Three Keys to Victory
Introduction:
Victory:
-Hebrew: deliverance, salvation,victory
-Greek: to overcome, to conquer, triumph
A. Exodus 14:14 “The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.”
-The Israelites were in bondage to Pharaoh in Egypt, and God sent Moses and Aaron to talk to Pharaoh, but he wouldn’t let the people go. So God sent plagues: locusts, frogs, blood, death of the firstborn. Pharaoh grieved by the death of the firstborn, said that the people could go, so they left, but after they were gone he changed his mind. He then sent chariots running after the people. The only place for the people to go was across the Red Sea. Moses stretched his rod forth and the waters parted and after the people got across the chariots began coming across but the waters merged back together and they all drowned. They were victorious.
B. Joshua 6:27 “So the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame spread throughout all the country”
-Jericho belonged to the Lord and it was time to reclaim it. God told Joshua and his people to march around the walls of Jericho every day for six days and on the seventh day, to march around seven times and blow the trumpets and shout. They did and the walls came down. They were victorious.
C. Hosea 13:4 “Yet I am the Lord your God ever since the land of Egypt, and you shall know no God but me. For there is no Savior besides me.”
-The Hebrew word for Savior is “victor”, “deliver”, “rescuer”
-God the Father will rescue you from the darkness of your life, deliver you from the evil of your life, and give you victory.
-The Greek word for “saved” means: to be rescued from danger, to make well, to make whole
D. Romans 8:37, I Corinthians 15:57, 2 Corinthians 2:14
Background:
-Ahab was the husband of Jezebel. She influenced Ahab to give Baal equal authority as God and later on completely opposed the worship of God and had orders to kill the prophets and destroy all altars.
-God told Elijah to go and tell Ahab that there was going to be a famine in the land
-And so there was and the animals were lack on food, so Ahab told Obadiah, who was the servant of his house, to go to another area and take half of everything.
-While he was there he met up with Elijah, and Elijah told him to go tell Ahab that he was here
-He meets up with Elijah and Ahab says “Art thou he that troubleth Israel”
-He answers it is you and your Baal
-Then Elijah suggests the contest on Mt. Carmel
I. FAITH
-belief and trust in God
-Elijah showed his faith in God as he went back to Ahab knowing that they were killing prophets
-Also he was outnumbered 850:1-450 prophets of Baal, and 400 prophets of the groves
-Galatians 3:26 “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus”
-Hebrews 11:6 “For without faith it is impossible to please him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him”
-Faith will grow as you begin to get confident in his Word
-Habakkuk 2:4 “Behold the proud, His soul is not upright in him. But the just shall live by his faith.”
II. OBEDIENCE
-Willing to do what one is told
-Greek: To answer
-Acting upon what God has said
-Luke 11:28 “But he said, More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.”
-When we walk in obedience, that’s when the blessings begin to flow
-To be successful and victorious, you must pay the price of being obedient
-James 1:22 “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”
-Elijah was obedient. When God told him to go to Ahab he went. When he was told to have the contest, he did it. Everything was at God’s command. (I Kings 18:36-37)
-God doesn’t want carefulness, he wants obedience
-When God tells us something, we need to do it without hesitation
III. SACRIFICE
-Hebrew: offering, wholly dedicated to God
-To give up something of value
-Sacrifices were to make atonements for sin
-Hebrew: To make amends, to reconcile the relationship
-God wants us to sacrifice our ways of sin, pride, selfishness, and our fleshly desires
-God wants us to lay our flesh on the altar, so he can light it up
-Burning flesh has a nasty smell, but it is a sweet smelling savor to God
-The fire didn’t come until the sacrifice was laid on the altar and the victory wasn’t won until it was there to.
-When we lay it down he will consume it completely
Conclusion
-To receive Christ all he wants you to do is sacrifice your pride, obey his word, and receive him by faith.
-Maybe you just need to sacrifice some things in your life, and put wood on the fire and make it bigger
-We need to pattern our lives after Jesus
