[0:00] I greet you in the name of Jesus this morning. It is very good to be here today.
[0:14] Today, I think if I would put a title on this, I would say the Church Triumphant.
[0:30] And, you know, the Church of Jesus Christ is designed to live in victory.
[0:46] The Church of Jesus Christ is God's plan that we overcome in this world.
[1:00] And we sing that song, We've Got the Power in the Name of Jesus. And I have a lot of things I want to look at this morning, and I think we'll eventually get there.
[1:18] But one thing that stood out to me very much in preparing for this is in the book of Acts, both the Church and the enemy recognize the power in the name of Jesus.
[1:37] And when we fail, I believe it is because we lose sight of Jesus and the provisions He's made, the victory He's won.
[1:54] So we'll look at this this morning.
[2:06] You know, we've talked a lot in the last, I don't know, last year, maybe six months, about the armor of God and living victorious and winning battles, being victorious.
[2:19] But this today, I believe, is very essential that we grasp a hold of the power that is available to the Church.
[2:38] You know, in 2 Corinthians 2, 14, Paul wrote, he said, Now thanks be unto God, which always causes us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savor of His knowledge by us in every place.
[3:00] You know, is this our testimony today, that we live in victory, we triumph. Our life is a life of triumph over the enemy.
[3:17] Our life is directed by the Spirit of God and not dictated by the enemy. You know, it's one or the other.
[3:30] Either we are living a life that is directed by the Spirit of God, or we are receiving our direction from the enemy of our souls.
[3:51] But Paul wrote here, he said, he's thanking God because God always causes us to triumph in Christ.
[4:04] Our victory is in Christ. Outside of Christ, there is no victory. It says, What influence maketh manifest or shows forth the savor, the aroma, the sweet aroma of Christ to those around about us everywhere we go.
[4:31] Is that our life? Is that us? What influence do we bring?
[4:41] You know, in Acts 1, 8, it says, And ye shall be witnesses. Ye shall be witnesses.
[4:53] I think a lot of times we turn that around and we say, we will go and we will witness. Well, that might be part of it.
[5:04] But everywhere you go, you are a witness. Whether a witness of the sweet aroma of Christ or the smelly old self that you used to be.
[5:21] It's one or the other. It's never in between. It's never neutral. Just a couple verses.
[5:38] There's a verse in Revelation 12. Verse 11. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony and they loved not their lives unto the death.
[5:53] I believe that this verse gives us a recipe for victory. This verse tells us how we overcome.
[6:05] We overcome by the blood of the Lamb. Jesus triumphed over the enemy and we can enter into that victory.
[6:18] Now I want to go back to Matthew 28 and we'll kind of begin there. And we will move on from there.
[6:35] In Matthew 28, Jesus came and he spake unto them in verse 18 and 19. All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
[6:45] Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.
[7:02] And lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Jesus said, All power is given unto me.
[7:12] The New American Standard and a lot of other versions will say, All authority is given unto me. Jesus has all authority.
[7:29] What does that mean? That means if Jesus has all authority, then no one else has any. And the only way that the church of Jesus Christ has authority is because it is under the authority of Christ.
[7:49] And whenever we deviate out a way that we're not under His authority, we lose the authority that we have.
[8:00] Jesus said, All authority is given unto me. It was given to Him by the Father. And we will look at this as we continue on.
[8:11] We will be developing that thought further. But because all power is given unto Jesus, He said, Go ye therefore.
[8:25] So He is telling us that because He has all authority, He has all power, He is sending us, His church, to go therefore.
[8:42] And to teach all nations. To baptize and to take this gospel of the kingdom. And it is only through His authority and through His power.
[9:07] The only way that anyone can have authority is to be under the lordship of Jesus Christ and be full of the Holy Ghost.
[9:18] If we are not led by the Holy Ghost, we are not under the lordship of Jesus Christ. What He's saying here is you go and you exercise on my behalf the authority that I have won.
[9:37] The authority that Jesus Christ won and we'll be looking at that. The authority that He won at Calvary and being resurrected when God raised Him from the dead.
[9:53] The enemy of our souls was defeated. He is telling us to administer the victory, to demonstrate the triumph and to exercise the authority of our Lord Jesus.
