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Hey church family. If you got your Bibles, I hope you do. We're going to be in First Peter
chapter five. Actually, today and tomorrow, we're going to talk about what do you do when the
enemy comes against you? And a big part of the reason I want to talk about this is simply because
the enemy is going crazy right now in our country. And also part of the reason I'm wearing this
shirt is my man Cam Triggs, Grace Alive Church.
One of the things that helps me, when national news comes out, like we're all, you know,
experiencing right now, again, is not to think nationally, but to just think about my friend.
And so when you see me with these shirts that I have on from other churches,
it's just because that time I've just dedicated that every time I noticed my shirt,
I'm just going to pray for my friend that day.
And so I hope you'll do something similar.
Well, 1 Peter chapter 5 talks to us about what we do in response to the enemy's attacks on us.
And Peter gives us some very specific tactical ways to stand firm against the enemy in his evil scheme.
So 1 Peter chapter 5 starts out this way.
So I exhort the elders among you.
So the next section is four elders.
So this isn't for you.
There's only for like seven of us.
right now at the Church of 1122. However, the reason I think it's applicable for us is this,
is that elders are supposed to be an example for the entire flock. And so we'll see this in a little
while, that though everyone may not be qualified or called to be an elder or anointed and
appointed to be an elder, that's fine. But a part of what the entire congregation is supposed to do
is to look at the life of elders and say, that's what maturity in Christ looks like.
And so we should learn from elders and seek to walk in that kind of mature walk with Jesus.
So I exhort the elders among you.
As a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, by the way, just noticed right off the bat,
he just says that to be a follower of Jesus, particularly to be called into the ministry,
that suffering is coming.
There's no promise of Cotton Canyon Cadillacs here.
No prosperity gospel here.
It's just the true gospel, and the true gospel has suffering as a key part of it.
So as a fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ,
as well as partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed,
shepherd the flock of God that is among you.
Exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly,
as God would have you, not for shameful gain, but eagerly.
not domineering over those in your charge,
but being examples to the flock.
See, there it is.
Now, in the Bible, the word shepherd and pastor
are the same word.
And there's one thing that says there,
but we used to do this eagerly.
And I just want to tell you
it is one of the great graces and pleasures in my life
to get to be the lead pastor of the Church of 1122.
And so what I'm,
I'm trying to do in these devos too is to shepherd you, and sometimes that's comfort,
and sometimes that's conviction. Now, I can't convict you only the Holy Spirit can,
and I can't comfort you only the Holy Spirit can. But I'm hoping and praying that God would use
the way I'm leading us like a shepherd would have a rod and a staff. One was to grab a sheep,
if they're going in the wrong direction and pull them back to safety, and one was to attack a wolf
when it was trying to take them out.
Verse four.
And when the chief shepherd appears,
by the way, this is why my title is not senior pastor.
Because a pretty good translation of chief shepherd is senior pastor.
And there is only one senior pastor of the church of 1122.
And his name is Jesus.
He is the chief shepherd.
I am but an under shepherd for a time.
May God give me 25, 30, I don't know,
until I'm unable to pay.
preach and teach and lead anymore, but hopefully what all the undershepherds at our church are doing,
even though I'm the lead pastor, I am under the authority of the senior pastor of the chief shepherd.
And when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive an unfading crown of glory likewise.
You who are younger, doesn't just mean an age, but like maybe immaturity, be subject to the elders.
And now Peter is going to give some commands.
clothes yourselves, all of you with humility towards one another.
For God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.
And what Peter's about to get into is this,
is that we have a spiritual enemy named the devil,
and he wants to kill, steal, and destroy everything good and godly in your life.
However, if we don't first humble ourselves under God's mighty right hand,
we don't even have to worry about the devil taking us out,
but God himself opposes the proud.
So let us as a people be humble and nothing should be more humbling to us than the cross of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
I mean, the cross declares to every single one of us that we don't got this, that we cannot by works of the law make ourselves righteous, that we are sinners in the hands of an angry yet merciful God.
And so we should be a humble people.
