# Working from Victory

April 6, 2026

Let’s take the opportunity to welcome each other today. In that second verse, in all.

You’re glad you serve a risen Savior. Will you say amen right there?

Can you imagine praying to someone? Now, I’m not trying to pick on any other religions, but you know, about almost 20% of the world, they worship a fella. You can go to Mecca. It’s in Saudi Arabia. And his body is in a glass case. And that is one of their five top fangs to go there on a pilgrimage and see his body there.

Oh, let’s see here. Charles Taze Russell, he’s the one that started Jehovah Witness. And you can go a little bit outside Pittsburgh and find a grave site where his body lies. You can go to St. Petersburg Cathedral and you can find where a lot of Pope’s bodies are laid. You uh you can go to uh Buddha. Now, he was cremated, but they have a right tooth relic that you can see there on that uh Confucius buried in China. Go on and down the line. We’re the only religion that can make this claim. You can go to a place where we think our Savior was laid, but friend, it’s the empty tomb. He’s risen. Amen.

Amen. Amen. That is the difference, friend. There’s no other religion that can claim that. And it’s our trademark. We serve a risen Savior. And today is a little bit like the Super Bowl for Christianity. It’s the day we celebrate our trademark. We serve a risen Savior. And I love it. I love it. Didn’t the men in the choir hit that out of the park? Man, they did a good job.

One of our men said, “I might run the aisle if they keep doing that.” I said, “All right, I’ll follow you.” Amen, we’ll run the aisle together now, you know? And that’s a blessing. I appreciate they did a great job on that. And we’re thrilled to see every single person here. Good to see a lot of folk who haven’t seen it a while. I wish I had time to come by and just talk to everyone. And I mean that. A lot of that just has been a while. And then some, it’s your first time here. And we’re honored to have those first guests, first-time guests this morning also. Just honored to have all of you. We have little visitor packets we’d like to give to you. It’s just a connection package, and we’ve got some information about the church in that. We typically don’t do this, but since we have, I think, a good number of those of ushers, if you have some of those visitor packets back there ready to go, if you’re a guest.

Good, good, good. Let’s get some of those. They’re going to go out in the Welcome Center, get some of those. We want to just kind of give you one of those. We’re honored to have you. Let me make a couple announcements while they’re getting it. And this announcement here, you can listen maybe with one ear, but not both ears, because it affects me a little bit next Sunday, but the next—well, maybe next Sunday, we’ll see—but Friday and Saturday is our church. We have an annual yard sale. And now the funds go to raise or send teens and juniors to camp this summer. All right, that’s what the funds go to. If we have left over, we’ll put it in the building fund, if we have left over. Both of those, it costs a little bit to send kids to camp, whatnot. We like to help with that. But it’s Thursday, it’s Friday and Saturday this week. Now, if they run, if they raise—I’m going to be the one running, Amy, you know—if they raise $4,000. Okay, if they raise $2,300, then I have to wear a pink shirt the next Sunday. Oh, no, that’s not good. That’s not good at all.

Troy Cooper looks good in one. He’s wearing what I don’t look good in one. That’s not me right there. I tell you what I—so you don’t have to bring anything. You don’t have to bring anything that, especially if it’ll make money off of it, don’t bring it in. You know, just you can say that at home. And so don’t bring those in. But if you can help us at the yard sale, there’s a sign-up sheet on the back table. A list of things, you know, helpers we need, soldiers we need. See Ms. Brenda. Ms. Brenda, raise your hand. She’s the lady. She has had a passion, a burden for that ministry for years and years. Now, I don’t know how many years it’s been, but if you can help of that, that would be great.

And it is our school, our Christian school, spring break, so we’re leaving town. Brother Marlin says, “I know why you’re leaving town because we have to set that tent up on Thursday night.” And any men that can help us on that, Brother Marl will be heading that up Thursday afternoon around 3:30 or 4. We need every able-bodied—okay, even if you’re not able-bodied, just come on out and help us put that tent up Thursday, about 3:30 or 4, and that will be great. Any, if it is your first time or first time in a while, we would like to give you one of these little welcome packets. And just gives a little information about our church. If it is, you don’t have to say a word, but if you just let your hand up, if it’s your first time or first time in a while, just slip your hand up. And we want to get you some of those. I know we’ve got a couple around here. A lot of folks just back, but good deal. We want to get those to you. And good, good, good, good. Somebody, they’re not willing to raise your hand, but other people pointing at them. How about that, you know? And family, we just got a lot of folk back today also in some first-timers. Good. We’ve got some more. Good, good, good. We’re honored to have you with us today. And if you fill that connection card out, drop it off at the Welcome Center. We’ve got some gifts for you also. And we want you to get those things for sure.

