Transcript
Afternoon, brethren.
Start today with a question, and maybe you can take a second to think about it, but who are the strongest people you know? Who are the strongest people you know? If you ask a little boy, he might say his dad and tell you a story, some great feat of strength that he witnessed his dad achieve, and his dad didn’t dispel that it was not necessarily a great feat of strength, but ask a little boy, you’ll probably hear, his dad.
Grow a little older and maybe become aware of events of history, and historical figures might come to mind. Winston Churchill, I’ll never forget the first time I heard his, we’ll fight them on the beaches speech, I’ll read briefly from that, you’ll remember, “We shall go to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and the oceans.” He stirred up a people that essentially stopped the spread of the Third Reich.
This man single-handedly probably did more than anyone to stop Hitler’s conquest. “We shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air. We shall defend our island whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches. We’ll fight on the landing grounds. We’ll fight in the fields and in the streets. We shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our empire beyond the seas armed and guarded by the British fleet would carry on the struggle until in God’s good time the new world with all its power and might steps forth to rescue and the liberation of the old.”
Eventually, America did intervene, but that was a tremendous display of will, a tremendous display of strength, a history-altering display of strength. He was a man with, we could say, an unconquerable spirit, Winston Churchill. Maybe think more recently to American history. We currently have a man in the White House who has polarized the country.
There are a lot of opinions about him, but regardless of what one thinks about him, when he was shot in Butler, Pennsylvania, went down, people thought the president may have been assassinated, the former president at the time. When he stood up and pumped his fist in the air and said, “Fight, fight, fight,” after being shot, one of the great moments in American history. A tremendous display of strength, a tremendous display of courage.
Maybe you think of biblical accounts, a Samson or a David. I think of Joshua, turn to Joshua chapter one as we continue to set this up, Joshua one. Joshua comes most to mind because of what God told him and what he went on to do. Joshua one, one, “Now after the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spoke unto Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses’ servant, saying, Moses, my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people unto the land which I do give them, even to the children of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you as I said unto Moses.”
Joshua had been waiting these fort years with the Israelites for this day, for this great moment when they would actually enter the Promised Land and God had some very specific instructions for him. “Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you as I said unto Moses. From the wilderness in this Lebanon, even to the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your coast.”
“There shall not be any man able to stand before you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so will I be with you. I will not fail you nor forsake you. Be strong and of a good courage. For unto this people shall you divide for an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them,” but that wasn’t enough. God wanted to emphasize this need for strength, this need for courage.
“Only be you strong,” verse seven, “and very courageous that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded you. Turn not from it to the right hand or to the left that you may prosper whithersoever you go.” Don’t just be strong in the face of adversity. Be strong in order to keep my commandments, God was telling him, because we know that’s a lot harder than just some physical display of strength.
“This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate therein day and night that you may observe to do according to all that’s written therein. For then you shall make your way prosperous and then you shall have good success. Have I not commanded you?” Here’s the third time. “Be strong and of good courage. Be not afraid, neither be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you whithersoever you go.” Then verse eighteen, here’s a fourth time. “Whosoever he be that rebel against your commandment and will not hearken unto your words and all that you command him, he shall be put to death only be strong and of a good courage.”
Now, this was the start of Joshua’s leadership. God over and over again, four times in one chapter, telling him to be strong and courageous. Telling him not to fear. Telling him not to deviate from God’s law. How did it end? Chapter twenty-four. Chapter twenty-four, in verse fourteen, did this man of God take these instructions to heart? Of course, he did. We know the record.
Joshua twenty-four, fourteen, “Now, therefore, fear the Lord,” Joshua’s telling the Israelites near the end of his life. Decades had passed. “Fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in truth and put away the gods which your father served on the other side of the flood and in Egypt and serve you the Lord. And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom you will serve.” These are the instructions of a man of great courage who God encouraged four times at the outset of his ministry, we could say.
“Whether the gods which your father served that were on the other side of the flood or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord,” this over a hundred-year-old man at this point says. The people answered and said, “God forbid that we would forsake the Lord, that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods. For the Lord our God, He it is that brought us up and our fathers out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage and which did those great signs in our sight and preserved us in all the way wherein we went and among all the people through whom we passed and the Lord drove out from before us all the people, even the Amorites which dwelt in the land. Therefore, will we also serve the Lord God for he is our God.”
