Many of those who call themselves “Christians” are not, in fact, living the life of victory that Jesus came to give them. Somehow, the promise of victory isn’t happening in their lives. Something …. something has to change. Not next year, not next month, not next week … now!!! 

Last week on the program we were talking about the reality that Jesus came to purchase a special kind of victory for each one of us. The sort of victory in life that lifts us up above temptations, that lifts us up above the devastating impact of our sin that lifts us up above the power of the devil to destroy our lives.

The sort of victory that brings a sense of God’s abundance into our world so that no matter who or what attacks us, no matter who or what tries to rob you and me of the joy and the peace and the gladness in our hearts, we can have victory of that who or what and still have the joy and the peace and the gladness in our hearts.

That’s what I call victory and that abundance is precisely what Jesus came to give to you and me. A pivotal passage of Scripture that I come back to again and again in my life when the ravages of the devil and of circumstances are tearing away at my flesh is what Jesus said to His disciples in John chapter 10 verse 10:

The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy but I came that you may have life and have it abundantly.

I sometimes ask people, ‘What sort of life do you think that God wants you to live?’ A boring life, an ordinary life or a stunning life. Come on, on a scale of zero to ten what sort of life do you think that God wants you to live? This God who sent Jesus to die and rise again for you. Zero – a rotten life, five – well an okay kind of life I guess, seven and a half – a pretty good life or ten – a stunning life.

Remember Jesus said that He came so that we might have life and have it abundantly and that anything less than that was from the devil. The original Greek word that sits aback of our English translation literally means ‘super abundantly’. That super abundant life isn’t always a comfortable life or a wealthy life, no often it’s not that at all but it is a life that weighs in and counts for Jesus, a life that bears fruit super abundantly. That’s the life that Jesus has planned for you.

The question is, how do you and I grab hold of that life because let’s be honest, of the millions of people who will listen to this message today in over a hundred and sixty countries around the world, the vast majority, eighty, ninety percent aren’t living that sort of a life?

It seems as though in the Kingdom of God today there are the ‘have’s’ and the ‘have not’s’ when it comes to this abundant victory. Which one are you? A have or a have not? Something has to change right? And I believe, in fact I know that the biggest con out there robbing God’s people of His abundant victory is this, that life is all about being happy, us being happy, me being happy, you being happy.

This big con, the reason that so many people are so unhappy in this world, is that we’re told happiness comes from self-gratification, from buying and having everything we want, that new dress or that new pair of shoes, that new camera, that new car, that new house, that new whatever it is, that’s why most people often think to themselves, ‘If only, if only I just earned a little bit more, just maybe ten percent more then I’d be happy’.

From bitter experience I can tell you that’s simply not true. In fact the biggest shock I had when I became a Christian back in 1995 was that once I started using my God-given gifts and resources to do things for other people, something frankly I had never done much of before, all of a sudden I discovered the satisfaction and the contentment I’d been looking for, for all those years.

That’s exactly what God tells us through His Word, Philippians chapter 2 verses 3 to 8:

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ who, though he was in the form of God, didn’t regard equality with God as something to be exploited but he emptied himself, humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

These days I bless other people, not because I’m a good guy because I’m not but because it makes me feel good because it brings me the peace, the joy and the contentment that I was always looking for but was forever unable to find so long as I was trying to make myself happy. Why did it take me so long to figure this out?

Probably because right from the beginning, right from when we’re little we’re taught that the aim of the game is to succeed, it’s about winning, it’s about coming first, it’s about me feeling good about myself. It doesn’t matter what game you’re playing the aim, the only acceptable outcome is to win.

Well winning is all well and good, it’s great to be successful and yet so many Christians think that success is the name of the game that they’ve completely lost sight of Jesus. I even had one Christian tell me once that his aim was to have the latest BMW SUV sitting in his driveway. Really? Is that really what’s going to make you happy, success?

John chapter 19 verses 28 to 30:

After this when Jesus knew that all was now finished he said in order to fulfil the Scripture, ‘I am thirsty’. A jar full of sour wine was standing there so they put a sponge full of the wine on a branch of hyssop and held it up to his mouth. When Jesus had received the wine he said, ‘It is finished’ then he bowed his head and he gave up his spirit.

When Jesus died on that cross He didn’t even have the clothes on His back. He was beaten, crucified, this miracle working Jesus who had promised so much looked like the biggest loser of all time. They scoffed at Him, they spat at Him, they mocked Him, ‘Save yourself’ they shouted.