Our church, we are, most of you know, we’ve got the property over there about a mile from here. We’re about to start building on that. I’ll make an announcement here in just a minute on that. But we would love to sell this property here before we actually start the build because we like to take the proceeds from this and put it on that building before we have to draw from the loan. So we’re praying about that every night, 7 o’clock, wherever you’re at. We’re going to be out of town this week, but wherever we’re at, we’ll join you at the throne room 7 p.m. And we’re praying, “What would you sell this property so we can use the proceeds on the build before we have to draw from the loan?” And so pray about that if you would. 7 o’clock. I love it just to think about everywhere our people are, 7 o’clock. We’re meeting at the throne of grace, praying over that right there. And such a great, great thing. And so I want you to be involved in that. Us if you come for offering, that would be great.

Here’s an exciting announcement. I want everyone to be here because this is going to be the true—now we’ve had, we’ve had pre-groundbreaking when Brother Frank put the first shovel in the ground. Then we had the groundbreaking ceremony, but we’ve been delayed starting. We’re actually going to have the post-groundbreaking, the true when we’re starting on the building. Y’all ready for the date of that when we’re actually going to start on the bit? The metals out there, but I’m talking about where they start, you know, turning that dirt and getting everything going. It is coming up. I want you to be here for it because after service, we’re going to go over there and we’re going to have some heavy equipment. We’ll run over a car or two. No, we won’t do that, but we’re going to move some. It’ll just be a special time. It’ll be the truly start of it all on May 3rd. So it is right around the corner, May 3rd. I want you to mark that down on your calendars. And I’ve talked to our builder several times. I e-bound and began on Friday. And look, I’m about to make this announcement: Are we really going to start? And he said, “We’ll be there, ready to go.” And so May 3rd, and that’s going to be just a great Sunday. And a day you remember, man, I was there when we actually started on that. And so I want you to be here. We’ll have service here. And then after that, we’ll head over there. And we’re going to let Steve go forth. He’ll have the bulldozer. He’ll be going over everything. He’s driving. He’s driving. And so we’ll have a good time. May 3rd, right around the corner for that. I hope you’re here for that. That would be just a great, great special day.

And then tonight, I want you come back tonight. Tonight we… We’re going to do song requests for one thing. That’s always special during the song service. I like that. If it’s an hymn book, and you just think about what song you like to sing, and we’ll let you sing a solo on it. No, we’ll sing it as a congregation. And then I just wanted to have some Easter Sunday night. I wanted to have something. Remember back in the day they had R.C. Cola and Moon Pies? We’ve got R.C. Cola and Moon Pies for you tonight after service. So just something a little faux in there. And looking forward to being back in God’s house tonight, 6 o’clock. Looking forward to that. That would be great. Praise Lord for just great people all over the place. I thought about the choir and Brother Adam and the men and piano players. There’s the unsung heroes off of the nursery workers. Praise Lord for them. But just everybody takes a lot of people to make it happen. Praise the Lord for good, godly people. That’s a part of the team. I’m thinking for a great, great team. And Brother David McCord is our newest deacon, just got voted in a couple weeks ago. And next Sunday will be the passing of the torch from Brother Chip to Brother Dave McCord. But praise Lord for good, godly people coming on board. And a lot of different ways, praise Lord for. Brother David McCord, would you lead some word of prayer for offering, please, brother?

Turn your Bibles, if you would, to Revelation chapter number one. Revelation chapter number one. And it’s exciting to see chairs being put out in the auditorium. And it’s been a minute before we’ve had that, and it’s a blessing to see again. And good to see everyone here today. Revelation chapter number one. And we’re going to read just two verses.

And how many have a good Easter meal waiting for you after church? How many got that? How many got ham after church? Have we got ham? We got the traditional folk right there. Who’s going out to eat after after? Come on now. If we join you there at that restaurant, will you put the bill? We’ll join you there for sure. We got a couple. We’ve got some putting their hand down, some putting the hand out. That’s all right. Brother Ross got his hand up, so I’m going to join them. Good deal. So since there is food waiting, let’s bow our heads, we’ll be dismissed. Amen. We’ll pray. You know me better than that, amen. Come on now. You say, yeah, you’ll do that after three hours of that, you know, so we’ll try to get going on it.

