One of the great truths is that when you are a Christian, you have victory. You have the victory already. Isn't that great to play a game and know that you're going to win? The good news is the Bible says that you're going to win, you're going to have the victory. Who will you have the victory over? You'll have the victory over sin and death.

I get this from 1 Corinthians 15:55-57 where it says this: "Where oh death is your victory? Where oh death is your sting? The implied answer to both questions is it's nowhere. Verse 56 says, "the sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law." The law helps us to know right and wrong and that's what helps us see sin. The wages of sin is death. So the law leads to sin, or at least leads to us seeing that it's sin, and sin leads to death. But we have victory over all of that. So the text goes on to say, "but thanks be to God, He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ".

You're a winner. I'm not talking about looking in the mirror and pumping yourself up. You're a winner because of Jesus Christ. You have one question? Do you want to be a winner or not? If you do, then follow Jesus Christ. Put your faith in Jesus Christ and trust Him alone. He will give you the victory. When I put my faith in Jesus Christ many yeas ago in October or November on a Sunday night, 1983, I felt the victory. I had some things going on in my life that I instantly changed. Yeah, there's some other things that took time and some other things that are still a battle right now, but I know this: from that day on, I knew I was right with God. I knew I had won. I had victory over sin and death in the law.

Do you? You can have victory if you commit your life to Jesus Christ. Many of you have, some of you have not, and there might be some of you who think you have, but you really have not. So how do you have the victory in Jesus Christ? You invite Him into your life by faith. You do that by saying "Jesus Christ, you are God. Jesus Christ, I am not and I'm a sinner. I believe when you died on the cross, you took my place and paid for my sins. You allowed me to be forgiven of everything so that I can be in right relationship with you for the first time ever and so that I can go to heaven. Because of all that, I have your victory."

Have you ever committed your life to Christ? You say, "Vince, I've always believed that." First of all, you didn't "always believe that." When you're three months old, you didn't believe anything. There has to be a point in time when you believe it. You might say "I believed it when I was a kid." Great. That's not enough, either. Have you received Jesus Christ? You have to believe it and receive it. Have Jesus Christ come into your life. He never goes where he is uninvited; he must be invited. Will you invite Him into your life? Say, "Jesus Christ, come into my life. I put my faith in you alone, not in my good work, not in my religion, not in my sacraments, not in any human effort, but in you alone. Come into my life. I receive you by faith." If you say it and mean it, you're a Christian. Life might be hard. In fact, it might get harder. Just because you become a Christian doesn't make your life automatically easier, but I will say this: with Jesus Christ at the center of your life, you have the victory. You have won.

I want to win. Do you? If you've committed your life to Jesus Christ by saying that prayer, let us know about it! You can send us an email or tap the Connect button in the Lakeshore App. We want to celebrate with you and support you in your new faith! Thanks for joining me today, have a great day.

Sometimes when I have a really crazy day at work, or a challenging day, or people problems, etc., I tell myself this, "if it wasn't for sin, I wouldn't have a job." I don't like thinking that, but sometimes the stuff I have to deal with in my own life and in working with other people just reminds me that sin is a reality in life. I would love to just preach a sermon and say, "if you sin, stop. Amen." That would be great! But here's the problem: it's hard to tell a person who has a sin nature and sometimes chooses to sin, even when they're Christians, to stop sinning. So what I want to do is tell you that sin is bad, and you shouldn't sin. But today, I want to focus a little differently. I want to focus on this idea that if you sin, have a short account with it. I don't encourage sin, but unfortunately, being who we are, it's inevitable. So, have a short account with sin, and I will unpack how to do that.

