WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.200 What if the thing you're fighting so hard to overcome has already been defeated? 2 00:00:06.080 --> 00:00:12.400 This was the question that resonated deeply in my spirit years ago when I was in the chokehold 3 00:00:12.400 --> 00:00:18.080 of anxiety and panic. So I want to ask you today, what if the battle that you're facing 4 00:00:18.800 --> 00:00:25.120 isn't for you to strive and fight really hard to win, but instead, what if it's simply about 5 00:00:25.120 --> 00:00:33.520 you waking up to a victory that's already yours? In Romans chapter 8, verse 37, Paul writes, 6 00:00:33.520 --> 00:00:40.800 no, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 7 00:00:41.440 --> 00:00:46.640 And what's really interesting is Paul uses a word here that appears this one time in the entire 8 00:00:46.640 --> 00:00:52.640 Bible, and he uses the Greek word for victory, but then he adds hyper to it, meaning above, 9 00:00:53.280 --> 00:01:01.280 beyond. So not just a victory, a hyper victory to overwhelmingly conquer something, to gain 10 00:01:01.280 --> 00:01:07.120 a surpassing victory. Paul could have just said we're conquerors. That would have been incredible 11 00:01:07.120 --> 00:01:15.520 on its own, but he didn't. He said we are more than conquerors. So let's apply this truth to 12 00:01:15.520 --> 00:01:20.400 all that's happening in the world right now, or even what's happening in your world right now, 13 00:01:20.400 --> 00:01:28.400 in your personal life. The outcome isn't in question, only what you believe about it. 14 00:01:29.440 --> 00:01:33.360 And I know belief, the concept of belief can feel slippery, like it's really hard to pin down 15 00:01:33.360 --> 00:01:38.480 and grasp because we try to locate it in our feelings often, or in our mental agreement, 16 00:01:38.480 --> 00:01:45.280 or in the words that we say, but belief isn't primarily a feeling or a thought. Belief is trust. 17 00:01:46.240 --> 00:01:54.640 It's what you're leaning the full weight of your life on. The outcome is this, Jesus has won, 18 00:01:55.360 --> 00:02:01.280 and that is not a platitude to help us feel better about hard things or living in a broken world. 19 00:02:01.280 --> 00:02:10.240 We must understand that Jesus's victory is an eternal, unshakable, unchanging truth. 20 00:02:10.479 --> 00:02:15.920 He conquered sin, death, and the grave. The war is finished. There's nothing left to win. 21 00:02:16.480 --> 00:02:21.840 So what are we doing here? What is the point of our life here on earth? What is the Christian 22 00:02:21.840 --> 00:02:28.960 life about? I believe we're training for reigning. We are not soldiers fighting to secure the 23 00:02:28.960 --> 00:02:36.320 kingdom. We are royalty learning to rule it. All of Romans eight is pointing to the key 24 00:02:36.320 --> 00:02:42.960 that unlocks this truth for us, and it's not what religion has taught us because most of us 25 00:02:42.960 --> 00:02:49.840 have been taught, whether directly or indirectly, that the key is performance or figuring God out. 26 00:02:50.400 --> 00:02:55.200 If I just pray enough, serve enough, understand enough, study enough, declare enough, 27 00:02:55.200 --> 00:03:01.600 then I'll experience the victory. Then I'll overcome. But Paul isn't pointing to our behavior 28 00:03:01.600 --> 00:03:08.640 in Romans eight. He's pointing to our identity because being more than a conqueror is not 29 00:03:08.640 --> 00:03:16.240 something that we accomplish. It's something that Christ accomplished for us. And look at how Paul 30 00:03:16.240 --> 00:03:23.840 says it. He says, no, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us 31 00:03:23.840 --> 00:03:30.160 through him, not through our striving, not through our performance, through God and his love for us. 32 00:03:31.040 --> 00:03:38.480 Now let's look at the context. In verse 37, Paul asks, the context of verse 37, Paul asks a question 33 00:03:38.480 --> 00:03:44.720 in verse 35. First, he says, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or 34 00:03:44.720 --> 00:03:53.440 distress, persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? And he's listing real hardships. 