We have been noting the many different problems that PSD # 7 and PSD # 8 both have as manifestation of a winner believer.
Now, …
When it comes to overcoming these problems because of the doctrine applied, you have to remember the principle that “a thought can make or break you.”
If there is confusion in some area of your life, (the home, romance, friendship, etc), then there is stress in that area.
Confusion demands concentration--bringing reality from doctrine into the consciousness of the soul; 1CO 14:33.
1CO 14:33 for God is not {a God} of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.
A thought can make or break you as PRO 23:7 says "as a person thinks in his heart, so he is."
GAL 6:3 “If anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself."
In 1SA 16:7, the prophet was commanded by the Lord to go and contact Jesse and anoint one of his son's to be a shepherd physically and also spiritually.
He thought it must be the eldest son, Eliab, a man of great strength and beauty. As he approached to anoint him, God told him not to look at his outward appearance.
JOH 10:11 I am the honourable shepherd, the honourable shepherd lays down His life as a substitute for His sheep.
- 1. Sheep have no sense of direction. Our Shepherd has provided the word of God and the Filling of the Holy Spirit to provide our spiritual direction.
- 2. A sheep cannot clean itself apart from the shepherd. We have rebound from the Shepherd to purify us from all wrongdoing.
- 3. A sheep relies on the shepherd for medical care as The Lord Jesus Christ has provided means for failure, rebound and recovery.
- 4. A sheep can't defend itself. God has provided for our soul's defence the spiritual armour of EPH 6:10-20.
- 5. A sheep depends on the shepherd for food and water. TLJC provides our spiritual food and water.
- 6. Sheep are calmed by the shepherd's music which is analogous to the PSD and extrapolation.
In verse 4, our Shepherd teaches us that we do not have to fear death because our Good Shepherd defeated death once and for all on the cross so that death is only a shadow not a reality.
1CO 15:55 "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?"
The rod was used to discipline the sheep, the staff was used to guide them and direct them as a token of our Lord’s love for His sheep, (who are believers in the Church-age today).
In verse five our Lord prepares a resting place for us to eat or have fellowship with others in the presence of our enemies.
The head being anointed with oil is a reference to the Holy Spirit as He produces such a capacity in us so that our cup of blessings overflows.
Notice the believer who operates in PSD #7, personal love for God, and PSD #8, impersonal love for all mankind, have goodness and blessings following them all their life.
EPH 4:23, "Become renewed by means of the breathing of your soul"
“All scripture is God breathe” and when God breathes His life in us by means of our doctrinal intake then we receive what I like to call “the life of God in the souls of man.”
JOB 32:8 "But it is a spirit in man, And the breath of the Almighty gives them understanding.
It is the human spirit in man that God the Holy Spirit teaches for the natural man cannot understand the things of God; 1CO 2:14.
1CO 2:14 But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.
Arrogance is confusion of mind which matches the confusion of life without Bible doctrine.
Arrogance is the direct enemy of authority.
The triple “A” acronym is in view here when I say what is your Attitude, for Authority or for Arrogance (AAA).
1CO 10:12 "Therefore, let him who thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall."
PHI 2:5 “Keep on having this mental attitude in you which was also in Christ Jesus."
PHI 3:15 "Therefore, as many as are mature believers, let us continue objective thinking. Furthermore, if you have a different mental attitude in something God will reveal that to you."
COL 3:2, "keep thinking objectively about things above [divine viewpoint] and not about things on the earth [human viewpoint]."
Nothing is more important than knowing what God thinks, understanding how God operates, and understanding the basis for all of these things through His character and integrity.
If you do overcome these distractions and problems because of the doctrine applied by means of your testimony, it will be revealed by the results of doctrine alive in your soul.
- 1. The results of doctrine alive in your soul produces confidence in time, JOB 5:17‑27; 2CO 5:6‑8; HEB 10:35.
2CO 5:6 Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord‑‑
2CO 5:7 for we walk by faith, not by sight‑‑
2CO 5:8 we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.
HEB 10:35 Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.
- 2. The results of doctrine alive in your soul is that it produces divine viewpoint of life and establishes right priorities in the soul, ISA 55:6‑11; 2CO 10:5.
- 3. The results of doctrine alive in your soul is that it orients the believer to the plan of God, ISA 26:3‑4; ROM 8:28.