Revelation chapter number one. And I would love it if God would speak to your hearts. I see a good crowd, and that’s exciting. You know, it’s all of a vain unless the Lord comes and speaks to hearts. And I can’t do that. God does that. He uses people, but he does it. And so I hope you got a little hunger in your heart. And I hope in your heart, you’re saying, “Lord, would you speak to my heart?” And ask the Lord to do that. And there’s a promise in the Bible that says, if you’re hungry, he’ll fill you. And let him know you’re hungry. “Lord, I need—I made the time to get in church. And so, Lord, would you speak to my heart while I’m in church today?” And you ask him that, he’ll do that. Revelation chapter number one. And if you’re there, would you say amen? Good, you’re there. You’re there. Look at verse number 17, if you would please. And if you’re able, would you please stand as we’ll read God’s word together? We do that just to show up respect. They did that in the book of Nehemiah. We like to do that here at the beginning. Revelation chapter number one, verse number 17, the Bible says, “And when I saw him”—this is Jesus, John, the revelator, we typically call him Apostle John—“when he saw Jesus, when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead.”

Anybody out there, I know you all got good imaginations. Mine sometimes too good. But you ever try to imagine what you’re going to do when you see Jesus? You ever try to think what’s going to feel like? If you’re a born-again Christian, we’ll see him. And it’ll be a grand reunion day when we see him. And I try to think sometimes, what will I do? I mean, I think it’ll be the first time all my life I’ll be able to just totally, totally relax and feel loved. I think we’ll feel his love irradiating through us. And you think, what would I do? Well, we don’t know. We’re not there yet. But John the Revelator saw him. And when John saw him, he fell down on his feet. And I think that’s what I’ll do. I think this is what I’ll do. But I love what Jesus did. This is amazing. And if Jesus would do this, especially for those, you know, they say the five—how many you know about the five love languages? You’ve heard about the five love languages. Come on now. You’ve got a hand, raise it. All right, it’s not in the sling. Good. All right, most of you know about the five love. If your love language is touch, this will mean even more to you. Watch what he does. Verse number 17, “When I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead.” And he laid his right hand upon me.

Can you imagine Jesus putting his hand on you? And I’m talking too much. We ain’t got to preaching, man. We’re going to get out of here at 3 o’clock, but I don’t get going, you know. But we went to what they call a judgment house around Halloween. And a couple of them in the church. And we’re going to do it in one of these years. And you go there and you sign up forward. And then you, it’s just, it’s like a play. Different scenes scattered around a church and you follow this young person and one of them died an accident and a couple of them would say one of them was lost and then the next room is a funeral service and then and then one of those rooms is the safe person and it’s kind of like a scene of heaven. And this one I’ve been to one before, but this one they had a man that was—of course, we knew he wasn’t Jesus—but he was dressed supposed to be Jesus. And he came up to every one of us and put his hand on us. And looked us in the eye and said, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.” I tell you what, that spoke to me, man. Wow. I’ll make you a thank right there. And that’s what happens right here. He fell down at Jesus’ feet, and Jesus put his hand on him. Man, can you imagine if you’re saved now? You’re a born-again Christian. Can you imagine Jesus putting his hand on you? Wow. That’s going to be an awesome time. And the lady’s right hand upon me saying unto me, “Fear not. I am the first and the last.” Watch this first and break team. “I am he that liveth and was dead. And behold, I am alive forevermore.” You’re right. The next word is amen, right? Amen. Amen. “And have the keys of hell and of death.”

These men just saying a little bit about that, the death. You know, Brother Adam, boy, Brother Adam, my goodness. He’s the death angel. I thought, there’s, you got to keep an eye on Brother Adam. But then Brother Kevin, Brother Kevin, we have the devil on the platform today. He’s out counting right now. Miss Teresa’s been telling us a little bit about that here lately. Anyway, you know, that’s his wife, if you don’t know. And, of course, they did a great job with the song. But that’s a little bit what he’s speaking. Keys. Bible has to do with power or authority. And Jesus, when he died and rose again, he gained the keys or the power over death and over hell. Now, notice both death and hell. Now, when they lost someone that has not—said, “Hey, I’ll never be good enough to save myself. Jesus, I need you as my Savior.” They’ve never made that decision to put their faith in Jesus alone to save them. They’re lost biblically by the Bible. Those folk, when they die—now, hopefully they get saved before they die, but they don’t—when they die, their soul goes to hell. A very sad thing. Their body now, of course, their body is here in a casket and in a tomb. Now, now here’s the thing about it for a saved person. When they die, their soul—he’s won over hell. And those that have accepted Jesus as their victory, their soul goes to heaven. He’s got power over hell. And also their body. Now, their body’s here. I think the last funeral service we had here was Brother Gates about a month ago. And his body was there. And it was open casket till the beginning when we closed it. But you could see his body. And we took him over to Mapleview Cemetery and his body. We put it in the ground. And we had the graveside service. But you see, so his soul is in heaven now, but Jesus won over hell and over death, the body. So one day when Jesus comes back, we call it the rapture. All right. It’s described in good detail over in 1st, 1st, 11th, 13 through 17. You look it up sometimes later. But when Jesus comes back, that body will be resurrected and changed.

