You Are Not Powerless

Pastor Stan Mons

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Sermon Transcription:

The title of this word is you are not powerless. You are not powerless.I want to read Isaiah 54:17 starting off this morning. The word says, “No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises itself against you in judgment, you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is from me, says the Lord.” Here we have one of those Old Testament passages, Old Testament scriptures, that we can so clearly and so easily see is actually a New Covenant, not New Testament, New Covenant truth for you and I. There's an Old Testament, a New Testament, and there's an old covenant and a new covenant. Don't confuse the four. Amen? The Old Testament is all of the scripture written before Jesus was announced and brought into this world, and the New Testament scriptures are those past that moment. But there's a lot of people that read the New Testament that live in the Old Covenant. Amen.

The old covenant, which is really not the first one, so it can get a little confusing, but the old covenant is the covenant that the people of Israel made with God through Moses, also known as the ten commandments. That is the old covenant, a covenant of works. And then the word even in the Old Testament tells us that a different time will come. And the word literally says, the prophet speaking, God speaking through the prophet to his son saying, “I'm going to give you as a covenant to the people.” In other words, the new covenant is not made with you and I and God. The old covenant was between people and God. The new covenant is between God the Son and God the Father, and it is about you. So you hearing the gospel message is you hearing about this new covenant that the father made with the son about you. But this covenant is no longer with you, so you cannot break it. Amen. And so that's why the word tells us this covenant is based on better promises. Why is it based on better promises? Because neither God the Son nor God the Father breaks his promises. That's why we can always come back to the Father. That's why we can have a gospel that allows us to never be shaken, even though our actions are not perfect yet, because this covenant is not based on how we perform and then God responds to us.

This covenant is based on what we believe about this new covenant. If we believe that this new covenant was given for us in Christ Jesus, that in Jesus every part of the contract, so to speak, between the Father and the Son, in Jesus every part was fulfilled. That's why he said, “It is finished.” When he finished his work, his part of the covenant, he said, “It's finished now. Father, I've done what was my part. Now, Father, receive me back in glory.” Now, Father, what does he pray in John? “Now, Father, may those that believe in me also be where I am. Give them to me as you have promised them to me.” Not only for these, his disciples, Jesus said, “Not only for these do I pray, but also for them that believe on my name because of their word.”

Every person that believes in Jesus, what does the Bible say? They are in Christ. Christ is the head of the church, and we are the body. We are so often called the body, and we can't forget whose body we are. Amen. We are the body of Christ. He is the head. And because of that, everything Jesus accomplished, the fact that Jesus finished every part of the covenant, and you are now a finger in the body of Christ or a knee in the body of Christ, just as all the work is finished for the head that is now attached to the whole body, it is also finished for you. Amen. That is the gospel. Jesus made an agreement with the Father about us without any part for us so that we could not mess it up. And then what happened is heaven sent messenger after messenger after messenger to tell you about this new covenant that God provided, and those that believe will be saved and will be brought into this new covenant.

Here's how you know if you are in the new covenant even though you read the New Testament. Here's how you know if you are in the new covenant or in the old covenant. If you do wrong and you can't have peace until you run to God and ask for forgiveness, you are still in the old covenant. If you do good and you're not falling, you're not sinning, and you feel better about yourself before the Father than when you are having a difficult day, you are still in the old covenant. It's still your relationship with God is still based on how well you do or not do. When Jesus brings you into the new covenant, what does he say? There's a peace that remains for the people of God. The Israelites could not enter it. They were trying to keep the ten commandments, yet they could not enter the peace of God. The word says there then remains a peace for the people of God, a Sabbath’s rest. Jesus finished of his works and rested, and the word tells us when you've come into the new covenant you will rest of your works also.

