Good morning. It's great to be with you and great to be singing with you. Thank you for the privilege of having me here with you this morning. And. My pulpit is in wonderful hands with one of our young students, and we're turning to God's word now. We're going to look at one verse, but be looking at a lot during the message from Revelation chapter three, verse twenty one. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my father on his throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. And Father, we are desiring to open our ears and hear what you have to say to us. We are needy. We are waiting upon you, God. Fill your servant to speak your word in Jesus name. Amen. Most people, when they enter into the revelation, they see it as a book that's filled with terror, fears on every side, and what they fail to see are the great encouragements that are the hallmark, really the hallmark of this book. In some ways, these encouragements are summed up by Jesus, As he speaks to the Apostle John, his face down on the ground and he's in terror before Jesus and he's in terror, as it says, as one who is dead. And he says to John, Jesus says to John in Revelation 117. Fear not. And then Jesus goes on to say to John why he is to fear not. He says, I am the first and the last. I am the living one. I was dead and behold, I'm alive forevermore. And I hold the keys of death and hell. This, friends, is just the beginning of the great encouragement that is found throughout the entire book. This morning, I want us to look at one encouragement based upon just one word and a word that can be easily overlooked. But it's an important word because it sums up, as I see it, the basis of our encouragement. It's used 28 times in the New Testament. And of those 28 times, 17 are found. That's two thirds basically are found in this book of the Revelation. And half of those times occur in the first three chapters. The word I'm speaking about is a word which brings us biblical truth and strength and encouragement. But it's a word which I find sadly has fallen out of favor in our culture today. It's a word that almost astonishingly has come to have a negative connotation. What word is this? It's the word victory. And if you wondered, as you looked around our society, what it is about victory that our society does not like and has become really squeamish about, it's the fact that if someone is victorious, someone else is not. If someone wins, then someone else loses. Kids are being taught and coached to not care about winning, that instead, the most important thing that matters is having fun. That they do not need to have to try their best or try their hardest, as long as they have fun. That fun is all that matters. And yet, think about it. Who really has fun losing? I was just speaking with Sasha about his track meet and his pole vaulting the other day. I expect he's going to be a total champion soon, but he didn't describe to me winning, and he didn't have a smile on his face as he said that he didn't. And I don't blame you, Sasha. You want to win and work for it, and you will. If anything, I think people who lose and then smile about it have to pretend that it doesn't matter. Every loser that I've ever met really wants to win. And while I'm not suggesting that our children, please don't take it this way, or anyone for that matter, should learn that they are to win at all costs, you have to appreciate the statement of the man who is generally considered the greatest football coach ever, Vince Lombardi. And he said, winning isn't everything. It's the only thing. Now, put it in its proper place. But he was great. He knew what he was talking about. Think about it this way. Would you want, I'm going to switch the metaphor here for you. Would you want a general leading your troops into battle and saying something like this? Men, we're going to fierce battle today. Some of you are going to be killed. Others are going to be injured. But remember, Don't be concerned about being victorious. Our goal is not to win. Our goal is to have fun. The outcome of our battle really does not matter. And remember, there is going to be a potluck picnic afterwards. So just keep it in mind. It's not whether we win or lose, but how we play the battle. Well, I don't know about you, but I would never I would never ever fight for a commanding officer who treated war in that fashion. I wouldn't play for a team whose coach had that mentality. If I'm going to put my life on the line, which in Christ I have, so have you. We had better learn that we are called to battle, we are called to wage war until we win and nothing else and nothing less counts. And even though, as Jesus said, We do not wage war as the world does. He calls us to wage war nonetheless and to wage it to win. Today, I want us to deal with winning. I want us to deal with victory. I want us to deal with overcoming because God shows us the incredible truth that in the war in which we are engaged alongside of him, we win and the enemy loses. God shows us that our engagement with the enemy on behalf of Jesus Christ is not a picnic. It's a war and life is in the balance. God tells us that until our last breath, we had better never forget that we are at war. And in Christ, we are victors and the enemy is the defeated loser. And that if anyone minimizes the conflict or tells us to drop the effort or that we must remember them, that we are not to listen to them. They either don't understand battle or they're liars. The Bible