Success
Can Change Laws
History is always “His” story. It is the story
created by the victors.
Success always rewrites and creates
history.
Success has the power to change laws
And only success changes people.
God wants us to live a triumphant
life.
2 Corinthians 2:14 But thanks be to God, who
always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to
spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. (NIV)
2 Corinthians 2:14 Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth
us to triumph in Christ, and maketh
manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.
(KJV)
Jesus changed history, He rewrote and
recreated history.
He changed the history of the world
because He was a success.
Jesus is still the most powerful
influence in this world.
He has been influencing history,
politics, events, science, economy, business, medicine, culture and everything
in this world.
He has been influencing millions of
lives in this world.
He has converted the barbarians of
the darkest continents to lovers of humanity.
All because Jesus is a Success.
Two
thieves
Think about the two thieves on the
cross.
We know when Jesus died on the day of
crucifixion.
We know what Jesus spoke while He was
struggling on the cross.
We know how He breathed his last
breath.
But we are not sure when and how the
two thieves died.
We may assume that the repented thief
might have died on the same day from the words of Jesus offering him rest in
paradise on the same day with Him.
Nothing more than this assumption
about one thief.
What happened to the other thief?
No one ever gave it a serious
thought.
There is a difference between two of
them (thieves on the cross) also.
Both of them, at first, it seems,
mocked and despised Jesus on the cross.
But very soon one of them repented,
felt sorry for his wrong doing and asked Jesus for his forgiveness and placed a
request for the citizenship of the Kingdom of God.
Luke 23:39-43
39 One of the criminals who hung there hurled
insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”
40 But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you
fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? 41 We are punished justly, for we are getting what our
deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”
42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come
into your kingdom.”
43 Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell
you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
He was a thief, a bad one indeed.
That is why he was crucified.
He also might have jeered at Jesus;
but soon realized his mistake and begged pardon from the Lord.
Matthew 27:38-44
44 In the same way the rebels
who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him.
Victim
to Victor
The repented thief is a fine example
for a person who turned from victim to victor in the last hour of his life.
He is a symbol of hope to many that
Jesus forgives any sinner even in the last hour of life.
He is preached throughout the world.
Because he died as a victor.
Jesus
a Victor
If Jesus died on the cross bearing
the crime of a false teacher and traitor to the Roman Kingdom, it would have
been a lost and unheard story.
But the story did not end there.
Jesus bounced back to life with
tremendous power, glory and authority.
He is exalted to be the King of
Kings.
Jesus turned the cross, a symbol of
shame, utter punishment and curse into a symbol of blessing.
Because He triumphed over all of His
enemies on the cross.
Colossians 2:13-15
13 When you were dead in
your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with
Christ. He forgave us all our sins,
14 having canceled the charge of our legal
indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away,
nailing it to the cross.
15 And having disarmed
the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
Success
Story of Jesus
No doubt, only success creates
history.
Success defines the meaning of life.
Only success can influence the world.
Where did Jesus begin
His success story?
Jesus career is a special one of
success.
The specialty is that He never
failed, not anywhere, not any time during His whole career.
He started as victor
and ended as victor.
Jesus started with accepting baptism
from John the Baptist.
Luke 3:21-23
21 When all the people were being baptized, Jesus
was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened
23 Now Jesus himself was about thirty years old
when he began his ministry. He was the son, so it was thought, of Joseph,
the son of Heli,
Jesus did not start preaching or
doing miracles just after that.
Straight away, after His baptism in
water and the Holy Ghost, he was led to the
desert.
Luke
4:1,2
1 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the
Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,
2 where for forty days he was tempted by the
devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.
There Jesus confronted Satan, person
to person and defeated Satan in his three attempts to defeat the mission of
Jesus.
During the temptation period Jesus
declared three principle of success
(Luke 4:3-13) that He has to keep for the successful fulfillment of His mission.
1.
Man
does not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.
2.
We
should worship only the Lord our God.
3.
We
should not tempt the Lord our God.
Jesus career started with victory and
moved to victory.
This is exceptional.
The
Final Victory
The final victory was achieved on the
cross defeating Satan and all his principalities, disarming them, confiscating
stolen souls and stolen blessing and parting the rewards among His faithful
disciples, then and to come, all over the world.
Colossians 2:13-15
Luke 11:21
21 “When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own
house, his possessions are safe.
22 But when someone stronger attacks and
overpowers him, he takes away the armor in which the man trusted and divides up
his plunder.
Why
should we live successful?
1. Fulfill
the purpose of our life
We are here to influence the world with the Kingdom principles.
An intend for His kingdom
Matthew 6:10 your kingdom
come,
your will be done, on earth as it is in
heaven.
The prayer ‘your kingdom come’ and ‘your will be done’
is one and the same thing.
Kingdom of
God is the redemptive hope of the Old Testament saints.
The Kingdom of God was the central message of Jesus.
We are
asking God to exert His authority in the world so that His purposes are
achieved.
Kingdom
of God
refer to:
The
active, dynamic exercise of God’s rule, authority, dominion, and power in the
world.
It is
the rule of God manifested in Christ to bring redemption to the earth.
Kingdom of God is the
redemptive reign of God.
It is dynamically active to establish His
rule among human beings.
It has already come into human history
in the person and mission of Jesus to overcome evil, to deliver people from its
power, and to bring them into the blessings of God’s reign.
1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called
you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
Luke 11:17-20
20 But if I drive out demons by the finger of God,
then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
Luke 17:20,21
21 nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it
is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst.” (Or is within you) (NIV)
Luke 17:20,21
21
Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo
there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
(KJV)
Influencing the world is possible only
if your Kingdom is a triumphant kingdom.