So you will never feel like you need to do a thing for God or leave behind a thing in order to satisfy him. It is finished. And now, in relationship of family, literally experiencing and feeling and understanding, I mean nothing could be more real to you when the Holy Spirit has made this real in your life. Nothing could be more real to you than that you are family of God. Nothing could be more real to you. And when that has become real, you know that even if you're a little naughty or even if you do a little wrong, it cannot affect the truth that I am family. The Lord may be upset. I may do some things wrong that make it a little bit rough to talk to him right now. But it doesn't change the fact that I am family in the house. I'm not a servant. I'm not employed. I'm not here on conditions. I'm not risking to be kicked out. But sometimes I'm not great, and then he is also a father to me and corrects me. But I am family in the house.

Only the Holy Spirit can show that truth to your heart. Man may teach it to your mind, but only the Holy Spirit can show it to your heart. But when he has, you enter into that special rest of Christ where all things have finished. There's nothing left to do. Everything we do now is for other people, not contributing to my standing with God or trying to erase my wrongs between me and God. “Their righteousness is from me.” That last sentence of verse 17, this is a people who don't have a righteousness that is relating to the old covenant. He says their righteousness is from me. In other words, Jesus says, I'm talking about a people here who have a righteousness that they didn't work up and they didn't acquire. It's not even really theirs. It is my righteousness, and I have given it away to them, to those people that have become part of the body of Christ. They now have my righteousness upon their life. And of those people, He says, “No weapon formed against them will ever prosper. Every tongue raised in judgment against you, you shall condemn.” I won't have to do it for you. You will not be without power. You will condemn those voices. This is the heritage, or even the inheritance, of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is from me.

Church, what needs to happen for you to get an inheritance? Somebody got to die. Amen. And somebody did die. And all of the inheritance of the children of God, all of the inheritance, has now passed on from Christ to you. And yes, he rose from the grave. But the word tells us that because Christ laid down His life, everything He had, everything He owned, everything that He had—His righteousness, His right standing, His perfect obedience with the Father—everything was inherited. And so even though you didn't have all of that in yourself, you have it now anyways because you have been given it in Christ Jesus. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and the righteousness is from me, says the Lord. And so there is this truth for the born-again believer that there's a power to do so, and a power to say so, and a power to make it so, when it pertains to your life or even judgment that is being cast upon your life. When the enemy comes to remind you or accuse you because your walk is not perfect, the word says something is going to happen in the hearts of those that have the righteousness of Christ. And they have the power to shut that down, to condemn that voice, and to literally renew their own peace and to set the enemy outside of their own hearing, outside of their family, outside of their house.

The word also tells us that weapons are going to be formed against that kind of a people. But none of these weapons are going to prosper. They're going to show up. They're going to do maybe some pain even from time to time, but they will not prevail. They will not prosper in the lives of those that are not powerless. We're going to look at a story, an Old Testament story once again, where a lady killed the enemy with a tent peg. Again, an incredible story, an extraordinary story that can at very least raise some eyebrows. But I want to remind you again, just like we did last Sunday, of how we are to look at these Old Testament—not Old Covenant—these Old Testament stories. Romans 15:4. For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. Now, Paul was not writing this about verses in the New Testament that come before this verse because the New Testament didn't exist yet. He could have only been writing about the Old Testament, the Old Testament accounts, the Old Testament stories, the Old Testament history, and the poetry books. This is the only thing that he was referring to.

Those things that were written, the scriptures, they are written for a purpose—that you and I end up full of hope. There are things, there are treasures in Old Testament stories, and they have been designed for your hope. They are recorded there waiting for you to read them with an attitude of faith so that you may be filled of hope, that you may be a man full of hope, a woman full of hope in this generation. That's what the word teaches us. We're going to go to Judges chapter 4. If you have your Bibles with you, I want to read it with you. We're going to read the whole chapter, Judges chapter 4. We'll read the whole thing together.  Starting in verse one, we're going to read the whole chapter. When Ehud was dead, the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin, king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera—remember that name, Sisera—who dwelt in Herosheth Hagoyim. And the children of Israel cried out to the Lord. For Jabin had 900 chariots of iron, and for 20 years he had harshly oppressed the children of Israel. Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, was judging Israel at that time. And she would sit under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the mountains of Ephraim. And the children of Israel came up to her for judgment. Then she sent and called for Barak, the son of Abinoam from Kadesh in Naphtali, and said to him, “Has not the Lord God of Israel commanded? Go and deploy troops at Mount Taber. Take with you 10,000 men of the sons of Naphtali and the sons of Zebulun. And against you I will deploy Sisera, the commander of Jabin's army, and with his chariots and his multitudes at the river of Kishon, and I will deliver him into your hand.” And Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, then I will go. But if you will not go with me, I will not go.” So she said, “I will surely go with you. Nevertheless, there will be no glory for you in the journey you are taking, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.”