35 00:03:53.440 --> 00:03:58.800 These are not hypotheticals. Like he's not trying to be dramatic. Paul experienced all of these 36 00:03:58.880 --> 00:04:04.560 himself. So he's speaking from his own experience. And then he quotes Psalm 44, which is interesting 37 00:04:04.560 --> 00:04:10.800 because Psalm 44 is a cry of abandonment. The psalmist thought suffering meant God had left 38 00:04:10.800 --> 00:04:17.440 him. And Paul says, no, the suffering is real. We don't ignore that or deny it, but abandonment, 39 00:04:17.440 --> 00:04:26.400 that's a lie because in all these things, we are more than conquerors. Jesus told us in John 1633, 40 00:04:26.400 --> 00:04:32.560 in this world, you will have trouble, but take heart or have courage because I've overcome the 41 00:04:32.560 --> 00:04:37.280 world. So we know that he didn't say, if you follow me, you're no longer going to have trouble in your 42 00:04:37.280 --> 00:04:42.080 life. This is a big deal because people think when trouble comes that they're distant from God. 43 00:04:42.080 --> 00:04:46.720 He said, no, you're going to have trouble, but I've overcome the world. Not I will overcome the world 44 00:04:46.720 --> 00:04:50.800 or I'm trying to overcome the world. And then I'm going to come back and get you guys. But I have 45 00:04:50.800 --> 00:04:59.840 overcome past tensed, finished, done. And because he's overcome, we get to live as overcomers. His victory. 46 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:05.920 becomes our victory. What he accomplished, we inherit. We are co-heirs with Christ, the Bible 47 00:05:05.920 --> 00:05:14.400 says. We don't become an overcomer by overcoming. You and I overcome because we already are 48 00:05:14.400 --> 00:05:19.920 overcomers because of what Christ did. So the question in your battle right now isn't, 49 00:05:19.920 --> 00:05:24.880 will I overcome this? The question is, how aware am I of the victory that's already mine in this 50 00:05:24.880 --> 00:05:30.720 situation? The Christian life is not about trying to get somewhere with God. The Christian life is 51 00:05:30.720 --> 00:05:36.800 about discovering where we already are, which is seated in heavenly places with Christ Jesus, 52 00:05:36.800 --> 00:05:43.680 the Bible says. When we believe this, it changes everything. It changes how we see adversity. 53 00:05:43.680 --> 00:05:49.280 Adversity is not a reflection of your identity or your closeness or your distance from God, 54 00:05:49.360 --> 00:05:54.960 as religion would have us believe. If you believe Jesus is your Lord, you become one with him, 55 00:05:54.960 --> 00:06:02.880 the Bible says. So adversity is no longer a means of your defeat or doom. It means that you've 56 00:06:02.880 --> 00:06:08.160 been positioned to experience and demonstrate the truth of who Christ is and who you are in him. 57 00:06:08.880 --> 00:06:14.960 Romans 8, 28 promises this. It says, and we know for those who love God, all things work together 58 00:06:14.960 --> 00:06:21.120 for good for those who are called according to his purpose. Because we're overcomers, we are going 59 00:06:21.120 --> 00:06:27.440 to be brought into arenas in this world that need to encounter the presence of the overcomer 60 00:06:27.440 --> 00:06:34.960 who we carry. And if the hardship you're facing, that Satan thinks he's so cleverly set up against 61 00:06:34.960 --> 00:06:43.680 you, what if it's actually a setup against him? Because an overcomer who carries Christ has just 62 00:06:43.680 --> 00:06:51.120 stepped into this arena with a surpassing victory. This will change how we view generational curses. 