Recorded October 06, 2024, with Rhonda Harrison.

It's time for the Champions in Christ broadcast

with Rhonda Harrison on 1017 Bay FM. Good morning

and welcome to Champions in Christ. We're so

glad you're joining us today. Today is, this

is the day the Lord has made and we will rejoice

and be glad in it. God loves you today. You are

loved, you are valued, you are precious in his

sight. The Bible talks all about how much God

loves us and that's why He sent Jesus, His only

begotten Son. And Jesus came because there's

no greater gift that God could have given than

His Son for us. And before Jesus came, He was

with the Father and the Holy Spirit, those three

are one. Jesus wanted to come. He laid down his

deity, his kingship, everything in heaven to

come be born of a seed of a woman and a man to

live here on earth and to become the Holy Lamb

of God, the sacrifice that we needed for sin

so that sin could be abolished and we could have

right relationship properly restored with God.

And so we're going to talk about that great love

today because he loves you today. I don't care

where you are, who you are, what you've done.

It doesn't change God's love for you. You know

if we turn in the Bible and we turn to 1st Corinthians

13 in the New Testament, it tells us what really

love is. So we're going to read that together

and it starts in verse four. It says love is

patient. kind. You know if you think about Jesus

he was very patient and very kind. Love is not

jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does

not demand its own way. Love is not irritable.

It keeps no record of being wronged. It does

not rejoice about injustice. but rejoices whenever

the truth wins love never gives up never loses

faith is always hopeful and endures through every

circumstance praise god you know there's another

scripture it says that god is love he is the

very essence of love and so when jesus came He

was focused, he was purposed, he was ready to

die on that cross for you and me. He came to

show us he is the exact expression of God's love,

of who God is, the exact image, the exact expression

of all God feels for you and for me. You know,

God wants relationship with us and that love

is what led him to the cross. You know, when

you read in Isaiah, and it's in chapter 53, and

it's talking about what Jesus did for us on the

cross, it's amazing. You know, it says he was

wounded for our transgressions. It was our sin

that he was wounded for. He was bruised for our

iniquities, the chastisement. our peace was upon

him and by those stripes we were healed, by his

stripes. Why? He took all of that so that we

could be free. We could be free, free from sin,

free from sickness, free from anxiousness, and

free on every dimension. So he came from a heavenly

dimension, came to earth in the form of a seed,

was born of a virgin, and walked the earth, performed

miracles to show everyone the express image of

who God is. Because he knew if we got to know

who God really was, we would want that relationship,

and God so wants relationship with you. He loves

you, and he loves me. But he won't force himself

on us. He offers it freely. You know, salvation

is a free gift. You don't pay for it. You can't

earn it. But again, there was no greater gift

that God could have given than his only begotten

son. That whosoever believes in him will not

perish but have eternal life. you know he doesn't

just want us to have eternal life in heaven forever

which if that is all is that's the only gift

we got out of his dying on a cross it would be

well worth it you couldn't you can't even match

that that love is so big but not only did he

give us his greatest gift jesus but when jesus

rose from the grave and went back to heaven he

said go to the upper room I'm going to send you

the promise. What was the promise? The Holy Spirit.

He didn't want us just living on earth and trusting

that one day we'll go to heaven. He wanted you

and I to be champions on earth, victorious on

earth. And the only way we could do that is by

the power of the Holy Ghost, the Holy Spirit

of God. That's why when we get born again, Because

we are dead in trespasses and sin, but when we

receive Jesus, the beautiful, precious Holy Spirit

comes to live on the inside of you, creates you

new, you're a new creation in Christ. old things

are passed away so that power that same power

that raised christ from the dead he's the only

saviour to the world the only one the bible says

there's no other way you can get to heaven there's

no other place you want to be but heaven and

jesus is the only way to heaven he's the door

receiving that free gift. He loves you and me

so much but he wants us to walk in that love

and that love we just read about the only way

we can love like he loved is by the power of

the Holy Ghost because you and I both know it's

not always easy to be patient and kind in the

natural without the power of God. It's not always

easy not to be jealous or proud or rude when

people are rude to us. You and I know that a

lot of times we want our way and no other way

and that's not love. A lot of times we're irritable

and if someone wrongs us we want to get them

back. But the Bible, that's not love. The Bible

says, vengeance is mine, says the Lord. You don't

have to worry. There's a scripture in Roman that

says all things lie bare naked to whom we have

to do before the Father. So everything God sees,

he's omnipresent, he's everywhere. You can't

get away from the presence of God. He's everywhere.

