Gregory Dickow - 8 Victories and New Beginnings, Now Yours in Christ
Father, I thank you that every person today will experience the victory that is already ours in Christ Jesus. Lord, you've already paid for it. You've already completed the work. You already said it is finished. You already rose from the dead. Now I pray that each person watching today connecting today will experience the victory that belongs to them in Christ Jesus. Victory over fear, victory over sickness, disease, worry, anxiety. I just speak healing right now. I speak healing and blessing over your life. Prophesy, healing and blessing in Jesus name, Amen.
Well, thanks for joining me today at Life Changers International Church and our online service globally around the world. I welcome you. Thank you for connecting today and today, the week after Easter. I want to talk to you about the eight victories that are now yours in Christ Jesus and eight is the number of starting over in the Bible. Eight is the number of new beginnings in the Bible. And it's important that we understand that on the day of Jesus resurrection, a new order of existence was born. Jesus was resurrected from the dead. Nothing like this had ever happened before. Resurrection is not like as you might have heard me say last week, Resurrection is not the same as resuscitation. Like when Jesus brought people back to life, people brought to Jesus, these people that were dead and he brought them back to life. But that was resuscitation. Resurrection is also not reincarnation.
Many people think that we're reincarnated into something else, and then we live on this earth again, or we live in this life again. But resurrection is not that. And resurrection is not a mystical vision or a phantom appearance of a ghost or some spirit. Resurrection is the remaking, the transforming of matter and substance. In this created order, it becomes something new, something that has never existed before. That's what Jesus was when he rose from the dead. And that's what you and I were. And that's what you and I are. The moment we accept Jesus Christ into our lives. And it's important to recognize that the resurrection of Jesus was not just celebrated the day that it happened, it began a tradition and a new custom of gathering the first day of the week to rejoice with other believers and then to equip people to take the gospel message to the world.
So it wasn't just a holiday or a holy day to be honored once a year. It is. Resurrection is the central historical fact that our faith is built upon. You have to refer to last week's service to really get the facts of the resurrection, because we went over several of them. But resurrection is also the proof that God keeps his promises at any cost. Resurrection is the evidence of a greater life to come when we die. Resurrection is the building block of a faith worth living for and even a faith worth dying for. We win. In either case, you see, if we live, we live our life in Christ. If we die, we die in Christ. And to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.
So you see, there's nothing more central or more important to building our lives than this cornerstone, the resurrection of Jesus. And in fact, as I'm going to share with you today, eight powerful things that Jesus victory over death demonstrated His victory over all the power of darkness, all the power of the broken, sin stained world that he came to save. So when Jesus rose from the dead, victory was born. I want you to say that. Say when Jesus rose from the dead, victory was born. And now there are eight victories that He gave us represented by the eight times that he appeared to people after his resurrection. I want you to get this. There were eight times at least that Jesus appeared to people after the resurrection and those eight times they represent one victory each adding up to eight victories to give you the new beginning that everybody needs in their lives. We need to become very aware of his business and be constantly aware of his. So are you ready? Let's go through these.
Number one, the first appearance of Jesus after the Resurrection was Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene at the tomb. In Mark, chapter 16, verse nine. You see, Mary was weeping at the tomb, thinking that she had. Lost Jesus forever, but Jesus appeared to her and brought her this victory over despair. Remember when Jesus said to her woman, Why are you weeping in John's version of this? He says, Woman, Why are you weeping? And she said, Because they took my Lord away. Why are you weeping? The question that Jesus asked her, Why are you weeping? Why are you sad? Why are you sorrowful? I'm risen. I'm not dead anymore. I'm not in the tomb anymore. I This gives you victory over despair. You don't have to be sad anymore. You don't have to be depressed anymore. The resurrection of Jesus gives us victory. Disappearance of Jesus to Mary. Delivering her from despair. She went from sadness to joy. From despair to happiness. From depression to confidence in the risen savior. And all of this happened because of his resurrection.
