THF SUNDAY SERVICE

13TH MARCH, 2022

SERMON

TOPIC:                   THE COVENANT OF VICTORIOUS LIVING

TEXT:                     Joshua 6:1 – 5, 16 – 19

PREACHER:            Pastor Adeyemi Timothy

MESSAGE

We started a discussion on Wednesday on the topic: “The Covenant of Victorious Living” and we established on Wednesday through the Word of God that God is a covenant-keeping God and He works with His people on the basis of covenant. From Genesis to Revelation, God has been dealing with His people by covenant. We have different kinds of covenant in the Bible like we mentioned on Wednesday. We have the Edenic covenant, the Adamic covenant, Noahic covenant, Mosaic covenant, Palestinian covenant, the New covenant. Our focus is not to expound on all of these covenants, our interest is in the New Covenant, that is, the covenant that guarantees our daily victory.

We also looked at how Christ established this covenant of victory for us. The covenant of victory was perfected on the Cross of Calvary and Jesus did not stay only on the cross… you know when He said, “It is finished” that was the point at which your victory was guaranteed. Jesus also went down to Hades to take possession of those whom the devil had been terrorizing with the fear of death and because Jesus had died, the Bible said we all died with Him. So, when Jesus took hold of His possession – those who have been under captivity of the Devil – He took those captivity and reclaimed them from the hands of the devil.

Colossians 2:15 tells us that Jesus did something, He did a victory parade – “Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it”. He displayed them to the world saying, “I have conquered this one”. We also said on Wednesday that at that point, it now becomes an error for anyone who is born of God, who has experienced this victory parade of Jesus to now succumb himself or bow to these principalities and powers. Ephesians 1:21 says Jesus has been highly lifted up far above powers and principalities. Ephesians 2:6 then says that when Jesus was lifted up, it was not a solitary journey, He went up there not by himself alone but with everyone whom he claimed from the hands of the Devil – “and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” So, where Christ is seated far above principalities and powers, the Bible says that is where you are also sitting, “in heavenly places, in Christ Jesus”. So, if I may ask you, where is the Devil? Those who attended Biblestudy on Wednesdaywould know that the Devil is permanently under your feet. The Devil has no right to terrorise you again and you don’t have the right to permit the devil to terrorise you any longer.

How to Enforce your Covenant of Victorious Living

We said on Wednesday that many of the covenants in the scripture are conditional, that is, they have condition that “If you do this,” then “I will do this for you.” If you do this, if you take this step and this step, then I will do this for you. Daddy enlightened us that it was only the Abrahamic covenant that was unconditional – “I will bless you and make you great”, not with any conditions attached. So, we want to look at the roles or part that we need to play in enforcing this covenant of victorious living.

1.       There must be an Alignment of your Confession with the Word of God (Joshua 6:2, 16):We established on Wednesday that the victory God gave to the Children of Israel, He had given them even before the wall of Jericho came down, before they took any step. He told them, “See! I have given you the victory, all you need to do is go ahead and possess the land”. Do you remember that it was the same thing that God told this same children of Israel that He had given them a land flowing with milk and honey and then they got to Kadesh and said, “Excuse me, at this point we don’t think we can go on again”. You know why? Because there is no longer an alignment between their confession and the Word of God, that deprived them of actually entering into the inheritance that God has provided for them.

Let’s look at this account of Joshua in this place. In verse 16, Joshua said to the people, “Shout, for the Lord has given you victory.” Have they taken the city at this point? No. But you know what, because God has said it, He believed it and that guaranteed the victory that God has given to them. God has given you victory but for you to enjoy that victory, there must be an alignment between your confession… it is not enough to just know that God has given you victory, because God can give you victory and you don’t take it. It is possible that I am giving you something and you don’t take it. That does not reduce my ability and power to give you that thing, you are only limiting yourself by not receiving it.

Your confession is a way by which you enforce that which the Lord has said concerning you. Even if the situation is not looking like it, even though it seems as if you are not seeing the result yet, the Lord expects you to confess it – “Because this is what God has said, I am holding on to it. I am believing Him for it, in fact, I am seeing victory.” What do you see? Enough of you condemning yourself by your own confession: “Ilu le” (the country is hard), is the country hard for you? No. God has said concerning you, “I will make you great” and then you look at yourself and even when somebody gives you compliment, you say, “Can it be me?” Most of the time, it is because you do not actually know what God has said concerning you and that is why I want to challenge each and everyone of us to go ahead and look for those words that God has said concerning you, by that, your faith will be boosted to even confess it.

