Satan’s Obstruction of a Super Bowl Caliber Saint
Ephesians 6:10-13
Today is the day that sports fans in America look forward to more than any other day. It is Superbowl Sunday! Today’s game pits the New Orleans Saints against the Indianapolis Colts in the ultimate game in the National Football League.
This morning we have tried to bring out the similarities between sports and the Christian life, and there are many. You can’t read Paul’s letters and not see that he was a huge sports fan. I would like to share with you some more similarities today.
In most team sports, like football, you have the team owner who is over everything. Then you have the general manager who is in charge of signing the players and the coaches whose responsibility is to prepare these players for that week’s game.
Now as we get started I want you to know that Christians also have another name; SAINTS. So from now on when I say Saints I want you to understand who I am talking about.
In the life of a real saint we have:
• The owner, God.
• The general manager, Jesus the Christ, who writes each players name with His own precious blood onto the team roster.
• Then the coaches: pastor’s, youth pastors, music ministers, teachers, deacons, evangelist, Christian authors, etc.
• The players = the members.
In the life of a real saint there is a process of growth. We are born babies in the faith with the possibilities of unlimited growth. Some of you are the most mature people in the faith I have ever met.
However, some are also still babes in Christ, spiritual babes. We have not grown too much in our faith and therefore we are not meaning too much to the Kingdom of God.
Oscar Thompson wrote in his book Concentric Circles of Concern;
“Let’s say that the church is the divine hospital. The world is so very full of sickness. Many people come to the hospital for help, and every church that is doing what it needs to be doing realizes that we all continually need help. We come, over and again, for help, and we receive it. The only tragedy is that we do not mature and join the hospital staff and start meeting others peoples needs, we become a liability and the flow is always going inward. So we stagnate, and that hurts us. That hurts the Body of Christ.”
The writer of Hebrews wrote something very similar. He needed to tell them something important about Melchizedek but he couldn’t because they weren’t ready to receive it yet. He wrote:
12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of God’s revelation. You need milk, not solid food. 13 Now everyone who lives on milk is inexperienced with the message about righteousness, because he is an infant. 14 But solid food is for the mature—for those whose senses have been trained to distinguish between good and evil. (Hebrews 5:12-14 - HCSB)
• What was the problem?
o Instead of being mature about things they were still acting as babies.
• Why was this a problem?
o Because they couldn’t focus on who the real enemy.
Please read with me in Ephesians 6:10-13…
Read Text
We need to come to understand here today that our enemy is not a physical enemy.
We might not always see things exactly the same;
But you are NOT my enemy!
I am NOT your enemy!
Your brother or sister sitting here with you this morning is NOT your enemy!
The quicker we learn this the sooner we can move forward for the Kingdom.
Our battle is against powers and organizations that are spiritual. Our enemy is the unseen powers that control this dark world. We are up against the very forces of Hell itself.
The only reason that these forces are having any effect on us whatsoever is because WE ARE LETTING THEM! They were defeated over 2000 years ago with a wooden cross and an empty tomb yet we continue to let them hinder us by retarding our spiritual growth.
Today, as your coach, I want you to see where we need to work so that we can be all our Father, the owner of this team, wants us to be.
Here are four things that will stop you from being a Superbowl Caliber Saint if you let it:
I. Prayerlessness!
A. Prayer is God’s most effective gift, given to us as a means of growth.
1. We are admonished to pray, almost more than anything else in the New Testament.
2. If you look at the life of Jesus you see that He set the example for us.
a) He would pray before daybreak,
b) He would pray all night long,
c) He would be in a continual state of prayer throughout His life.
B. A lot of times we get so busy that we just don’t have time to pray.
1. We let others do our praying for us.
a) Preacher, Deacon, Sunday School Teacher, etc.
b) But we never pray for ourselves.
2. Often we don’t feel as if we are dependent on God,
a) We just do not recognize God as the giver of all we need.
b) Therefore we do not MAKE time to spend with the Almighty.
(1) So we never can ask Him to meet our needs.
