Let us hear the word of God. Revelation 2, verse 1. To the angel of the church of Ephesus write, these things says he who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands. I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars. And you have persevered and have patience and have labored for my name's sake and have not become weary. Nevertheless, I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember, therefore, from where you have fallen, repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. But this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him whoever comes, I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. The grass withers, the flower fades, for the word of our God endures forever. Amen. As we begin here this morning, I want us to think of warfare, battles. Probably most all of us in here have never actually been in one with actual guns and so forth, but all of us face a battle every day. We are constantly fighting against evil things. both outside of us and within us. And so with this briefly in mind, we come here to this last part of this opening letter, opening message that Jesus has given through John to the church in Ephesus. And overall, Jesus has praised the believers in Ephesus for remaining true to the scriptures, for actively opposing evil and false teaching, and for not compromising with the world. They stood against the Nicolaitans. They stood against these false apostles. They walked faithfully as believers. Yet, we also see Jesus severely rebuking them for doing all these things without a heartfelt motivation. Outward religion without a genuine love for God and others is worthless in the end and will result in an abandoned church unless they repent. So last time we looked at the first part of verse seven, about this call to hear. Is anyone listening? The call to hear, as we saw, is found throughout the scriptures and typically in the context of rebuking rebellion. And so here Jesus is saying it in this way. Now ultimately, of course, only true believers can hear. Yet, even those of us who are true believers, we can hear better. And so do not ignore the warnings that are given. Instead, humbly hear and see how far short we all fall. Repent and strive unto greater holiness. We conclude this slow walk through this opening message, this detailed look. Coming now to the final C. The first one, of course, is Jesus commissions John to write this letter. The second one talks about the character of Christ. The third C is the commendation for obedience. The fourth is the condemnation for disobedience. Fifthly, We see Jesus' correction and the commands to remember, repent, and do. And then, as we saw last time, the call to hear, and today, now, the challenge to overcome, and the reward that comes with it. All right, so, again, we see this part of verse seven. To him who overcomes, I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. All right. Now, once again, like we've seen with several of these things, we see this language repeated in every one of the messages. And the first part is verbatim, but then the reward is different. So if you look down at verse 11 here a moment, it says, he who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death. Verse 17, to him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. And it continues, And then remember in the fourth one, they switch the order of hearing and the challenge to overcome. So this one is in verse 26, and he who overcomes and keeps my works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations. And then in chapter three, verse five, he who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments. And then in verse 12, he who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. And then lastly, in verse 21 of chapter three, to him who overcomes, I will grant to sit with me on my throne, as I also overcame and sat down with my father on his throne. So every one of them has this idea of overcoming, but each one of them has a different reward. And that's because the reward fits with the individual message to the individual church. And so we will see that here for the Ephesian church. here in a bit. So first of all, let's talk about this challenge to overcome. The word for overcome can be translated as victory or to conquer or to win, to prevail, to defeat, to vanquish. It's a military term. And it can be used in the context of an actual military or the more spiritual kind. The name Nicholas or Nicolaitans even, the name Nicodemus, those names are based on this Greek word for conquering and overcoming. It's used 28 times in the New Testament and 17 of the 28 are found here in Revelation. Obviously the 7 here, but then 10 more. So let's look just briefly at a few more. If you look at chapter 5 and verse 5, the one of the elders said to me, do not weep. Behold, the line of the tribe of Judah, the root of David has prevailed or overcome. to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals. If you look at chapter six, verse two, I looked and behold, a white horse, he who sat on it had a bow and a crown was given to him and he went out conquering and to conquer. And then if you turn to chapter 12, and we'll return to this passage here in a moment, but in chapter 12, notice here first, verse 11, they overcame him, meaning believers overcame Satan. by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death." And so note this emphasis, the way we