And yet through His suffering He purchased eternal life for you and me. It’s fine to succeed but that’s not the aim of the game. Now He wasn’t a loser Jesus, when He gave up His life for you and me, far from it, He did it willingly, John chapter 10 verses 17 and 18.

For this reason the Father loves me because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me but I lay it down of my own accord. I have the power to lay it down and I have the power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.

In the world’s economy losing makes you a loser, losing the argument, missing out on the promotion, not being as beautiful as the beautiful people, all that makes you a loser but that’s not the way it is in God’s economy. In my life and I know this has happened in yours too, many things have come against me.

I set out each day with faith in Jesus and the joy of the Lord in my heart and like a pack of wolves people and situations and circumstances and things come to tear away at my flesh, to attack my faith, to drag me down and our natural reaction to that is, well God what’s going on here? What have I done to deserve this? Can’t you make it stop?

We behave as though something is wrong when the truth is the moment we step onto the spiritual battle of life with Jesus in our hearts the devil is going to come after us with a pick axe, with all the powers of hell unleashed against us but no matter how bad it gets remember this powerful truth from God’s Word, Romans chapter 8 verses 37 to 39.

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us for I am convinced that neither death nor life nor angels nor rulers nor things present nor things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

In this world there are winners and there are losers but in God’s Kingdom there are only winners, victors, conquerors. No sorry, that’s not quite true – more than conquerors, there … that’s better.

Jesus once said that it is more blessed to give than to receive. I have to tell you, the first time I heard that, I thought it was crazy! I thought HE was crazy. But the more I set my life on a course to follow Him, the more I realise how right He was. How right He is!! Now I’m wondering, why did I take so long to figure this out.

Giving in sacrifice is an interesting notion because inevitably if you and I are going to live in victory we need to discover that real victory in this life only comes when we develop a generous heart. At the moment you decide to become a generous person you realise that it’s not all peaches and cream, generosity inevitably involves sacrifice and sacrifice inevitably costs us something.

More often than not it hurts, a lot, so do you still want to be generous? Do you still want to have victory over your cravings and desires by becoming a giving person? It stands to reason that generosity is one of the things that brings victory into our lives because God is generous and you and I, well we’re made in His image.

Let me ask you this, what was the very last act of creation? What was the very last thing that God did on the sixth day before He rested on the seventh day to enjoy all He had created? Most people would answer that the last act of creation was to make Adam and Eve, to create humanity, God’s crowning achievement and if that’s your answer too then sorry to disappoint you but it’s the wrong answer.

God did one more thing before He was finished, do you want to know what it was? Genesis chapter 1 verses 27 to 28:

So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them. God blessed them and he said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over everything that moves upon the earth’.

What was the last thing He did? He gave the whole thing away, He gave it to Adam and Eve, to you and me. He blessed them with all He had made, now that’s what I call generous. These days people seem to be in it whatever ‘it’ is for themselves. Generosity seems to be an old-fashioned concept. Well in a sense it’s a very old concept, the very first act of generosity happened precisely six days after the beginning of time.

It was Gods idea and when you and I live out who we are, created in God’s image, by being generous with our time, with our money, with our emotional energy, with our gifts and abilities, then we’re living a life of victory. But you see God when He looks at your level of generosity and mine He’s not primarily interested in how much we give. That may sound a little odd at first but it’s true.

I had an elderly woman write to me recently and she said this, “I’m so sorry that I can’t give much to support your ministry, I’m only an elderly pensioner and I don’t have much to live on”.

Those were her exact words. Now look I can’t respond to every letter that I receive, I wish I could but I can’t but this one I just had to respond to personally. I was able to write to her and remind her of what Jesus said about the poor widow who dropped her two small copper coins in the offering plate alongside all those wealthy guys who obviously had much more to give. Luke chapter 21 verses 1 to 4.

Jesus looked up and saw the rich people putting in their gifts into the treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. He said, ‘Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in much more than all of them for all of them have contributed out of their abundance but she, out of her poverty, has put in all she has to live on.

Don’t you love that! Jesus was so excited, He grabbed His disciples, He shook them, He said in effect ‘guys check this out, look at this old widow, she gave more than all the rest because they gave out of their abundance but she gave all she had.’ Jesus isn’t interested in how much we give, He’s blessed each one of us with different things and in differing amounts but what He’s really interested in is how much it costs us.