C. Our lack of prayer is one of the tactics our enemy uses to keep us from spiritual progress.
1. So when you pray, prayerlessness is shattered and there is one less weapon the enemy has to defeat you with…
II. Selfishness!
A. God has chosen us for Him to bless the world through.
1. We are channels through which His love and His grace flow throughout the world.
a) Most houses have central air and/or heat that control the temperature in them.
b) If all of the vents are opened and working properly and there is nothing wrong with the duct work;
(1) Then every room in the house should be the same temperature.
c) In the Christian sense, we are the ducts through which God let’s His blessings be shared with others.
2. We do this through the different organizations and ministries we have started and support through this church.
a) Disciple Now,
b) Friday Night Jam,
c) Men of Desire,
d) Women of Joy,
e) Summer Camps,
f) Spring and Fall Jubilee’s,
g) Sr. Adult valentine parties,
h) Lottie Moon offering,
i) Annie Armstrong offering,
j) Margaret Lackey offering,
k) Our music programs,
l) Drama teams,
m) The list could go on and on…
B. If we change from being selfless to selfish then we stop the flow of God’s blessings.
1. If the vent in one of the rooms in your home is closed or if the duct work is messed up;
a) Then that room does not get to benefit from the air in the duct line.
2. The same is true with God’s blessings!
a) If His duct lines are stopped up (that’s the church) or if the vents are closed (that’s us individually) then His blessings can not flow to others.
(1) If we will not share our blessings then we can look forward to not receiving His blessings.
(2) HE WILL NOT BLESS A SELFISH PEOPLE!
C. We must be self-sacrificing, always thinking of other and not what we can do for ourselves.
1. When we do this the weapon of selfishness is defeated.
III. Indifference!
A. Apathy, a lack of concern, causes us to neglect the things that make for a healthy spiritual life.
1. It will cause you too:
a) Be irregular in your service for the Father.
b) Neglect the reading of His word.
c) Withhold your financial support from Kingdom ministry.
d) Not see where help is needed in your community.
2. This, in turn, will make you an unpleasant person with no spiritual strength.
a) It will make you bitter about the things of God.
b) You will begin to work for the enemy instead of against him.
(1) You may become proud and haughty in the assembly of the faithful.
(2) You will lie about your brothers and sisters by the spreading of gossip.
(3) You will begin to assassinate your brothers and sisters character and name.
(4) Begin playing politics with the Bride of Christ to get your way.
(5) You will make plans to destroy the faithful over minuet things.
(6) You can’t wait to go throughout the community or your little click getting something started; all the while ruining the name of Christ
c) If this is you then you need to know that God spoke about you in Proverbs 6:16-19.
(1) He didn’t give you a favorable report,
(2) He said it was an abomination.
B. Awareness of the importance of our duty will remove apathy in our faith.
1. We will begin to grow in our faith because we realize we need it.
2. Our faith becomes real.
a) We begin to do things like we never have before.
b) We experience a new love for the things and people of God.
c) Church quits being something political and becomes something life changing and new in your life.
d) And the enemy’s ploy of indifference, or apathy, is defeated.
IV. Unforgiveness!
A. God expects us to forgive others.
1. In fact, Jesus taught that unless we forgive those who have wronged us we can not be forgiven by God.
2. Our lack of forgiveness can cause us to have a break in fellowship with the Father.
a) This break comes because we have not met the requirement He has placed on us.
b) The forgiving of others.
B. If Satan can keep us fighting each other then he has no trouble stopping us from reaching our potential.
1. However; if we can forgive each other for our trespasses & perceived wrongs and then we can focus on God’s desire for His Kingdom.
2. Once we forgive our brothers and sisters then we begin on the road toward growth
a) And the enemy’s weapon of unforgiveness is destroyed.
These are four of Satan’s most trusted weapons to destroy you. If you let any of these take control of you then you can not be the champion for Christ that the Father expects you to be.
There is good news though:
The battle is already won.
Jesus has already obtained victory.
He has even given us the keys of conquest over Hell. We can all cry out, as Paul did when Satan buffeted the thorn in his flesh,
“Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. 9 And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:8-10 NKJV)
The key to being a Superbowl Caliber Saint, and victory, is in Christ!
