Be an Overcomer

Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone. Happy Sabbath to you. Happy Sabbath to those who are on the web. Welcome. It's a beautiful day out today. This is what we've been waiting for all winter long, isn't it? Hard, hard winter we had to suffer through. Finally, we have some spring, right? I like to listen to podcasts. It's one of my favorite mediums. I like to listen to all the different stories. Some of them are news items. Some of them are based on documentary-style podcasts.

There's a podcast I listened to recently, and it recounted something that I already knew about, something I already remember actually experiencing in my life. Back in 2000, the St. Louis Cardinals had this up-and-comer pitcher, and he was going to be fantastic. He was going to be amazing for the ballclub. He was a lefty. He was strong. He was actually a good hitter for a pitcher, too, which was really rare. He was my age, which I always thought was kind of cool, you know, because he was in the big leagues at a young age, and everything looked great for him. Everything looked great. His name was Rick Ankeel. Does anybody recognize that name? Okay. So Rick Ankeel, you know, he was a strong pitcher, good lefty.

Everything looked good. Stats from the scouting looked fantastic. And he started to pitch the year 2000. He was pitching pretty well. Something happened, though, in the middle of the season. He threw a couple wild balls just randomly. I mean, so high that the catcher had to jump, you know, standing up, and he still missed it. Wild pitch. Absolutely wild pitch. You know, he threw a couple more that season, and you know, he was able to get control eventually.

But during the NLDS game against the Atlanta Braves game, I believe it was game one, he pitched a good solid first inning and second inning. But in the third inning, something happens to him. He pitches a wild pitch, you know, way over the catcher's head. He pitches another wild pitch.

Eventually the guy gets on. I think he walked a guy or the guy got hit. Anyway, someone gets on base, first base. He throws enough wild pitches to get the guy all the way around and eventually to home plate. This is the top level of professional baseball you can get to. And this poor guy, it was heartbreaking to watch. He threw five wild pitches in that game before they took him out.

And a lot of commentators at the time, they recognized what was going on. Because this isn't the first time it's ever happened to a pitcher. They actually have a term called the Steve Blass disease. Has anyone heard of Steve Blass? You Pittsburgh guy should. He was a pitcher in the 70s and the same thing happened to him. He was pitching, he was doing great.

He actually had a very solid career beforehand. But something happened internally that they could not overcome. There was, these players work and work and work on mechanics. There was absolutely nothing wrong with these gentlemen physically. There was nothing wrong with him physically. What happened was a head game. It was in their head that they couldn't overcome.

It was in their thoughts. There was absolutely nothing wrong physically, but they could never overcome this mental state. They never did. Now, Ricky Ankeo got bumped down to the minors, bumped down. He worked himself back up to become an outfielder later, had an okay career as an outfielder, bounced around the league a little bit. And like I said, he was a good hitter, so that worked out for him. But as a pitcher, never recovered. Was never able to overcome this mental state where mentally they could no longer perform what they had practiced so long to do.

We are called by God, and we are given insight into his truth. But our insight to his truth and his plan of salvation, it doesn't end with knowledge. We have to put it into practice. And putting a life that we see in the pages of Bible and into practice means that you and I, as people, have to be overcomers. We are called to be overcomers. There are situations in our lives that we are called to recognize in our life, and we're called to be overcomers in those situations in our life.

If you just skip back to Revelation real quick, we're going to look at just a couple things in the first couple chapters, a couple verses. What's interesting, this is dealing with the letters to the churches in the first or second, third chapter of the book. I took the left one, the left water. So... Revelation 2, there's something that is absolutely present in all the churches here in Revelation that we see here.

Let's go ahead and go to Revelation 2, the church to Ephesus, verse 7, That would be verse... where am I bouncing around? to the church in Smyrna, verse 11, That would be verse... where am I bouncing around to? Verse 26, Chapter 3, to the church of Sardis, verse 5, to the church of Philadelphia, that's right. Even the church of Philadelphia has things to overcome, because in verse 12, of my God, in the name of the city of my God. And to the church of Laodicea, verse 21, These letters were written to the churches. All of them had something to overcome.