So the first victory that he gives us after his resurrection is victory over despair. The second time Jesus appeared to other women in Scripture, in Matthew chapter 28, verse verses nine and ten, Jesus appears. And I want to read this to you so that you you really feel this as I'm sharing it. Eight victories that are now yours in Christ. And so in Matthew chapter 28, it says that. He. Do not be afraid, the angel said for. I know you see Jesus who was crucified. He is not here. He is risen. Come see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead. And there you will see him. See? I've told you so. They departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell the disciples. And behold, Jesus met them and said greetings. And they came up and they took hold of his. They took hold of his feet and they worshiped him. They worshiped him. Then Jesus said, Do not be afraid. Really. There's two pictures. There's a bonus one here.
So the first one is victory over dead religion. You know, they didn't worship a statue. They didn't worship the tomb. They worshiped the savior and he was alive. And they when they saw him alive, they worshiped him. You know, he's just as much alive now as he was then. So we are delivered from dead religion and we are freed into worshiping a living God. And, you know, I'll just tuck in this bonus what Jesus said when they worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, Do not be afraid. So God gives us victory over fear as well. So again, this was 2.5, I guess because I'm going to the third one now, but I want you to get that one that this is another amazing victory that God gives us through the resurrection. After the resurrection of Jesus, victory over fear. The next one, Jesus met up with two disciples.
Remember on the road to a mass in Luke chapter 24, and you can look that up. But in this passage, you know that they were walking after after Jesus had died. That's the third day. And they're walking with Jesus. They don't even know it. They're walking. They're sad. They don't think he rose. He did tell them that he would rise on the third day and it is the third day, and he just happens to show up as they're walking on the road to a mass. What is this? That Jesus could be walking with them and he's right before their very eyes and they don't even realize it. Well, I like to call this this is victory over stupid. Why do I call it victory over stupid? Because sometimes God is doing something right in front of us and we don't even know that he's there. Sometimes he's working so miraculously in our lives, he's holding us together, and we don't even know that he's there.
Sometimes he's standing. Not sometimes, but he's always standing there. But sometimes our hearts are burning within us and we don't even realize that he's there. How stupid are we sometimes, really, when you think about it, not realizing he's there all the time, whether our hearts burn with fear or our hearts burn with faith. He is an ever present help in our time of need. Scripture says get a get acquainted and be reminded of his presence. Be reminded of his risen ness. Wow. Isn't it funny that our answer sometimes is right in front of our face and we don't even realize it? The promises are right in front of our face, and yet we're not standing on them. The joy of the Lord is right in our tongue. But we're not speaking it. We're not singing it. It's there. God's presence is there. The joy is there, the victory is there.
But we're being a little stupid because we're looking for something else rather than realizing what's right in front of us. Sometimes the answer is right in front of us. Sometimes we just got to give thanks for what's right in front of us. We got to give glory for what's right in front of us. This is victory over stupid. This is victory over not realizing what we have Victory over really a ingratitude as well, and an unwillingness to really see. It's a hardness of heart that we're not recognizing what he's already done and what he's already given us. If we can live in this place of realizing he is present, realizing he is with us, realizing he's right among us, realizing that he'll never leave us or forsake us, joy would come, peace would come, confidence would come, celebration would come, happiness would come. Woo, man, I'm preaching myself happy here.
Now I got to get through eight of these. But really we got we're already we already added a bonus. We try to add some more on the way. But the fourth one I want to talk to you about is Jesus appeared next to the ten disciples who are hiding together in Luke chapter 24, and they were hiding in fear. And yet Jesus comes and appears to them. And you know what that tells me is it tells me that through the resurrection of Jesus, we have. Victory over shame. Hiding in fear and hiding in shame. We don't have to hide our imperfections. We don't have to hide our doubts. We don't have to hide them. So even Thomas wasn't there at that time, and he doubted. But Jesus still appeared to him as well. We don't have to hide. We don't have to hide our imperfections. We don't have to hide our doubts.