“And Joshua said to the people, you can’t serve the Lord.” He knew how high the bar was. He knew what it meant to actually be converted and serve God. He’s looking at this carnal nation. He’s led them for decades and he says, “You can’t serve the Lord. I know your character. I know your carnal minds, for He is a holy God. He’s a jealous God. He won’t forgive your transgressions nor your sins. If you forsake the Lord and serve strange gods, then He will turn and do you hurt and consume you after that He has done you good. “
“And the people said to Joshua, no, we will serve the Lord. And Joshua said unto the people, you are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen you the Lord to serve him. And they said, we are witnesses. Now therefore put away, said he, the strange gods which are among you and incline your heart to the Lord God of Israel. And the people said to Joshua, the Lord our God, we will serve and His voice will we obey.”
“So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day and set them a statue and an ordinance in Shechem. And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God and took a great stone and set it up under an oak that was by the sanctuary of the Lord. And Joshua said to all the people, behold this stone shall be a witness unto us for it has heard all the words which the Lord has spoken unto us and shall therefore be a witness unto you lest you deny your God. So Joshua let the people depart, every man to his inheritance and it came to pass after these things that Joshua, the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord died being a hundred and ten years old.”
He served God for over a century. He maintained that strength that God commanded him to keep. He attempted to teach it to the carnal Israelites till the very day he died. Now, these are famous accounts, whether you look at history, modern Israelitish history, modern Israelitish presidents or in this case a great man of God who led Israel into the Promised Land.
Famous accounts, ones that would easily come to any of our minds, but it’s with these famous accounts in mind and many others. You could think of others, Daniel in the lion’s den, Meshach, Shadrach and Abednego. Any number of famous accounts we can draw strength from, biblical or historical or maybe people you know in your life. Any number of accounts we can draw strength from, but it’s with these famous accounts in mind that I’m going to cite a quote I heard recently. It’s not attributed to anyone, but it made me think of us, brethren. It really made me think of us.
“The strongest people I know are those who win battles we know nothing about.” The strongest people I know are those who win battles we know nothing about. We’re a people who in one sense started on Pentecost thirty-one, almost two thousand years ago, we’ll be keeping Pentecost tomorrow here. It’ll be in our rear-view mirror if we’re in the field.
Since that time, the Church of God has been discounted, lost to history, persecuted, looked down on, made fun of, but ultimately, it’s traced its way to where we are now. A relatively, largely unknown people, a little flock waiting for the kingdom of God. We’re all writing a record that will one day be the story of ages, will one day be the stuff of legend, but right now we’re unknown.
We’re those who win battles that others know nothing about. We’re fighting in our personal lives the most important battles in the world. Eternity is on the line. Not only for us, but for those who will go on to help. We may not be famous now, but what we’re doing in our personal lives, I don’t know what’s going on in your personal life, you don’t know what’s going on in my personal life, but they’re the most important battles being waged on earth right now. Everybody’s going through something.
Today what we’re going to talk about is developing an unconquerable mindset through those battles. Developing a strength of mind that will carry us through those battles that we’re each facing. God simply commanded Joshua, “Be strong.” That’s a large part of it, just determining to be strong. There’s an unconquerable mindset that we can develop, and today we’ll talk about some of the ways to develop that mindset.
We’re all going through things unique to our particular situations. Proverbs chapter fourteen. Proverbs fourteen. “The heart knows his own bitterness, and a stranger does not intermeddle in his joy.” I can’t know what you’re going through, you can’t know what I’m going through. Maybe we do a little bit in principle, but if you’re like me, there are times where trials feel extremely grievous, and you work through it, but only you truly know how that feels. Only you truly know the dynamics at play in those circumstances. The heart knows its own bitterness. It’s a personal matter.
Everybody’s going through something if they’re building character. That’s how we understand the character-building process works. If times are good, they’re going to get bad, Ecclesiastes chapter seven. You never know what’s around the corner, Ecclesiastes seven, verse fourteen. “In the day of prosperity, be joyful, but in the day of adversity, consider. God has also set the one over against the other to the end that man should find nothing after Him.”
In other words, God wants to keep us guessing. He’s developed an environment of stress, an environment of trial and tribulation so that we can overcome and grow. That’s why Christ was in all points tempted. You could argue that part of the reason why he was qualified to be our Savior is that He had to overcome so much. He built so much character. The more we overcome, the more character we built.
Things can come out of left field when we least expect them. About a week, two weeks ago, my wife and I were enjoying dinner out, went out to eat. After dinner, there was a kind of a bargain outlet across the street, so I wanted to go and see if we could find anything of use there. We go in, just enjoyed a nice meal. I grabbed a toothpick on the way out, and I was picking my teeth, and we go in and not thirty seconds to a minute into the store, we pass by a cart, a shopping cart, and there are these, something rummaging around inside of it.
