Sermon Central
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Our Real Struggle
Contributed by Kent Kessler on Dec 27, 2006 (message contributor)
Summary: We are tempted so many times to go by the way things seems to us, or "the seems like", but a believer knows not everything is as it seems. There are other factors involved non-believers are not aware of. We need help in understanding how to deal with thes
Illustration: The Mafia Game
“Not everything is at it seems.”
One thing we learn quickly as a believer is you cannot live life by the way things SEEM!
When Paul writes to the Ephesian believers,
“We wrestle not with flesh and blood” [KJV] Or Our “struggle” is not against flesh and blood [NIV] or We are not “fighting against people” made of flesh and blood [NLT], what he is saying is NOT EVERYTHING IS AT IT SEEMS!
When we learn to look at things not as they seem but more as they really are, the mystery is not so much the person as it is what is behind the other person. This is a key to understanding “Our Real Struggle.”
Paul writes,
WE WRESTLE NOT WITH FLESH AND BLOOD.
#1) We/Our
#2) Wrestle/Struggle
#3) Not
#4) Against
#5) Flesh and Blood
To help you become aware of what the truth is in any situation, try asking yourself these three questions:
Q#1) What is REALLY going on here?
Q#2) Who Is Behind This?
More specifically, How could the Devil be involved here?
When the Devil is present, he brings Three Deceiving D’s:
Three D’s of the Devil’s Deception:
-1- Darkness: Not literally, but spiritually—upon your spirit and mind and heart = in the unseen area; ask, Is there confusion? Is there fear? Are you worried? If so, there is darkness! Or is there clarity, peace, unhindered relating going on?
-2- Division: Satan wants to wedge you; Ask, Am I feeling pushed away? Do I feel like there is something between us? Is there something like an invisible wedge I can’t place my finger on here, but I feel a definite presence here working against me?
-3- Destruction: Satan wants to be your leader, so ask in prayer, “God, if I walk this path out in my mind before you, will it lead me towards Jesus?
ILL. #1441: Suppose you are driving down the highway when you encounter a sign that reads, “Dangerous Curve Ahead.” Immediately you are confronted with making a choice. One, you can observe the warning and slow down. Two, you can ignore the warning and maintain you rate of speed. Or three, you can defy the warning and speed up. Whatever response you exercise, you will not change the truth of that sign. The curve remains dangerous, regardless of whether you acknowledge the fact or not. That is why it is so important to find out what the truth is about WHO is behind what is going on.
Q#3) What Do I Know To Be True?
ILL #1439: A man came to his old friend, a music teacher, and asked, “What’s the good news today?” The old man was silent as he stood up, walked across the room, picked up a hammer and struck a tuning fork. As the note sounded out through the room, he said, “That is A. It is A today; it was A five thousand years ago, and it will be A ten thousand years from now. The soprano upstairs sings off-key; the tenor across the hall flats on his high notes, and the piano downstairs is out of tune.” He struck the tuning fork again and said, That is A, my friend, and that’s the good news for today.”
Remember, Don’t go by the seems-like, “Not everything is at it seems,” or said in another way: We wrestle not with flesh in blood.
