we get to verse

21. And Paul recognizes his time in

Ephesus is coming to an end. And it's

time for him to move on to the next

place. He sends Timothy and he sends

Eraus, his two partners, on ahead of

him. And they go on up into Macedonia

where Paul is going to go next, but and

and then eventually to Rome. But Paul,

for some reason, decides he needs to

stay just a day or two longer in

Ephesus. And it's interesting to me that

Paul stayed. Perhaps Paul had some sense

of what was getting ready to take place.

Perhaps Paul had heard some of the

murmurings and he just didn't feel right

about leaving just yet. So, he's going

to stay a day or two longer. And in

verse number

23, opposition

arrives. Some persecution

arrives. I want to talk to you this

morning on overcoming opposition.

overcoming opposition. I want you to

look at the text. We'll read a few

verses and then I'll draw your attention

to some others as we go through the

sermon. Verse number

23. And the same

time there arose no small stir about

that way. Now, this is the third time in

the book of Acts that we have found

Christianity being referred to as the

way. And in verse 23 it says, "No small

stir." That would mean it's a large

stir. This is a big deal. Th this is

causing a ruckus. This is causing chaos.

There's no small stir about that way.

What way? The way of Jesus Christ. Jesus

said in John 14, "I am the way." And so

the early church Christians just kind of

adopted that as their identity. They

were in the way. Well, now we come in

Ephesus. Paul is getting ready to leave.

He's packing his bags. He's ready to

move on. And there's no small stir about

that way. Verse 24. For a certain man

named Demetrius, a silver smith, which

made silver shrines for Diana, brought

no small gain unto the craftsman. He was

wealthy. Whom he called together the

workmen of like occupation, and said,

"Sers, ye know that by this craft we

have our wealth. They're making little

idols. They're making uh souvenirs for

the goddess

Diana. And he said, "By this craft, by

this occupation, we are wealthy." Verse

26, "Moreover, ye see and hear that not

alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout

all Asia, this Paul hath persuaded and

turned away much people, saying that

they be no gods which are made with

hands." Demetrius is saying that Paul

has been through all of Asia preaching

against these little false gods that

we're making our money by. He is

destroying our

business. Verse number 27. So that not

only this our craft is in danger to be

said it not, but also that the temple of

the great goddess Diana which should be

despised and her magnificent should be

destroyed whom all Asia and the world

worshipeth. And when they heard these

sayings, they were full of wrath and

cried out saying, "Great is Diana of the

Ephesians." Now, we need to understand

very briefly a little bit about Diana.

She was a false goddess that was

worshiped. She was the goddess of

Ephesus, this great

city. They had a temple to the goddess

Diana. It's referenced by Demetrius in

our text. This temple was considered one

of the seven wonders of the ancient

world. It was huge. It was glorious. It

was seated upon over 100 magnificent

pillars that held the temple in place.

People would travel from all over the

known world to come see the temple of

Diana. It was a an amazing sight to see

this temple. And all throughout the

temple and around the temple and even

throughout the city of Ephesus, there

are these craftsmen. Demetrius is one of

them. these workmen who have made a

business off of the the

the business of Diana, the people will

come and they'll visit the city and they

will buy the souvenirs, they buy the

t-shirts, they buy whatever they're

making to the goddess Diana to say,

"I've been to one of the seven ancient

or at that time one of the seven wonders

of the world. I've seen this great

temple. I've been to this great place.

And so Paul comes into Ephesus. He's

been there two years, three months. And

he's preaching Jesus. He's saying there

is no other god but Jesus. There is no

false god. There is no such thing as a

handmade God or a man-made God. Oh,

there's only one true God and his name

is Jesus. And he's the Messiah. And he

came and he died and he was put in a

tomb for three days. And on the third

and glorious day, he comes up out of the

grave victorious over death, victorious

over sin. and and you can have eternal

life by placing your faith and trust in

Jesus, not in Diana, but in Jesus. And

it started working at the first 20

verses of the of Acts chapter 19, we

Acts 19 · chapter mention

find these great miracles being done and

many people believing and the word of

God being magnified and great things are

happening and Demetrius has just had

enough of it. He's losing business.

People aren't coming to see the temple

anymore. people aren't aren't in which

by the way the temple of Diana today is

in ruins. You you you could probably

look up and find pictures of the the

ruins of the great temple Diana.

Recently archaeology uncovered the main

altar that was there in the temple. It's

destroyed. But good news for you and I.

