Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Welcome to Truth for the journey from Clifford Baptist Church, 635 Fletcher's Level Road in Amherst. Tonight, Pastor Jeffrey returns to the battleground series with familiar phrase using various scriptures, the familiar phrase that Satan uses against us, that Satan tries to come into our lives with.
[00:00:20] I know that you're going to get a little bit of a Bible workout, so grab your Bibles and I'm going to start in Matthew Chapter number 22 tonight. Matthew, chapter number 22, if you want to turn there. Last week we discussed or last time we discussed fear, anger, temptation, pride and guilt. We discussed those five areas. Tonight we're going to add five more areas onto that for a total of 10 areas that Satan just wants to use as a battleground to get into our lives.
[00:00:52] You know, we may not see something as drastic as demon possession. Sometimes in our minds we think in order for Satan to be present, oh, somebody's got to be possessed with a demon or there's got to be a crazy. That's far from the case. That's far from the truth. And so this portion of this series is just to help us open our eyes to the areas where Satan just wants a hold of. And so Matthew chapter number 22. I just want to share these two verses with you. You know them well. You know them as the greatest commandment. Matthew 22, verse number 37. Here's what God's word says. Jesus said unto him, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. Amen.
[00:01:43] We are to love the Lord with all of our heart, with all of our soul, with all of our mind. Now listen, when we think about areas that Satan is trying to get ahold of, Satan made Adam and Eve disobey the very first command or one command, right?
[00:02:02] And Satan's object, Satan's goal, is that we will disobey this greatest commandment, that we will not love the Lord with all our heart, our soul, our mind, our strength. We will not love him with everything that we are. And so he just wants to get us distracted from that. And so tonight, as we think about the second list of five things, we are going to start with.
[00:02:29] Doubt, discouragement.
[00:02:34] Maybe you have been discouraged in your walk with the Lord.
[00:02:38] And my prayer is that as we think about doubt and discouragement, it's easy for Satan to get his foothold there.
[00:02:47] How many of you know a Christian, a believer that's discouraged?
[00:02:53] How many of you know a Christian that's discouraged? And now Those seeds of doubt have been planted and they're wondering, okay, is God really good like he says, like the preacher says?
[00:03:05] And so this is one of the primary areas that Satan goes to battle.
[00:03:11] His strategies have not changed.
[00:03:14] So Satan knows that if we doubt God, if we doubt his word, if we begin to question anything or everything related to God, then he has a foothold in our life.
[00:03:27] When we begin to doubt, our faith and our trust and our obedience to God, all are weakened.
[00:03:35] But then doubt, once it takes root, it leads to discouragement.
[00:03:40] And it's like a bad apple. That stuff gets contagious.
[00:03:47] Have you ever been around a discouraged Christian?
[00:03:51] Trust me, I visit them and I try to encourage them. But there's sometimes a line when discouragement, you just got to say, I can't be around that because. Because it's contagious.
[00:04:04] And so doubt and discouragement are one of those areas that Satan likes to use.
[00:04:13] That seed of doubt, ask the question, how can God love someone like me?
[00:04:21] Maybe it causes you to look at your past.
[00:04:24] Maybe it causes you to question, can God love someone as bad as I am?
[00:04:30] That discouragement leaves people to give up and walk away from their faith. And it all started with that seed of doubt.
[00:04:40] What is the Achilles heel for Christians?
[00:04:46] A place where we're vulnerable.
[00:04:49] I would argue tonight the place that we are most vulnerable in our lives is the area of unbelief.
[00:04:59] And that's where doubt sets in.
[00:05:03] Amen.
[00:05:04] When we think about unbelief, that is a battle that Satan goes and wages.
[00:05:15] When we think about that, when we can't fight our doubt, when we can't fight unbelief on our own, we need help.
[00:05:23] How do you relate to unbelief? Or how do you fight your unbelief?
[00:05:28] Is it the story of the Israelites in the wilderness?
[00:05:32] You all know that story. The grumbling and complaining and the forgetting, how God has taken care of them.
[00:05:41] In a couple of weeks, you're going to hear a sermon on Sunday mornings about the disciples in the boat with Jesus in the storm.
[00:05:50] Maybe it's the doubt of Moses or Gideon.