For Him giving and sacrifice are one of the same, part of that is because He knows that you and I are enslaved by our desires and the one way to break that, the one way to set us free is to turn us into sacrificial givers. Jesus knows there’s a powerful yet very tender connection between our hearts and our wallets, Matthew chapter 6 verses 19 to 21.

Don’t store up for yourself treasures on earth where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is there your heart will also be.

Jesus said some of the strangest things, basically the upshot of what He’s saying here is, where your wallet is there your heart will also be. Okay so I brought it into the twenty-first century but you get my drift. You read that and you think about it for just a moment and you have to come to the conclusion that He’s got it the wrong way around. Surely the money follows your heart right? But that’s not what Jesus said, He said that your heart would follow your wallet, they’re connected.

Keep spending on your own self-gratification and just guess where your heart’s going to end up. So what’s the answer? Well He gives it to us in the very same breath. Start living your life sacrificially with the aim of storing up treasures in heaven. In other words get focused on serving God and other people.

Do that and two things happen. Firstly, obviously you end up with treasures in heaven but secondly, not quite so obviously the power that money has over you is broken. Sacrificial giving of everything we are and everything we have breaks our enslavement to our own selfishness.

And in that one thing there is so much victory that flows out of learning to become a sacrificial giver. What’s sacrificial giving again? It’s giving that costs you something. God isn’t so much after our money, I mean think about it, He created the whole universe, He doesn’t need your help or mine in anything, no the thing He’s really after is your heart, not part of your heart, not a divided heart but the whole lot.

Let me share another letter that I once received from a man, it’s at the other end of the spectrum from that little old lady who had a real giving heart. This is what the guy wrote:

How dare you ask me to support your ministry? Don’t you trust God, if God wants you to be in ministry let Him provide for it.

Now on the surface of things that sounds pretty fair until you realise that ninety-nine percent of the time God funds His work through His people. The first fundraiser in the Bible is in Genesis chapter 25. God tells Moses to build a dwelling place for Him amongst His people, it was called the Tabernacle. Great God, how do you want me to fund that little number? Exodus chapter 25 verses 1 and 5:

The Lord said to Moses, ‘Tell the Israelites to take for me an offering from all those whose hearts prompt them to give, you shall receive the offering for me in accordance with all that I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle and all its furniture, so you shall make it.

So let me ask you, is God poor? Did He need their gold and silver and purple cloth and all the rest of the things He listed there to build the tabernacle? No, He just wanted their hearts. He knew that their hearts were attached to their money and He wanted to set them free to live in the victory that He planned for their lives.

You can’t live in victory if you’re enslaved to your own selfish desires and when we do let go, when we do start giving sacrificially something else amazing happens. The blessing of God, in all sorts of different ways, gets poured into our lives, Luke chapter 6 verse 38:

Give and it will be given to you. A good measure pressed down, shaken together, running over will be put back into your lap for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.

I used to think the more I gave to God’s work the less I’d have for yours truly, numero uno, me. But that simplistic thinking just doesn’t work in God’s economy because when it comes to God’s blessing the worlds formula’s are completely irrelevant. As God graciously led me through the transformation from being stingy to becoming more generous (a work by the way that remains in progress for the Lord), I discovered that the blessing of God began to flow in so many different ways that I simply couldn’t contain them.

Giving to God is not a zero-sum game; in fact it’s anything but.

Suffering isn’t a subject most of us like to talk about, or even think about, but suffering is a reality in life. And right in the middle of that not so pleasant reality, I have some good news for you today. Your God wants you to have victory, right in the middle of your suffering.

People pay a lot of money for wilderness eco tours these days and yet as Christians God seems to take us on wilderness tours free of charge on a regular basis. Why does He do that? I mean can’t our lives just go along on a nice even keel forever and ever, Amen?

Funny thing but when Jesus was baptised, as He came up out of the water the Spirit descended on Him like a dove and a voice spoke from heaven saying, ‘This is my beloved Son in whom I’m well pleased’. Did that happen at your baptism? No, me neither but let’s take a look, Mark chapter 1 verse 9 to 13.

Just as he was coming out of the water he saw the heavens torn apart and the spirit descending upon him like a dove and a voice came from heaven ‘You are my Son the beloved, with you I am well pleased’ and the spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness for forty days tempted by satan.