The reason why you think that sickness will kill you is because you have not known that God has guaranteed you healing through His blood. The reason you think you will never get a job is because you do not know that God is the One who gives power to make wealth. So, I challenge you, let there be an alignment between your confession and the Word of God, but before that can happen, you must know what God has said. Daddy taught us last week what Caleb said to Joshua, “Do you remember what Moses the man of God said concerning you and me?” In short, he is trying to say that, “Mr. Joshua, even if you forget, I have not forgotten it because I wholly followed the Lord and for 45 years, I have been holding on to the Word, even if I have not taken the possession for 45 years, yet I believe that He is able to give me the land.”

Let there be an alignment between your confession and the Word of God. God is only bound to perform His Word! He is not bound your word. He is not moved by your emotion, He is only moved by His Word. Psalms 103:20 – “Bless the Lord, you His angels,Who excel in strength, who do His Word…”Not who do “my word”, who do “His word”, “…heeding the voice of His Word”, that is, they recognize His voice, anywhere they hear His voice, they know it is time for them to act because it is the word of the Lord and their mandate is to perform that word that God has said.

The victory you cannot see, you cannot possess.A lot of time, people want to see result before they believe God. They want to see the result before they believe what God has said concerning them but may I tell you, it doesn’t work that way in this Kingdom. You must see before you possess.

2.       You must have a Victorious Mindset:For you to actually enjoy a life of daily victory, you must have a victorious mindset. You know this account in Numbers 13:27 – 33when Moses sent twelve spies to go and check out the land that God has given unto us. They went into the land, came back and brought the fruit of the land to confirm what God has said that it was a land flowing with milk and honey, a very fertile land, but they said, “Sir, those people (I am sure they were even exaggerating), just their finger alone is even taller than all of us, those people are not a kind of people we can actually defeat. Ah! It’s better we even go back to Egypt or probably stay here,” and God was there looking at them.

Do you know that the account in Joshua 6 happened before this one? The Bible said that Jericho was shut up, nobody could penetrate it, it was so tall and yet, God gave them victory over this one, but they forgot at this time because they have a Victim mentality and mindset.They did not see victory anymore at this point and that made them to suffer for many years. Even though God has guaranteed you victory, with the wrong mindset, you will suffer for long. If you will enjoy that covenant, you need a victorious mindset. You don’t see yourself as a victim. Maybe because of the challenges you are going through, maybe because of what is facing you, you cannot see beyond that and because of that you become a victim. You don’t enjoy a victorious life that way. The Lord had given them the land, all they needed to do was to enter the land and begin to enjoy it, but they said, “We are not able. In fact, in our own sight (mark that), we were just like grasshoppers.” The people that Rahab told, “When we heard the things that God has done for you, in fact, our king was peeing in his trousers. We were afraid!” Yet they said, we were just like grasshoppers and that was why they suffered for long.

Perhaps, the reason why you have not been enjoying victory is because of the mindset you have been living with. You cannot enjoy victory with a victim mentality. You have been made to sit in high places (Ephesians 2:6), so don’t bring yourself into bondage by your negative mindset. Don’t let the Devil cheat you, let him not deceive you into thinking that that sickness is too powerful for God to heal. Don’t let the devil deceive you to think that everyone is dying now, so you are the next; they are sacking everybody in my workplace, and so you are the next. You cannot enjoy victory with a victim mentality.

3.       Be Joyful in Hope (Josh. 6:4 – 5, 16): Joyful people are victorious people. Look at what happened here in this Bible passage. God asked the Israelites to shout (Joshua 6:5), that is not likely a shout of defeat, it’s a shout of joy, a shout of victory, a shout that we have taken the land even though the wall is still standing, even though the enemy is still behind the wall. The Lord said, “When you hear the trumpet,” that trumpet is only signifying your victory and that is why it has to be a victorious shout. In verse 16, it happened when Joshua asked them to shout. THFites, can you give a shout of joy to the Lord? Even though the wall is still standing before you, by the shout of joy that you give, the wall is coming down flat before you. It says, “Shout for the Lord will give you the land.” Has the Lord given you your own land? Go ahead and shout to the Lord.

