Victory || F.A.V.O.R. || Pastor Adam Mesa

Welcome to the ALSC podcast. Here at ALC, we seek the loss,

teach the found, and send the disciples. We truly hope you're encouraged by

this week's message. Well, if you're ready for the word, let's dig

in. We're in a series called Favor. We're honoring God's thirty years of

faithfulness and favor in our church and ministry, and so we're launching this idea

that as God has favored abundant living, so shall He favor you and I

in our own lives. And so we've broken it down as best as we

could. Now I'll tell you this, there's no Bible passage you can there's

no acronyms in the Bible. Okay, so there's no chapter and verse where

the acronym of favor is broken down in the Bible. But theologically we can

say that when we've studied the ministry of people in the Old and New Testament

who have favor, you can see these resounding themes that are in their life.

And so you see a resounding theme for people in the Bible who have

favor, that they have an act of faith, they have this trust in

God that through all soor circumstances, through the good and the bad, they

cling tightly to God. You also see an understanding of abundance. Where they

thought they lacked resources, God was abundant in resources. And so then we

also see what we'll talk about today is that we have victory, and so

God has paved the way for us, and so we can trust that if

God has led the way, if God has victory, then we too have

victory and we are not defeated. And so we also see over the next

two weeks as well that obedience favor takes the life of obedience, following God's

word, trusting God, hearing what God speaks, and moving on those things.

And then lastly, when you feel tired, when you feel weak,

God's favor brings renewal in your life. God will refresh you. God will

build you back up. And so that's what we look at. So let's

dig into victory today as we've been breaking it down, and we're gonna be

in First John today, and so if you have your Bibles you can do

First John chapter five. We're gonna be in verses one to five. And

so if you have your bible's in your turning to there whenever you're ready,

would you stand up for the honor of reading God's word today as we dig

into this verse today, I'm excited about talking about victory. I believe God

is going to speak some things to us today. Here's what it says in

First John chapter five, verses one to five. Everyone who believes that Jesus

is the Christ is born of God. And everyone who loves the Father loves

his child as well. This is how we know that we love the children

of God by loving God and carrying out his commands, commands we talk about

next week. In fact, this is love for God to keep his commands,

and his commands are not burdam son. For everyone born of God has

overcome the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even

our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world. Only the one who

believes that Jesus is the Son of God. Amen. Let's pray today.

God. We thank you so much today Lord, as we come to discover

your word that we have the victory God, that as we worship today and

we worship the fight of faith, and we know that we can clap our

hands, we can lift our voices, we can bring all these things with

a voice of triumph. It's only because Jesus has paved the way for us,

So we thank you for that work. Today speak to us in Jesus'

name. A men, you may be seated. You know, there was

once a man who was crossing the street. I don't know if you ever

been caught in a long crosswalk before where it went red and you hit that

little button and you just feel like it's taken forever to cross the street.

Well, there was a man one time. Who was any people in here

that got young infants, toddlers like babies, you're working through that baby season.

I see some hands and so whether you're a grandparent or a parent,

and you ever taken your child on a walk. And so there was a

man. He had his child in the stroller and it was one of those

days, like many days that you and I have, where the baby was

not settling down, okay, crying. You know, this baby would not

stop crying. So he gets up to the crosswalk and he's just shaking the

stroller trying to get the baby to calm down. And so as he's there,

he's running the stroller back and forth and he says, you know,

just very calmly, it's okay, Albert. Don't worry, Albert. Don't

cry, Albert, don't get overwhelmed, Albert. Everything's gonna be all right,

Albert. And there's a woman next to him that said, sir,

it's amazing how calm you can stay while your baby, Albert is just crying

and screaming. And he looks at her and he says, ma'am, the

baby isn't Albert. I'm Albert. You know, sometimes you gotta remind yourself

it's gonna be all right, Adam. It's gonna be okay. Don't cry,

don't get overwhelmed, Adam. But guess what, when you know you

have God's victory on your side, you gotta remind yourself it's gonna be okay.