overcome is ultimately through Christ, but also through our witnessing and our godliness. And then if you turn to chapter 21, here we see basically all seven of the overcoming and promises in chapters 2 and 3 all brought together here. Chapter 21, verse 7, he who ever comes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. Now, we're gonna look at chapter 19 in just a second, but let's look first at John chapter 16. In John chapter 16, here's another example. At the end of the chapter, John 16, verse 33, Jesus speaking, these things I have spoken to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. Now, how is this the case? Well, we just read in chapter 12, it's through the blood of Christ, through the perfect life of Christ, right? Our confession of sin and the reading from Romans four, through the perfect life of Christ, through his atoning death, through his resurrection, right? We have victory because He has the victory, and since He has overcome the world, we can as well. And then if you come back here to Revelation, this time chapter 19, beginning of verse 11, we see this description of Jesus riding on the horse and the believers coming and leading then to this great battle, as we often call it, Armageddon and such. In verses 17 and 18, we see about all these birds getting ready to eat the bodies of the dead. And then in verse 19, it says, I saw the beast. This is the beast of the sea, the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against him who sat on the horse and against his army. Then the beast was captured and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. False prophet is the beast of the land. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire, burning with brimstone, and the rest were killed when the sword was proceeded from the mouth of him who sat on the horse and all the birds were filled with their flesh." Notice that Jesus conquers with his word. What comes out of his mouth, he speaks and it's it. There's not this great battle, you know, and you have movies that show how hard it is and so forth. And it's this ebb and flow. No, Jesus speaks and it's over. He overcame the world in his first coming, but you might say it was spiritual in nature and partial in nature. But when he returns, as Revelation 19 is describing, it'll be complete. All evil will be judged. He will overcome in every way in all of its fullness. And so because of Jesus, we can overcome. All right, now let's turn a moment to Romans chapter 12. We see another example of this word being used in Romans chapter 12 at the end of the chapter, verse 21. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. So we can't just sit around and just hope and pray that evil won't happen. As the saying goes, evil progresses and triumphs when good men do nothing. So Paul would say, look, get up and do something. Fight against evil, overcome it. Don't be overcome by evil. And one of the ways that we do this is by overcoming evil with good. We are not to overcome evil with evil. Look at verse 17 where he says, repay no one evil for evil. So when your brother scares you, you don't kick him. When somebody speaks, meanly to you, you don't respond in kind, right? You don't respond to evil with more evil, but no, you respond with good. And notice, that flows right into chapter 13, and one of the good ways we overcome evil is by the governing authorities serving God and punishing the evildoer. God has set it up in this way. Unfortunately, as we'll see in a moment, Satan has other ideas. So, let's now, after looking briefly at how this word is used in some places, let's now talk about those that we fight against. And typically, of course, we summarize this as fighting against Satan and the world and the flesh. So let's come back to Revelation, and this time turn again to chapter 12. We read in verse 11, let's pick up in verse 13. When the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child. But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle that she might fly into the wilderness to replace, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time for the presence of the serpent. So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth, like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood. But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood, which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth." So let me pause there. Notice verse 15, the serpent spewed. At the end of verse 16, the dragon spewed, right? Same person referring to Satan here. To come out of the mouth, obviously this is talking about false teaching. And the earth probably should be understood as the true church because in chapter 13 verses 11 and following, the beast of the land is the false church. So the true church helps the woman, but the woman, of course, is referring to believers in the end. And so our metaphors mix together here somewhat. And then over 17, and the dragon was enraged with a woman and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. As we read in Ephesians 6 here a little bit ago, Paul makes it clear that ultimately our battles are not against flesh and blood, but principalities and powers. Our ultimate battles here are against Satan and his minions. And so do not think that this kind of engagement with demons and so forth was just something in Bible times. It's still happening today. We are still fighting against Satan. Now, how does Satan