Then Deborah arose and went with Barack to Kedesh. And Barak called Zebulon and Neftali, took Adash, and he came up with 10,000 men under his command. And Deborah went up with him. Now Heber the Kenite of the children of Habab, the father-in-law of Moses, had separated himself from the Kenites and pitched his tent near the terebinth tree at Zaanaim, which is beside Kedesh. And they reported to Sisera that Barak, the son of Abinoam, had gone up to Mount Tabor. So Sisera gathered together all his chariots, 900 chariots of iron, and all the people who were with him from Harosheth Hagoyim to the river Kishon. Then Deborah said to Barak, “Up, for it is the day which the Lord has delivered Sisera into your hand. Has not the Lord gone out before you?” So Barak went out from Mount Tabor with 10,000 men following him. And the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army with the edge of the sword before Barak. And Sisera alighted from his chariot and fled away on foot. But Barak pursued the chariots and the army as far as Herosheth Hagoyim. And all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword. Not a man was left.

However, Sisera had fled away on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite. For there was peace between Jabin, king of Hazor, and the house of Heber the Kenite. And Jael went out to meet Sisera and said to him, “Turn aside, my lord. Turn aside to me. Do not fear.” And when he had turned aside with her into the tent, she covered him with a blanket. Then he said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink, for I'm thirsty.” So she opened a jug of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him. And he said to her, “Stand at the door of the tent, and if any man comes and inquires of you and says, ‘Is there any man here?’ you shall say no.” Then Jael Heber's wife took a tent peg and took a hammer in her hand and went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple, and it went down into the ground, for he was fast asleep and weary so he died. And then, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him and said, “Come, I will show you the man whom you seek.” And when he went into the tent, there lay Sisera dead with a peg in his temple.

So on that day, God subdued Jabin, king of Canaan, in the presence of the children of Israel. And the hand of Israel grew stronger and stronger against Jabin, king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin, king of Canaan. Now, here we have again one of those incredible Old Testament stories. And when you read it, at first glance, you may think, “I'm not sure I want to share this one with my kids. I'm not sure why exactly all of this had to be in there. And why all the detail? Why in the story is there this sudden stop halfway through, as if an important side note is being made?” We're on this journey of the story, and all of a sudden there’s a hard stop and a turn—a side note is made that the father-in-law of Moses’s descendants is there, separated. Why does the word take a moment to make that note and not just glance over it? Why was that important? So that we would know that it is one of those descendants, one of the relatives of Moses—a woman—who ends up driving that peg through the enemy's head.

Why did the word want you and me to know that it was a descendant of Moses and that something got accomplished that was not possible through an army of 10,000? Not possible. It took a descendant of Moses, a woman. Why does the word want us to know that? Well, we’ve learned from the Old Testament that in many ways, Moses often points us to Christ. Just as Moses was sent to deliver the people of Israel, what did he have with him?

