There was a young man name CJ who walked home after school every day. CJ would walk down the same street whenever he walked home. He never changed his path or his routine. There was a blue house on this street that he would walk down that he passed all the time and behind the house was a big dog that growled and barked whenever he saw CJ pass by. But CJ was so busy bouncing his basketball and dribbling between his legs that he never paid this dog any mind. This dog would do the same thing every time, barking and growling at CJ when he passed each day from school.
Because CJ was always occupied with playing with his basketball he never noticed the hole this big dog was digging under the fence. It was something that grabbed this dog’s attention and every time CJ passed this dog would continue to dig deeper into this hole. Well, some weeks had passed and CJ was on his way from school, passing by this same blue house with the big dog behind the fence. As he walked by dribbling his basketball the dog began to bark and growl as usual, and as usual CJ ignored him. But this time the dog started crawling under the fence through the hole he had been digging for weeks and when he got on the other side of the fence he ran after CJ. From the corner of his eyes CJ saw this big dog running after him, his eyes got big and he took off running.
He was running so fast that Michael Johnson wouldn’t have been able to catch up with him. He was so focused on making it to his house that he didn’t notice the bump in the sidewalk and he tripped and fell. With the dog quickly approaching CJ got up leaving his basketball behind and continued running toward his house. When he made it inside the house he peeped through the window and noticed that the dog was wrestling with his basketball. It was the basketball the dog was after, not CJ. Every day that he would pass that blue house bouncing his basketball it grabbed the dog’s attention. The dog started digging that hole in hope of one day getting that basketball which he did.
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Can I paint a picture of reality? The dog in the story represents satan and every day of our lives satan and his demons are watching us. Just like the basketball had CJ’s attention so much that he ignored the growling and barking dog whenever he passed the house, we too are not being watchful and alert. Now for those of us who belong to God we are protected by Him, but it is something that we have that is grabbing satan’s attention and he wants it. Satan has his eyes on us and he is seeking after our possessions. CJ lost his basketball to this dog, but what is satan taking from you?
Young people, is satan taking your self esteem? Is he taking your motivation to do well in school? Is he taking the respect that you should have for your parents and adults? What is satan taking from you?
• Adults what has satan robbed you of? Is it your peace of mind? Or your joy divine? Has he stripped you of your faith in God? And let me say this, if you have allowed satan to take your faith you need to work on getting that back, because without faith it is impossible to please God.
• Faith is what allows us to believe in things that seem impossible. Young people you need faith too. Some of you may think that you could never be an A & B student, but with faith you can be. You may think that you will never be good enough to make the volleyball, basketball, or football team, but with faith in God you will not only make the team, but you could also become a starter.
But as we get back on track, young people I really want you to take something from this message, and this message is for all of us young and old. If you don’t remember anything I say, please remember one thing, “The Devil Wants to Eat You Alive.” We live our lives daily as if there is nothing happening behind the scene, and the fact is that there is a spiritual warfare that is taking place that we can’t see with our physical eyes. But it is time that we open our spiritual eyes, look around and see what’s really going on.
What is really going on? Satan is putting drugs before our youth as young as middle school age. These drugs such as cheese are killing children at a very young age.
• Sex scenes on television appear as regular as commercials, putting thoughts in the minds of our youth which has led to actions resulting in the rise of sexually transmitted diseases and teenage pregnancy.
• Satan has also gone platinum in the music industry causes artist to get rich off of your money with the sale of explicit lyrics that does nothing but corrupt the soul. This is what’s going on, in our world, in our country, in our cities, in our schools, and in our homes.
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Our focus scripture that we are using today, I Peter 5:8 is a part of a book that was written to encourage Christians who were suffering and being persecuted. These Christians were being treated badly and killed just because they believed in Jesus Christ. Peter who wrote this book was one of Jesus’ closest friends. At this point in Peter’s life he understood the big picture and wanted to share with others that their suffering wasn’t in vain. He encouraged them to hold on and keep their faith in Christ. If you never get at least one thing out of a sermon that encourages you, then you need to find another preacher to listen to. With that being said let me give you a few encouraging words before I sit down and be happy all by myself.
The point to remember is that the devil wants to eat you alive, and I’m sure that none of us wants the devil to eat us alive. So, the question that many of you may have is how do I prevent satan from eating me alive? I’m so glad you asked because I was going to tell you anyway.
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There are a few things that we can take from verse 8 in I Peter chapter 5 that will help us survive the attacks of the devil and avoid being eaten alive by him. The first thing is that we must be self-controlled and alert. Some of your bibles may say to be sober and be vigilant. If you ever hear someone talk about being sober, then 9 times out of 10 they’re talking about somebody who has been drunk.