[10:07] Jesus told Peter in Matthew 16, 18, He said, that upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.
[10:21] And so often we look at this that so the gates of hell the enemy attacks the church but he will not prevail.
[10:32] But let's turn that around. What Jesus desires of us is that we attack the gates of hell. that we go out into the enemy territory and we take this gospel of the kingdom.
[10:48] We take it out and we attack the enemy territory. And He says, the gates of hell they will not prevail but the church will prevail.
[10:59] The church will overcome. We can go forth and overcome. I get one verse in 1 Peter then we'll go to Ephesians chapter 1.
[11:16] You can turn there but in 1 Peter 3 and 22 he says he's talking about the resurrection of Jesus Christ who is gone into heaven and is on the right hand of God angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.
[11:44] Jesus Christ He was resurrected by the Spirit of God and He ascended and He is seated at the right hand of the Father and now angels and principalities and powers are made subject unto our Lord Jesus.
[12:02] Now in Ephesians chapter 1 He's talking here maybe we should just start reading in verse 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of glory may give unto you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.
[12:35] The eyes of your understanding being enlightened that ye may know what is the hope of His calling and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints and what is now notice this and what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us who believe what is the exceeding greatness of the power of the Lord Jesus and it is not only that He has this great and exceeding power but it is to us words that believe according to the working of His mighty power you know there is no limit to His mighty power there is no limit to it and this power is to us word but this power which which He wrought in Christ
[13:36] God wrought this in Christ He put this power in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named not only in this world but also in that which is to come and hath put all things under His feet and gave Him to be the head over all things to the church which is His body the fullness of Him that filleth all in all so here we see the position of our Lord Jesus He was raised from the dead you know you know the enemy thought now we got Him now we killed Him now humanity belongs to us and what a surprise when God raised Him from the dead what a surprise when Jesus came and took away the keys of hell and of death what a surprise when our Lord
[14:51] Jesus arose triumphant over the grave this same Jesus oh hallelujah yes we'll look at some of those verses in Acts here in just a little bit but this morning I want to lift up the name of Jesus He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords He is the head of the church like He says here He is the head of the church He is the Savior of the body He is head over all things to the church the church is His body and He is the head and it is as we are connected to the head the Lord Jesus and we and we function you know you all know that if you're without your head giving direction to your body it's useless that's why you know when a person is paralyzed their head might function quite well but there's something severed that connects to the body this morning you know the question is are we connected do we have that vital connection to the Lord
[16:11] Jesus it is the only way that we will be victorious it is the only way that we will be effective in the kingdom of God it is the only way that this power can work in us and through us the position of our Lord Jesus God through the Holy Ghost raised him from the dead and then he set him at his own right hand and the throne of God in the heavenly places and Jesus is now he is far above you know it's not just that he is just a little bit above the power of the enemy it is not that he we just barely have the power over him but it says here he is far above not just some but all principality and all power and all might and dominion and every name that is named not only in this world but in that which is to come you know in 1st
[17:33] John it says that that for this reason was the son of God manifest he came to this earth to destroy the works of the devil you know the whole world lieth in wickedness Satan is the God of this world and he is in control of it every part of it that is not under the control of the Lord Jesus and today the church of Jesus Christ is here to storm the gates of hell and to prevail against them to take this gospel of the kingdom to a lost and a dying world Colossians 2 15 a verse that I know we've had several times here the last while but he's talking here about putting off the body of sins and we're buried with him in baptism and then we're raised together with him he has forgiven us our trespasses blotting out the handwriting that was against us and nailing it to his cross and then verse 15 and having spoiled principalities and powers he made a show of them openly triumphing over them in it
[19:19] Jesus disarmed the principalities and powers the kingdom of darkness he disarmed the kingdom of darkness yes and he made a show of them openly triumphing over them you know today the enemy is defeated he is defeated as we as we are under the authority of the Lord Jesus and we go forth in the name of Jesus then we can then we can defeat the enemy and we can bring victory to ourselves and to those around about us he is defeated Jesus disarmed the enemy he spoiled principalities and powers he made a show of them openly triumphing over them in it you know so in in Luke 24 it says verse 47 says and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations beginning at Jerusalem and ye are witnesses of these things the gospel of the kingdom only goes forth in the name of Jesus it it it only goes it the only victory is in
