Wayfaring Strangers A Study Of 1 Peter Part 21 " Get Ready To Rumble Series

Wayfaring Strangers

A Study of 1 Peter

Part 21

“Get Ready to Rumble”

I am not a huge boxing fan

Boxing movies on the other hand I like

But in both the actual ring

And the movie Ring

There is a common phrase that is part of boxing all over the world

World class boxing announcer Michael Buffer is most famous for the words

“Let’s get ready to rumble”

As we continue our study of 1 Peter

In our series titled Wayfaring Strangers

We are nearing the end of Peter’s first letter and the end of our sermon series

Over and over again we have studied suffering persecution

Our reaction to those storms and wreck

And how we should be encouraged by them instead of defeated by them

As we have seen persecution

Trials

Wrecks

Storms

Troubles

Are common in the world

And we as believers are not immune to them

Actually, if we believe that Jesus came to give us life and life more abundantly

And I do, as God’s word says so

Then we must ask

What is life

And the answer is a series of ups and downs

Good times and bad times

So, life abundantly means more good times

But also, more tough times

We also know that the more we ride for Christ

The more likely we will suffer persecution and troubles

We have studied and learned that trials and troubles come in many forms from many directions

Sometimes just because we are human, and we live in a sin filled world

Sometimes by our own actions

When we do dumb stuff- stuff happens

Sometimes Satan causes our troubles to stop us or at least slow us down

Other times God uses trials and troubles to get our attention

To get us back to where he wants us

This is trials and troubles

Storms and wrecks

But the other thing we see in scripture that we will be exposed to

If we are truly living for God

Is persecution

Persecution as we have learned is suffering for our belief in Christ

Our allegiance for Christ

Our proclaiming of the message of Christ

We may suffer loss of friends

Family

Jobs

And the like

We could suffer finical hardships

Physical and emotional hardships and even

Sever injury and even death

For our faith in Christ

Talk to my Brother Emmanuel if you want to hear stories of these types of persecution

I need you to hear me on this

No matter what form of persecution you and I face

I all come from the same place

Satan

Old Slick

The devil

Old slick sends persecution into the believers’ lives

In an effort to discourage them

In an effort to derail them

To stop then from growing spiritually

To stop them from spreading the good news of Jesus

And he is good at what he does

If enough heat is applied

Many will turn away from God

Many will become so discouraged they stop fulfilling the reason for their salvation

Many will just quit

That is unacceptable

That is unpleasing to God

That is unproductive for building the kingdom

And personally, that is unconducive to our own spiritual growth

So, we have just fulfilled the first step in winning any fight

Know your enemy and know their tactics

Satan is the enemy

And his tactics are this

He will use anything at his disposal to stop you

To stop a believer

He will use persecutions of all types

He will use lies and deceptions

He will use pain

He will use a loss of material things and he may even use

Fame

Fortune

Money

Things

To draw your attention away from our creator

There is a reason he came to the garden as a snake

He is sneaky

Sometimes so sneaky we have no idea we are even being manipulated

God’s word says he masquerades as an angel of light

What this means is this

Simply he pretends to be God or better yet

Desires to be God

And he tries to convince us that he is indeed God

So, knowing this

And understanding this

Now we must learn how to defend against his attacks

Subtle ones and head one all out warfare

This is where we come to in 1 Peter

Listen to me

Peter understood persecution

He understood

The lies of Satan

He understood how falling for the lies could cause a separation from God

And his desire was to teach the believers that were going through hard times

How to deal with persecution and still find the joy that God desires for them

Peter gives us the tools to get ready to rumble

So please open your bibles to 1 Peter 5:8-9

1 Peter 5:8-9

Let me read it in its entirety then break it down and apply it to our lives