• Now all of us haven’t always been holding up the blood stain banner. So we know firsthand about being drunk. But when a person is drunk they don’t have much control over their mind and their body. Peter in this scripture isn’t referring to being drunk, but he is saying make sure you don’t have any distractions in your mind or anything in your life that will cause you not to have control over yourself.
Having self-control is one thing, but we must also be on alert. Remember CJ’s basketball distracted him and he didn’t realize that the dog was trying to come after him. We too have things in our lives and thoughts in our heads that are causing us to not pay attention to the schemes and tricks of the devil.
• What is distracting you and allowing satan to creep up on you without you even noticing? Young ladies is it that guy that calls you hey bey bey, instead of calling you by your name. But you’re so flattered that he’s giving you attention you don’t see that the devil is behind the whole situation trying to eat you alive.
Young men don’t let the love of money and material things blind you from the tricks of satan. The world paints a picture that you not stunting like your daddy if you don’t have chains hanging low and all the latest tennis shoes and designer clothes that come out. Then you find yourself doing whatever it takes to get some money to keep up with everybody else. These are things that cause you to lose self-control and not be on alert. When satan has you distracted you lose self-control and all this is what sets you up to be eaten alive by the devil.
People hurt us and do bad things to harm us, and yes they’re wrong for those choices that they have made and there is no excuse, but you need to also recognize that satan is behind every evil action and he doesn’t care who he uses, because he’s trying to get you. This is why we must have self-control and be alert, so that we don’t fall into the traps satan sets up for us.
• This also means that we have to fight in the spirit and not the physical. Putting his tires on a flat isn’t going to solve the problem, you need to pray. Your school teacher may not like you, but getting an attitude with them isn’t going to help, you need to pray.
• The reason why some of us go through so many trials with heartache and pain is because we have underestimated the power of prayer. The truth is some of us think prayer just don’t work.
Adults we need to be better examples before our children because if they don’t see you talking to God, then you shouldn’t expect them to communicate with God. Young people I don’t care what it is, whether you think it is big or small, talk to God.
Now that you know the devil wants to eat you alive, ask God to help you be self-controlled and alert.
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So being self-controlled and alert prevents us from being eaten alive by the devil, but the next thing that’ll help is knowing who the devil really is. In verse 8 it says, “Your enemy the devil.” Who is the devil? He’s your enemy and we must know this because it lets us know that there is nothing good that comes from him. This lets us know that we are in a battle with the devil, and it lets us know that his objective and his goal is to take us out.
The devil is your enemy, not your friend. He’s your enemy, not your buddy. You may think you and the devil are cool when he puts thoughts in your head on how to get back at someone who has hurt you. You may think he’s your friend when he helps you come up with ways to use people. But the same thoughts he puts in your head are the same thoughts he puts in other people’s head so that they can harm you.
• So is he really your friend? You see an enemy is someone who hates you and plots against you so that they can harm you. An enemy doesn’t want to see you do well in anything. An enemy is always trying disrupt your life in hopes of one day destroying you.
If the devil was your friend, then why does he accuse you before God? Our youth at Ben Washington talked about Job a couple of weeks ago. Job was a righteous man before God and God was pleased with his life. One day when the angels came to present themselves to God, the Bible says that satan came also. God asked satan, “where did you come from?” Satan said, “From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it.”
• Let me add a side note, satan is the Father of lies, but this is one time satan told the truth, we have some work to do. But then God asked satan if he had considered His servant Job? Satan said if you move your protection from around Job, I will make him curse you to your face.
I believe satan tells God things like that about us. He tells God, “I’ll make them stop coming to church.” “I’ll get them to disrespect their parents.” “I’ll make them cause confusion in the church.” And guess what? Satan starts tempting us with those things and sometimes we fall.
• Now are you convinced that the devil is your enemy? You have to really know and believe this if you are to have victory over him. As a matter of fact, knowing that the devil is your enemy is key to victory.
• We should keep in mind that if satan is our enemy, then he is God’s enemy also. We should be encouraged and never worry, because God will always win over His enemies and He’ll also fight our battles.
Knowing that the devil is your enemy is important and life saving. If you want to avoid being eaten alive by the devil, you must know who the devil really is.
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I already told ya’ll I was going to sit down and be happy all by myself, but there is one more thing I want to share with you that will help you avoid being eaten alive by the devil and that’s becoming familiar with the characteristics of the devil. The last part of verse 8 says, “the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” This tells us that there are some characteristics of lions that satan has also and we need to be familiar with what they are.
• Lions were viewed as the most ferocious and mighty beasts in biblical times, so people started seeing them as enemies of God’s people. But what are some characteristics of lions that are similar or the same as characteristics of the devil.