ISA 26:3-4, "The steadfast of mind Thou wilt keep in perfect peace, because He trusts in Thee. Trust in the Lord forever, for in God the Lord, we have an everlasting rock."
- 4. The results of doctrine alive in your soul is that it produces stability of mind, JAM 1:8 being a double‑minded man, unstable in all his ways.
- 5. It is the basis for divine guidance and the execution of the will of God, ROM 12:2‑3.
- 6. It leads us to occupation with Christ and the capacity and ability to love God and appreciate Him as the source of blessing when it comes, PHI 3:10; EPH 3:19; HEB 12:1‑2.
PHI 3:10 that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;
EPH 3:19 and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fulness of God.
- 7. The results of doctrine alive in your soul is that it attains and holds the believer to spiritual maturity, PHI 3:12‑14.
PHI 3:12 not that I have already obtained it, or have already become perfect, but I press on in order that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.
PHI 3:13-14, "Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
- a. Toward God it includes worship, personal love for God, and occupation with Christ.
- b. Toward people it means impersonal love for all mankind.
- c. Toward self it refers to spiritual self-esteem.
- d. Toward dying it means the application of the doctrine of dying grace.
All believers must learn to choose identification with the Lord over prosperity in the world, HEB 11:24-29.
Rejecting pseudo prosperity in the cosmic system for suffering with the people of God.
Your relationships with people must be based on the application of doctrine in your life; 1CO 2:2.
1CO 2:2 for I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.
As believers we need to make daily choices for life and death or blessing and cursing.
DEU 30:19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before your life and death, the blessing and the curse. So, choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants,
JOS 24:15 And if it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."
Positive decisions result from positive volition toward doctrine; PSA 25:12.
PSA 25:12 Who is the man who fears the Lord? He will instruct him in the way he should choose.
Negative decisions result from negative volition toward doctrine.
Prosperity has come to some of you because over a period of years you have been faithful to the Word of God.
For many believers, as soon as the prosperity comes and they find a few people that will flatter them, the next thing you know they are in the dungeon of the cosmic system.
Very few believers ever survive their first prosperity test because they usually lose their concentration on Bible doctrine.
The challenge during times of prosperity is simply to stick with the perception, metabolization and application of Bible doctrine.
Very few believers ever prepare for coming disaster because in times of prosperity they think it’s going to last forever.
There are too many other things that they consider more important, this is called grieving the Holy Spirit.
The believer who grieves the Holy Spirit isn't against doctrine, he's not against it at all, he just doesn’t have the time for God.
When you get over to cosmic two, you have antagonism toward doctrine, you have the quenching the Spirit, and you lack knowledge of the angelic conflict.
There are two parts to the angelic conflict as it extends into human history, there is the strategic side of the angelic conflict and there is the tactical side of the angelic conflict.
The chief witness of the angelic conflict in all of human history is the humanity of Jesus Christ in hypostatic union.
Our Lord is what we would classify then as the strategic witness.
By strategic I mean that He came up with strategy to defeat Satan and executed that plan magnificently and He defeated Satan.
The other witnesses are the invisible heroes, those believers who execute the PPOG in the Church-age and understand the angelic conflict.
Mature believers are classified as tactical witnesses.
Tactical means we do the same thing but in lesser form.
Tactical means relating to combat tactics as involving actions or means of less magnitude or at a shorter distance from a base of operations that those of strategy.
Our Lord accomplished the strategic victory of the angelic conflict through His salvation ministry on the cross plus his physical death, burial, resurrection and ascension.
The believer accomplishes the tactical victory of the angelic conflict through his advance to spiritual maturity in the PPOG, at this point he becomes an invisible hero.
When our Lord was on the cross, He won the strategic victory, when our Lord returns, there will be the second‑advent and the tactical victory.
In the meantime,…..
Anyone who believes in Christ is a winner strategically in the angelic conflict, so that in effect, all Christians today, are strategical victors, but it is the tactical victory that is in view with Bible doctrine.
Strategical belongs to our Lord whereas the tactical belongs to the winner believer.
It is the believer in time, phase two of God's plan, and your daily attitude toward Bible doctrine, in both perception and application which becomes the tactical victory.
So, you can be a strategic winner and a tactical loser.