We used to have in a nursery. My mom was a nurse director and see one of this. It’s a verse over in Corinthians. It says, “We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.” And that’s true in the nursery. They all didn’t sleep, but they all got changed, you know. It’s a Bible verse. But he’s talking about some people will be living when Jesus comes back. It may be us. Okay. We’re not all going to sleep, we’re all going to be changed, but he’s saying our body will be, boom, changed in the twinkling of an eye. First Corinthians 15 talks a lot about, GE, and we’ve got to pray and let you be seated because you’re like, you know, I’m about to fall out, pastor, you don’t let me sit down here, you know. But GE did a study years ago, it’s not a blink of an eye. Sometimes a blink of, you know, the Bible says a twinkle of an eye. Twinkling of an eye. And they said, they did a study, how quick is a twinkle of an eye? That’s what happened when you and your wife way, way, way, way, way back when you were dating. Come on now. 400 years ago, right? And you had that twinkle in your eye, you know. But they say that was 30,000ths of a second. How quick a twinkling an eye happens. That’s why it did that happen or not? Yeah, it happened. And that’s how quick it will be changed. We’ll have a brand new body. Hey, I’ll have five fingers on each hand one day. I won’t have to pick my nose with my peek anymore. At least I got some of you listening all of a sudden here now, you know. Brand new body. We will be like Jesus when we see him. We should be like him, the Bible says, right? Because he won. He has the keys, the power over death and hell. That’s just talking about there.

And so just for a bit, I want to talk about this thing: If you’re a born-again Christian, you made that decision, and it is a decision. God will never force it on anyone. He’ll never make you get saved. It’s your choice. And once you make that decision to accept Jesus as your way to heaven, your Savior, once you’re saved, he won the victory. We don’t work for victory. We work from victory. Just for a bit, we want to talk about that. We won’t be long this morning. I feel a wave of doubt coming over, but we’ll be out of here fairly quick. Let’s pray and get going. Lord, thank you for these people. Lord, please do. Would you speak to the hearts? I cannot get the job done, Lord. I pray that you would get the job done. Use me, Lord. But would you speak to every single person here today, all of us, Lord? We’re hungry for your voice in our hearts. And we’ll thank you, Lord, for what you do. It’s in the name of Jesus we ask. Amen. Thank you so much for standing. You may be seated.

From eighth grade to my senior year, I went to Temple Christian School, Lakeland, Florida. It had, I don’t know, several hundred students in it. And for a Christian school, it was pretty good size. For a public school, it did tiny. And about my eighth grade year, I started playing basketball. It was just, I don’t know how many hundreds in there. But so, you know, we just had two—two men or boys basketball teams, junior varsity and varsity. The first year I made junior varsity. I think it wasn’t until my second year, I think it’s my second year, I played junior varsity, but I also made varsity team. And so you could actually play both games now, limited in the minutes. You couldn’t play more than, you know, such that’s about a minutes. But that year, I think the coach had in his mind, he wanted to put me on varsity and give me a little experience in there. But I set the bench. I was one of the best bench warmers that year he ever saw. And I was good at that, man. I tell you what. Now, here’s what happened, that first year on varsity. If we were killing a team—I’m talking about it’s, you know, fourth quarter, we did quarters. It was fourth quarter, you know, five, seven minutes left. We’re beating them by 40 points, you know. And they’ve already won the ballgame. You understand that? You know, we’ve won the ballgame. It’s over. Everybody knows the ballgame is over. Every once in a while, the coach would look down there. You know how it is when you’re sitting on the bench. I know you all are plays. You never sat on the bench, but I settled on the bench sometimes. Thank you for somebody being honest with me there. I appreciate that, you know. And coach looks down, and you’re always kind of leaning forward a little bit so he can see, you know. And it’s mixed emotions. You’re like, man, I get to play, but you’re like, oh, no, I’m nervous too, you know. And, but the honest, simple truth is when we were killing them, the game was over, basically, he would look down at here and say, “Hey, Paul.” Amen. When he calls you, you know, you run down there to coach, you know, what position, all this stuff. And he’d say, “You’re in.” Well, here’s honest truth: I would get out there. I was nervous as the day as long. I mean, it felt like a long-tailed cat in a room for a rocking chair as I was so nervous, you know. And I had five fingers at that time on each hand, so, okay, don’t go there. I was all right then, you know. And he would—now, here’s honest truth, that freshman year, I was ninth grade, I think. These boys are junior, seniors, much better than I. And I, they basically, they basically would wipe the floor with me. You understand what I’m saying? But it didn’t matter. We won the game. And if they wanted to act like they had any attitude, I could say, “Dude, we’re killing you. I mean, I don’t care that you block my shot or I miss that shot or whatever. Look, look, you’re not so high and mighty. We’re killing you. Look at the scoreboard right there.” And once you’re saying, you’re going to have some defeats as a Christian, but friend, you, if you’re a born-again Christian, you are on the winning side. Look at the scoreboard. Jesus Christ won on that Easter morning when he was risen. Amen. And I want to just kind of give you a little bit of faith: Hey, don’t don’t be discouraged. Don’t be defeated. The devil’s going to come along and nitpick you, but if you’re saying, you’re on the winning side. The scoreboard says Jesus won, Satan lost, and all those that joined Jesus’ team are going to spend eternity at home with Jesus in heaven one day.

