LET’S BE CAREFUL OUT THERE
I PETER 5:8
INTRO: HILL STREET BLUES
A. Roll Call
1. There was a popular TV show in the eighties called Hill St. Blues.
a. It was a police drama based on a precinct in NYC.
b. Always started in the ready room with roll call.
c. At the end of roll call, when everyone was ready to go on patrol, the old Sgt would always end roll call with the same send off.
d. He’d say “Let’s be careful out there!”
2. The advice was sound…the admonition warranted.
a. The old Sgt. Knew the danger the officer’s faced.
b. He knew that around every corner, down every alley, even in broad daylight…
c. The potential for danger existed.
d. He also knew that the greatest danger to his men was…complacency.
B. Danger
1. The Apostle Peter knew this well before the old Sgt. did.
a. He knew the dangers that we face in the world today.
b. We may not have to worry about bullets flying around every corner…
c. Bad guys lying in wait…
d. But we do have to worry about what the bible calls fiery darts!
e. And we do have to be aware of the bad guy who throws them our way!!!
1Pe 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
2. Church it is time for us to realize we have an enemy who is plotting against us.
a. Peter says he is like a roaring lion…
b. Hungry…mean…cruel
c. His whole agenda is to devour and destroy souls.
d. He is relentless in this pursuit…he is tireless in his efforts.
e. If he can’t have your soul he wants your testimony!
f. If he gets your testimony…he may get someone else’s soul as a result!
3. Peter says he walketh about…
a. You ever notice how it seems like you don’t ever have to seek trouble out?
b. It just always seems to find you.
c. Ever wonder how come some days, just when you’ve really decided to live for Christ that day…
d. It seems like immediately the trouble starts.
e. And before you know it…
f. We’re right back in that same old place we find ourselves so often.
g. Lord…It’s me again!
h. Defeated…humiliated…broken…and ruined!
i. Are you tired of that cycle? And yes, it is a cycle…a deadly cycle that robs us of our testimony…our joy…and our fellowship!
4. So how do we break that cycle?
a. Peter says we are to be sober…be vigilant…
b. These are military terms connected with guard duty.
c. In other words we are to be alert…aware…constantly on guard.
d. We are to WATCH.
e. If we are to be successful in our fight against the adversary, there are six things we need to watch.
BODY
A. We are to watch what we think.
2Co 10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
1. Out of all the things we must watch, our thoughts are perhaps the most important…yet the hardest of things to watch.
a. It is also the place we are most often attacked!
b. As Paul says...we are to “bring into captivity” every thought.
c. Is it difficult? YES
d. Is it possible? YES
e. How?
Php 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
2. But in order to do this, we must first of all re-program our thinking.
a. It is the struggle within!
b. Our mind is like an empty tube.
c. Whatever you stuff in one side will eventually come out the other…and guess what…
d. It will not have changed!!!
e. You can’t put garbage in one side and expect it to miraculously turn into steak when it comes out the other!!!
Rom 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
f. So how do we guard our minds?
g. We simply change what goes in! It Works!! Guaranteed!!!
Pro 16:3 Commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established.
B. Secondly, We Watch What We See!
1. Scientist’s say that the human mind retains every image it ever sees!
a. Think about that for a minute…
b. How many images do we see a day?
c. The human mind as a supercomputer is amazing.
d. I am not saying we can recall these at will…
e. But they are there nonetheless.
f. And these images will pop up at the most inopportune time!
2. There is a great danger in the things we see.
a. And we don’t even have to leave our homes to see things that are harmful to us and our families!
b. There was once a time…not many years ago…when we didn’t have to worry about our kids watching television.
c. Now we even have to guard against seeing things that we as adults don’t need to be seeing.
d. And we haven’t even talked about the internet yet.
e. Folks protect your children INSIDE your homes.
f. And it’s not just your kids!!!
g. Statistics tell us that as many as 50% of the men in our churches are addicted to internet pornography today.
h. Oh be careful little eyes what you see.
C. We Must Watch What We Hear.
1. I used to sit in church as a teenager and listen to the preachers talk about the dangers of rock music and think…what an old fuddy duddy!
a. I have now become one!!!
b. Kids, be careful what you listen to.
c. So much of the music today encourages the so-called gangster lifestyle.
d. The lyrics advocate murder and rape.
e. They are totally demeaning to women.
f. And are horribly violent and vulgar.
g. Parents, do you know what your kids are listening to?
