Filled to Live in Victory

Summary

Held in the days after Christmas as a new year began, this service opened with a clip of the World War I Christmas truce, when soldiers moved by the spirit of Christ's birth climbed out of their trenches to embrace their enemies, even at the risk of their lives. The first preacher used this to define what it means to live in victory: it begins in the spirit, because human flesh has no desire to overcome evil with good. Reading all of Romans 12, he urged believers to present their bodies as a living sacrifice, to bless their persecutors, and to conquer evil with good.

He warned that God's wisdom runs opposite to the wisdom of this world. Living this way costs sacrifice and often suffering, yet it is God's perfect will and it leads to His glory. When we ask for patience, love, or blessing, God answers by sending the very trials and even enemies through which those things grow. We are not merely waiting for heaven; we are called to display God's glory here and now, drawing on the Holy Spirit who comes to glorify Christ in our mortal bodies.

The second message asked a simple question: what are you living on, and what fills your heart? Just as Israel learned in the wilderness that man does not live by bread alone but by every word from God's mouth, the believer must feed on the pure Word. That Word is like fire and a hammer: it first breaks and exposes us before Christ builds something new. Faith is born from hearing the uncorrupted Word, so we should crave it like newborns crave milk and refuse the world's substitutes. The evening closed by tying it to the new year: be renewed in the spirit of your mind, walk in God's perfect will, and let His word that heals meet every need.

Key Points

• Living in victory begins in the spirit; the flesh will never choose to overcome evil with good.
• Romans 12 calls us to be living sacrifices, to bless our persecutors, and to conquer evil with good.
• God's wisdom is the opposite of the world's; His perfect will may cost us, yet it leads to His glory.
• The trials, enemies, and waiting God allows are how patience, love, and faith actually grow in us.
• We are filled to reveal God's glory here on earth, not only to wait for heaven.
• What fills your heart shapes your life, so feed on the pure Word and not the world's substitutes.
• God's Word first breaks and exposes us, then builds a new person in Christ; receive it with joy.