63 00:06:51.120 --> 00:06:57.280 Oh, oh, I have been brought into this family. I have been placed into this bloodline that needed 64 00:06:57.280 --> 00:07:02.800 to encounter the presence of the victorious Christ, which I carry. This will change how you 65 00:07:02.800 --> 00:07:07.200 view a diagnosis. This will change how you view the nation that you were born into, or the one 66 00:07:07.200 --> 00:07:13.920 that you live and have citizenship in. What about adversity? This is a question I get a lot. 67 00:07:13.920 --> 00:07:19.600 What about the adversity that we face that's a consequence of our own bad behavior? Well, this is 68 00:07:19.600 --> 00:07:27.120 the beauty of repentance. We get to change. We're not stuck. Repentance is a gift. It's not merely 69 00:07:27.120 --> 00:07:34.400 apologizing. It's transformation. Because as followers of Jesus, we are not just repenting 70 00:07:34.400 --> 00:07:39.680 from something, from a behavior, we are repenting towards something, our identity. Lord, I'm changing 71 00:07:39.680 --> 00:07:44.560 my mind, which is what repentance means, metanoia. I'm changing my mind about this, about who I am 72 00:07:44.560 --> 00:07:50.880 in you, and I'm choosing to trust, to put the full weight of my life on you and your promises, and you 73 00:07:50.880 --> 00:07:56.720 promised victory, and you promised it's mine, and I receive it, and I will live differently because of it. 74 00:07:57.600 --> 00:08:01.840 Because you're an overcomer, because you're more than a conqueror, you are going to get a front row 75 00:08:01.840 --> 00:08:08.880 seat of victory, and at times that requires being in places and spaces that need a victory. 76 00:08:09.840 --> 00:08:14.720 We are not victims trying to survive a fallen world until Jesus comes back. We are sons and 77 00:08:14.720 --> 00:08:20.960 daughters of the Most High God, the King of Kings, and our training ground starts within ourselves. 78 00:08:20.960 --> 00:08:26.640 Because before we can rule and reign in a sphere of influence, before we can lead nations and 79 00:08:26.640 --> 00:08:32.000 families, we learn to rule and reign within ourselves in partnership with the Holy Spirit, 80 00:08:32.000 --> 00:08:37.919 who lives in us by believing the truth, by putting the full weight of our lives on it. 81 00:08:38.559 --> 00:08:43.600 And I love what Paul says, he ends Romans 8 with this, in verses 38 and 39, he says, 82 00:08:44.159 --> 00:08:50.160 I am convinced, there's belief for you, I am convinced that neither death, nor life, 83 00:08:50.960 --> 00:08:56.960 nor angels, nor demons, nor anything present, nor the future, nor any powers, neither height, 84 00:08:56.960 --> 00:09:03.840 nor depth, or anything else in creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is 85 00:09:03.840 --> 00:09:11.920 in Christ Jesus our Lord. Nothing can separate you or me from his love, and that is the foundation 86 00:09:11.920 --> 00:09:18.560 of being more than a conqueror. It's not our grip on him, it's his grip on us. It's not our love 87 00:09:19.120 --> 00:09:26.480 for him that secures us, it's his love for us. So when anxiety tries to creep in and grip me, 88 00:09:26.480 --> 00:09:32.000 I don't have to manufacture peace. Instead, I lean into the peace that's already mine because 89 00:09:32.000 --> 00:09:37.680 of what Jesus did. When circumstances try to dictate my emotional state, my sense of safety, 90 00:09:37.680 --> 00:09:43.760 my well-being, I do not scramble to protect myself, to regain control. I rest in the one 91 00:09:43.760 --> 00:09:51.040 who has already overcome. Second Corinthians 3.18 says this, he says, we are being transformed 92 00:09:51.040 --> 00:09:57.920 into his image with an ever-increasing glory. That means no circumstance here on earth can 93 00:09:57.920 --> 00:09:59.760 ever decrease you. 94 00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:05.940 pleat you, defeat you. Your transformation into the image of God is happening with an 95 00:10:05.940 --> 00:10:12.140 ever-increasing glory because of Christ in you, and nothing can diminish that. The outcome 96 00:10:12.140 --> 00:10:17.940 is not in question, only your awareness of it, only what you believe about it. You don't 97 00:10:17.940 --> 00:10:23.820 become an overcomer by overcoming. You overcome because you already are one. And this is the 98 00:10:23.820 --> 00:10:31.260 life you were always meant to live, and it's yours right now because of what Jesus did for you.