Collierville First Baptist Church

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Rivalries exist everywhere.

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In politics, it's the Democrats versus the Republicans.

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In computers, it's Mac versus PC.

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In sports, it's Mississippi State versus Ole Miss.

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In superhero movies, it's Superman versus Lex Luthor.

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In the spiritual realm, it's the kingdom of darkness versus the kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

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If you're born again in this room today,

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there's a passage of Scripture that describes that to a T. It's Colossians chapter 1, verses 13 and 14,

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where Paul wrote, "For He rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins." If you're a believer here today by the power of the crucified and resurrected Christ, you have been taken out of the domain of darkness. You have been placed in the kingdom of light, the kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

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You're a part of the winning side.

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We're living in a spiritual war zone today.

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Satan and his demonic allies have secured the devotion of numerous leaders in the political realm.

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The entertainment realm, the athletic realm,

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the corporate realm, and even, sad to say, the religious realm.

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That's why you are seeing such a rise in moral perversion, anti-Christian rhetoric, persecution against believers, family breakdown, rebellion against authority, and unhinged violence.

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In the book of Acts, where we'll be today, you'll take your Bible and turn to Acts 12. Acts 12.

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In this wonderful book of the Bible, the conflict between the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of light is palpable.

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It's prominently displayed.

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In Acts 5, the apostles were arrested and beaten.

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In Acts 7, Stephen the deacon was stoned to death for speaking truth.

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In Acts 8 and 9, the church was persecuted severely by Saul of Tarsus.

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In Acts 12, verses 1 and 2, James, the brother of John, was put to death by the sword.

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Despite the presence of evil,

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thousands were saved on the day of Pentecost.

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Thousands were saved in Jerusalem after that day. Then the gospel was preached in Samaria. Many more were brought into the kingdom of light.

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The Ethiopian eunuch, Saul of Tarsus and Cornelius and the rest of the Gentiles in his house that day were saved and converted to Jesus and transferred out of the kingdom of darkness, the domain of darkness in place in the kingdom of the beloved Son of the living God. The enemy was being crushed through the power, the resurrected Christ and the preaching of the gospel

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and the explosive growth of the church.

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And yet, even to this day,

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persecution is a huge problem in our world. In fact, according to Open Doors' World Watch list,

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310 million Christians today face very high or extreme levels of persecution.

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One in seven Christians are persecuted worldwide.

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One in five Christians are persecuted in Africa.

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Two in five Christians are persecuted in Asia.

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The problem of persecution has been going on for 2,000 years.

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In today's text, we are introduced to the evil of a king by the name of Herod Agrippa I.

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Could the powers of darkness

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stop the gospel of Jesus Christ and the explosive growth of the kingdom of God in its tracks? Could it?

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Well, in today's text, we find the answer to that question.

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Look at Acts 12, verses 1-5.

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"Now about that time, Herod the king laid hands on some who belonged to the church in order to mistreat them.

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And he had James the brother of John put to death with a sword."

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Can you imagine?

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James the brother of John, one of the top three apostles that was close to the Lord, had his head taken off by Herod's sword. "When he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also.

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Now it was during the days of unleavened bread, the feast of Passover and the unleavened bread, when he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out before the people.

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So Peter was kept in prison, but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church of God.

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Herod answered to Rome.

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So he did everything he could to please the Roman emperor and to stay in good graces of the Jewish leaders, which would perpetuate his role as a political leader in that part of the world.

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Now, what better way to do that than by launching a wave of persecution

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against the Christian church, the hated followers of Jesus on Nazarene, known as Christians.

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He rounded up some who belonged to the church

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and began to torment them and torture them and to martyr them.

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Now, these events occurred about 12 years after the crucifixion and the resurrection of Jesus.

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Herod the king took James, the brother of John, beheaded in, the first apostle to be martyred. I want you to imagine the devastating effect that must have had upon the infant church.

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The church was very young at this time.

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And then when Peter was arrested, their concern metastasized.

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This was all a part of God's sovereign plan.

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He, the living God, the living Christ,

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permitted Herod to take the life of James the apostle.

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And he permitted Herod to arrest Peter and place him in prison.

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16 soldiers guarded him.

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Herod wanted to make sure that there was no prison break for this child of God, this great Christian leader at the time.

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Two soldiers were chained to Peter and two kept watch of the doors and there was four squads. They rotated during the various watches of the night.

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Now it was passover season, so Peter's execution was not immediate.

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On one side of this spiritual skirmish is the wicked ruler Herod

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and the Jewish religious leaders.

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Now keep in mind that Herod was backed by the powerful Roman Empire.

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On the other side of this battle was the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, which seemed to be rather weak and powerless at the time.