It's gonna be all right. God's called God speaking to you. Don't

worry. There's a calmness when you can speak God's word and God's victory over

your life. And hopefully today as we leave this place, you can recognize

you can leave here a little bit more calm, a little bit more decisive

to trust God and have faith through all avenues. It reminds me of a

story as we talk about favor and faith of one of the patriarchs, well,

the oldest patriarch, which is Abraham. Many of us know the story

about Abraham, and if you don't know, Abraham is the predecessor to the

children of Israel. It's by Abraham's faith that he went to a land called

Canaan and established his family roots in Canaan, he left everything that he knew

behind, his family and everything. He took his children and his wife,

and he came and he established a land that would eventually, through his great

through his grandson Jacob, be called Israel. So Israel would not exist today

without the faith of Abraham. Also, Jesus came from the fatherhood of Abraham,

and so Abraham was a man of faith. The Bible talks about it

all the time. But also Abraham was a man who understood what it was

that when he hit challenges, what God's victory actually looked like. But I

want us to see an aspect of Abraham's life at the beginning that many of

you may have not seen before. So I want us to see in Genesis

chapter eleven. This is where Abraham's story kind of starts. And we also

through the Bible before he said yes to God. We call him Abram,

and God changed his name to Abraham. And so it says this, this

is the account of Tara. This is Abraham's father. This is the account

of Tara's family line. Tara became the father of Abraham, Nahar and Heron,

and Heron became the father of Lah. While his father Tara was still

alive, Heron died in her of the Chaldeans. So why did Abraham take

this leadership under his nephew law Well, because his father died when they were

still in their homeland and in the land of his birth. It says this

Abroam and day Her both were married. The name of Abram's wife was Sarahi,

and the name of Naher's wife was Milkam. She was the daughter of

Heron, the father of both Milka and Eastcamb. Now SARAHI was childless because

she was not able to conceive. Tara took his son Abram, his grandson

La, son of Heron, and his daughter in law SARAHI, the wife

of his son Abram, and together they set out from Er of the Chaldeans

to go to what Canaan wait. A lot of the times when I hear

the story of Abraham. I often hear that Abraham left Er and left his

family. I never knew that Abraham's dad was the one who pulled them out

of Er and started taking them to Canaan. It's an important part because a

lot of times we understand we think Abraham left Er and he went to Canaan.

Actually we're seeing that his dad left Er to go to Canaan. So

his dad started with the word from God more than likely. But what happened

in between, it says, but when they came to Heron, so there

was Heron and Heron they settled there. Tara lived two hundred and five years

and he died in Heron. Okay, I want you to see this.

I'm gonna I'm gonna share this for a moment. So vin you guys have

like a little journal, you could take these notes. If you look at

a topographic map of this land in the Middle East, you have this area

right here, which would have been erb Okay, this is where Abram's family

lived. This is actually modern day Iraq. So this was Babylon eventually,

and then now we know it as Iraq. And so there was this river

that ran up and at the top of the river was a place called Heron,

okay. And down here there was the Persian Gulf Sea okay. And

then on this side you have the Mediterranean scene. And then if you come

all the way down here, you have Canaan, all right, Canaan and

is also now we know it as Israel. All right, there's the Saudi

Arabian desert is right here. So you can't you can't cross here. That's

why he couldn't go that way. You're gonna die of dehydration, so you

can't. He can't go straight, you have to go up and around.

And so what happens is is from here to here there's a nice little natural

water running spring river where you have access to water. It's pretty flat.

And then as you come over here, and if you look at a topographic

map, you'll see there's nothing but mountains and valleys to get down to Canaan.

There's nothing but mountains at valleys. And so what happens is is Abraham's

dad Tara. More than likely, most theologians believe that God actually potentially approached

Tara first to give this word. And so Terra for a moment has this

faith in this obedience to follow the river, but more than likely, as

he began to see the mountains, he went, oh, I don't know

that I signed up for this. And so the Bible says, for fifteen

years he settled in a place called Heron, which actually the word in English

means this crossroads. His dad settled in the crossroads of life because everything else

from here forward was gonna be difficult. Everything else from here on was gonna

take a lot of work, was gonna take a lot of faith, was

gonna take a lot of acts towards victory. And so his dad terror decides,

he brings his whole family. He looks at Heron, which Heron was

also this intersection of trade, and he says, this is nice. We

left er. We did fifty percent of what God told us to do,

so this is nice. Let's settle down. How many of you guys know

one year is short, two years is short, fifteen years. For fifteen

years, they settle camp, start to have children, start to have a

family, and his father dies in the crossroads, dies in the middle where

God spoke to him. He said, this is good enough. We have

running water. You want to know from this point to this point, look

at this there's water. Everywhere. You want to know from this point to

this point, where's there actually is a substantial amount of natural water. It's