They all had refining to take part of. You know, even in the coveted Philadelphia church has things that they can overcome. We're not perfect. None of us are. We weren't called, and God knows these guys are perfect. We were called, and we are to be overcomers.

If you look at the Greek word of the word overcome, it is nakau, and it's very exciting to read, you know, the synonyms that this word is also translated into. Overcame, overcome, overpowers, prevail, victorious. Doesn't that sound exciting?

Isn't those the kind of attributes you'd like to have tagged to your name? Overcomers. Well, that's who we're called to be. We're called to be overcomers in our lives. But what does that look like? What do we have to overcome? What do we have to overcome in our life? I'd like to talk about just three specific things as we're getting ready for the spring holy days, things that we should be focusing on in overcoming our lives. This is obviously not an exhaustive list, but something that we can take a look at today and see where we're at. Because really, to be an overcomer, it is introspective work. You know, you can't be just sort of a couch potato Christian and overcome.

Overcoming takes work and effort. The first thing we have to overcome is obvious sin. Sin. Weakness in our human nature. Let's go over to Ephesians real quick. It's the book of Ephesians. We are called to overcome sin in our lives. Ephesians 4.

verse 22. Ephesians 4 verse 22. That you put off concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts. Verse 23. And be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on a new man which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness. Transformation should be happening in our daily lives. Every day, we should be transforming. We should be putting off what we were and continue putting on the new man, as it says here, the wording that it says here. We're called to overcome. Overcome the person that we started with at our baptism or at our calling. If we look back and say, you know, I haven't really overcome anything, you know, that is a cause for concern. That's when we should stop and say, what can I do in my life to make sure that I am overcoming? Because that needs to happen in our lives. It absolutely has to happen in our lives. Let's go back to 2 Peter 2.

Starting in verse 20. This is specifically talking to false teachers. You know, it's giving a warning about false teachers here, Peter is. But I think that we can take some of the principles from this.

2 Peter 2 verse 20 says, For if they had escaped the pollutions of the world, you know, I like the way that that's worded, escaped the pollutions of the world. You know, the Bible says things, you know, sometimes it's very poetic in some of the ways that it's written, you know, having escaped the pollutions of the world is, you know, seeing the moral, you know, just pollution, pollution, how it could pollute the insides of us as, you know, we go about our everyday lives and we see, you know, the world especially becoming more and more polluted today, morally. But once you've escaped that pollution, once you've said, you know what, I recognize what's going on in the world and you escape that pollution, verse 20, through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled and overcome the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than having known it to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. This is a scary warning for us, I believe. When you have known the truth and you start to not only overcome, but be overcome by the world around us, you know, it says it's better to have not have even known, not to have even known. You know, the opposite of an overcomer is someone who succumbs, someone who submits, someone who fails, someone who loses. We want to overcome sin and not let it overcome us. Human nature and our weakness, you know, doesn't have to run our lives. We are not, we don't have to be a slave to it. We have to be careful in our society. You know, today, I just listened to a sermon this morning about, you know, are you a confident Christian? And that is, are you confident so much in your beliefs that you can stand up to the moral decline you see in the world around us? Because more and more, you know, those of us who recognize the morals of the Bible, you know, we are not the same. We have, we do not have the same moral bar set for us. And are you confident? Because it can be, we can be easily tainted by the pollution of the moral decline we see around us.

The world around us sees, and they make decisions based on their feelings, you know. Well, I don't feel that that's right. Oh, that, I don't feel that that's very fair. I don't feel that that's very, you know, kind. Well, the Bible is very black and white, and it's the best way for us to live. So we have to be able to, you know, know what we believe. It was a very, very good sermon by Mr. Martin I listened to this morning. We don't want to be tainted by the world's sin and the moral decline we see around us. And when it comes to personal sin, you know, what makes it difficult to overcome a lot of times is, let's be honest, it feels good. Because there is instant gratification when it comes to many of the sins, you know, it feels good to have that extra beer, or third beer, fourth beer. Feels good. That's hard to overcome. Feels good to lust. You know, pick your poison.