In James 1:13-15, James says, 'When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death." When James says that God does not tempt anyone, that means you can't say, "God made me do it," or, "God put me in a position where I had to sin." That's not what you can say. You can say the devil made you do it you, but you're still pawning off and making excuses. That's what Adam and Eve basically said. But then James goes on to say that each one is tempted by his own evil desire. And he's speaking to Christians, which means Christians still have evil desires. He says, "he is dragged away and enticed," so he's talking about sin dragging us away. Unfortunately, we've all been caught and dragged away by sin. But watch this. Here he talks about the danger of having a longer account with sin. If you engage a sin, and you continue in the sin, here's the process. He says that after the desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin. That means desire is a sin too. If you desire something wrong, that desire is a sin as much as sin itself. Because he says when desire is conceived, it gives birth to sin. The moment desire conceives that's a sin and sin when it is full-grown gives birth to death. What does this say? The longer you hang on to sin, the more destructive it is in your life. Let me be clear, I highly encourage you not to sin. Let me also be clear, we all sin.

So here's the rub. When you sin, cut it off quickly. Have a short account with sin. If you don't, sin will give birth to death. You might say, "will I die?" Listen, I don't know. I'll let God be the judge that. I know in 1 Corinthians 5:1-5 Paul said "hand that man over to Satan for the destruction of his flesh that his spirit might be saved in a day of the Lord." In other words, what's he saying there? He's saying, take this guy out physically. So it could happen. But I'm saying it could lead to other kinds of death, perhaps death of a relationship, of peace, of satisfaction, of contentment. Do you want that? Remember that when you sin, that it has long-term implications. So have a short account with sin, apologize where needed, stop looking at what you're looking at, if it's sinful, and stop doing what you're doing. Whatever it is, stop it, before it leads to further damage, destruction, and death.

Father, we all sin, forgive us of that. And also give us the power to have a short account with sin. To repent of it, to turn from it, to stop it, so that it doesn't lead to further damage in our life. Help us have the power to do this, and we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Shorter accounts with sin. That's the goal of life. Thanks and have a great day.

We live in a day in which people do not have firm values and convictions. We have people that just want what they want. It doesn't matter their beliefs, it doesn't matter their convictions, they just want what they want. They will say whatever they need to say, believe whatever they need to believe, do whatever they need to do, to get there. We live in a day in which people lack convictions. So today, I want to talk to you about convictions.

What is a conviction? It is a concrete, immovable belief on a certain issue that you believe either this is the right way or this is the wrong way. It has the idea that you are absolutely determined and clear in your views on certain areas of life. In some areas of life that we talked about in our previous Life Lifter, you can have a personal conviction, but it's not an absolute conviction for everybody. Instead, here I'm talking about the convictions you have for your life. Do you have convictions in your life? Things that you will absolutely never do? Things that you will find acceptable to do? The Bible says having convictions will keep you from sinning.

I want to look at James 4:17. It says, "anyone that who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins." Anyone who knows the good he ought to do—that is, convictions—and doesn't do it, sins. By the way, that tells us that there are sins of commission, sins that you commit, and sins of omission, sins of something you should do but didn't do. So sin isn't only something bad that you do, but it can also be something good that you withhold or don't do. Here's the point. It says when you know what to do, and you don't do it, it's sin. And here's the thing, we should all have convictions, and then our convictions should lead to actions.

So, do you have convictions? Do you live by them? Is there a line you will not cross? Or, is there a line that you write in pencil so that you can use an eraser to move it when it's convenient? It's really tough, isn't it? It's tough to maintain your convictions all the time. Perhaps its convictions like "I will not lie." That's hard. Or, "I will not steal". Or, "I will not talk behind somebody's back." We have to have convictions and we have to live those convictions. So what convictions do you have? Are you living them? I will tell you this: sometimes living with convictions is difficult in the heat of the moment, at least in the short term, but in the long term, it's the only way to live. So I hope you'll live with convictions and I hope you'll have good convictions to guide you.

With that, let's pray. Father in heaven, I pray that you'll help all of us have convictions, convictions based on the truth of the Bible, and that you'll help us live them out every day of our lives. Help us to have lines we will never cross. Help us to have convictions on the truth that we will only try to live by the truth and that we will not live in lies. And when we violate those convictions that we'd have very short accounts with them. And I pray that we'll have well-drawn lines, clear lines that we don't even flirt with. We don't even get close. We don't even tippy-toe over the line just to see what it's like over there, but that we will stay far away from them. I pray that you'll help us do that because we will live a more satisfying life in the long run even if in the short run, sin is pleasurable. We thank you for this in Jesus' name. Amen.

