The Gospel: Conquer

Amen.

Bill Thrasher and I were joking earlier this morning that we should probably find somebody who can sing one day.

You know, it might be good.

You know, it's uh if if you're new here as a church, all of our worship team, they're all volunteers.

And you know, we talk so much about all the volunteer teams we have.

Our volunteers really are the lifeblood of this place.

Our coffee team and kids' teams and you know, Lord's Supper team that comes in early and sets up.

We have we have teams that are doing all kinds of things.

Our ushers, I mean, it's just parking team, like all over the place.

But it's good every once in a while just to stop and be thankful for the for the worship team because they lead us in worship every week and they do it as volunteers.

It's a it's a gift to all of you guys.

They're here late on Thursday night practicing, they get here crazy early on Sunday, and and this is all their volunteer gift to you.

I think it's such a blessing.

I feel it every single week.

Well, we are nearing the end of a series called the Gospel right now.

And it's okay if you're just joining us because each of these sort of stands on its own.

But if you want to get caught up, you can always do that online on our website.

You can listen to our podcast, download the Hits Hands Mobile app, that's a great way as well.

Grab a CD from the source.

There are many ways to get caught up if you want to.

But this this series, I can give you the whole point of it in a nutshell pretty quick.

The word gospel means good news.

And we use the word gospel to talk about the message of Jesus.

And really, you can broaden that to be the entire story that God has been telling throughout human history.

The gospel is the story of God.

It's the story of a God who creates everything.

It's the story of people who walk away from God, but it's the story of a God who refuses, refuses to walk away from us.

And he pursues us, and he goes to any lengths necessary to know us, to love us, and to make sure we're known by him.

It's a beautiful story.

But it's not a simple story.

It's a very complicated story.

It's a story that's been being told for thousands of years, and there's a lot there.

And it's not like we're starting at the beginning of the story.

Here we are, 2,000 years after Jesus, a lot has happened.

And I had a great friend, a mentor of mine in my life that used to say often, it's hard to be aggressive if you're confused.

It's hard to be aggressive if you're confused.

And see, we've been invited into the story.

You've been invited to play a part in God's story, in all the things that He's doing in this world, but it's it's pretty hard to play the part you've been given if you don't get the story you're in.

And that's where we find ourselves often is Jesus followers.

Whether we've been following Jesus for years, or even if we're just trying to figure it out, we don't quite get the story.

We get the gist of it, and maybe that's enough, but it's not enough ultimately.

It might be enough at the beginning, it might be enough to get us started, but at some point in time, we want to know the story we're in so we can play our part in that story.

That's why we've been doing this series.

And practically what that's meant is we've divided the story of the Bible up into eight chapters.

Each begins with the letter C.

We began with creation, and from creation, we went to a crash, this moment where everything sort of sort of broke.

From crash, we got to a covenant.

A covenant is an agreement between two parties, an agreement between God and us.

From covenant, we went to Christ.

The word Christ means Messiah, means this promised, anointed one that's supposed to fix things, okay?

From Christ, we went to cross.

That's where we were last week, talking about what Jesus accomplished on the cross.

From cross, we get to the word conquer.

And then after conquer, we'll look at a new kind of creation and finally a new kind of covenant that we get to be in, a new agreement that we're in with God.

But today we're on conquer.

Because thankfully, the story does not end at the cross.

Isn't that good?

The story doesn't end there.

And honestly, if the story ended there, it would still be a beautiful story.

If the story ended at the cross, it would still be this touching, heartfelt story of a God who loved us so much that he became one of us and died as a sacrifice for us.

And that sacrifice was beautiful and incredible and awe-inspiring, but the story does not end there.

And that that says a lot to us.

There's a lot for us in the fact that after the cross, Jesus conquered the grave.

Jesus conquered death.

And we've got to understand what that really means.

Not just in the context of life after death.

Not just in the context that, yes, there is life after death.

That's good to know, but but Jesus conquering death, Jesus conquering the grave, that has something for us now, in our lives today.

So that's what we're gonna talk about today.

I've got a question for you, though.

Has anyone ever conquered something?

Any conquerors in the room?

That's what I'm saying.

Anyone want to raise your hand and be like, I am a conqueror?

There's very few conquerors here.

Okay.

All right.

I think we all know how it feels to be conquered.

That's a feeling we're all too familiar with, right?

