1 PETER 5:8 “SATAN’S PLAN TO DESTROY RAINBOW LAKE COMMUNITY CHURCH”
A) Satan has a plan to destroy Rainbow Lake Community Church!
* He does not like this Church! * This plan has not changed since the fall of mankind!
* What is this plan? * Let me give you about 5 things that is in Satan’s plan to destroy us .......
(1) SATAN’S PLAN IS TO DISTORT OUR LOVE! * 3 areas in which Satan distorts our love:
A) Our Love For God - Deut. 6:5 “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart .......”
* This means to love God with your whole being ... Your heart, soul and might!
* Love God as your very own God! * This is a personal relationship, not a distant one!
* The heart is the inner part, the inner man of the person!
* The heart is the seat of man’s affection and will, his devotion!
* So we are to focus our heart, our affection and our will, our devotion upon God!
* The soul is the life of man, the consciousness, the breath, the essence, the being of man!
* Christ said that we are to love God “With all our soul,” that is, with all our life, our breath, our
consciousness! * We are to love God with all the breath and consciousness, all the life we have!
* Our might, Jesus uses the word “strength.” * It means full strength, all the strength of a person!
* It means to use up one’s strength thoroughly, to the point of exhaustion!
* We are to love God with all our heart, soul, and might! * You cannot love God any other way!
* And Satan is out to distort our love for God ... Don’t let him do it to you!
B) Our Love For One Another - John 15:12 “This is my commandment, That ye love one .......”
* Please notice ... This is a commandment, not a suggestion!
* We are to love our fellow believers as God has loved us!
* If we do this, if we love our fellow Christians, what will be our actions toward other Christians?
* The answer is found in Rom. 13:10 “Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is ...”
* The word ill means evil ... Love worketh no evil to a neighbour!
* To work evil against a person does not mean just the doing or the carrying out of evil against a
person! * Working evil means ... Thinking evil, wishing and hoping evil,
* Planning and devising evil, practicing and doing evil, and withholding good!
* Note the last fact, for it is often overlooked, but Scripture clearly states that withholding good
from a person is evil! * Turn to Prov. 3:27-29
* The message is we should love one another, but Satan wants to distort our love for each other!
C) Our Love For Lost - Matt. 5:43-48 * We are to love the lost, we are to love them in Christ!
* We are to witness to them, and do all in our power to win them to Jesus!
* The reason we don’t witness to the lost like we should is because we don’t love the lost like
we should! * Satan wants to destroy our love for the lost, don’t let him!
(2) SATAN’S PLAN IS TO DIVIDE OUR LOYALTIES!
A) Our Loyalties To The Person Of God - Josh. 24:15 “Choose you this day whom ye .......”
* We must choose who we are going to be loyal to ... God or Satan!
* The word loyal means: True and faithful to love, promise, duty, or other obligations!
B) Our Loyalties To The People Of God - 2 Cor. 8:4 “Praying us with much intreaty that we
would receive the gift, and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints.”
* Satan wants to distort our loyalties to each other!
C) Our Loyalties To The Purpose Of God - Rom. 8:28 “And we know that all .......”
* Satan wants to distort our loyalties to the purposes of God!
D) Our Loyalties To The Pastors Of God - Heb. 13:17 “Obey them which have .......”
* Satan wants to distort our loyalties to the Pastor!
E) Our Loyalties To The Place Of Worship - Psa. 26:8 “Lord, I have loved the habitation .......”
* Satan wants to distort our love for God’s house, our place of worship!
(3) SATAN’S PLAN IS TO DISHONOR OUR LEADERSHIP!
A) To Dishonor The Leadership Of Truth - John 16:13 “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is
come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall
hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.”
* Satan don’t want you being led into all truth! * He’ll tell you it’s all right when God says it aint!
B) To Dishonor The Leadership Of Control - Acts 10:19-20 “While Peter thought on the vision,
the Spirit said unto him, Behold, three men seek thee. Arise therefore, and get thee down, and
go with them, doubting nothing: for I have sent them.”
* Satan wants you to believe that God is not in control of your life! * He’s a liar!
C) To Dishonor The Leadership Of Direction - Acts 13:2 “As they ministered to the Lord, and
fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have
called them.” * Satan wants you to direct your own life!
D) To Dishonor The Leadership Of Obedience - Rom. 8:14 “For as many as are led by the .......”
(4) SATAN’S PLAN IS TO DENY OUR LANDMARKS!
A) Virgin Birth - Matt. 1:23 “Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and
they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.”
B) Salvation By Grace - Eph. 2:8-9 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not .......”
* Satan wants people to think they can earn God’s favor ... But they can’t!
C) Security Of The Believer - John 5:24 “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word,
and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into .......”
D) Second Coming - 1 Thess. 4:13-18 “But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, .......”
* Satan wants you to deny that Jesus is coming back again!
(5) SATAN’S PLAN IS TO DESTROY GOD’S LAW!
A) God’s Law Is Pure - Psalm 19:8 “The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: the
commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.”
* The word pure here means: Clean and clear! * Satan is out to destroy God’s law!
B) God’s Law Is Holy, Just, And Good - Rom. 7:12 “Wherefore the law is holy, and the
commandment holy, and just, and good.”
* God has not changed His mind about His law nor about sin! * Satan wants you to think He has!
C) God’s Law Is Perfect - Psa. 19:7 “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the
testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.”
* The reason the law is perfect is because it converts the soul!
* Satan wants to destroy that so he can drag folks to hell with him!
D) God’s Law Is Truth - Psa. 119:142 “Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and
thy law is the truth.”
* You can believe everything that’s in this Book, because it is the truth!
CLOSE
A) My friend, Satan has a plan and his plan is to destroy YOU!
* But, there is something I want to leave you with ... It is this: 1 John 4:4
* “Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you,
than he that is in the world.”
B) Believers are overcomers! * Don’t you ever let Satan tell you you’re a loser!
* The Word doesn’t say, “You will overcome,” or, “You may overcome, if ...”
* The statement is clear and understandable ... “Ye have overcome ...”
* We are more than conquerors through Him! * Guaranteed victory is ours because, “Greater is
he that is in you, than he that is in the world.”
* God in us is greater than the devil and all the demons of hell combined!
C) Don’t ever go to the door when Satan knocks!
* Call on Jesus, and He will send Satan away!
* Satan wants to destroy Rainbow Lake Community Church by distorting our love ... for God, for
one another, and for the lost! * He wants to divide our loyalties! * Our loyalty to:
* The person of God, to the people of God, to the purpose of God, to the Pastor of God,
* And to the place of our worship! * He wants to dishonor our leadership of the Holy Ghost!
* The truth of the Holy Ghost, His control, His direction, and our obedience to Him!
D) He wants us to deny our landmarks! * Prov.22:28 “Remove not the ancient landmark, which
thy fathers have set.” * Prov.23:10 “Remove not the old landmark ...”
* Job.24:2 “Some remove the landmarks ...” * Landmark of the virgin birth, Salvation by grace,
* Security of the believer and the second coming! * He wants to destroy God’s law!
* Let me ask you ... Are you going to let him destroy our church?
E) Then stand up against him and put him in his place!
* Satan wants to destroy our church and every other Bible-believing church! * Don’t let him!