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Recent RCC Sermons

"On the Victory Side"

Messages from Sunday mornings

“On the victory side….”

 

•  What does that phrase make you think of?
•  Old time preachers making extravagant promises, if only you have more faith?
•  Encouraging scriptures, e.g. Romans 8:31: If God is for us, who can be against us?
•  But…. if we are on the victory side how come things go wrong?
•  Personal example: buying a car: We looked at all the evidence, read the magazines, prayed. In spite of a bad garage experience, we still bought it; it turned out badly, so we sold as soon as possible.

 

Early Hebrews experience with God

•  They were slaves in Egypt for 400 years. They had no national identity, plans, knowledge of God, military skills. They were too busy just surviving.
•  Now they are led out of Egypt by Moses. What now? Where too now? One of the first things God establishes is a clear way to show where he is leading them.
•  Ex 13:21-22 By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people.
•  The fire and cloud were very basic and obvious guidance for ‘beginners' in faith.
•  God then begins to tutor them so that they can become a nation. He gives them:-
•  The 10 commandments plus lots of other laws (principles to live by)
•  The Tabernacle (a place of worship)
•  The annual system of Festivals (a year-long programme)
•  And after all this, they set out for the Promised Land.
•  Numbers 19:22 Whether the cloud stayed above the Tabernacle for two days, a month, or a year, the people of Israel stayed in camp and did not move on. But as soon as it lifted, they broke camp and moved on. 23 So they camped or travelled at the Lord 's command, and they did whatever the Lord told them through Moses.
•  The key thing: watch and obey. God's promise: obey, and you will be “on the victory side”
•  They started well but ultimately failed later on in the process. Hence we don't see 100% fulfilment of God's promises. Read about it all in the books from Exodus onwards in the Old Testament

 

Being “On the victory side”

•  The Hebrews were going to conquer the land of Canaan , and this would mean many battles along the way. God has to warn them about how to be sure of victory. You might think the best advice will be practical, for example, go to the top military nation for military training and tactics, modern chariots, iron swords etc. But no, this is what he says:
•  Ex 23:20 – 22 "See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared. 21 Pay attention to him and listen to what he says. Do not rebel against him; he will not forgive your rebellion, since my Name is in him. 22 If you listen carefully to what he says and do all that I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies and will oppose those who oppose you.
•  Success was promised not because they were properly trained, but because this was God's plan for them and if God is for them who can prevail against them?
•  The error with the car we bought? We placed too high a value on our efforts. We should have said to God: ”this is what we think, but what do you think?” and them followed our guidance.
•  So for us, we can be on the victory side if we follow the same principle: find God's will for us and obey it.. Easier said than done, but just like it was for the Hebrews, its part of our growing relationship with God .
•  Some thoughts on how this can work out for us:

 

On victory side…. if we listen and obey

•  No column of cloud or fire for us, but God gives us the Bible to teach us, His Holy Spirit to counsel us, and the fellowship of other Christians as well.
•  It's still ok, and necessary, to do our research, to put in the work, to push doors…. But:_
•  If something is God's will for us, nothing not even satan, can prevent it.
•  And if its not His will, no amount of effort on our part will obtain it. He is Lord.

 

On victory side … Not always how we would like it, or success in all our ventures.

•  It depends what God wants for our lives, for example, Moses not allowed into the Promised Land and died on the border.
•  If that seems tough to us, God's glory is paramount and we must say “Your will be done”.

 

On the victory side…. Even if it looks wrong

•  Just after their escape, God told them to turn back and camp where the Egyptians would think they were trapped:
•  Exodus 14:1-4   Then the Lord gave these instructions to Moses: 2 “Order the Israelites to turn back and camp by Pi-hahiroth between Migdol and the sea. Camp there along the shore, across from Baal-zephon. 3 Then Pharaoh will think, ‘The Israelites are confused. They are trapped in the wilderness!' 4 And once again I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he will chase after you. I have planned this in order to display my glory through Pharaoh and his whole army. After this the Egyptians will know that I am the L ord !”
•  We all know the result, the crossing of the Red Sea (actually the Sea of Reeds ) when Pharaoh's chariots bogged down.
•  In John 11 Jesus learns of Lazarus' terminal illness, and yet waits two days before visiting. The sisters must have been deeply disappointed. But this led to the raising of Lazarus from the dead.
•  In both cases God's way seemed wrong, but brought greater glory from the situation.

 

On the victory side ….in prayer

•  Yes, God loves to hear our thoughts, feelings, desires and needs. Philippians 4:6 says : “Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done… present your requests to God.”
•  But when things are desperate, or we are getting down to the work of prayer, we need to know what to pray for. Its no good turning our common sense into prayers for healing, to get a job, to see someone saved etc, we need to know God's will for that situation.
•  1 John 5:14-15 says : “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will , he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.
•  We had a family problem that led us into desperate praying, then God said “ask me what to pray for”!
•  When we prayed along those lines He gave us an amazing answer. Since then we ask God what He wants us to pray, and, though it's tough to stay in faith sometimes, He is faithful to His word.
•  “Catching God's heart” as a logo to characterise our Thursday prayer meetings seems to be saying much the same thing.

 

On victory side….. In small things as well as big

•  I found myself being led by God to just the right Christmas present for someone.
•  Too trivial to be prayed for? I think God is like Google, only much bigger and more powerful – He can deal with millions of us all at once, and scripture says he is interested in the smallest details of our lives. He uses them help to build our relationship with Him.
•  Faith can come from bothering God with little things as well as big things and getting to know Him better in consequence.

 

Final thoughts

•  The world gets us used to thinking in a relative way: ”maybe I can do this, maybe not…”
•  But God's power is absolute. If he wants something done, there's no doubting his victory!
•  Why did King Saul fail? In 1 Samuel 13: 5 – 13 we read how God tested him to see whether he would live be obedient in a very tight spot. Saul snapped & took control himself. He failed the test. And so God made David king instead .