And he sees everything done to you and he hurts

when you hurt. but He wants to bless you, He

wants to heal you, He wants to give you that

peace. So whatever you're going through today,

you're not going to go through it by yourself

if you call on Jesus. If you receive Him as your

Lord and Savior, He's not only going to walk

with you through it, He's going to empower you

to overcome. That's right. We are more than conquerors

in Christ, is what the Bible says. You become

a champion by receiving Jesus Christ and the

Holy Spirit living in you, and then you will

victoriously live as a champion throughout your

entire life. If you allow yourself to be led

by the Holy Spirit, you have a free will. But

that power of God, the love, that's the power.

That's the power of the Holy Spirit, that love.

That's what empowers us. But the Holy Spirit

will use that love and faith. And by your faith,

many things can happen, miracles and miracles.

Faith is the currency of God. and by faith, and

faith works through love, so we can only do it

through love. You know, in John 15, starting

in verse 13, he says, greater love has no man

than this, that he lay down his life for his

friends. Wow, that's what Jesus did for you and

I. It goes on to say, you are my friends if you

do what I command you. We are Jesus' friend,

the friend of God. You are his friend if you

know him as your savior and you do what he says.

Henceforth he says, I call you not servants for

a servant does not know what his Lord does. I

have called you friends. For all things I have

heard from my father, I have made note unto you.

You have not chosen me, but I chose you and ordained

you that you would go forth and bear fruit and

your fruit would remain. And whatsoever you ask

of the father in my name, he will give it to

you. These things I command you that you love

one another. That's a powerful thing and it's

hard to do except if you have the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit will empower you to love the

unlovely. That's what Jesus did. He loved the

prostitute. He loved the drug addict. He loved

the sick man. He loved everyone. He loved the

rich man. Now riches can trip you up. but if

your heart stays right, God doesn't mind you

being wealthy or blessed. He wants you blessed.

He says for our sake he became poor that we might

be rich, but not everyone's going to be rich,

but those that are also can walk with God if

they have that relationship with him and allow

the Holy Spirit to work through them and with

them. God loves you. And we cannot, you cannot

love anyone. I cannot love anyone without giving.

Giving is a part of loving. You give a cup of

water in His name and you get a reward. You encourage

people, you get a reward. It's fruit, it's fruit

bearing out of the tree, out of the seed of love.

God's planted in your heart when you get born

again because He's literally living in you. That

empowerment, that's why He said in this verse

that we can ask what we will and God will do

it. He will come right there in the midst of

your circumstance today. Today, God says now

faith is, God says now he will begin the motion

if you will call on his name, if you will trust

him, if you will allow him. to move in your life

he will do it and your circumstance he will give

you wisdom maybe it's wisdom you need for a financial

matter he's got it he says if you ask in faith

he'll pour it upon you liberally that's what

he says in james so god is available he loves

you he wants to crown you with many many treasures

from out of the spirit of god But we have to

trust him, he's a supernatural God. God left

heaven to come to earth, returned to heaven and

sent the Holy Spirit here. So that's why we have

protection. We not only have the Holy Spirit,

he's granted us angels. Now we don't seek angels,

that's not their purpose. Their purpose is to

serve the body of Christ. So we don't seek them,

but God has dispatched them. for everyone that

calls upon his name. Angels are everywhere. The

Bible says there are more with us than there

are against us because unfortunately Satan, when

he fell out of heaven, he was Lucifer the angel.

When he was cast out of heaven, didn't fall out

of heaven, when he was cast out of heaven, he

had already persuaded a third of the angels.

But there's still two thirds and there's millions

upon millions. They're everywhere. There's all

kinds of them. But we don't seek them. They're

just also ones that help us. The Bible says they

excel in strength and are obedient to the voice

of God, which means when we speak the word of

God, they move. When God speaks, they move. They're

busy. They're busy. Angels like to be busy because

they're mighty and they're powerful. and they

help us. But more than all of that is the beautiful,

amazing, precious Holy Spirit. You are so treasured

by God. He was not going to leave your eye on

this earth by ourself to go through the trips

and the trials that happen in life. And trials

happen. You know, we would not have a history.

without testing. Without a test, you don't have

a testimony. And without things happening, you

don't have history. History, his story, your

story, my story, we all have history. and books

are being written in heaven. Every time we talk

about the Lord the word says something is written

in heaven that we talked about him. So as you

and I are talking about him there's something

being written in heaven about that. You know

God loves you so very much that he wanted your

joy to be full. You know the Bible says that

our heart will rejoice when we see him again.

in the physical. He came to earth already and

has returned to heaven. He can't wait for the

bride of Christ. We are known, the body of Christ

around the world is known as the bride of Christ

and he's the head and we're the body. And so

whatever the head, just like your own body follows

the direction of your head, what you think you're

going to do and how you want to do it is what

your body does, that's what we do. When Jesus

says go, we go. When he says say this, we say

this. Jesus, God, the Holy Spirit wants to be

involved in every element of your life so that

the power of God can come in there and show you

great and mighty things. If you need healing

today, there's provision. He made provision for

healing and the Holy Spirit will do the healing.