When it just feels like something's kicking you around or life is is just keeping you barely hanging on, something like that.

But it's really nice.

It's one of the best experiences in life.

When you can actually conquer something, when you get a win, when you can cross something off the list, check that box and say, I came, I saw, I conquered, I did this.

That feels so good.

I had an experience like that this week.

And before I tell you this story, just understand that my standards are low.

Okay?

So you don't have to know me very well to know that I love basketball.

I love basketball, I love watching basketball, I love playing basketball.

For a lot of my life, basketball was just part of my identity.

I was a basketball player.

That's what I wanted to be anyway.

And and I was a good basketball player.

Now, I'm not I'm not making some grand claims, I have no illusions of grandeur.

I wasn't like NBA good, not a lot of guys.

My height with my athletic ability in the NBA.

And I'll correct that.

There's no one in the NBA that's my height with my athletic ability.

I wasn't NBA good, I wasn't like Division I college good, but I was I was good.

I was good.

If I stepped out on a basketball court, I was gonna hold my own and and and oftentimes, you know, be one of the better players.

I was a good basketball player, you're just gonna have to believe me, okay?

And after after high school, when I was done playing for a school, I kept playing.

I played intramural ball in college just for fun.

I played in men's leagues, I played pickup ball four times a week most weeks.

I just I love playing basketball.

I love it.

But a few months ago, I I had an experience that was not enjoyable.

I have a few friends here, uh this is no no disrespect to Dusty and Zach and Jamie, my good friends, that invited me to play with them in a men's league.

But a few months ago I played in this men's league here in Woodstock, and uh it was not a conquering experience.

It was kind of the opposite.

Because this this thing happened for the first time in my life, this realization happened that I'm not who I used to be.

Right?

I'm I'm 33 and and I'm not 21 anymore.

And I'm not the same player that I was when I was when I was 21.

You know, when I was 21, I was pretty fast.

I wasn't gonna like blow you away, I wasn't gonna burn past you, but I was fast, faster than average, and I I could move, I could, I could bend over, I could do those kinds of things at 21.

And so at 21 years old, I'd I'd go play basketball and I would feel like a conqueror.

I would feel like, okay, you know, who do I want to embarrass?

That was the idea in my mind.

That's what I would felt.

It didn't always happen, but it would happen every once in a while.

And when I was 21, I would leave a basketball game with kind of a swagger in my step.

You know, I'd I'd walk to my car, like, yeah, okay, you know, kind of just bounce a little bit.

Now, this is how I walk after a basketball game.

It's like, yeah.

Didn't the wind for me is like I didn't blow out a knee.

That's all.

That's that's the victory.

I played in this league against, and all the guys I'm playing against are these 21-year-old punks, right?

Just punks for no reason other than that they're 21 and I'm not.

That's the only criteria I have.

And and and I can't stay in front of these guys, and and they're blowing past me, and I can't get past them, and I'm getting tired and winded, and they that's not even on their mind, and they're trash talking me.

I used to be the one that trash talked, and I I wanted to say to these guys in the middle of these games, like, you're not as good as me.

You're just younger.

Just you're gonna have to believe me.

I'm better than you.

I tell myself whatever I need to tell myself.

I am better than you.

It just doesn't look like I'm better than you because I'm older than you, and one day this is gonna happen to you, and just be glad you're not playing the 21-year-old version of me.

But that's not exactly trash talk.

That doesn't that doesn't win you any any point, so I just had to keep my mouth shut and I walked away being conquered.

And here's where it got really hard for me.

My son was there.

And see, Liam is is really into basketball.

In fact, Liam's way more into basketball than I ever was.

He he's more into basketball than I've ever been.

He watched, I get home from from work most days, and he's either outside playing basketball or is in the house watching replays of NBA games.

We just watch those over and over again.

I'm I'm actually, for the first time in my life, I can say I'm kind of tired of basketball.

Okay?

But Liam's into it, and and he's old enough now that he can recognize what is good play and what is not.

When he was younger, he'd just see me on the court and be like, wow, my dad's a basketball player.

But now he's kind of like, oh, my dad's not a very good basketball player, you know?

Because he's at home and he's watching Steph Curry and he's watching LeBron James, and that's his that's his mental picture of good.

And then he watches me, and it's not the same, it's not even close.

And he's honest, all right?

Seven-year-olds, they're they're honest, brutally honest.