[21:02] Christ that's our only victory without Jesus we will be defeated without Jesus we will we will suffer loss we will be defeated but Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil in Hebrews it says that he destroyed him that had the power of death even the devil he he came for that reason and he accomplished the plan of God now I want to look in the book of Acts and I look a little bit at the early church and I believe that if we would take lessons from them we would learn much in how to overcome you know when the
[22:09] I think the problem is that too often we look at the book of Acts as a historical record it is that but it is much more it is a pattern of the church of Jesus Christ we'll just pick out a few verses here and there and we will go we will look at some of this in Acts chapter three here we have here we have the lame man and we have Peter and John going up to the temple in the hour of prayer and and he was his lame man and and he was there every day and he was asking alms well in verse six Peter said silver and gold have
[23:11] I none but such as I have give I thee in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk and he took him by the hand and he jumped up and he was healed leaping up he stood and walked and entered with them in the temple walking and leaping and praising God now let's skip on and you know we have I think we should read some of this so all the people were gathering around and they were greatly wandering and in verse 12 and when Peter saw it he answered unto the people ye men of Israel why marvel ye at this or why look ye so earnestly on us as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk notice
[24:19] Peter points out you know you people you think that we have done this by our own power or because of our own holiness it's not that way and it's never that way with us today it's the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob the God of our fathers hath glorified his son Jesus whom ye delivered up and denied him in the presence of Pilate when he was determined to let him go but ye denied the holy one and the just and desired a murderer to be granted unto you and killed the prince of life whom God hath raised from the dead whereof we are witnesses so here Peter he's just telling them that it's not us but it's the Lord Jesus we are witnesses in his name that is how let's just read verse 16 and his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong whom ye see and know yea the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all faith in the name of
[25:44] Jesus you know you know Peter he looked on this man and he said silver and gold have I none but what I have give I you you know do we know what we have do we have what Peter had that day the name of our Lord Jesus yes Jesus is the answer for every need Jesus is sufficient Jesus is the answer it's not Jesus plus psychiatry Jesus plus whatever no it's Jesus Christ it's him alone it's our
[26:44] Lord Jesus well wasn't long and the apostles found themselves in front of the consul in front of the Sanhedrin the Pharisees and they asked the question in chapter 4 verse 7 by what power or by what name have ye done this I believe that they knew that these men there's another place where it says that they're ignorant they're unlearned there so they knew that these men were not operating in their in their own in their own right but there was a power behind them and so here they ask this question and I expect they already knew but then
[28:08] Peter filled with the Holy Ghost said unto them ye rulers of the people and elders of Israel if we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man by what means he is made whole be it known unto you all and all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth whom ye crucified whom God raised from the dead even by him does this man stand here before you whole and this is the stone which was set at naught of you builders which is become the head of the corner neither is there salvation in any other for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved so Peter was not bashful but he just told them by the name of
[29:17] Jesus Christ of Nazareth and it is still in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth that the church will march on triumphantly today and it is only through his name it is only by his power it is only by his authority that we have authority and power over the kingdom of darkness there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved there is no other option for us to find deliverance from the powers of darkness than through the name of Jesus you know humanity has come up with all sorts of other options you know you can you can find a counselor to help you through any situation but unless their focus is on the
[30:22] Lord Jesus it's all in vain it's all vain there is no other way there is no other name Jesus is the only name he is the only way Jesus is the way the truth and the life and this morning I want to lift up the name of Jesus King of kings and Lord of lords it is by the blood of Jesus that we have victory over the enemy it is by the blood of Jesus that we overcome it is by the blood of Jesus that the church can be victorious and we can be a triumphant church only by his victory only by his power only by his spirit only by his word chapter 4 verse 17 17 and 18 and here you know
[31:37] I said earlier that both the church and the devil recognize the power of the name of Jesus but that it spread no further among the people let us straightly threaten them that they speak henceforth no more that they speak henceforth to no man in this name and they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus you know the devil recognizes the power in the name of Jesus I believe many times the problem is the church does not recognize the power in the name of Jesus and that it is only in this name that we overcome it is only in this name that we can overcome the devices of the enemy but in those early days the church knew where their strength was the church knew that they needed and that was the only place they could stand in victory and the devil recognized it and of course demanded that they stop teaching in the name of