Now, in verse six, what he's going to do is Peter's going to give us point by point what you do when you're being attacked by the enemy.
Number one, he says this, humble yourself.
Humble yourself, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exhaust you.
Casting all your anxieties on him because he cares for you, be sober-minded, be watchful.
then he tells you why he's giving us these four ways, these four commands.
Here's why.
Your adversary, the devil, prows around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
So you and I have an enemy, a spiritual enemy that wants to steal, kill,
and destroy everything good and godly in your life.
Now, the enemy loves two different views that we may have of him.
One is he loves it when Christians get obsessed with him.
And that's where some people live.
They think there's a demon behind every bad hair day.
He also loves it when Christians in 2020 and beyond,
when we think we are so sophisticated
that we don't even consider him anymore.
And when we think that there is no demonic activity,
and when we think that there is no spiritual warfare
and when we think that there really is no enemy,
then he's got us right where he wants us.
And listen, if you don't think there is demonic activity,
then you explain to me what's happening in our country right now.
You think that's just a series of unfortunate events?
You think that's just a few bad decisions by a few bad apples?
No, no, no, no, no, my friend.
There is an enemy, the devil.
prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking to devour you.
So Peter says, so what do you do when the enemy's coming after you?
And if you know Jesus, he's coming after you.
Now, I will tell you this, if you haven't noticed any kind of attack of the enemy lately,
then you might want to check yourself.
Maybe you're so apathetic in your faith that the enemy doesn't want to do it.
anything to you to stir you up towards godliness. In fact, if you don't feel the current of this
crooked and depraved culture that we live in pushing against you pretty hard, then it could be.
You're just going with the flow. And that you act no different than the people that don't
claim Jesus has their Lord. You treat money the way they treat money. You treat sex the way they
treat sex. You treat entertainment the way they treat entertainment. And again, if he's not
coming after you, you may want to pay attention.
And so he says that the enemy prowls around like a roaring lion seeking to take you out.
Well, how do you stand against him?
First of all, if you knew that an actual lion was going to kill you, I want you to think about
this.
If somebody at work came to you and was like, hey, listen, Sarah, I've got bad news.
There's a lion, and he's in the park lot, and he is trying to eat you.
Wouldn't everything about your life change?
Like you would walk to your car differently.
You wouldn't just like be about out to your car
when work was over, would you?
You would get to the door and you would look and be like,
anybody seen a lion out here and you would not casually stroll to your car?
He would sprint to your car.
And then you'd probably work from home forever than forever and ever, never.
We should be this vigilant against this enemy that wants to take us out.
Well, how?
How do you fight against him?
According to 1st Peter.
And then there's lots of places in the scripture that we see.
We're going to talk about a different one tomorrow.
You can go to Ephesus chapter 6 and look at the armor of God and how to stand firm against
the enemy.
But the way Peter says, Peter actually gives us five things, four explicitly and one implicitly.
Number one, humble yourself, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper
time he may exalt you.
You bend your knee to the cross of Jesus Christ.
You understand that God's got this, that you on your own and got this.
In other words, you on your own do not have.
power and dominion over your sin, but you do, through Jesus Christ, through the blood of Jesus Christ,
you are more than a conqueror. And so the way you fight against him is not to stand up and beat
your chest as if you can do this, but it's to humble your need, to bend your knee through
the gospel of Jesus at the cross and say, Jesus, I need your help. Humility is number one.
Secondly, is prayer, prayer, casting all your anxieties on him because he cares for you.
See, one of the great ways that the enemy attacks us is with fear and anxiety.
This is why the most commanded thing in all the scriptures is this.
Don't be afraid.
In fact, in the book of Philippians, I quote this all the time.
Paul says, don't be anxious about anything.
Are you anxious about something?
You're anxious about your job?
Are you anxious about your health?
Are you anxious about the situation that our nation is,
in, are you anxious about racial tensions? Are you anxious about whatever, money?
Paul goes, don't do that. And you think, how? If a lion is coming after me, I'm a bit anxious.
