From Pastor’s Desk

Sermon Notes

5/24/2020 - John 16:33 "Rope-a-Dope"

“These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world."

I greet you all in the joy of the Lord of our Salvation. I thank God for the opportunity to share with you all what God has placed in my spirit. Today's message takes place in a time when the Lord, Jesus himself is trying to explain some significant information to his disciples, while at the same time they have to deal with the ideal of living without him. Could you imagine how hard that could've been? Trying to listen to advice from someone you've left everything for and now they tell you that you'll have to fight the cause without them? What about trying to hear what they are trying to say and the only thing to focus on is that they are leaving you soon. What do you do when it seems as if life is kicking your butt but you have to keep fighting? What do you do when it seem as if the people who suppose to be in your corner seem as if they're running away? How do you stand and keep fighting?

In 1974, Muhammad Ali faced off against George Foreman in the most famed match Rumble in the Jungle. In this match Muhammad Ali allowed Foreman to have his way with for six rounds. Foreman had Ali on the ropes so to speak. What Ali was doing was allowing Foreman exert as much energy as he could trying to take him out until he could easily knock him out. That’s exactly what Ali did in the seventh round. A Rope-A-Dope technique that lured Foreman into thinking he had the victory, the battle was in his favor, but it wasn’t so at the end. With this in mind, you have to understand that the world will throw all they can at you, but you have to be reminded if God be for you He is more than the world against you. This too shall pass and it will get better.The Rope-A-Dope mentality is what you’re in right now and the enemy thinks that they have the upper hand. You have this round in the bag.

There are a few things that I want to point out from this scripture and it’s three major points.  First, the directions for overcoming the world, Next, the difficulties of overcoming the world, and lastly, and the defense for overcoming the world.The Directions for overcoming the World... Every fighter has a unique stance or a special move that makes them different then any other fighter. The same truth presents itself with the Christian. We all have that unique closeness with the Lord our Savior that makes us different from each other. In this world you have to know how to fight and when and when not to fight. This battle of life isn’t easy and we must pay close attention to the directions to properly set our self up for victory even in the small battles of life. You have to first realize you can overcome the world with spiritual knowledge. The Lord reveals to the disciples in verse 25 that He speaks to them in parables. He lets them know that the instructions He gives to them are for their benefit and ensures to them soon He will plainly reveal to them what God has to say. We all are winners because of the instructions we receive. You have to understand just like in a boxing match, we have a coach in our corner that give us techniques and also gives us encouragement from they see and observe. There is no better coach then the lonely Jesus. We have to treasure what we have in this rope-a-dope moment. Yes, the enemy may be mysterious, they will fight back, they will make it seem like they’re winning, but we have the Lord on our side. Our spiritual knowledge of this will give us the upper hand in overcoming the world. That’s why we study to show ourselves approval. We are His workmanship. With His advice we can conquer anything if only we believe.

