Oh, Lord Jesus, how we come to You: the great Overcomer, the great Warrior, the Conqueror, the King, Ruler over all this earth and the universe. Lord, we come and bow before You this morning.
Lord, we want to come to You this morning not only as bought ones, but as ones who have been called into the army of Jesus Christ—ones, Lord, who have been called to the good fight. We pray that, as we come before You, Your Holy Spirit will anoint both speaking and hearing, that, Lord Jesus, we will really be able in our hearts and spirits to respond to Your voice.
Indeed, that is what we want to hear this morning: Your voice, not Jerry Amons. Lord, we are so grateful for this mighty grace. Oh, Lord Jesus, without Your grace, You would just leave us to ourselves. Oh, what a tragedy.
So, Lord, this morning we take up Your grace, that we might be able to speak and to hear. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Well, this morning I would like to begin with a scripture that I ended with last week: 2 Timothy 4. This is our brother Paul, who is now ready to be offered up. He knows his time is very short, and he gives us these words concerning his life:
I have fought the good fight,
I have finished the course,
I have kept the faith.
Some versions say, “I have fought the good fight.” This morning, I wonder if we have a passion for the good fight.
You know, as I began sharing two weeks ago, y’all will probably remember I was deeply touched by the woman in Luke 7 who came to Simon the Pharisee’s house. When she arrived, she saw our Lord Jesus Christ. She had pursued Him because she had a great desire to be with Him. She loved Him dearly.
She came with this expensive ointment and poured it upon the head of our Lord Jesus Christ. So taken with the Lord Jesus was she that tears began to flow. They flowed down onto the feet of our Lord Jesus Christ, and she bowed down at His feet and began to kiss His feet and wash His feet with her hair.
A woman full of passion for the Lord. It struck me so much: “Lord, this is indeed first love—a passion for the Lord Jesus Christ.” She pursued Him. It was first love, brothers and sisters.
And I was just thinking, “Lord, when I consider my love for You, where is the passion?” I think with first love there has to be passion. It might not come out in such a dramatic fashion as it did with this woman on that day, but the passion was there.
Brothers and sisters, I dare say that passion never left this woman. Has the passion left our lives? But how does this passion come about? How is it that such a passion was created in her heart?
Her eyes were opened to see the love of our Lord Jesus for her. She saw His passion for her. Brothers and sisters, we shared how the Lord, in His passion for you and for me, and in His passion to fulfill God’s will, died on Calvary’s cross for you and me.
You should never, ever wonder or doubt the passion that God has for you. And brothers and sisters, if you just get a glimpse of the passion the Lord has for you, you will have passion for Him. May it be so.
This passion is not just for one moment, but it is a continuing process. In fact, the more we see the love of the Lord Jesus Christ, the more intense the passion becomes. Where is the intensity, brothers and sisters?
Towards the end of the first century, the Lord Jesus sent letters through John to the churches. The one He sent to Ephesus was the very first one to consider. The church had only been in existence since Pentecost—about sixty-some years.
The Lord had something on His heart, and He shared with them, “I appreciate your attention and your continuing on, but I do have an issue in our relationship. There is something in our relationship that is a serious problem.”
Outwardly, the relationship seemed fine, but inwardly something dire was going on, something tragic. “I bring it to your attention. It is this matter of first love. Where is your first love for Me? Where is that passion? It is gone.”
“I am deeply concerned. You need to overcome this condition of your heart. It is a malady that is in your heart. Humble yourself. Deny yourself. Repent. Come to Me. Overcome this condition.”
“Look at Me. I love you. I love you desperately, and our relationship means everything. Our relationship is not what it needs to be, or should be, because first love is lacking.”
“I will continue to pursue you. I will not give up. My passion for you will not let Me give up, but I will not force you. Our relationship has to be one of heart, one of love. But I cannot force it, nor will I force it on you.”
Brothers and sisters, oh, how passion is needed.
Last time I shared out of Revelation 12, and I mentioned that Revelation 12 is about finishing the course. In this scripture from 2 Timothy, Paul said, “I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course.”
The Lord has immense passion for you, brothers and sisters, and you were created for His purpose. Romans 8:28 says we are called according to purpose. Everything works together for those who love the Lord and are called according to purpose.
Being a part of His purpose, brothers and sisters, He has set your life on a course. He has a course set for your life. Are you going to finish the course? Paul said, “I have finished the course.”