You just never know what’s going to happen in life. Just rummaging around inside, and I thought, is this a ferret? What are these things? My wife says, oh, there are monkeys in there. I’m thinking, monkeys? I look, and sure enough, there are these tiny monkeys with diapers on inside the shopping cart. Marmosets, the people told me, marmosets. People were all crowding around and looking at these monkeys, and there were some peanuts in the bottom of the cart from the store, and I asked the lady, I said, did the monkeys pick these out, or did you pick them out? She said, no, we picked them out. Very curious, a whole group of people were around these monkeys, but for some reason, they fixated on me.
One of them crawled up the side of the shopping cart and just started staring at me, and their faces are about the size, I’m not exact, about the size of a quarter, and then their body is maybe the size of a small rabbit, and then it has its tail, it’s a very odd-looking animal. One of them came up and just started staring intently at me like this, just right in the face. Maybe it wanted my toothpick or something. There were plenty of other people to look at, it’s why I brought up the toothpick. Then the other one comes over and he crawls along the shopping cart handle like it’s a tree branch and gets even closer and starts looking at me. I mean, I’m looking, I’m just as interested in them as they are in me, and the thing sneezed right in my face.
I’m thinking, I was just enjoying a nice meal and now I could be patient zero of the next pandemic. All these thoughts going through my head, this monkey, so I thanked the people and I went along my way. My wife knew I didn’t like that, but I was very kind to the people, thanked them, and so on and so forth. You never know what’s going to come out of left field, you never know what’s going to happen. Thankfully, I didn’t develop any of the horrible symptoms that I read you could develop if a monkey sneezes on you. I did some research and I’m not contagious any longer, no, I was never contagious, I’m fine.
I tell the story to illustrate, you don’t know what’s going to happen. I could have contracted monkey pox or Ebola or something, thankfully I didn’t. You never know what’s going to happen in life. Difficulty, trial, an attitude could crop up that you have to battle. Some little situation could turn into something much bigger than it should have. You know what I’m talking about, maybe some little offense boils out and becomes something much bigger than it should have been, or you make a mountain out of a molehill in your mind with some fear, maybe at work, or maybe a monkey sneezes on you and you’re concerned you’re going to die.
I wasn’t concerned I was going to die, I’m having fun there. Anyways, things just come out of nowhere, but they’re there for a reason, they’re there to build character. When we’re confronted with those, we’re the people, brethren, we’re the people who win battles. We’re the people who have to conquer. We’re the people who have to come into a situation with an unconquerable mindset and overcome, Proverbs twenty-four. The key is to develop this unconquerable mindset before situations arise.
Proverbs twenty-four, ten, “If you faint in the day of adversity,” Solomon wrote, “your strength is small.” The implication is we should be strong enough going into adverse days, adverse situations, that we won’t faint, that we’d remain standing. Now, there are times where we will faint and a just man falls seven times and rises up again, that’s not the point here, but the idea is to be strong enough that when a trial comes, we pass, and hopefully with flying colors. That unconquerable mindset we’re talking about today is what will yield that kind of success.
First key to developing an unconquerable mindset. To develop an unconquerable mindset, we must remember that God is working through us. Very basic, but it’s got to be at the forefront of our thinking throughout life. We must remember that God is working through us to develop an unconquerable mindset. It’s very easy to parallel this in the physical.
How many have tried to move too heavy a piece of furniture on your own? You either get injured or you can’t move it, you need help. You need help. You need an additional set of hands. You need backup, as it were. Well, God always intended that He be our helper, that He see us through these difficult situations, that He provide the strength necessary to overcome. We don’t have to do this on human steam, and I would argue that the first step toward developing an unconquerable mindset is to keep that front and center in our minds. To remember that God is working through us.
Turn to Genesis chapter one. Genesis one, verse twenty-five, “God made the beast of the earth after His kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creeps upon the earth after His kind. And God saw it that it was good, and God said, let’s make man in our image after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air and over the cattle and over the earth and every creeping thing that creeps. So God made man in his own image, in the image of God created he, him, male and female created he them.” That was the physical creation.
We look like God after a fashion. We have hands. We have a face. We have eyes. We have ears. We have a nose. We have certain leadership capacities as evidenced in this verse. We have creative minds, but that was just the beginning of this work that He was doing in us. This work that He’s achieving through us. He wanted us to go on to far greater purposes. He wanted us to develop, He wants us to develop His very nature, and the only way that we’re going to do that is if He’s working through us. We can’t develop God’s nature unless we’re yielding to Him and He is working through us.