fight against us? Well, one of the key ways is what we see in chapter 13. here in Revelation. Verse 1, I stood on the sand of the sea. I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and 10 horns, and it continues. And notice that at the end of verse 2, the dragon gave him his power, his throne, and his authority. And then down in verse 7, it was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation. You see that the beast of the sea is a political power. And you see the contrast with Romans 13. God established political power to serve him and to punish the evildoer. But Satan has co-opted it and he uses it for his own purposes rather than to help ensure godliness and good society. Now the beast, the state power, is going to do harm against God's people and just frankly against everybody in the end. Then in chapter 13 verse 11, I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb, but spoke like a dragon. So this is the false prophet. This is the false church. Looks good, but is evil. So how does Satan fight against us? Well, political power and a false church. Let's turn a moment to 1 Peter chapter 5. You remember these words of Peter, 1 Peter 5 and verse 8. Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. Note again, resist evil, Peter says. Don't just sit back and hole up in our little Christian society and let the world do whatever. No, we're to resist evil. Resist how Satan uses the political power. Resist how Satan uses the false church. Fight against it. He's out there working, whether we realize it or not, or want to admit it or not. And so resist both beasts. How do we do this? Not by picking up rifles or some cyber truck and try to blow something up, okay? We resist by doing what is good. Now, how that works out is a long discussion, but that's the principle. Sometimes Satan is very overt and very obvious. Sometimes, or maybe we should say most of the time, he is very subtle, tempting us with sweet and rational argumentation. And so Satan will do a lot of things, but especially using evil rulers and evil church leaders. Now, at the end of the year, of course, you often hear things that talk about the previous year. And in the last couple of weeks, I've seen a number of articles referring to the persecution of Christians in 2024. And different groups will evaluate that and give you some numbers and such. What I'm using here is from Open Doors, and they gave these numbers. About 4,500 Christians were martyred in 2024. About 4,000 were sexually assaulted. About 5,500 were physically abused. About 210,000 were forced to flee their homes. About 4,800 were jailed. And then the big number, about 380 million Christians are persecuted in some way. So if you read another study, you might see some slightly different numbers, but you get the point. Now that has to do primarily with the beast of the sea against Christians, the political power. But sometimes you see that with families doing these things against believers. You think of Muslim families, for example. But we also see the false teaching going on in churches. I receive a daily email from a group called Ministry Watch, and every day I see some articles about some church and what's going on. Unfortunately, most of the time it's bad things, false teaching, abuse by those in leadership, youth pastors getting involved in pornography or an affair with the pastor and the secretary, this kind of thing. There are some articles that are good but unfortunately most of them aren't so much. There's false teaching in the churches. and false behaviors in the churches. Satan's working quite well, fighting against us. Are we resisting it? Are we overcoming it? Not just here, but certainly begin here. Not just you and your families, but obviously begin in your families. But how can we impact even those around us? All right, now, Satan, of course, also uses the world The world hates the people of God. As we see all the way back in Genesis 3, sin has caused this division. You have the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. You have the believers and you have the unbelievers. There is this battle, this fight against them. It fits with some of what I've just said, but we can talk more generally, too, in this way. So, we can talk about the shutdown here a few years ago and how the government of power forbade churches to meet. We can talk about the woke gospel and how that's impacting the truth. But we can also talk about the radical left opposing Christians. We can talk about the right saying, well, let's not be too conservative. We can talk about your boss not wanting you to be overtly Christian at work. Or maybe at family get-togethers there are some people in your family they don't like when you talk too much about Jesus. Obviously, Hollywood is trying to teach us to reject Jesus. We can go to school and from preschool and kindergarten be taught all this gender stuff. The world is against us in so many different ways. We need to overcome that. We need to fight against it. This is a battle in which we all fight. We must persevere. We must remain faithful. Do not give in to the evil. Do not compromise. Resist it. Simply, external pressures are everywhere, aren't they? Jesus commands us here, is telling us, right, we need to overcome. Overcome these things by being godly, by standing for the truth, whatever may happen. I've mentioned before that there's an animated series out called Torchlighters, and they typically review some older Christians and some of the persecutions they faced. Some of them were put to death for their faith. Others were persecuted in other ways. Very helpful. The kids have watched them many times. We have videos of it, DVDs. I've also seen them broadcast on a local Pittsburgh channel. They're very helpful. to remind us that we've had it pretty good here, but that's certainly not the case throughout much of history and even throughout the world. The point is simply this. If you overcome these outward pressures, then there is a reward. But if you do not resist evil, the evil of Satan, the evil of the world, then you're just going to be drowned out and you're going to face God's judgment. So he who overcomes, are you overcoming? Well, we not only fight against those things outside of us, in many ways we could say that the biggest battle is the one that goes on within us, the battle of the flesh, as we often call it. This is the idea of our old man, that desire to sin that is still within us. We are united to Adam. Well, we just read about that in the Confession, right? We are united to Adam, and he sinned, and we therefore are guilty in Adam and polluted in Adam, and that's who we are, and we're going to have that until we die. or Christ returns and we're glorified. This evil within us, this evil inside of us is present really from the moment of our conception. And it's present with us even now. And yet at the same time, for God's people, we've been given a new heart. We've been given the spirit within us. We have a desire to obey, a desire to do what God wants us to do. Both of those motivations are within the true believer. It is a constant battle, a desire to sin and a desire to obey. Let's turn a moment to Romans chapter 7. Paul speaks of this here. I could read more than this, but let's start in verse 19. Romans 7 verse 19. Paul says, the good that I will to do, I do not do. But the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now, if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. I find that a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members, a wretched man that I am. He will deliver me from this body of death. I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. So then with mine, I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin. Now, the way Paul words this can lead us down some wrong paths if we're not careful. First of all, Paul has to be talking about the Christian here because the non-Christian does not will to do what is good. So we immediately have to filter out those who say this is someone before they're saved or something like that. No, no, no. This is the Christian. We will to do what is good. Our mind has been changed, right? We've been renewed. We have this inward man now, but we're fighting against the law of our flesh, of our members, right? The old man that is still within us. Let's turn a moment to Ephesians chapter four, because Paul says the same thing, and maybe in clearer language. In Ephesians four, and beginning in verse 22, he says this. put off concerning your former conduct the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts and be renewed in the spirit of your mind and that you put on the new man which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness. This is the Christian life. This is what sanctification is all about. There's a part of us that wants to do the right thing and another part of us that could care less. We'd rather do our own thing. And so sanctification is all about very simply saying no to sin and yes to righteousness. And really, everything that we do in one way or another, we have this battle going on. Now, we can get into some good habits or to some bad habits. It may be easier to say yes to righteousness when we were 21, and now that we're 51 or 61, it's not as easy, or the other way around. Something that was a real temptation when we were younger is not an issue now, but it's The same idea, we say no to sin, we say yes to righteousness. Are you overcoming in this way? How are you doing in the battle? Jesus says, if you overcome, there's reward. There's reward, but if you don't, if you give in, then there is judgment. Let's turn a moment to Matthew and chapter 13. Matthew 13. As always, we could talk on and on and on about these ideas. There's so much to say, but notice how Jesus puts it together here in this way. Matthew 13. Now, you might remember here a couple weeks ago, we turned to this passage about using our ears, right? Well, let's look at verses 18 to 23 when Jesus explains the parable of the sower. So Matthew 13, verse 18, therefore hear the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he received seed by the wayside. So here's somebody who's heard the gospel, has heard the truth of the scriptures, And nothing happens, there's no response. Satan comes, takes that word away, they forget it, they get distracted by other things, whatever it is. But then next, verse 20, but he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in himself but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. So this is now referring to someone who professes faith in Christ. They hear the gospel, they respond to it, but when hardships come, they turn away. They are overcome by evil, which shows they're not a Christian in the first place, no matter what they may have said or done for a little bit. Verse 22, now he