[00:05:55] Maybe doubt sounds like Sarah's laugh when God told her she was going to have a child.
[00:06:05] Maybe. Maybe doubt looks like the spies going into the promised land.
[00:06:11] Many of them, most of them saying, we can't do it.
[00:06:19] Maybe your doubt looks like Thomas that says, I need to see his hands. I need to put my finger into the print of the nails. I need to put my hand into his side or I will not believe Those are Thomas direct words. And so when we think about that, we think about Pharaoh in Exodus. Exodus, chapter 5, verse 2 says, who is the Lord? That I should obey his voice to let Israel go. Who is God?
[00:06:50] And so when we look at all of these situations, and even Agrippa's words to Paul In Acts 26, you almost persuaded me to be a Christian. Those words are powerful.
[00:07:02] But I want to start tonight in Mark, chapter nine. Mark, chapter nine. Go there in your Bibles. Mark, chapter nine.
[00:07:13] Very familiar story to you. Mark, chapter nine, Starting with verse number 17.
[00:07:26] Now, I may not read all of this word for word, but in this selection of scripture, from Mark 9:17 through verse number 29, there is a demon possessed boy.
[00:07:39] And as this demon possessed boy is recognized, he's foaming from his mouth, he gnashes his teeth, he doesn't speak.
[00:07:49] This demon has control over this boy's body, so. So much so that it throws him in the fire and it throws him in the water and it tries to take his life.
[00:08:00] Now, if somebody like that showed up at Clifford Baptist Church, you know, we would say, oh, that's the devil.
[00:08:07] But can I argue tonight that Satan has a foothold in some lives that are represented here tonight.
[00:08:15] And we're not foaming at the mouth or gnashing our teeth.
[00:08:20] So when we think about demon possession, we look at this boy whose life has been just overtaken by Satan.
[00:08:29] And he is brought to the disciples. And the disciples can't do anything with the situation, with the boy, with the demons.
[00:08:38] And I need you to understand how Jesus addresses this situation.
[00:08:45] The first thing that he does is he addresses the Father. Look in verse number 23, he says this.
[00:08:53] If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. Can you, if you will, just believe?
[00:09:02] Here's what I need you to know. If you will just believe anything is possible.
[00:09:08] And so, as he addresses the Father of this boy whose child is destroyed, really destroyed by these demons, we see that he addresses the Father.
[00:09:21] And as he addresses that Father, if you will just believe anything that is possible.
[00:09:30] How many times in our life have we not relied on God?
[00:09:38] And when that happens, when that happens, we're not faithfully trusting in Him.
[00:09:47] Faith looks to Jesus, and this Father addresses Jesus. Lord, I believe, but help my unbelief.
[00:09:57] How many of you have prayed that prayer before? Be honest, right? It's been a part of areas of our life. We acknowledge that there's areas of unbelief. It is our Achilles heel. It is what keeps us from faithfully keeping our eyes on Jesus, that little seed of doubt, that unbelief.
[00:10:17] And so here's what I just want to encourage you with.
[00:10:22] I want you to see this. In this story. Mark, chapter nine.
[00:10:27] I want you to look at the end of it. At verse 25. Jesus saw the people came running together. He rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto them, thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him and enter no more into him. The spirit cried and rent him sore and came out of him. And he was as one dead. Insomuch that many said he is dead. But Jesus took him by the hand, lifted him up, and he arose. And when he was coming to the house, his disciples asked him privately, why could the not we cast him out? And he said unto them, this kind can come forth by nothing but by prayer and fasting.
[00:11:03] Here's what Jesus says.
[00:11:06] You just got to have faith.
[00:11:09] Prayer looks to Jesus, looks to God. Prayer looks to God. You weren't doing that. You try to do it in your own strength. That's why you couldn't do it fasting. Fasting is when you don't partake and you look to God to give you what you need. You're looking to God.
[00:11:30] What does Jesus say about the generation?
[00:11:34] What about the people that are here?
[00:11:37] It is a generation that is filled with unbelief. Look in verse number 19, Matthew. Excuse me, Mark 9, 19. He answered and said, o faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? Bring him to me tonight.