tells you, and I'm telling you, to fight the good fight, and to fight it until your arms cannot be raised up, and your legs cannot move, and not because of weariness, but because you're dead. I'm saying that it's about time that we acknowledge that we are at war, that we are in this for the long haul, and that we're in it to win. Jesus and each of the seven letters in Revelation two and three by saying to him who overcomes, it means to him who conquers, subdues or gets the victory. It comes from the Greek word, which all I'm going to do for our purposes is transliterate it as a word that you're very familiar with. It's the word Nike. which is an extremely popular word, what a smashing marketing thing he had by picking that word, whoever the guy was who founded Nike. It means victory. And thus, Jesus is addressing those who have the victory. And who are these people? John answers this question in First John, chapter four, verse four, where he writes, You are from God, little children. And you have overcome the world, because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. And in 1 John 5, verses 4 and 5, John fills out this idea when he says, whatever is born of God overcomes, or has victory over the world. And this is the victory, he's using the same word, that has overcome the world. Our faith. Who is the one who overcomes the world? He who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. In other words, three times in those two verses, John speaks of our victory. And here's John. Think about this. He's an old man sitting on not a rocking chair, sitting on a rock in the middle of the ocean. What is he consumed with? Is it his exile? Is it his impending death? Is it that perhaps he's thinking, Has Jesus forgotten me and left me here alone? Absolutely none of those. John is obsessed with victory. Remember, these seven letters are letters that concern the seven churches. These are churches which were all involved in varying degrees of persecution, battle and sin. Some were being attacked from within. Some were being attacked from without. Some were involved with evil. Others were receiving false teaching. And in the face of all of this hitting them and hitting us today, just think when you read through those seven letters, the kinds of things the churches today are facing. Jesus says we are victorious. I want us to see in the first place what the scriptures mean by victory. And secondly, I want us to see what it means for us today. First, let's see what the scriptures mean by victory. We see in Revelation 321 that Jesus is sitting on the throne. He's giving us his throne speech in which he is revealing to us something extraordinary in the face of horrific opposition. Just as I sat down with my father on his throne, so too you will sit down with me on my throne. The message is this. I'm in charge here. I'm ruling. And even though the battle is raging, I win. The dominion of the devil is finished. The kingdom of the power of this world is now under my power. This is the first time the revelation has revealed this message. I should say, excuse me, it's not. This is a message coming even before. We see that Jesus is in power. Jesus is overcoming. That is, he is victorious over all of the forces of evil. Jesus is the victor. In chapter 2, verse 7, we read, he who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, to whom it's victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. What's Jesus saying? He is telling us that when we overcome through the blood of the Lamb, we're going to live forever. In Revelation 2.11, Jesus says, He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt at all by the second death. Once again, the Bible is teaching that all who overcome will live forever and will not be touched by the wrath and the judgment of God. In chapter 2, verse 17, Jesus says, He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give him some of the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it. See, for a third time, the encouragement is given that the overcomers, the victors, will live forever. We are those victors. We're receiving not the manna which lasts for a day and nourishes our bodies just very temporarily, but the hidden manna, the fullness of God's life-giving gift from heaven that nourishes everything about us. In Revelation 2.26, Jesus says, To him who overcomes and does my will to the end, I will give him authority over the nations. See, we who overcome by the blood of the Lamb are given authority over nations. We're going to reign. We're going to rule with Jesus in his kingdom. In Revelation 3.5, we read, he who overcomes will like them be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but I will acknowledge his name before my father and his angels. Revelation 3.12 says, he who overcomes, I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will he leave it. I will write on him the name of my God in the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God. And I will also write on him my new name again and again in these seven letters. Everlasting life is granted to God's overcomers, victors. That is, it's granted for us. And then leaving the letters, we move on into the fifth chapter of Revelation, verse five, where we read one of the elders said to me, weep not. Behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David has overcome. He's victorious. He's empowered to open the book and to loose the seven seals that are found in it. All of this is being said as the lamb