This course involves being conformed to the image of Christ. This is God’s eternal purpose for us: that He might bring many sons to glory. What is glory other than having the image of our Lord Jesus Christ in our lives? He wants to bring all to glory.
Paul, in Acts 20:24, said on his way to Jerusalem, “It has been prophesied over me in many places that bonds and afflictions await me when I go to Jerusalem, but I am determined to go. None of these things move me, neither count I my life dear to myself, so that I might finish my course with joy.”
What a passion Paul had for our Lord. What a passion he had to finish that course. Paul’s passion is shown to us in Philippians 3:10-11. He says, “That I might know Him.” That was the cry of Paul’s heart.
He had that passion to finish the course, to attain to the out-resurrection. In Philippians 3:14, he says, “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” I press. I pursue. I am diligent in pressing toward the mark for the prize of the high calling in Christ Jesus.
Then he goes on to say, “Let us therefore, as many as are mature, be thus minded.” We need to have this mind. If we are growing in Christ, we need to have this mind to press on toward the high calling in Christ Jesus, toward the prize. He says if you are otherwise minded, God will point this out to you. Now, are you otherwise minded? Is this what is on your heart?
Revelation 12, as I have discovered, is all about finishing the course. It is all about coming to glory. It is all about the high calling of being conformed to the image of His Son. It is all about God’s eternal purpose to have many sons. It is all about attaining to what is called the out-resurrection by the overcomers.
It is about the prize. What was the prize we talked about? Being seated with Christ on the throne, reigning and ruling during the millennium.
Let me say it a little differently. The Lord has something on His heart for you and me. He has it for the entire church. He wants us to be with Him in the millennium, as the nations come under that millennial government where our Lord Jesus Christ is here in Jerusalem.
He wants us to be with Him in His governmental administration, so to speak, over the nations of this world. He wants us to be a part of that business. It is the Father’s business.
He wants you with Him. He wants you to be mature so that you can be involved in the Father’s business. He wants you to come to sonship.
Now, sonship is a child being trained for a position, like an apprentice used to be trained until becoming a full journeyman. In this case, it is called sonship: being able to be a part of the Father’s business.
When I was in college, in engineering courses, during my last year I was really struggling. I have told this story before. I remember going home during winter break, around Christmas time, and Dad, of course, asked me how I was doing.
I told him, “I don’t know. I’m not sure I can make it.” He put his arms on my shoulder and said, “Son, don’t worry about it. You can come back and work with me in the body shop.”
My dad was a man I admired. Most anything you could do with your hands, he could do. I had worked with him when he was in the carpet and tile business—a tough business. Eventually he went into body work, painting, and repairs to wrecked automobiles, and he was good at it.
He said, “You could come and join me in this business.” He would have loved for me to have done that. It would have been a real joy for him. But I tell you what: it became my motivation to go back and finish school.
I had seen him work. I had seen that hard work in that man. My dad was such a hard worker.
Anyway, brothers and sisters, in a similar way, the Lord Jesus Christ is about the Father’s business. Actually, you and I were all created to be in the Father’s business, and He is trying to train us up to be in the Father’s business.
For a thousand years, it will be administering a government over the nations, and He wants to train you up for that—young people too. The Father’s business.
But we have a choice. We might think that is not the business we are interested in, like I did with my dad. Yet, brothers and sisters, the nature of the Father’s business is eternal. It is God’s.
Whether you become a body-shop repairman, an engineer, a doctor, a computer expert, a truck driver delivering supplies, a nurse, a housewife, a mother, or a father, all these things are meant to be used to train you for the Father’s business.
He wants us to be with Him on the throne, in His Father’s business. This requires maturing, doesn’t it? It requires our lives to be transformed from being self-centered to being God-centered, centered upon God’s purposes rather than what we think our own purpose is.
It requires discipline. You are not going to attend school without being diligent about learning and expect to be sitting with Christ on the throne. It is not automatic, brothers and sisters.
All the trials in your life, all the temptations, and all the things we have to work at—being a father, a mother, or a grandparent—God wants them to be part of this great training course, bringing you to the place where you carry something of the image of Christ in your life.
Only those whom the Lord recognizes as having His character and His nature will be able to serve in this way. If we continue to feed our self-life, He is going to look at us and say, “No, you are not really qualified to be in this business.”