A booming voice from heaven ‘This is my beloved Son, in you I am well pleased‘ and yet the very next thing that God did with His precious Son was to drive Him out, literally the word means ‘throw‘ Him out into the wilderness to starve and to be tempted by the devil for forty days and forty nights. God didn’t even spare His own Son but when He was finished Jesus came out of the wilderness, we’re told, filled with the Holy Spirit.

It’s just how God does things, get used to it, suffering is part of Gods plan for our lives. None of us enjoy suffering, I don’t and I’m pretty sure you don’t either but suffering is a normal part of life. And God tells us when we suffer we should consider it nothing but pure joy. Come on, is that bizarre or what? Have a listen to this, James chapter 1 verse 2.

My brothers and sisters whenever you face trials of any kind consider it nothing but pure joy because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance and let endurance have it’s full effect so that you may be mature and complete and lacking in nothing.

God’s plan is that in that wilderness of suffering He will test and strengthen our faith. That’s one of the main reasons for suffering and so far my record for bad days in my life is that I’ve managed to survive each and every one of them just fine. In fact that’s a one hundred percent survival rate and there have been some real shockers in that lot I have to tell you.

As I look back on them I can see how the Lord carried me through, how He cared and provided for me, how He groomed me and moulded me and how He has used every one of those bad days for good in my life. Isn’t it amazing how the fire of trials and suffering refine us? Purer and purer each time.

When an athlete trains to compete at an elite level in their sport they go through a lot of pain, they run until it hurts, they pump iron until it hurts. And what that pain, what that suffering does for them is, well it does two things really, it makes them strong and it gives them endurance, both of those are important, strength and endurance. You need both of them to compete well in a sport and you need both of them to get through the tough patches in life, strength and endurance.

Do you know what the biggest temptation is for you and me when we’re suffering? I think it’s the temptation to start behaving badly. Augh, I’ll just go out and get drunk or I’ll sleep around or I’ll be nasty to other people that are causing me the pain. Somehow we have this distorted ledger in our heads that goes something like this, ‘Well God’s certainly not blessing me at the moment so why not behave badly, why not do what I want, blow God, what do I have to lose’? Of course in the cold hard light of day that’s a stupid line of reasoning because we know that behaving badly eventually is just going to make other things worse.

So just in case you’re wondering here’s God’s plan for what to do when you’re suffering, Galatians chapter 6 verses 9 and 10.

So let us not grow weary in doing what is right for we will reap at harvest time if we do not give up. So then whenever we have an opportunity let us work for the good of all and especially for those of the family of faith.

God is a God of seasons, look at how regularly they roll around, spring, summer, autumn, winter, year after year, seed-time and harvest, season after season. There are seasons of blessings in our lives, there are seasons of trials in our lives, there are seasons of temptation in our lives and there are seasons of suffering in our lives. And through it all, here’s the thing, if we don’t grow weary of doing what is right we will reap the harvest that’s waiting for us. When? Well at harvest time of course. So don’t panic, don’t worry, just cry out to God, pour out your heart to Him.

A few years ago I was sitting in a small group for Bible study with a bunch of earnest Bible believing, Jesus loving Christians. We were looking at that verse in Philippians chapter 4 verses 6 and 7 that goes something like this:

Don’t worry about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known to God and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Great, so we discussed it, we prodded it and poked it and we’re about to move on. The Bible study leader summarises, ‘Well that was really good but we still worry don’t we?’ Berni, I can’t help myself at this point, Berni shouts out ‘no’ and they all stare at me. Come on, do we take God at His Word or not? Here in this passage He’s telling us that instead of worrying we pray and give thanks His incomprehensible peace will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Now I don’t know about you but that sounds like a pretty good deal to me. All we need to do is to take God at His Word in those difficult times and keep on keeping on and we will discover in our very own experience just how faithful God is. In fact when you think about it it’s only in those tough times that we can ever, in fact, discover first hand in our very own experience the faithfulness of God.

Fact: Sometimes life is just a mess. I don’t care who you are, how super spiritual you are, how many people look at you and think, ‘Boy, they have it all together with God’. Sometimes life is just a crock, you believed in God for good but all you can see around you is devastation. I love that beautiful old song that goes like this:

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,
His mercies never come to an end,
They’re new every morning, new every morning,
Great is your faithfulness O Lord, great is your faithfulness.

