What Is Your Plan to Be an Overcomer?

Well, good afternoon again, brethren. As I've said earlier, it's a delight to be able to be here with you. It's wonderful to be able to, as we did beforehand, kind of talk about preparing for the feast, and then go to the feast, and then come back and talk about having been there. And what we were able not only to learn, but how it is, you know, that God is interested. God is interested in us. He's interested in his family. He's interested in the growth and the development that's taking place in our lives spiritually. And certainly, you could say about the Feast of Tabernacles, again, wherever you may have attended, because we have many different areas represented here today. The feast is designed to be an educational experience. It's designed to be able to involve us in learning. But it's also to be exhorting. It's to be encouraging in promoting our spiritual development. And I want to point out to something that, to all of you, and then kind of focus on it during the sermon today, that it seemed that during the feast there in England, there was an emphasis on overcoming. There were several different comments to that effect as far as overcoming. And again, sometimes I think, you know, we might think of overcoming as somewhat of a labor, somewhat of a drudgery. And yet, I think the right focus on overcoming is really a focus on positive overcoming. And I'd like to be able to explain that a little more so here this afternoon. We all know, and we're told in Revelation 2 and 3, in the messages to the churches, that it says to him who overcomes, I will give you, and then it gives many different descriptions of the blessings that God will give to those who are overcoming. And so clearly, to be a part of the Church of God, to be a part of the group that God is cultivating and working with, that he wants to be a part of the divine family, overcoming is a part of it. And yet, too many times, like I said, it becomes somewhat negative. It kind of becomes a, you know, a difficult task. And yet, I don't think it should be viewed in that way. Here in Revelation 21, I want to point out just a couple of verses here in Revelation 21, and this, of course, is John's writing down what it was that Jesus revealed, and how it is that even beyond, as you start talking in chapter 21 and 22 about a new heavens and a new earth and a new Jerusalem, you know, all of which we can read, and we can only envision a certain aspect of exactly what this will be. But here in verse 6 of chapter 21, it says, then he said to me, it is done.

I am the Alpha and the Omega. I am the beginning and the end. And so Jesus Christ was clearly directing, you know, that John, you know, this was talking about Jesus. He said, to the thirsty, I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life. And so I would say certainly all of us should want to be in the category of being thirsty. Thirsty for the water of life that is spoken of here as a closeness to God, as a closeness to the Spirit of God and to the King of that Kingdom at that time. In verse 6, to the thirsty, I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life. And then in verse 7, those who overcome or those who conquer will inherit all things or these things, and I will be their God and they will be my children.

See, God is really interested in having a close familial relationship with each and every one of his children, so he wants us to be overcoming. He wants us to be continually growing. And so, the question I want to focus on during the sermon this afternoon is, what is your plan?

What is your plan to be an overcomer? I think it's pretty obvious that we ought to be an overcomer. I think most of us would agree with that. We would feel like that's something we're told in the Bible, not only in the few verses that I've read, but numerous other places. We're told that we've got to be overcoming. But I ask, what is your plan to be an overcomer?