And I realized after playing in this league a few months ago that I I've got a short window, a very short window of opportunity.

I say three to five years, where I still have the chance, if I apply myself, if I work hard enough, and I get in good enough shape and practice up, I've still got a chance to give my son one memory, just one memory of his dad looking like a halfway decent basketball player.

And I need him to have that memory because he's gonna have to pass that along to Judah, because by the time Judah is Liam's age, that window's gone.

That window's gone.

He'll be like, Dad, please don't play, please.

That's so embarrassing.

Don't do that to us, don't do that to our family, don't do that to the church.

Just come on.

Stay home.

I need Liam to be able to pass along a story.

And so this this last week I'm playing in another league.

I never learned.

But my friend Eric, who's part of our church, invited me to play, and uh, so I showed up and we're we're we're playing pretty good.

We're 3-0 in a men's rec league in Woodstock, Georgia, people.

Come on.

Dynasty.

Dynasty.

We haven't played the teams with all the 21-year-olds yet, though.

It's coming.

It's coming.

But this last week, Liam comes with me Tuesday night, and for the first time, for the first time in I don't know how long, like I just played relatively well.

Again, my standards are low, relatively well.

Like I scored points multiple times.

I scored points and and I had some plays, and I I even had this one big play, like this one play that was kind of a big play.

You know, if you're a basketball player or a fan, I got an and one, I scored, got fouled, made the free throw, and Liam was watching, and when we left, you know, I was I was walking like this, like I do, but I was trying to sort of turn it into a swagger.

I was kind of like, yeah.

And Liam looked at me, I'll never forget this, guys.

I'm telling you, this is highlight-level uh material for my life.

He said, Dad, you weren't that bad today.

And I was like, conquered! I did it! I did it, that's enough for me, I'll take it.

My son has at least one memory of his dad not being half bad, right?

Feels good to get a win sometimes.

It feels good to get a win.

Anyone feel like you need a win today?

Like you could use one?

Do you need a win?

I'm serious.

So we need a win sometimes.

It feels good to get a win.

I've been riding on that that high all week long.

I played decent in front of my son.

You know, it's it's funny, sometimes it feels like the stars have to align for us to get a win.

Sometimes it feels like a million things have to line up and go perfectly for us just to have a day or a week or a month where we can say, I conquered.

But it's interesting because that's actually not supposed to be the case.

Sometimes our perception and reality are very, very different things.

Life has taught me that.

So it's very normal for me to feel like I'm being conquered, but God would tell me differently.

God would tell me that my feeling is not accurate, that I am not conquered.

In fact, God would say to all of us that if we belong to Jesus, if we've given our lives to Jesus, not only are we not conquered, he would say, You are not conquerable.

In fact, he would go on to say that you are a conqueror.

Not many of us raised our hands earlier when I asked about being a conqueror, probably because you're just such humble people.

But God would say that you are a conqueror.

Romans chapter 8, verse 31, the apostle Paul said, What shall we say about such wonderful things as these?

Romans 8:31

If God is for us, who can ever be against us?

Since he did not spare even his own son, but gave him up for us all, won't he also give us everything else?

Who dares accuse us, whom God has chosen for his own?

No one.

For God Himself has given us right standing with himself.

Who then will condemn us?

No one.

For Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting at the place of honor at God's right hand pleading for us.

Can anything ever separate us from Christ's love?

Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity?

Or are persecuted or hungry or destitute or in danger or threatened with death, as the scriptures say, for your sake we are killed every day, we are being slaughtered like sheep.

And we read that, and sometimes we're like, well, that's a little intense.

That was reality for Paul and the Christians at this time, and it's still reality for many Christians across the globe.

We have to remember that.

But he says, no.

No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ Jesus who loved us.

Overwhelming victory.

When's the last time you experienced, yeah?

When's the last time you experienced overwhelming victory?

Because I'll tell you this.

I I walked out on Tuesday night with Liam walking with me, saying you didn't play half bad, and I took that as a win.

It didn't quite feel like an overwhelming victory.

When's the last time you experienced overwhelming victory?

It's interesting, some translations of that scripture will replace overwhelming victory with the phrase, more than conquerors.

We are more than conquerors.

And that's actually a pretty accurate translation.

If you want to get really specific, if you want the best, most accurate word-for-word translation of what Paul actually said, because he was writing in Greek, you would say the phrase hyper-conqueror.