Feels good. There is immediate gratification that Satan offers us when he is trading us for our moral ground. But that's what we're called to overcome. We're called to overcome. We're called to be above that. I remember, you know, I spent many years in the woods of Pennsylvania going to Camp Heritage. And I loved doing it. And I remember having, you know, some chats and trying to give the guys some pep talks, you know, about life and about, you know, making right decisions in their lives, making right decisions that won't, you know, lead to despair or bad situations. And I remember, you know, one of the chats I had with one of the older groups, you know, I was telling them to save themselves for marriage. And I said that anybody can go out and, you know, meet some girl and, you know, have a fun night. I go, anybody can do that. The world around us, that is available.

I said, are you man enough, though, to not give in to that temptation?

Because we are called to be overcomers. We're called to recognize the situation of sin and overcome, not succumb to the situations we may find ourselves in. So we have to overcome sin. Number two, we have to overcome the temptations, what leads to sin. We have to be victorious in those situations. Being tempted is not where we've gone too far, right? So we haven't yet sinned because the temptation is there, but we have to be able to overcome when we are faced with temptation.

So what do we do to overcome in a situation where we may find ourselves tempted, where we have not yet sinned, but the opportunities are there?

Let's go back to Luke 11. Luke 11.

I'm really dry today. Three cups of coffee was not a good choice. Luke 11. And this is Jesus giving the example prayer, the model prayer for us. Verse 4 says, forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us, and do not lead us into temptation. When we find ourselves in a spot where we are facing temptation, we have to go to the source of power. We have to pray about it. You know, I know there's been times in my life where I've faced temptation, and I could not get over these temptations until I prayed to God. And I asked, I said, I am too weak. Please give me the strength. Give me the power.

And he does, because he wants us to overcome. He's in our corner. He's not up there just waiting. Oh, I'm going to zap him as soon as he does it. He's in our corner. And if we yield to him and go to him and pray to him, he'll be there for us. Another thing to do in the face of temptation is just avoid. Let's go to Proverbs 22. Proverbs 22, obviously, there are very practical things that we can live by in the book of Proverbs. Proverbs 22 says, in the face of temptation, verse 3. Oh, that's the wrong chapter. Here we go.

A prudent man foresees evil and hides himself.

To foresee evil, you have to know, okay, if I put myself in this situation, I will be faced with temptation. We have to avoid. To overcome in the face of temptation, we have to know where our weaknesses are and just avoid them. And that's just being prudent. That is a one of wise, prudent man does. He foresees evil and he hides himself from him. He avoids it.

In the face of temptation, to overcome, we need to pray. We need to avoid.

And we also need to just flee. Let's go to 1 Corinthians 13.

1 Corinthians.

We are called to recognize in our lives where we have weaknesses, and we are called to overcome. And in the face of temptation, the third thing we need to do is 1 Corinthians 6. Now, this is a very direct command, but I think the principle is there for us. Verse 18, flee sexual morality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. If you're faced with temptation, flee. Flee. Sometimes we might find ourselves in a spot where we can't avoid, we can't think it out ahead of time. Something came in front of us and we're just in the situation now, and that is the time to be wise and flee.

So we are called to overcome sin. We are called to overcome the temptation that we find ourselves. And the third point today I'd like to talk about is overcoming attitude.

Some of the attitudes we may find ourselves in. Now, I think there are two things I could break this down into. Attitudes towards other people. Let's talk about that first. Attitudes towards other people. Philippians 2.3 has some very good information for us there, because we do have to overcome how we feel about other people. You know, the second great commandments, you know, love God and love your neighbor, that means inside us we can't have this attitude about someone else. We can't have certain attitudes that we look down other people. Philippians 2.3, let this mind be done, or let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind esteem others better than himself.

If we actually did that, what conflict could there be?

