 Amen. Happy Easter. Of course, we're celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ today. Matthew chapter 28 tells that story of the resurrection. But for now, I want you to leave Matthew chapter 28 and go to Revelation chapter 1. This morning I want to talk to you about victory in Jesus. Victory in Jesus. We talked on Wednesday night about Christ and the abandonment that he felt in the betrayal of Christ. Tonight or this morning we're going to talk about the victory in Christ. Turn to Revelation chapter 1 or look at the front of your bulletin. It is the verse of the week where the Bible reads in verse 18. It says, I am he that liveth and was dead and behold I am alive for evermore. Amen. And have the keys of hell and of death. So here Jesus is saying that as he has risen, he has the keys of hell and the keys of death. He's basically defeated death and the devil. He's defeated Satan, which is the victory that we have in him. Turn to Romans chapter 6. So the first thing is, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, this is not new to any of you. We have spiritual victory in Jesus from that. Sin, the law, no longer has dominion over us because of the fact that Jesus has the keys of death and hell. We no longer deserve, we no longer get what we deserve because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Look at Romans chapter 6. Romans chapter 6 talks about how this has no more dominion over us. Look at verse 6 where the Bible says in Romans 6, knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead, dieeth no more. So this is matching Revelation 118 where it says, you know, I am alive forevermore. It says, Christ being raised from the dead, dieeth no more. Death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once, but in that he that liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise recognize, likewise reckon, he also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. This of course spiritual victory is your salvation through Jesus Christ. This is your victory in Jesus that you have automatically won when you got saved. You automatically won. The reason that it was possible is it because it was through Jesus Christ as Romans 6.23 says that you have this victory, this opportunity to have this victory. Now this is all just by means of introduction. So this is a victory that you know you have that is provided by Jesus Christ that was accomplished through his resurrection. This is the victory that you all, if you're saved, I hope you all know that you have this victory this morning. You should have woken up in a good mood this morning. Easter is a great reminder of this victory that you have in your life. You're saved. There's nothing that is ever going to happen that is going to change that. You're saved. That victory is yours when you got saved when you were sealed by the Holy Spirit. So you're saying, so what, what is the, you know, that's the sermon right there, the first three minutes. That's all introduction. What I want to talk about this morning is I want to talk about the second victory. I want to talk about the second victory in your life, the second victory through Christ. And it's unfortunately the second victory that most Christians, most saved people won't realize in their life. Turn to Colossians chapter two. So we know that we're saved. We have the victory. Happy Easter. He has risen. Wonderful news. It's wonderful. But look, there's a second victory that you could have, that you could have in your life on this earth, but most people will never achieve it. They will never get it. Look at Colossians chapter two. And actually, I'm going to read Colossians chapter two and let's look at verse number thirteen. Look at Colossians chapter two and let's start reading in verse thirteen. The Bible says, and you, being dead in your sins, does this all sound familiar? You see how consistent the Bible is on this very simple doctrine and you being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he hath quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses, blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to the cross. Put a little marker around those two verses. That's the first victory right there, that the law no longer has dominion over you. You can no longer be condemned by the law because of the victory of Jesus Christ, because you're saved. And once you're saved, the law has no more dominion over you. If you choose to willingly sin, you're putting yourself back in slavery under the law. You're putting yourself willingly back into slavery, but you still have that spiritual victory through Jesus Christ. But now, but now, look at verse fifteen. Here's the victory I want to talk to you about this morning. Look at verse fifteen. Because the Bible says that not only do you have this spiritual victory through Jesus Christ, you're saved. You're going to be in heaven if you're saved because of Jesus. But look at verse fifteen. Something more. You say, what more could there possibly be? Look at something more, verse fifteen. And having spoiled, and having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it. Look, you know what it means to spoil? It says that Jesus he not only gave you this spiritual victory where the law no longer has dominion over you, but he also spoiled principalities and powers. He defeated the evil forces, the evil forces and the darkness in this world. Turn to Ephesians chapter six. He defeated the actual wickedness of this world by what he did. He spoiled them. Look at Ephesians chapter six. So, I mean, there's evil forces in this world. That's the first thing that we learn here. There's evil forces that you and I, just because we're saved, just because we're saved, doesn't mean that we're not going to deal with these evil forces in this world today. They're still there. They're still going to be against us. Jesus taught that throughout his entire