But if He sees that the life He has put into you has matured and developed, and He can see something of Himself there, then He will say, “Okay, you are qualified.” He has to recognize Himself in us, brothers and sisters.
So we have to be willing to allow the cross to work in our lives. When the Lord says, “You need to be doing this,” and you say, “Well, no, I don’t think so. I have many reasons not to,” we are going to have to take up the cross and say, “But Lord, Your will be done in my life.”
“Lord, this is a hard thing You are asking. I am not sure I am willing, but Lord, please make me willing, because I want to ultimately do Your will.”
Brothers and sisters, we are going to have to let the Lord Jesus be Head of our lives. John the Baptist said it so well: “He must increase, but I must decrease.”
I do not think John, when he said that, had any idea that he was going to be beheaded. But he was. Let me ask you this: have you been beheaded? Because that is what that scripture means.
“I must decrease. He must increase.” That means He must become the prominent One in your life. In other words, you are beheaded; He becomes your Head. That is the secret of really learning Christ.
Brothers and sisters, the Lord does want you on the throne with Him. He is dedicated to seeing that you make it. It does not mean you will, but it means He is not going to give up. He is dedicated to that.
He wants you with Him, just like my father would have loved nothing more than for me to be with him, work with him in that shop, and build that business with him. These earthly businesses are nothing when you think about God’s business, the Father’s business—the one He has designed for you.
He has designed your life in order to get you ready. All these things that we struggle with are part of this training course, brothers and sisters. There are vocations that we have, but our real vocation is the Father’s business, and we have to get ready for it.
If you want to be an engineer, you are not going to be able to sit in class and think about other things. You are going to have to work hard. At least I had to work hard.
One of my unfortunate traits is that I am not a very diligent person. I found out that one of the most important traits in life is to be diligent. That is why I struggled so much in college, I think. But anyway, it is hard work. That is what the Lord has called us to.
Revelation 12 is a unique chapter in the Bible. A couple of weeks ago, when I shared on Revelation 11, I mentioned that by the end of that chapter we have come to the completion of John’s first revelation, because it ends with Christ as King of kings and Lord of lords.
In other words, the first eleven chapters are kind of a timeline of events in the book of Revelation. But in Revelation 10:11, the angel speaks to John and says, “John, you are going to need to prophesy again. I am going to give you more revelation that you need to record for the saints and for the church.”
Those are chapters 12 through 22. The general timeline and outline is completed through chapter 11; then the Lord gives us specific matters that are very important for us to understand and see.
The example we have in the Bible is Genesis 1 and 2. In Genesis 1, we see the creation and restoration of the earth so that man might live here. But in Genesis 2, the Lord goes into great detail about how He formed Adam out of the dust of the earth, breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, put Adam to sleep, took something out of his side, and built Eve with that.
When Adam saw her, he said, “Bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh.” Actually, the Lord is showing us His eternal purpose for a bride for His Son in the opening of the Bible.
He gives us more detail because He is saying to you and me, “Man is extremely important. Man and woman are extremely important in My plan. I want you to know that.”
The way in which He made man and woman is very important. The reason He told Adam it was not good for him to be alone is because it is not good for His Son to be alone.
These details highlight aspects of events leading to eternity, and they are very important. Revelation 12 is the first of these highlighted events.
From previous studies, we know that it highlights the matter of a man child being raptured to the throne from the woman, initiating the event of bringing our Lord Jesus back for the second time. It is very important to the Lord that we understand that He has a great desire to return to this earth, to complete the course set for Him.
He wants us to know how it is achieved, and it is achieved through the overcomers. Revelation 12 is critical, brothers and sisters. It is on the Lord’s heart, and He wants us to know why it is so important to overcome.
He wants you to be with Him in the Father’s business. He wants to complete God’s eternal purpose. He wants us eventually to come to be the fully mature bride of Christ.
I believe the Lord has given this chapter to the saints who are willing to respond to the call: to finish the course, to overcome.
Being conformed to the image of Christ in order to be qualified is not an easy task. Brothers and sisters, that is why Paul said, “I have fought the good fight.” We are in a battle over the testimony of Jesus Christ.
When the Lord came the first time, He was immediately thrust into battle. After He was baptized, He was led into the wilderness. Even at His birth, the king decided to kill all the children to make sure He was killed. The enemy was after Him from the beginning.