Matthew chapter six, the most principled people in this world are not developing the character of God. God is not working in them. Now, there’s a benefit to living a righteous life after the worldly fashion. There’s a benefit to attempting to do right, but God is not building his character except in those who are fighting these battles. Except in those who are in His church. Except in those He’s training for great future purpose.
Matthew six, thirty-three, “Seek you first the kingdom of God, Christ said, and His righteousness. Not just the kingdom, but God’s character, God’s righteousness. Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things thereof itself. Sufficient unto today is the evil thereof.” We’re not doing this on our own. God is working through us.
If you think about trials, if you think about these battles that we open talking of, probably one of the first individuals that come to mind is Job. Job, let’s go to Job fourteen. What carried Job through his trial? What gave Job the unconquerable mindset that he needed to ultimately, through great trial and some lessons he had to learn? What ultimately carried Job through what it was that God determined he had to endure? That God allowed Satan to afflict Job with?
Job fourteen. Actually, Job one to begin. Was it Job’s wealth and riches? Was it his success as a human being in this world? Job one, three, “His substance was seven thousand sheep and three thousand camels and five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred she-asses and a very great household, so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.” Tremendously successful.
Did he lean on that when the devil attacked him with near full force? Chapter fourteen. He recognizes the situation. Fourteen, one, “Man that is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble,” particularly when enduring something like this. “He comes forth like a flower and is cut down. He flees also as a shadow and continues not. Do you open your eyes on such a one and bring me to judgment with you?” he’s asking, “Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one. Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are with you. You have appointed his bounds that he can’t pass.”
“Turn from him that he may rest till he shall accomplish as a hireling his day. For there is hope of a tree if it be cut down that it will sprout again and the tender branch thereof will not cease. Though the root thereof wax old in the earth and the stock thereof die in the ground, yet through the scent of water it will bud and bring forth bows like a plant. But man dies and wastes away, yes, man gives up the ghost and where is he?”
He’s saying man is nothing in the grand scheme of things. Man has no strength in the grand scheme of things. Man is here as but a day in the grand scheme of things. “Lies down, rises not till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake nor be raised out of sleep. Oh, that you would hide me in the grave, that you would keep me secret until your wrath be passed, that you would appoint me a set time and remember me. If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my appointed time will I wait till my change come.”
Here’s the key, here’s the key. He was looking forward to the resurrection, but here’s what he added to that. You will call and I will answer you, you will have a desire to the work, meaning the action or product of your hands. It’s God that does the work in our lives. To develop an unconquerable mindset, we have to remember that God is working through us.
Imagine if Job lost sight of that fact through this. No, he knew that God was accomplishing an action. God was building a product in his life. How about Paul? Paul went through a lot, Second Corinthians twelve. This mindset is a hallmark of, I’d argue, all of God’s greatest servants and must be a hallmark of our own, is, but we can always cultivate it further and grow it further.
Second Corinthians twelve, nine, Paul was asking about his vision condition, his thorn in the flesh, and God told him in Second Corinthians twelve, nine, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” Paul knew, okay, I’m a physical human being, I have to rely on God. His strength manifests itself in my person when I’m weak. He had to learn that and accept it. “Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake, for when I’m weak, then I’m strong,” because God will be working in me, we could add.
Philippians, same Paul here, Philippians. How did he encourage the Philippian brethren? Philippians chapter one and verse three, “I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine, for you all making requests with joy, for your fellowship in the Gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this very thing, that he which has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Christ.”
There was a moment when God began working in us, and he never ceases that work. He never ceases to perform it until we’re complete, until we’re ready to be changed, whenever that is in His timeline. We understand it’s different for us than for brethren of past times, but amazing. There’s a work that started when we received the Holy Spirit. You could argue when God’s Spirit began working in us, but in earnest when we received the Holy Spirit, and that work will not change or will not end until we enter the God family. Key to having an unconquerable mindset, to knowing that God is doing something extraordinary in us.
Chapter two, Philippians chapter two, verse thirteen, “For it’s God which works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.” He’s working inside of us, but it’s not some just amorphous work, no. He’s literally inspiring us, if we’re drawing close to him, inspiring us to do His will and good pleasure. He takes the guesswork out of it. If we’re seeking Him, he promises to achieve this work in us by inspiring us to do His will and good pleasure.
“Do all things without murmurings and disputings, that you may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that have not run in vain, neither labored in vain.” Maybe we feel like we don’t know what God expects of us. Maybe we’re like Paul on the road to Damascus, Lord, what will you have me to do? I don’t know what it is that God expects of me, someone might ask.