Because the word that Paul uses, it's a combination of a word that we get the word hyper from and a word that means conqueror.

Paul actually said, we are hyper-conquerors.

You and I, because of Jesus, are hyper-conquerors.

And this isn't just a one-time thing in Scripture, by the way.

All throughout the story, all throughout this gospel story that we've been talking about, God is telling us that He will give us victory.

In Deuteronomy chapter 20, verse 4.

Deuteronomy 20:4

This is God speaking to the people through Moses.

He says, For the Lord your God is going with you, he will fight for you against your enemies, and he will give you victory.

God's telling the nation of Israel, who's about to go into this big battle, they're about to go into the promised land, and they're gonna have to fight for it.

He's saying, Don't worry, God's gonna give you victory.

A short time after that, he's talking to Joshua, and Joshua is the man who led the nation of Israel into the promised land.

He's the one who's leading the army.

He says, Do not be afraid of them, the Lord said to Joshua, for I have given you victory over them.

Not a single one of them will be able to stand up to you.

And we might look at those scriptures and say, Yeah, that's awesome for Joshua.

That's great for Moses, but I'm not a prophet.

And of course, God showed up for them because the stakes were really high, like God needed them to win because they were doing these big things for him.

And so, yeah, God gave them victory, but what about my struggles?

What about my battles?

What about my life?

Is the same victory that God promised them, mine?

And the answer is absolutely yes.

First John 5 4.

This is talking about those of us who are living on this side of the cross, for every child of God defeats this evil world.

And we achieve this victory through our faith.

Every child of God, like we sang about earlier, we have to remember who we are.

We're the children of God.

He says in his word that because of Jesus, we've been adopted into the family of God, that he now calls us his sons and daughters.

You are a child of God.

And he says that victory belongs to you.

So this concept of being a conqueror, of being a victor, this is not supposed to be some rare experience that we have every once in a while in life when everything just happens to go our way.

We're supposed to live day in and day out with this sense in us that we are victorious, that we are conquerors, and that life has nothing that it can throw at us that we cannot overcome.

And it's all because of Jesus.

We can ask ourselves, well, how in the world is that possible?

Because I don't know if you've seen my life, I don't know if you've looked at my circumstances, but I don't understand how I'm supposed to be a conqueror of all this.

I feel stuck, I feel left out, I feel left behind.

See, it's very simple, very, very powerful.

You share in the victory that Jesus won on the cross.

You share in the victory that Jesus won when he rose from the dead.

You share in that victory.

And let's talk about victory for a second, okay?

I mean, let's really talk about what it would look like to conquer something.

You want to talk about conquering something?

You want to talk about victory?

Jesus beat death.

Alright, and let's just let's just understand this, because we hear this so many times.

I hear this so many times.

We we see the pictures of Jesus on the cross, we see paintings, we see it in art, and it's always very tame.

Very, very tame.

Nothing like it would have been in reality.

And we get this stained glass idea of what Jesus went through.

And it becomes this kind of ethereal, kind of distant thing, and we go, yeah, Jesus died on the cross and he rose from the dead.

But no, let's talk about victory.

Because our our Jesus, your Jesus, my Jesus, he's a conqueror, he's a champion.

You know, Jesus didn't avoid death, he didn't find a way around death, he didn't circumvent death, he didn't delay death.

Jesus dealt with death itself.

And death did not go easy on Jesus.

If you've ever wondered why the cross, why did he have to die that way?

I think it's partially because there has never been a way to kill someone more brutal than the cross.

In history.

It's just there wasn't number one before you went to the cross, you were beaten.

Jesus was beaten so badly that his own mother could not recognize him.

I think about my children, and I can't even imagine a situation where I couldn't recognize them.

Jesus' own mother couldn't recognize him.

That's how badly he was beaten.

He was half dead before they put him on the cross.

And they put you on the cross and they would drive nails into your hands or your wrists, and they would drive a nail into your feet, but you didn't die from the nails.

You didn't bleed to death on the cross, you suffocated.

Because when you hang like that, your lungs collapse in on themselves.

And so the only way to get a breath is to literally lift your body up.

And what are you lifting your body up on?

You're lifting it up on the nails.

You're having to press into those nails and use that pressure to lift yourself up just to breathe.

And so every time you read a description of the cross, you read it in the Bible, and you hear Jesus saying something on the cross just to get the breath in his lungs to say those words, he had to lift himself up on those nails and the excruciating pain that he must have felt when he did that.

