Fresh Bread: Overcomers! (A review)

The front page of the October 10th issue of USA Today read “Fear’s a Slippery Slope for Stocks”. Another cover story read, in even bolder letters, “Confidence Cracks”. On July 20, we began a sermon series based on Revelations Chapter 12 entitled “The Overcomers”. Little did we know that almost three months later, our nation would find itself in one of its worst financial crises in decades. God always prepares His people prior to times of crisis. So what has He taught us thus far?

1. “The Great Escape” reminded us that our opponent (Satan) wants to destroy the God-given purpose (the baby) within us. King David is an example of how God will take us through Three Wildernesses to prepare us to accomplish great things for Him (1 Sam. Ch 23 & 24):
• Zin = The Place where God refines and perfects us. (1 Kings 17:10)
• Maon = The Place where God protects us. (Psalms 91:1)
• Engedi = The Place where great leaders are developed. (Jeremiah 50:8)

2. “The Dragon” is Satan. He is the one who gives us his “deadly” glance (perspective). There are three perspectives Satan tries to give us in order to destroy our perception of life.
• Passionate (lustful) 1 John 2:15-17.
• Pessimistic (negative) Numbers 13:31-33.
• Panic (fearful) 1 Samuel 13:11-14.

3. “Who are the Overcomers?” These are individuals who get the “upper-hand” in life. Like Jabez, they get the hand of God involved in their life circumstances (1 Chronicles 4:9-10).

4. “The Blood” of the Lamb. One of the least appreciated reasons that the Blood of Jesus is essential to our lives is its ability to “release” our consciences (minds/thinking) from initiating actions that lead to death (Proverbs 14:12) so that we can serve God in an appropriate manner (Hebrews 9:14).

5. “CSI (Crime Scene Investigation)”. Revelations 12:11 states “They overcame the dragon by… the word of their testimony…”. The word testimony means “evidence”. This sermon taught us that when God’s hand gets involved in our circumstances, He leaves His fingerprints as evidence. Therefore, what God does in our lives becomes a crime (a wonderful act of God that makes no natural sense). The result is the initiation of an investigation by those around us in an attempt to discover how God did such an unexpected deed in our lives.

6. “CSI: Exhibit #1”. The overcomers got God’s Hand involved in their case when the Word (what they said) was based on their testimony (evidence). In Exhibit #1, the word “Evidence” speaks of our FAITH. (Hebrews 11:1 & 1 John 5:4-5; KJV). Elijah illustrates how God’s hand gets involved when what we say is based upon our faith in God (1 Kings 17:13-15).

7. “CSI: Exhibit #2”. The word evidence is derived from two Latin words: “e”, which means “completely”, and “video”, which means “to see”. Therefore “faith is…seeing completely the things that cannot be seen by our natural eyes” (Hebrews 11:1). We call it “Vision”. Habakkuk’s circumstance teaches us how faith works through vision (Habakkuk 2:1-4).

As we continue to ride out this financial crisis and prepare for what seems to be a very crucial presidential election, let’s continue to learn how we can cooperate with God. We need His hand to perform deeds through our lives which will convince unbelievers of the reality of His existence.