Watch Out For The Lion

1 Pet 5:6-11

We will be finishing our study of 1 Peter today with his final encouragement and warning of Satan in the world. This book has so much to offer our daily walk with God. Make sure and read it regularly.

The movie “Ghosts in the Darkness” was based on a true story in Africa. In fact, the two lions are in the Field Museum in Chicago. In the early 1900’s The British were working on building a railroad through a very rugged part of Africa. During that time, 2 lions began attacking the workers often killing them. These animals were killing for the sake of killing, not to eat. By the time they were killed, the lions had killed over 100 people. People were absolutely terrified to even sleep at night. They were dragged out of their tents, killed in the hospital. Even attacked in daylight as they worked.

These lions make a great picture of what Satan is all about. He is unbelievably deadly, he attacks us wherever he finds us. Yet, just like those lions he can be defeated.

PRAYER

I. Give Your Cares To God

A. Humble yourselves

1. As I mentioned last week, for the church to be at it’s best we need to humble ourselves before God.

2. When we make God king of our lives, it takes away a lot of our stress.

3. We don’t have to feel like we have to come up with all the answers.

B. God will take care for us.

1. From the time Jesus said for us not to worry in Matt 6, it’s been a constant struggle for people to remember that.

2. Several times in scriptures the writers remind Christians that Jesus cares for them and don’t let the worries of life bring them down.

3. It’s still a good reminder to us today.

4. I love our sign outside this week, it says, “if God is your co-pilot, swap places.

5. God knows what we need better than we do and he will take care of us.

6. Sometimes that gets hard to believe as we get caught up in our lives, but the bigger picture proves this to be true time and time again.

II. The Roaring Lion

A. Watch out!

1. Peter uses a great technique here.

2. He could dwell on how powerful and dangerous Satan is and terrify his readers to the point, that they can’t get past his power to see God’s power.

3. Instead he addresses what God can do and that he really cares about us, THEN, he talks about Satan and what he is up to.

B. Self-controlled

1. In the ancient world of hand to hand combat, armies were slaughtered when they lost their nerve and began to run from the enemy. The victorious army would attack their backs, or small groups and annihilate the broken army. They more often killed more soldiers as they ran away from the battlefield than in the actual battle.

2. The great armies, were able to survive defeat when they remained self-controlled and moved back in a well organized fashion. They lived to fight and win another day.

C. Be Alert

1. Ambush is a favorite tactic of a predator.

2. If you watch the discovery channel you will see the successful kills were when predators were able to sneak up on unsuspecting animals and kill them by getting to their unprotected vital spots. If the animal was alert, it would usually spot the attacker and escape before they got close enough to make the kill.

3. We know Satan is out there looking for his chance to sneak in a make a kill.

4. Don’t let down your defenses and give him the chance.

5. Your open area might be discouragement, it might be thinking you don’t need the church, it might be pride of thinking your too strong to be taken, it might be a sin issue, it might be just plain ignorance about the fact that Satan is gunning for YOU!

6. We need to stay alert. Believe me, Satan is.

D. Resist him

1. Peter makes an interesting statement here. He writes that we should resist Satan by standing firm in the faith.

2. He acknowledges that Satan will attack, but just because he finds our weak spot, it doesn’t mean we have to give in without a fight.

3. We can win the fight if we remember to stand firm in the faith.

4. Not only that, but we aren’t alone in this battle, gain strength from other brothers and sisters who are facing Satan every day too.

E. God will restore us

1. Peter says God himself will restore us after we have suffered a little while.

2. Every large museum has a restoration team. These men and women take paintings and other artwork that isn’t in the pristine condition that it was originally, and slowly, carefully, lovingly, restore that work to how it was when first done.

3. Satan does a lot of damage to us, the effects of sin can be catastrophic physically and without a doubt spiritually. Yet, God will mend, restore us to pristine condition, with even more care and love than those art pieces that the restoration teams that work on them.

4. Do you need restoration after being mauled by the deadly lion of sin?