down here by the Sea of Galilee, where Jesus' ministry was, So that's

the nearest watering point. He had water all the way here, and so

he said, this is the point of convenience. And so I was obedient

towards God up until the point of convenience. But after that point I settled

in that space. I settled in that moment because everything from here on out

with faith and favor. That means I gotta do some things now That means

I actually got to climb mountains, I gotta actually be in valleys. That

means we actually have to supply for water and plan for food. I didn't

sign up for all of that God. I signed up for the God that

where I just raised my hand at an altar call and I say, Jesus,

you can have my life. I signed up for now. It's just

things get easier from here and out. That's the like. That's the faith

in the victory that I signed up for, not the faith in victory that

now means I have to actually start trusting God to move forward. So I

want you to look at this the moment that terror dies, and for all

intents and purposes, this is the first moment we know that God has spoke

to Abraham. Abraham's now in his seventies. At this point, he should

have gotten to Canaan fifteen years ago by his father. So now God goes

to Abraham and he says, the Lord has said to Abram, go from

your country. Because Heroin is actually also the edge point of Calde. So

he literally got to the border. That's like if God said I want you

to settle over in Las Vegas, and you just settled in the Nevada California

border. You just said, that's enough. I did enough. I just

did the bare minimum that God asked me to do. Heron was the bare

minimum the edge of their land. And so now God goes to Abraham.

He says, Lord said him, go from your country. Now you gotta

go from your country, your people, and your father's household to the land

I will show you. I will make into you a great nation, and

I will bless you, and I will make your name great, and you

will be a blessing. God proposes a thought of victory to Abraham. He

says, here's the thought, Abraham, I'm gonna make your family blessed.

I'm gonna make you into a great nation. This nation is gonna be a

blessing until all other nations. But you're gonna actually have to understand that you

will win on the other side. But it's gonna take some hardship from here

on out. What happens is is many of us know abraham story. But

from this point forward, Abraham goes to a place where now he starts to

cross the mountains. You're one of the first thing that happens that they're crossing

the mountains, a famine hits the land. So he actually has to go

past Canaan down to Egypt. So he literally has to pass the thing that

God has promised and go one hundred and fifty miles past to Egypt to avoid

a famine. So now he gets to see where he's supposed to go,

and God says, there's a famine right now, you gotta go to Egypt.

There's no food over there, so you gotta spend some time here.

I gotta go to Egypt. Come on, I left ear, I left

heron, I left the crossroads. My dad settled in the crossroads. I

left the crossroads. Now I gotta go past Canaan, and now I have

to go to Egypt. And then he says, okay, now you can

leave Egypt. So then he leaves Egypt. He gets to Canaan and God

says, now I want to see how much you love me. I want

you to sacrifice that son. We read it his wife couldn't conceive, So

then God blesses him with the ability to conceive at old age, and so

his wife names her son Isaac, which means laughter because she laughed at the

impossibility of giving birth. And so he says, okay, now this son

that you've been patiently waiting for for generations, I want you to sacrifice that

son to me. And then Abrams like okay, So then he takes him.

Right when he's about to sacrifice, what does God do. He provides

a ram in the thick, a sacrificial animal, and he says, Abraham,

here's your victory. It's almost like a trophy. It's almost like a

crown to say, listen, it's the path that you have taken to victory,

so that you know when you win from here on out, I took

you everywhere that you win a lot of times. When you and I see

the mountains, it's not that God just wants to make you tired, or

God is trying to discipline you. He's trying to get you and I to

realize that. On the other side, when you win, it's not because

you fought the battle. It's because He fought it for you. When we

go through those things and we trust God, we see him all the more

real. So if you're taking notes, I just want you here's three things

today we're gonna see. Number one, we can see through these moments that

God's victory is better. A win with God is better than any win you

could do without God. God's victory is better. Abraham's life began or ramp

up in terms of how he had to trust God. But the victory of

becoming a great nation, having a blessed family. Jesus coming out of this

line, Oh, he blessed Abraham for sure. And so what happens we

see one Corinthians fifteen fifty seven. But thanks be to God. He gives

us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you God, because you

give us victory, not defeat, not brokenness, not break down. He

gives you victory, So God's victory. It's just better. You ever won

something before, a national championship, a state championship, ever won a chess

tournament, anything, you ever won a golf game with your free friends.

It just is so sweet when you win something, when you re recognize that

Jesus won it all, and we could really rest in that victory. We

can see God, thank you that you made a better way, because I

don't even want to pave my own victories. I don't even run my own

victories. I wanna trust your victory. God, there's a better way.