Do you know it? It’s an awesome song, it comes straight out of the Book of Lamentations chapter 3 verses 22 to 24. The writer is looking around just after Jerusalem had been destroyed and razed to the ground by the Babylonians. God’s city is gone, God’s chosen people are gone out of the Promised Land and in the middle of all that, that devastation, he writes because he knows this truth deep in his heart that the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. Great is His faithfulness.

Despite all the evidence you may see to the contrary that’s the truth and when you and I can stand in the midst of the ruin and devastation that comes into our lives during those times of suffering and whisper those words from our heart, great is His faithfulness, that right there is the victory that the Bible promises and that God calls us to and that Jesus died and rose again to give you. In fact to be honest it’s the sweetest victory of all.

Great is your faithfulness Lord unto me.
Morning by morning your mercies I see.
All I have needed your hand has provided.
Great is your faithfulness Lord unto me.

Amen to that!

You know the routine. We read all this stuff in the Bible about mercy and grace and power and victory. So then we set out to improve ourselves, to become better Christians. And it’s not until you’ve been banging your head up against a brick wall for a while that you ask yourself, what am I doing, what’s the matter with me?

Spiritual victory is an awesome thing. So many things come against us in this world – people, circumstances, our own selfish desires, the devil and his legion of demons, it’s almost as though we’ve been set up to fail, don’t you think? You look at all the stuff you have to get through in this life and there is just no way that you can live your life the way God wants you to live it.

Way too many people who call themselves Christians are living in that sort of a defeat but Jesus came to give us victory and victory we shall have if only we can get over our desire to be self-sufficient, if only we can get over this natural instinct we have somewhere deep inside us to set out on our own to become better people, to become better Christians if you will. How did we get that idea into us in the first place pray tell?

Well here’s how it generally unfolds in our lives. One of the very first things we try to teach our children is to become self-sufficient. I mean when they’re born they’re completely dependent on us for everything, by the time they leave home we want them to be able to cope with the big wide world out there on their own, we want them to be self-sufficient and that’s good but there’s a downside. The danger is that we take that thinking and that teaching, each one of us, into our relationship with God.

Jesus once said this to His disciples, John chapter 15 verses 4 and 5, He said:

Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches, those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit because apart from me you can do nothing.

Allow me if you will to paraphrase that so that we can get it into our thick skulls once and for all. In effect Jesus is saying this, look guys I don’t care how clever you are apart from me you can do nothing. I am the vine, you’re the branches and the only way that you can bear fruit is to be in me.

When I became a Christian that’s a lesson I had to learn the hard way. I was Mr Self Sufficient, in fact that’s still my natural instinct to try to crash through things on my own so it’s still a lesson I’m learning over and over again. When it comes to overcoming my sin, when it comes to blessing others, here’s what I’ve discovered. Apart from Jesus I can do nothing and nothing means NOTHING.

It’s exactly what God’s Word says by the way, 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verses 56 and 57:

The sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law but thanks be to God who gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

The only place you get victory is in Jesus. No, you can’t do it alone, the only place you can get victory just in case you missed it is in Jesus. I know what you’re thinking, ‘Berni that’s a great theory but exactly how does that work? Where do I go to actually lay hold of that victory? How can I experience this victory you’ve been yabbering on about in my life? How can I stop being a spiritual loser? How can I start winning the battles each day?

Well the most amazing thing about being a Christian is having the Holy Spirit dwelling inside you. Just stop and think about that for a minute – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – three persons, one God, so when the Spirit dwells in you that’s God, that’s the God who created the universe, the Jesus who died and rose again for you, the same Holy Spirit who filled those disciples with power at Pentecost, that’s that God dwelling in you.

A lot of people shy away from the Holy Spirit, He’s a bit harder to get a handle on. The Father, yeah we get that, the Son, we get that too but the Holy Spirit, well it’s not so easy.

Listen up those disciples even though they spent three and a half years with Jesus, were a disorganised uneducated rabble. Even when Jesus ascended into heaven they still lacked that power, that ability, that focus to do what Jesus had called them to do – to be His witnesses even unto the ends of the earth.

Then something happened, have a listen, Acts chapter 2 verses 2 to 4.

Suddenly from heaven there came a sound like a rush of violent wind and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues as a fire appeared among them and a tongue rested on each one of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit gave them ability.

They were filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. He brings such incredible power into our lives, the power to do things we never imagined, the power to be all that God made us to be, the power to overcome sin, the power to live our lives in victory come what may.