Because unfortunately, if we don't have a plan, then we're probably not overcoming as much as we should. We may be overcoming some, but I will hope to point out to you the importance of having a plan. And I think this is a perfect time to be able to do this because, as all of us know, we have finished the Holy Day seasons for this year. You know, just this past month, we've gone through the fall Holy Days of trumpets and atonement that are held locally here, and then the Feast of Tabernacles in the eighth day that we celebrate in different locations. That concludes the year. Not that that's the end of either the Hebrew year or even our calendar year, but it includes the Holy Days for this year. And the next Holy Days will be next year. Actually, they'll begin. The Passover isn't until April. So there's a five-month period of time that I'd like for us to think about here. We concluded a celebration of the coming Kingdom of God and of the remaining parts of God's plan that we understand at this point. And yet, I want us to consider the need to be an overcomer, but more so to have a plan in our overcoming. And whether we feel like we need to improve our prayer life, or whether we need to be more diligent in our study of the Bible, or in our working on other problems that we know about ourselves, or whether it's a matter of other things, overcoming could involve a lot of different things. But I think it's important that we have a plan. So first of all, I want to just point out that as we've celebrated the Feast and the last day, these celebrations, you know, we come home, we get ready for that in a sense all year because we're saving money for that. Through our second tithe, we are saving that to use at the Feast. We're doing so in order to honor God, to follow what God says, because He tells us that that's what a part of our money should be used for in celebrating the festivals. But primarily the Feast, as we attend that Feast here at the end of the year, what we're doing is we're celebrating hope. We're celebrating hope. You know, this world is certainly a dismal place. Whenever you see the things that happen around the globe, and I have to say I've not been listening to a lot of news for a couple of three weeks. I do attend up end up seeing too much news at home most of the time. But whenever you, I was just listening even on the radio driving back this afternoon, you know, what do they have to report? Well, so-and-so was killed, you know, whatever kind of huge debacle was happening here or there, or even up in Seattle or north of Seattle, another shooting at a school. You know, that's the type of things that not only are sensationalized, that's what fills our world, fills the news. And of course, you know, that's even local, that's not even global.

But as we go to the feast, we're celebrating a time of hope. And we're looking forward to that. We're praying for that time to come. And whenever God tells us to seek the kingdom of God, whenever He tells us to pray, thy kingdom come, we're really praying in a hopeful way. We're praying hopeful that God will bring that as soon as He can see fit to do so.

And also, I'd like for us to remember, as we celebrate a time of hope here at the festivals, we're also celebrating the fulfillment of what the gospel is all about. Now, see, what is it that we together collectively proclaim? What's the church supposed to proclaim? Well, the good news of the coming kingdom of God. That's what we proclaim. And ultimately, the feast pictures the fulfillment of that gospel message, a change and a transition that will come when Jesus returns to earth. You see in Mark 1 that Jesus, and we read this during our kingdom of God seminars, it says that Jesus, in Mark 1, verse 14 and 15, He says He preached about the coming kingdom of God. He talked about a kingdom. He was excited about a kingdom.

But of course, He wasn't setting it up then. He wasn't claiming to be setting it up then. He was simply introducing it. He was simply announcing it. And then, of course, He had other work to do at the time whenever He was here on earth, and He would give His church a mission. A mission to proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God. And actually, when you read Jesus' parables, many of them have to do with the kingdom of God. Many of His parables that He spoke to His disciples, where they could come to understand a certain level of those parables, and others would not understand them. That was by design. But He said they were about the kingdom of God. They were about an awareness of the hope that we have. And this is the first point of what I'm wanting to point out. Now, we have a marvelous blessing of looking forward and forward to the kingdom of God being established on earth. Here in Acts 3, we probably read this during the feast. Someone may have, at least wherever you were. In Acts 3, it says in verse 19, Peter was speaking and said, repent. Repent, therefore, and turn to God. Be converted. Turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out. And in Acts 3, verse 20, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord and that He may send the Messiah, anointed or appointed for you. That is Jesus, who must remain in heaven until the time of universal restoration, the time of restoring or restitution of all things that God announced. Well, God wasn't just announcing that right there with Peter.

He was, of course, restating it through Peter. But Peter says that this time of restoration, God has planned for and He has announced long ago through the holy prophets.