In eternity he doesn't have anything to show for the time that he spent on earth because he was a tactical loser.
What this second phrase is emphasizing is the importance of being a tactical winner in time; REV 12:11.
REV 12:11 Furthermore, they [believers in TLJC] overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and [they overcame him] because of the doctrine applied by means of their testimony.
The importance of application of doctrine to the different momentum tests that every believer must pass before he becomes a winner in the angelic conflict.
In most generations, like ours, and probably the Tribulational generation, and the Millennium reign, the majority of believers are not winners especially in the realm of the information regarding the angelic conflict.
The tactical winners are the ones who are going to be decorated with the order of the morning star, and the privileges that accompany the various crowns because they master the information concerning the angelic conflict.
They're going to be the ones who will have the uniform of glory.
They are the ones who are going to be on the honors list, so that while the tribulation is occurring on earth, they will be presented in the court of heaven.
Not all believers will be presented in the court of heaven, only those on the honors list, and then at the second‑advent, those who are tactical winners are going to rule a nation in this world.
It may be a small nation; it may be a large nation but they will be rulers or judges sitting on the bench.
The point is that there are going to be billions of Christians in heaven, but there may be less than a million who are winners and are going to have all of these tremendous eternal advantages.
There are two kinds of winners that are among believers, the strategic winner and the tactical winner.
The strategical winner, our Lord Jesus Christ has eternal life and a resurrection body in heaven forever and forever. The tactical winner is going to have much more.
JOH 14:12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go to the Father.
The winner believer is the one who is going to be in the gazebo in the garden.
He's the one who is going to have the special privileges forever and ever, privileges that go with being a winner.
The concept is, RHIP, rank has its privileges, and there is no equality in heaven.
Equality ends with the strategic victory, all believers have the strategic victory by virtue of having accepted Christ as Savior, it is the tactical winners who are going to have higher rank and greater privileges forever, and ever, and ever.
Heaven is a perfect place, and a perfect place is based upon self‑determination.
You get into heaven by a non‑meritorious self‑determination, i.e.; believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall be saved.
That's your strategic victory, but after that, tactically, you have to make a lot of decisions, and the decisions you make on earth determine your status quo in eternity.
No one can do it for you, and if you're bullied into making these decisions, if you're bullied into coming to Bible class, if you're bullied into this thing, then you're not going to last.
You understand that a pastor is not supposed to be a bully, it may read that way from time to time, but he's not.
You must be self‑motivated, for self‑determination for a tactical victory.
Then you can fasten your seat belt for the great disaster that's coming to this country and ride it out, and see it through and watch it with fascination.
If enough believers have the tactical victory, it will offset disaster as they become a part of the pivot. MAT 5:13-14.
I believe it will be the greatest disaster we have ever known historically and it’s already here as MAR 13:8 teaches us.
MAR 13:8 "For nation will arise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will {also} be famines. These things are {merely} the beginning of birth pangs.
For you have no information on which to make a decision from a position of strength.
The person who in self‑determination is positive toward doctrine and a tactical winner is not going to lose out but he is going to enjoy being a winner believer.
One thing more than anything else, which is mentioned at the end of this verse, you can tell when you become a winner, because you are not afraid of death.
If the Lord wants to take you home that's His business, not yours; PSA 68:20 To God the Lord belong escapes from death.
If you are a tactical winner, you're going to have dying grace whether it takes you a year to die, or five seconds to die.
The point is, everyone apart from the Rapture generation is going to die and be absent from their physical body and face-to-face with the Lord and it's a marvelous thought.
They don’t care that the Lord knows the best time to take a believer to heaven; PSA 68:20 To God the Lord belong escapes from death.
They are angry with God and blaming God that they have to suffer because they would rather not suffer themselves and have the one they are mourning for suffer so that they don’t have to live in pain.
The point is that this is what happens when a believer lives in fear of death, has regrets, blames others for being a loser in time.
The beast and the false prophet were proof of Satan's guilt and deception toward the human race.
They were interrogated separately and Satan was indicted once again.
The first set of books are records of every good deed every member of the human race has ever done, all adding up to -R.
The second set of books, the book of life, a book that at one time contained the name of every member of the human race under the principle of the unlimited atonement, but names are blotted out when someone rejects Christ as Savior.
The chief witness in all of human history is the humanity of Jesus Christ in hypostatic union.
