This morning as we explore the armor of God we will see our battle, our armor, and our power . . . I. Our Battle  v.10-12 – Be strong in the Lord – Be convinced about His concern for you – Be strong in the strength of His might – Don’t trust in yourself rest in Him    * How? – Put on the whole armor of God – Don’t leave anything out    *… Continue reading

I. The Enemy’s Request  v.31 – Satan demanded permission to sift Peter like wheat    * The fact that Satan would demand anything from God seems BOLD! – But, this tells us something about our enemy    * Satan targets people who are on track with God – Be a threat! – Sift like wheat – At that time it was a violent shaking to cause the shaft to turn loose of the wheat grain… Continue reading

I. Our Stuff  Job 1:6-12 – First we see Satan’s appearance before God – He presented himself – Notice that Satan responds to God at His questioning – God asks him where he has been – roaming around the earth – God’s suggestion seems to indicate that Satan’s roaming was to find people who served God whom he could attack – God points Satan to Job stating he is blameless, upright, fears God, and turns away from… Continue reading

I. Temptation of the Flesh  v.1-4 – There are natural desires our flesh has that are not sinful in themselves but become sinful by how we meet those needs: Sex, food, acceptance – Interesting – The devil only approached Jesus after his flesh was in a weakened state – He always presents himself as the solution to your need – The devil’s temptation to Jesus was giving in to His physical needs as a means… Continue reading

I. How The Enemy Approaches  v.1 – The enemy doesn’t always deal with us directly, sometimes he uses a messenger – The enemy picks his messengers carefully to suit his purposes – Here he picked the beast who was more crafty than any other beast of the field    * Crafty – to form a cunning plan, to deal subtly. In other words he was a smooth talker with ulterior motives – This was an… Continue reading

I. The Devil Seeks Victims  1 Peter 5:6-11 – Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour – Lions roar to claim their territory – The perfect victims are:    * Prideful – I don’t need anyone – Don’t even realize they need the Lord    * Anxious – Not understanding your relationship with the Lord – You are safe    * Not in touch with the Spirit –… Continue reading

I. What is Tithing?  Malachi 3:8-12 – The word “Tithe” means 10% by definition – Explain a paycheck – In this passage God tells the people that they were robbing Him! – Can youimagine planning a crime to steal money from God – We would say you are crazy – But we do it and redefine it by saying:    * I don’t know how I am going to make it if it tithe –… Continue reading

I. The Command  Matthew 28:16-21 – As Jesus was departing He gave His disciples the command to go make disciples of all the nations – Let’s take a look and see what happened! – They worshipped but some doubted – Jesus charged them all regardless – Their doubts did not remove their responsibility – We go in His authority – You have nothing to fear – We are charged to go make disciples and baptize… Continue reading

This morning as we explore how we are called to restore Christians we will see our assignment, our attitude, and our approach. . . I. Our Assignment  2 Corinthians 5:16-21 – How we see people matters! – According to the flesh or the Spirit? – We must see people as the new creation they are in Christ – Recognize what God has done in other believers – Focus on identity and behavior will follow –… Continue reading

This morning as we explore how we are family we will discover who our family is, what marks our family, and how we are to relate to one another. . . I. Who is Our Family? – Its important if we are going to relate as family that we know who our family is: – Ephesians 2:8-9 – Our family are those who have been saved – 1 Corinthians 12:13 – We are baptized… Continue reading