The church of Jesus Christ is as strong

today as it has ever been. Jesus Christ

is not in a competition with any other

God. He is the God. He is the way, the

truth, the life. Paul's message was the

correct message. It's the message that

you and I carry today. The glorious

gospel of Jesus. So, we have Diana's

temple. These workmen that are making

souvenirs and artifacts for Diana,

they're upset at Paul. And so, Paul

decides he's going to stick around and

see this thing

through. There's some opposition that

comes on the life of Paul. that this is

a theme through the book of Acts. In

fact, maybe at some point over the last

couple months, you felt like I've

preached the same message over and over

because it's the theme of the text. Paul

goes into a city. Paul finds a place to

teach where he finds a place to preach.

He begins to share Jesus. People begin

to get saved. God begins to do a work

and opposition comes every single time

over and over and over.

How many of you know that the the cycle

has not ended since Paul's

day? The devil is just as active today.

The demons are just as active today as

they have ever been. And they are out to

destroy the work of God. Whenever God

gets involved in a place, the devil is

soon behind if he's not already there.

He wants to see if he can distract, if

he can distort, if he can destroy what

God is doing in a place. He wants to

distract what God is doing in your

family. He wants to destroy what God is

doing in your life. A work that God may

be building in your heart. The devil

wants to distract you from it. The devil

wants to get you away from it, to

destroy you. The devil wants nothing

more than to get you out of church and

away from the preaching of the truth of

the word of God. He wants nothing more

than to distract you with the cares of

this life and the cares of this world so

that he can destroy the work that God is

doing. You decide that you're going to

give more money in the tithe. You're

going to you're going to tithe more.

You're going to give more to the church.

God lays it on your heart that you need

to give a little more. And so you say,

"Okay, Lord. I'm going to give more on

Sunday." And that night your

refrigerator breaks, your AC unit

breaks, your transmission goes out in

your car, a tree falls over your shed,

and your job lays you off. And you say,

"Lord, what happened?" It's that devil

that you want to serve God, be prepared

for

opposition. You want to serve the Lord

with your life, be prepared to face some

persecution. We we look at our lives and

we understand that when when we go allin

for Jesus

Christ, there's going to be

opposition. God begins to do a work in

your family and in your children.

And the opposition will

come and and he'll begin to distract

your kids and he'll begin to distract

you as a parent and and the devil will

begin to work and and the demons will

begin to work in your life and in your

family and you be think you're making

progress and then it feels like you're

going backwards again. Well, what's

happening?

Opposition. Opposition. God begins to

work in your life and and you begin to

say, "Okay, God, I'm all in." And then

all of a sudden it feels like you're

losing ground and you don't have a joy

of the Lord and and you've lost your

desire for the word of God and you've

lost your desire to fellowship with the

what's happening. It's

opposition. Every time God begins to

work on the heart of an individual or

God begins to do a work in a church, be

prepared. There will be opposition. A

Christian commits to serving the Lord.

I'm going to serve in a ministry. I'm

going to I'm going to get involved more

in my local church. and all of a sudden

a family member gets sick and needs your

care. Your job needs you there. You need

more hours. The family needs the

overtime pay. Sickness hits the family

and you can't go to church this Sunday.

Opposition.

Opposition. You decide to increase

church attendance and suddenly you're

the busiest person in the entire world

on Sunday morning, Sunday night and

Wednesday night. Everything just seems

to happen right then. Well, what's hap?

It's opposition.

opposition. A church is growing and

moving and God's be doing a work in a

church and all of a sudden somebody gets

upset and somebody gets distracted and

somebody's going to leave and somebody

wants to stir the pot a little bit and

argue and somebody's ready to give up

and somebody's ready to start gossiping.

What's happening?

Opposition.

Opposition. Paul understood opposition.

You and I understand

opposition. Paul faced it. We face it.

This morning, I want to give you three

simple steps on how to overcome it.

Overcoming

opposition. Number one, remember God's

power. Remember God's

power. If you look at the text, I'm just

going to bounce through a couple of

verses earlier in the chapter. In verse

number five of Acts chapter 19, when

Acts 19 · chapter mention

they heard this, they were baptized in

the name of the Lord Jesus. Verse number

10. And this continued by the space of

two years, so that all they which dwelt

in Asia heard the word of the Lord

Jesus, both Jews and Greeks. Verse 11.