He was in a battle, but brothers and sisters, He overcame. Not only did He overcome the threats of the king; He overcame the world. As He lived His life, the world did not mold His life. God molded His life.
As we live in this life, the world can mold us and try to get us to follow its pattern. Doing what everybody else is doing: “I want to be like everybody else. That is why I need these clothes, these cars, and these gizmos. I need to be like the world.”
The Lord was not like that. The world did not mold our Lord Jesus Christ. He looked to God. Are we allowing the world to mold our lives? Is it affecting our lives, or is Christ affecting our lives through the work of the Holy Spirit?
Not only did He overcome the world, but He overcame self. Now, He had a perfect self, but He did have one. “Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me. Nevertheless, not My will, but Yours, be done.”
He set aside self His whole life. He did not consider self. He did not live out from Himself. He lived by the Father’s life. He lived dependent upon the Father. “Whatever the Father says, whatever the Father does, whatever He wants Me to do, that I do.”
He did not live for Himself; He lived for the Father. At the cross, He overcame Satan and death. According to Genesis, He wounded the head of Satan. His feet were wounded, but He wounded the head of Satan. He has put Satan down. He is the Victor.
At His first coming, the Lord Jesus Christ established Himself as the Victor, as the Overcomer. He is the Overcomer. If we are going to overcome, we need to know the Overcomer. In fact, we need to have the life of the Overcomer.
Once we have His life, we need that overcoming life to be exercised in us. He is the Victor.
At Pentecost, the church was born to carry on the work of Christ as His body on this earth. It was to have the testimony, character, and nature of our Lord. She should have been an overcoming church because He was an Overcomer.
But brothers and sisters, the world began to conform the church. Pride came in. Men’s ways came in. Instead of being an overcoming church, she became a failing church.
When we come to Revelation 12, we find that the adversary, the enemy, looks at the woman and does not even consider her. Let us read Revelation 12:1-2, 5, and 10-11.
And there appeared a great wonder in heaven;
a woman clothed with the sun,
and the moon under her feet,
and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:
and she being with child cried,
travailing in birth,
and pained to be delivered.
And she brought forth a man child,
who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron:
and her child was caught up unto God,
and to His throne.
And I heard a great voice in heaven, saying,
Now is come salvation, and strength,
and the kingdom of our God,
and the power of His Christ:
for the accuser of our brethren is cast down,
which accused them before our God day and night.And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb,
and because of the word of their testimony;
and they loved not their life even unto death.
Actually, the woman has been overcome. The enemy is not too interested in her. She does not really carry the testimony of Jesus. But within the woman, within the church, there are some who maintain and carry the testimony of Jesus.
They hold the testimony. In other words, the life of Christ has matured in them. They are growing; they are maturing in Christ. His life is evident in their lives—not only to other Christians, but even to the world.
Brothers and sisters, how the enemy has fought to destroy the testimony of Christ in every Christian. But praise the Lord, some have a passion for the Lord, a passion for the Lord’s heart, a passion to know Him, and a willingness to go the way of the cross.
They have learned the victorious life. They have learned that their victory is found only in Christ, and they know how to exercise and execute that victory in their lives.
This chapter is so important. The course has not only been set for you, but God has set the course that He might have His King return and sit upon the throne of this earth—a bride for His Son.
The Lord has a passion to return once again. The kickoff event will be the rapture of overcomers, those who are qualified to sit with the Lord on the throne.
They are the ones with a passion to finish the course and a passion to fight the good fight. They are the warriors.
Our Lord’s return is not going to be automatic. He has not just set a day and said, “Regardless of what happens, I am coming back.” No, He is waiting for something. He is waiting for this man child to be completed, for the number of overcomers—known only to the Father—to be complete. Then He will come back.
Our cry should be, “Come, Lord Jesus. Lord, make me an overcomer.”
Now this gets to the real burden on my heart. Brothers and sisters, we need to be dedicated to living an overcoming life—not for our sake, but for the Lord’s sake.
The reward is to be with Him at the throne, where He wants us so desperately. But we are going to have to fight the good fight. I think we have to dedicate our lives to an overcoming life.
As I considered this, I said, “Lord, I am seventy-one. I do not know how much longer I have. I certainly do not think I have the constitution that our brother Stephen has. My time is probably pretty short.”
Boy, I need to dedicate myself to the overcoming life. I really do. I do not know how y’all are—what, sixteen or seventeen? You need to dedicate your lives to overcoming, because I think the Lord will come back before you reach the end of your lives. I do.