ministry. He's like, you are going to have tribulation. You will have persecution. The world hated Jesus, and they're going to hate you because they hated Jesus. So, he was just telling people, get ready for this. But the Bible says here in Colossians two fifteen that Jesus defeated these people. That Jesus, he not only defeated death and hell for you, but he defeated these people too. There's your second victory that most Christians will never realize. You say, I've never heard about the second victory. I'm going to explain it to you this morning. I'm going to explain to you the second victory that, and not only did he, did he defeat these evil forces and these, in the darkness in this world, but he teaches us how we can also defeat them. He teaches us. Look at Ephesians chapter six. I'm going to talk to you this morning about some decisions that you might have to make in your life, and some ideas that you might have to think about. Look, if you were coming to church to hear about Jesus risen and not having any pressure put on you in your life, wrong church. I'm going to talk to you about the actions forward that you need in order to be able to have this second victory. Then I want to talk to you about, you know, how important this second victory is in your life. Look at Ephesians six and verse ten. The Bible says, finally my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. So, first of all, we see a call for strength here. We see a call for strength in your Christian life. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Well, why do we need the whole armor of God? And I've heard so many sermons on the armor of God throughout my entire life, and I think they were all wrong, except maybe the Bible preaching Baptist sermons that I've heard. But I want to explain the armor of God and the purpose for it this morning. Look at verse 12. Why do we need it? For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Look, this is talking about actually people on the earth that are evil people. This is talking about evil forces that you're going to deal with in your physical life on this earth. Look, you're not going to deal with these people in heaven. You're going to deal with verse number 12 here on earth. But look, God didn't leave you unprepared. God is going to tell you how to successfully deal with that. Look at verse 13. Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand. And then he's going to start to give us what these weapons and these defense systems are. And we're going to look at that this morning. Let me just read the rest of them and then we'll look at it. Look at verse 14. Therefore, stand therefore, having your loins gird about with truth and having on the breastplate of righteousness and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. Like I said, these wicked people aren't in heaven, folks. They're here. They're here now. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. So these are your weapons. So these people, I mean, so here's the thing. Jesus has already spoiled these forces. He's already defeated these forces. What's interesting is that while we have salvation and nothing can change the fact that we have salvation, Jesus tells us that he has also defeated these forces that we're currently dealing with now. These are the worldly forces that are operating a spiritual battle in this world. So we are supposed to fight this spiritual battle. And in Ephesians chapter 6 here, the Bible is telling us, Jesus is telling us what to fight it with, how to fight it. It's something different than salvation we're talking about here. It's what we're dealing with on this earth and preparing us for battle. So what are the weapons? Look at verse 14. The Bible says this. It says, Stand therefore, having your loins gird about with truth and having on the breastplate of righteousness. So here's talking about, you know, if you have the breastplate of righteousness, it means you're saved. We have Christ's righteousness through our salvation. We have our loins gird about with truth. Our truth, truth is what? Truth is what you believe. Truth is what we believe as saved Bible-believing Christians. The truth is what you know. That's a weapon the Bible says. It's a defensive system. Look, being saved is going to give you some insight into what's true. Did you know that? Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 2. At least, at least at the very least, the ability to understand truth. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 2. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 2. If you're not saved, you know, you're the natural man, and you're just not going to understand the truth. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 14, where the Bible says, but the natural man receiveeth not the things of the Spirit of God. That's why God, that's why when you get saved, as Ephesians chapter 2 says, or Ephesians chapter 1 says, that you become, you become sealed with the Holy Spirit. God puts, He gives a down payment. He gives the earnest of the Holy Spirit to you, and then you can understand truth. Through not yourself, not your flesh, not your natural man, but through the Holy Spirit that lives within you. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 14, for there are foolishness unto him. So he's talking about the natural man, the Bible, the Spirit of God, the things of God are foolishness unto the unsaved man. Neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. You need the Holy Spirit to figure this stuff out. You need the Holy Spirit to discern these things. So look, we see this weapon in play today, completely, I'm telling you, but we see it in play, especially in the Bible, in end times prophecy. Turn to Matthew chapter 24. We see that, you know, this Spirit of truth that's in us and this idea that we can discern the truth, it comes into play in the end times. I'll show you a couple of examples. Look at Matthew chapter 24. Look at Matthew chapter 24. Look at verse 23. The Bible says in the end time there's going to be many people that claim to be Christ. There's going to be many people, we've already seen that when we studied false religions, people are already claiming to be Christ. People are already claiming to be the Messiah, people claim that today, people are going to continue to claim that, but the Bible says that we will not believe it. Look at verse 23 of Matthew 24. Then if any man shall say unto you, lo, here is Christ, or there, believe it not, for there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders. It's saying, look, these false prophets, they may do amazing things, especially in the end times with the false prophet, and so much that if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. But look, the Bible says that you will not be deceived by these false prophets and false Christ. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 11. Now this is something I think about a lot, but you know, this is kind of the beauty of the design of the gospel. You know, you look at how God designed salvation and how he designed, you know, how he was going to come here and save man, and I mean it's brilliant. It's brilliant because, you know, look, the design of the gospel. I mean in Matthew 24, the Bible is basically saying, and we're going to learn in Galatians chapter 1 on Wednesday nights, that there's all kinds of false Christ, and guess what they're preaching? They're preaching a false gospel. They're preaching a false message. They're preaching a false way to heaven. They're going to teach you things that aren't true, and they're going to send people to hell, is what the Bible says. But here's the beauty of the design of the gospel. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 11 in verse number 3. But I fear, lest by any means as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, subtlety is sneakiness, sneakiness, craftiness, being smart. People that, you know, if you ever had, like, you know, think of a con man, like a really good con man, they can get you to just give you all their money, or they just whip people off for hundreds of thousands of dollars, and you don't even know. You think, oh, you think this is legitimate, but it's really subtle the way they have their game set up. That's how the devil is. It's really subtle. But look at the rest of this. So your mind should be corrupted, meaning, meaning tricked, meaning changed from the simplicity that is in Christ. Look, here's the beauty of the gospel. Once you believe the gospel, once you believe the gospel of the Bible, it is super simple to recognize a false one. It's so easy. And you know why? Because the gospel is simple. The gospel is simple. You're saved how? By just believing on, by just trusting only in Jesus. That's it. It's super simple, and it's designed that way. Because imagine, God could have designed salvation however he wanted. Could he not have? I mean, he's God. Imagine if God made, you know, the gospel really complicated, where, you know, you had to, you had to, you know, believe in Jesus and then do all these different things, and you had to repent of certain sins and not these, you know, on this, and you had to do all these things, and it was mixed in with all these complicated, you know, works-based doctrines. Look, it might be hard to recognize a false gospel if that was the true gospel. I mean, which one's true? I mean, they're all these complicated different ways to heaven. But look, the gospel is super simple. It is nothing to do with works. If you think it's of works, it's not the gospel. It's very simple. It's very, very simple. I mean, you'll find people that are so twisted around the axle with different, you know, works-based gospels that it's almost impossible to get them saved. So the gospel is simple, folks. It's believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. In a moment, you're saved. That's it. Nothing to do with works. But if it was complicated, it might be easy to be tricked. But because it's so simple, it's easy to recognize the truth. So us as saved people, our first weapon is the truth. Our first defensive mechanism is we will recognize the false Christ. We will recognize the false gospels. But look, it's not just false Christ and not just false gospels. Look, it's evil leaders turned to Revelation chapter 13. Evil leaders and evil plans, we will recognize that too. The Bible says, you say it sounds pretty good. Well, you have this truth. You have this truth. Look at Revelation 13. Look at verse 16. The Bible says, and he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand or in their foreheads that no man might buy or sell, save that he have that mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Turn to Revelation chapter 20. The Bible tells us that no saved person will take this mark. You know what that means? It means they recognize what it is. It means that they recognize the truth and you say, you know, how could this happen? I mean, we're on the, you say, how could this happen where somebody is forcing people to take a mark? Well, I mean, are you kidding me? Are you watching the news? I mean, we're on the verge of like, vaccine transport, you know, passports or whatever they want to call them and lists. People want you to get on and all this kind of stuff. Look, it's not the mark of the beast. I'm not saying that, but it's preparation for it. I'll tell you that right now. It's preparation. I mean, this, I mean, look, no one's saying that this whole mess with coronavirus is not real or anything like that, but I mean, there's evil people and principalities and powers that are taking full advantage of this situation. I mean, for sure. These government people and these lower level people, they're just tools for the principalities and the powers that are exercising