Our Lord is what we would classify as the strategic witness.
By strategic I mean that He came up with a strategy to defeat Satan and executed that plan magnificently and defeated Satan.
The other believers who execute the PPOG in the Church-age become tactical winners.
Mature believers are classified as tactical witnesses.
Tactical means we have done the same but in lesser form.
Tactical means relating to combat tactics as involving actions or means of less magnitude from a base of operations than those of strategy.
Our Lord accomplished the strategic victory of the angelic conflict through His salvation ministry on the cross plus his physical death, burial, resurrection and ascension.
The believer accomplishes the tactical victory of the angelic conflict through his advance to spiritual maturity in the PPOG, at this point he becomes an invisible hero.
One thing you should learn as we progress in our study is that the Church-age is the most important phase of all in the angelic conflict, outside of course of the dispensation of the hypostatic union.
You should also emphasize in your souls the fact that every believer is a part of the PPOG and that every believer has equal privilege and equal opportunity to execute God's plan.
And, when we study a fantastic doctrine like this, it not only explains why we are really here but it also should provide for you a personal sense of destiny.
Never in the history of the human race has the individual life of the ordinary believer been so important as it is today.
The ordinary believer has become an extra ordinary believer so that later on we adopted the phrase that; The ordinary believer can become an the extraordinary believer.”
Your execution of the PPOG is one of the most critical factors in the tactical phase of this rebuttal trial.
In the dispensation of the Hypostatic union and the witness of every believer pro or con, in the Church-age and the testimony of the invisible hero generally occurs in evidence testing.
Evidence testing is one of the greatest forms of suffering in the Church-age because it requires personal attention from Satan and the kingdom of darkness.
Extrapolation means to take principles out of the PSD’s and corelate them with each one of them when you can.
7. The wool the sheep produce belongs to the shepherd. All divine-good production is possible only because of God's grace provision.
In PSA 23:3 He restores my soul;
Our soul is what Satan and the kingdom of darkness are after.
PSA 23:3 He restores my soul [through rebound]; He guides me in the paths of righteousness For His name's sake.
Hold your place in PSA 23 and turn to HEB 2:9.
HEB 2:9 But we do see Him who has been made for a little while lower than the angels, {namely,} Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.
HEB 2:10 For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings.
HEB 2:11 For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one {Father}; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren,
HEB 2:12 saying, #"I will proclaim Thy name to My brethren, In the midst of the congregation I will sing Thy praise."#
HEB 2:13 And again, #"I will put My trust in Him."# And again, #"Behold, I and the children whom God has given Me."#
HEB 2:14 Since then the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil;
HEB 2:15 and might deliver those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.
So back in PSA 23:4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil; for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me.
He teaches us to relax especially if you have given your problems over to the Supreme Court of Heaven.
PSA 23:5 Thou dost prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; Thou hast anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows.
Next the result of the believer who has the Lord shepherding him is given in verse 6.
PSA 23:6 Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
What you think determines whether you are winning or losing.
Remember that…..
Look how fantastic JOB 32:8 goes with this principle of God breathing.
It all is based upon your thinking.
You must learn doctrine before you can think doctrine.
And you cannot think what you do not know.
This type of believer becomes psychotic or neurotic because they are double-minded.
In fact,…..
Therefore, there is a divine command given in ROM 12:1-3.
ROM 12:1 I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
ROM 12:2 "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, [the renewing of your mind refers to the renovation of your thinking] that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect [namely the production of divine good].
ROM 12:3 For through the grace given to me I say to every man among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; [or stop thinking of yourself in terms of arrogance] but to think so as to have sound judgment [being rational without illusion], as God has allotted to each a measure of faith [a standard of thinking from doctrine]."
Stop being conformed to this world means to stop being in a state of confusion.
The world thinks human viewpoint.
Thinking of yourself in terms of arrogance in confusion.
Concentration on Bible doctrine in time of stress and confusion is mandated; COL 3:2.
Bible doctrine is the thinking of God in terms of relationship to the human race.
Now,…..
For example: What are the results of doctrine alive in your soul?
I’ve got seven points.
First, JOB 5:17-27.
JOB 5:17 "Behold, how happy is the man whom God reproves, so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.
JOB 5:18 "For He inflicts pain, and gives relief; He wounds, and His hands also heal.
