Overcoming
The sermon emphasizes the importance of facing and overcoming challenges through discipline and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
John Follette emphasizes the importance of truly overcoming challenges rather than avoiding them, highlighting the necessity of facing difficulties head-on to grow in faith and strength. He explains that God allows certain trials to teach us how to overcome and become stronger Christians. Through the school of the Spirit, believers are trained and disciplined to learn how to overcome even the smallest obstacles, preparing them for a deep relationship with God.
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An overcomer is one that comes over and not around the difficulty.
I want the theory that disciplines me most thoroughly, and demands of me all that it possibly can; not one that makes it all so easy that there is no overcoming necessary in me; that does not minister anything to me.
There is a time to resist evil; that makes us strong in faith. There is a time, though, when He says to resist not evil, because He has permitted it to teach us how to overcome.
You say, "I want to be a real strong Christian for the Lord! I want to be all God would have me to be, I want to be an overcomer for Him in this world!" The Lord says, "That's good, I'll accept you as a candidate." Well then what happens? He is going to send you to the school of the Spirit. He sends us to the school for our training and education. He does all that for our welfare, for our education, for our well-being. Now we have to learn to overcome. Well then, do I have to overcome something big? No, you have to overcome something small. The Holy Spirit takes you in hand and through a process of discipline and training and education you are going to learn to overcome. If you can't get the victory over something mundane, you need not worry about being a great overcomer and knowing the things of God and a deep relationship with Him.
Sermon Outline
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I
- Definition of an overcomer
- The importance of facing difficulties
- The role of discipline in overcoming
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II
- Resisting evil versus accepting challenges
- Learning from permitted trials
- Strengthening faith through resistance
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III
- Desire to be a strong Christian
- God's acceptance as a candidate for overcoming
- The school of the Spirit for training
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IV
- Overcoming small challenges
- The Holy Spirit's guidance
- Importance of mundane victories
Key Quotes
“An overcomer is one that comes over and not around the difficulty.” — John Follette
“There is a time to resist evil; that makes us strong in faith.” — John Follette
“If you can't get the victory over something mundane, you need not worry about being a great overcomer.” — John Follette
Application Points
- Embrace small challenges as opportunities for growth.
- Seek the Holy Spirit's guidance in your daily struggles.
- Understand that overcoming is a process that requires patience and discipline.