A couple of years ago, many of you guys may like, may be

like me, but my parents don't. They don't understand technology too well.

Okay, so any new device, fixing their WiFi, setting up their email.

I mean I get a call. Okay, I'm gonna get the call,

and then I got to drive to my parents. And so my parents

finally they had upgraded and they got like a smart TV where now you can

have all the apps internally built in. And so they went from a dish

TV and then they got a smart TV. So I came over and I

had to help them set it up. So I said, hey, you

guys have an Amazon account, and they said, no, we don't have

an Amazon account. Okay, let me sign into my Amazon account. Okay,

do you guys have an Apple TV account? No, we don't have

an Apple what's that? Okay, it's Apple TV. So then I signed

it in for them. So now I'm signing in under all my accounts.

Okay, they become part of my family at this moment, so I add

them to me at that moment. So one day, I'm just sitting on

the couch and I see an Amazon purchase for three ninety nine. Okay,

So I thought, you know, if you use Amazon, because they don't,

it doesn't the purchase on the card. It just says Amazon. They

don't tell me what it was purchase on. So my wife is connected to

my Amazon account. So you know, Amazon doesn't charge you until they actually

ship stuff out. So I just thought maybe my wife had to buy some

things, and maybe About forty minutes later, I saw another three ninety nine

charge. I thought, okay, but I guess my wife got a couple

of small things. It's just no big deal. And so now I go

throughout my day, I look at the end of the day on my phone,

and I have one hundred and fifty dollars worth of charges. What my

dad was doing was was they they got into a show that was on regular

television, Yellowstone. They got into it, and then he discovered you could

rewatch episodes and rewatch shows on Amazon Prime. And so there was an element

that he was missing, which was he started to buy each episode individually to

watch it. So three ninety nine here, three night, and then him

and my mom Binge watched the whole season that day. And so now I

grabbed my phone, I grabbed my car keys. I don't live too far.

So I drove up to their hot called him. I said, are

you home? He said, yeah, your mom and I are just watching

Yellowstone. I said, I know, I figured that out, I said,

and so and so I walked in the house. I said, what

are you guys doing? He said, we're just watching Yellowstone. I said,

and you're buying every episode individually. He said, yeah, what else

do you do? I said, oh, I'm not to change your life.

I downloaded AMC streaming for nine to ninety nine a month, and I

said, you have every episode you go watch Reward, you have them all.

You have all the seasons for ten dollars a month. Have at it,

enjoy stop buying shows and videos at Amazon Prime. So then I look

at him. I said, I give my one hundred and fifty dollars back

for your mistake. He said, I brought you into this world. Would

be eper from here on out? I said, I said, I said,

fair, fair, one hundred and fifty dollars birth. That's pretty cheap.

So I was like, I'll take that. I'll take that. How

many guys know there are better ways to do things. You don't have to

pay all the time. You don't have to pull the payment all the time.

When people say what do I get from getting God? Well, number

one, he's already loved you. That's what you get from number two.

You get a better way from choosing God. You get a better way for

choosing Jesus. A better way someone that loves you and die for you,

and heals you and delivers you and shows compassion towards you. What do you

mean? The question should be flipped, what do you give to him?

Because there ain't no way. He's not done anything for you, because his

victory is a better way. Look at someone to just say a better way.

You know, Saint Augustine said this, the victory of Christ over the

world is ours if we but follow him. Victory is yours if you follow

him. That's what Abraham did. He followed God. Where his father tapped

out in the crossroads, Abraham picked up and left off. And so we

see. Secondly, God's victory is a blessing. It's a blessing. God's

victory to give to you is God's blessing, not God's burden. Abraham could

have easily said, God, this is burden, son, Why can't you

just give me the great family and the great nation and the great blessing here

and erth, like what's the deal? But God had to separate him to

a place an isolation, had to separate him from what he once knew,

separate him from his comfort level, separate him from him anything that would have

naturally come to So why how come would I choose God? I got to

separate myself from from some things. Well, because those things are gonna lead

you some some things. There's some people that come to you and as you're

moving and God's moving in your life, like, hey, guys, I

can't hang out no more because every time I'm here, y'all are passing me

beers and drinks. I just can't do that anymore because where that leads me

in the person, it takes me, It leads me to treat my wife

a certain way, leads me to treat my kid. I can't do it

anymore. And they're going, ah, man, you're going soft. So

what is it? They were? They a friend because they're truly afraid.