prepares for the cosmic warfare against the beast and the dragon. That's what's coming up. Notice that as he prepares for this cosmic warfare against the beast of the dragon, he says that he has overcome. In Revelation 5, 12, the 24 elders fall down before Jesus at his throne and say that he is worthy to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing. Why? Why is Jesus worthy to receive this? It is because Jesus, the Lamb, will go into battle and win, as it says in Revelation 6-2. that Jesus will go out conquering, that is overcoming, and to conquer, to overcome. Jesus overcomes, and we are to overcome. Our overcoming is intimately connected with His. And notice in Revelation 3.21 it says, to Him who overcomes, I will give Him the right to sit with me on my throne just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on His throne. But what does it mean? What does it mean to overcome? When we think of overcoming, we automatically think of something that's laborious, laboring, battling against seemingly insurmountable obstacles. And you know something that's true? Overcoming is all of that, but overcoming is also so much more. As we mentioned earlier, the word for overcome, Nike, as far as your transliteration is concerned, means victory. In John 16, 33, when Jesus tells us that in this life you will have tribulations, he does not stop there. He calls us to be of good cheer. You've thought about this verse, I'm sure, many times. He's telling us this is what our life is about. It's not about the promise of abundant monies, abundance in health. and good times, it is crushing difficulties out of which we are to demonstrate cheerfulness or courage. That in the midst of these troubles, why? Why are we to be of good cheer in the midst of these troubles? And he goes on to say, because I have overcome the world. The word for overcome, that word Nike, this time it's used in the perfect tense, which means that Jesus is saying that He has been completely, perfectly, totally victorious over all that the kingdom of hell can throw at us. And Jesus' total victory extends perfectly into today. In other words, we can be courageous, we can be cheerful, Because Jesus has already been perfectly completely victorious and is still Perfectly and completely victorious and we are victorious in his victory In Romans 12 21 As we battle against evil, we read, do not be overcome by evil. In other words, don't let evil have a victory over you, but overcome. Be victorious. Overcome the evil with good. In other words, do not let that evil have that victory with you. Be victorious over evil. How do we do this? By simply doing what is good, what is biblical, doing the right thing in an evil-filled world. John, in his first letter, chapter 2, verse 13, adds to what Paul has already said in Romans 12. John says to the young men, Those who may be in the front lines of the battle, he says, I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. The young men who have had victory over the evil one have done this in one way and one way alone. How is that? John says you are strong. We're in a society that hates strength as well, but forget that. What is their strength? What strength enables these young men to have victory over the devil? John goes on and he adds the word of God lives in you and because of this you have overcome Because of this you have victory over the evil one, you know today the one of the great assaults against the church is To take away little by little the power and even the presence of the Word of God you know God has blessed us in many ways, but one thing we have a heritage in the word and Don't give it up. This word is our strength that God has given us. But there's even more. John continues in 1 John 4, for you, dear children are from God and you have overcome them. He's saying that you have victory over them because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. Who is then your victory over them? Verse three answers. And it says that them are all those who possess the spirit of Antichrist. Through the word of God, we are empowered to fight and defeat the devil and his entire host with him. And this is what this is. This is real victory. This is what the word of God enables us to do. And God's word is open. John says in 1 John 5, 4, to everyone born of God, that's to whom it's open. These are the overcomers. These are the victors. These are the ones, John continues, who overcome, who have victory over the world, who are enabled to smash the works of the devil. And his last word here is right to the point. This is the victory that has overcome the world. Even our faith. John uses the same word, Nike, twice in this sentence. He's saying that the victory that is victorious over the world, the victory that enables us to smash the work of the devil is our faith. It's our faith in Jesus Christ. He's saying that when we come to believe in Jesus, we are made in that instant to be overcomers, conquerors, victors. And he adds in the next verse, that's verse five, by way of a question, who is it that overcomes? Who is it that experiences this victory over the world? And he goes on, only he who believes that Jesus is the son of God. This is faith. This is the faith that is victorious over the world. This is the faith that is victorious over all that the devil can ever hurl at us. This is the faith that is given to all who belong to Jesus. And thus, this is the victory that is ours in Jesus Christ. This is the victory that we put into