A staff, a piece of wood. The blood of the lamb was put on the doorpost. And Moses led the people out of slavery under this evil Pharaoh, this evil king. He led them into freedom. And every time a miracle broke forth—every time a miracle was done for the people of God, whether to go through the Red Sea or to have clean water in the desert—every time that staff came into play, every time we see Moses being used of God as the sent deliverer, there’s a pointing forward to the cross, represented by that other piece of wood, and a pointing forward to Christ, who would take you out of slavery under the enemy of your soul and would lead you into freedom also by a piece of wood—a blood-stained cross—and bring you into a freedom that was not yours before and provide for you in a way that could not be provided for you before Moses points forward to Christ. And this woman, just like last week, points forward to the church, a relative of Moses, a relative of Christ. And all of a sudden, we begin to see that there's a purpose to this story, that in the details that are given to us, we unlock, so to speak, the key of understanding the why. Why, why, Lord? Why this story? Why this way? Why a woman? Why a descendant of Moses? Why, Lord? Are you pointing forward to something of Christ and something of the church?

Here is what you learn as the church: you are not powerless. An army of 10,000 can be powerless to accomplish what one relative of Christ can actually bring about in a generation. A defeat, a power, a freedom that can be brought about by those that have been filled. The word tells us no weapon formed against that man or that woman is going to prosper. Any accusation, anything the enemy wants to bring to the table against that kind of a man, that kind of a woman, they will not be without power. They will have the power to condemn those judgments, to condemn those words. You are not powerless because you are related to Jesus. You're not powerless. If the enemy wants you to believe anything at all in our generation, it is that you cannot make a difference. I've said it many times before: the enemy's been allowed to preach in many churches. And one of the things I've heard in almost any nation where we've ministered is when Christians are testifying on the street or evangelizing on the job, and somebody all of a sudden will turn a little bit against them in the conversation and say, “Well, you think you can save me, or are you going to save me?”—mocking. And then I hear the Christian's response, “Oh, I can't save you. Only Jesus can do that. I cannot do that.” Even though the word literally tells us, Paul speaking, saying that by all means possible, I may save some. And somehow the enemy has convinced the church that God has to somehow still do something for sinners that you and I cannot carry to them, that you and I cannot bring upon their life, that you and I cannot do for them.

The word tells us you are not powerless. No weapon formed against you will prosper. Paul, setting a great example for us in many, many ways, saying, I lay my life down. I stretch forward towards what is still ahead of me, that by any means possible I may save some, because Christ has already died for them. Christ has already purchased forgiveness for them. That saving work has already taken place, but they won't believe it. And I'm going to seek to convince them, if it is at all possible, to persuade them to look into these things and to consider these things and to ask of God, “God, if this is true, would you prove yourself to me?” Church, I have said it many times. If you can provoke somebody’s mind and get them to pray, it is over. If you can get somebody to honestly cry out to God and say, “God, if this is true, show it to me,” it’s over. You are not powerless because you are related to Jesus. Church, you have access to a victory that the world knows nothing about. You have access to power that can accomplish victories that armies of 10,000 can never bring about—victories that no psychiatrist, no medication, nothing in this world, no money, no finances, no resources, no masses of people can ever bring about. But you alone, by yourself, can have these victories because you are related to Christ.

You’ve been given the power to put away your guilt. There’s not a person, not an army, no finances, nothing in this world that can free a person of guilt. You’ve been given the power in Christ Jesus to put away your guilt, to condemn every voice of judgment raised against you. You have been given the power to put away any fear that comes to hunt you down. The Lord is telling you, “I didn’t give you a spirit of fear.” You go ahead and tell that spirit to booger off in the name of Christ. You have been called to peace. No weapon formed against you will prosper. You see a weapon come, you condemn it. You see a voice raised against you in judgment, trying to tell you that you are defined by what you do and not by God, the Most High. Any voice raised against you in judgment—you go ahead and shut that down. You get to put away your fear. Nobody in this generation can be free from fear except those who are related to Christ Jesus. Anything, as a matter of fact, that comes against you—anything at all—will not prosper. Church, you are not powerless because you are related to Christ Jesus.