You know, we have this say, oh you're my brother, you're my

sister. But how come the moment you don't want to do the one thing

they don't want to do. Now, they're not family no more. That's

that's not what family is, that's not what community is. And so what

happens is we often see they were like, God, what are you doing?

Abraham? God, what do you do? I gotta go to this

mountain, I gotta go down to Egypt, I gotta take my son.

And God's like I'm doing something. Try to bless you, Try to move

in your life. Try to do something great in your life, like we're

talking about next week. If your obedience would match what I'm trying to bless

you with, then you can see God move in your life. Favor doesn't

come just out of nowhere. It comes because God has a desire. God

is moving in your life. He's speaking in your life. But then we

obey, we trust him. So if it takes going through a period of

isolation, takes a period of isolation, If it takes a period of a

desert, it takes a period of a desert, those are not bad things.

I'll talk to people after church sometimes Now I just feel like I'm in

a desert. I go, man, that's great. God does miracles in

deserts. God gave God gave Israel water in deserts. God gave a man

in desert, He gave him a fire by night, a cloud by day.

I mean, great things happen in deserts. Don't be afraid of a

desert season. That's who God is, and so God's victory is better.

You know. Sometimes I'll go down to San Diego, and over in San

Diego they have they have, uh you know, little bays with little beaches,

and a lot of people will take their boats and they'll have their boats

and they'll have their little cell boats and there they'll pull them up onto dry

land. And one day I was going for a walk and I saw like

thirty boats just like this, and they just had like they had like a

little string with a little weight on the end in case high tide came,

it wouldn't go anywhere. But other than that, I'm looking and I'm like,

you know, my old adams sometimes kick in, and I'm thinking to

myself, I could just steal all these boats. What like, look at

all these boats. I could have one hundred thousand dollars cell boat tonight.

I just can. So I'm thinking to myself, these people are so foolish.

They don't know what cities day in. Someone like me could just wash

up ashore and just take a boat. So then I'm so inquisitive. I

go home and I start researching, because everybody had their boat like that,

and so I'm looking and I'm trying to figure why there is no security mechanism

attached to these boats that anyone could just take it. And upon research,

I found out that all the individuals do is they take the sail down and

they take the sail and they put the sail inside. Or when they bring

the sail down, they'll take a lock and they'll lock the sail down because

if the sails can't get up, you can't steal the boat. And if

you do try to steal the boat by paddling it out, you're not gonna

get very far. And so and so that's that is their theft to turn.

We just take the sail down. Oh but and then there's people what

happens if I pull it and get in the water, And they're like,

by the time I wake up in the morning and see it's gone, you're

only gonna be four hundred feet in front of me. You ain't gonna get

far. And so that's their deterrent. So a lot of times we're wondering,

we're seeing where God is at. But it's because you're lifting your sail

up in the wrong areas and in the wrong seasons, and around the wrong

people and around you know, we wonder why we're going in this direction.

I just would ask, is your sail up? Man? I get in

front of these people, I just seem to go this way, or hang

around this person, I just go this way, Or when I'm watching this

on TV, I seem to go this way, or at work, when

I'm talking to these individuals, I seem to go this way. Well,

you gotta take your cell down. Yeah, pull that cell down where people

can't direct you and push you and guide you. The only time I put

my cell up is when I'm in God's presence. That's the only time I'm

saying, God, your breath is a blessing, your word is a blessing,

your leading is a blessing. So my cell only goes up when I

actually need it to go somewhere. So that's why I go, and that's

why I would trust myself to go in a neighborhood group, go in a

small group, because these are gonna be some people. We're not perfect,

but they're trying to go in the same direction to see God moving their life.

So I could put my cell up amongst that group. When I get

around my trusted friends that are believers, my cells are all the way up.

Hey, what do you think about this? Hey, me and my

wife are going through this. I trust their advice doesn't mean it's gonna be

perfect. Advice doesn't mean it's not gonna be wrong advice, but it's gonna

be advice where I know that they love me and I know they want the

best for me and my marriage. I know they're not they're speaking into me

and my wife because they want us to win, not break up. You

know, sometimes people trying to give you marriage if it because they want you

to broke up, because they're broke up, you know, and so they

just want another breakup, buddy. And so we put our sale up around

people they don't have any experience to speak to what it is that we're asking

for. And so if we want to get to a place where Abraham got

going through mountains, going through valleys, you got to ask yourself, when

do I put my sales up? What do I listen to? God?