When they would take bodies off the cross, it was not uncommon for their arms to be several inches longer than they were when they were hung there because their shoulders would dislocate over the course of the days that they were hanging there.

But Jesus got some special treatment too.

Because they did some things to Jesus they didn't normally do.

You know, they took a crown of thorns.

And we're not talking about little rosebush thorns, we're talking about thorns that were probably an inch to two inches long, and they drove those into his skull.

And then they took a spear and they stabbed that into his side.

And I don't say this for shock value, and I don't say this to make us feel bad.

I say this because we need to understand that death did not go easy on Jesus, that death gave Jesus everything it had, and then three days later, Jesus got back up and he said, Death, is that all you've got?

Is that all you can do?

And death had no answer for Jesus.

Death had no answer.

Death said, Yeah, I'm all out.

And Jesus beat death.

You talk about a victory.

You want to talk about a conqueror.

Our God is a champion.

My Jesus is a champion.

But here's the most beautiful part.

My Jesus didn't die for himself, he didn't come to life for himself, he didn't do it for his own glory.

He didn't, he didn't win just so he could have the victory.

My Jesus, you're Jesus, he did that for you.

He gave you his winnings.

He literally won the keys to life and death itself.

And then he said, Here, take it.

It's yours.

That's why it says in 2 Corinthians 5, 21, God made Christ who never sinned to be the offering for our sin so that we could be made right with God through Christ.

And the message version of that same verse says it this way: God put the wrong on him who never did anything wrong, so we could be put right with God.

In other words, God put sin on Jesus and He put Jesus' righteousness on us.

There's this great exchange.

And so the winnings, the winnings of Jesus' victory have been given to you.

Jesus didn't just conquer for himself, he conquered for you.

You now have victory, overwhelming victory in this life because of Jesus.

And that's so important for us to remember because it's funny, I know this.

Like I know this and I get this and I've heard it before, and maybe you haven't heard it before, maybe this is the first time you've heard this, but I kind of grew up in church.

And so I've heard this a lot, and I've read this a lot, and I've seen it a lot, and I'll go about my day and my week, and I don't I don't always feel like a conqueror.

Because when I read the words of God, victory is certain, right?

But this world's always trying to remind us that, hey, hey, hey, you know, don't don't celebrate too early because victory is never certain, right?

The Falcons were up 28 to 3 at halftime.

Too soon.

So like, hold on there, right?

Don't count your chickens before they hatch because victory is anything but certain.

That's what this world reminds us about.

And we believe that.

Very easily, we believe that.

I believe that.

And so I live most of my days thinking, oh man, this amazing thing happened, but you know, hold on.

Don't get too excited.

Because if something really good happened, I mean, it might mean something really bad is about to happen.

And at any moment, it could all go away.

At any moment, you could lose.

Like, what if I what if I lose?

What if I lose my health?

What if I lose my job?

What if I lose the person that I I love?

What if I what if I lose my my reputation?

What if I lose?

What if I lose?

What if I lose?

That's always in the back of our minds.

What if this is gone?

What if I lose?

What if I lose?

And what we've got to understand is those what if I lose thoughts, those are from no none other than Satan himself.

Because you don't lose.

You can't lose.

Because it's already won.

Jesus, he already won.

He won for you.

He won for you.

It's finished.

I mean, he said it on the cross, it's finished.

And if we didn't believe him there, we should believe him when he got back up.

He's like, no, no, really, it's finished.

You can't lose.

You can't lose.

You can live life with this mentality that says, yeah, so what if things get hard?

Yeah, so what if circumstances get tough?

Yeah, so what if I if I lose my health?

So what if I lose my life?

Because I don't have to fear anything, because Jesus won everything.

We have victory over everything, even death.

Job was this man that lived years before Jesus.

Years before Jesus.

And in Job 14, 14, he asked this question as a very godly man, can the dead live again?

If so, this would give me hope through all my years of struggle.

And I would eagerly await the release of death.

Job lived on the other side of Jesus from us, before the cross, before Jesus rose from the dead.

And he's going, look, I just don't know.

I'm going through all this stuff.

And if I could just know if the dead could live again, if I could know that death doesn't have the final say, I'd have some hope.

Well, people, we don't live on the wrong side of the cross.

We have the perspective that Job didn't have.