You will only be able to draw from the well of victory with joy. “Therefore with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation” (Isaiah 12:3). That is a condition, it is with joy, it has to be with joy; that when it looks like every of your mate is getting married and nobody is coming yet, God says, “It is with joy that you will be able to draw your own testimony”. When it looks like everybody is getting a job, and you are there, it’s looking like every door is closed, the Bible says, “It is with joy that you will be able to draw”. When it looks like your business is going down and everything looks to be crashing before you, the Bible says, “With joy….”

This joy is not a joy that comes from experiencing the victory already. It is a joy that inspite of whatever I am going through, my joy cannot be killed. Even though Jericho is still standing there, even though the people of the land are strong and mighty, even though it seems I don’t have enough weapon to be able to face them, you know what, I am joyful, why? Because God has said it. He says, this battle is not my battle, so, why God is fighting the battle, what am I doing? I am there dancing. I want to challenge you, be joyful in hope, keep serving the Lord joyfully. Don’t let the devil keep reminding you of the things God has not done for you. Serve the Lord with gladness. For you to know how important this is to God, Deuteronomy 28:47 – 48 says, “Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and gladness of heart, for the abundance of everything, therefore you shall serve your enemies, whom the Lord will send against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in need of everything; and He will put a yoke of iron on your neck until He has destroyed you.”

When you do that your sanctuary cleaning, do it with joy, don’t say, “Since the day we have been doing it, no result has shown”; “Since the day I have been singing, nothing has showed”; “Since the day I have been going to Bible study, I have not seen any result.” God says, even if that seems to be the truth, serve the Lord with joy. “Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and gladness of heart for the abundance of everything…therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you in hunger and thirst, in nakedness, and in need of everything.” This would not happen to you in the mighty name of Jesus.

4.       You must Live a Consecrated Life (Joshua 6:18): This account really gives us an in-depth knowledge of how God wants us to enforce our victory. “And you, by all means, abstain from the accursed things, lest you become accursed…” (Josh. 6:18). If you must enjoy victory, if you must live and enjoy sustainable victory, that is, you don’t just want to enjoy victory today and suffer defeat tomorrow like it happened to the children of Israel in Joshua 7, after they have defeated the almighty Jericho, one grasshopper Ai, ordinary Ai, defeated them. This is the warning, “you must not take the accursed thing if you must enjoy sustainable victory”. If you must live a life of daily victory, then you must consecrate yourself, don’t take the accursed thing. In Chapter 7, Achan took the accursed thing and brought defeat upon the whole land.

You cannot live a life of Samson and expect to enjoy the crown of Joseph. You must live a consecrated life if you must enjoy victory all round. Everybody is living anyhow they want, you are not ‘everybody’, right? You are God’s baby and that is why you cannot afford to bring yourself to the level of everybody. So, if everybody is changing figures at work, no, you can’t do it because God is saying, “It is not by that that I will make you rich.Even if they don’t pay your salary for one year, I will still take care of you.”If they say that you have to give bribe before you get that contract, God is saying, “Even if you don’t get that contract, I will still make you great.” Don’t live like Samson expecting to be crowned like Joseph. You know, Samson, before his birth, God has given him victory over the Philistines, but because of careless living, the Devil was successful in cutting short his destiny. Your destiny will not be cut short in the name of Jesus. Amen.

If you must live a victorious life, you must also live a consecrated life: a life devoid of sin, a life devoid of filthiness, a life devoid of immorality, if you must enjoy daily victory. Don’t take the accursed thing, no, don’t take it. Until the children of Israel destroyed the accursed person with the accursed thing, victory did not come back totheir camp. If, for instance, you have lived like Achan up till this point, or there is a part of your life that is looking like the workings of Achan, you must destroy that Acahn for you to be able to enjoy victory.

5.       Give unto God what is due to Him (Joshua 6:19):Joshua told the children of Israel, this is an instruction they must follow if they must continue to live victoriously, “But all the silver and gold, and vessels of bronze and iron, are consecrated to the Lord; they shall come into the treasury of the Lord” (Josh. 6:19). God said, “Silver and gold are mine.” So, when He tells you to pay your tithe and you are looking at it as your money, you are only digging a path for yourself to live the opposite of a victorious life, because victorious life means all-round victory in your finances, health, business… in every area. For you to enjoy it, you must give to the Lord what belongs to Him.