[33:13] Jesus you know when we when we teach when we stand when we speak in the name of Jesus it is it is as if we are speaking for him we are speaking for the Lord Jesus we are here in his stead you know he is he is seated at the right hand of the father but he has sent the comforter the holy ghost and through him through the holy ghost we are to go forth and speak in his name we are here in his stead we are here in this world in his stead yes Corinthians talks about us being co-labors with Christ says he has given us the ministry of reconciliation the very ministry that Jesus began the church is to continue on with now let's look at let's drop down to verse 29 here so the apostles the apostles they were let go let's start reading actually in verse 24 they were let go they went back and they reported and so in verse 24 and when they heard that when the church heard what the devil had to say to them what the chief priests and the elders had said to them they lifted up their voice to
[34:58] God with one accord and said Lord thou art God which has made heaven and earth and the sea and all that in them is who by the mouth of thy servant David has said why did the heathen rage and the people imagine vain things the kings of the earth stood up and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ you know they're still gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ and against his church the gates of hell are arrayed against the church today but our victory is in the Lord Jesus Christ for of a truth against thy holy child Jesus whom thou hast anointed both
[36:01] Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done and now Lord behold their threatenings and grant unto thy servants that with all boldness they may speak thy word you know these people the apostles the church of that day they were not looking for some place in the wilderness to hide no but they just prayed and this is their prayer that the Lord would grant them boldness to speak forth the word of God to bring the word of our Lord Jesus to the people and then not only that by stretching forth thine hand to heal and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child
[37:03] Jesus and when they had prayed the place was shaken where they were assembled together and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and they spake the word of God with boldness yes and they spake the word of God with boldness why because they were filled with the Holy Ghost the Holy Ghost said again come upon them yes and they were filled with the Holy Ghost and they spake the word of God with boldness and then verse 33 and with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and great grace was upon them all you know that is how it is when the Holy Ghost comes upon you and the grace of God can work in you and through you and you can speak boldly even in the face of opposition that we can speak boldly the gospel of our
[38:08] Lord Jesus well next we have the account of Ananias and Sapphira but we'll just kind of keep on going in verse 12 chapter 5 verse 12 by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people and they were all with one accord in Solomon's porch they were all with one accord there was no division you know God had dealt with a man whose heart was not with them God had dealt with a man who was a hypocrite he he he he professed to have all on the altar but he did not but now
[39:08] God was using them mightily and they were all with one accord in one place and many people were healed and so on and then and we'll just read through this and believers were the more added to the Lord multitudes both of men and women verse 15 in so much that they brought forth the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and couches that the least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them there came also a multitude out of the cities round about unto Jerusalem bringing sick folk and them which were vexed with unclean spirits and they were healed every one you know in that day those that were vexed by unclean spirits the spirits were cast out and people were set free and
[40:24] I believe that that is still available for us today if we are full of the Holy Ghost and we lift up the name of Jesus if we are operating if we are operating in his authority and in his power those evil spirits are defeated they are defeated that is what we see here they were teaching and preaching they were healing and ministering in the name of Jesus not in their own name not by their own holiness but by the holiness of the Lamb of God well the devil didn't like this the high the high priest rose up and all they that were with him which is the sect of the Sadducees and they were filled with indignation the devil was angry the devil was angry and he laid hands they laid their hands on the apostles and put them in the common prison but the angel of the lord by night opened the prison doors and brought them forth and said go stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life and when they heard that they entered into the temple early in the morning and taught yes and when the high priest in them came and they opened the door to get the prisoners they weren't there anymore nobody knew they weren't there hallelujah why do we doubt our
[42:11] God he is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think yes he is able well they're again brought before the council but we'll just think we'll skip on but again they commanded them in verse 40 that they should not speak in the name of Jesus and they let them go see you yourself are never a threat to the enemy but if you if you have Jesus in control of your heart and life then you are a threat to the enemy that is the only way we are a threat to the enemy
[43:16] Isaiah chapter 54 it's a verse I want to look at you know I have a list here of ways that Satan wins maybe we'll look at that a little bit before we go on there's some things that came to me as I was preparing for this that's when we ignore the word of
[44:18] God or we we hear the word of God but we do not obey it or when we ignore the spirit of God you know we are instructed to not quench the spirit to to not to not quench him and not to push him off why because when you every time you you push him off every time you say no to him he will withdraw he might speak to you again but it will be less and less Satan wins when we ignore the spirit of God we become dull of hearing we become lukewarm!