First Thessalonians, Paul again here, First Thessalonians chapter two. It is encouraging, it is key to developing an unconquerable mindset to recognizing that this being is at work within us and wants us to succeed. First Thessalonians two, eleven, “As you know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you as a father does his children that you would walk worthy of God who has called you unto His kingdom and glory. For this cause also we thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard of us, you received it not as the word of men, but as in truth.”
This is the word of God. It’s not the word of men that’s in our laps. The word of God which effectually works also in you that believe. God’s word works with his spirit that’s in us or that’s working with us if we’re not yet baptized, and He’s able to communicate to us what He expects of us. He’s able to move us with His spirit and show us what He wants to show us in His word as long as we’re studying His word. When we come to Sabbath services, we’re hearing His word. We no doubt hear things that we can apply during the week. Maybe if we feel like we don’t know what God expects of us, we need to spend more time trying to discern what He expects of us by looking in His word. It works effectually in us, but only if we take the time to look at it. Only if we take the time to read it.
Proverbs chapter three. This is a promise. Proverbs three and verse one, “My son, forget not my law,” which would require reading his law, “but let your heart keep my commandments for length of days and long life,” ultimately eternal life, “and peace shall they add to you. Let not mercy and truth forsake you. Bind them about your neck. Write them upon the table of your heart. So shall you find favor and good understanding in the sight of God and man. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not unto your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths.” He shall do the work, we could say, in your life. He’ll guide our lives.
Hebrews thirteen. Two more scriptures on this first attribute of an unconquerable mindset. Hebrews thirteen. This is God we’re talking about. He doesn’t do anything halfway. When he sets out to do something, He does it with His might, just as we’re commanded to do. So it’s no wonder Hebrews thirteen, twenty says this. “Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will.” We know he inspires His work in us. We know he inspires us to even have the will to do his work, but the bar is very high.
He says it’s not only that I want to do my work in you, I want to perfect my work in you. He has very high hopes for us, “Make you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in His sight.” It takes a lifetime, but amazing that He’d invest such time and energy in flesh, wants us in His family. This is the only way to achieve it, but He has to work through us. We have to yield to Him. We have to do all that we can, but recognize that we can’t do it on our own, the first element of an unconquerable mindset.
Even Christ acknowledged that it’s the Father that does the work in John fourteen. Second key to an unconquerable mindset. We must never lose sight of how rare our calling is. We must never lose sight of how rare our calling is to develop, to maintain an unconquerable mindset. It can be easy to forget how awesome this calling is, particularly for brethren who have been in the church for years or decades or longer. The newer brethren see, wow, this is extraordinary. We can lose that if we’re not careful. This is an amazing and incredibly rare calling that we’ve been given.
One of my favorite movie scenes, I haven’t seen it in a long time, is this fellow, I won’t tell you the name of the movie, but this fellow is talking to a lady and he asks her, so what are my chances? She says, not good. He says, like one in a hundred? She says, more like one in a million. You watch this dejected face turn into a smile, so you’re saying there’s a chance.
One in a million. Well, brethren, I would say that our odds of being in the hundred and forty-four thousand are far, far more stacked against us than mere one in a million. You can do various math, but ballpark, we’ll settle on a nice round number. To be a baptized member in the little flock, looking at about one in five million just in this current state of the world. One in five million chance. A one in five million chance.
I wanted to know how many people the average person runs into through a lifetime. You can ask the internet anything now, and here’s an answer from none other than answers.com, so it must be true if it came from answers.com, right? The number of people an individual meets in their lifetime can vary widely based on factors such as cultural norms, social activities, and personal preferences. However, studies have estimated that the average person meets around eighty thousand people in their lifetime. This number includes interactions ranging from brief encounters to more significant relationships, and it can be influenced by factors such as career choices, travel experiences, and social circles.
Everybody’s a little bit different, but on average, eighty thousand people the average person meets in their lifetime. So if you wanted to take the math a little further and just have fun with it, it would take about sixty-two lifetimes to run into another person called of God in the little flock. Imagine living sixty-two lifetimes in just all the random interactions you have with people, it would take sixty-two lifetimes on average before you connected with another of the people who are sitting in this room.
That’s how little the little flock is. That’s how exclusive this calling is. It’s not that we’re better than the people in the world. They’ll certainly have an opportunity at eternal life, but to be here, this side of the kingdom, it is as rare as it gets, and we can never lose sight of that. Keeping that in the forefront of our minds will help us develop this unconquerable mindset. It will encourage us to maintain that unconquerable mindset. God’s had His eye on you and I for a very, very, very long time.