See, whenever we read, as we have gone through some here this past summer, a little bit of Isaiah, some of Jeremiah and Ezekiel, or I guess we're yet to do Ezekiel, we haven't gotten that far yet. But when you read Isaiah, there are multiple chapters that detail what we know God has been preparing for a long time. And so it's fabulous for us to think about that. It's important to remember that the Kingdom of God is a time of hope, and yet it also is a fulfillment of our work, fulfillment of the preaching of the Gospel of the Kingdom. I think it's interesting, and this was pointed out during the Feast in England in Psalm 120 and Psalm 121 and Psalm 122. I'll just mention those and point to you. Maybe we could go there and read a few of these verses. I'm not wanting to read all of these right now. But this section in Psalms is really amazing, and it actually is a part of a group of Psalms from Psalm 120 to Psalm 135 that are called the Songs of Ascent. And they were sung by the people of Israel. They were sung by the Jews in the day of Jesus. Probably Jesus sang these same hymns as He would be going with His parents to the festival, whether the Feast of Tabernacles as He would go up with them to celebrate the Feast.

And yet in those three Psalms, in Psalm 120, 121 and 122, you have a very hopeful vision, a hopeful vision that starts in chapter 120, which really seems to be focused on what it is to live in this world. It starts out in verse 1, says, In my distress I cry to the Lord, so that He may answer me.

And down in verse 6, He says, Too long I've had my dwelling among those who hate peace. See, if that isn't a description of this world today, people are not like Mr. Beyer was preaching about, about being peaceful, being cooperative, being in harmony, learning God's way of love. That's not. This chapter seems to be talking about the way this world really is represented. And this author says, Too long, in verse 6, have I had my dwelling among those who hate peace. And yet, he says in verse 7, I am for peace. But when I speak, they are for war.

See, that's really, you know, in a sense, a summary of the world today. And yet, in chapter 121, you see a totally different tone. And clearly, a focus on the fact that God is able to change that. See, this world can have the tone of war, of anger, of hatred. And yet, the tone that is reflected here in this next chapter in verse 1, I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where will my help come? My help comes from the Lord who made the heavens and the earth. The Creator is the one who is able to help us. And of course, that's what this chapter is about. It's about the help that comes from God. And of course, it mentions in verse 5, the Lord is your keeper. The Lord is your shade and your right hand. Verse 7, the Lord will keep you from all evil. He will keep your life.

See, that's clearly a description of what we ask for, what we want, and clearly an indication of how He's going to be able to enter people's lives to help them be secure and help them to be safe.

And then finally, in chapter 122, it appears to be referring to a time, a time in the near future when a new capital of the world will be established. A time when the millennial rule of Jesus Christ will be from Jerusalem. In verse 1, it says, I was glad when they said to me, let us go up to the house of the Lord.

That's clearly a reference to what we find in Isaiah and in Micah, I believe, very similar statements about going up to the house of God. That's going to occur when people are brought to an awareness of their need for God. And of course, our feet are standing in verse 2, within your gates, O Jerusalem. Jerusalem built as a city that is bound firmly together. It is to it, excuse me, in verse 4, that tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord.

And so it says for us in verse 6, to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, that they may prosper who love you. Peace be within your walls and security within your towers. This chapter is about the kingdom of God. It's about what will happen whenever Jerusalem is established as the throne of where Christ will rule from on this earth.

And so, I think, and as somebody mentioned, maybe Jesus would have sung these songs. I would think that they probably had tremendous meaning to him. He had far greater insight than any of us would have had to see that even the contrast and to see how close that would allow someone to draw close to God. So, the first thing I want to mention about this whole idea of being an overcomer is that we have a vision and we have hope of the real solution. And that solution will come when Christ comes to the earth. The second thing I want to mention is that, as I pointed out earlier, we're at a time where we've got about five months.

Five months before the next Holy Day occurs. Five months before the beginning of the process of laying out throughout the year of the Holy Days that we'll have in 2015. And during this time, I know we realize it'll be later fall and then it'll be in the winter. Often that can be somewhat dreary. It can be cold. It can be a little bit of a difficulty. It can be looked at as somewhat of a dark or a dry season. And yet, I would say for all of us, that should not be. Even though we do face many of the world's holidays during that time.