Let me read it to you from the Word: Galatians 3:26-29—“For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

There’s neither Jew nor Greek; there’s neither slave nor free; there’s neither male nor female—for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise.” Church, you are sons and daughters in the house. You are related. Not powerless. You are related to the deliverer. What is all power and all flesh? That’s what that army represents—the 10,000 coming. Impressive. That’s the strength and the power of the flesh of man. And sometimes in our spiritual life, it’s a little bit like that. It seems that we have a 10,000-person army of the flesh and a very, very small portion of being spiritually alive. But when you live like that, many things never change in your life. When you still live with your flesh, even though you believe in Jesus, there are so many things in your life that you are convicted to the bone should be gone, but it just doesn’t really work in your life.

I still approach this battle from the Old Covenant perspective—what I can and cannot do in my flesh, what I can stay away from and what I cannot stay away from, what I can control in my own behavior and what I am out of control in my own behavior. And my fleshly strength limits my ability to be changed or even to behave rightly. All the power of the flesh cannot ever accomplish the victory that is given to those that simply step forward because they say, "I’m related to the deliverer, so I can have this victory." And it’s a very fine line, church, because there are many people who believe in Jesus but don’t believe they will have victory because they’re related to Him. They believe in Jesus and think they should try to keep the Ten Commandments, or else God is not going to be happy with them. Or they believe in Jesus and feel they better be going to church and not miss one. And when they do miss church, they feel a little guilty, a little nagged, a little worried. Still, that Old Covenant breathing through their heart, mind, feelings, and experience.

Flesh. So much of our flesh becomes reformed flesh when we get saved. Church, your flesh—you can never trust it. Your flesh will pull any trick in the book. There were things, and I’ve shared this before, that I was convinced to my bones were from the Holy Spirit after I got saved. It was all flesh. At the time, I was convinced it was from the Spirit of God. It was reformed flesh. Your flesh becomes so terrified when the Spirit of God takes residence in your soul and body. Your flesh becomes so terrified that it will reform itself, reshape itself to look godly, sound godly, behave godly—just so it gets to stay, and preferably goes unnoticed. There were so many things in my life, and for years I knew these were fruits of the Spirit or things God had accomplished in my life—only to find out it was flesh. It was my flesh trying to survive in an environment that was a threat to it: a saved person.

But that flesh can never accomplish what will be done for you through promise. And when you have an area in your life where you’re convicted it should be different but you don’t have the power to make that difference, you’re still trying in the flesh. That’s the message this morning: recognize your flesh, acknowledge it. Acknowledge that there’s still a trust in those 10,000 men—an army that is able to conquer so much. It makes more sense to men and women to trust in the flesh; it looks like this great army and not to trust in the promises of God. In the story, this is explained as a woman compared to a 10,000-man army—this woman who is able to bring about the victory and not those 10,000. When there is a victory that you’re still waiting for, when you’re in a cycle of sin and repentance in an area of your life, you’re still trusting in the flesh. It doesn’t matter how godly it sounds or looks. God does not lose battles. Amen. God does not fail to keep His promises to His bride. God will do for you and through you what your flesh can never accomplish.

But we’ve got to acknowledge the flesh. We’ve got to judge it and then turn to Jesus. Some of you are hearing that for the first time. You’ve never turned from your flesh to Jesus. You’ve only turned from sin to Jesus. You’ve only turned from your life to Jesus. You’ve laid down your life. But the flesh can be so sneaky and still around, keeping you in this cycle, in this difficulty, to where you begin to give up and begin to believe that little message of the enemy that you are powerless—even though the Word of God tells you that you are not powerless, that you are taken care of, that you will never find yourself alone in a battle or defeated in a battle unless you do not trust in the Lord. See, in the story, God led the commander of the army straight to this woman’s tent. She didn’t have to do the work. She didn’t have to go out and find him. She didn’t have to make something happen. We don’t even necessarily read that she prays. What we see is God do all of the work. And this woman, who remembered her lineage, who remembered who she was related to, says, “Okay, I got this battle. You come ahead, lay down in my tent. You’re going to be just taken care of.” And she grabs whatever’s close by. She grabs a tent peg out of the tent, finds a hammer, and takes care of the problem—unfazed, like it’s an ordinary Monday for her. And she comes out of the tent, waits, and sees the army come. She’s like, “Okay, we took care of this one. It’s all taken care of.”