Boy, it's liberating when you know that you can have a savior who you don't even talk to for a few days. We want to talk to him all the time. Where we should want to talk to him all the time. But even if we don't talk to him for a few days, he's still right there with us. Even if we blow it right in front of him, he's right there with us. We don't have to try to hide our mistakes, our imperfections. We don't have to try to hide the fact that sometimes we don't always want to worship him. We don't always want to believe him. We don't always want to take him at his word. But he delivers us from doubt. He delivers us from shame. He delivers us from being ashamed of doubting. The fifth time Jesus appears to the rest of this of the disciples, and particularly He appears to Thomas and gives us victory over our doubt and our foolishness. Sometimes we only will believe what we see. And that's foolish to only believe what you see. Because if you only believe what you see, you'd never really listen to the weather report.
If you only believe what you see. You'd never realize the wind existed. You'd say the wind isn't really there because I don't see it. But it can be felt even though it can't be seen. The effect of it can be seen. But it itself, the wind cannot be seen. But it's very real. And nobody right now watching me doubts that the wind is real and yet you never even see it. And we need to realize that faith is that way, that whether we see the promises of God in our lives or not, they're real. They're our promises. They're paid for by Jesus blood. We can have victory over doubt. We can have victory over not seeing the manifestation. We can have victory over being moved by what we see rather than what God said.
Well, I love these amazing victories that God gives us. The sixth one He gives. It gives us the victory in John chapter 21, when Jesus appeared to seven of His disciples, including Peter in John, Chapter 21, after Peter had denied the Lord three times. Now I want you to see this. Peter has just blown it, denies the Lord three times. Then he says, I'm going back to my old life. Jesus isn't coming back. He didn't rise. He said he would rise. But I'm going back to and in fact, this is after Peter already had seen him before, after his resurrection, even after even after Peter saw Jesus risen earlier that week. He still felt like giving up. He still went back to his old way and Jesus appears to him again. And what what does that tell you when you've seen him yet you still go back to saying, I'm going to go back to fishing. I'm going to go back to my old life. I'm going to go back to who I was. I'm going to go back to my nets and my boat. I'm going to go back to that that life.
It was really because, Peter, you weren't catching any fish, by the way, at that time. Your best days were over. Your best days were behind you. You're like a 50 year old quarterback thinking he can still play in the NFL or play in a high school team, for that matter. Let me tell you, Peter had already seen the Lord and now he sees him again and he's denied him three times, then seen them. And then he feels like quitting and going back to his old way. And Jesus appears to him again and gives him victory over failure. Yes, victory over failure. We do not have to live in failure. We should know that Jesus resurrection is a promise to us that no matter how many times we fail, we can get back up.
Proverbs 24, verse 16 says, A righteous man falls seven times, but he gets back up. You and me, we can get back up. We don't have to be afraid of failure because even when we fail, Jesus comes again. Even though we fail, Jesus picks us up again. Even though we fail. Jesus says, Come on, son, get back up again. No matter how many times we fail, we have victory over failure. Through the resurrection of Jesus, the seventh victory that God gives us after the resurrection. The seventh one is found in Matthew chapter 28, verse 16 through 20, when Jesus says, Behold, all authority and power has been given to me. Now I give that to you and say, Go into all the world and make disciples of all the nations baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And I'll get to the last thing he said in a moment, but I want you to see that he says, all authority and power has been given to me.
So what is this victory? This is a victory over powerlessness. This is the victory of not. This is the victory over not having enough power, not having enough strength. Not having enough authority. Victory over powerlessness. You know, when you feel powerless over your past, you feel guilty when you feel powerless over your present. You feel depressed when you feel powerless over your future. You feel afraid. But when Jesus gives us power and authority, we no longer have to live in the in the powerlessness of our guilt. We no longer have to live in the powerless powerlessness of our depression. We no longer have to live in the powerlessness of our fears. We have victory over powerlessness. All negative emotions in our lives are the feeling or the sense of powerlessness of those three over those three things that I just mentioned. But when you realize you have power over your guilt, through the blood of Jesus, power over depression, through the presence of Jesus and power over the future, through the promises of Jesus.