If we actually esteemed, you know, I can have a disagreement with somebody, but if I am going to esteem them and say, you know, God has called this person, God is, you know, working with this person as well, and I esteem them and say, you know what, they know something that I don't, maybe, what conflicts could we have if we actually put this into practice? We need to be peacemakers in our lives, we need to have loving care for each other, and you know, peace has a rippling effect. You know, if there is a person who is standing ground and being peaceful in their lives, you know, it affects, it affects, you know, your family, it affects your friends. You know, just like someone who is angry, that affects people, a peacemaker does that as well. And that's what we're called to be as well. Peace, peaceful. To overcome attitudes towards other people, let's esteem others better than ourselves. Let's be peacemakers. You know, Romans says, if possible, as much depends on you, live peaceably among all men. You know, we can go out and live a life of being a light to the people around us and still be peaceful people, because that's what we're called to be.

In terms of dealing with each other, too, in the congregation, a lot of times, we need to be careful not to see someone else, and a struggle someone else may be having and saying, you know, seeing them and having an attitude about, well, they're just weaker, they're just not very strong, they're not a very strong person. That's an attitude we have to be careful for, too, because God called so and so wherever they're at in their growth process. And just because they haven't overcome something doesn't mean that we should say, well, you know, what's wrong with that guy? Just doesn't have it. Doesn't have it together, you know? Because sometimes, where I'm weak, you may not see. And I assure you, I have weaknesses, too.

God calls us to be peaceful. We should be encouraging to those people who are struggling in areas. That's why we're to be, you know, loving and caring and not have an attitude towards other people. Another place that we need to watch our attitude is just, you know, our lot in life.

We're trying to teach this to our kids now, specifically Edie, because, you know, kids want you give them something and, you know, this was nice, but I would like to have more.

I was grateful for one scoop of ice cream, but two would be even better.

Right? Now, that's a pretty simple way to think about it, because a lot of times, you know, we find ourselves in situations that we're not, you know, grateful to be in.

But that's what we need to watch our attitude. We need to watch our attitude, because no matter what, if we truly believe, you know, God has put us here, and He is working with me, and He, you know, whatever situation that I'm in, if I can learn from that, that's sort of where we should be with our attitude. You know, not a woe is me, not I'm going to complain to everybody else about it.

You know, Edie was on the bus, and she was struggling with some kids. And that's what I like about school, is because there's two educations. There's the education you learn at school, but also, you know, she had a deal with some kids on the bus who were not very pleasant. Now, I said, you can complain about it, you can get angry, or, you know, you can turn a cheek, you can be kind and respectful, and you can disagree. Because when you get older, those people exist in the world.

They exist.

So we need to watch our attitude towards other people, and to just our lot in life, where we're at. And this is something that we can we can overcome. We have to see what's going on inside of us, and overcome that. Because there are enemies of overcoming. There's enemies out there.

One simple one is, well, I wouldn't say simple, but something that could be an enemy of our ability to overcome is just complacency. You know, I'm doing okay. I'm okay. I'm just going to be super content with where I'm at morally, spiritually. I'm okay. That is that's an enemy of overcoming.

Because it takes energy. It takes passion. It takes zeal.

If there's anything that I've struggled with, I know it's, you know, complacency, and being content. You know, I'm doing okay. I'm a nice guy. I'm kind of likable. But that's dangerous. That's dangerous. You know, deep down, there are some some things that we're all struggling with, and we're called to be overcomers, and it takes work.

It takes work. We shouldn't be okay with where we're at. We should continue to say, you know what, I've reached this goal. I'm going to make it. Here's my next goal. Here's my next bar.

Because I look at the life of Jesus Christ, and He was an overcomer, and this is this is my next, this is what I'm going to work on next. We're called to be overcomers.

When Harry was born, I had a hard time, you know, just finding time to, when can I read my Bible? I am struggling. It took me a while. It took me a while. It took work.