If you call upon His name, trust Him, give it

to God, He will see it through. He's such a good,

good God. Do you know He will never leave you

and forsake you? Maybe when you were a child,

you were abandoned by your mother or your father.

God will never abandon you. Jesus said, I will

never leave you. I will never forsake you. You

know, we can walk away from God, but God never

walks away from us. He loves His creation. Maybe

you walked away. you know maybe you're what they

call backslidden right now something you know

life through your curve ball and you said that's

done i'm done because you didn't understand you

know there's lots of things we don't understand

and won't understand until we get there but i

can tell you this the bible is clear and you

can read it just search it through you'll see

nothing but God's love in every circumstance.

God loves us so much that he would give us instruction.

He didn't just leave us empty -handed. He left

us with the Word of God. The Bible was written

by men who were inspired by the Holy Spirit to

write the Word of Life. It is life. You know,

the Word of God is logos, but the Bible says

that the Holy Spirit brings it to life. You know,

if you're going through a tough time, you know,

he said in John 16, 17, he said, I tell you the

truth, it is necessary for me to go away. For

if I don't go away, the Comforter will not come.

But if I depart, I will send him to you. Hallelujah.

He has sent us, the Holy Spirit also is known

as the Comforter. He will comfort you in those

times when we've lost a loved one, when we've

had a difficult situation, when someone's broken

our heart, he will come and comfort you and give

you peace in the midst of the storm. You know,

we can trust him. He's so, so very faithful that

we can trust him no matter what. No matter what

he says in his word, we can trust him. The Bible

says to trust in the Lord with all your heart.

and don't lean to your own understanding, but

acknowledge him in all your ways and he will

direct your path. That's right, you don't have

to worry about your future. If you've given your

life to the Lord, the Holy Spirit is going to

lead you and direct you in every direction. Does

that mean it'll be a rose garden without any

obstacles? Oh no, but through those obstacles

you will be victorious every time. Jesus has

planned no defeats for you, none. You are a champion

in Christ. He wants you to exceed in every way

in your life, physically, emotionally, financially,

spiritually, educationally, relationally, in

every area. So don't get beaten down by the news

of the day. Don't get beaten down like the world's

coming to an end. It doesn't matter with God.

You can do all things through Christ who strengthens

you. That's what the word says. That's what the

word says. You know the world may reap and weep

and be sorrowful and they're lost and undone

because they don't understand God's love for

them and his plan for a future. We're just passing

through. Time on this earth is short. The Bible

says it's but a vapor. it's over that's how quickly

our life is over here but guess what you are

an eternal being and we're gonna spend it either

in heaven or hell we're not gonna just we just

don't die and it ends no because you are a spirit

you have a soul and you live in a body this body

is just a case and thank God glory to God we

get a glorified body when we get to heaven hallelujah

I'm looking forward to that aren't you So God

is so faithful. He's so faithful, but that's

how great His love is that He would send His

only Son, His only Son, to die for you and to

die for me. He loves you today. Maybe you feel

just completely lost and undone. We're going

to listen to a couple of songs and we're going

to come back and pray and you're going to feel

His presence come. that's right it's amazing

grace that God has given us that unmerited favor

and he is a supernatural God with miracle working

power so I want to pray with you right now I

want you to pray in agreement with me just follow

me in this prayer dear Jesus I come to you and

I ask you to come with me to help me in my circumstance

my situation to save me to deliver me out of

this mess and to fill me to overflowing with

your goodness, your grace, your mercy, your love.

I give you my life, forgive me of my sin, I denounce

the things of the world, and I receive you this

free gift in Jesus' name, amen. If you prayed

that prayer today and you received Jesus, all

of heaven is rejoicing as do we rejoice with

you. You need to tell somebody you did that.

Go out and find a great church that preaches

the whole council of God and the power and the

presence of God is in that place. And listen,

if you need a new Bible, get in contact with

us. Reach us at championsinchrist3 at gmail .com.

That's Champions in Christ 3. If you want to

come and be with us, we meet at Fonz Cafe at

530 on Sunday evenings. Come and rejoice in the

Lord with us this week. Until we meet again.

I want you to know that God loves you, we love

you, and you are a champion in Christ.