Praise the Lord. I think about old Curtis Hudson. He’s just a great man of God years ago. And he started off of prostate cancer, it turned to bone cancer. It eventually took his life. And he came to a chapel, a Bible college chapel. And I never forget him with that cancer. And he’s a Southerner. And the Bible college is in northwest Indiana. I wouldn’t say too much because my wife is—she said, “Don’t tell them where I’m from, Paul.” They won’t like me anymore. I’ll say it this way: She’s from South Jersey. How about that day? That is true, South Jersey. But he was up there, and he had that southern twang a little bit, and I never forget him singing, “I’m on the winning side.” And remember him telling the piano player, “Hey, slow down a little bit. I want to do it southern style a little bit.” And he just sang, “I’m on the winning side.” You said, “Well, how can it be on the winning side when he had cancer or die?” Because, friend, he’s been at home in heaven for years and years. And if you’ve accepted Jesus as your Savior, you are truly on the winning side.

Look over, if you will, in Romans chapter number eight, please. Romans chapter number eight. And I want you to see this. We won’t turn pages a whole lot today, but I want you to see this. Sometimes it’s good to see it in black and white ink. Okay, black ink, black and white, though. He’ll get that in a second here. Romans chapter 8, look in verse number 35. Romans 8, he’s speaking here to someone that is a born-again Christian. They have been saved. They’re a child of God. Look what he says. Romans 8, verse number 35: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?” By the way, he’s writing this to a lot of Christians that were being persecuted; some of them were being martyred. So imagine that as you’re reading this. Verse number 36: “As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long. We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” Nay, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord."

Now, I want you to think about this. I want to just, just for a minute—this thought has been real to me the last year, especially maybe if you’re battling something you’re trying to overcome. But I want you to think about if you’re born again Christian now, your lowest point. Maybe when that besetting sin that you said, “I’ll never do it again,” and you’re back to contemplating it or you’re doing it again. At your lowest point, at your worst, your bad hair day, when you’ve had an attitude, nobody wants to be around you because you’re just not compliant, and nobody wants to be weak. And those moments that God still loves you at your worst moment. Now, I want you to think about that when you truly are at your worst moment, whenever that is, on your worst day, on your disappointing time, when you fell, when you went back to that sin, I’m not advocating sin, but when you went back to that sin and you’re a shameful ambassador of Christ at that moment, if you’re saved, you’re still loved at that very moment, friend. Nothing can separate you from the love of God. When the pastor’s mad at you, when your spouse is mad at you, when you’ve disappointed your kids, or you’ve disappointed your parents or your teachers, if you’re a born-again Christian, at that very moment, God is still loving you. Nothing can separate you from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus.

By the many people, the answer to them overcoming that sin is to realize, because many times that addiction is an absence of love. And when you realize God loves you is the thing that will help you overcome that sin, you’re still loved. Because we’re not working for victory. We’re working from victory.

So what does that mean in your life? It means you’re going to be loved. By the way, if you could lose that love, it’s not that money of love, is it? We sing that song. It’s in our hymn book. “I was sinking deep in sin, far from the peaceful shore. Very deeply stained within, seeking to rise no more. But the Master of the sea heard my despairing cry, from the waters lifted me. Now safe am I?” Now we get her ankle raises, our calf exercises. “Love lifted me. Love lifted me.” I got to look at it. I forget the next word. “When nothing else could help.” Yeah, you’re my love lifted me. That’s the truth of creed. That’s why he wrote about that. Because when you’re seeking, that’s when he loves you. Now, let me say this. Number one, just trying to get some things. We’re working from victory, not for victory. That means you’re going to be loved. If you’re a born-again Christian, you’re a love no matter what.