Boy, when you get a hold of that, you have victory over powerlessness. I love this one. And. Then Jesus in the same passage of Scripture, He says, And lo, I am with you always. Even to the end of the world. I love this last verse in Matthew chapter 28. And Lo, I am with you always. Even to the end of the world. What is this? It's. I call it victory over loneliness. Victory over loneliness. I'm with you always. Even to the end of the world. David said something amazing in Psalm 27. He said, Though my father and mother forsake me, yet the Lord will take me up. The Lord will stay with me. You know, even if your father and mother did forsake you, even if your best friends forsook you, even if your spouse forsook you. Jesus will never forsake you. He said, I am with you always. Even to the end of the world. It can be a lonely life sometimes, even when we have people around us, we still can be lonely inside. Even when we have a family. Even when we have good friends.
Even though we have a healthy church family. Sometimes it can still be lonely on the inside. Because no matter who's next to you in the bed that you go to sleep in, When you do go to sleep, you're by yourself inside. And that's where God fills us. He fills us inside with his Holy Spirit. He fills us inside with Christ, in us the hope of glory, the Anointed One, and the anointing of God in us, which gives us hope that we will see the glory of God. I want you to know that Jesus gives us the victory over powerlessness, and we can live in that and we can enjoy that. So how about this? All these victories, eight of them, at least an eight, is the number of new beginnings. And as I said at the beginning, it's so important that we realize the resurrection of Jesus caused a new order of existence. Resurrection was not a mystical vision. It was not a phantom appearance. Resurrection is the remaking, the transforming of matter. It becomes something new that has never existed before.
You know, we have a chance to start over again today with these eight victories. What are they? Victory over despair and sadness. Number two, victory over dead. Religion to serve and worship a living God. Number three, victory over being stupid. What a great victory that God gives us there. Number four, Victory over fear and shame. Number five, victory over doubt. Number six, Victory over failure. Number seven, victory over powerlessness. And number eight. Victory over loneliness. Can I pray with you right now? Maybe you have never received Jesus in your life. And I want to pray first for you and then for everybody else. But if you never received Jesus Christ into your life as your savior in law, prayed this with me out loud. Everybody pray this together. "Heavenly Father...", pray this out loud. Whoever is in your room with you or whoever you're watching with, if you just by yourself prayed out loud anyway.
Heavenly Father, I believe Jesus died for my sins and rose from the dead. From this moment forward, I'm a child of God. I believe. I believe the blood of Jesus cleanses me from all my sin. From this moment forward, I'm forgiven. I'm a friend of God. I'm a child of God. In Jesus name.
Now we pray for each and every one of you. By the way, if you did pray that prayer for salvation, download this book. It's absolutely free. It's my gift. You can download it anywhere in the world. The power of a new life and go to life changes. Church dot com slash salvation. And you can download this book and learn so much more about salvation and the next steps in this journey that you just started with God. And for all of us while we have the victory.
Father, thank you that we started this message with victory and we ended it with victory and it's victory in between. And even though we have losses at times and even though we have failures at times and even though we miss it sometimes and even though we make we blow it sometimes. Yet you have given us the victory over all of these things. You've given us victory over the devil. You given us victory over all the power of the enemy. You've given us victory over fear, worry, anxiety, depression, sadness, loneliness, powerlessness. Thank you, Jesus, for the victory. May every person connected here feel it, know it, believe it, and walk in it. In Jesus name, Amen. If you need anything more, you let us know. Reach out to us online. Reach out to us by phone. Reach out to us in any way you can. And we are here for you, standing with you, praying for you. Can't wait to see you at our next service. God bless.