And here here's the last poet is this When we close with this thought,

God's victory is boldness. It ought to make you bold. If you ever

won something before, across the finish line, you're bold. I've never seen

a team before win a championship and just be like, oh gosh, oh

man. They do parades, they pop champagne, they're both and if you

looked at them and said, I think you're gonna lose next season, they

look at you and be like, I'm a champion right now. Okay,

like don't buy I just prove myself of I want you see, when we

look at Jesus when we look at the cross, we see God's victory,

and it's supposed to produce a boldness in you, not because of yourself,

but because of Him. And so we see according to Second Corinthians two fourteen.

But thanks be to God who always leads up into what a triumphal procession.

There's the championship party. There's where they're coming down. That's where the

Lakers are coming down the street, and they're on the little two decker buses

and there's music going. Man, here it is the Bible says it in

a more meaningful way. Thanks be to God who always leads us what into

a triumphal procession in Christ, that's victory and through us spreads everywhere what the

fragrance of knowledge of Him? As you begin to see God give you victory

in your life and God moves in your life that produces a fragrance to other

people where other people will know Him. They know Him because of the way

that you're reacting in your faith. When the world reacts one way and you

have a fragrance of knowledge of God because you know something other people don't know,

you would love for them to know it, and you're willing to share

it with them at any time. It's not a secret, but it's whether

they're going to receive it or not that you're able to walk around with this

fragrance and be bold to say I know something y'all don't know. Heaven already

won, Jesus already won. We already have victory. You already have victory,

you just don't know it yet. You could tell that to a friend

that's hurting, that friend that gets that goes to the doctors and they get

that report, or that friend that's going through it in their relationships, or

that friend that just seems to be going through a mental illness. You can

say, I know you have victory. You don't know it yet, but

I hope you understand that you have victory in Jesus. I hope you can

see that. It'll produce a boldness. When I was in high school,

this is the actual scent that I used to wear. I used to wear

Lacoste Sport in high school. When I smell it takes me back to high

school. I wore this every day in school. How many of you guys

can know? Not too many high schoolers wear cologne, and so I'd wear

this colon almost every single day, and I knew when I stepped foot in

school, all the girls was just gonna sniff me. It's all the time.

Happened all the time. So I'd wear this cologne and I'd walk into

class and a girl would just walk like, ooh, adam, you smell

so good, and my chest would be up so high. I mean,

I could have not brushed my teeth that day, but I smelled good.

So I was pulled I walk around. I knew I had to get to

a point where I couldn't wear sweaters because by the end of the day,

girls would just take them from me. They just asked for my sweaters.

And so I just walked around school and this girl had my sweater and that

girl had my sweat. I was running out of sweaters because I'd spray them

down and they'd want them. And so you couldn't tell me nothing. If

you were someone else, Like if you were a guy and you told me,

oh, you don't got no game, I'd be like, Bro,

there's eleven girls wearing my sweaters on this campus that smelled just like me.

There's nothing you can say otherwise. It's that smell. It's to know that

there's a smell with you, producers, a boldness that even when someone tries

to tell you you stink, you go I know I don't, because there's

proof in my pudding that my children are starting to understand who God is in

their life. My wife understands who God is in our lives. My neighbors

are starting to understand. I have a fragrance that's all over, and it's

because God has given victory. So why do we share our faith? Why

do we do community with others? You're passing off a fragrance. You're sharing

this fragrance, and when someone else catches it, they start to smell different,

they start to look different. It's not because anything they did. It's

not because they went and took a shower and they took a bath. It's

because God gave them that shower. God gave them that bath. Jesus redeems

in areas that we otherwise stink, and so this victory ought to produce boldness.

