Satan : the adversary of the Church.
The time is now close for Satan to be bound and the world to be judged for sin.
Yet he is still the adversary of the Church while the Lord is in Heaven.
He is a dangerous enemy who needs to be treated with respect.
Not for what he is or for what he does, but that you do not underestimate him and that you ‘know your enemy’ to be victorious over him in Christ.
Satan : A Real Show-Off
On television and the Net, you might catch sight of some horrendous things that he energizes behind the scenes. Avoid such scenes and keep in mind that the Lord does limit the activities of Satan, or he would probably kill us all.
Satan likes to make a big show with his dupes with witchcraft, etc, but there is a bigger purpose.
That sort of ‘in your face’ evil makes your average person, who would never think of such things, feel that he or she is not guilty before God, although he or she is still dead in his or her sins.
Yes, Satan is a Devil and bound for the lake of fire but we can and do snatch people out of his hands.
And we do this with the gospel message, and only with the gospel message.
Satan’s Strategy
One of Satan’s biggest lies is “Oh, they’ve already heard the gospel”.
Never believe this; they may have been blinded by Satan at the time, closed their ears in pride or, to be polite, smiled as they thought of other things.
There is a spiritual battle overhead when you try and share the gospel, perhaps even angels and demons bashing one another senseless!
Be Satan’s Second Biggest Headache!
Forget about those teachings about ‘binding Satan’ or ‘binding people in witchcraft’, etc, etc, that you may have read on the Net. These things must co-exist with the Church in the fallen world. If not, the Lord could not take out a people for Himself.
So, pray, be polite to people, earn their respect.
When they are interested, you could talk about
Be a good listener, see where people are coming from, try to understand their experiences and how they look at things.
If you are confident, use your knowledge of the person to explain the gospel in terms the person might better understand. If not, use a practiced presentation with the relevant Scripture verses, or a combination of the two.
Then, like a good salesman, attempt to ‘close the deal’ with the perfect product!
The gospel includes
And don’t forget to give them a personal invitation to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
Next time, we will be looking at how to form a Spiritual Battle Group, harnessing your congregation’s full soul-winning potential.
Pastor Aaron, Prophecy for Youth,
@YouthProphecy
Image Credits
Jesus Worthy to Receive Scroll
Lawrence OP Jesus Defeats Satan via photopin (license)
Bible Verse – Salvation by Christ Alone
LittleGreyCoconut I believe… via photopin (license)