[45:24] When we're proud we're following our own thinking instead of following the direction of the Holy Ghost the wisdom of men you know in Corinthians it says that the natural man receives not the spirit of God but he goes on and he says that the wisdom of men is foolishness in the sight of God you know our own wisdom our own our own thinking is down here it's foolishness compared to the wisdom of God that he will give us if we will walk in obedience also in first Corinthians he says that we are the temple of the
[46:28] Holy Ghost we are the temple of God and he admonishes us not to defile that temple I believe when we operate outside of the spirit of God we defile the temple Zachariah it says not by might nor by power but by my spirit saith the Lord when the enemy comes in like a flood the spirit of the Lord will raise up a standard against him you know trusting in anything other than Christ will bring defeat and that usually comes because of pride because we trust in ourselves but the
[47:35] Bible says God resists the proud but he gives grace to the humble now I want to close with this verse in Isaiah 54 verse 17 no weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn!
[47:59] this is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their righteousness is of me saith the Lord so we have the Lord speaking here and he's he's he's talking about his servants and he's talking about the people that do not have their own righteousness but we have the righteousness of Jesus Christ you know is that us you know Romans 10 talks a lot about people that are ignorant of the righteousness of God and they go about to establish their own righteousness and it's a failure it will never it will never make you righteous but it is as we die to self and we accept the righteousness of the
[49:13] Lord Jesus then we have his righteousness and if this is us then we can claim this promise no weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper you know as we saw in the book of Acts the enemy does not like it when the church is victorious the enemy comes against us but remember he is defeated Jesus triumphed over him and when he comes if we stand against him in the name of Jesus by the blood of Jesus we can overcome how does that say in revelation they overcame him by the blood of the lamb by the word of their testimony and they loved not their lives unto the death that is the recipe for victory if we will overcome that is how we will overcome when we stand in the righteousness of our
[50:30] Lord Jesus and when the enemy comes against us his weapons will not prosper against us why because Jesus triumphed over him Jesus promised that the gates of hell will not prevail against us we can go and we can take the enemy's territory and when he comes against us we can overcome and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn why because it is not in our own righteousness that we stand but it is in the righteousness of our Lord Jesus that is where we stand today that is where we stand if we do not stand in that place then we will be defeated then the enemy will come against us and he will defeat us but if we stand firm in the in the testimony of our
[51:35] Lord Jesus in his righteousness we can overcome and no weapon that is formed against us will prosper that what does he say here this is the heritage of the servants of the Lord that is our heritage our heritage is victory our heritage is to triumph over the enemy and he will come against us he will fight against us but we can triumph why because of the blood of Jesus why because the blood of Jesus has defeated our enemy Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil and he did he did not fail but he was triumphant and he disarmed the enemy and today we can go forth in his victory we can be victorious in his name in his name
[52:53] I am so challenged in thinking that thought that in the early days of the church both the church and the devil recognized the power of the name of Jesus and whenever we operate outside of that power outside of that name we will be defeated just like the seven sons of Siva they were trying to cast out devils they said how did they say by Jesus whom Paul preaches and the evil spirit said well Jesus I know and Paul I know but who are you and they were beaten you know it takes a first a first hand relationship a personal relationship with our
[54:04] Lord Jesus then we can be victorious we can walk in his victory we can live in his victory we can overcome by the blood of the lamb by the word of our testimony if we do not love our lives and to the death may the Lord bless whoever Thank you.