And God wrought special miracles by the

hands of Paul. Verse number 17. And this

was known unto all the Jews and the

Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus. And

fear fell on all them, and the name of

the Lord was magnified. Verse number 20.

So mightily grew the word of God and

prevailed. There's a revival taking

place these last two years in Ephesus.

And I got to think that as Paul is now

faced with opposition, he could just

look back over the last two years and

say, "I'm going to remember what God did

when I showed up here. I'm going to

remember how they opposed me in the

synagogue and then God opened the door

to speak in the school of Tyrannius. And

I'm going to remember how we faced

difficulty and we've have had people who

get upset and we've faced problems and

and trials and and persecutions and and

through it all over and over and over.

God's word is magnified. God's name is m

is magnified. God's word is multiplied

over and over and over. God, you've come

through. So, I may be facing a new

opposition today. I was ready to leave

and you said stay because there's this

opposition that someone has gotten upset

at the word of God. Someone is upset at

the message of the gospel. This is

nothing new for God, though. He brought

me through it before. He'll bring me

through it again. He He helped me back

there. He'll help me

today. Friend, this morning, I want to

tell you, your problem is not the first

problem God's had. Your difficulty, the

opposition you're feeling in your life

is not the first time God's felt

opposition. the thing that is in your

life that is so big and so scary and and

it's just and you don't know how you're

going to get around it and you don't

know how you're going to overcome it and

you don't understand how the answer is

going to come about. God already has the

answer. He has the power to overcome

anything that would face you in your

life. Overcoming

opposition, we get so focused on the

problem. We get so focused on what's

right in front of us and how we're going

to fix it and how we're going to h how

we're going to get through this thing

that we forget to look back over our

life and I see time after time after

time after time, oh, I see the evidence

of God's goodness. I see the evidence of

God's grace. I look back through my life

and I remember I serve a great big God.

This isn't the first time that he's been

faced with your difficulty. This your

problem ain't the only problem on God's

plate. Now, I say this, I hope you

understand what I say. God is worried

about you and God cares about you. The

Bible says he carth for us. But listen,

he's not worried about your problem

because he already has an answer. He's

not worried about your situation cuz he

already knows where he's going to go

with it. He has the power to overcome.

These people in the temple of Diana,

they thought that they had the power to

stop God's church. They thought they had

the power to stop what God was doing.

They thought they had the power to stop

the progress of the Apostle Paul and

they could not do it. No one's been able

to do it ever in the history of the

church. In fact, Jesus said, "The gates

of hell will not prevail against it."

Jesus said, "I will build my church. You

can't kill it. You can't stop it. You

can't end it. You might as well not even

try because I'm more powerful than

anything else in this world."

I look across this room this morning and

we've had some great we've had a great

year as a

church. But I remember two years ago

when we met in this same building. I was

here, she was here. Many of you were not

here. There's a few of

us, 10 of us

maybe. We'd meet right here on a Sunday

morning. We'd do the same thing we did

this morning. We'd do it

then. And we would begin to pray. It was

just a handful of us. And we would pray

and we would pray and we would pray and

say, "Oh God, you said you'd build your

church. Lord, when are you going to

build your church? Lord, when are you

going to come through? God, you promised

that you was going to do something.

Lord, when are you going to do it for

us?" And I became overwhelmed. Listen, I

am not an old pastor. Okay? I think you

can understand that. I'm a young guy

still. I've been doing this long enough

to know that God will come through

though. You know how I know that?

Because I look back over the last two

years and I watch what God has done.

There were times I have felt so

overwhelmed. There are times when

opposition has faced us. Listen, there

are people not here today who won't come

back because they got upset at something

I said or they got upset at at something

that we did and that's between them and

the Lord. That's okay. But there was

opposition. There were people who didn't

like it. There were people who visited

once and never came back. And as a young

pastor with 10 people in a church, that

hurts. That's

overwhelming. But I'm here to tell you

this morning, we serve a big God. We

serve a great God. We serve a God who

can fix anything, who can build any

church, who can come through for any

person, who can fix any problem. How do

you know, Pastor John? I look back over

the last two years. I look at this room

this morning. I think about who was here

last week and I say, "Oh, God, you're

big enough. You're powerful enough. We

serve a great big God." How do you

overcome opposition? I don't know what

you're facing this morning. Your

battle's different than my battle. Your

difficulty is different than my

difficulty, but we serve the same

God. And if you're faced with opposition

this

morning, I think it'd do you good to

turn around, look back over your life,

and see the evidence. Remember God's

power. Number two, though, write down.