[00:11:55] Tonight. Those areas where you need help that you recognize, hey, I have a seed of doubt here. There's some unbelief here. You need to bring that to Jesus.
[00:12:07] The battlefield that Satan wins on is one that is rooted in doubt, in unbelief.
[00:12:16] And when we understand that, we will simply keep our eyes on Jesus Root. Real quickly, you need to always look to Jesus.
[00:12:26] You need to give the areas of unbelief to the Lord. And in Jeffrey's three words, pray, pray, pray.
[00:12:35] You need to look to the Lord tonight. Maybe you are experiencing something like this.
[00:12:44] Maybe something has happened, something in your life has jarred you and you're doubting salvation. You're doubting your. Your faith. You're doubting what Jesus did on the cross. Is that good enough to save someone like me?
[00:12:59] When you put your eyes on Jesus, here's the answer. Absolutely it is. It's enough.
[00:13:08] There's a second area, and that second area of battle is that of failure.
[00:13:17] Satan can use Personal failures to discourage and to condemn the believer.
[00:13:23] It leads us to feel like we're unworthy.
[00:13:28] But what happens when we understand the verse from Peter that says Satan is like a roaring lion?
[00:13:40] What happens when all you hear is the roar?
[00:13:46] You know who it is, you know what's going on.
[00:13:50] And all that roaring is.
[00:13:54] It makes you feel like you have failed. You're not good enough, and you'll never be good enough. The roaring lion oftentimes doesn't even have to attack. All he has to do is roar.
[00:14:08] All he has to do is roar. And when he roars, we just cower down.
[00:14:15] But just because he roars doesn't mean he's won.
[00:14:20] And there are times that Satan will throw in your face that you are not good enough, that you'll never be good enough. But as I read my Bible, I see this.
[00:14:31] David failed.
[00:14:34] Simon Peter failed.
[00:14:37] Jesus even told him what exactly he would do, and he did it three times, and he failed God.
[00:14:46] What happens when you fail God?
[00:14:50] Do you think we're all 100% faithful?
[00:14:56] All right, you acknowledge that, right? There are areas that we fail.
[00:15:01] But what do we do? Do we just sit down and move on and God will never use us again? No. Here's what you do. You admit where you failed. You seek the Lord's forgiveness. And according to 2nd Corinthians 12:9, his grace is sufficient for you.
[00:15:19] When we understand that.
[00:15:22] But I want you to go with me to Psalm 51 tonight. Psalm 51.
[00:15:26] So jump over to your Old Testament, Psalm 51.
[00:15:43] I was listening to a podcast today, and we often give Bathsheba the credit for David's failure. But it's amazing how many times that Uriah. It comes back to Uriah. Really? David sinned against God, but he also sinned against Uriah. Okay? And so when we understand that, listen to these words, and maybe at the top of your Bible at Psalm 51, it says the same thing. Here's what mine says after he had gone into Bathsheba.
[00:16:14] So these are his words after he realized that he had sinned. Here's what he says. Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving kindness, according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.
[00:16:37] Those first three verses acknowledge failure, but it also acknowledges this, that God can forgive.
[00:16:47] It acknowledges failure. Yes, I messed up. Yes, God, forgive me. I know that you can wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. Look at verse number seven.
[00:17:01] Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. There's only one thing that can cleanse us from sin.
[00:17:12] For us, it's different than David. It's the blood of Jesus for you and I.
[00:17:19] And then look at verse 10, Psalm 51, verse number 10. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. So it wasn't just about admitting failure and seeking God's forgiveness. It was a heart change, a spirit change.
[00:17:38] I'm not going to go there again.
[00:17:41] And so when you fail God, all you have to do is come before him, seek his forgiveness, acknowledge your failure, and ask God to change your heart.
[00:17:52] Listen to me. Don't go running back to the same sin because you're not sorry if you do that.
[00:18:03] It's amazing what God can do.
[00:18:06] And David is a picture in our Bible and so many times of. Of how he failed God.
[00:18:13] But man, what a picture of God's redeeming love and grace for David and over his life.
[00:18:19] Here's the truth.
[00:18:21] God forgives.
[00:18:24] When you fail.