"The work is done. The battle is finished." There is a fight that the strength of the flesh could never end. Ten thousand men could not end that fight. But as a relative of Christ, as a relative of the King, a power is near you and upon you because you are the redeemed of the Lord. And the redeemed of the Lord always have a song. Let’s read it from Psalm 107, verses 1 and 2: "Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy." Not a weapon formed against you—redeemed by the blood of Christ. Let them have a song, says the Word. Let the redeemed sing about the goodness of the Lord and the mercy of the Lord because these are the people who have seen God give them their enemy. These are the people who have seen that God has given them power. What did Jesus tell His disciples when He left? He said, "Don’t do anything, because the Spirit will come to you, and then you will have power, and then you will be My witnesses." He said, "These signs will follow them: they will lay hands on the sick and they will recover; if they drink anything deadly or step on a scorpion, they will not die. The enemy will not be able to stand against them. The enemy will not be able to hold his ground when a redeemed person shows up."

Church, the Lord will cause you to walk in victory over battles that no strength in this world could ever accomplish. Victory that no strength in this world could ever accomplish—God is going to give it to you. Why would He do that? Because you are the rightful heir of this inheritance. Someone has died, and the inheritance is being handed down to you now to carry in this world, in this generation. You’re it, church. You’re the ones that get to be bathed by God in everything Christ has purchased so that this generation can see there is a victory being given to sinners by an almighty God, who purchased that victory for Himself to hand it down from generation to generation so that there may be hope inside His people. And in a generation tortured by fear, tortured by anxiety, there will be a people who point forward and say, "Everybody come to this tent. Come see. Let me show you what God has done. Let me show you what happens when you let Jesus make you a son or a daughter in the Kingdom. Let me show you what God has prepared for those that love Him."

What you need is to remember with all of your heart daily that you are a relative. You need to deny fear any access. The spirit of fear always tells you what to do, what not to do, or else—it’s a spirit of judgment. Some of you find it easier to recognize a spirit of fear than the Holy Spirit. Sometimes what you need to learn is to shut down those voices. Fear always judges you: "If you do not, then disaster will come. If you do this, then you will be made fun of or exposed." It’s judgment. And the Word says you get to shut that down. You’re not powerless. You’re not a victim. You’re equipped. You’re a relative. Out of all the people in this generation, you are the one who can walk away in victory from all of this. Remember that you are a relative. Deny fear, cast it off, and the Lord will give you victory. You are His redeemed. There is a victory that belongs to you, and nothing in this world can accomplish it. But Jesus gave you power.

Jesus gave you power, church. All the strength in this world, all the religions in this world, all the effort that has ever been put into keeping the Ten Commandments by humankind—except Christ Jesus—none of it can accomplish the victory that you have. None of it. None of the strength, none of the religions, none of it can accomplish it. No church can accomplish it. But you, called out of darkness by the light, called out of your sin by Christ, called out of unbelief by the Holy Spirit, turning from that old covenant of “I do, and God responds” to Christ, saying, "Christ did, and He responds to me"—to believe upon Christ Jesus in that covenant is the only way that victory can come into your heart, into any man. I know people—they’ve been in churches their entire life—and they cannot say on their deathbed that they are going to heaven.

They are not certain. They are doubtful. They are worried. Let alone living a life full of hope in a generation declaring the faithfulness and goodness of God—because He has accomplished all things for someone like me. They can’t believe it. They can’t live it—because it’s only accomplished one way. It’s accomplished outside of my work, outside of my wrong, outside of my sin.