We need to rely on God's

people. How do we overcome

opposition? Rely on God's people. Look

at the text.

in verse

number

30

31 and when Paul would have entered in

under the people and they've gathered a

group of people here together and

they're going to begin to persecute

these Christians and Paul hears about it

and Paul was ready to enter in under the

people but the

disciples suffered him not. Do you see

that in your Bible? That intrigued me

this week. Look at verse 31. And certain

of the chief of Asia, which were his

friends, sent unto him, desiring that he

would not adventure himself into the

theater. Paul, don't go in there. Now,

why not Paul? I mean, if anybody can go

in and make a case, Paul can go in and

make a case. If anybody could could get

these men at Demetrius and his

colleagues to change their mind, Paul

could get them to change their mind. But

the church said, "Paul, don't go."

Here's the lesson the Lord gave me as I

studied on that and thought on that this

week. You don't have to fix everything

yourself. You don't have to be the hero

of every story. You don't have to figure

every piece of difficulty or every time

opposition comes, you don't have to go

through it alone. You've got some

friends in this place. And if you will

lock arms with the people in this room,

if you'll come alongside and join join

fellowship with the people of the church

and you start to rely on God's people,

you take their counsel. You heed what

they say. They love. We love on one

another in here. We're not out to get

one another. We're not here to trap one

another. We're not here to hurt one

another. We're not even here to gossip

about one another. Some Baptist say amen

right there. We're not here to gossip or

disunity. We're here to love on one

another, to fellowship with one another,

to enjoy one another, to help one

another, to counsel one another. You

need a friend, you ought to be able to

find one in this place. You need a

partner, you ought to be able to find

one in the church. Rely on God's people.

Too many times we get the the spirit

that we've got to go through everything

alone and we've got to fix this thing

ourselves and I can't tell anyone about

my problem. What are they going to think

of me? Well, my prayer is that if you

tell somebody in here your problem,

they're going to love on you. They're

going to put you on a prayer list.

They're going to begin to pray over you.

They're going to text you something

encouraging. They're going to take the

time to to invest in your life and and

maybe spend some time with you and get

to know you and build a friendship and

fellowship. Why? Because we need one

another. We've got to rely on God's

people. Rely on God's people. There's a

problem in churches today. There's no

community. We just come in, we go

through the motions, we sing the couple

songs, we listen to the sermon, and we

go out and we go get lunch and we're

feel good about ourselves because we was

in church today. And and that's a great

place to start. Sure, you can start

there. But my prayer is that we would

build community. We would go beyond

that. We would desire to love one

another, help one another, serve one

another.

Listen, there's

opposition. There's some Christian in

here today who is about this close to

giving up. And what they need is another

Christian to put their arm around them

on the way out the door today and say,

"You got this,

brother. You got this, sister. Hey,

you're going to make it. Hey, you're

going to make it. We're going to get

through this. This is not the end.

I may not even know what you're going

through, but if the Lord lays you on my

heart with God's help, I want to be that

Christian that says, "Hey, I don't know

what you're facing, but the Lord laid

you on my heart. I'm praying for you and

I'm helping. I want to help. If there's

anything I can do, you let me know." I

woke up this morning with a friend of

mine. He's he's a music pastor at a

church down south. I woke up with him on

my mind. I don't know why. I just was

thinking about him. So, I sent him a

text this morning. I said, "Hey, man.

woke up thinking about you this morning,

praying for you, praying for your day in

the Lord's house today. We ought to be

people who do that all the time.

Community.

Community. Building one another up.

Churches have created this terrible,

terrible, terrible identity of being

backsliden people who tear one another

down. And it's been on for far too long.

If we're going to be the church of Jesus

Christ, we're going to have to rely on

one another. You notice Paul listened to

them.

He took the advice. He didn't go into

the theater. He didn't worry about it.

He He let people help him. Yes, we need

to be a church of people who help one

another, but maybe somebody here needs

to be a person who will let someone help

them. Now, I I can preach to myself

right here because I like to do things

myself. I'd rather do something by

myself. I just would. I I I don't like

to open up and I really don't like other

people uh you know saying that they're

gonna I don't mind them saying they're

going to help me, but you know who needs

help, right? I'm 27 years old. I got

this. We can go do that. I can I can get

anything. Well, shame on me,

right? Let somebody help you. We don't

have to fix this ourselves. You don't

have to face the giant alone. You don't

have to go through the opposition by

yourself. Let the people of God come

around you and counsel you and say,

"Hey, I think it'd be best if you didn't

do that or if you did do this or or or I

I haven't seen you in church for a

couple of weeks and and I'm just praying

for you and if there's anything I can

do, you let me know and we support one

another and love one another." Rely on

God's people. Number

three, recognize God's

plan. Recognize God's plan. Look at

verse 35.

