How To Live Victoriously

All summer we’ve been studying from the book of First John on Living Confidently For God.  This morning we’re going to look at 1 John 5:1-12 so if you have your Bible or Smart Phone Bible get it out and turn there.  The title of the message today is, “How To Live Victoriously.”

How many of you have ever felt defeated?  All of us have felt defeated at some time or another in some area of our life.  You might feel defeated in your marriage or some other relationship.  You might feel defeated in your career.  You might feel defeated in your spiritual life.  You might feel defeated because of some persistent sin that you can’t overcome.  You might feel defeated because of some negative emotion that you can’t conquer.  You might feel defeated because of some bad habit or addiction that you can’t stop.

This last week I did a search on the Internet for a list of the winningest athletes of all time.  People like basketball player Bill Russell who had 11 NBA championships in 13 years; or boxer Rocky Marciano who was the only heavyweight to retire undefeated at 49-0; or golfer Jack Nicklaus who had 18 majors and 73 PGA Tour wins; or baseball player Yogi Berra who had 10 World Series rings as a player and another 3 as a coach; or hockey player Wayne Gretzky who appeared in the Stanley Cup Finals 6 times and won 4 times; or tennis player Pete Sampras who had 64 career titles including 14 Slams or football player Bart Starr who was a 5 time Super Bowl champion ; or Olympic champion Michael Phelps who has won 14 Olympic Gold Medals; or bicyclist Lance Armstrong who had 7 Tour de France wins, and even beat cancer.

As many victories as these people have won in their athletic fields, non of them can be victorious every time because not even the greatest athlete can guarantee victory.  But God guarantees that you can be a winner all the time.  How do you live victoriously?  John gives us a five step formula in our text today.  First, if you want to be victorious you need to...