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The phrase we notice in our text here,

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that prayer was made for Peter by the church. It's the turning point of this entire story.

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Never underestimate the power of a praying church.

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Now I want you to notice how they pray.

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They pray persistently and fervently and specifically.

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The word fervently carries the meaning of stretching a muscle to its limit.

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In this instance it means to pray with total effort.

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They were in a spiritual battle and they knew it. Now take your Bible, look at Ephesians 6 for just a moment.

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Ephesians 6.

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In this great part of the letter to the Ephesians, Paul deals with the issue of spiritual warfare. Notice verse 12.

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And this is something everybody in this room needs to remember. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood,

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against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness or evil in the heavenly places.

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That's our enemy.

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And our enemy is powerful, but not near as powerful as the resurrected son of the living God. Now look at verse 6, Acts 12, verse 6. "Every night when Herod was about to bring him forward, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers,

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bound with two chains and guards in front of the door were watching over the prison.

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And behold, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared and a light shone in the cell, and he struck Peter's side and woke him up saying, "Get up quickly," and his chains fell off his hands."

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Do you get a picture? Here's an angel.

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Peter is sleeping so soundly that the angel has to strike him in the side to wake him up. And the angel tells him, "Get up quickly,

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wrap your cloak around you and follow me." Verse 8, verse 9. "And he went out and continued to follow, and he did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision." Verse 10. "When they had passed the first and second guard, they came to the iron gate that leads into the city, which opened for them by itself.

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And they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel departed from him." Now let me ask you a question.

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If you were chained to two soldiers and facing the possibility of having your head removed the next morning, could you sleep soundly?

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Probably not.

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But Peter did.

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In fact, he was sleeping so soundly, the angel literally had to wake him up.

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Now what gave Peter such confidence and peace? Have you ever thought about that? I think one thing, Peter knew that the church was praying for him fervently and persistently and specifically. He knew that.

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But I believe there's even a greater reason that Peter was able to sleep under such dire circumstances.

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You see, Peter's believed that Herod could not kill him.

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You say, "Well, how could Peter believe that Herod could not kill him because of what Jesus told him before Jesus was crucified in resurrection, after Jesus was resurrected from the dead?" Here's what Jesus said to him. Take your Bible. Look at John 21.

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Just flip over to your left a little bit. John 21, verses 18 and 19.

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"This is what the resurrected Christ said to Peter. He said, "Truly, truly I say to you, when you were younger you used to gird yourself and walk wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will gird you and bring you where you do not wish to go. Now this he said," and I look at this very carefully. "Now this he said, signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he said to him, "Follow me."

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You see what Jesus told him?

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He said, "You're not going to die until you're old."

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And he told him that he would be crucified.

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A Roman form of execution.

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And Peter believed the Word of God. He believed the Word of Christ.

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So here he is in prison and he staked his whole life and future on the Word of God. He was not old at this time.

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And so he did not believe that Herod could execute him because of what Jesus had promised him.

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So in this story, we see the ministry of angels.

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Let me tell you, angels are real.

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They are real. There are several times in the Bible that you see angels interfacing in the human life and bringing about God's will to help and protect those who are followers of Christ.

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Now, God sent his angels to show Herod that he could not imprison or execute Peter because Jesus had decided to set him free.

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Let me tell you, Jesus ruling from the throne of heaven is infinitely more powerful and sovereign than Herod from the throne that was on earth. And that's the important part of this story. Now look at verses 12 to 17.

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And when he realized this, he went to the house of Mary. So now Peter is walking free in the streets of Jerusalem.

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The angel has done miracle after miracle to make sure that Peter is set free and he would not be executed.

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So when he realized that it was not a vision, but it was real, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John, who was also called Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying. That's what the church was doing. They were praying.

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And when he knocked at the door of the gate, a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer. And when she recognized Peter's voice,

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because of her joy, she did not open the gate, but ran in and announced that Peter was standing in front of the gate.

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They said to her, you are out of your mind.

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But she kept insisting that it was so.

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They kept saying, it has to be his angel.

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But Peter continued knocking.

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And when they had opened the door, they saw him and were amazed.

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But motioning to them with his hand to be silent,

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he described to them how the Lord had led him out of prison. And he said, report these things to James. Now the James here is the half brother of Jesus who became the leader of the church in Jerusalem.

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Report it to James in the breath, then he left and went to another place.

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So what did Peter do the minute that the angels sprung him out of prison? He went to the church.

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He went to the church that was meeting at Mary's house.

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Now keep in mind, they have been praying fervently for Peter's boldness and for his deliverance. The answer to their prayer was standing at the door knocking.