action in doing what is good, doing what is biblical, and in being strong by having the Word of God dwelling in us. And all of this points to our second point. If this is the victory, what does this victory mean for us? First of all, we are warriors. We live in a very anti-warrior culture. Sorry about that. Remember who you are. Don't let the culture dictate who you are. We are warriors. We smash satanic power. Jesus says in Matthew 16, 18, the gates of hell shall not overcome. They won't have the victory. They shall not be victorious over any one of us who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. The gates of hell, that is the ruling places of the kingdom of darkness. The throne room of hell has no power over any one of us who believe in Jesus Christ. Secondly, we are blessed. After Jesus asked his disciples, who do you say I am? And Peter answered with you are the Christ, the son of the living God. Jesus gave him a Baruchah. He blessed him. And he called his faith a rock. And going on, he said, flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my father who is in heaven. You see, it's this confession that gave Peter and us with him the victory of Christ's blessing in our lives. You see, our problem, as with Peter as well, is that until we really understand that this is the victory, that our faith in Jesus is the victory and the blessing, until we get it, we live like losers. We want some carnal blessing. So we live like losers. We cry and we moan, we whine and we complain. We think we cannot ever have victory over sin. We feel we can't even talk to our neighbor, that we might be embarrassing them. And we certainly cannot imagine that not only is our victory a victory over sin, our victory is a victory over Satan as well, because Satan cannot stand against the child of God. I hear Christians all the time talking about their fear of the devil. We're to fear God. We're to fear God, not the devil. Satan cannot stand against the child of God. We have been washed clean from sin through the blood of Jesus Christ. We are conquering warriors, and we cannot be condemned any longer. Romans 8, 1, there is therefore now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. We need a warrior, not a pacifist mentality. We're in a battle that's raging, but through the cross it has been won. And we are taking everything, including all thoughts, as 2 Corinthians 10, verse 4 says, we're taking them captive. How is this possible? Because the one who sits on the throne is Jesus. It's not Satan, no matter what any of your friends want to tell you from other biblical perspectives. Jesus is on the throne. Satan is no king. He's a liar and he's a deceiver. And Jesus is even now seated on the throne. And as amazing as it seems, we are seated with him. We are seated with him. Hallelujah. That's where we are. And that's our status. Number three, we are enthroned. We are warriors. We are blessed. We are enthroned. Look at Revelation 321 again to him who overcomes. I will give the right to sit with me on my throne just as I overcame and sat down with my father on his throne. To all of us who have this victory over the devil, to all of us believing in the Son of God, we are seated on the throne with Jesus. We are given power and rule with Jesus. And we, on the last day, we shall be involved in the final smashing of Satan along with Jesus. Being there, giving us that strength, as Paul says in Romans 16, 20, God will soon crush Satan under your feet. You know, friends, what this is? This is the ultimate victory. We are also in the fourth place. We are triumphant. We are triumphant. Because Jesus is triumphant, look at it. In Revelation 5, the book of the seven seals will soon be open. What's happening? There is weeping. Listen to Revelation 5, 4. I wept and wept because no one was found who is worthy to open the scrolls of this book or look inside. But wait, you see, in this war, is there no one? No one able to open the seven seals. Just look one verse down. Then one of the elders. Wow. When we think of elders responsibilities, think about this. Think about this message given by one of the elders said to me, do not weep. See, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David has triumphed. He is able to open the book and it's seven seals. We are shown the Lion, the Lion of Judah, the seed of David. That is we are shown the Messiah. He comes once again, but this time he's not coming as a lamb. Now he is coming as a lion and he does not die. He conquers. He triumphs. He wins. He's victorious. And we triumph with him. I want to begin to wrap things up. Jesus is victorious. He's won the battle. And in him, the victory is ours. His victory is ours. We are warriors. We are blessed. We are enthroned. We are triumphant. But here's the problem. We have no sense of victory. We don't live as if there's a victory. We live in a culture that has become a culture of defeat. Unfortunately, living within a culture of defeat, even the church has absorbed a defeatist mentality. Friends, hear this. Jesus did not come here to be defeated. His love for us demanded one thing, complete destruction of his and our enemy and complete victory for himself and for his people. We read in 1 John 3 8 that Jesus came for the purpose of destroying the works of the devil. Why did he do this? Why? Because he loves us and because he loves us, he shepherds us powerfully and he uses his power and he uses his force to protect us, to protect the sheep and keep them