Killing Lions-Killing The Lion Of Despair Series

Title: Killing Lions-The Lion Of Despair

Date: 7/12/15

Place: BLCC

Text: 1 Peter 5.8-9

CT: Kill the lions of despair that are keeping you from God’s ideal.

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FAS: Recently I watched a program on the Animal Channel that showed a herd of buffalo and six lions. The lions were plotting to have a buffalo for dinner. Well, they found one buffalo that had strayed from the herd, maybe a couple hundred yards, and they went after that buffalo. So how do a few lions stop a buffalo?

[Screen 2]One lion grabbed the heel of one back leg of the buffalo, the other on the other back leg. And they just hung on until that buffalo slowed to a stop. Then one lion hopped on his back, another went after his stomach. And from there on you can just visualize what happened. It was gruesome.

But here's what shocked me. There were perhaps 100 buffalo, if not more, all standing and staring and watching this go down. I don't know if buffalo can think. But if buffalo could think, you know what they're thinking? Boy, am I ever glad that's not happening to me!

Imagine if this herd had decided we're not going to let those lions get away with anything, and together they ran thundering in that direction with their horns down. Those lions would have scurried away immediately. [Screen 3]The lions would never have a buffalo for lunch, if the buffalo had stuck together.

LS: There's a lesson for us there. First of all, Satan separates somebody from the herd or church. He makes them mad at the church and Christians, or angry because of some other reason. Once they're away from the herd, he intensifies his attack. And then when we hear of the spiritual struggles that a person faces we say to ourselves, Boy, am I ever glad that's not me! What we have to do as a congregation is to hang together. We have to close in and say we will not allow the devil to do this to our people and our self. Lets not let the devil have any of us for lunch. 1

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I. We are going to begin a new sermon series I have titled, Killing Lions. I got the idea from a book I read a few months ago. It told of a young Massai man from Kenya, Africa who came to the United States to pursue a masters and a doctoral degree. He was a young man of courage and had great perseverance. Once you learned his history, you understood why. [Screen 5]

Before arriving in the Modern Western world, he had been a warrior in his home village. With only a spear, he had defended the village’s herd of cattle by killing a lion. This practice was not uncommon. Young men of that village and tribe, by tradition, must face and defeat a lion with a spear to be seen as a man.

The young man had been badly wounded, as one would expect, but after slaying the predator, he was regarded as a hero and a leader. I can’t imagine school was much of a challenge or worry for him. He had stood down a lion and had the scars to show.

In this series we are going to seek out, together, as a group of followers of Christ, to destroy the lions in our lives that are keeping us away from God’s ideal for our lives. Included in this search we will encounter the lions of despair, doubt and fear, pride, and entitlement.

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II. So, who is the “Lion King” of this “Pride” of lions doing their best to devour us as Christians? The Bible speaks of these lions as far back in the Old Testament in [Screen 7] Jeremiah 4.7, A lion has come out of its lair; a destroyer of nations has set out. He has left his place to lay waste to your land. Your towns will lie in ruins without inhabitant. NIV

Jeremiah was trying to warn these Israelites of the doom they were facing, but the people were blind to their own sins and turned their back on God. Their destruction came at the hand of King Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon. The Lion from the North. The people left God out of their lives and the Lion won.

But who leads the lions coming at us today? The Bible describes and warns of this leader of todays lions in[Screen 8] 1 Peter 5.8-9, 8 Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. [Screen 9] 9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of suffering. NIV