JOB 5:19 "From six troubles He will deliver you, Even in seven evil will not touch you.
JOB 5:20 "In famine He will redeem you from death, And in war from the power of the sword.
JOB 5:21 "You will be hidden from the scourge of the tongue, Neither will you be afraid of violence when it comes.
JOB 5:22 "You will laugh at violence and famine, Neither will you be afraid of wild beasts.
JOB 5:23 "For you will be in league with the stones of the field; And the beasts of the field will be at peace with you.
JOB 5:24 "And you will know that your tent is secure, For you will visit your abode and fear no loss.
JOB 5:25 "You will know also that your descendants will be many, And your offspring as the grass of the earth.
JOB 5:26 "You will come to the grave in full vigor, Like the stacking of grain in its season.
JOB 5:27 "Behold this, we have investigated it, thus it is; Hear it, and know for yourself."
Next, there is 2CO 5:6-8.
So again, our first principle, the results of doctrine alive in your soul produces confidence in time.
ISA 55:6 Seek the Lord while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near.
ISA 55:7 Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; And let him return to the Lord, And He will have compassion on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.
ISA 55:8 "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways," declares the Lord.
ISA 55:9 "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.
ISA 55:10 "For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there without watering the earth, and making it bear and sprout, and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater;
ISA 55:11 So shall My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.
Next is 2CO 10:3-6.
2CO 10:3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh,
2CO 10:4 for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.
2CO 10:5 We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,
2CO 10:6 and we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete.
The results of doctrine alive in your soul is that……
In JAM 2:12 So speak and so act, as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty.
JAM 2:13 For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.
JAM 2:14 What use is it, my brethren, if a man says he has faith, but he has no works? Can that faith save him?
JAM 2:15 If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food,
JAM 2:16 and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and be filled," and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?
JAM 2:17 Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.
JAM 2:18 But someone may well say, "You have faith, and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works."
JAM 2:19 You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.
JAM 2:20 But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless?
JAM 2:21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar?
JAM 2:22 You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected;
JAM 2:23 and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness," and he was called the friend of God.
JAM 2:24 You see that a man is justified by works, and not by faith alone.
The direction of application of your doctrine is as follows.
HEB 11:24 By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter;
HEB 11:25 choosing rather to endure ill‑treatment with the people of God, than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin;
HEB 11:26 considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward.
HEB 11:27 By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured, as seeing Him who is unseen.
HEB 11:28 By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood, so that he who destroyed the first‑born might not touch them.
HEB 11:29 By faith they passed through the Red Sea as though {they were passing} through dry land; and the Egyptians, when they attempted it, were drowned.
This means the application of Bible doctrine in every area of your life.
And that means……
And this was found in HEB 11:25 when it says Choosing rather to endure ill‑treatment with the people of God, than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin;
As believers we also need to choose relationships based on doctrine.
Joshua came right to the point in JOS 24:15.
While on the other hand……
Let’s look how the wise man Solomon began his book of Proverbs.
In chapter one we read PRO 1:22 "How long, O naive ones, will you love simplicity? And scoffers delight themselves in scoffing, and fools hate knowledge?
PRO 1:23 "Turn to my reproof, Behold, I will pour out my spirit on you; I will make my words known to you.
PRO 1:24 "Because I called, and you refused; I stretched out my hand, and no one paid attention;
PRO 1:25 And you neglected all my counsel, and did not want my reproof;
PRO 1:26 I will even laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your dread comes,
PRO 1:27 When your dread comes like a storm, and your calamity comes on like a whirlwind, When distress and anguish come on you.
PRO 1:28 "Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; They will seek me diligently, but they shall not find me,
PRO 1:29 Because they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord.
PRO 1:30 "They would not accept my counsel, They spurned all my reproof.
PRO 1:31 "So they shall eat of the fruit of their own way, and be satiated with their own devices.
PRO 1:32 "For the waywardness of the naive shall kill them, And the complacency of fools shall destroy them.
PRO 1:33 "But he who listens to me shall live securely, and shall be at ease from the dread of evil."
PRO 1:29 Because they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord.
True prosperity comes to us because of our relationship with TLJC and living in God's plan.
Not because you have great ability...,
Or because of your sweet personality.