How much you may preach, none with
listen to you if the kingdom you are preaching about is a reign or region of
victims and defeated people.
There is no argument over it.
Only triumphant countries can influence
defeated nations.
That means, we are to live a successful
life to influence the world.
But unfortunately what we preach is
that:
1.
Our
king is a victor
2.
But
unfortunately we are victims.
3.
We
are continuously defeated by an enemy to our kingdom
4.
Our
kingdom cannot do anything against the enemy while we are here in this world.
But
Jesus proclaimed success:
Matthew
4:23 Jesus went throughout Galilee,
teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the
good news of the kingdom, and healing
every disease and sickness among the people.
1 John 4:4 You, dear
children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is
greater than the one who is in the world.
1 John 5:4,5
4 for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory
that has overcome the world, even our faith.
5 Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that
Jesus is the Son of God.
The Kingdom of God is a
triumphant Kingdom.
Its citizens are triumphant citizens
– they have overcome the world, Satan and sin.
They lead a triumphant life always
and everywhere.
Because their King is a victor.
We are influencing the world with our
victorious life.
We tell others through our life: Live with the Kingdom principles, Live like us and live
as a victor.
2. Success
can change laws
Think of our Lord Jesus Christ again.
His life and death was a success.
By His victorious life He has changed
laws.
He has changed the status of the
cross.
Cross once was a symbol of shame, an
ignoble punishment given to traitors.
Jesus has changed its status to a
symbol of hope, a place of salvation, an altar of sacrifice.
Because He confronted Satan and
defeated him on the cross.
Colossians 2:13-15
During His ministry on earth, Jesus
healed a woman who suffered with an issue of blood for twelve years.
Jesus was on his way to Jairus’s home
to heal (resurrect) his daughter.
Luke 8:41-48
48 Then he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.”
According to Leviticus 15:19-30, she is an “unclean” woman
1)
As an “unclean” woman she was unwelcome in society i.e.
socially isolated.
2)
Everything and everyone she touched became ceremonially
unclean, so she would have been shunned by everyone, even family.
3)
Sexual relations would have been unclean, her bed and
even her husband would have been ceremonially unclean, so she probably would
have been divorced by her husband (DEU 24:1)
4)
Worship in the synagogue would have been barred to her
since she could not make atonement for her blood flow (LEV 15:28-30).
5)
As an “unclean” woman if she touched Jesus, under normal
circumstances, she would make Him ceremonially “unclean.
6)
As a woman she was restricted from touching a man in public.
So, if she touches the Rabbi Jesus (touches
even his ceremonial dress), Jesus would become ritually unclean.
According to the Law, Jesus had to
wash himself and all his clothes to become clean again.
Not only Jesus, many among the crowd
became “unclean” because it was impossible for her to reach Jesus through the
crowd without touching them.
When Jesus called her to come to the
front of the scene, she was afraid the rabbi would censure her because she had
broken several laws.
But instead of scolding and shaming
her, Jesus praised her.
He had not addressed her as woman or
sinner, but called her daughter.
He restored her social standing.
She was no longer alone, but part of
his family by virtue of her faith.
Jesus did not go away to wash himself
and his clothes.
His disciples or none among the crowd
did not go to wash themselves and their clothes.
Jesus continued His journey towards
Jairus’ home and resurrected his dead child.
Jesus redefined the social law.
No other Rabbis could do it.
Success and successful people can
redefine social cultural and even national laws.
3.
God partners only with successful
people
God is in partnership with His men to
work in this world.
God is omnipotent and can do anything
anywhere in this Universe.
But God never does anything without
the permission of a man.
God always works in partnership with
His chosen people.
Thus God chose Abraham to create a
new nation of Kingdom priests and a holy nation.
God did not create a new race as He
created Adam and Eve.
Instead He called out Abraham,
brought him to the Promised Land and gave him descendents as many as stars in
the sky.
God came down on Mt. Sinai to partner
with man.
Exodus
19:5, 6
5 Now if you obey me fully and keep my
covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although
the whole earth is mine,
1
you will be for me a kingdom
of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the
Israelites.”
God worked in partnership with Isaac
and Jacob.
God was the chief partner with King
David.
God Himself came down as a man to
execute salvation for all nations on the earth.
God was Rabbi to the disciples to
disburse His grace among nations.
God still works in partnership with
successful people.
4. Our
defeat is God’s defeat
Who are we?
What are we doing here?
We are representing His Kingdom on
this earth, among the unbelieving nations.
We are kings under the great King.
Kings represent all the glory,
richness and success of the nation.
King David represented the victory of
the Kingdom.
King Solomon represented the richness
of the Kingdom.
What are representing?
Successful people represents the
triumph of the Kingdom.
Defeated people represents the defeat
of their nation.
2 Corinthians 5:20 We are
therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through
us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.
Ephesians 6:20 for which I am an ambassador
in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.
The world understands your Kingdom
through you.
How
can we live a successful life?
We are already a successful nation.
Join the triumphant procession.
Colossians 2:13-15
2 Corinthians 2:14
Isaiah 41:14
14 Do not be afraid, you worm Jacob, little Israel, do not fear,
for I myself will help you,” declares the Lord, your
Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.
15 “See, I will make you into a threshing sledge, new and sharp,
with many teeth.
You will thresh the mountains and crush them, and reduce the hills to chaff.
16 You will winnow them, the wind will pick them up, and a gale will blow them away.
But you will rejoice in the Lord and glory in the Holy One of Israel.
But you will rejoice in the Lord and glory in the Holy One of Israel.
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