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And they couldn't believe it.

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Their faith was about the size of a mustard seed.

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But Jesus said, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mount, be uprooted and cast into the sea, it'll happen.

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See, we don't have to have a mountain of faith to be involved in the kingdom of God and to see God do supernatural things in our life and through our lives. We just have to have faith the size of a mustard seed.

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Well, I guess you could say that God demonstrated Himself in a powerful way in this story.

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Now, the challenge that I sense that the Holy Spirit wants me to drop in your heart today is an important one. I've entitled this message, "Overcoming Evil."

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"Overcoming Evil."

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And here's the challenge.

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Live like an overcomer. Hey, if you're a born again believer,

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if you have been transferred out of the domain of darkness and placed into the kingdom of the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, you are an overcomer. Take your Bible, just flip over just a minute to Revelation 2. Revelation 2.

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I want you to notice that in all the letters to the seven churches in Revelation,

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Jesus calls the believers in those churches overcomers. They've overcome. What have they overcome? They've overcome evil.

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They've overcome the kingdom of darkness.

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They have become believers in Christ.

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They're a part of His eternal kingdom. Just look at verse seven of chapter two.

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Jesus said, "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes,

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I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God."

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Look at verse 11, the church at Smyrna. "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second dead." And over and over again, in all the seven letters to the churches there in Revelation, the believers are called overcomers. Hey, look, can I tell you this?

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If you're saved, you're an overcomer.

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Now, here's what we've got to do. If we are an overcomer, we need to live like an overcomer. But how do we do it? How do we overcome evil? I mean, the evil in our culture today is palpable. It's everywhere.

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How do we live like an overcomer? I'm going to drop three principles in your heart right out of this story.

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If you want to live like an overcomer, if you want to overcome evil in your life and evil in this world today, number one, believe in the Lord's power.

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Believe in the Lord's power.

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This story that we've looked at today confirms the sovereign authority and power of the Lord Jesus Christ.

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The Lord Jesus was evidently sovereign over the Roman Empire, Herod the King, and all who wanted Peter dead and the church stopped dead in his tracks.

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In Psalm 103.19, the Psalmist wrote, "The Lord has established his throne in the heavens," listen to this, "and his sovereignty rules over all."

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In Matthew 28.18, Jesus came to the disciples after he'd been resurrected from the dead, and he said to them, "All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth."

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Just look what he did in this situation

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that looked absolutely hopeless. I want you to think about what happened here.

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Peter was delivered by the sovereign power of the Lord Jesus.

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You know what happened to Herod?

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He was eaten by worms, the Bible says. You go over a little further in the book of Acts,

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and God struck him dead, and he was eaten by worms.

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Now, let me ask you a question. In the evil that runs rampant in the world today,

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who wins?

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Jesus wins.

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He has sovereign authority and power over Satan, over every demon in hell.

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Jesus has sovereign authority. So we should believe in the Lord's power. He has optimum power and sovereign authority. Nothing is impossible with Jesus.

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So we are to live like an overcomer because we believe in the Lord's power. But secondly, connect with the Lord's church.

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If you really want to overcome evil in your life, if you want to help overcome the evil that is just absolutely sweeping across the world today, connect with the Lord's church. You know what's interesting since Charlie Kirk died?

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Since Charlie Kirk died, you look at social media,

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it's over and over again. Atheists are saying, "I'm going to church.

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I'm going to check this out about Jesus." You know why? Because they're missing something in their life. There's a God-shaped vacuum in their lives, and they're looking for something to fill it, and something about what happened to Charlie, the evil that caused him to die in such a gruesome way, has struck a chord with people all over the world, not just America, all over the world.

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So what did Peter do? The very first thing he did when he got out of prison, he went to church.

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He went to church.

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Now, I want to say something.

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There are many in our culture today who look at the church as irrelevant.

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Now, if I told you this, would you believe it? Jesus does not view his church, his bride, as being irrelevant.

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He views his bride, his church, as being an absolute necessity for every born-again believer.

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In Hebrews chapter 10, verse 23 to 25,

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the Bible says, "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful,

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not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, all the more as you see the day drawing near."

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Listen, there's nowhere in Scripture that says, as a born-again believer, you are free to live in isolation.

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Isolation in the Christian life leads to desolation.

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I promise you, friend, you need the church, the church needs you, and it's proven in this story.

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So I want to encourage you, if you're here today and you're not an active member of a local New Testament church, number one, you need to make sure that you've been transferred out of the domain of darkness and put into the kingdom of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and eternal kingdom.

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Number two, you need to make sure if you are a part of his kingdom that you are a part of his body, his bride, his church, and that you're active and you serve him in and through the local New Testament church.