It won't be long before they'll be pushing. Well, they already are pushing Halloween and Christmas. And of course, later New Year's and Valentine's Day and Easter, all of those will happen before we get to April. And I simply want to point out about that, that even though we have some dry months ahead before we get to the time of the Passover, I hope that all of us will be focused on our plan to overcome and not be undermined by what we see can be deterrence.

And of course, as I mentioned all of these holidays, in Romans 12, it talks about, Romans 12, I think it's in verse 2, it says, don't be conformed to the world. Don't conform to the world, but come out of the world, as it says in Revelation 18. You know, those are the admonitions. Those are the instructions. But I also want us to look here in 2 Corinthians. In 2 Corinthians 6, you see a directly applicable admonishment that Paul gave because he was talking to the people in the church. He was talking to those who lived in Corinth and who suffered many of the miseries of the people around them and actually of a culture that was quite decadent in its corruption and their licentiousness.

But here in 2 Corinthians 6, he says in verse 11, we have spoken frankly to you, Corinthians, and our heart is wide open to you. There is no restriction in our love for all of you. And in return, I ask you as children, open wide your hearts to us. See, this was Paul pleading with the people in the church at Corinth to truly understand their calling, understand that they have been drawn out of the world, that they have been drawn away from the corruption that existed even then.

And of course, we fit in the same category. In verse 14, he says, don't be mismatched with unbelievers. For what partnership is there between righteousness and lawlessness? And what fellowship is there between light and darkness? What agreement does Christ have with Belial? What does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement is the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God.

Here he makes a contrast that can be applicable in many, many ways to our interacting in this world. And I'll point out, you know, this involves marriage, it involves working situations, it involves family situations, it involves settings that we might be involved in. He goes on to say, I will live in them. God says, I will live in them. I will walk among them. I will be their God. They should be my people. Therefore, they should come out, come out from them and be separate. In verse 18, I will be your father and you shall be my sons and daughters. This is what God wants. And yet, He wants us to be thinking, thinking about the time frames that we have, even looking forward to next year, looking forward to the beginning of the spring holy days, but begin with the Passover. That begins, and yet, as I've mentioned, so many other holidays are going to be celebrated. And in many ways, you haven't. I would say the bulk of you haven't celebrated those holidays for years. And yet, they haven't gone away. They're still quite visible. They're still quite engaging, or they have a lure, and possibly, even through family or work, we have difficult situations that we need to be alert to, to not be drawn in. That's a part of what we're told in this particular section of Scripture. So, I do want to point that out as I then get to the third point that I really want to focus on. Do you have a plan? A plan in order to overcome?

See, I think it's really important to think about that, because, again, if we don't, then we won't. If we don't focus on a need to overcome and then have some type of a plan in place to do something about it, and often it's very easy to go ahead and do. It's something to achieve, or can be achieved. But if we don't have a plan, if we're not setting that as a priority, well, then we, you know, are probably not making the progress we want. First of all, of course, we need to see any of our problems that we want to address. If we don't acknowledge something is being wrong, then clearly we're not going to be changing it. So, seeing the problem is the first point. Second point is to prepare to succeed, and then thirdly, to involve God and His help and His power to be able to help us truly be overcomers. I want us to look at several Proverbs. Proverbs chapter 21. Proverbs chapter 21. This actually is in conjunction with, you know, making a plan. But here in Proverbs 21, and I am reading out of the new Revised Standard Version, it may be a little bit different in the translation you're reading. But in Proverbs 21 verse 2, we're given some insight that we need to be aware of. Verse 2 says, all deeds are right in the sight of the doer, but the Lord weighs the heart. See, too many times we can deceive ourselves. Very easy to begin to think that whatever I'm doing, whatever that is, is right or it's okay. Now, of course, if that's backed up with the Word of God, then it is okay. It is fine. But what this is pointing out is that our own ways seem right to us. That would be the case for every single one of us, and obviously me. That would be what we have to be aware of when we're making a plan in order to overcome. If we jump over to chapter 22, it says in verse 3, The clever see danger and then hide. But the simple go on and they suffer for it.

