Did The Devil Make You Do It?
"For the sake of your splendor
you corrupted your wisdom...You have become an object of horror
and will never exist again."
Ezekiel 28:17, 19
He was an "ARCHANGEL".
He was made perfect and beautiful "ANOINTED" by God.
God created him to be the "WORSHIP" leader in heaven.
And in his pride he sought to change his "ROLE".
Satan’s Agenda, TO OVERTHROW GOD.
NOW fallen, the Devil’s agenda, rampage, to supersede and overthrow the kingdom of God. It is a strategy of destruction on earth. He purposes to destroy society through debauchery. He aims to destroy true relationship with God through apostasy. He desires anything that darkens the light from God.
Home
Church
The World
He wants to blind the minds of the unsaved. Disturbing the unity of faith by creating discord and division...Subverting the church through apostasy and heresy. Mixing truth with error...Annihilating the church or neutralizing its witness from within...Persecuting it from without. Stumbling blocking the works of The Holy Spirit in any way possible, especially through ignorance. And lulling atheists and agnostic unbelievers into a false sense of security...Laying snares for the brash and unwary.
He is Satan – Hebrew for “Adversary”
The Devil – “Slanderer”
He's - John 10:10 Thief came to steal...kill...destroy...
If he can’t destroy you – he’ll join you. You know that satan goes to church don’t you? He'll work to weaken your witness, bringing it to a place where it can’t sustain a real move of God. He'll paralyze it somehow. Drain you of your salt. He'll get you to compromise, his greatest weapon, human relativism, "Don’t rock the Boat".
"Wasn't that a good sermon, and a fine dinner?"
Nothing happened but a little food for the flesh that insists on feeling something! No one was saved...no one delivered from the grip of hell. It was a show for a few people that go home with bragging rights.
10 Ways The Devil Makes You Do It:
1. Rivalry in the church (1 Cor. 1:10–17).
2. Immaturity among believers (1 Cor. 3:1–4).
3. Tolerating sin in the congregation (1 Cor. 5:1–13).
4. Believers turning on believers (1 Cor. 6:1–8).
5. Sexual immorality in the church (1 Cor. 5:1–13).
6. Misuse of Christian liberty (1 Cor. 8:1–13, 10:23–30).
7. Idolatry in the church (1 Cor. 10:7, 14).
8. Competition over spiritual gifts (1 Cor. 12–14).
9. Unwillingness to forgive a repentant believer (2 Cor. 2:5–11).
10. False teaching in the church (2 Cor. 11:1–15).
And finally he'll bite off the head of the church to defeat the body, "Render Something Useless if You Destroy the HEAD".
In the home: Fathers
In the church: PASTORS...STAFF...VOLUNTEERS, TEACHING LEADERS...MEN
Relationships: Unholy alliances.
Remember he convinced a third of heavens angels to rebel with him.
He's the accuser:
Breakdowns trust. It doesn’t have to be true – it just has to have a teller & a hearer!
And he loves pride, especially the pride of men. He encourages the self with smooth talk and unmerited attention. EGO...CONCEIT...DECEIT...SELFISHNESS...ALL About The FLESH.
If he can’t get you to fail – he’ll try to get you to over shoot the target. Over zealous...Confusing...Out of Order, a clanging gong lacking in love...UNTEACHABLE.
He becomes your master.
But there's good news:
Satan knows well that there is no ultimate victory for him. Lest we be “terrified by our adversaries,” it is well to remember that Satan’s power is not inherent but permitted (Romans 13:1). Strangely, he works to hinder and postpone Christ’s final triumph, even though he cannot escape the day by any of his own schemes. Remember, “Greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world” (I John 4:4). This is true when we keep watch, and fill our souls with God's light. When we keep our testimony. When we keep our faith grounded in God's word. When we grow in that faith with prayer and study. And when we bear fruit in service to Christ, loving one another.
God in God's peace friends.