More Th>n Conquerors

It’s Resurrection Sunday, Christ is Risen, Indeed!
He conquered sin and death – Up from the grave He arose!
HE LIVES!  HAPPY EASTER!
Easter, we’ve come to know Easter as Christ’s Resurrection, the third day from Good Friday where he suffered to the point of death.  He conquered death.  Believing in Jesus Christ we too conquer death.  One day we will be absent from the body present with the Lord to eternally live forever with Him and with all believers in Christ, and we sing Hallelujah!!
 
More Th>n Conquerors!  Our work isn’t finished in just claiming what Christ did for us.  It isn’t conquered in the sense that we have nothing else to accomplish.  Our belief in Jesus, our faith walk is a journey happening now in this life as we live it out.  We are the more, we are active, we are involved in this victory.  We are conquerors, overcomers, because our sin is washed away in the blood of Jesus.  We are conquerors, the victory is ours because of Christ’s love for us he conquered death’s sting.
 
We’ve been studying in the book of James and have learned these past weeks that Easter People….
*Find Joy in the Midst of Trials – Joy is a good feeling in the soul produced by the Holy Spirit as Christ lives in us.
*Focus on Building others up – we pour into another’s life as God pours into ours.
*Have a Missional Identity in Jesus – we are His ambassadors, a people for God’s own possession.
*Are Good Listeners – to what God is saying to us and listening more intentionally to others.
*Are both Doers and Hearers – taking our head knowledge to heart, putting our faith into practice.
*Don’t have to tell others they are Christians – they’ll know we are Christians by our love, for all God’s people.
And now *Easter People are More Th>n Conquerors- we celebrate in the Risen Christ, the reason for our faith.
 
Christ is alive, He lives in each one of us!  This is the ultimate partnership.  WE are on a mission with Christ so that the world may know him.  And this we do ‘til our dying day.
Easter Sunday’s sermon we heard about Living Hope!  Our recent trials through this Covid-19 virus can lead us to anxiety-despair-denial-a feeling of being out of touch with reality.  We want to assume the worst.  Sometimes we make incorrect assumptions. We heard that we are to be aware of how we are responding to our fears.  Sunday’s scripture reminds us in Romans 8:28  “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good”; Romans 8:31 “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us”?  vs 35 “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulations, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword”?  Pastor George said when we are feeling those anxious emotions, we should ask ourselves two questions during whatever trial we are going through. 1. What good is going to come out of this? 2. What good is God going to bring out?
 
This week we’ve viewed the RNM video on “Overcoming Life’s Challenges” by Steve Baird.  This series took us through the book of James also.  We learned to Seek God First. Pursue Jesus, he is priority.  We learned that trials will always be with us. We are to surrender ourselves to God’s Power, give our trials over to Him, but also to look at the trial from God’s perspective.  Trials, Baird says, God uses to demonstrate the genuineness of our faith and to develop us into the maturity of Jesus Christ, Christlikeness.  He says, and we know, to take our trials to God in prayer.  We can trust Him; we can know that He loves us.  Baird referred to Ephesians 2:4-6 “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ-by grace you have been saved-and raised us with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”   Baird says to claim, to think on our position with Jesus our Savior, we sit with our Father.  His love for us, the good that he wants for us, the work that he does in our hearts and minds and lives is all for our good.  We only see part, but God sees the whole of our lives.  He in us and we in Him...our task through these trials are to mature in our faith, to put His words into practice so that we become more Christ-like. 
 
More Th>n Conquerors.  The last passage from Sunday’s message in Romans 8: 37-38 reads “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  We can Overcome Life’s Challenges because we have more than we need to conquer them through the love of Jesus.  Remember whose you are!
 
Steve Baird spoke of the Crown of Life that is for those who love Christ.  It’s for us who pass the test of trials, showing maturity of our faith.  James 1:12 reads “Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trials, for when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.”  In Revelation 2:10 Jesus said….”Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life”.  We are more, we can deal with life challenges, we can be faithful unto death.  We want to be awarded the Crown of Life when we come face-to-face with our Lord.  Let’s live life through the promise of Easter and be More Th>n in faith.

Larry & Darlene