Now, again, that's a pretty simple proverb or a very short statement, but it actually tells us, you know, as it says, you know, if we are diligent, if we are looking in order to, you know, kind of get the right path that we want to follow, if we're looking for that and we see something that is dangerous, we get away from it. We move away or we go another direction. But it says the simple just simply go on and when they do, you know, they are the ones who suffer. And see, this could be, you know, the a pattern that all of us could suffer from. It's kind of like, you know, bad habits that we get into, that we need to change, that we need to overcome with. You know, they lack a vision to change. Maybe they lack a motivation, but they certainly lack a vision to make changes. And so, let's jump back to chapter 21 here, because this is the verse I really want to highlight. Verse 5, the plans of the diligent, the plans of the diligent, lead surely to abundance. See, if we are properly planning in our overcoming, then we're going to have a success that will be considered abundant. We are going to be making progress. But of course, in converse, it says in verse 5, everyone who is hasty comes only to want. You know, if we don't make a plan, then we usually find that, well, we didn't achieve what we wanted to achieve.

And that clearly can be applied to our spiritual growth, our spiritual development.

And so, I want to just point these out, because, you know, if we're going to have a plan, and again, every one of our plans would be different. Every one of our plans, they could be similar, but they would all be different, because all of us are different, and we would all approach things in a different way. But I say, we should have a plan. If we're going to make progress as we go through, what we could say is this kind of a dry or dark time of the year, we want to be planning to be overcoming. And certainly, that may involve the plans of the diligent. That may involve prioritizing what we think is most important. If I think of five things, they ought to really make some progress in. But if I don't organize those and maybe determine what would be the most needed one, prioritize that first one, and say, okay, I've got to be working on that one, then we'll find that all five are there, and I didn't work on any of them all that well.

And actually, I think it's good for us to focus even on one thing at a time, because often we're better at achieving something. Whenever we put our full attention or our full focus on it, we're able to achieve that because we focus on that one thing at a time.

Now, our plans might involve prioritizing. It might involve even changing an environment. Too many times, some of the habits that we get into and that we might even want to change are because of the environment that we place ourselves in. And we could change that environment, but maybe we haven't. And so, that could be another consideration as far as making plans or the plans of the diligent. Another thing that could be considered would be seeking help from those who could help. Again, this is kind of pulling out all stops as far as what would really cause me to be improving. What would really cause me to be growing in the areas of spiritual growth that I see personally that God clearly sees, probably better than I do, that I want to work on.

And so, I mention these because, as I said, we've got to be able to see our problems, but we also have to be able to make a plan and prepare to succeed. Actually, there's a great deal that can be said about preparing to succeed, and certainly that's what you find in many fields.

You don't find people being real successful in areas where they don't do proper preparation. And they don't become. We have at least one man that I see commonly on television, a man who really has a lot of fairly good information to offer to the country. He's some type of, I think at this point, retired neurosurgeon or brain surgeon.

He didn't just become a brain surgeon by all of a sudden waking up and saying, now I'm a brain surgeon. I'm sure he had years of schooling and many years of practice.

And, as I understand it, he's highly, highly successful in the field that he is an expert in he also seems to have some other pretty wise things to point out to how we could live and how we could make some improvements. But see, what I point out about that is simply the preparation that it takes to really succeed. We might overlook or we might ignore or we might not focus on. And so it'd be important to prepare in that way. And, as I said, if we need to change an environment, you know, bad habits, you know, they're, you know, they're like, I guess, what you would say, a comfortable bit, very easy to get into, kind of hard to get out of. You know, that's a part of what we have to realize about some things that we want to overcome.