control here. They're getting us used to it. There's a plan in play, folks. I mean, I never thought it would happen so fast. I mean, I was raised mostly amongst freedom type people, you know, Second Amendment people and all this and I'm still shocked to see how fast this is moving. But look, by the time what it does show us, what it does show us is by the time this mark actually starts getting implemented, people will be used to it at that point. But and people, it won't even be strange for people at that point. We can see that. We couldn't see that a year and a half ago. We can see that now. But like, it will be weird. It will be strange for the saved. The same, and you know, we see, I mean, we see some of the saved people going along with this today, but go back to, go back to Ephesians chapter 6 and verse number 15. Go back to Ephesians chapter 6 and verse number 15. What other tools, what other weapons, what other defensive mechanisms do we have to deal with these principalities and powers that Jesus has defeated, by the way? Look at verse 15. The Bible says, in your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Above all, taking the shield of faith wherewith you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. Look, verse 15 says your feet will be shod with the gospel of peace, meaning, you know, you'll be taking it somewhere. Your feet will be shod with the gospel, meaning you're going to be traveling with that thing somewhere. Look at verse 16. I mean, that's an action, by the way. That's implying specific action that, you know, the gospel is put on your feet. I mean, that's not an accident. Look at verse 16. This shield of faith, it's supposedly gives you the ability to withstand these people, to withstand evil. How are you doing with that? How are you withstanding? How are you with standing? This will tell you how big your shield is, by the way. Look at Proverbs chapter 28. You say, I'm concerned about everything, everywhere, all the time. I'm just, I'm one of these people that today I'm just worried about everything constantly. Look at Proverbs chapter 28. We're talking about your shield of faith. Look at Proverbs 28. Look at verse 1. We're going to look at verse 1 and verse 2. But the Bible says, it says the wicked flea when no man pursueth. But the righteous, underline this, but the righteous are bold as a lion. Wow. And boy, if verse number 1 doesn't describe the unsafe today, I don't know what verse in the Bible does. I mean, the wicked flea when no man pursueth. Our country today, people are afraid of their own shadow. People are literally afraid of other people. We see that every single week. I mean, look, no one's chasing you. The wicked flea when no one pursueth. But the righteous are bold as a lion. And then look what the Bible says in the next verse. This is super interesting for the transgression of the land. Many are the princes thereof. But a man of understanding and knowledge the state thereof shall be prolonged. Look at that first part of that verse. It says that that these wicked unsaved people, it says these people, you know what it says, many of the princes thereof? You know what that means? It means they'll need many rulers. They'll need many rules. It's like they're going to need a really intrusive governmental system to take control of them. It's what that means. But then, you know, what confuses me though is you see saved people acting the same way. That's what confuses me today. You say, you say, how is it possible? How is it possible for a saved person? How is it possible for a saved person to flee when no one's chasing them? How is it possible for a saved person to be afraid of everything? Well, we're talking about the shield of faith here. It's because their shield is like that big. That's why. Their shield is like a Lego guy's shield. Where's your shield of faith? That's why they're afraid of everybody and everything and everyone. That's why. Look, today we are talking about Easter. We are talking about this victory that we have in Christ. It's a great victory. Look, there's churches named this. There's ministries named this. Victory in Jesus. You hear it all the time. It's a good name. But what I'm trying to get you to understand is that most people are only going to realize half this victory. Most people are going to, you know, they'll grab that salvation. They'll grab that salvation. And then that's it. They're good. They got that first victory. And they're good. Turn to 2 Timothy 4. But they will not achieve that victory that Jesus told them that they would have to fight for, that he prepared them for, that he even said, you know what, I already defeated these people. He said, I defeated these people already. I spoiled them. I defeated them already. Here's all the weapons that I give to you. I'm going to give you this sword of the Spirit. We have it. It's right here. I mean, we have the Word of God. We have the sword of the Spirit. We have the shield of faith, which is, you know, I guess what we make of it. And we have, you know, this command, which is the Gospel that is shot on our feet, but nobody's walking anywhere. Because no one, you know, I'm glad that Paul wasn't this way. Turn to 2 Timothy 4. Turn to 2 Timothy 4. This is what it's like when you've had the second victory right here. This is what you'll say when you've had the second victory. If you ever get to the second victory, you'll be able to say this. You say, how do I know? How do I know? Well, if you could say this, if you go outside and you get in your life ended right now, but you could say this, then you've had the second victory. Look at 2 Timothy chapter 4 and verse 6. For I am now ready to be offered. See, I believe Paul was killed. That's my opinion. The Bible doesn't say. I believe that he was killed. I believe that he was executed. And I believe that when he wrote this, he knew this was coming. That's what I