Sermon Central
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08 Life Encounter: It's Conquest. Series
Contributed by Ralph Andrus on May 27, 2008 (message contributor)
Summary: I. ENEMIES TO THE CONQUEST - II. THE CONQUEROR’S JOURNEY ❶. The Conquest In Jeopardy ❷. The Conqueror’s Action ❸. The Conqueror’s Instructions ❹. The Conqueror’s Prize
Romans 8:37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
- Ever broken an arm or a hand, a leg or a finger?
- Then you know how hard it suddenly becomes to do even the simplest tasks.
- Ever try to tie your shoe with one hand?
- Open a jar with one hand?
- Fold a shirt with one hand?
- Things we are used to performing with utter ease using two hands become agonizingly slow and take all our concentration when only one is available.
-The results are sloppy and embarrassing.
- Some tasks take two
--two hands
--two people
--two wills
--two hearts.
- One simply isn’t enough to get the job done.
I. ENEMIES TO THE CONQUEST:
A. Secularism.
- Today we sleep on man-mad beds
- Live in man-made houses
- Eat canned food and drink tap water
- Step out on man-made sidewalks
- Drive man-made cars under smoke-filled skies
- Work at man-made factories to handle man-made
tools to produce man-made products.
- People are so busy that they have little time for
thinking.
- We are making a living and not making a life
- We have a materialistic view of life that exalts might before right
- Money before family
- Position before people
- Greed before God.
B. Skepticism.
- We live in an age that speaks of new truth.
- Scientific investigation and research are daily discovering undreamed of facts about the universe.
- Old thought is replaced with new thought.
- Life standards have no boundaries
- Truth is relative
- Many whose faith rested on false premises are skeptical as to life’s ultimate issues.
- The church is weak and has no voice
- The absolutes of scripture must anchor our soul
C. Pessimism
- Iraq & Afghanistan war are no longer worth fighting
- Presidential nominations have their ow standards
- Consumer prices are rising daily
- Media has their own agenda
- Children are taught to hate and kill.
- Liquor and drugs have a stranglehold
- The Christian family and the whole system of Christian ethics are subject to constant attack.
- It is impossible to be optimistic without faith in God.
D. Immoralism
- Atheism.
- No longer believe or trust
- Living for today as I please
- Sin unforgiven means death.
- We are saved when we are willing to repent and believe.
- Christ the conquer of sin helps us overcome sin.
- Anything other than God’s will is sin, and sin must go.
- "No man can serve two masters" (Matt. 6:24).
- We battle against that which would keep us from giving our hearts to God.
- Jesus really hates sin!
8 Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast them from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire. 9 And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.
One vacationing in the mountains tells that his party was engaged in watching an eagle soaring majestically above the highest peaks. Monarch of the air was he! Suddenly his great wings folded and the bird fell with a thud to the distant mountain. Such an unusual occurrence caused the party to make the journey of some hours to find the bird. They found the eagle had clutched a weasel in his talons, which during the flight had drained the eagle’s life’s blood from its breast.
- Secret sin will do to you if you try to clutch it to your bosom.
- Sin must go, else there can be no victorious living.
II. The Conqueror’s Journey
Jehoshaphat - 2 Chron. 20
1. The Conquest In Jeopardy
v. 1 - The Enemy is Powerful (2 nations stretching along the Jordan)
v.2 - The Enemy is Resourceful (multitude)
v.2 - The Enemy is Purposeful (close)
v.3 - The Enemy is Dreadful (fear)
2. The Conqueror’s Action
v.3a - Focus - Set yourself to seek the Lord
v. 3b-5 - Prepare - Humbling (Fasting)
- Joining v.4, 13
- Prayed - v.5
Pray .6-12
v. 6 - Exalting
v. 7- Examining
v. 9 -Exclaiming
v. 10-12 - Exhorting
3. The Conqueror’s Instructions
v. 15 Be not afraid - Confident
v. 15 Be not Dismayed (shattered, broken, dismayed) United
v. 16 Go forward
v. 17 Reinforced a 2nd time
v.18-22 Israel’s Belief
- Songs of praise
4. The Conqueror’s Prize
Romans 8:37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