received seed among the thorns as he who hears the word and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word and he becomes unfruitful. Again, we were talking about someone here who has professed faith in Christ. They're doing certain things to show that they're a Christian. They begin the battle. but then the battle overtakes them. Not because of all these hardships and oppressive things and so forth, but life becomes too busy. I had to work whatever, 60 hours this week, 80 hours this week. I'm tired. I'm going to sleep in on Sunday. I'm not going to go to church. The cares of the world are crowding it out. Could be a variety of other things here, such as keeping up with the Joneses. Hey, our priorities are still worldly-minded here. The weeds here, the thorns and the thistles are the world crowding out what is true, and there is no bearing of fruit. This person proves not to be a believer too. But then lastly, verse 23, he who receives his seed on good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces, some a hundredfold, some 60, some 30. For those with good soil, these are the true believers. These are the ones who bear fruit. These are the ones who do resist evil. These are the ones who do fight and are successful in the battle. Not perfectly, of course. But for the most part, we're living by faith, we're trusting in Christ, we're living by the Spirit, and maybe a step forward and a couple steps back, and then maybe a few steps forward and then a step back, and you get the point. We're bearing fruit. We are overcoming. This is what a true believer does. If you are not fighting, if you're not resisting the pressures from outside, and the sin within. This is an indication you're not a Christian, no matter what you might say. But if you're striving to fight and to live under righteousness and to overcome evil with good, then this is an indication that God is working in your heart. This is one of the key clues, right? How do you know a tree by its fruit? Well, one of the key fruit that we see is, are we fighting? Are we overcoming? Well, obviously, we could say a whole lot more about this. Well, let's come back to Revelation 2 and talk now for a few minutes about the reward for those who do overcome. As I showed you already, each one of these messages has a different reward for the individual church. Well, here, the reward is, I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. every one of these rewards, including this one, points us to the end of Revelation, right? The character of Christ calls us back to chapter 1, now these rewards connect us to the end, okay? And the new heavens and the new earth, they're eternal blessings for the overcomers. Now, notice it says, I will give. Jesus is overseeing all of this, okay? It's not some panel of human beings that are going to give you a plaque or something when you die and put it on some building. That's not what we're talking about. Jesus is going to reward those who are truly His and reward those who overcome. It's guaranteed. Now, for the Ephesian church, it says here about eating from the tree of life. So let's turn to chapter 22 then a moment and see how this connects. Revelation 22, verse 1. He showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of his street and on either side of the river was the tree of life, which bore 12 fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. So if you ever come, All right, here's your promise. You get to eat of the tree of life. This fruit that bears every month, the leaves will bring healing. This is our reward. Now, if you look also at verse 14, blessed are those who do his commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter through the gates into the city. So to use our language, are you overcoming? Are you doing the commands of God? Think of the Ten Commandments, for example. Are you doing these things? Are you overcoming in that internal battle and the external battle? If so, you have the right to eat from the Tree of Life. Now, this is not talking about work salvation. What it is saying is this is evidence that God has saved you, and this is the reward. Now, obviously, this takes us back to the very beginning. So let's turn to Genesis chapter two here just a moment. And we see then these words. In Genesis chapter two, verse eight, God planted a garden in Eden. And in verse nine, out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And then if you jump down to verse 16, the Lord God commanded the man saying, of every tree of the garden, you may freely eat. And in the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat for the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die. So if we can freely eat from every tree, the assumption is that includes the tree of life. Adam and Eve could eat of the tree of life because they were sinless. But obviously they sinned. And so in chapter three, verse 24, It says, "'So he drove out the man, and he placed cherubim at the east of the Garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the Tree of Life.'" So because of sin, we can't come to the Tree of Life. But because of Christ, we now can come to the Tree of Life. He is the Tree of Life, ultimately. But now He's telling us, if you overcome and persevere to the end, this is an indication you're a true believer, and that Tree of Life is yours. You can eat from it. in the heavenly places and the new heavens and the new earth. Now, in