Romans eight, Romans chapter eight. When we come to Sabbath services, whether we’re at headquarters, whether we’re in the field, we ought to look at the brethren and say, wow, God handpicked this person or that person or these people. He handpicked them. God sees something amazing in these people. He ought to build our love for one another when we see others as God sees them in that narrow way.
Romans eight, twenty-eight. “We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose.” Well, we know that they do because God is doing a work in us. He’s achieving something in us, as we saw in the first point there. “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called, and whom he called, them he also justified, and whom he justified, them he also glorified…” ultimately will glorify.
“What shall we say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?” If God’s working in us, what can stop us, Paul is asking. “He that spared not His own son, but delivered Him up for us, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” In other words, if he was willing to lose His only begotten son for our sakes, then of course he’s going to see us through to the end, but notice that he foreknew us. He predestinated us. He wants us to be the firstborn among many brethren. This is a very, very, very rare calling, and we can never lose sight of that.
Imagine if you laid out to the great people of this world, say the technocrats, take one group of people for illustration. Some of the richest people on earth, say you explained to them this thing called the Kingdom of God and what it means to enter the kingdom, to be born into the kingdom, to receive God’s Holy Spirit and ultimately become God. Let’s say you turn to Matthew thirteen and you explain to them this is a pearl of great price. This is like hid treasure in a field. These people who have vast billions of dollars, turn to Matthew sixteen, vast billions of dollars recognized that this was an actual thing that they could achieve.
Matthew sixteen and verse twenty-four, “Christ said to his disciples, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me, for whosoever will save his life shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?”
So here you have some of the wealthiest, richest people on earth, and they might look at, okay, well, I can have eternal life and I can live forever and I can become God, but it comes with strings attached, I’ve got to give up all my money, I’ve got to subject myself to this, take up this cross, this stake, and follow God. Let’s say they academically understood it, maybe they’re looking at it from a business perspective. Does this make sense? I’m at the crème de la crème on this earth, maybe I can part with some of my goods and achieve this thing called eternal life. Say they have an academic understanding of it and they want in. The greatest people to walk the earth right now by the world’s standards, they want in on this. Well, that wouldn’t be good enough.
John chapter six. This is a by invitation-only calling. That’s how exclusive it is. It’s not open to just anybody. It’s amazing what we’ve been offered and we must always keep it front and center in our thinking. John six, thirty-eight, “For I came down to heaven not to do my own will but the will of Him that sent me. And this is the Father’s will which has sent me, that of all that which He has given me I should lose nothing, but I should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of Him that sent me, that everyone which sees the Son and believes on Him may have everlasting life and I’ll raise Him up at the last day.
The Jews then murmured at Him because He said I’m the bread which came down from heaven, and they said, is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that He says I come down from heaven? Jesus therefore answered and said to them, murmur not among yourselves, no man can come to me except the Father which has sent me, draw him and I’ll raise him up at the last day.”
Everyone can ultimately have eternal life. Everyone will be offered eternal life, but this calling, no. “None can come to me. No man can come to me except the Father which has sent me, draw him and I will raise him up at the last day.” You were hand-picked. I was hand-picked for whatever reason. God sees something in each of us. We can never lose sight of that. It should be deeply inspiring. It’s key to maintaining that unconquerable mindset.
Second Peter chapter one, verse three. “According as His divine power has given unto us things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of Him that called us unto glory and virtue, whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”
The greatest promises possible, we have access to them through this calling. So it’s no wonder in verse ten that Peter says this, “Wherefore rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure,” so that we can receive those awesome promises. “For if you do these things,” the things he outlined just before this, “for if you do these things, you shall never fall, for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
We constantly go over these things, brethren, because it’s the kind of thing that we have to keep in our head. That’s why he says in verse twelve, “Wherefore I’m not negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though you know them,” I’m not telling you anything you don’t know, I’m not reading anything that I don’t know, “though you know them and be established in the present truth. Yea, I think it meet as long as I’m in this tabernacle to stir you up by putting you in remembrance.” Peter, Paul, all these men hammered these things over, over and over again, because they’re what keep us out of trouble.
Now, when we were called, we understood the truths of God. We were excited by the truths of God. At its fundament, the definition of a calling. Understand the word of truth so that you can ultimately be sanctified by that word of truth. If we’re not careful, that very mechanism can work against us. Hebrews chapter two. Just as we began to have our eyes opened and began to understand the truths of God, if we’re not careful, that same truth can depart from us. And it’s happened over the last two thousand years. It’s happened to people you and I know and love.
They allow these precious truths to slip to the point where they become so confused that they leave God’s church and hopefully in certain cases they’ll come back one day. We know God has a much more merciful plan than we ever understood, but you can lose sight of this precious calling, and it can have devastating consequences.