First, a characteristic is something about you that sets you apart from other people. It is what makes you unique and different. You might have a laugh that is so different that people know you are if they hear you laughing without seeing you.
• But one characteristic of a lion is that they are hunters. They go out looking for food to eat. Lions do most of their hunting at night because they have a better chance of not being seen by their prey. While hunting, lions will target animals that are alone or those that are the weakest in the pack. This is also a characteristic of the devil.
Our verse says that he is seeking someone to devour, he wants to eat somebody alive. Satan targets everybody no matter how long you been a Christian, but he especially attacks those who are weak. What I mean by weak is those who barely read their bibles, rarely talk to God, and come to church ever so often. These are they who become easy prey for satan to attack and devour.
Lions hunt at night mostly, because they can’t been seen before they attack. The devil does the same thing and hunts at night too. He likes to surprise attack us when we are least expected.
• What is night hunting for the devil? He does this when everything in our lives seem to be going pretty good. We get comfortable and this is when we get caught off guard.
Young people when it seems like this person just wants to be a good friend, sometimes you get caught off guard when they start asking you to try different things that you know are wrong, but they pretended to be your friend first, now your decision to go along with them or not becomes a lot harder. These are the nights in our life that satan waits to attack because we aren’t being watchful and alert.
Lions also like to attack animals that are alone and away from the pack. Satan loves to do the same thing because he has a better chance of being successful. We can’t live this Christian life alone, we need others. This is also why it is very important that we be accountable to someone else because there is strength in numbers.
Another characteristic of lions is that they are digitigrade walkers, in other words they walk on their toes. This allows the lion to walk around quietly and it becomes hard to hear if a lion is approaching. Young people you know how you sneak around the house at night and you walk on your tip toes so that you won’t wake up your parents. Sneaking to watch television after they already told you to go to bed.
• I remember many times being late for my curfew, and I would take off my shoes and walk on my toes so that I wouldn’t wake my parents up. Somehow that didn’t always work because parents just don’t sleep as hard when their children aren’t at home; at least that’s how it is for a caring parent.
Satan is a digitigrade walker also; he prowls around on his tip toes so that we can’t hear him sneaking up on us. He’s tip toeing around someone right night waiting for you to yawn just one more time. He’s walking quietly around us all the time waiting for us to get in the right position so that he can tempt us to do evil.
• Notice I said tempt us to do evil, not make us do evil because the devil can’t make us do anything. When we mess up, make mistakes and sin, it was our choice to do so.
These are just a few characteristics of the devil, but through experience and studying our Bibles we learn many more characteristics of the devil. When we become familiar with the characteristics of someone, then we have a better understanding of how they operate and function. This helps us because we then know how to treat them or know how we should act around them to avoid certain situations or conflicts.
• For example, if I know that you get frustrated if someone talks more than you in a conversation, then when I’m talking to you, I’m not going to say much. That way you won’t get frustrated and we can be friends.
• Young people the reason why you’re friends with a person one week and then the next week you’re not friends, and this can go back and forth for years. But the reason this happens is because ya’ll don’t take the time to get to learn each other which makes for better friendships.
If we are to avoid falling to temptation, be victorious over sin, and avoid being eaten alive by the devil, then we need to become familiar with his characteristics. We need to know that satan is sneaky, he’s a liar, he’s a tempter, that he twist the truth, that he attacks our weaknesses and needs, that he provokes and entices, that he’s deceitful, powerful and wicked, he thinks he’s all that and like the young people say or use to say, he talks a lot of cash money.
• He’s a thief, murderer, and destroyer, a sinner, and that he’s always prowling around seeking someone to eat alive. When we know and understand that these things make satan unique, then we can tell when he’s attacking us. We can tell when he is using people to get to us. We can’t afford not to know the characteristics of the devil.
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If you don’t remember anything I said today, remember that the devil wants to eat you alive! The devil wants devour you, in other wants he wants to kill you. If you’re a Christian, the devil can’t destroy your soul or take your life, but he can take things out of your life that will make you feel like you’re dead. He can kill your joy and happiness. He can take away your self-confidence and pride. He’ll have you thinking about suicide.
• But if you want to avoid being eaten alive by the devil and prevent him from taking good things out of your life then you must be self-controlled and alert. Watch your back and have others to watch your back too. Stay away from things that you know make you sin.
You must also know who the devil really is. He’s your enemy and his plan is to take you out. He’s not your friend and definitely not your buddy. And finally, you need to become familiar with the characteristics of the devil. Know how he likes to trick you, know how he likes to attack. Study his moves and this will help you recognize him every time. The devil wants to eat you alive, but I hope this message will help you survive…