You know, we may need to change our timing or change our environment to be able to change some of the things that we see, you know, God would wish for us to change. And then, as I said, seek help as we might feel we could or should from those who could help. Because often there are others who might be able to help us that we could benefit greatly from seeking their advice. And, of course, even as we make plans to be overcomers, there are always going to be obstacles. And we want to be mindful of that, aware of the fact that obstacles are just that. They're just obstacles. They are not completely falling off the chart, but they are obstacles that we need to prepare to get around. They may be our challenges that we need to be able to get around. You know, those could be distraction. You know, pretty easy to get distracted in this day and age, at least it is for me if you look at newspapers or if you look at the internet, you know, it just goes everywhere. And it's not always beneficial for me or you, you know, in many of the ways that it goes. You know, but obstacles could be distraction, could be, you know, just complaining. It could be, oh, I just want to give up, or I need to just go back, or I'm wearing out. I don't seem to be making any progress. There are a lot of excuses that we can always make. And we can become complacent or even self-satisfied that I'm just as good as God wants me to be. That's not the case. You know, God has more for every one of us to grow in. But see, we want to recognize that those obstacles, you know, they may be there, but they are simply challenges that we need to be able to get around. And actually, see, what's really wrong with taking two steps forward and then taking one step back? You know, what's the net gain there? There is still a net gain if you've got one step forward. I think often we get tired or we give up or we, you know, try to do something. We set a, you know, design a plan and we try to do it and then we fail. We don't follow through. And so we feel like, well, we took two steps forward and one back, but see, you still made some progress. I think in many ways we need to be able to be kind of self-compassionate. Well, making some progress is better than not making progress. And it's not giving up. It's not being distracted or it's not feeling like I'm going to wear out.

See, that's all a part of what we can use as a plan, you know, to be able to overcome. And the last thing I mentioned in connection with this is back if we turn back to chapter 16 of Proverbs. Proverbs 16 verse 9. In a sense, maybe, you know, one of the biggest things that we should include in our planning. Not only do we see what we want to change, but we desire or devise a plan to make some changes, to try to make some progress, maybe discuss this with your husband or wife, someone who would be willing or wish to try to help you make progress. But here in chapter 16 verse 9 it says, the human mind plans the way, but the Lord directs the steps.

You know, we want to include God. We want to seek God's help. We want to beseech God for His help in helping us be able to make progress in overcoming. So we want to ask Him for help, seek His help. He is for us. Remember what we read back in Revelation, what we read in 2 Corinthians? God wants us to be in His family. He wants us. He wants us to succeed. But He wants us, you know, to have a certain impetus in making the changes that we should make. And so, whenever we do that, whenever we make a plan, and whenever we determine how we can benefit from that, and we ask God to bless us and to help us, we'll find that God, you know, He will allow us to progress. He'll allow us to go forward. These next few months should be months of growth, as any month should be. But as we can think about it, we have the Holy Days scattered throughout the year that we look forward to, and that keep our mind kind of focused on God, and on His plan, and on His purpose for human life. And through these next few months, you know, we don't have as much of that focus. So we want, you know, to be able to keep our eyes on the goal. So include God, or keep Him in your plans, because He's the one who's going to truly direct your steps. He may even guide your steps in a little different way than you thought. And yet, you know, He can help you to make progress. So, as we read originally here in Revelation 21, Revelation 21 tells us that those who are going to be a part of God's divine family, those who are going to be inheriting all things, those who will be the children of God, are going to be, in Revelation 21, verse 6, those who are really thirsty, who really seek the gift from the spring of the water of life. That is what God has to offer. He says, those who do overcome will inherit all things, and I will be their God, and they will be my children. See, God can provide the strength and the encouragement that we need, but we have a certain part to play in that as well. We have a certain level of decision-making that we have to make, and then we are able, with God's help, to make progress. And maybe not just two steps and then one back, but maybe three or four forward, maybe far more than we would ever imagine. But I would say, certainly as we come back from such a joyous time as the Feast of Tabernacles and as we've been celebrating not only a time to go and be somewhere and enjoy being with the people of God and being able to celebrate together, but that as we come back that we set our thoughts and set our plans to truly be the type of overcoming people that God wants us to be.