Hebrews two, one. “Therefore, we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we’ve heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation,” if we don’t take it seriously, if we don’t appreciate it, if we’re not grateful for it, if we don’t treat it with the respect it deserves, “which at first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him,”
“God also bearing them witness both with signs and wonders and with diverse miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will. For unto the angels has he not put in subjection the world to come whereof we speak,” but He is going to put it in subjection of us. It’s an awesome calling. We must never lose sight of how important, how wonderful, how special, how unique, how exclusive this calling is. Third key to developing an unconquerable mindset. We have to remember, brethren, that we’re never alone. We must remember that we’re never alone. Now, this will be caveated at the next point, but initially, we must remember that we’re never alone. It will help us with this unconquerable mindset.
First John four verse seven. “Beloved, let’s love one another, for love is of God and everyone that loves is born of God and knows God. He that loves not knows not God, for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought to love one another.”
We receive the ultimate example in what the Father in Christ did for us. And they’re saying take that example to heart. God loved us, love each other. Love God in each other. “No man has seen God at any time. “If we love one another,” amazing. “If we love one another,” this is the evidence of God dwelling in us. “If we love one another, God dwells in us, and His love is perfected in us.” Now, love can be a pretty amorphous subject. So John, in chapter three, lays out some details of how to exercise that love.
First John three, ten. “In this, the true children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil. Whosoever does not righteousness is not of God neither is he that loves not his brother. For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous. Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you. We know that we’ve passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loves not his brother abides in death.”
It is extremely important to have love for one another. And it cuts both ways, if we love others and others love us. It’s a certain glue that helps all of us. A mutual benefit. “Whosoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in us. Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” Now, we don’t have to die in the same way that Christ did, but we’re to serve one another. Lay down our lives for the brethren.
“But whoso has this world’s good,” he has a little bit of substance, “...and sees his brother have need, and shuts up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwells the love of God in him?” If we’re seeing that somebody has need of something and we’re in the position to help them, withhold not good from a man when it’s within your power to do so, as the proverb says, I’m loosely quoting it. But how dwells the love of God in him, if he sees that somebody has need and doesn’t help him?
“My little children, let’s not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth.” There’s action required, but it doesn’t have to be giving somebody something physical that they need. Maybe somebody is lonely. Maybe organize an outing so that somebody doesn’t have to battle that loneliness. Who knows? You may, in part, save their eternal life. It can be as simple as that. Or signing the cards after services, whatever it may be. Look for areas where we can express love by doing things for one another. It will transform others’ lives, and it will transform our own lives. But we’re not just going through the motions, it has to be genuine.
First Peter one verse twenty-two. “Seeing you’ve purified your souls and obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned,” meaning sincere, “...love of the brethren, see that you love one another with a pure heart fervently,” meaning intently. Genuine care, genuine concern about these other very special people on earth. We’re to exercise love toward all men, but we’re to, in particular, focus on those in the household of God, it says elsewhere. “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God which lives and abides forever.”
Ephesians four. Sometimes it’s in just rolling with things. Offenses are going to happen when we’re in human form, and sometimes it’s just moving on. It’s not letting mountains turn into molehills. Ephesians four and verse one. “I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you were called, with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another.” Forbearing means putting up with one another. Putting up with one another in love. Roll with things, all of us.
Little offenses or misunderstandings, we just have to roll with them. Now, if somebody’s spewing heresy at Sabbath services, I’m not advocating rolling with it, but if it’s a little misunderstanding or anything like that, the love of God, the love of the brethren is just to forbear, to put up with it. “Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There’s one body and one Spirit, even as you are called in the hope of your calling. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who’s above all and through all and in you all.”
In other words, He’s saying, at all costs, preserve this loving unity that we all enjoy. One of the great ways that we love the brethren. We could go on and on, on this point, but we’re never alone. One of the keys to developing that unconquerable mindset, but here’s the caveat that I promised. “To develop an unconquerable mindset, we must remember that we’re absolutely alone.” Sounds contradictory, but you probably know where I’m going. We have to remember we’re absolutely alone.
Philippians chapter two verse twelve. Paul wrote, “Wherefore, my beloved,” Philippians two, twelve, “...as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” Service and fellowship and exercising love is all a part of this calling, but we have to be working out our own salvation, which is exclusively between us and God. No amount of fellowship and service can overcome a lack of a relationship with the only being that can give us salvation.
We’re absolutely alone. But in an encouraging sense, we’re absolutely the captains of our own ship. God says, “If you draw near to me, I’ll draw near to you.” “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it’s God which works in you,” verse thirteen, which we read earlier, “...both to will and to do of His good pleasure.” Then the rest of the chapter, as we read earlier.