They pull the men into the they they

pull Alexandra into the theater.

Alexandria Alexander was a a Christian

there in Ephesus, one of Paul's

colleagues. They pull him into the

theater. They begin to question

him. In verse number 34, they mock him.

They begin to chant for two hours. They

chant in this theater, great is Diana of

the

Ephesians. Verse number 35. And when the

town

clerk had appeased the people, he said,

"Ye men of Ephesus, what man is there

that knoweth not that knoweth how that

the city of the Ephesians is a

worshshiper of the great goddess Diana

and of the image which fell down from

Jupiter?" Uh that that's just there's a

big rock, a meteorite fell into the city

of Ephesus and they claimed that that

was the goddess Diana and so they

worshiped this big rock and that's what

he's talking about this image. Verse

number 36. Seeing then that these things

cannot be spoken against, ye ought to be

quiet and to do nothing rashly. So now

the town clerk has gotten up and he's

quieted everyone down and he said, "What

in the world are we doing? You guys are

out of your mind. You know the whole

world worships the goddess Diana. You

know that these men are no threat to the

goddess Diana." Now, he was wrong,

right? I mean, they were a threat. Jesus

Christ is still alive. Goddess Diana is

not. So, he was wrong. He was mistaken.

But I want I want to point something out

to you. Verse number 37. For ye have

brought hither these men which are

neither robbers of churches nor yet

blasphemers of your goddess. Wherefore

if Demetrius and the craftsmen which are

with him have a matter against any man,

the law is open and there are deputies.

Let them imple one another. He said use

the the legal system that's set in

place. If they've done something wrong,

then let's deal with them according to

the law. But if ye inquire anything

concerning other matters, if this is

personal, it shall be determined. and a

lawful assembly. For we are in danger to

be called in question for this day's

uproar, that is by the Romans, there

being no cause whereby we may give an

account of this concourse. And when he

had spoken, he dismissed the assembly.

And then if you look at verse number 20

in verse number one, and after the

uproar was ceased, it ended. It's over.

Well, Paul, what'd you say to him? Paul

said, I didn't say anything to him.

Well, Alexander, what'd you say to him?

Alexander didn't say anything to him.

You You can look back at the text in

verse number 33. And they drew Alexander

out of the multitude and the Jews

putting him forward. And Alexander

beckoned with his hand and would have

made his defense to the people. But he

never got a chance because as soon as

they knew he was a Jew, they began to

chant for two hours. Great is the

goddess of Diana. Great. Great is the

goddess Diana of the Ephesians. Nobody

said anything. No Christian gave a

defense. No person got involved.

Well, how how did it

end? God had a

plan. God calmed the storm. God took a

unbelieving city

councilman, got him

involved, and quieted the whole thing

down.

Can I tell you, sometimes we get so

worked up over the things in our life

and we spend all of our energy and all

of our focus just trying to fix

something and we're worried about it and

we're anxious about it and we're up all

night concerned about it and God said,

"If you would just shut your eyes and

get some sleep, if you would just trust

me, I'm going to get you through it. I

already know how it's going to be

resolved. Don't worry about it. Paul,

you didn't even need to stick around. I

was going to take care of the uproar.

This little opposition is nothing to me.

I can use an unsaved city councilman and

put this thing to rest. I don't need

you. Listen, if what Christians would

understand, God does not need us. God

doesn't need this church. God doesn't

need you in your God can take care of

himself. He is sovereign. He is holy. He

doesn't need any one of us to fix

anything. What he needs from us is to

trust him and be faithful to him. And if

we'll just trust that God's in control.

And we'll just let God handle the

situation. He has already written an

ending. He already knows how it's going

to end. He already knows how it's going

to be finished up. He's written it all

out. He knows exactly how he's going to

get you through the opposition. So, so

tonight, don't stay up worried about it.