The Bible actually commands us, Ephesians chapter 5 verse 18 to:

Go on being filled with the Holy Spirit.

And yet some Christians shy from Him, like that makes sense somehow. The very same day that the disciples were filled with the Spirit listen to what Peter, the uneducated fisherman achieved, Acts chapter 2 verses 14 and 41.

Peter standing up with the eleven raised his voice and addressed them and those who welcomed his message were baptised and that day about three thousand persons were added.

He hadn’t been to the elite theological colleges of Jerusalem, no he was a fisherman from Galilee of all places. When Jesus needs him most during their many trials leading up to His crucifixion this Peter, who had promised to stand by Jesus denies Him three times just as Jesus had foretold.

Now let’s wind the clock forward to this day of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit falls on the disciples, Peter gets up and speaks about Jesus to this huge crowd filled with the very same people who, just weeks before, had shouted, ‘Crucify Him’. He tells them about Jesus, about their sin. There was every chance that he too could have been arrested and crucified, instead we’re told that on that very day about three thousand people accepted Jesus, now that’s what you call power, the very same power that’s available for you today.

Back then they began to proclaim Christ and they began to see thousands of people come to believe in Him and they went out and suffered much persecution and laid the foundations of the Church and our faith which now lives two thousand years on, how did that happen? Through the power of the Holy Spirit. Despite the obvious failures and limitations of each of those disciples.

Let me come back and say it again, that very same power is available to you and me here and now. Let me tell you the truth each time I look in the mirror when I’m shaving in the morning I see my own face, the wrinkles, the grey hair, the dimple on my left cheek, all the imperfections. And if you stare at those imperfections in yourself long enough you become fixated on them, no amount of wishing we would look different can change the face in the mirror, right?

It’s like that with the rest of our lives too. I can’t change who I am, I can’t remove the bad habits and the dimples and the wrinkles and the imperfections from my life all on my own but fortunately I don’t have to, neither do you for that matter. Galatians chapter 2 verses 19 and 20.

I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who live but is Christ who lives in me and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.

In other words, the moment we believe in Jesus the old person dies and a brand new person comes to life. It’s no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me. It’s no longer you who lives but Christ who lives in you. That’s the only power that will ever bring real transformation. It’s the only power that will ever give you a new lease of life – resurrection power – the only power that will give you victory in this world.

Today is the first day of the rest of your life. So, let’s talk about the rest of YOUR life. How are you going to spend it? Are you going to live it out as a spiritual loser, or are you going to live it out in spiritual victory? Which is it going to be, because let me tell you, as sure as God made little green apples, it’s going to be one or the other!

So let me get back to that question I just asked you, how are you going to spend the rest of your life? Defeated or victorious? It is such a terrible tragedy that so many of God’s people are living their lives out as losers when everything that needs to be done for them to have victory has in fact already been done.

Let me be blunt and direct with you here, I know that’s going to be a surprise to you given I’m such a shy and retiring type but let me whack you right between the eyes with the God honest truth. This is true for every man and woman and child who have accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour, every man and woman and child who has put their complete trust in Jesus.

God means you to live out the rest of your life in victory through Jesus Christ, full stop, end of story. And He had a plan for that to happen before you were even born. Now granted life is a funny thing, it goes in fits and starts, sometimes there are long boring patches of the same old same old, you know business as usual interspersed with the odd high and the odd low.

All of a sudden something exciting happens maybe a marriage or a birth or a holiday or a promotion and then bang, car accident, relationship problems, the death of a loved one. That’s how life seems to play itself out. Sometimes without rhyme nor reason, more like a lottery than a life but that’s not actually the way it is. God knew before you were born, He already had a plan for your life, He already knew how your life would pan out, what He gifted you to do.

This is what He said to the Prophet Jeremiah about the life He’d planned for him, Jeremiah chapter 1 verse 5.

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you and before you were born I consecrated you, I appointed you a Prophet to the nations.

And the same is true for you, your life isn’t a lottery, it’s a part of Gods plan and that right there is a great reason to bounce out of bed every morning with a sense of anticipation ‘I wonder what God has planned for me today’, don’t you think? Sure some days are going to be scary days, some days you’re going to have this feeling that God’s abandoned you, you’re pedalling so hard up hill, into the wind, into the driving rain, pedal, pedal, harder, harder.