[00:18:26] You need to acknowledge that failure. You need to seek God's forgiveness, and you need to make sure that it doesn't happen again. That's how God works.
[00:18:39] So tonight, maybe you're here and in the back of your mind, you can. You have a running list of the things that you've done to fail God.
[00:18:50] Well, listen, the Lord has tore that thing into pieces.
[00:18:57] If you've sought his forgiveness, if you've acknowledged it before him, if you've turned away from it, he rips it in pieces.
[00:19:06] That doesn't mean you're perfect. It means you're forgiven.
[00:19:10] And so tonight, praise God that we are a forgiven people.
[00:19:16] And we acknowledge that we have failed God in so many ways.
[00:19:22] So failure. Don't let that little voice. Don't let that little voice inside your head tell you that you can never do that.
[00:19:31] I was blessed by a mom. I'm going to tell a little story here. I was blessed by a mother. At the time, I thought she was the meanest woman in Amherst County. Okay. When I was a teenager. But I was blessed by a mother that always told me that if you put your mind to it, God will lead you no matter what you want to do.
[00:19:53] And what she tried to do for a teenager is just to encourage him, just to not go after my dreams, but put your mind to what The Lord has for you to do and just go do it.
[00:20:05] And they look like this. Like.
[00:20:07] I couldn't have designed that track if I wanted to, right?
[00:20:12] But it's amazing.
[00:20:14] My mom did not.
[00:20:16] My mom didn't want to raise a failure.
[00:20:20] My standard in school was nothing below an A.
[00:20:23] That was my standard.
[00:20:29] I passed the test.
[00:20:32] She set the bar high academically for our family name. She set the bar high.
[00:20:41] Don't you dare.
[00:20:46] But what about God?
[00:20:49] I look today I stand before you. I'm far from perfect and I'm far from the bar.
[00:20:55] Jesus Christ is the bar.
[00:20:58] And the Bible tells us that we all have fallen short, but we can be forgiven.
[00:21:07] Pursue Jesus. Pursue Jesus. As David pursued the Lord.
[00:21:12] The third area of battle is that of suffering, illness and tragedy.
[00:21:21] I write this section after doing two funerals last week of people in their 30s.
[00:21:30] Today, just today, getting a call. A 27 year old has died.
[00:21:38] Illness, suffering, tragedy in our minds.
[00:21:44] Maybe you've heard these, Maybe you've used these. I'm done.
[00:21:50] Well, you don't understand.
[00:21:55] I can't pray.
[00:21:57] I can't talk to God. Have you ever heard those sayings? I heard them last week.
[00:22:06] It's hard when we think about young deaths in our community. Our unexpected diagnosis, our children suffering. Listen, I don't have the answers for any of it.
[00:22:18] But Satan's strategy is this. Is that during those times, he doesn't want you to turn to God.
[00:22:27] Job, you all know the story.
[00:22:32] What did Job's helpmate tell him? What did Job's wife tell him?
[00:22:40] You know the story. Curse God and die, right?
[00:22:47] I don't know that those are the words of Job's wife as much as they are words of Satan's attack.
[00:22:54] Satan had permission, remember?
[00:22:56] Satan had permission.
[00:22:58] And even in his own family. Just curse God and die.
[00:23:06] That's Satan's nature.
[00:23:09] When we think about strawberries in your refrigerator, you ever had a strawberry grow, stuff in the refrigerator turns white and fuzzy and gray and nasty.
[00:23:22] Now look, I'm not judging you, but if you keep that container, something's wrong with you, okay?
[00:23:30] That whole container goes in the trash when that happens. So Jeffrey's goal is to eat them all before that happens. That's my goal, right?
[00:23:38] But listen, when we think about one strawberry just ruining the whole batch. Look, there are times if God can get you doubting, if God can get you questioning, if God can get you saying, I'm done. I don't understand. I don't know why.
[00:23:55] Then you will infect everybody around you.
[00:24:07] Maybe you Remember the Israelites wandering in the desert.
[00:24:14] Exodus 14.
[00:24:17] I'm going to turn there. If you want to join me there, you can. Exodus chapter number 14, verse number 12.
[00:24:27] Exodus 14:12.
[00:24:32] Now where we are at Scripture. They're getting ready. They're on the cusp of the promised land.