Number two, let me say this. It means that once you’re saved, you’ll always be saved. Now, there’s a lot of angles we could hit that from. There’s a lot of verses we could go to on that. Let me just read for you one, John 6:37: “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.” He said in another place, he said, “I give unto them eternal life.” That’s eternal, eternal life. “And they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” My Father was gave me them is greater than all. No man can pluck them out of my Father’s head. We could go to this angle. Jesus said twice, John 3, “You must be born again.” When you’re saved, you’re born of the family of God. Look, it doesn’t matter what a child does. They can’t be unborn. We have a son and a daughter. Praise the Lord, good kids. And I’m very thankful for that. So, Lord, in His grace, it turned out to be good kids. But if they turned out to be bank robbers, as long as she was a successful bank robber, my daughter, and came part of the proceeds to the building fund—but even if she was, whatever—those children, my son and my daughter, would still be my son and my daughter, no matter what they do. And if you’re truly born into the family of God, friend, you cannot be unborn. Friend, you didn’t save yourself, and you can’t keep yourself saved. If you have to reach a, maintain a certain level to be saved, that it’s no longer grace. The Bible says, “For by grace are ye saved through faith.” So if I got to maintain a certain level to deserve it, it’s no longer unmerited favor, undeserved goodness, grace of God. My friend, you didn’t earn your salvation. He gave it to you. And Peter says he keeps you by his power, not by your power. He doesn’t love you because you’re lovely. He loves you because he’s loving. You’re still saved because Jesus won the victory for us.

I’ve preached that for years and years. You’ve been around here, you’ve known that. Years ago, we had a good man, a good man. He became just a great man in our church. We had a man in a church. I wouldn’t say his name, but he was been going for several years to a church that had taught him, “You can lose your salvation.” So he heard me preach that, and he came to me after me. He wasn’t being mean or disrespect or whatnot. He came to me, and he said, “Hey, Pastor, I worry that’s going to make people want to go sin.” They know they’re still still. And I said, “Well, let me ask you: When I preached that message and you heard me really emphasize, ‘You can’t lose your salvation,’ did that make you want to go sin?” He said, “Well, no, actually, I didn’t.” I said, “Let me tell you what it showed you. It showed you how much God loved you.” And the Bible, God’s word that’s always right, says, “We love him because he first loved us.” And when you understand how much he truly does love you, then you begin to love him back more. And Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commandments.” You don’t get sold out, dedicated, willing to lay down their lives for the Lord Jesus Christ Christians by this lose it one day and save the next day. No, you get it when someone realizes he loves you so much. You don’t deserve it. You don’t deserve to stay saved. And then you realize, man, he loves me. And then you love him back. And he’s willing to stick his neck out for you, and you’re willing to stick your neck out for him, friend. That’s how you get strong, dedicated Christians: when they comprehend the love of God. By the way, that verse or that, excuse me, that song we just mentioned, “Love Lifted Me”—love lifted. You know what the second verse says? “All my heart to him I give, ever to him I’m playing in his presence. They live his presence, sing his praises sing. Love so mighty and so true merits my soul’s best songs. Faithful, loving service to him belong.”

Let me give you illustration. When I was a boy, we would go stand my Granny, Granny Lee’s house. The good thing about Granny Lee’s house is it was maybe a little bit from our house for the most part. We moved a little bit. But when I go over there to Granny Lee’s house, she always had a big old glass of ice sweet tea. Somebody say amen right there. When you’re young, you can drink all you want. Amen. You get old, there’s this thing called heartburn. Somebody say amen right there. Yeah. I was young, man. But I would go, we go stay at Granny’s house, and she had a little bit of a farm. She would have pigs a lot of times. And she would usually have a steer, a cow, or two, whatnot. I learned to milk a cow over there, her neighbor lady told me how to milk that cow, you know. And uh, but at Granny Lee’s house, and she’d have a garden. Back in the day, how many remember back in the day there wasn’t trash service everywhere? You would you would you would dig a burn pit and it’s kind of like six feet by six feet and it’s about six feet down. Anybody know I’m talking about? And you put your trash back there. I know nowadays the EPA would get you. Don’t tell them. We would delete that part on the video, you know. But we go to Granny’s house, and Granny would say something like this. She said, usually me and my brother often would go together. She’d say, “Now, last time you boys were here, y’all did a lot of work for me. Y’all don’t need to do all that work.” But she’d have that sweet tea. And then, it was in Florida, she lived about a mile from the shrimp plant. Now you talk about fresh shrimp. I mean, they just got it in, just processed it. I don’t think I’ve ever found shrimp that taste as good as there. And she would have a, you know, with a coming boxes from the shrimp plant, and she would cook up some good fried shrimp. Somebody say Hallelujah right there. Come on now, I’m getting on some of these levels now, you know. Yeah, I know we talk about food. I’m on board, amen, you know. And she would fix us a big old meal. And my uncle lived there. We would stay up about half the night, you know, doing whatever and having fun. And Granny would go to bed. Now, here’s the only problem: Granny’s room is the only one had air condition, and it was in Florida. That wasn’t good for you. It’s the truth. So the only window unit was in her room there, you know. But besides that, she would just—she would just take good care of us. And but she would always do something like this before she went to bed. She would say, “Well, you know, my garden, it sure doesn’t eat hoeing. Get a lot of weeds in that garden.” Or she may say, “Well, my burn pit, you know, I have probably about time to cover that one up, get a new one,” you know. She just kind of slide it in there. Now, here’s the thing: We’d always leave pretty much with blisters on her hands. She never said the guy to do it. She just kind of mentioned it there. And she’d love on us. And us boys would work from sun up to sundown for Granny. And that’s why Jesus is—Jesus says, “Hey, I’ve won the victory. I’m gonna let you share in my victory. You don’t work for victory. You work from victory.” And that shows his love to be, man, I want to serve him. You said, “Well, there’s some hardships in the Christian life.” Yes, there is, friend, there is. And I’m glad to go through the hardships for my Savior that gave me a home in heaven one day. I’m glad to do whatever. You say, “Well, Christians are a little odd. You know, you’re always talking about your saving. You’re a little bit, do you stand out here?” I’m glad to stand out for the Lord Jesus Christ any day of the week for it. Because he’s proven to me, he loves me. Man, I love him. I’d have, man, let’s all go home and quit and get some food, but if it wasn’t for Jesus, death, burial, and resurrection. But friend, he died, he rose again, and he’s my Savior. I’m glad to give him everything I have because I work not for victory, from victory.