It took work, but I finally found that I overcame. I overcame that so that I could have time and personal time with God, and it takes overcoming. I couldn't just sit on the couch and say, God, give me the power to do it, and I'm just going to wait. It takes work to overcome, but we're not supposed to be overwhelmed with how much overcoming that we see in our lives, because a lot of times during this time of year, let's go over to John 14, a lot of times during this time of year, you know, we're going through our scriptures. We're seeing the the benchmark that Jesus Christ said, and we think, oh man, that is, there is a ton that I have got to overcome, but that's not where we're supposed to be either. We're not supposed to be in a spot where you are just beat down because you can't, you know, you see how much overcoming you have. That's what Satan wants you to believe. He wants you to think that you are not good enough, but God called you, and God gave you something to help you overcome. John 14 verse 16. Jesus is spending his last Passover with his disciples, and he says to them, I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Helper that he may abide with you forever. You know, I like that it's called the Helper because that's what we need at times. To be able to overcome, I need some help. I am not strong enough on my own, and that's great that we're not. We have the Helper with us. Another enemy of overcoming is just Satan out there, out there to get us. 1 Peter, you know, says that he is like a roaring lion, seeking him he may devour. You know, we've been watching planet earth. You know who the lions go after? The weak ones, right? The ones who haven't overcome. Might be struggling with a gimp leg. That's who the lion goes after. But if we're continually working and overcoming, we're going to be a strong one. We're going to be a strong one. One that the lion can't get to.

What's most encouraging, though, is that we have a perfect example of someone who overcomes, and that's who we are looking to as our example in our lives. Let's turn over just a couple pages to John 16. Because Jesus Christ gives us some very encouraging words throughout this, and we're going to be reading this on the Passover, I'm sure, and you know, throughout the weeks as we've been preparing spiritually for the upcoming feast season. John 16 verse 33, Jesus says, These things I have spoken to you, that in me you may have peace. And that's comforting to know.

In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world.

We have someone that we look to who is an overcomer. And when we do spend the time daily looking at this, we can be encouraged by that. Because there's a big portion that's at the end of the story. Let's go back to Revelation 17. We follow someone who is an overcomer.

In Revelation 17, we're dealing with beasts, and we're dealing with, you know, you know, things that are going to happen in the future. And it's encouraging to see who we look to and who we side with as Christians.

Revelation 17, the ten horns, you know, of the beast, which you saw, verses verse 12, which you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they received authority for one hour as kings with the beast. Verse 13, these are of one mind. They will give their power and authority to the beast. These are still the kings. And then verse 14, these will make war with the lamb, and the lamb will overcome them. For he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those who are with them are called chosen and faithful. They're faithful because they spent lives, their lives, overcoming.

We are those overcomers.

That's exciting to see that we can look to Jesus Christ as our example of overcoming. You know, I was a pitcher in Little League as well, and I was okay. I couldn't throw the hardest, my brother actually was really good, my youngest brother. But I could hit the strike zone, you know, pretty well, but you know what? I threw some wild pitches, too.

My dad would say, what's going on? He threw it ten feet in the air.

I don't know. I don't know what was wrong.

Thankfully, in spiritual matters, we're not alone. We're not alone. We have the Holy Spirit. I could yield to God, and I could pray to Him. I could ask for help. We have each other as encouragers.

I don't have to worry about the control issues I have as a pitcher anymore. Something much deeper now, isn't it?

There are some mental things as a pitcher I couldn't overcome. Our sins at times can manifest as physical actions, but at the heart of overcoming, it's an internal matter for each and every one of us. It's on the inside.

When it comes to our spiritual lives, though, we're not alone.

Romans 12, 21 says, do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

You know, I love the Feast of Unleavened Bread because for that week, I am focused on, you know, yeah, the sin is gone, but I am going to be trying to put on righteousness and good.

We're called to overcome in our lives. Let's make it a goal to put aside sin attitudes that hurt peace, temptations. If we know we have a weakness, let's be vigilant, passionate, and zealous, and overcoming. Be a people who are victorious.

Be a people who prevail. Be a people who conquers. Be a people who overcome.