Rico Sharp Live Stream

Uh, those of you who are in the back, and let's get this Bible study going tonight. And, um, those that are on the way will get in. Or fit in when they get in. That's what they'll do. They'll fit in when they get in. But, um, yeah, is there a reason why y'all still sitting in the back, lady? Huh?

I'm gonna leave. Oh, okay.

8:15. I'm gonna leave at 8:15 too. Okay, so you need to be out here about 8 o'clock. That means I'm talking to every one of you. Okay, um, we're going to focus now on our Bible study, which headline subject is Overcomers. Now I'm making this a Bible study so you can ask questions, you can make statements. Amen. Um, it's not necessary to record this tonight on Facebook because It won't be done in a manner where I'm just teaching and preaching because everybody will have a part. And, um, so first thing I want to do is ask, in your own words, tell me what it means to you to be an overcomer. Your own words.

Yes.

Good.

Yes.

Very well. Good. Who's next? Yes, sir. Brother Graham.

Yes.

Yes. Good, very good. Yes, ma'am, Elder. Some struggle and you don't, you didn't know how. Good, very well said. Yes. Accountability. Good, very well said. Anyone else? What does it mean to you to be an overcomer? Yes, sir. Uh-huh.

Good.

Very well said.

Yes, sir.

I have a question. Good, very well said. Good. Anyone else? What does it mean to you to be an overcomer?

Yes.

Over my life, I see the things Yes, good, good, very good, good. Anyone else? What does it mean to you to be an overcomer? Yes, ma'am.

Yes. Yes. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's good, that's good. Yes.

Amen. Good, great, great, good.

All right, so all of those answers are very, very good answers. Everybody that gave an answer, you gave it in your version. Very good. Um, I wanna Kind of interject on the lines of what Mother Hardy said. Um, she said something that brought this word process to my mind, which means that sometimes overcoming doesn't happen immediately. It doesn't always happen All at once. And it's a process. Sometimes it's a day-to-day process. And the thing about it is that when you're going through something and you're working to overcome it, God gives you a grace to sustain you through the process of overcoming, because he knows that as much as we want instant victory, like Microwave popcorn. It doesn't always happen instantly. But if, if we believe that it is supposed to happen instantly, then we'll get discouraged because it don't happen right away. And when we start thinking that because it haven't happened right away, that maybe it's not going to happen. Then that's where the enemy comes in and say, you might as well give up, you might as well quit, you might as well stop trying because it's not gonna happen. But the Bible says that Satan is a liar and the father of lies, and when he speaks a lie, he speaks his own native thing. In other words, he is the origin of lies. Amen.

Amen.

So when everything that you battle with, fight with, struggle with, have an issue with doesn't move or get subdued right away, you got to know that part of overcoming is to endure or persevere. That's just good wisdom right there. Part of overcoming is to sub— is, is to outlast your storm or struggle. Amen. Don't let it outlast you. You gotta outlast it. Okay, of overcomers are people Who overcome. And to overcome means to get the better of in a struggle or conflict, conquer, to defeat. It also means to prevail over, such as things like an opposition or debility, temptations, and etc. It means to surmount, which literally means to rise above it. That's what it means to— that's what surmount means, to be elevated above your problems. Um, and then to overcome means to overpower, which means you're stronger than anything you'll ever have to contend with. You can never ever have a foe or an enemy or an opposition that is stronger than you.

Yes.

Because your enemy lacks one thing, and the thing that the enemy lacks is the thing that you possess, and that is Philippians 4:13. You can do all things through Christ. Who strengthens you? That's your testimony. But your enemy can't confess that. The enemy can't state that claim. Your your your struggle can't state that claim. Your mountains can't state that claim. You understand that? Nothing that you have to contend with or fight with. If it's a sickness or a disease fighting against your health, against your body. That disease cannot state that claim that it can do all things through Christ, but you can. Amen. So therefore, you have something that your opposition does not have, and that is the strength of Christ enabling you to rise above whatever it is that you're having to contend with. That's what you got to keep on your mind at all times. Greater is he that is in me than the opposition that is in the world.