For you to sustain victory in your finances and in all of your life, you must give to the Lord what is due to Him. “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse… and try me now in this…” (Mal. 3:10). The example I gave on Wednesdaywhen it comes to the covenant of God: Mummy said I should give Pastor Sam. 1 million naira, I then say to him, for me to give you 1 million naira, I will need you to give me 1 thousand naira. Try me and see. Do you know, unless he does that one, I am not bound to actually do my own part of it.

“Try me and see,” don’t call me a liar until you have tried me. Don’t say it is not true, until you have tried me. Try me and see says the Lord of Host, if I will not open for you the windows of heaven. When the windows of heaven are open, what happens? There will be abundance of rain upon your life and it is not just about money, you will enjoy. I am sure you have been feeling heat for a long time and then there was rain about two days ago, are you still feeling the same way? No. That is how it happens, there is softness in your life when the windows of heaven are open and it rains down upon you, but you must give to the Lord what belongs to him.

Let’s see how one wonderful man in the Bible provoked this covenant of blessings. Covenant giving provokes covenant blessings. 1 Kings 3:4 – “Now the king went to Giveon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place: Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar.” There are certain offerings that you give that God cannot ignore. There are certain sacrifices that you make or give that God cannot ignore. After what Solomon did here, the Lord himself came to visit him. This is what happens when you give the Lord what is due to Him, God actually comes down to your situation. The presence of the Lord guarantees daily victory and one of the ways to provoke that presence is by your covenant giving. Not only your tithe or firstfruits, but covenant giving. Nobody told Solomon to do this, he didn’t have to, but because he wanted to enter into a covenant with God, he sacrificed. Sacrifice is a way by which you provoke the covenant of victory.

Joshua 6:22 – 23: “But Joshua had said to the two men who had spied out the country, ”Go into the harlot’s house (he wanted us to know the kind of person he is talking about)…” Rahabwas not a part of the covenant, infact, she belonged to the camp of the enemy, but Rahab enjoyed this covenant of victory because she aligned herself with the will of God. She aligned herself with what God was doing at that time. She stepped out of the camp of the enemy and stepped into thecamp of the Lord and by extension… you remember we said on Wednesdaythat even though you were not born when Jesus died on the cross, but at the time when you gave your life to Christ, you were also baptized into his death and His resurrection. So, even though Rahab was not ordinarily supposed to enjoy the covenant of victory, because she stepped out of the camp of the enemy and stepped into the camp of the Lord, victory was guaranteed for her.

I want to invite you this morning, maybe you have been living like Rahab, maybe your life has not been pleasing to the Lord before now, maybe you have made yourself an enemy of the Lord, you have lived in the camp of the enemy (all sinners are regarded as the enemy of God). You have been living a terrible life. You have been living like Rahab the harlot. You have lived a life that you are not even proud of, God is saying to you this morning that if you will behave like Rahab, if you will align yourself with the will of God, He is able to deliver you from the impending destruction. He is able to deliver you and give you daily victory. So, if you are here this morning and you want to come into the camp of the Lord, you also want to enjoy that victory we are talking about but you have not at any point in time given your life to Christ. You have not been baptized into His death and resurrection. You are still a captive of the devil, but you want Jesus to deliver you this morning, I bring this open invitation to you. Confess Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour

For you to live a life of Victory, it’s only guaranteed by the blood of the Lamb.

Prayer

Confess it with your mouth and proclaim it. In the name of Jesus, I am victorious. Over sickness, I am victorious. Over sin, I am victorious. Over every power of the enemy, I am victorious. Confess it with your mouth. Let your confession align with the Word of God.

I pray for you that the last defeat you suffer is the last defeat you will ever suffer. In every area of your life where you have been suffering dejection, rejection and defeat, from this day on, by the power in the name of Jesus, you begin to live a daily victorious life in the name of Jesus. Amen. No longer will the enemy terrorise you. No longer will the enemy disgrace you. From this day on, your victory is guaranteed in the mighty name of Jesus.