2. But it’s not just the kids I’m talking to this morning.
a. Adults, what are you listening to?
b. When that dirty joke is told at the office?
c. When you hear the gossip about a Christian brother or sister?
d. What is your reaction? Do you walk away? Stay just within earshot? Join right in?
e. You have to do one of the three.
3. Hearing is something we can control easily!
a. We simply have to choose what we hear.
b. Men have been doing that for ages.
c. According to my wife I’m an expert at it.
d. Seriously, what do you have to listen to when you need it?
e. When Satan is whispering in your ear, how do you tune him out?
f. Story of me going to NWA.
Jas 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
D. We Must Also Watch What We Say
1. We must be careful about what we say for two reasons.
a. Because of who might hear us and the damage we could cause…
b. Because of what it does to us as Christians…
2. More churches have split over a word said than any have over a theology argument.
a. Words spoken are like a bullet that just left a gun barrel.
b. They can never be retracted.
c. The damage they will do is irreversible.
3. The sad thing is that what we say could do so much good.
a. There are many verses in the bible about the use of the tongue.
b. Many of them caution us about its uses.
1Pe 3:10 For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile:
Jas 3:8-11 But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. (9) Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God. (10) Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be. (11) Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?
c. But there are also those verses that exalt the good uses of the tongue.
Php 2:10-11 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; (11) And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Rom 10:10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
d. And then in Ephesians 4:29 the Apostle Paul gives us the most valuable advice about the use of our mouths.
Eph 4:29 Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.
e. Folks we have living inside of us the Holy Spirit of God!
f. Vile things should not find their way to our lips.
g. They originate in the heart, organize in the mind, and appear on the lips.
h. Let’s use the speech that God gifted us with for the glory of God.
E. We Must Watch What We Do!
1. The first 4 things we are to watch in order to be careful with our Christian testimony were things we were to guard against from within the man.
a. The last two are thing to guard from without!
b. They are the things others can see.
c. They are our “silent witness” witness if you will.
d. They say more about us than our mouth does.
e. A picture truly is worth more than a thousand words.
f. In other words, we don’t need to just tell others about Christ, we should show Him to them by our actions.
2. I’ve got an EXTRA, EXTRA read all about it newsflash.
a. If you really are a true believer in the Lord Jesus Christ you will live differently from the world!
b. A person cannot truly receive the Holy Spirit into their heart and it not change them.
2Co 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
c. Now don’t get me wrong…this is NOT an EASY life to live!
d. Getting saved is easy…doesn’t require anything on our part but faith, belief and asking.
e. Becoming a Christian is easy…living like one is a whole nother (Andy Griffith) story!
f. WHY??? Because we still have that old sin nature to contend with.
g. And how large it grows truly depends upon how much and how regular we feed it.
h. Some of us feed it more than others…
i. It can be an 18 pound bowling ball that we carry around with us…
j. Or it can become an 800 pound gorilla that carries us with it…
k. The choice is ours…listen to what Paul said about dealing with the old nature…
READ NIV ROMANS 7:15-24 AS TIME ALLOWS.
l. Does it sound easy? No! But if we are to be careful out there…we need to watch what we do!
F. Lastly We Must Watch Where We Go!
1. I realize that we cannot become isolationists!
a. As a matter of fact, that’s not biblical!
b. But there are some places that we as Christians should not go.
c. We all know that…but I’m not talking about where we should not go this morning.
d. I’m talking about where we SHOULD Go!!!
2. We should go to a world that is lost and dying.
a. We should go to a community that is sick and hurting.
b. We should go to the families who are torn and needy.
c. We should go…we should go…we should go…
d. They are seeking…and we have the answers…we should go.
3. How important is going?
a. The word go appears in the bible 1491 times in 1351 verses!
b. God says go.
c. Jesus says go.
d. Going is vital.
e. Many may say, I just don’t know how to go, or who to go to.
f. We are going to take care of that for you.
g. All you gotta do is go!
4. The G.R.O.W. Program
CONCLUSION
A. Are you being careful? Are you watching?
1. I urge you today.
a. Watch what you think.
b. Watch what you see.
c. Watch what you hear.
d. Watch what you say.
e. Watch what you do.
f. Watch where you go
Col 2:6 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:
