Here's Pastor Alan Wright with Today's Blessing: A Biblical Faith-Filled Vision. for your life.
Well, I bless you to see and savor the new. I might have liked it if God had made daffodils to bloom year-round. I might prefer the dogwoods to display their pink and ivory unceasingly. But the creator crafted a world of seasons. It isn't always spring.
The spring is always in God's heart. See, he wove his passion for resurrection into the visible world. He is the one seated on the throne who declares, I am making all things new. Revelation 21:5. You can count on it.
As much as you can count on spring. God loves to make things anew, and that includes you. Pastor, author, and Bible teacher Alan Wright. Spiritual maturity. is where You're not like, okay, I gotta know the battle tomorrow.
Maybe I'll get past that. No, it's more of an abiding, quiet sense. Of peace and confidence that the circumstances aren't defining you, and that even when you come to the moment when you breathe your last. You've been given victory in Jesus. and that one day you reign with him in glory.
That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I'm Daniel Britt. Excited for you to hear the teaching today in the series More Than Conquerors, a study of Romans 8, as presented at Renolda Church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program, I want to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now.
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More on this later in the program. But now, let's get started with today's teaching. Here is Alan Wright.
So much of spiritual maturity comes is when it gets so deep within us that we're not having this same mental conversation all the time. Right? The same old shame buttons and the same old things that leave us feeling condemned. The more we grow, the more that's just not even in the conversation anymore. We don't give, there's just not a foothold to the devil anymore in that.
I was thinking this week about Years ago, 2007 and 2008, our church was sued. It was a very painful time. We were excited about the new construction project. I was showing, talking to some elders that weren't here at that time just yesterday. And we was describing to them what a number of you wouldn't ever know this to, but before we did this construction project.
That Prayer room exit, that door right there was the exit to the educational building. It was the only place you could, the only way you could get there. And back in the day we'd flash up a number of a child in a nursery or something like that. And every picture had to make the walk of shame down the thing. I'd be up here preaching.
I'd say, here comes somebody walking around, and I had to go out the door. There was no way you couldn't get there. There was no door that connected, there was no hallway over there. And so we didn't just build all this new educational space. We said, we got to build a way to get connected so that it doesn't have to be right there.
You had to get up and go to the bathroom, you had to go out that door. Thank God for these facilities. And so we were building all of that and raising money for that in this educational space we were building and all of this improvement. And while we were doing it, the neighbors got upset. 16 families, 16 of the families around, is two of the families didn't engage in the lawsuit, but 16 of them did.
They put a lot of money into a pot, so they had a big stash of money to start the lawsuit, and it became very painful. Long story short, and this is not a stroll down bitterness lane. This is just, I'm leading to a point here of something very good that will illustrate this. But the bottom line was that this property graciously was in various parcels deeded to us, given to us over the years from the Reynolds family and heirs. Catherine Reynolds, 110 years ago, along with an elder from First Presbyterian Church, James Kuykendahl, started a Sunday school class that was nearby, and they decided we'd like to plant a church out in the boondocks.
where we were to reach the rural kids. And so their estate is across the street, and what Catherine wanted to do was put this church here. And they built that chapel. And so all of this land was at one point part of the Reynolds estate. And various times it was all deeded over to us.
And in 1959, all the heirs signed that it was fully released to us to. Use as we please. And you'd think that there shouldn't be a lawsuit if you got that in writing.
Well, I learned some things about law. People can sue. and costs money to defend yourself, even if you really don't think you should be getting sued.
So they all kind of, you know. Stirrings about other restrictions and so well, we had to defend ourselves because we like we got a responsibility to future generations that we don't let this property be spoiled. all wrapped up and confined and that nobody can ever build here or do anything.
So we started defending ourselves. And over the year and a half or so of the lawsuit, we spent $600,000 defending ourselves. And we weren't as big a church then, and that was a lot of money. That's a lot of money now, and that was a lot of money then. And we were short staffed.
I was. Puffing for air, man. I was like, didn't have an associate. I'd go up to my lawyer and say, How are you doing, associate pastor? I said, for that $50,000 a month we're giving you, could you come over and visit the hospital or something?
He was a great lawyer. He was a great lawyer. $600,000. We tried to settle. Using what My brother, as a lawyer, said, was the best mediator in the state, and we tried to settle, and nothing, nothing to settle.
So we went before a judge on October 9th of 2008. He said, Why can't we settle this? We said, Your Honor, we'd like to settle this. Judges are not mediators, they're judges. But he wanted to settle it.