The spiritual knowledge that we have is not a secret but everybody that is not in the will or walk with the Lord can’t understand it. We have instructions that our opponent can’t understand. Have you ever been in the grocery store and foreign language was being spoken? You didn’t understand it, it may you wonder what they could be talking about, and even made you feel as if they were talking about you. Our message from the Lord is spiritual knowledge for overcoming this world. The enemy don’t know what God is saying to us, they don’t understand it, and it’s definitely design to give us the upper hand. We need this spiritual knowledge to overcome the world so don’t lean to your own understanding but in all of your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your path. Another direction for overcoming the world is by supplicating prayer. Jesus goes on to tell His disciples that they will ask in His name. When we talk to God we pray and we pray in Jesus name. God hears our prayer because of the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and it is received because God knows that it’s in His Son name. Our direction is to honestly beg God in the name of Jesus. You have to understand how bless we are... We have the authority to approach God in the name of Jesus. The same directive He gave his disciples has been handed down to us. We have someone that will stand in the gap for us and his name is Jesus. We can continue to fight our battles knowing that Jesus has put his name on the line for us. It’s easier to fight when you know you have the best fighter in the world promoting you. Jesus promotes us because he allows us to approach our father in his name. This is great because God knows what his Son has already done. We can’t accomplish this fight on our own merits but we are standing on the name of Jesus. We fight because we believe, we win because He died, and the authority has been given to us to speak on his name. Another direction to overcome the world is by supernatural faith. Jesus was trying to build the faith of his disciples, because He knew he would be departing soon and he needed them to be strong and have faith. The disciples admitted they got what he was implying and they recognized him as the Son of God. You have to have faith to understand that God is with you even when you’re alone. You have to know that God stands and sits with you when you’re in despair. You have to acknowledge that God will not leave you or never forsake you. God is going to hold you down when nobody else will. Have faith that God is a good God and that He will carry you through all of your trials and tribulations. God will keep you when you don’t want to be kept. The direction for this fight is to have faith that even you can’t explain. You just know that you trust and love God so much that no matter where He leads you you will follow. Keep God ahead of your life and the battle will not be as hard as you thought it would be. Our faith should be so focused on God that we don’t see nothing else. We should have supernatural faith that keeps us in the midst of everything else falling down around us. You have to see this fight through the lenses of faith. Our faith is based in the unimaginable love. You have to understand our love for Jesus allows God to love us even more because He loves his Son. Verse 27 clearly tells us that God loves us because the love we have for his Son. Do you really love Jesus? This fight is fought with our faith. Unwavering faith.. We have faith because of God love for us. Our faith is also based on the unseeable Lord. We haven’t ever seen the Lord but we trust him. We have to understand that is faith. Trusting in a God that you can’t see or haven’t ever seen. We have to trust the Lord with all our heart. The unseeable Lord gives us the strength to acknowledge that He does exist. We have directions to overcome this battle with the Lord’s help. You have to understand that God gives us these directions through the words that Jesus spoke to his disciples. We have to overcome the world by spiritual knowledge, supplicating prayer, and supernatural faith.

The Difficulties of overcoming the world... It is difficult fighting when you feel like you’re doing it on your own. Can you fight with no crowd? Can you fight with no support? Can you fight with no help? Lately it’s been oblivious that a lot has changed in our world. Matter of fact, I was watching wrestling with my grandmother the other night and it surprised me that they was carrying on with no fans in the stadium. They still had the lights, still had the music, still had the referees, still had the announcers, but no fans. In life we will have to fight when it seem as if nobody is there. Even when we can’t feel the presence of God. We still have to stay faithful and stand fervent on His word. Jesus explains to his disciples in verse 32 that the time will come were the disciples will scatter and he will be on his own. He said that he will not be lonely because his father will be with him. In this fight while being on the ropes you will not always see or feel the support you think you should have from your friends and family but you must fight on. Like the songwriter I’ll go if I have to by myself. You have to fight and know without a doubt that God is with you. Jesus said I know you all are going to leave but I ain’t worried because my daddy will be with me. You have to understand that all people don’t have that same mind as God and some don’t love like him, or care like He cares. God will be with you when you’re not fully with yourself. When you feel like you’re all alone try the Lord. He has never lost a battle or left us when we needed him the most. You will face diversity in this world. You are not exempt. The picture that the movies paint isn’t true. Marriages will have problems, relationships will have problems, families will have problems, your job will have problems, your neighborhood will have problems, you’ll have problems in your household, you will have problems at the church. We all go through problems. The world isn’t easy this battle isn’t easy. It’s going to be hard. It will rain and thunder at times will all happen at the same time. You have to be strong in the Lord. Understand that you’re aren’t experiencing nothing that Jesus haven’t seen. The Devil even tempted Jesus according to Matthew 4:11. Afterwards the angels came and ministered unto Him. You are not alone but this journey will not be easy.

The Defenses for overcoming the world... We have a defense that our opponent doesn’t have. We have the peace to overcome problems and we have the power to overcome persecution. Jesus declares that He tells his disciples this so they may have peace. It is peaceful when you know what to expect. When you know what is to come. Peace is the only thing that is going to come forward. Understanding that peace comes from God. God has given us peace because we know what to expect in this battle and we know that we are not going to be left alone. Peace is knowing that everything will work out before it actually works out. God grants us this peace by assuring us that we will never be alone and that is glorious within itself. We will find peace in Jesus because all that he has ever done for us. This peace brings us peace. We will shall also have power to overcome persecution. He tells his disciples that we can overcome because He has overcome. It also presents the fact that the world will try us. This is not an easy battle but it is a fixed fight. We have to understand that we’ve been given the power to overcome everything that will be thrown at us. We have this power because of who Christ is.