Genesis 2 and 3, we see the word garden several times. And when they translated that Hebrew word into Greek, the Greek word is paradise. It actually comes just right into English. And so the word paradise is used 13 times in Genesis 2 and 3. So for now Jesus to say, if you overcome, you can eat of the tree of life in the paradise of God, it all fits together here. And so those who find eternal life in Christ, those who persevere to the end of their life, or if Christ returns, they're permitted to eat from this tree again, to have the fullness of eternal life in the paradise of Eden, but not somewhere over in the Middle East that was destroyed in the flood. But no, a far better paradise inhebit itself with perfection and no possibility of sin. Now I mentioned here a bit ago that the reward that is mentioned for each of these churches fits with something about that location. Well, in Ephesus, there was a grove of trees outside of the city. And at this place, they believe this was the birthplace of Artemis. And you recall that Artemis was the chief goddess there in Ephesus. They had a date palm tree there, they had a tree shrine there, and everything. And so you'd go to this place, to this tree, you would worship Artemis, and she somehow would then bless you with life. Earthly blessings of life, fertility, But nevertheless, this was the idea. So do you see the polemic then that Jesus is using? Artemis is not the one who gives life. I will give you the opportunity to eat from the tree of life, he says. Jesus brings life to us, not Artemis, not through some ritualized sexual prostitution, but through the life and death and resurrection of Jesus. Hey, Ephesus, or the Grove of Trees, is not paradise, but heaven is paradise. And so the contrast here is very intentional. All right, well, we could expand on the Tree of Life in a variety of other ways. You might remember, as we talked about in Exodus, about the tabernacle, that the lampstand connects to the tree in the garden. the tree of life. And so the tree of life is in the tabernacle. The tree of life also shines light. Remember, of course, Jesus dies on a tree to give us life. Jesus even gives us his body to eat for food and his blood to drink, right? Symbolically, spiritually, we feast on him. So there are other things that we can talk about. But our main point is simply this. If you're going to fight against God, If you're going to come here to church and you're not going to use your ears and listen, if you're going to close off and shut down and ignore what God is saying in his word, if you're going to act like the world, if you're going to be a cultural Christian, if you're not going to strive after greater godliness, if your love is going to be cold and hollow, then there's no eternal reward. If you're going to basically give up in the battle, if you're going to give in to the pressures of the world around you and Satan and even ones within, then this is a sign that your reward will be judgment. But if you're fighting against sin, fighting against the devil and his ways of opposing us, if you're fighting against the world, using the spiritual weapons that we have been given. If you persevere in righteousness and love, if you fight against your old man, if you're successful in the battle, then God, Jesus, will reward you with eternal life in heaven, fully restored to God and to others, like it was before the fall, but even better, because there's no possibility of sin in heaven. when we trust Him for salvation, and when we live for Him day by day, then eternal food and the light of life in the presence of God will be ours forever. Do not be overcome by the pressures of this life. Instead, overcome them and find reward. So here are a few thoughts from these words of Jesus for us today. Let's pray together. Our Father in God, we thank you for your word that you have given to us. We are thankful, Lord, that you remind us that life is a battle, and especially in our culture where we have so many things so easily, as we anticipate some really cold nights here, It's not like it has been in years past, struggling to survive such cold. We have it so easy. We can just go to the store and buy some food or get some gas or turn on the light switch. We have things so easy in so many ways that we forget sometimes that we're in a battle. We live in a culture that tries to convince us that everybody's supposed to be nice. And niceness is fine, but you've called us to be righteous. And there is a significant difference. So, Lord, help us to see the battle and not be blinded by it. Help us to resist, to overcome evil, to stand opposed to Satan and his ways, to the world and its ways, and to the old man within us. Help us, Lord, to overcome, to fight, to battle, to resist. But Lord, help us to do it not with guns blazing, literally, but to do it with good, with righteousness, with holiness, that your kingdom might advance and that we might be faithful soldiers in your kingdom. Help us to do it because we love you, not merely because we want a reward. But Lord, we do look forward to the reward that you have promised. We look forward to that day where we will be in glory, feasting on the tree of life without any more battle, with complete victory. Lord, we yearn for that day. And so we pray all these things then that you would strengthen us by your spirit. to live for you day by day. We pray this then in Jesus' name, amen.