Time Out with Pastor Ben Talley - 1 Peter 5 8 11

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Morning Facebook friends, this is Pastor Ben again. I'm the associate pastor of Witton Memorial Baptist Church and this is another timeout.
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Today's scripture is coming from 1st Peter chapter 5 verses 8 through 11 and it says,
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Be sober -minded, be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
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Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.
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And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.
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To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
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So first, I want to kind of point out that this is very similar to 1st
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Corinthians chapter 10 verse 13. And the beauty of that is that these are different authors, you know,
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Peter and Paul, but yet they say similar things. They say the same thing, you know.
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The Bible is, good morning, the Bible is over over 40 authors and they simply, they say the same thing.
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You know, they both touch on God, they both touch on different teachings of God, and they all say the same thing.
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They teach the same thing. They both agree.
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They all agree. And so I want you to notice it as we go along, how similar it is to 1st
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Corinthians chapter 10 verse 13. So first of all, it says, be sober -minded, be watchful.
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Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
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So we should be sober -minded. We should be watchful. You know, we should not be caught up in, you know,
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I take this to mean drugs or anything altering the mind. Anything that would that would distort our thinking or, you know, hinder the way we think or the way we operate or anything like that.
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Anything that would cause us to not be clear -headed, so to speak, as far as the way we think.
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So he says, be sober -minded. Don't be drunk. Be watchful.
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Be, you know, observant. Your adversary, this shows that we have an adversary.
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Things aren't just flowers and candies and sunshine. We have an adversary.
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The devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
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So John 10 10 says that, you know, the thief come to steal, kill, and destroy.
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So that is the devil. He has come to steal, kill, and destroy. But Jesus says he has come to give them life and that they may have it more abundantly.
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So he's come to someone to devour.
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We need to watch out. What's up, Vicki? How are you? So he has come to find someone to devour.
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He has come to destroy in any way possible. So we need to be on guard.
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That shows, and what's up, Lisa? That shows that we need to be on guard.
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We need to be ready. We need to be alert, because the devil is seeking to destroy not only us, but our brother, our kins in the faith.
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You know, so we need to step it up.
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We need to fight. We need to be ready to exhort, to instruct, to stand on guard against any of it, anything he throws at us.
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You know, a lion, when they stalk their prey, they get those who are lagging behind.
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So we need to be ready to encourage those who are stumbling, who are struggling in the faith.
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So he says, resist him, firm in the faith. Resist him. That does not mean ignore.
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We don't ignore the devil. We don't just ignore him and wish that he'll go away. We resist him.
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You know, when a bee lands on you, or when a wasp lands on you, what do you do?
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You resist. You fight. You struggle. You move. You resist.
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You turn. You twist. You know, that's the kind of thing we need to do with the devil. We quote scripture.
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We resist. We fight. We turn. We run. Sometimes we flee from sexual immorality.
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You know, we fight. You know, we resist. So it says, resist firm in the faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.
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So there it is, 1st Corinthians chapter 10, verse 13. Your suffering, your trials, your temptations, you know, are not unique.
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Other people are experiencing them too. You cannot say that, you know,
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I'm the only one going through this. No, other people are experiencing somewhat the same things as you are going through.
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So, and then it says, after you have suffered for a little while, you know, the
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God of all grace, the God of all grace, man, that's beautiful, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ.
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Notice that phrase, in Christ. We are in Christ. Will himself restore, check that out, restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.
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Though you, you suffer for a little while, he will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but he will restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.
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Amen. To him be the dominion forever and ever.
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Amen. All glory and power and strength belong to him. So, first of all, just to recap, we need to be alert.
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We need to stand on guard against the enemy, especially during these times.
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There are so many things going on in the world that Satan is just having a field day with, and we need to stand on guard.
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We need to resist him. We need to resist the lies of the enemy. We need to be discerning.
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We need to get into the Word of God and resist the lies of the enemy. We need to be able to discern what those are, and we need to resist them.
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And we need to be alert and understanding that our problems, our suffering, is not unique.
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I mean, you know, other people are experiencing suffering as well, and they're going through the same thing.
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So, we are not alone in this. We can partner with them. We can know that we are not alone in suffering, and we can lean on each other, knowing that other people are going through struggles as well, and we can encourage one another, and we can stand by one another in this.
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And it says, he will restore, comfort, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.
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He will grow you. He will not only comfort you and strengthen you, but he will establish you.
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He will develop you. He will set you on a rock. He will lift you up and plant you on a firm foundation.
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And to Him, to Him be all glory and might and strength forever.
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To Him be the glory. We can't seek the glory in this on our own. We cannot seek glory for ourselves, because all glory belongs to Him.
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All praise and honor belong to Him. So, don't seek glory for yourselves in your trials.
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Don't think, I did this. I got through this. I'm an overcomer in myself.
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You're not an overcomer in yourself. If it weren't for Jesus Christ, if it weren't for God allowing you to get through it, then you wouldn't have gotten through it at all.
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So, to Him be the glory and dominion forever. So, praise
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God. Praise God. So, let me pray with you. God, I pray for us.
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I pray, God, that you help us just stand resisting the enemy,
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Lord. Help us stand strong. Help us fight. Help us stand against the lies of the enemy that come against us,
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Lord. I pray for those who are watching who maybe don't know you, Lord. I pray, Lord, that you help them come to the knowledge of the truth and bring them to repentance,
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God. Knowing that your Son died on the cross for their sins, and that He rose again from the grave, and that He conquered hell, death, and the grave, and they could have a relationship with you through Jesus Christ.
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Lord, I pray that you make that aware to them. I pray that you make that real to them and help them know that they can have that reality, that reality of a relationship with God through Christ.