Then one day you look up and God is nowhere to be seen and not only is He nowhere to be seen but the storm clouds have thickened and, well you’ve got the picture, you know exactly what I’m talking about because you’ve been there. When the whole world is lined up against you here’s the rub, Isaiah chapter 41 verses 9 and 10. God says to you, He is saying to you today:

You are my servant. I have chosen you and not cast you off. Do not fear for I am with you, do not be afraid for I am your God. I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.

In other words God is still God, God still loves you, there’s no need to panic, there’s no need to be afraid, He’s right there with you closer than the deepest secret of your heart. God will strengthen you, God will help you, God will uphold you with His victorious right hand. Why?

Not because I say so but because He does. Isaiah chapter 41 verses 9 and 10, that’s His promise and when that little truth is tucked away in your heart you can relax. He has it all under control, so much so that right in the middle of one of those life storms He’s going to call you to step out of the pitching boat that you’re in, the pitching boat that seems to be keeping you alive, He’s going to call you out to walk on the water with Him.

Some people, entrepreneurs in particular are natural risk takers, others quite simply are not. Wherever you lie on that risk taking continuum I have something serious to share with you today. If you’ve set your heart on following Jesus you can leave behind any notion you’ll be able to stay in your comfort zone.

The twelve disciples were out in a storm in a small boat on the Sea of Galilee and even though some of them were experienced fishermen who knew these waters the storm became so ferocious that even they were afraid of drowning. Jesus comes walking across the water. They’re even more fearful because they think they’ve seen a ghost. Matthew chapter 14 verses 28 and 29.

Peter answered him, ‘Lord if it’s you command me to come out onto the water with you’ and Jesus said, ‘come’. So Peter got out of the boat and started walking on the water and came towards Jesus.

Now Peter, if you know anything about him, was obviously a risk taker, he doesn’t wait for Jesus to call him out there but he asks Jesus to invite him to step out of the boat. And when Jesus does just that crazy Pete steps out of said boat and walks on the water right in the middle of a howling storm. Now you’d think that Jesus could have calmed the storm first right? But no, He called Peter out of the boat in the middle of that raging storm. But that’s Jesus, that’s the way He does things, go figure.

You and I want to wait until the storms of life abate until we step out of the boat and follow Jesus but victory, real victory is stepping out and following Him in the middle of the storm. Again Matthew chapter 14 verses 30 to 33.

But when Peter noticed the strong wind…

So he’s out there, he’s on the water right? He notices the strong wind.

He became frightened and began to sink and he cried out, ‘Lord save me’. Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him saying to him ‘you of little faith, why do you doubt?’ When they got into the boat the wind ceased and those in the boat worshipped him saying ‘truly you are the Son of God. (Matthew 14:30 to 33)

When Jesus says to you ‘follow me’ it isn’t an invitation to an easy life, far from it. Jesus promised His disciples quite the opposite. Hmm, I’ve been out on a few of those stormy oceans like that in my time, stepping out of the boat to answer Jesus call, it seems alright at first but when you’re out there on the water the storm gets your attention like nothing else and what happened to Peter has happened to me on more than one occasion.

The moment you take your eyes off Jesus and you focus on the storm, the problem, you start to sink. Note to self: keep your eyes on Jesus, would you?

One day, the day will come when you and I breathe our last breath on this earth. One way or another, either because our body has just given up on us or because Jesus returned, that can be a scary thought too, particularly the older you get and the more you feel your body aging but here’s another exciting bit of news.

No matter how it ends for you and me if we believe in Jesus, if we’ve been living our lives for Him, walking out on the stormy water even when the storm is raging, we’ve been living for Him the best way we know how then He has a promise that removes even the fear of death. John chapter 14 verses 1 to 3.

Don’t let your hearts be troubled, believe in God, believe also in me for in my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it weren’t so would I have told you that I would go and prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and will take you to myself so that where I am there you may also be.

He has been preparing a place in His Father’s house for you so you can spend the rest of eternity with Him. Whatever happens to be going on in your life right now just let that one sink in for a moment, eternity with Jesus in His Father’s house. Whatever this life throws at you, however howling and raging the storm is between now and your last breathe eternity with Jesus in His Father’s house, that’s His promise – His rock solid promise.

That puts a whole new spin on things doesn’t it? God has a simple plan for you, to live your life in spiritual victory, that’s why Jesus came, that’s why Jesus died, that’s why Jesus rose again.

Sin couldn’t hold Him down and His victory is your victory now and forever.