safe. Friends, we must never lose sight of the fact that Jesus will use the most incredible force to smash with finality the works of the devil. That final smashing will complete his purpose. I mean, what do we think Jesus does in securing life for a sheep? It wasn't a game. It wasn't. It doesn't matter how you do it as long as you go about it and have a good time. There was no good time. He pleaded for another way. Matthew 25, 20, 32 and following says that Jesus will separate on that day the sheep from the goats and he will give his sheep eternal life, but he'll cast the goats out into eternal, everlasting destruction. You know, friends, we have to understand what is at stake here. The results of this war are life and death. heaven and hell. Jesus is not playing a game in which everybody wins in this war. His people win and everyone else loses. The church wants to contextualize itself to the culture so that everybody wins. There are no losers. There is no judgment and certainly no hell. This is a lie out of hell preached in seemingly, supposedly evangelical pulpits. Or else, if it's not preached, the message, subtle message is given. Keep it out of your message. People will not want to come back. The issue is not whether people want to come back. The issue is truth. The issue is will our hearts be committed to speaking the whole counsel of God, whether people want to listen or not. You remember Ezekiel? He's given a message and he's told to say, thus says the Lord. And he says, what am I supposed to say? Just say, thus says the Lord. Why? Then people at least will know that there's been a prophet in their midst. You see, and that loss that comes upon a dying culture with doomed sinners is everlasting punishment. I mean, we have to get that through our minds and recap in our minds, replay it in our minds what's at stake. I know that people who hear this, when they hear it, often want to get up and walk out. And I've seen that, and I've seen it a number of times, that they decide something like this. I will not believe in a God who could do something like that. Or they decide I will not listen to a preacher who could preach something like that. Let me ask you. Does anyone here or in any pulpit on any spot in any church in any nation on earth have a more righteous and a more just, a more loving plan than God has given to us and shown us and made the consequences and made everything absolutely clear so that no one could say, I don't know, how was I supposed to understand that? It's not a veiled message. It's absolutely clear. In Christ, we are victors, and God help us if we see it any differently than that. But you know something? That's not all. Especially if his plan troubles you, I would say do not walk away from him, but fight for him. Help to save those who are about to perish. Maybe you wonder how. Well, do all that you can do to help people to turn to Jesus and be saved. Because if you wonder, What does victory mean? The answer is simple. Victory means life. And conversely, defeat means death. And in the whole sense of it, there is no middle ground in this. Jesus is not calling you to a fun game. He's calling you to life, fullness of life in himself. He fought this war. He calls us into it as well. He won. He was victorious. We're in the mopping up operation. The World War II, you could say, was won on June 6, 1944, when the Allied troops stormed Normandy. The mopping up took until May 7, 1945, a year, almost a full year with death involved. But this is what's happening. Friends, I hope what I'm saying is reaching your hearts because the Christian faith is not about having a nice, fun, entertaining time. When people come or leave the church and I talk with people about their experience with church, I often hear something like this. I like this other church because it's so what you could fill it in. Entertaining. It's so entertaining. Instead, our faith could have, as its motto, the words that were said about Jesus in Revelation 6, too. He went out conquering and to conquer, and he conquers in two ways. He conquers the hearts of his people, those whom he loves, and he gives them life as they surrender their life to him. And he conquers and he destroys those who hate him. And they're destroyed forever, forever and ever. There is, though, you know, there's more to this victory and we need to come to grips with this as well. In Revelation 13, eight, we're given a picture of the beast of whom it says the whole world went off to worship, saying, who is like the beast? He's given power to make war against the saints and have victory over them. Who is the whole world? I have people telling me, everybody, we're all going to be worshiping the beast. Verse eight of Revelation 13 goes on to say, all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the lamb that was slain before the creation of the world. This is our life. This is it. We know that we win. We also know that the road to the final victory is a battlefield. The journey is a battle. There are landmines and we fight against not flesh and blood, principalities and powers against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. And along the way, friends, along the way to this final victory, There are victories by the enemy. That's what makes it more difficult. There are victories with your sons and with your daughters. There's victories at times with your husband or your wife. There are victories that touch our hearts and grab us so that we want to cry out. What's