He says, be anxious about nothing, but in prayer and supplication, make your request known to God
about everything. And the God of peace that transcends understanding will
guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. That's how Paul says it. Peter says, here's what you do.
Cast your anxieties on him. Throw your cares. Our problem is too many times like you come to church
and at the end of the service, you come down to the altar and you cast your cares upon the
altar, you cast your cares upon him. But we cast it. You see, when they cast it, they, this means like
throw it away. We cast it like a fishing rod. Like we throw it out there, but then we hang on to
the other end, and then we would just reel our anxieties right back in. Listen, I would contend
it's not actually prayer until you have transferred the anxiety or the worry over to God and away
from you. Up to that point, it's just like informing God of what's happening in your life.
So with all your might and all your intensity, throw all of your fears and anxieties on him
and choose faith over fear. Some or two, pray.
Number three, be sober-minded.
This means that we are not to be ruled by our emotions.
God gave us emotion to navigate this thing called Life.
See Ecclesiastes 3.
Maybe one day we will walk through it.
There's a whole list of different emotions there
based on the circumstances that we find ourselves in,
but we understand as believers that our circumstances,
our circumstances are not in charge,
that our sovereign Savior is in charge.
So be sober-minded.
In other words, guard your doctrine.
say rooted in the word of God.
Don't be tossed around by every new opinion or, and please, please, please don't trust everything
you see on TV.
And please don't trust everything that you see on the internet.
Be sober-minded and start right here with the Word of God.
Don't be ruled by your emotions.
Be rooted in the truth of God.
The truth will set you free.
And then lastly, be watchful.
quit being so lazy in your faith.
Get up every day and get on your knees and go to war in prayer for the souls of your one more,
for reconciliation for your marriage, that your prodigal kids might come home,
that this COVID virus would cease, that our world could get back together.
Quit being so lazy.
You see, we get lulled into this comfort, comatose state as Christians in America.
And the only time we get upset is when something happens to make us uncomfortable.
Be watchful.
That means stay awake.
Why?
Because your adversary, the devil prows around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.
Here's the implicit one, I think, is you better get in the herd.
Talk about it all the time.
If you watch the animal planet, the lion always picks off the one that is outside of the herd.
Fellowship, biblical fellowship, and accountability.
is a key way to resist the enemy.
Who do you have in your life that's praying for you,
other than your mama?
And you don't even tell her to truth,
so she can't really pray.
I mean, the prayers of moms are powerful for sure,
but you're telling her everything you're struggling with?
I don't think so.
You need a band of brothers, a band of sisters,
that when you are limping and gimpy
and not doing so well emotionally or physically
or financially or relational or whatever,
that you've got a herd that gets you into,
the middle of the herd to protect you in your weakest moments.
Also, it's time for us Church of 1122 to look around, man, look around.
Do you see, are you missing some people that used to be a part of your group?
Now is a great time to reach out to them.
If you scroll to somebody's Facebook and you just see them just regurgitating a whole bunch of pain,
the thing is not to avoid them to reach out to them and say, come on, come on.
Come on.
You can throw up on us, but do it.
from the middle of the herd because it is those people that are most susceptible to be picked off
by the adversary. It says, resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of
sufferings are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered
a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ,
will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.
to him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen. Let's pray.
Your God, we know that we have an enemy and adversary, but Lord, we know that he has already been defeated.
That at the cross, when Jesus said, it has finished, he put death in his grave.
And so, Lord, it is like being at the end of a ballgame where the score is out of reach,
and we are in victory formation, just ticking down the clock.
Now, there for sure is a lot of work to be done between now and when you glorify yourself.
But, Lord, let us know that once and for all, the enemy has been defeated.
Now, may we sons and daughters of the Most High King walk in that victory.
God, I pray that we would be humble.
I pray that we would cast our anxieties upon you.
God, I pray that we would be sober-minded that we would not be ruled by our emotions.
God, I pray that we would be sober-minded that we would not be ruled by our emotions. God, I pray
that we would watch out, we would not be lazy.
And Lord, I pray that we would be connected into the body of Christ.
We pray it all.
In Jesus' name, amen.
Next.