Amen.

Greater is he that is in me than the disease that is fighting against my blood cells. Amen. Greater is he that is in me than the deficiencies of me being able to pay my bills this month.

Yes.

Or the deficit. Greater, greater, greater, greater, greater, greater, greater. You're the greater one as it relates to you and this opposition, but greater than you is the one that gives you the strength to do all things.

Okay.

To be an overcomer means that you triumph, and to triumph means that you conquered, and to conquer means that you now have the victory. And I didn't take the time really on Sunday to kind of, um, break that down a little bit, but there's a process, as I was saying a few moments ago, that is involved. And being an overcomer. And that process is that you start out triumphing over whatever it is, then you conquer it, then you have the victory, then you're labeled as an overcomer. You triumph over it You conquer it, then you have the victory, and now you're an overcomer. So it's a one, two, three, four step process. What was number one? Triumph over it. Amen. What's number two? Conquer it. And as I said on Sunday briefly. You can't conquer what you are unwilling to confront. And then when you know that you have a vicious enemy that is trying to destroy you, you got to be willing to confront that enemy, that issue. Amen.

That's right.

Like the Bible— I said this on Sunday— Bible talks about in Hebrews— uh, Matthew 12:29 that, uh, and this is a paraphrase that I'm about to make, when the enemy comes against the household, he comes for the strong man. So in order for the strong man to not allow for that enemy to spoil his house, he— the strong man has to be willing to confront that enemy. Amen. And where you— where do you meet the enemy at? At the front door. Where are you confronting him at? At the front door.

Right?

Because the whole objective is to keep the enemy from doing what? Getting in the house to destroy the house. Yes, sir. Why, why do he come in the back door? Why do we let our guards down?

Uh-huh.

Yeah, yeah, he may even come through the windows or down the chimney like old Saint Nick. Um, and let me say, as I prepare to answer this question, this is an open Bible discussion, discussion tonight. So all of you are free to comment and ask questions. Um, you know, there's this term called gatekeeper or keepers of the gate, and a gatekeeper or keeper of the gate is one who has an assignment, and their assignment is to watch, to make sure That they can spot the enemy coming before the enemy arrives to the gate, and then to prevent the enemy from having entrance or access through the gate. And so there's a scripture in the Bible that says, watch and pray that you fall not into temptation, which literally means That when you're dealing with an enemy that you know is trying to sneak in on you, you got to stay on your guard. You got to spiritually stay awake and, and spiritually stay alert. Because in the Bible says, um, in 1 Peter 5:8, that, that Satan is as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. And Job 1:10 says that he walks up and down, to and fro throughout the earth. So we already know that he's on the prowl. And when you're a gatekeeper, your job is to make sure that you can catch him before he catch you and prevent him from coming in. When he gets in, sometimes he gets in because the gatekeeper fell asleep. Uh, which is what he, uh, Matthew 13:25 says. When it says while men slept, the enemy came in and sowed tares amongst the wheat and went his way. Somebody falls asleep at the gate, at the front door or the back door. But, uh, the other thing I want to say about that is, uh, and I preached a message on that a few years back called, uh, The Enemy at the Back Door.

Yeah.

Um, see, the back door represents basically your past, uh, things that you've been delivered from, things that you've conquered over the years that you no longer have a struggle with. But sometimes we get so focused on the front door, which represents our future, uh, that we start letting our guards down because You know, of course, any man being Christ is a new creature. Old things have passed away. We feel that we're so delivered from certain things that the end— from our, you know, things of our past— that, that the enemy doesn't have a chance anymore to bring things from our past back into our present. And when we start letting our guards down and we stop doing the things that we used to do, like keeping a watch, staying alert, staying attentive, staying prayerful, staying wordful, staying fasted up, Then the enemy starts to sneak up on us again, but our whole goal or focus is on the front door. But he done doubled back and he's at the back door now, which means he's trying to bring things back from your past back into your life because you're no longer watching at the back door. You're at the front door because you're looking for something new, something fresh. To take place.