Yes, the dead can live again.

Yes, life is more powerful than death.

Yes, death isn't as scary even as we were led to believe.

As Jesus followers, we don't even have to fear death because death doesn't win.

Jesus wins.

He's already won.

And yeah, life gets hard.

Yes, we will have trials and tribulations.

Yes, we will go through difficult circumstances.

Yes, we will experience hardship.

We've been promised as much.

But in John 16, 33, Jesus himself said, In this godless world, you will continue to experience difficulties.

Don't you love a God who tells you the truth?

But he says, Take heart.

I've conquered the world.

So whatever this world is throwing at you, whatever this world will throw at you, you are a conqueror.

You can have a mentality that says, Bring it on.

Because you're not going to stop me.

You can't.

Because I'm with him.

I'm with Jesus.

I heard a pastor say it this way once that we're like toothpicks.

We're not very strong.

But when we give our lives to Jesus, we become toothpicks duct taped to a lead pipe.

So just try to break us in half.

Okay?

You are so much stronger than you think.

I'm a lot stronger than I think I am.

And the reason I'm stronger than I think I am is because I so often forget how strong he actually is.

He beat death.

He walked out of the tomb.

And sometimes people will say, I just don't know if that's true or not.

Look, all I can say is that there were these men following Jesus, his closest friends, and the moment he's arrested, they are terrified for their very lives.

They run, they're hiding, they are as fearful as you could possibly be.

I mean, they're literally quivering.

But then something happens in between Jesus dying on the cross and a few days later that changes them.

And they go from being these men who are quivering and afraid and terrified and trying to find a way out, trying to run away, to all of a sudden they're standing in the streets.

They're standing in front of the very people that put Jesus on the cross and they're saying, You crucified the Son of God, but he got back up and they're bold.

Would you die for a lie?

There are people that will kill for a lie, but I don't know anyone that's gonna die for a lie.

And every single one of these men dies.

All but one of them were martyred, killed in brutal ways because of their faith in Jesus.

And they had every opportunity to say, Yeah, it didn't really happen, I've been making it up.

Something happened that gave them courage, and that something is that Jesus rose from the dead, and he broke their fear of death.

You have nothing to be afraid of.

I actually practice great self-control because in the office I talk about basketball all the time.

I use a basketball analogy for virtually everything that we're doing as a team, and my team hates it.

They do, and I don't care.

Because uh just how my brain thinks.

I just I don't I don't know anything about cars or music, and so I don't have any other analogies to use.

It's just who I am.

But I just want to use one.

I had this awesome experience a few weeks ago.

Um I was hanging out with some friends, and me and a friend of mine had planned to go see a movie, and it just so happened that there's this basketball tournament going on at the same time, and and my team happened to win, and and our rivals happened to win, which meant we were playing each other on the same night as I'd already scheduled this movie with my friend, and so I'm thinking, oh man, I don't miss games.

I definitely don't miss games against our rival, but I'd already made plans, and he's one of my best friends, and so I'm like, no, I need I'm gonna go see this movie, and you know what?

That way, if we lose, I don't have to experience it.

I'm trying to you know rationalize it in my mind.

So we go, we watch this movie, we're having a good time, and uh, and every once in a while I'm opening up my phone and I'm checking the score.

And halftime it did not look good.

And I'm like, oh man, I'm so glad I'm not watching this game.

I'm so glad I decided to check a movie out with my friend.

And and then I put the phone in the pocket, I'm like, I'm not gonna check it again.

And all of a sudden my phone starts buzzing, and I look, and my brother, who's a big fan of my team as well, he's texting me, like, dude, oh man, this is awesome.

Are you watching this?

And I'm like, no.

And then another friend of mine is texting me, he's a big fan as well, and he's like, Man, this is amazing.

And I'm just like, okay, I don't know what's going on, but I don't want to get my hopes up.

I'm trying to you know keep myself together.

And so the movie's done, and I leave, and I look at the score, and we won.

My team comes back and we won.

And I didn't watch it.

And so then I got to go home, and I love this experience.

This actually happens fairly often when I can't watch a game live, but I'll go and I'll watch the replay already knowing the outcome.

Like I already knew when I started watching this that my team wins.

My team wins.

And so, had I been watching it live, when we got down by a lot, I'd have been freaking out.

And if you've you've ever been around me when I watch my team, I'm not a pleasant person to be around.