I hope you are a person of convictions and that people around you see it in your life. Thanks and have a great day.

Today I want to talk to you about something really uncomfortable for me. Maybe it's uncomfortable for you as well. I'm talking about when someone you love and care about, maybe a friend, a family member, a co-worker, and they betray you—they stab you in the back or they say something hurtful about you. Over the years, this has happened all too many times and I've learned to deal with it in a certain way. I want to share that with you today. It's dealing with it by separating the person from their sin.

We see this modeled by Jesus in Matthew 16:13. Matthew writes this: "When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, 'Who do people say the Son of Man is?' They replied, 'Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.' 'But what about you?' he asked. 'Who do you say I am?' Simon Peter answered, 'You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.'"

In that moment, Jesus really commends Peter for that. He prophetically shares what's going to play out in Peters's life as the church unfolds. What we see here is that Jesus replied with the following to Peter: "Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven." So Peter listened for the voice of God. God revealed something to Peter and he listened. He had that seed planted in his mind and he proclaimed that truth back to Jesus.

Just a few short verses later, though, we see a completely different story after Jesus commends Peter. We pick up in verse 21: "From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 'Never, Lord!' he said. 'This shall never happen to you!'"

Are you nuts, Peter? You don't do that! Can you imagine if Peter prevented Jesus from going to the cross? I don't even want to think about that. But I'm glad that this is what Jesus did. We see in verse 23, "Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns." And so we see here, Jesus rebukes Peter, but did He actually call Peter Satan? I mean, it sure sounded like He did. He knew Peters's name and we know that that was not Peter's nickname. So what's really going on there? Did Jesus call Peter Satan? I think the answer is no. I think what Jesus was doing was that He was speaking to Satan through Peter; He was speaking to Satan through Peter. There's an enemy that works behind each of us and that enemy is Satan. He's trying to trip us up. He's trying to tempt us. He's trying to get our sinful nature to act out on the temptations that he plants for us. So what Jesus did here is He modeled separation.

You see, Jesus separated the real Peter—the one that wanted to listen and obey the Lord— from the one that desires to listen and follow the kingdom of Satan. So here's the ugly truth. This not only happens to people around us who say and do things to us. This happens to us, as well. This idea of separation that Jesus modeled for us has been helping me in dealing with relational issues. It's opened up my eyes and it's helped me to take ownership when I'm the one who has sinned. It's helped me to truly forgive people when they have sinned against me.

So I want to encourage you to learn and understand that there is an evil force that often works behind us trying to trip us all up. Why do we have relational issues? Well, oftentimes, I think it's because we, instead of listening for the voice of God like Peter did at the beginning of this story, we end up following the voice of Satan and giving in to temptation.

Let's pray. Father, I want to thank you for this idea of separation that Jesus modeled for us. Help us to understand that there is an enemy that wants to trip us up and get us to screw up our relationships and screw up our faith. So Father, help us to recognize that when we open our mouth and when we act, let us take responsibility and ownership when we make the mistake of following Satan instead of following you, Father, and let us be quick to forgive those around us Father who do the same. Father, help us to encourage one another, as we forgive one another Father, and we thank you for this and we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Thanks for joining us today. Don't just have a great day, but go and make a great day!

I want to ask you a question, but I kind of know the answer already. I'll ask it anyway... Have you ever been tempted to do, think, or say something that you know was not going to be pleasing to God? Of course you have. We are all tempted in various ways, and not one of us has never been tempted. we face temptation as a part of the Christian life. 

Today, I want to talk to you a little bit about that. we know that we have an enemy, Satan, who is trying to trip us up and get us to fall in our faith, to fall spiritually. In fact, Scripture tells us that Satan is like a lion who prowls around looking to devour victims. I was reading recently during my quiet time in the Gospel of Matthew, and when I came upon chapter four, I was stopped dead in my tracks and just fascinated by what verse one said: Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. That just struck me because Jesus faced temptation just like we did and as you go through and you read that story, it's really cool to see how Jesus overcame that. We'll talk more about that in a moment. 