believe about Paul. Now look at verse 6. For I am now ready to be offered and the time of my departure is at hand. I mean, he obviously didn't have heart disease or something. You know, I mean, he knew he was going to die when he wrote this. I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course. I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day and not to me only, but unto all them that also love his appearing. So look, he knew that his end was coming, but at that point, at that point when he wrote this and he knew that his end was coming, whether it be tomorrow or the next day or whenever that was scheduled to happen, he knew that he won that victory already. He knew that he had run. He knew that he had run hard. His feet were shod and he ran hard with that gospel of peace. And you know what? He carried a huge shield of faith. Paul. I mean, he had a shield of faith turned to Acts 21. He carried it through thick and thin. Now look, if you can't handle what's happening now without folding like a deck of cards, I mean what in the world? Why do you think we have these examples in the Bible? You have no chance of gaining this victory. If you can't handle this. Look, there's a spectrum here, folks. And Paul, Paul is the extreme end of the spectrum. Look at Acts 21. Look at verse 11. Acts 21, Paul was going to go to Jerusalem and they're like, they're going to kill you there. They're going to imprison you there. And when he was come out unto us, he took Paul's girdle and bound his own hands and feet and says, Thus say it, the Holy Ghost. So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle. It was Paul's. And shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles. And when he heard these things, both we and they of that place, besought him not to go up to Jerusalem. Everyone's begging him not to go. Don't go. Don't go to Jerusalem. They're going to arrest you. They're going to put you in jail there. They want you dead. They want you dead. Verse 14 or verse 13. Then Paul answered, Okay, I'll stay here. Thank you for warning me. Then Paul answered, What mean ye to weep and to break my heart? For I am ready not to be bound only but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. And when he would not be persuaded, we cease saying the will of the Lord be done. That's what they should have said at the beginning. Look, this victory, look, the victory is ours to be had, folks. This second victory. And Paul knew, you know what? Paul knew. And I don't understand why Christians today don't know this. But Paul knew God was on the throne. I mean, is God not on the throne or what? Is God still on the throne? Was it only here? Has God left the throne? Is God on a sabbatical? God's on the throne. I mean, His will be done. I mean, the other side, other side of the spectrum is, you know, so you've got Paul. Huge shield of faith. God's will be done. They're going to kill you. God's will be done. They're going to put you in prison. He's like, maybe they're going to kill me too. God's will be done. They did kill him. They did kill him. The other side of that spectrum is that anything to stay alive theory. Anything to live one more day. Anything for me to figure out a way to get one more minute out of my life. Look, I am glad that the folks spreading the Gospel for the last 2,000 years have not had this theory. I am glad that the folks who've been taking the Gospel of Jesus Christ throughout Europe, throughout Catholic, you know, dark ages, throughout all these different, you know, points in history to the point of death, horrible death, that they did not have this anything to stay alive theory. I'm glad that they had a huge massive shield of faith. Otherwise, you know what? Maybe I wouldn't be holding this right now. Think of the danger. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 11. Go back there. 2 Corinthians chapter 11. Just think of the danger and it wasn't only, you know, threat of danger. It was actually physical harm coming to these people. I mean, Paul went through many physical torments in his ministries, in his missionary journeys. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 11 in verse number 23. The Bible says, are they ministers of Christ? I speak as a fool. I am more. Boy, he's arrogant. He's arrogant. In labor is more abundant. In stripes above measure. In prisons more frequent. In deaths off. You know, it's one of these things to be a good leader. You should never lead folks into situations that you would never be able to do. You would never be willing to do yourself. It doesn't work. It's bad leadership. If you're trying to lead people down a path and, you know, you just never would go and do those things. Look, if I've done all the worst jobs at this church. Look, I've done way worse jobs at this church than any of you will ever do. But that's how you lead. You do the worst and you show people that you're willing to do the worst and then people follow you. That's how it works. Look at Paul. Look at Paul. People are like, oh, you know, they're going to beat us up if we go to Jerusalem. They're going to beat us up if we preach the gospel. We preach the gospel. They might, they might throw us in prison. He's like, that's what he's saying here. He's saying, look, he's like in prisons, I've been in prisons more times than you'll ever be in prison. In deaths off, he's like, I've been, my life has been threatened more times than your life will ever be threatened. Of the Jews five times, and then he gets into detail. Of the Jews five times received by forty stripes, save one. Can you imagine that? Thirty-nine stripes across your back. Five times. There's a hundred and ninety-six stripes, a hundred and ninety-five stripes. Anyone have a calculator? Thrice was I beaten with rods. Once I was stoned, remember that one? They thought he was actually dead. I mean, when you get stoned to the point where they