The Elders, over the last several months, have had a burden to do all we can to encourage people who attend our church to get into the word and let God’s light guide us. The family nights we had this summer on Wednesday’s is an example of how we are trying to strengthen our church in the Word. While we know crazy things are happening around us, we know from Scripture it is spiritual warfare caused by Satan. We need to know more about our enemy so we can make better use of our spiritual armor Paul writes about in Ephesians 6:11-18.
Lucifer, which means daystar, light bearer or shining one, led a rebellion against God and one-third of the angels in heaven followed him (Revelation 12:4). Now he is more commonly known as Satan which means adversary. We can get a little background on him in Isaiah 14:12-15 and Ezekiel 28:11-19.
In the Isaiah passage we see the five “I Wills” that Satan lists. They are (1) I will ascend into heaven, (2) I will exalt my throne above the stars of God ( he desired the worship of angels), (3) I will sit upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north (this refers to the location of Christ’s reign during the millennium -see Psalm 48:1), (4) I will ascend above the heights of the clouds – a reference to the Shekinah Glory – see Numbers 9:15-17), (5) I will be like the most high – he wanted to be like God. Tony Evans writes that” Satan’s sin was so terrible that there was no grace for him. But God chose to extend His grace to mankind to demonstrate His power and goodness to the entire angelic world.”
Satan wants to prevent salvation, make believers ineffective and frustrate God’s will. People often ask how do you know something is from God?
Tony Evans says the answer is found in I Timothy 4:5” when you can authenticate it by the Word and pray over it legitimately. “
Tony Evans in his book The Battle Is the Lords shares that demons promote Satan’s destructiveness. For example, they can cause blindness (Matt. 12:22), physical deformity (Luke 13:11), emotional and mental instability (Matt. 17:14-18) and even kill as in Revelation (:13-15.
Satan opposes God by presenting a false Trinity (2 Thes. 2:8-9, Rev. 13:2,11-12), false ministers (2 Cor. 11:13), false teachers (2 Peter 2:1), false worshipers (Rev. 13:4-8) and false doctrines (I Tim.4:1, Rev. 2:24). He uses people to add to the Scriptures (Rev. 22:18), to delete Scripture (Rev. 22:19), to deny the inerrancy of Scripture (false ministers denying God’s Word) and he misinterprets Scripture, for example, that one must be baptized to be saved (Acts 2:38) and one is saved by faith plus works (James 2:14, 24). He takes passages out of context.
All through Scripture you see Satan trying all he can to destroy Israel. Even today you see protests from people saying “from the river to the sea”. They want to eliminate the nation of Israel. Satan is behind it all. In the Old Testament he used a false prophet named Balaam to curse Israel unsuccessfully 4 times (Numbers 23:8,18, 24:3,15) . Ezekiel prophesied during the tribulation he would try to destroy Israel (Ezekiel 38:8-16, see also Micah 4:11, Zechariah 12:9, 13:8) 6
He accuses Christians before God (Rev. 12:10). He hinders the work of God’s servants (I Thes. 2:18) and resists the prayers of God’s servants (Daniel 10:12-13).
Satan does not know the day of Christ return (Mark 13:32), he is ignorant concerning the names of the elect., only God knows their identity (2 Tim 2:19, Ephes.1:4-5). He is unaware of God’s plan for our lives (Ephes.3:10). He knows absolutely nothing concerning God’s love for sinners (Romans 5:6-8). Satan cannot be in more than one place at a time; therefore, he is not omnipresent like God, and he is also not all powerful or omnipotent like God.
In closing, look at the advice that Peter gives us in I Peter 5:8-11: Be sober-minded, be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering 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. Until He Comes, Mark Punchard
Lucifer, which means daystar, light bearer or shining one, led a rebellion against God and one-third of the angels in heaven followed him (Revelation 12:4). Now he is more commonly known as Satan which means adversary. We can get a little background on him in Isaiah 14:12-15 and Ezekiel 28:11-19.
In the Isaiah passage we see the five “I Wills” that Satan lists. They are (1) I will ascend into heaven, (2) I will exalt my throne above the stars of God ( he desired the worship of angels), (3) I will sit upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north (this refers to the location of Christ’s reign during the millennium -see Psalm 48:1), (4) I will ascend above the heights of the clouds – a reference to the Shekinah Glory – see Numbers 9:15-17), (5) I will be like the most high – he wanted to be like God. Tony Evans writes that” Satan’s sin was so terrible that there was no grace for him. But God chose to extend His grace to mankind to demonstrate His power and goodness to the entire angelic world.”
Satan wants to prevent salvation, make believers ineffective and frustrate God’s will. People often ask how do you know something is from God?
Tony Evans says the answer is found in I Timothy 4:5” when you can authenticate it by the Word and pray over it legitimately. “
Tony Evans in his book The Battle Is the Lords shares that demons promote Satan’s destructiveness. For example, they can cause blindness (Matt. 12:22), physical deformity (Luke 13:11), emotional and mental instability (Matt. 17:14-18) and even kill as in Revelation (:13-15.
Satan opposes God by presenting a false Trinity (2 Thes. 2:8-9, Rev. 13:2,11-12), false ministers (2 Cor. 11:13), false teachers (2 Peter 2:1), false worshipers (Rev. 13:4-8) and false doctrines (I Tim.4:1, Rev. 2:24). He uses people to add to the Scriptures (Rev. 22:18), to delete Scripture (Rev. 22:19), to deny the inerrancy of Scripture (false ministers denying God’s Word) and he misinterprets Scripture, for example, that one must be baptized to be saved (Acts 2:38) and one is saved by faith plus works (James 2:14, 24). He takes passages out of context.
All through Scripture you see Satan trying all he can to destroy Israel. Even today you see protests from people saying “from the river to the sea”. They want to eliminate the nation of Israel. Satan is behind it all. In the Old Testament he used a false prophet named Balaam to curse Israel unsuccessfully 4 times (Numbers 23:8,18, 24:3,15) . Ezekiel prophesied during the tribulation he would try to destroy Israel (Ezekiel 38:8-16, see also Micah 4:11, Zechariah 12:9, 13:8) 6
He accuses Christians before God (Rev. 12:10). He hinders the work of God’s servants (I Thes. 2:18) and resists the prayers of God’s servants (Daniel 10:12-13).
Satan does not know the day of Christ return (Mark 13:32), he is ignorant concerning the names of the elect., only God knows their identity (2 Tim 2:19, Ephes.1:4-5). He is unaware of God’s plan for our lives (Ephes.3:10). He knows absolutely nothing concerning God’s love for sinners (Romans 5:6-8). Satan cannot be in more than one place at a time; therefore, he is not omnipresent like God, and he is also not all powerful or omnipotent like God.
In closing, look at the advice that Peter gives us in I Peter 5:8-11: Be sober-minded, be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering 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. Until He Comes, Mark Punchard