Fight the good fight. Be dedicated to that.
The other concern I have is that most times our first reaction to the challenge to overcome is, “I can’t do it,” and that is true. You cannot. Only the Lord is the Overcomer.
That is why you have to have a passion for Him. That is why you have to give yourself unto Him and allow His life—that overcoming life—to be worked out in you.
He will bring situations into your life, trials and temptations, where you need to overcome in Christ—not merely react in the flesh, but overcome in the Spirit, and learn, train, and grow.
Overcoming, brothers and sisters, is not beyond us. In fact, the Lord has given everything needed for the overcoming life. We need to realize that. We cannot say, “I just haven’t got it.” You do have it, because you have the Lord Jesus. You have the Overcomer in your life.
His life is victorious—a victorious life. It applies to so many situations in your life, including things you might consider small. The Lord is using them to train you to be an overcomer.
He has given you not only His victorious life, but the Holy Spirit to see to it that you learn to live by that life and exercise that life. That is the anointing from within.
We have talked about abiding in the Lord. Do you know what abiding really is? How do you abide? It is pretty simple: obeying the anointing inside. Obeying the anointing inside.
The Holy Spirit, if we listen, will encourage us in different ways—things that we should do and should not do; things that may be okay for others but not for you. The Holy Spirit lets you know that through the anointing.
In fact, the Holy Spirit enlightens the Word of God. That is why we need to read it. He points out Christ in it. He shows us. He makes it living to us. Otherwise, the Bible will condemn you.
But the Holy Spirit brings life to it and to you.
Brothers and sisters, how did they overcome? They overcame by the blood of the Lamb. Revelation 12 is important. I want you to desire to overcome, and this is the way it is done: they overcame the accuser of the brethren by the blood of the Lamb.
That should tell us something right away. The blood of the Lamb was given because of our sin. The blood was shed; the price was paid for our sins.
What this really shows us is that, in pursuing the overcoming life, you are not going to be absolutely perfect. You may fall. Most likely, you may. That is why you still need the blood.
You need to repent when you fall. You cannot ignore the fall. You have to bring it before the Lord and say, “Lord, I messed up here. I am sorry. I repent.” It is more than being sorry; it is repenting—turning from it.
I have to say, brothers and sisters, I think there is a thought today that is really disturbing. It goes something like this: “Well, yes, I have sinned, but it is okay because the Lord is going to forgive me.”
How tragic. Oh, the grace of God that has come to you, the love that has been expended toward you, that you might not sin. When we casually ignore sin and say, “Well, He is going to forgive me anyway,” we disregard the great price He paid to forgive that sin.
That price includes the sin you may have just committed. That is why we need to come before Him with humble and repentant spirits. The blood of Christ—we need it.
We are not perfect. We are not holy, but we should desire to be holy. The Lord says, “Be ye holy; for I am holy.” That can only happen through the life of Christ.
When the Lord exposes the flesh, we go back to the Lord and say, “Lord, that was me. That was not You, was it? Lord, forgive me. I plead Your blood over that sin.” We need the blood of Jesus.
We will never, in this lifetime, get away from our need for the blood of Jesus. It is precious.
The Word of God says that if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin. As you are fellowshipping with brothers and sisters, sometimes the Holy Spirit, through whatever they are sharing, suddenly convicts you of something. Then you go back to the blood. That is the way we grow. Fellowship is important.
There is also defilement. Sometimes it is not so much a sin that we commit, but one committed against us, and we feel dirty and filthy. The blood takes away the defilement, brothers and sisters.
There are also the accusations of the enemy. He accuses you night and day before the throne. He accuses even when there is nothing to accuse, if he thinks he can get you under by accusing you.
Unfortunately, many times there is some legitimate reason for his accusation. But brothers and sisters, you go to the Lord, repent, and ask for forgiveness. It is over.
But the enemy does not want it to be over. He wants to keep his thumb on you. He continues to accuse you, and you say, “Well, I cannot pray anymore. I cannot fellowship anymore. I just need to stay home.”
Those are accusations of the enemy. You need the blood. When you say, “No, the blood of Jesus Christ has taken all of this away,” the enemy has no more ground in your life. You need to know how to use the blood. You need to be diligent in this battle with the blood of Christ.
