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.

Today, I want to talk to you about this idea of what it means to be self-seeking, that oftentimes we find ourselves in a position where we're seeking how to satisfy ourselves. Now, here's the thing, it's not like we grew up knowing how to be selfless. In fact, we are hardwired to be selfish. We only think about ourselves, we only think about what's happening to us. That's how we come into this world. Hopefully, over time, if our parents are some influential characters in our lives, they had really taught us how to share, how to be polite, how to do all of those different things. But it doesn't come naturally, even after we learn it.

The apostle Paul writes this profound phrase in 1 Corinthians 10:23-24, "I have the right to do anything - but not everything is beneficial. I have the right to do anything - but not everything is constructive. No one should seek their own good, but the good of others." Here's what's fascinating with how Paul writes this: First he says, "I have the right to do anything." Now the word "right" here means lawful. It's permissible, it's okay for you to do it. But just because you can, doesn't mean you should. I know that's a hard concept for a lot of us to understand, just because you can doesn't mean you should. He says, "I can do all things," meaning it's okay. But then he says, "but not everything is beneficial." What does he mean by beneficial? He means it's not for the common good. It's not going to benefit those around you. It's not going to create a better environment. Then he repeats himself, "But I have the right to do anything." Again, it may be permissible, but just because you can doesn't mean you should, because then he follows it up with this, "but not everything is constructive." What does he mean by being constructive? It literally means to build something up. Just because you can doesn't mean you should, because it's not going to strengthen someone else. It's not going to create a better environment around you. It's not going to build others up. The word that we use in the church for that is edification. It's not edifying. It doesn't build you up.

You see, we are naturally selfish. That's why I think he closes it with this, "No one should seek their own good, but the good of others." Remember, you are naturally selfish. That's how we come into this world. It's a process throughout our entire lives to figure out how to be selfless, and to put someone else's needs before our own. So I want you to change the question you internally ask yourself. Especially when you're in a situation and you're working with somebody, maybe that person's annoying you or something. I want you to change the question that you ask. Ask, "what does this person need? How can I help them?" versus, "What do I want?" It's this idea of not being self-seeking. Father, I want to lift up everyone who's reading this. Thank you for them. Father, we just ask that you would help us have the strength to not be self-seeking, so that everything we do is to build someone else up to help the common good. Father, we thank you for the grace that you have given us and I pray that we would be able to extend that to one another. For whoever's watching and is struggling through that right now, I pray that you give them courage, give them strength, give them peace, so that they can love someone else and ask that question, "what does this person need?" versus, "what do I want?" Thank you. In Jesus' name, amen.

Today we're going to be dealing with the topic of trusting in God. I know that sounds like a big topic, but it's really about trusting in Him when we're dealing with life and things are completely out of our control. We're going to look at Psalm 131. It says, "O Lord, my heart is not proud, nor my eyes haughty; Nor do I involve myself in great matters, or in things too difficult for me. Surely I have composed and quieted my soul; Like a weaned child rests against his mother, my soul is like a weaned child within me. O Israel, hope in the LORD from this time forth and forever."

I see three main things here. In verse one, he says, "O Lord, my heart is not proud, nor my eyes haughty; Nor do I involve myself in great matters, or in things too difficult for me." The author's being completely honest and humble. Be honest and be humble. Be honest that you can't do it. God doesn't want someone with all the answers who thinks they have it all figured out and they're just overconfident as a result. Be humble. Humility is recognizing that it's not all about you. My son, Eli, is my youngest of four. Because he's so short right now, when he goes to get a glass and get a drink or get a bowl for his cereal in the morning, he often has to ask for help because he knows he just can't reach it. It's okay to be humble. It's okay to be honest.

In verse two: "Surely I have composed and quieted my soul; Like a weaned child rests against his mother, my soul is like a weaned child within me." What's he doing there? He's talking about contentment. First, he says in verse one, be humble and be honest. Then, in verse two, he says to be content. I've composed and quieted my soul. I'm content where I am, just like a weaned child rests against his mother. It's just like that bond that a mother can meet the needs of a child and that child rests against after feeding. Then there is contentment and quiet. So be honest and humble, be content, and then lastly, be hopeful.

"Oh, my soul, hope in the Lord from this time forth and forever." From this time forth and forever, be hopeful for what God has for you to come. How you ultimately trust God has everything to do with you and has nothing to do with you. You have to be humble. You have to be honest. You have to be content. You have to be hopeful. Ultimately, though, it is God in whom we trust.

Let me pray. Father, we thank you that we can solely trust in you, not having to look anywhere else. But Father, sometimes it's very difficult, especially when life gets out of control and things we just can't seem to keep a grasp on them. I pray that we can learn from this passage and that we can employ these things in our own lives, that Lord, before you, we can be honest and humble, Lord, that we can be content and we can be hopeful. We thank you in Jesus' name, amen.