Second John says this, Second John one. We’re never alone, but we’re also working out our own salvation with fear and trembling is the flip side of it. Second John one, seven. “Many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.” Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward. Amazing. This is between us and God. We’re working out our own salvation.
Galatians six shows the interplay between how we interact with the brethren and how we interact with God. Galatians six. I should say an element of that interplay. “Brethren, if any man be overtaken in a fault,” verse one, “...you which are spiritual, restore such one in the spirit of meekness, considering yourself, lest you also be tempted. Bear you one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if a man thinks himself to be something, when he’s nothing, he deceives himself. But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone and not another. For every man shall bear his own burden.”
Now, what we do has very direct implication on our lives. “Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teaches in all good things. Be not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man sows, that will he also reap. For he that sows to his flesh of the flesh reap corruption, but he that sows to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap everlasting life. And let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” If we continue to recognize God is working in us, if we continue to yield to Him, if we continue on with this unconquerable mindset, as we’re calling it, through this message.
Christ said, “Nobody can pluck us out of His hand or the Father’s hand.” We’re the only ones who can do that. This should be encouraging, empowering. We’re in complete control. Nobody can take us out of this way of life. If we’re a wife, we don’t have to follow our husband out of the church or vice versa. Nobody but God and ourselves determines our eternal future. Deeply encouraging, deeply empowering, essential to developing an unconquerable mindset.
We have great forces arrayed against us: the three S’s, Satan, society, and self. We have to keep that constantly in mind, but also recognize that God has given us everything we need to overcome every obstacle, which is the final element of developing an unconquerable mindset. Second Corinthians ten. God has given us everything we need to overcome every obstacle. This isn’t a message about the five tools of Christian growth, but that’s, of course, directly related.
Second Corinthians ten and verse three. Whether it be Satan trying to destroy our lives, whether it be our deceitful hearts working against the law of God in us, whether it be this present evil world, we’re well able to overcome any of those three S’s, as they’re often called. Second Corinthians ten, three. “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.”
We have mighty weapons at our disposal. They’re, of course, intricately tied to those first four elements of developing an unconquerable mind, but we have mighty weapons. Ephesians chapter six details some of them, as we begin to draw to a close. “Finally, my brethren,” verse ten, Ephesians six, ten, “...be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might.” These mighty weapons that He gives us. “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places,” wicked spirits in high places.
“Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God,” these tools that God gives us, no matter what we face, “...the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.”
No matter what comes our way, we’re able to ask God for more of the Holy Spirit. We’re able to go to His word and understand what we should do or counsel, if it’s particularly confusing. We’re able to pray for guidance. We’re able to fast if we need to in a situation. All the time exercising that Spirit. Meditate on what it is we’re hearing. This is essentially what we’re doing: we’re meditating ahead of entering a trial. We’re determining to shield our mind, to develop an unconquerable mindset so when that day of adversity comes, our strength isn’t small.
If we’re lacking in any of these areas, just ask God for help. It’s that simple. He’s doing a work in us. It’s a loop. He wants to help us. He wants to achieve this in us. We’re not alone. It’s as simple as that. Father, I need help in X, Y, or Z area, and He promises to help. Never leave or forsake us. He’s the one who ultimately determines, gives us the strength to overcome.
Brethren, we’ll develop an unconquerable mindset if we always keep at the forefront of our mind that God is working in us, first point. If we never lose sight of how rare our calling is. If we remember that we’re never alone, that we have brethren all around us who are in the exact same situation, who we love and who love us. But if we, at the same time, remember we’re absolutely alone in that we’re working out our own salvation between us and God, and that relationship is the most important relationship that we have, all others second to that relationship with God.
And if, finally, we remember that despite all the powerful forces around us trying to derail us, trying to crush us in these trials, trying to crush the life out of us, despite all that, we have mighty weapons that will never fail us, that God gives us. If we remember these things, we can say with Paul, with the Apostle Paul, the following, last scripture here, Romans chapter eight. If we can remember all those things, and you could add others to your own list, we can say with Paul the following. Romans chapter eight verse eighteen. “I reckon that the sufferings of this present time,” no matter what trials we’re going through, “...are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”
Verse thirty-five. “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or sword? As it’s written, for your sake we’re killed all the day long, we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Know, in all these things we are more than conquerors,” we have that unconquerable mindset and “...we’re more than conquerors through Him that loved us. For I’m persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Brethren, let’s move forward with an unconquerable mindset in the little time that remains.
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