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That's what it means to live like an overcomer. First, you believe in the Lord's power. Secondly, you connect with the Lord's church, and then thirdly, you stand on the Lord's word. You stand on His word.

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Many believers in churches today are still in shock

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over what happened to Charlie Kirk and over the evil responses of people who are not followers of Christ.

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Dean Dwyer wrote this, and I quote, he said, "Speaking truth, particularly biblical truth, is inherently dangerous in a world where truth sounds like hate to those who hate the truth."

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And that's exactly what we're seeing in our culture today.

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This is not the time for us as a church. This is not the time for you as a believer to play it safe.

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This is not the time for you to stick your neck in a shell like a turtle.

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This is a time for you to be relentless and fearless as you stand up for the Lord and you stand on His powerful and errant, inspired, infallible word. That's what Peter did. Amen. Amen. Give Him glory.

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And that's what Paul challenged us to do in 1 Corinthians 15, verse 58.

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He wrote to the Corinthians, "Therefore, my beloved brethren,

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be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord." So what do we do?

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We're steadfast, we're immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. We will not allow the enemy, the Prince of Darkness, to cause us to cower and hide in a corner somewhere. We will stand for Christ, for His word, and for His gospel, even if it cost us dearly.

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John Piper had this to say about this chapter in the Bible, Acts 12.

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He said, and I quote, "Luke put this chapter together to make this plain for the early church.

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You may feel small and insignificant in the Roman Empire.

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You may think that you're overpowered when some of your best leaders are killed on a political whim."

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But the truth is, I love this,

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Piper said, "If you stayed with Jesus, you win.

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And if you oppose Him, you lose."

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That is true.

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That's simple and true. If you stay with Jesus, you win.

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If you oppose Him, you lose.

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So here's a word to us, so be encouraged, be bold and courageous to spread the word of truth and leave the outcome to God.

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So here's our challenge.

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Live like an overcomer. The Bible says you're an overcomer.

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Live like it.

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How do you do it? Believe in the Lord's power.

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Connect with the Lord's church and stand on the Lord's word. If you're born again believer in this room,

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I challenge you today.

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Go down deep.

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Look at your heart and make it your commitment to Christ today

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that you will live like an overcomer,

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that you will not allow the enemy to reduce your belief in the Lord's power,

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that you will not allow the enemy to separate you from the Lord's church,

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that you will not allow the enemy to refuse to stand on the Lord's... cause you to refuse to stand on the Lord's word.

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I challenge you today.

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Take these three principles.

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Apply them to your life. And as the Bible says, "Overcome evil with good."

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That's what we do. That's who we are.

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So this morning I'm going to invite you as a believer,

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whether at your seat or here at this altar, to bow the knees of King Jesus and ask Him to help you, to believe in the Lord's power,

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to connect with the Lord's church and to stand on the Lord's word.

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I encourage you to do that.

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If you're here today and you're not a believer,

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you haven't been transferred from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. You say, "Pastor, how do I get that transferred?" Well, here's what you got to do. Number one, you got to repent of your sin.

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You got to be willing to turn from your sin and place your faith in Jesus, the Son of the living God,

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who came to this earth 2,000 years ago, never committed even one single sin, lived a perfect life.

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And at the end of his life, after doing miracle after miracle, showing his power, showing his sovereignty,

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Jesus gave Himself up on the cross. He willingly paid the penalty for our sins on the cross

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so that we could be forgiven and have the gift of eternal life.

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And if you today, if you will turn from your sin and place your faith in Jesus as your Savior Lord,

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you can have that transfer, that wonderful transfer.

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Now listen, if you die without that transfer, you're going to be separated from Christ for all of eternity in a place that you don't want to go, a place called hell. I encourage you today, make sure which kingdom you're a part of.

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Listen, there's a rivalry, the kingdom of God, the kingdom of evil.

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I encourage you, make sure you're in the kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

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I'm going to ask our staff to come, our worship team to come, and we're going to have an opportunity for you to respond today.

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I hope and pray you'll respond as the Spirit of God would lead you today.

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Let me pray, Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus,

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I thank you for your eternal goodness. I thank you, my Lord, that you put this story in the Bible to show us how to overcome evil.

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Lord, we live in an evil world.

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We're seeing things happen, Lord. We've never seen happen before.

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But I praise you, Lord, that you have the power to deliver us from this evil world,

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and you have the power to make us overcomers.

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And I pray, Lord, that every believer will do that. And I pray that every unbeliever will come to faith in Christ today and that you would be honored and glorified. In Jesus' name, amen. Let's stand in worship and you come as God leads you.

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