happened? Are you really there, God? The battles are real and God takes those problems. Give them to God. Don't give them to your friend who tells you, no, he's not there. You know, drop the whole stupid scheme. That's not what you need. You need to know that God loves you in spite of the doubts, in spite of the difficulties that you're facing, which he has ordained. And for a good purpose, as horrible as it seems to you to think of good coming out of some of the suffering we have to face. But I don't think any one of you here should have any illusions about just how terrible This is, we see the effects of this war all around us, everywhere we look, when we see cities torn apart, when we see countries ravaged by greed-filled, lust-bound dictators who destroy life, when we see greed and lust destroying our own country. When we see this kind of thing happening, we see a world mired in subjection to the God of this age. We understand what he's talking about. It's not a simple theological point of, well, who is world in this? It's a matter of life and death that we understand that we are fighting against hell's minions. And some of them have faces that we see and have loved and are being used by a relentless enemy. But see, friends, these victories of the adversary These are temporary victories. They're not the final victory. The final victory belongs to Jesus. Jesus alone. Remember the words of Revelation 5.5. Do not weep. Look, the Lion of Judah, the Root of David, he has triumphed. He's won the victory. He is able to open the seven scrolls and its seven seals. And you know what that means? It means we are able to continue, faithful unto death, regardless of the pressure that's leveled against us, because the victory of Jesus is total, is continuing, is permanent, is unlimited, as Revelation 17 verse 4 says. The lamb shall have victory over his enemies because he is the king of kings and he is the lord of lords. But it adds and it is an amazing reality that the victory in the lamb's war against the beast goes to the lamb and to those with him as well. Those who are called, those who are chosen, those who are faithful. We get his victory. We are victors. We are not vanquished. And victory, though, always, always comes with a price. Don't believe there's ever a victory won without a price. For Jesus, the price was his life. For us, the price is our life as well. Because Jesus' victory, you see, is no cheap, easy salvation. It's a victory through death. And when he calls us, it's not a call to a sweet, nice, easy life where everything you ever wanted is going to be given to you. Jesus calls us into his war with these words, come and die. He calls us to die to the old man. He calls us to die to the old ways. He calls us to die to our lust for all the pleasures that the world is ready to throw at our feet. To die to the fear of dying. To die to self. To die to the anemic brand of Christianity that most of our culture has adopted and unbelievably accepted. Makes me sick in a sense to think that guys are going to get up and they're going to sit on a little table that they have planned so that the congregation can really understand that all we're really having today is a little conversation with God. Oh, no, we can't have it. Someone forgot my latte and bagel. What will everyone think of me? I mean, I wish I could laugh at it. This is what we've adopted, acute, mindless, synthetic, plastic Christianity with infantile messages adorning t-shirts and wristwatches, with a message that's so sweet that I look at this and I sometimes think I'm going to go into insulin shock if I read the whole message. Instead, Jesus calls us, come and die. To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life. He will not be hurt by the second death. I will give him authority over nations. I will clothe him in white garments. I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. And I will make him to sit down with me on my throne. You know, friends, let us engage our being. Let us stir ourselves up. Let us commit to live for Jesus. Let us commit to bring the message and the life that Jesus lived and died and rose to bring. The message that His love and beauty and holiness and life is available for all of us who are about to die. And everyone we know, whether they know it or not, who are about to die. Friends, you know something? Don't weep for those who have died the first death, the death of the body. Weep for those Who died the second death for those who left this life not in victory not with victory But in the vanquishing bondage of sin and death weep for them and when your tears have dried get up You know what you do go to those who are left and are about to die Tell them that they need not be vanquished that there is victory in this crumbling decaying world because Jesus is victorious and we who trust in him are are victorious as well. His victory is our victory. It is sure it is accomplished. And because he lives, we live also. Let's pray. Father in heaven. May we live in battle with hope May we not run from the war. May we not be deserters. May we not be cowards. Because you have given us everything to fight. You've given us armor from head to toe. And for those who say, what good is an armor that can let you still be killed? Because it can't kill us unto wrath. It can only kill the body. And you say, fear not. Him who can kill the body, fear Him who can cast body and soul in hell. We fear you and we love you and we thank you in Jesus name. Amen.