Don't stay up anxious about it. Go to

bed. Get some sleep. Take a nap this

afternoon and say, "God, I'm leaving it

in your hands." the sickness in the

family, the difficulty, the challenges,

just give it to God. Lord, you can have

it. Lord, you fix it. It does not matter

what right now might be blowing through

your life. It doesn't matter what

opposition you might be facing. It

doesn't matter what chaos might be

surrounding you. It doesn't matter what

confusion has overtaken you. Doesn't

matter what opposition you are

overwhelmed by. You just keep moving

forward. Just keep being faithful

because God has the power and God has a

plan. And if you'll just trust him, he's

going to get you through. I'm done.

That's the message today. You can come.

Let me give you some verses. I want to

support. I want to give you some Bible

support. You can jot these down, look

them up later. Romans

Romans 8:37

8:37. Nay, in all these things we are

more than conquerors through him that

loved us. 1 John 4:4, "Ye are of God,

1 John 4:4

little children, and have overcome them,

because greater is he that is in you

than he that is in the world." Romans 8

and verse 28. And we know that all

things work together for good to them

that love God, to them who are the

called according to his purpose. John 16

and verse number 33. These things have I

spoken unto you, that in me you might

have peace. In the world ye will have

tribulation, but be of good cheer. I

have overcome the world. Romans chapter

Romans 8 · chapter mention

8 and verse number 31. What shall we say

to these things? If God be before us,

who can be against us? 1 Corinthians 15

and verse number 57. But thanks be to

God which giveth us the victory through

our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 4

and:e 17. For our light affliction which

is but for a moment workketh for us a

far more exceeding and eternal weight of

glory. 1 Peter 5 and verse number 10.

But the God of all grace who hath called

us unto his eternal glory by Christ

Jesus. after that ye have suffered a

while, make you perfect, establish,

strengthen, settle you in Jesus Christ.

Listen friends, according to the Bible,

based on the authority of the word of

God this morning, I come to tell you in

the name of Jesus, he has the power to

get you through whatever you're facing.

He has a plan to get you over whatever

you're dealing with. He has the enemy in

a headlock. Satan is defeated. Death is

defeated. Hell is defeated. If you're

saved today, you're on your way to

heaven, you have reason to rejoice and

you have reason to have peace. God's in

control. You can trust him today. You

can trust him

today. I'm trying to quit. Let me give

you one more

thing. I look around this room

today and as pastor, I see the

challenges.

I don't know all the challenges present

here, but I know some of them. And I

look around this room and I can lock

eyes with people and I know you're

facing

opposition. I know there's

pain. I know there's confusion. There's

questions. There are things in your life

that you don't have an answer for. You

don't know how you're going to get

through them. And quite honestly, you

feel like it might be the end.

You want to go all in for Jesus Christ

and and you want to be like the Apostle

Paul on these missionary journeys and

and you want to serve the Lord, but

every time you try to take a step of

faith, opposition, opposition, opposite

over and over and over. You said, "Why

am I still

trying? Well, why am I still

going?" I look through this room today,

I see people who are not here, and I

know why they're not here today.

I know the battle that they have faced

this week. I know the challenges that

are in their life right now. And they're

not in church today. Some because they

can't. Some because they just don't have

the energy

to. Opposition. Opposition.

Opposition. As a church family, God's

blessing our church. And it seems like

we take a steps forward and every time

we have a great service and every time

somebody gets saved and every time

something goes really well and God

blesses you. I I I just go ahead and put

it on my calendar on Sundays when God

blesses us in a special way. I just put

on Monday, bad day. The devil's coming.

You're going to be discouraged. It's

just in there. I'm just going to go

ahead and pencil it in. Something's

happening. Why?

Opposition.

Opposition. Here's my challenge to you.

Just trust the Lord

today. Just give it to him

today. Whatever the burden is. Whatever

the challenge

is, whatever you're praying about and

you don't understand how you're going to

make it through, you don't understand

what's going to how it's going to turn

out or what's going to

happen. Just bring it to the Lord.

I'm going to let her play for just a few

moments this morning. If you need to

come pray at an altar, it's open. Come

bow a knee. Come sit on a pew. You can

do it there in your seat, that's fine,

too. God hears you

anywhere. But why don't we take just a

few minutes and just make this a prayer

room in

here. And you pray for

you. Pray for your opposition, your

challenge.

Say, "God, it's

yours. Today, I lay it at the cross. I

know you have a plan. I know you've

already seen the other side of this. I

can't see the other side, but I know you

can. I bring it to you today. I lay it

at your feet

today." We'll take just a few moments

this morning and pray. The Holy Spirit's

worked on many's heart this morning.

Let's bring our burdens to the Lord and

just