It’s accomplished by Christ and given to me because God has loved me and desired for me to have His righteousness, desired for me to have His power for my battles, for my victories, so that He may receive all of the glory, and none of it may go to me. Jesus gave you power, church. Nothing else—nothing in this world—can make a person good. You can do a million good things. You can give all of your money to the poor. You can give yourself completely to good causes, and none of it will make you any better before the Father. Nothing in this world—all of the power and strength in this world—cannot make you good. But you have been given power. You have been given something that causes a victory that nothing else can accomplish. You have been made a son. You have been made a daughter. Nothing in this world, church, nothing in this world can set you free from anxieties, from the compulsion to control people, situations, eating habits—whatever it may be. People try to derive peace from that. Nothing can give it to you. But Jesus gave you power. No strength of man can accomplish it. All the strength of the flesh, church, is not enough to shut the devil down. We’ve seen it trying in the Word. I’ve seen it trying in real life. I’ve seen so many people trying to pick up arms against the devil—all bold and brave—but only those that have been redeemed by Christ and given power succeed. They don’t have to yell very loud. They don’t have to shout at the devil.

They don’t have to pray for seven hours. One mention of the name of Jesus, and all of it is brought to ruin. Everything the enemy built, everything the enemy prepared, all of his strategy, all of his activity—one mention of a child who has trusted Christ, and all the enemy was doing falls apart. None of the strength of the flesh can deal with it. But church, you are not powerless. You have inherited something because you are family. Isaiah 54:17 says: "No weapon formed against you shall prosper. And every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is from Me," says the Lord. Church, and also those that are with us online, you are not powerless. It does not matter this morning how big of a mess your life may be—how much sin you are holding on to, how much guilt you carry, how much shame you carry, or how much doubt you have in your heart. You are not powerless.

John 1:12-13 says: "But as many as received Him, to them He gave power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name, which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." Church, if everything in life is a mess, but you believe that Jesus is the Son of God, if that is all that you have this morning, you are not powerless. He has given you power. Receive it. The Word says, "As many as received Him, to them He gave power." Receive it. You have the power right here this morning to receive what the Lord has spoken or to choose to doubt it. You have that power. He placed that ball in your court. God has done all things. Christ has accomplished all things. And now he has that new covenant being brought to your ears, handing you the power to decide to believe God and surrender to Him and receive from Him, or to doubt Him. Some of you have been feeling powerless in areas of your life. And you've been feeling powerless because of that continual struggle with your emotions, that continual struggle with things in your personality that are not nice, continual struggle in your relationship, continual struggle with your finances, continual struggle with sins, continual struggles with the future, and fear of the future, and not knowing how things are going to come to pass.

If you can bring it to pass and it's made you feel powerless, and your spirit, your mind, your heart has begun to believe a little bit that you probably are powerless, here's the word of God to you this morning: You are not powerless. He's given you the power to become a son, to become a daughter. Why? That you may have every benefit that comes with being related to Christ Jesus. He could have simply handed you forgiveness, and forgiveness alone, and you could have made it into heaven. Why did the Father not do that? He gave you everything in Christ Jesus. And that's where the shift has to take place in our life. Many of you have believed, possibly in some cases all your life, that only because of Jesus can I be forgiven before the Father. But do you also believe that because you are related to Jesus, you will get every victory for free, handed to you by the Father? Do you actually believe that, or do you doubt that?

If you would stand with me for a moment, here's the altar call. It's very simple. This morning, this last Sunday of 2025,  if you say in your heart, God, I'm turning from my doubts. God, I am a son. I am a daughter. I believe You, and I am going to see the victory because I'm related to Jesus. Not because I pray or pray more. Not because I read so much. Not because I go to church. Not because I'm in the right church. Not because—you fill in the blank. No. When you want to say to God this morning in your heart, God, I'm turning from my doubts. I'm a son. I'm a daughter. And I'm going to see victory because I am related to Christ Jesus. If that is what you want to say to the Lord, I would love to pray with you right here at the altar and pray for that word to be sealed in your heart. If that is you, if you want to say that to the Lord, please make your way forward. Let's make room as we prepare our hearts.

-Pastor Stan Mons