Now, third point, we’re going to just—we’re just going to mention it. Because we’re working from victory, not for victory, I can pray. Here’s the honest truth. Now listen to me, we’re almost done. If you’re a born-again Christian, you can pray anytime, anywhere, any place. Now, if your mind is like my mind, my mind goes over to Psalm 66:18: “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.” Anybody know that verse? But here’s the thing: The Bible also says if we confess our sins, “He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Anytime, anywhere you’re at, he says, “Come boldly to the throne of grace.” Not because you’re all that, because Jesus is a great high priest. He’s all that. You get over there. By the way, you meeting with him in prayer, that’s part of cleaning your life up. What does James 4 say? He says, “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your heart.” Your heart, your heart, your life right for the Lord is by drawing nigh to him through prayer. Don’t listen to the devil when he said, “Why you can’t pray?” Lean on him because of Jesus. You can pray for it. He’ll do anything he can to keep you from prayer. He don’t want you to tag up with the Lord. Well, he said, “Well, I’m going to beat the devil.” The devil lasts. You get on your knees and pray and go, the devil trembles. Yeah. You can pray anytime, anywhere. I’m talking about born-again Christians. Willing to be honest about your life. Well, you can draw an eye to him.

They say, this is a funny little thing, but I’m going to be done, but they say, well, we’re two—they, uh, that, uh, boyfriend, girlfriend, the guy went off to war, and he would write letters whenever he could, but sometimes he couldn’t, you know. But every day, every day she’d go out there and she’d check the mail, and she knew when the mailman came, she’d be out there waiting every day for that. And, uh, and she would say hi to the mailman, they’d talk. And, uh, she was always, and he’s—well, they got a letter today, and sometimes there was no letter today, and they’d just talk. And they just did that often. The honest, simple truth is kind of funny, but they say, she fell in love with the mailman and married him. Poor guy back in war, too, right? But you meet with the Lord often in prayer. Before long, you’ll fall in love with him. Hey, we don’t work for victory. If you’ve got to work for victory, I’m not trying to be mean, but you’re a sorry excuse for victory. Don’t tell anybody I said that. We work from victory. Jesus won it on the cross. He said, “I got the keys of death and hell.” And you got Jesus, you got everlasting life. It means you’ll always be loved. It means you won’t lose your salvation. And it means what? You can go to him. You can go to him. He’s our great pipe. Come boldly to the throne of grace.

Would you bow your heads and close your eyes? Our heads are by the eyes are closed. You’re there this morning and you say, “Preacher, I need to thank him. I need to love him. He’s won the victory, and he lets me share in it. He did all the work. He won on the cross and then in that tomb three days, and he rose again. And he lets me share in that victory. He gives it to me, the gift of God, eternal life through Jesus. I just need to love him back more and thank him more and serve him more.” God spoke to my heart about that. I want to thank him and love him back more. God spoke to my heart about that. If that’s you this morning, you slip your head—and that preacher, that’s me, that’s me. I want to love him back. I want to spend some time to thank you. Today would be a great day to get away. Get away from everybody, everything. Just say, “Thank you, Lord. Thank you for your death, burial, and your resurrection.” Many, many, many hands. Thank you so much. You can put your hands down. You can put your hands down.