But because of the grace of God.
However,……
Now,…..
Now, we're talking about believers.
We're talking about believers who are preoccupied with self.
They're not anti‑doctrine at all.
They just don't have time for doctrine.
And…..
He's just not going to show up in the assembly or take in doctrine every day, he's just not going to be consistent in his intake.
Now,……
For example, the definition of tactical is as follows:
So,…..
Now, a strategic winner has eternal life.
But…..
And…….
This reveals the importance of growing in grace.
The importance of daily perception of doctrine.
And that's why we're left on this earth, to become winners.
Not all believers are tactical winners.
In fact…….
But…..
Those believers who are tactical winners, not the rest.
Now…….
And the difference is your daily decision with regard to Bible doctrine.
Now,…….
Now, you say that is shocking, it doesn’t seem right!
Listen to the words of our Lord.
Greater in quantity not greater in quality.
So, it becomes important to realize this distinction.
You see,…..
Now, that's a one-shot decision and,
And you see, ….
You're going to last until the bully is gone or until the bully has his back turned.
Or, until the bully drops dead.
Or, the bully goes north, or somewhere. then you've had it.
Because you're leaning on the bully.
You are using the bully for a crutch and you can't do that.
It has to come from you.
Now obviously……
The pastor's job is to communicate clearly, incisively.
But the pastor is not to be a spinless gutless Willy Milly Mopey Dopey type of individual who is afraid to offend others so he tip toes around hoping not to be noticed.
His job is to give you the information.
What you do with it that's your business, that's between you and the Lord.
And….
A tactical victory is strictly your business.
Now, if you have the tactical victory, it wipes out fear in your life.
Of course,
But as things stand now, we are headed for disaster.
The signs of the last days are given in a passage most of you are very familiar with, 2TI 3:1-8.
2TI 3:1 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.
2TI 3:2 For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,
2TI 3:3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self‑control, brutal, haters of good,
2TI 3:4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God;
2TI 3:5 holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; and avoid such men as these.
2TI 3:6 For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses,
2TI 3:7 always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
2TI 3:8 And just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected as regards the faith.
Today society is filled with those who have rejected their authority.
Parents no longer have any influence over their children.
Because of this we are making bad decisions every day.
But….
He's going to gain no matter what the historical circumstances may be.
And one of the first signs is given in the final phrase of our main verse in Rev 12:11.
How do you know when you start to become a winner?
That's the issue.
You're not afraid of death.
Death has lost its sting.
You're not only not afraid of death.
You’re not afraid of how you may die.
You're not afraid of any horrible lingering type of death.
However, …
You've lost your fear of death.
And you don't have nightmares about how you might die.
You're not afraid to get in an airplane.
You've lost all that nonsense.
Just think, if the Rapture doesn't occur for another hundred, or two hundred, or three hundred years, we're all going to die.
Everyone here is going to die.
No one's going to live to be two hundred.
And I have found a lot of selfish individuals who all they care about is not losing a loved one.
They don’t care that the person they are mourning for is filled with tremendous suffering.
If you asked him; “should God give the one who is suffering another year to live…. they would say yes, I want them to live longer.
Well, let’s say that the individual who is suffering is 75 years old, what will they say then…..
They would say, No, they’re only 76…
Then when 76 years are completed, they still want the person to live and on and on it goes.
What would they say to God?
When they reach 77 – let them live to 78
When they reach 78 – let them live to 79
When they reach 79 – let them live to 80
When they reach 80 – let them live to 81
When they reach 81 – let them live to 82
When they reach 90 – let them live to 100
When they reach 100 let them live to 110
When they reach 110 – let them live to 120
By that time Mr. Selfish is dead!!
Now, no one knows when the Rapture is going to occur, sure it could occur tonight.
I hope it doesn't for your sake because I like to see you get a little farther along, spiritually. If it's possible.
The point is death has no fear for the mature believer, the one who has tactical victory.
REV 20:10 And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
In REV 20:11-15, all unbelievers have two witnesses against them.
Rev 20:11 And I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them.
REV 20:12 And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds.
Notice the books were open.
And there are two sets of books or two witnesses against every member of the human race.
REV 20:13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds.
REV 20:14 And death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.
REV 20:15 And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
Now, …
And that's why,….
And……….
Your life is very important.