As I started researching it and looking at my study Bible and cross-references, it became very clear to me that there's a parallel between the temptation that Jesus faced in the desert and the nation of Israel. The people of Israel, as you probably know, were held captive in Egypt as slaves for 400 years. They were led out of Egypt by the Lord and they came to the Red Sea. If you remember the story, God parted the Red Sea when the Egyptian army was just about to attack them. God allowed them to walk through that Red Sea on dry land and then He closed it up again on the Egyptians. That's a picture of baptism; God bringing us through the water. keep that in mind, that's going to be important. After God brought them through the Red Sea, Israel was in the desert and they wandered in the desert for 40 years. While they were in the desert, they were tempted by the other nations and they were tempted to leave their commitment to the Lord and follow the gods of other nations, and to follow the sins of the flesh. Many of them in fact, tens of thousands of them, died in the desert there in their sin because of that temptation. 

The parallel to Jesus is this: Jesus, when he was born, his earthly father, Joseph, took him and his mother Mary to Egypt to escape King Herod who wanted to kill Jesus. when King Herod had died, after a period of time passed, Joseph brought Mary and Jesus back to Israel. So it fulfilled a prophecy that God would bring his Messiah out of Egypt. So you should be starting to see a parallel there. Jesus, to begin His earthly ministry, was baptized, just like the Israelites went through the Red Sea. that's a picture of baptism. Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River by John the Baptist. Then after that, Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit into the desert. the Israelites went into the desert and were there for 40 years. Jesus was there for 40 days, fasting and preparing him for the temptations of Satan. But here's the difference: Jesus overcame those temptations. Israel (many of them) did not. 

Here's the cool thing. Jesus quoted scripture to Satan, to overcome him and to be that temptation. He quoted the book of Deuteronomy, which is a retelling of the history of the nation of Israel while they were in the desert. it's also a book for the readers to be warned. it's a warning to not fall into the same trap and the same temptations that the Israelites fell in. That's the book that Jesus used to overcome the temptations of Satan. I find that really cool because you and I can also overcome temptation the way that Jesus did through fasting and through the Word of God. Fasting allows us to give up something, like food or some kind of physical need, so that we can draw closer to God. It also helps us to that we can understand His will, listen for His voice in our lives, and so we can tell Him "this is so important God, I want to overcome this temptation or this sin in my life, I'm going to go without items so that I can fully rely on you." Fasting is a great tool to strengthen us and help us to overcome such temptation, but so is the Word of God. are you studying the Bible? are you reading it daily? before you read the Bible, ask God for His Holy Spirit to give you understanding and guidance to what you're reading so that you can overcome temptation and be strong. You can memorize scripture, which will also help you in those times of temptation to come back against the enemy with the truth of God to overcome his lies. 

So when you're tempted, I really want to encourage you to remind yourself that the same Spirit that led Jesus into the desert to be tempted is the same Spirit that will lead you out of the desert that you're in when you are tempted and facing sin. God will give you the strength to overcome. In fact, I want to close by sharing with you 1 Corinthians 10:13, which says this: "No temptation has seized you except what is common to man." We all face temptations, and many of them are the same as what Paul is telling us here. We're not special and we all face these similar temptations. He goes on to say, "and God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it." 

I really want to pray for you, and for me, that as we face temptation, that we can seek that way out, that we can listen for the voice of the Holy Spirit to lead us out and not ignore that voice and fall prey to temptation and sin that Satan sets up for us as a trap. So let's pray. Father, thank you for today. I pray that we listen for that voice and seek that way out. May we know your word more profoundly and more intimately in our lives so that we can be strong. May we periodically fast Lord so that we can draw closer to you and rely on you. Father, to seek your way out that you've provided when we are tempted. Thank you, Father, for this in Jesus' name. Amen. Hey, don't just have a great day. Go and make a great day.