And I said, We'd be glad to settle it. He said, Well, Let me go talk to them. And I don't know what he said. But there's something about a guy in a black robe going and talking to the other side that made a difference. And he said they're willing to settle.
And we started talking about the different provisions of the settlement. We agreed to things that we thought were agreeable. and some some restrictions. But not forbidding us from building on this property and using our land. And we settled it on October 1st.
The 9th of 2008, and some wit prophetically said, That's 10-9-8, like 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1, blast off. And honestly, most things blasted off since that time. And what happened, I learned a little bit about the law, is the judge signed a consent order. that day. That I guess is filed downtown somewhere.
And I learned what that means. It means that not only is this settled. But this particular dispute cannot be brought up again. Ever. Ever.
And if someone should try to sue over this matter again. they would be in violation of the law themselves, basically.
Well, I tell you this story because I was remembering when I was thinking about Romans 8, and I was remembering one day sitting in a meeting with several staff. And I was bemoaning, I was whining about a budgetary matter. And I said, boy, it sure would be great if we hadn't had to waste $600,000 on a lawsuit. And Mickey Figpin, who was our executive director at the time, rebuked me. He said it was not wasted.
I said it felt wasted. Yeah. He said it was not wasted. I said, what do you mean? He said, that $600,000 bought us a consent order that means that no one can ever, ever accuse us or sue us about these matters ever again.
And he said, that's worth a lot. And I said, you're right. I think what Paul is saying here Is the consent order has been signed by the judge? I think what is leading us to this triumphant statement of why you're more than a conqueror. Is it doesn't mean that you have won a victory.
And then tomorrow you might lose. And then you might win, and then you might lose. You're more than a conqueror because all of hell cannot stand against you and the body of Christ because what Jesus has accomplished for you is already signed, sealed, and delivered. And what it means, therefore, is not only do you have victory, you can make it through and you can overcome, what it means is you don't even have to listen to the accusations from the accuser. That's what total victory feels like.
It's like I'm not even having that conversation with you, devil. You safe.
So Not only can you not be defeated by the devil, You can't be rightly accused. That makes you more than a conqueror. And When you adopt this as a mentality, it has exceeding power for your life. The power of living with a victorious mentality that takes you out of victim thinking, it transforms so much in your life. It leads into what we'll be studying later in this series, Romans 12, 21.
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. There's that word nikaio again. It leads into a lifestyle where you are ever increasingly not being overcome by the forces of wickedness or by the temptations of this life, but there's something that's inside of you that is overcoming the evil. Yeah. That's where it's all leading to.
It has a so that. This is all so that. You can live out this sort of victorious life. It has a tremendous power in your life when you begin to live like this. You know, I was just thinking about what do victorious people do, you know?
I mean, well, I mean, one of the things they do is they smile about it and they clap about it and they shout about it. But what they do ultimately is they live in it. Yeah. They walk in it. as as as a reality.
And th this is where I think this is all leading, you know. is that spiritual maturity Is where you're not like, okay, I got another battle tomorrow. Maybe I'll get past that. No, it's more of an abiding, quiet sense. Of peace and confidence that the circumstances aren't defining you, and that even when you come to the moment when you breathe your last.
You've been given victory in Jesus. and that one day you reign with him in glory. I thought of this, thought of this text in 1 John 2 because. I think John's the apostle here, and I think he's crystallizing so much of what he's learned about what the walk with Jesus is like. And I think he's speaking here metaphorically.
He says, I'm writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for his name's sake. I'm writing to you, fathers. Because you know him who is from the beginning. And I'm writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, fathers, verse 14, because you know him who's from the beginning.
I write to you, young men, because you're strong, the Word of God abides in you, and you've overcome. the evil one. As if they're like, there are stages in our growing spirituality. And the stage of being like little children, we are Just Ye pi, my sins are forgiven. And that is fantastic.
I mean, you can spend the rest of your life just celebrating that your sins are forgiven. And it should be the first thing that occupies a new Christian's heart: wow, I'm going to heaven. Wow, my sins are forgiven. Oh, he loves me. It was fantastic.
But I think what he's saying, what he calls the young men, those that come to this stage of life, like in the natural, what happens with a young man, what they want to do is they want to be overcomers, they want to produce something, they want to accomplish something, they want to. Beat somebody at something. They want to win at something. And in the spirit, I think this same thing, it needs to happen in our lives. It needs to happen that we start when my sins are forgiven.
But then you start realizing, yeah, but this gospel is about more than just, yippee, I get to go to heaven. It's about me taking some territory. Doing something with the power of this gospel, making a difference here, you know, and young men, spiritually speaking, you know, you're overcomers, he's saying. The car. But he says, but fathers.