[00:24:40] And the Egyptians are on the way.
[00:24:42] They have not. God is not part of the Red Sea. They've got the Red Sea at their back. God is not part of that. Yet their back's against the sea. Here comes the Egyptians, and what do the Israelites begin to do?
[00:24:56] Look at verse number 12. Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that which we should die in the wilderness?
[00:25:11] God, you should have just left us there.
[00:25:13] We could have been okay as slaves to the Egyptians rather than coming all this way. And now we're going to die. In this moment, Through the trouble, God reminds us that he is near.
[00:25:32] The Bible says in James 4, 8, draw near to God and he will draw near to you.
[00:25:38] Jesus says in John 16:33, in this world there will be trouble. Be of good cheer. I have overcome the world.
[00:25:50] Amen.
[00:25:53] Jesus has overcome the world.
[00:25:55] And so when we see sickness, listen. I don't have the answers.
[00:26:00] I don't have the answers to why things happen.
[00:26:04] I walked with my wife for two years through a cancer battle. I still don't know why.
[00:26:10] She never drank a drink.
[00:26:13] She never smoked anything.
[00:26:19] I don't understand it.
[00:26:23] I paced the floor.
[00:26:27] Many of you have been there, but here's what I can tell you that is true. God is faithful.
[00:26:34] And even when you suffer, even when you hurt, even though you have to go through a season of time, listen. Look to God. Through the majority of. Don't question God. God, why did you bring us this far? No, no, no, no.
[00:26:49] I'm not done.
[00:26:51] I'm not done.
[00:26:54] A couple of verses later, in Exodus, chapter 14, guess what happens?
[00:26:58] They walking on dry land.
[00:27:03] We can't see the end. We don't know the answers. And sometimes illness and tragedy and suffering hurts us deep.
[00:27:12] But when it causes you to question your God, Satan's got a foothold.
[00:27:20] He's in the battle.
[00:27:24] The fourth area.
[00:27:26] Excuse me. I'm going to give you a verse.
[00:27:28] Romans 8, 18.
[00:27:32] For I reckon the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
[00:27:41] That's your verse. Cling to that verse if you're having a hard time, trouble, suffering, illness, tragedy, dealing with all of that. Romans 8:18 cling to that.
[00:27:54] The fourth area is loneliness.
[00:27:58] The Bible teaches us that relationships are important. What's the most important relationship you have? Church. You should get this right.
[00:28:06] The one with Jesus. Right, Jesus Christ. That's your most important relationship. Absolutely. But you were created to have relationship with God, your creator, and we do that through Jesus. But you are also created to be in relationship with other believers. Romans 12:5 says so we, being many, are one body in Christ and everyone members of one of another. Hebrews 10, 24 and 25. We're encouraged to spur one another on. So we need one another.
[00:28:41] Christians need one another first. Thessalonians 5:11 encourages us to build one another up.
[00:28:50] And so what happens? What do you do when isolation becomes what you desire?
[00:28:58] I'm going to be honest with you. This is a feeling that is real to leaders, Whether it means pastor someone in leadership. Listen, when we think of Moses leading.
[00:29:15] Moses led from a godly perspective, but he led with constant complaints and criticism.
[00:29:23] No matter what he did, he could never make the right choice, even though he was trying to follow God to the best of his ability.
[00:29:33] And so leaders often find themselves in a very, very, very lonely place.
[00:29:41] As a manager in the corporate world, you had 20 people working on you, and you had a couple people over top of you. And I was caught in the middle of all of them.
[00:29:53] Again, you can't do anything right. Some of you can relate to that at work.
[00:29:58] And so when we understand this, we understand that loneliness is real.
[00:30:06] Psalm 13.
[00:30:08] David writes this.
[00:30:10] How long will you forget me?
[00:30:15] Forever.
[00:30:18] Okay. God, where you at?
[00:30:24] I'm waiting. I'm doing what I'm supposed to. I need to hear from you.
[00:30:30] Jeremiah 15.
[00:30:34] If you want to take your Bibles, go to the Old Testament. That's kind of where I'm going to be for this point. Jeremiah, chapter number 15 and verse number 17.
[00:30:48] Listen to Jeremiah.