I'm just, uh, Megan calls me like Mr.

Doom and Gloom.

She's like, come on, Justin, because I'll be like, it's over, it's over.

It'll be like five minutes into the game.

I'm like, it's over, it's done, it's done.

They didn't show up to play.

This is this is ridiculous.

Get a new team.

You know, I'm just that's how I deal with it.

Normally that's how I would have been.

I would have been furious.

But it was it was actually the opposite.

Because I know the outcome, as the other team builds a lead, I'm sitting there like, oh, this is gonna be so good.

Because they think, they think they're gonna win.

And they're not.

And I know that already, but as I watch the recording, they don't know that yet.

And I'm gonna get to watch this happen, and I just get to sit back and watch this game unfold and take it in and enjoy it, knowing the outcome.

And that is who we are.

We know the outcome.

The game's just still going on, but it's decided.

It's decided.

You gotta you gotta understand that it's already won.

Jesus has conquered death itself.

What else can stand in our way?

Jesus has conquered anything and everything that stands against you.

If God is for you, who can be against you?

No one.

So relax.

That doesn't mean life is easy.

That doesn't mean we don't have challenges.

Just like Paul said, does it mean he no longer loves us if calamity or trouble comes our way?

Of course not.

But despite all of this, despite how it feels right now, despite how it looks right now, despite what the people around me say, despite what the news says, despite what I feel, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is mine because of Jesus, the conqueror, the champion.

He's awesome.

So I'm just gonna ask a question that I asked earlier.

Are there any conquerors in the room this morning?

Thank you.

When you walk out of here, I hope you walk with some swagger in your step.

Or soreness, depending on your age.

Maybe, you know, sitting here for the last few minutes is you gotta like work that out.

That's why we do a song at the end.

It's a chance to stretch.

Okay.

We're gonna wrap up.

We're gonna sing one more song.

And if you'll look at your watches or phones or the clock in the back of the room and pay attention, yeah.

I worked hard this week.

I'm not promising anything.

I'm only promising to try.

Okay?

No, I seriously.

I I I don't say this very often, but I I know that sometimes when the last song comes on, that's like our trigger to go, okay.

But we're singing a song right now of victory.

This is like a this is like a victory lap.

And it's a song that it's all about the ultimate victory that we have, that even death itself will not stop us.

Because death couldn't stop Jesus.

Couldn't stop Jesus.

Three days?

That's all it could do?

Three days?

Jesus took a nap.

You kidding me?

He woke up rested.

Jesus is a champion.

And I'm just saying, when when you I'll use a sports analogy again, just forgive me.

But if you root for a sports team and they win, doesn't it feel good to be on the side of the champion?

Right?

Like any any Patriots fans here?

How do you feel this year?

Yeah, it's too soon, I know.

I'm sorry.

I keep doing it.

I just keep doing it.

I can't learn.

It feels good to root for the champion.

There has never been a champion like Jesus.

And he's yours.

He belongs to you.

He belongs to you.

He's yours.

And so as we sing, as we celebrate right now, man, cheer for your champion.

As you walk out of here this week, as you go back into this world that will instantly start trying to make you feel like someone who is conquerable, don't buy into that lie.

Every single day this week, wake up and remember who you are.

You're the child of the champion.

You are more than a conqueror.

You are a hyper conqueror.

Nothing will stop you.

Nothing can.

Pray with me.

Jesus, we thank you for your victory.

We thank you, Lord, for defeating death itself, for defeating what was believed to be undefeatable.

Jesus, you're the one.

You're everything.

And Lord, we're all coming here from different places, from different experiences in life.

You know, some of us, God, some of us are well aware of the victory that we have in you.

Some of us have experienced victories in our lives because of you, but some of us, Lord, some of us feel beat up today.

Some of us feel like life is just kicking us around.

Some of us feel like we're life's plaything.

Life is just being amused by our struggles, Lord.

You need to remind us right now who we are.

We are hyper-conquerors.

Because you conquered, we conquered.

Help us believe that.

Help us feel that, Lord.

Help us believe it deeper than our minds.

Help us feel it in our hearts.

Make an excitement well up inside of us as we realize that our God, that our Jesus is a champion, is a conqueror, and that we are the children of the greatest conqueror in history.

We love you, Jesus.

We need you.

You are our victory.

And we ask all this in your name, Jesus.

Amen.