Spiritual parents. Here's who you are. You know him who is from the beginning. You've walked with him. Yeah, you experienced the delight of having your sins forgiven, and you've experienced what it's like.
To have authority in Jesus' name and exercise some power in the name of Jesus. You've cast out some demons, you've used some spiritual gifts, and you've seen some things happen, young men. Great. The fathers You've walked through a lot of that, but now something's happened. And victory just abides in you.
You've become a non-anxious presence. in the swirl of chaos. You know. That which was from the beginning is carrying on for eternity. and you're just walking in it.
You don't have those same old conversations within yourself that used to beset you. you're not so easily brought down. And honestly, you get to a point where the taunts of the devil and accusations. don't even really register with you very much. because you just are so attached to God.
that his consciousness is yours. The word Nikao. Is therefore not so much about the fleeting victories that we have. Or, like the disciples, when they were so excited that even the demons were subject to them in Jesus' name. But it is about who you are.
And no discussion of Nika'o, of being an overcomer of a victorious one, could be complete without turning to the end of the book. which is the revelation of the victory of Christ and the victory of the saints. It is interesting because if we took time to look through it, you'd see that. True to life, there are these momentary times in which. There's such tribulation that it looks like the beast is winning.
Like in Revelation 13, 7, it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. What? There's our word Nico. Authority was given to it. There was a level of victory that Evil perpetrates in this world.
But you read on and come to Revelation 15:2, and you see that John says, I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mingled with fire. And he said, I saw also those who had conquered the beast, and its image, and the number of its names, standing beside the sea of glass, with harps of God in their hands. He's talking about those conquerors, those more than conquerors, who all the beast is spewing out venom and breathing fire and telling its lies and scaring people. And he said, all of a sudden, the image shifted. And he saw a sea of glass, and he saw all the saints of God.
And while the beast is raging on, they are just like. We're not worried about it. And they're just playing their harps. They're just resting in worship. Because Christians By one name are those that conquer.
That's who you are. And so in the letters to the churches of Revelation 2 and 3, it's the refrain. Just take it in. Just take it in, saints of God, because this is describing you. Revelation 2:7, he who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
It says to you, to the one who conquers, that's you, uber conqueror. To the one who conquers, look at the promises of God. Take them in. Believe them. Hold on to them.
Cherish them. To the one who conquers, I will grant to eat of the tree of life. Revelation 2:11, the one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death. Oh! Revelation 2:17, to the one who conquers, I'll give some of the hidden man.
I'll give him a white stone with a new name written on the stone. Revelation 2:26, to the one who conquers, that's you. Until the very end, he said, I will give authority over the nations. Revelation 3:5, the one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments. And I will never blot his name out of the book of life.
I will confess his name before my father and before his angels. That's who you are, conqueror. You're the one that has Jesus. Speaking your name, his Lips pronouncing your name before the Father and the angels, calling out your name. With praise and joy.
Because your name is on his heart. The one who conquers, Revelation 3:12, I'll make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and never shall he go out of it. And I'll write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God. Revelation 3:21, the one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne. On my throne, I'm going to share the throne of Jesus as I also conquered and sat down with my father on his throne.
You are an uber conqueror. You're not just a conqueror, you're a hyper-victorious one. You're someone who's gone beyond the ordinary. You're someone who's not brought down by the circumstances of life. You are not detained nor deterred because of adversities.
You are not changed, and your destiny remains to be ruling with Jesus himself in a new heaven and a new earth. Beloved, you are more than conquerors, and that is the gospel. Hallelujah! Alan Wright. Today's teaching, Total Victory, from the series More Than Conquerors, a study of Romans 8.
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Like you're in the studio to share Pastor Alan's parting good news thought for the day at the conclusion of this teaching, Total Victory. It's like an image of a courtroom to say who will bring any charge. Against the elect. Who will have anything to say? that could actually bring Incriminating evidence against God's people, no one, not Satan himself, though Satan means accuser.
It is to say that what has happened for us Christians in Christ is that we've been so thoroughly forgiven. that Christ has paid fully The debt. that he's taken the penalty fully. He was incriminated on our behalf. And therefore, it would be absolutely unjust.
for God to punish two people for the same crime. And that sense There's nothing. No accusation. that could hold any water.
So it is to say that in The heavenly courtroom. You have already been declared. Free, redeemed. And Not guilty. Today's good news message is a listener-supported production of Alan Wright Ministries.