[00:30:50] Here's what he says. Jeremiah 15:17.
[00:30:54] I sat not in the assembly of the mockers nor rejoiced.
[00:30:59] I sat alone because of thy hand.
[00:31:05] God, you sent me here.
[00:31:10] I can't sit with the people that don't like me. They're making fun of me.
[00:31:16] They don't want to hear what I need to say.
[00:31:18] God, I'm where I am. I'm alone because of you.
[00:31:27] God called him to prophesy over Judah.
[00:31:30] Jeremiah is known as the weeping prophet because he wept over the rebellion of those people there. And God didn't allow him to even to be married. If you look into chapter number 16, God says, Look, you can't even go get married. You can't even have children. You ought to be alone.
[00:31:53] What this lonely man says, God, I'm lonely because of you.
[00:32:11] But on the other hand, he had hope.
[00:32:14] He had hope that a nation would come back to its God.
[00:32:20] And According to scripture, 40 years of preaching and zero people responded.
[00:32:27] I told you. I told you leadership can be lonely.
[00:32:30] Poor pastor, right? Poor leader.
[00:32:35] Here he is asking people to come to God and no one responds.
[00:32:43] He's doing what God wanted him to do, and yet if you read into scripture, he's lonely.
[00:32:51] But here's what you need to understand. If you read about Elijah, we referenced him last time. God came to Elijah. God heard David, and God knew that Jeremiah would proclaim the hope that the people needed.
[00:33:06] Matthew 11:28.
[00:33:10] He just says simply this, Come to me.
[00:33:15] Come to me.
[00:33:18] And so tonight, if you're battling loneliness, Jesus is your answer.
[00:33:24] Come unto me all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Jesus is that answer to loneliness.
[00:33:37] Now you may say pastor, that's easy for you to say.
[00:33:43] Another word of testimony.
[00:33:46] Biggest church in Amherst. And sometimes it's the lonely place.
[00:33:52] Nothing that you're doing.
[00:33:56] Sometimes you can't make the right decision no matter what you do.
[00:34:00] Okay, God, I gotta trust this to you.
[00:34:07] Driving down the road late at night, God, gotta trust it to you.
[00:34:16] My favorite place of loneliness is my office.
[00:34:20] But I'm never lonely because in that place I meet God.
[00:34:27] I love my church.
[00:34:31] I love the people that make up my church.
[00:34:34] And here's what I realize.
[00:34:38] At times, we all probably deal with a little bit of loneliness.
[00:34:42] Some people don't want to be around people.
[00:34:48] Some people have had situations that have caused loneliness.
[00:34:52] They've lost someone.
[00:34:56] Run to Jesus.
[00:34:58] That's what you need.
[00:35:01] Praise God.
[00:35:03] There's one more area of battle, and it will close us for this couple of weeks, and that's worldly success.
[00:35:15] Maybe it's different in your Bible, but on my Bible, the same place that we started, I want you to go there. Mark, chapter eight. It's on the same page in which we started tonight, in Mark, chapter nine.
[00:35:28] But Mark, chapter eight, verse number 36. Listen to these words.
[00:35:35] For what shall a prophet, a man, if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?
[00:35:43] Verse 37. Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
[00:35:50] Success is not the enemy.
[00:35:56] But Satan can take our successes and make us forget the God who blessed Us with them.
[00:36:03] Jesus says there can be an exchange. That happens.
[00:36:08] If we read that verse number 35 again. For whosoever will save his life. Or, excuse me, verse number 36. For what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? What shall a man give in exchange? There's that exchange. Exchange for your soul. What will you exchange for your soul?
[00:36:31] Do you battle the pull of the worldly success?
[00:36:36] I do.
[00:36:41] We do.
[00:36:45] The success is not the enemy.
[00:36:48] But Satan can use that. That an exchange takes place, that you trade in Satan something that will become your idol for God.
[00:36:59] Maybe it's job, finances, influence. Maybe it's something physical that you need.
[00:37:07] Those things become our idols. And idols are God's Christian.
[00:37:17] The greatest, the greatest thing that we must be is little Christ.
[00:37:24] The greatest title that you can ever carry is that of a Christian.
[00:37:30] It supersedes that of a husband or a wife.