think you're dead, you've been hitting, you've been hit with a few rocks at that point. I mean, I saw, thrice three times I suffered shipwreck, a night and day I been in the deep, in dirtings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen. He's like, everybody has turned on me. My own people that I thought were with me turned on me. He's like, people have robbed me, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren, in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often. That reminds me of stories you know, you hear about soldiers who have been to war, especially like the Vietnam War. They're just constantly, they were constantly in worry about being killed. That's what he's talking about, in watchings often. You never knew who was going to come and try to get you. That's why that war was so hard on people, because there were so many days and weeks that the average soldier in Vietnam was constantly under threat of attack by everybody. But that's what Paul's saying, in watchings often. He's like, I'm just like, he's sleeping with one eye open, in hunger and thirst, fastings often, in cold and nakedness. He's like, there's no comfort. There was no comfort. It was constantly, it was constant turmoil. Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches. That's how Paul could reach the end of his life and say, I have fought a good fight. Because nothing stopped him. Nothing stopped him. Look, not many people will attain that. Under that kind of threat, that kind of pressure, that kind of physical torture. Not many people will ever attain that, because people today will fold at the slightest thought of anyone maybe possibly chasing them. And they will fold before that even happens. Look, I mean the problem is we see way too many Christians on the stay alive forever end of the spectrum. They'll have no chance at fighting the good fight. Because, you know, they're fighting nothing. They're fighting nothing. I mean my theory is this. Here's my theory. I'd like to give God a reason to keep me around. You know what I'm saying? I mean God's looking down on me. He's looking down on you. And I'd like to have, you know, whatever dangers that we're in, this is just my thoughts. Take it or leave it. You know, whatever dangers we're in, if we just keep doing what we're supposed to do. Look, it's really easy, right? We don't have to make all these decisions. Should we or shouldn't we? What about now? You know? No, just do what you're supposed to do. And then when God looks down, because guess what? God is on the throne. Guess what? God is still in control. God can let me live another 40 years or another five minutes. It's totally up to him. It's totally up to him. If God kills me tomorrow, he obviously didn't want me running this ministry here. And you know what? If that happens and he didn't want that, God's on the throne. Who am I? Who am I? But you know what I'd like to do personally? I'd like to get out there. I'd like to take my shield, however big it is. I'd like to put that gospel on my feet. I'd like to take it as far as I can go with it in my life. And you know, maybe God looks down on me and maybe God looks down on you and he's like, you know, maybe I'll keep that guy around for another year. How's that for a theory? Instead of this, try to control everything yourself. You know, I used to be that type of person. I used to be this type of person. I had everything figured out. When I was 28 years old, I had everything figured out, folks. I had the business figured out. I had the jobs figured out. I had it all figured out. Look, I had nothing figured out. Our plans are nothing. We need to get on God's program and just have faith. You know, the faith is? The faith is that just get on God's program and just take those defensive measures and take that shield and put that gospel on your feet, get on God's program and just have that faith that God's on the throne. Does that take a lot of faith to think that God's on the throne as a saved person? We're talking about saved people. For a saved person to think, you know what, God is in control of my life. Man, is that a leap? What in the world? That's what you have to have. That's your shield. The spiritual victory is yours if you're saved. That's a free gift. It's a free gift and you know what? We're going to celebrate that today. We're going to celebrate that free gift that was accomplished by the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. We're going to celebrate that, but the victorious Christian life, there's one to shoot for. And let me just give you one more thought. You say I've never heard of this, this doctrine of the second victory. Well here's the thing. Here's another beauty of the design of the gospel and let me just leave you with this. The victory that you have in Christ. Whether or not that first victory that you have, folks, look, other people's first victory will depend on whether or not you get your second. Does that make sense? Whether or not people hear the gospel is up to you. It's up to us. It's been that ministry was laid in our charge to go out and tell people the truth so they can now have the helmet of salvation. This ministry was put on the saved people on this earth. Your first victory and you're carrying out your victorious Christian life or not. And this is a sad thing. Most people will not. Most people will not, which means many people will not get the first victory and they will not end up getting saved. Yes, it will matter for people's eternal destination. Whether or not you, whatever side of the spectrum you're on will depend on how many people get that first victory that we celebrate today on Easter. Remember what you were given, folks. Remember the resurrection today. Remember what you were given and strive to give back and be a prophet to others so others can get that first victory. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.