Yes, ma'am. Yeah. Yes.

Yes.

Yeah, yeah.

Yes.

Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Yes.

Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, he doesn't quit, do we? He doesn't quit. And, um, he doesn't have any respect of persons. And you would think that he would have enough respect for Jesus to honor and respect Jesus as the Son of God, as God's Son, but he didn't. He tried to get Jesus to fall. He tried to get Jesus to fall. He tried to get Jesus to mess up. He figured if he could fall, then he could get Jesus to fall. So when he tempted Jesus in the, in the, the desert or the wilderness, he was trying to get Jesus to fall like he fell, so that Jesus could be kicked out like he was kicked out. But Jesus says that Satan tried me, but he didn't find anything in me. He didn't find That vulnerability or that susceptibility in me. So overcoming doesn't always happen at once. Doesn't always happen at once. Sometimes it does. I remember, and I'm sure y'all can. Agreed it is. I remember that when I started getting serious about serving God, and I was smoking weed and smoking cigarettes, when I got serious about overcoming those things, I gave it to God. I got—I'm like—I'm done, and I got delivered right away. But then there were people that I knew that didn't get delivered right away. They, they had to continue to try to quit over and over again. And, and for some, it happened in days or weeks or months. It didn't happen right away. And when you see people that are going through that, then they need you to understand That it doesn't always happen with one as it does with another. It doesn't always happen like that. You got delivered right away, and how many of you process? Yeah, for some things, right? Yeah. Right, right.

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Amen, amen. Praise God. And if I knew that marrying Brother Graham was going to put you in a depression for a year, I would have stopped you. I'm just kidding around. You know, I'm just— they needed a little laugh, Brother Graham. I know you're talking about way before his time. Some— I, I've seen people get delivered from certain things instantly, and I've seen people not get delivered instantly. And I've come to understand that rather one get delivered or free or overcome immediately, and for others it takes weeks, months, or even years, it's not based upon whether God is willing to bring one out right now and others make them wait. It's based upon a person's faith, their ability to believe that I can stop, I can quit, I can rise above it, I can overcome this right here, right now. That's why this primary scripture, uh, says that this is the victory that overcomes even our faith. So your faith has to be interjected in the process of your overcoming. So if your faith is what you use to overcome, then what is the enemy going to attack? Your faith. He's going to attack your faith because if he, if he knows that this is where your strength is, then he's going to attack you in the area of your strength. Is that right?

Yes.

Now, and if overcoming becomes a process for you, then what are you going to have to guard and build up and work on? Your faith. Just because it doesn't happen instantly doesn't mean that it's not going to happen. And so when your, when your victory doesn't come suddenly or instantly, You got to guard your heart. You got to guard your faith because you realize that that's the thing that you're really struggling with. Because if it doesn't happen right away, our natural mind tells us maybe it's not going to happen. Yes.

Mm-hmm. Yes.

Yeah. Yes.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

That's good. That's very good. Very good. Yes. Yes. Great. Yes, sir. Yes. Yes. To make sure that it is still clean and pure, not hard.

Yes.

That's good. Good.

Yeah.

Good, good. Okay, you had your hand raised, and then Sister Jenkins. I remember when you used to smoke. I remember when you used to smoke. I remember them long cigarettes. Hold them in them two fingers like that. Yeah, yeah, no, no, we don't, we don't want folks trying to judge us and, uh, and criticize us. Um, and you said Something, and I agree with, uh, not everybody is delivered from everything. Even, even long after you're saved, not everyone is delivered. And I just— and this is my personal opinion— I don't think that you ever get delivered from everything ever, because you'll be perfect. And not only that, you start feeling like there's no need for you to continue to draw closer to God. You, you won't feel a need to pray, a need to read the Bible, because like, if I don't, if I don't have any challenges, then, then why do I really need his grace? And you stop pursuing after him. So I think that God has ordained or allowed for it to be that we'll always have something that we're challenged with that keeps us In a place where we recognize our need for Him. Sister Jenkins.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes, yes, yeah.

He don't take it from you, do he?

Yeah.