The word of their testimony—1 John 1:1-3 says, “That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you.” What is your testimony? It is what you have experienced of Christ. It is not merely what you know from the Word; it is what you have experienced of the Word.
What you have experienced—that is your testimony. That is what you can testify to. That is what is real. That is what the enemy is afraid of, brothers and sisters. That experience is a daily experience: the testimony of Christ.
Your real testimony is the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ. What testimony did He have of Himself? “I am the First and the Last, and the Living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive for evermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.”
That is the Lord’s testimony, and that is the testimony that should be in our lives. In other words, the Lord should be first. Secondly, He should be last. He should have the last word.
He is living. Do you experience the living Christ daily? We should. “Lord, this is You. I know this is You.” We need to be aware of this living Christ in our lives.
He was dead, but now He is alive. He was resurrected, brothers and sisters. We experience death every day—death around us and death in us. It is there, and it wants to crush us.
But the Lord rose from the dead. The resurrection life is in you, and He is in me. We learn to live by that life, to be over these issues, to be over this death that wants to crush us.
Many times we experience a heaviness in our lives. We do not know where it is coming from or why, but it is just heavy. Then you say, “Jesus is Lord. He rose from the dead. He triumphed over all death.”
That declaration breaks the power of that darkness, brothers and sisters. We need to learn how to fight.
“They loved not their lives unto death.” Let me quote Matthew 16:24-26:
If any man would come after Me,
let him deny himself,
and take up his cross,
and follow Me.For whosoever would save his life shall lose it:
and whosoever shall lose his life for My sake shall find it.For what shall a man be profited,
if he shall gain the whole world,
and forfeit his life?
Brothers and sisters, we do not have a lot of time this morning, but denying self is simply refusing to recognize it. When you see self rising up in your life and it wants to go its own way, you can say, “I do not know it. Lord, crucify this thing. I do not know him. I am going to go the Lord’s way.”
Deny myself. Take up the cross. We have said it a number of times: it simply means His will crosses your will, and His will prevails. That is taking up the cross.
The soul-life is that life of self. It is who you are without Christ—that self-soul life. The Lord does not destroy our souls, but He is saving our souls. He is transforming our souls so that they are no longer under the control of the self-life, but under the control of the Christ-life in you.
That is a process, and that is a battle. He does not want to destroy your soul. You are who you are. But brothers and sisters, the tyranny of self is tremendous.
The Lord Jesus, through His work in you by the Holy Spirit, can begin to take away that self-life, put it under the cross, and bring in His own life. It is no longer a life lived for yourself, but one lived for the Lord.
When you have the testimony of Christ in your life, when it is real—what you have experienced of Christ—you can give the word. You can speak it out. You can say, “Jesus is Lord. I know He is Lord, Lord of my life.”
Let me end with this. The Lord said that in the last days there would be a great falling away. We see that in this woman in Revelation 12. She is not able to hold the testimony of Christ. She is not an overcomer. She has basically failed in the testimony of Christ. She has fallen away.
But within the church are those who follow the Lamb, who have a passion for the Lord, a passion to finish the course, and a passion to overcome. They are the overcomers, the man child.
I believe we have a choice. We can be a part of the falling away, or we can be a part with the overcomers. There is no in-between. You are one or the other.
We have heard about overcoming for many years, but it is on my heart that this is a serious matter—something that we need to be diligent about in our lives. The Lord’s return is not automatic. He is looking for overcomers.
All we really need to do is have a passion for Him. Not only a passion for Him, but to say, “Lord, the course You set for my life—that is the course I am on. That is the course I want to stay on. I want to finish the course.”
“Lord, I want to be with You. You want me with You on the throne. I want to be there too. I want to be an overcomer, Lord.”
Our brother spoke of grace this morning, and I think we are going to have a message on grace next week. That is the way you become an overcomer: the grace of God.
Lord, we just come this morning. We look to You. We do not want to waste our lives. We do not want to be on that broad path that leads to destruction and takes us off course. We want to be on that narrow path, following You, Lord Jesus, as You have encouraged us to do.
Lord, once again, I want to thank You for Your great passion for me. Lord, You have never let me go in all of my life, though I have struggled and tried to run away at times and done everything except what You wanted me to do.
But Lord, You were gracious, and You extended mercy to me. You are still for me. And Lord, with my brothers and sisters, it is the same. So, Lord, make us overcomers. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.