I'll close with this quote quote Max Lucado said this. In Christ,

our ultimate victory is assured regardless of the battles that we face. Ultimate victory

is a regardless of what the battle is regardless of the battle that you may

feel like you in now, or you may feel like you'll be in this

year, your ultimate victory is assured for those who are in Christ. Takes

us back to First John that we read. It said, you have overcome

the world if you believe in Him. That's the contingency. God gives you

victory. God gives you the ability to overcome. But we have to rest

in Him. It's not your battle, it's not your fight. You don't

have to stand up for yourself in that way. You don't have to back

up yourself in that way. God will help you. Now. God may

also encourage you that through that you're gonna stick up for yourself, but it's

not you doing it. It's a spirit of God moving through you. So

we have to trust that God's boldness will lead us, and his blessing and

his ability to take us from place to place is victory. And in Abraham's

life he did see victory. On the other side. He saw what God

wanted to do in his life come to fruition, and even in heaven he

can glorify God because through his seed, salvation came to the earth. That

was obedience, and so let's pray this morning. God, we thank you

so much for this word. Lord. I pray you speak to some of

us today. Lord, I pray if there's anyone in here today that may

feel like that they're in some type of battle of faith, battle of crossroads.

Maybe they feel like their terror today. Lord, Maybe they feel like

they've settled in the crossroads, settled in the place that was easiest, but

to move forward it just seems too difficult. I just want to ask you,

as we're praying right now, if you feel like you're in that person,

you're in the crossroads, you're terror, could you just raise your hand

and keep your head down. I want to pray over your life right now.

You feel like you're in a crossroads, maybe a crossroads of decision,

crossroads of battle, crossroads of life, whatever that may be. I'll just

keep your hand raised. God. I just pray for every person in hand

that's raised right now. God, I pray you begin to speak to them.

Father God, I pray you give them clarity today. Lord, I

pray you give them courage today. Father God, I pray that he that

is in them is greater than he that is in the world. Today,

Father God, I pray that Satan in any principality that tries to throw at

them, tries to attack them, Father God, that he's defeated in Jesus

name, God, that Jesus already won the victory. Lord. So today

God, I pray that they cling to you, Father God, give them

the clarity of what direction to go, what decision to make. And God,

even if there's a mountain in front of them, may they know that

God's blessing is with them and on the other side. God. So I

pray you anoint them today, Father God. I pray you touch them today,

Father God, and I pray you bless them today in Jesus ame a

man. Amen. Well, hey, we're going to leave here today together

in just two more minutes. But I just want to make an invitation of

faith to you. If you're here in this place, you've never given your

life to Jesus Christ. Everything we talked about today start with first John,

these promises that God has available to us. It begins with you and I

believing and trusting in Jesus. And so whether you're in the courtyard, whether

you're in the cafe, or whether you're in this room, I want to

encourage you, if you've never given your life to Jesus Christ, and you

want to walk in that victory, You want to walk in that peace.

You want to know one day that when you stand before God, you'll stand

before God as friend, not foe. God has no enemies. The only

enemy he has is sin. And so when you and I stand before God,

we'll see him as a friend if we allow Christ to die for our

sin. But if we bring our sin into heaven, sin can't sit in

heaven. And so the only way God would be as foe is if he

sees sin in our life. We all sin. Even when we say yes

to Jesus, you'll sin after. But the difference is you and I have

made claim that Jesus Christ is our savior, and every single day we attempt

to look more and more like Jesus in our life. We pursue him every

single day, and every day that we confess our sins, every time that

we give that over to Jesus, God's forgiveness and his love is available at

all times. So, if you're in this place and you've never given your

life to Jesus Christ, in this moment, we're going to say a prayer

of salvation. Now, this prayer is not the thing that saves you.

The work of the Holy Spirit's already in your heart. But when we pray,

I pray with boldness to know God. I'm making a decision. This

is the flag that I'm planting in the sand, not the flag of the

crossroads, but the flag of salvation that I'm gonna trust Jesus as my hope

and my healer and my Lord. So as we're all gonna say this prayer

today, there are gonna be many people here in this room that are gonna

be saying it for the first time. Or maybe you once called yourself a

Christian, but as you reflect in your life, you say, you know

what, I've not been walking that walk and you want to rededicate your life.

We're gonna pray this prayer and after that, I'm just gonna count to

three, and I just want you to raise your hand because we want to

celebrate what God is doing in your life. So, family, would you

join me in saying this prayer today. Dear Lord Jesus, in this moment,

I confess you as Lord and Savior. I believe in my heart that

you died on the cross, and I give you my sins, I turn

away from my sins, and I commit in this moment to follow you for

the rest of my days in Jesus' name a man. We really hope you

enjoyed the message, and if you said yes to Jesus, we just want

to say congratulations and give you a free devotional to help you walk out your

faith. Click the link in the description or head over to grow dot Faith

the download your devotional. Oh and be sure to subscribe and share this podcast

with your friends. Thanks for listening to ALSC podcasts and we hope you tune

in again.