[00:37:35] It supersedes that of a mom or dad.
[00:37:38] The greatest success in life is that of being associated with Christ.
[00:37:46] People need Jesus, but people also say, I need this more than I need the Lord.
[00:37:58] And so tonight, the battleground for worldly success.
[00:38:07] Success makes us look at others.
[00:38:11] Instead of God keeping up with the Joneses, we look at what somebody else has. So we figure we need to do that again. Our eyes are not on God.
[00:38:25] We've got our eyes on the things of the world.
[00:38:28] And so we face that same temptation or that same battle that we want to make an exchange.
[00:38:38] Matthew, chapter number four.
[00:38:42] This is kind of where I'm going to end my night.
[00:38:46] Matthew, chapter number four.
[00:38:50] The only reason I tell you that we face it is because Jesus himself faced it.
[00:38:55] You remember when Satan tempted Jesus.
[00:38:59] Matthew chapter 4, verses 8 and 9.
[00:39:03] Again, the devil taketh him up to exceeding high mountain, shows him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them. And he said unto him, all these things will I give thee if thou will fall down and worship me.
[00:39:19] Worldly success, kingdoms and powers.
[00:39:23] He was already in control of it all.
[00:39:27] Satan says, here, I'll give it to you if you'll just bow down.
[00:39:33] If Jesus faced that temptation, so will we.
[00:39:38] Be careful. Be very careful of what you bow your knee to.
[00:39:45] My prayer tonight is the only thing that we bow our knee to is the Lord Almighty.
[00:39:52] But the temptation is to run the world. Not only run in the world, but run with the world and all the successes that it would offer tonight.
[00:40:07] That kind of closes our study of those 10 areas. Now, are there many more? Are there others? Absolutely. There are others.
[00:40:16] But what is our take home tonight?
[00:40:19] Maybe tonight one of these areas has struck you.
[00:40:26] I'm going to give you the list real quick of all 10 of them.
[00:40:30] Fear, anger, temptation, pride, guilt, doubt, loneliness, illness, failure and worldly success.
[00:40:52] I don't know where your battle is tonight, but here's where I want to encourage you to do. Surrender it to the Lord.
[00:41:00] He will give you the strength. Put your eyes on Jesus and just faithfully follow.
[00:41:06] Faithfully follow.
[00:41:08] So tonight I just want to offer a time of prayer. Maybe you're dealing in one of these areas. You know Satan is alive and well. You know that you're fighting that temptation.
[00:41:20] Put it in the hands of the Lord tonight.
[00:41:24] May God use that situation to grow your faith in him.
[00:41:29] Let's pray together, Father. Lord, tonight, thank you.
[00:41:32] Thank you for your word.
[00:41:35] And Lord, tonight, as we think about these 10 areas, and maybe there are others, Lord, that are represented in the room. Lord, that Satan wants to get a foothold, a stronghold in our life. He wants to get our eyes off of you. He wants. He wants us to forget about the greatest commandment, to love the Lord with all of our heart, all of our soul, all of our mind, all of our strength.
[00:41:55] God, tonight, Lord, if something has replaced Jesus in someone's life, oh God, I pray that you will do a work, Lord, that you will reset the priorities, that you will reset the heart, recalibrate it, Lord, to you, God. I think that can happen here tonight, Lord, as we turn to you, Lord, I pray, Lord, that you not necessarily will take it all away, but God, that you will show up in each one of these situations and show that you truly are God.
[00:42:37] Lord, lead in these areas. I pray and Lord, tonight I pray, Lord, for a church family, Lord, that we desire.
[00:42:47] Our sole desire is to follow you, Lord. Anything that is hindering that, anything that's trying to distract us or even take your place, Lord, we give that to you tonight.
[00:43:01] So God, go before us those that are dealing with hurt, loss, tragedy, anger.
[00:43:10] Lord, I pray, Lord, that you will work in those situations as well.
[00:43:16] God, thank you, thank you that you meet us where we are and tonight, Lord, we're asking you to meet us in these moments in Jesus name. Amen. Clifford Baptist Church invites you to join us for worship every Sunday morning at 11am for more information about our church, please call our church office at 434-946-0555.