Maybe you’re here this morning. You said, “Preacher, you kept talking about being saved. I don’t know that I’m saved.” Let me just say a word: If you’re not sure of that, I would encourage you to have a time and a place. By that, I mean a time—you can look back in your mind—that’s when I put my faith in Jesus to save me. That’s when I called him to be saved. A place. For me, it was in the back seat of a car. I remember the place. I remember the time. I don’t remember the date, but I remember it clearly. Friend, if you’re there and you say, “I don’t have a time and a place in my mind,” right now it would be a great place to make this the place of the time. If you’re there, right there where you are, you say, “You know, preacher, I admit it, I’m a sinner. I understand there’s a penalty on my sin, death, and hell. But I believe Jesus died on the cross for me. And I believe three days later, he rose again. And I want to ask Jesus to pay for myself. I’m going to put all my faith in Jesus to save me, not myself.” It’s a decision you make. If you want to make that decision in your heart—by the way, nobody can make it for you. The Lord’s not going to make you get saved. It’s a decision you make. If you want to make that decision right there where you are, right in your heart, would you call on him? Something like this: Right there where you are, would you call on him? Would you say something along this line: “Dear Jesus, I admit it, I’m a sinner. I understand there’s a penalty. Jesus, I believe you died for me and rose again. Right now, Jesus, I’m asking you, would you pay for all my sins? Would you come into my heart? Would you be my Savior? Thank you, Jesus.”

Our heads about eyes are closed. You said, “Preacher, I never have, but I just called on Jesus to be my Savior. I just called on Him in my heart.” If you did that, would you simply raise your hand? I’m not going to embarrass you, call your name. I’d like to rejoice. Just call on Jesus. Good, I see that hand. There be anybody else? You say, “I just called on Jesus to be my Savior. I just asked him to be.” Anybody else? Anybody else? Just slip your hand up. Just let your hand up. God bless you. God bless you. I see one hand. Maybe you didn’t raise your hand in just a moment, the one that raised your hand, or if you didn’t raise your hand, but you asked in just a moment, we’re all going to stand. When I’ve word of prayer, I’m going to invite you to spend some time with the Lord. There’ll be a man standing up front and a man standing in the back. Would you go shake their hand? And they want to explain everything a little bit better to you. Give you some literature about it. If you’re a lady, they’ll get a lady to talk with you. We want to help you in your new journey as a born-again Christian.

Hey, Christians, let’s love on him. Let’s thank him. It’s not about us today. It’s about him. Let’s just say, “I want to give my life to you again.” Would you tell him that? Let’s all stand, if you would, please. We’re going to have a word of prayer. You spend some time at an old-fashioned altar. Have the Lord leads you. Stand there. Have the Lord lead you. You’ll be obedient. Father, thank you that we don’t work for victory. We work from victory. Thank you for that. Would you help us respond to your tugging on our hearts in Jesus? And we pray. Amen. Would you come? You’ll be obedient to the Lord as you call. You spend some time with him. Love on him. Thank you. You do that. Our heads about eyes are closed. You spend some time. Just thank him. He died for your sins. He rose again for you. Would you just love on him? “Thank you, Lord. Thank you. I’ve got the victory, not because of me, because you…” Tell him that. “Thank you.” It’d be a great time to give your life to him again. A fresh and noon. “Lord, I’m here for you. I’m willing to get some blisters on my hands for you. I love you, Lord.” Give him all to you. You just sail out to him again. “I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice.” Be a good day to do it. “Thank you, Lord. I love you, Lord. Thank you for paying my sins. Give me a home in heaven.”

Hey, aren’t you glad we work from victory, not for victory? Pray the Lord for that. We’re glad to have in the house Lord on the Lord’s day. Honored to have every single person there is. The Easter egg hunt happening right after service here. And if you’re just desperate, you can go back there, hopefully you can push over one of those kids and grab their eggs, you know. And don’t pick on the big one now. You get a little one now, you know. And we’ll have a good time. And they’re separated up in age groups and whatnot. Spend some time loving on the Lord. He’s worthy of that. And he’s won the victory. Let’s us share in it. And we’re thrilled to see every single person here today. I’m glad. If you got one of those visions, connection cards, stop by in the Welcome Center. We’ll give you some gifts and turn that in. We’ve got a little book for you. He wants you to have that, gift cards, whatnot. And that’d be a good, good thing. Good to see everybody here today. Praise Lord for it. And how about we got this? We’ve got the death angel and the devil. I don’t know which one should pray for us. How about that now? You know, Brother Kevin, the bag, Brother Adam, how about we’ll get you—we’ll get you to dismiss us. Would you please the word of prayer?

Original File: 2026-04-06 - Pastor Paul Chisgar - Working From Victory - Easter Sunday AM 04⧸05⧸2026