In Acts 20:17-38 Paul is on his way back to Jerusalem from one of his missionary trips. He stops at the port of Miletus and, instead of going to visit nearby Ephesus where he had founded a church, he calls for the elders of the Ephesian church to come to him. Paul is hard pressed by the Spirit to return to Jerusalem, where he will face many trials. Strangely enough, he is in a hurry to get there, not because of any twisted martyr complex but because he knows this is God's will for him. If he had gone to Ephesus he knows that his stay would have been difficult to cut short.
It is interesting not just that Paul summoned the Ephesian elders but what it was he had to say to them. Part of that farewell message is applicable, I think, to us of The Pointe Church (TPC). This has to do with his warning to the church and especially its leaders. It is so significant that I will quote it at length (from the Holman Christian Standard Bible): Speaking to the elders,
"Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock [congregation], among whom the Holy Spirit has appointed you as overseers, to shepherd the church of God, which He purchased with His own blood. I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. And men from among yourselves will rise up with deviant doctrines to lure the disciples into following them. Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for three years I did not stop warning each one of you with tears." (vvs. 28-31)
The reason that I feel a connection between the church at Ephesus and TPC is that both churches voluntarily put spiritual targets on their backs. What does this mean? At The Pointe we have recently embarked upon an exciting new strategic ministry plan, which, with God's blessings, will ignite a fire within our people and affect the community such that God's kingdom will grow and He will be greatly glorified.
This is exactly the kind of activity that draws Satan's attention and attacks.
Church, we have put ourselves directly into the line of fire of our adversary, the devil. Be sure, he is very, very unhappy with us and will not sit idly by while we unleash the power of the Gospel upon Cherokee County.
The purpose of this blog is simply to warn The Pointe Church that the spiritual attacks will surely come. It is also my purpose to proclaim that Satan need not have any success with his evil efforts.
It has often been stated that 'if the devil ain't after you then you need to be worried.' The corollary to this is 'if you're going through spiritual warfare then you must be doing something right.' Put simply, if we are serving and worshiping God in ways that are pleasing to Him, then the devil is going to try and stop us. One of my professors in seminary said that whenever God builds a church, the devil builds a chapel right next door. There's much truth in this.
People of TPC, when we decide to be obedient to The Great Commission (Matt. 28:18-20), and to minister to 'the least of these' (Matt. 25:31-46), then Satan gets afraid and angry. You see, he already knows that he's defeated. Christ accomplished that at the cross. But he plans to go down fighting, taking as many with him as possible.
Before I go any further, let me be clear about one thing: Satan cannot cause you to lose your salvation and drag you to hell. A truly redeemed child of the living God is saved forever and nothing or no one can change that. Do not listen to those in and out of the church who teach the false doctrine of losing or renouncing one's salvation. It is a false gospel, from the pit of hell, and has kept many Christians in such spiritual bondage that they are, in effect, miserable and disarmed. So, when I say that Satan is on the attack against Christ's church collectively and us individually I do not mean that he is trying to take us to hell. I do mean that he will try to harm the church with any scheme that he can concoct, thereby neutralizing our witness, worship, and service.
In 1 John 4:4 we are taught that "greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world." In other words, by leaning on the power of God (the Holy Spirit) that resides inside of every believer, it is impossible for the devil to overcome us. Further instruction is given in James 4:7, "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." Clearly, God has bound Satan to the extent that he has no power over us that we don't allow to him.
There is a key to these two verses (and every other one in the Bible that teaches about spiritual victory) and that is the concept of dependence. What I mean is that we do not have the power to overcome demons all by ourselves. Forget the garbage you see in the movies. If you try to stand up to the devil and his imps all by yourself, without God, then woe unto you! These spiritual entities are real and much more powerful than we are. Dependence in this sense means simply that Christ does the fighting for us while we lean completely upon Him. Notice it says "he that is in you" and "submit yourselves therefore to God." One of the worst mistakes you can make in spiritual warfare is taking the second clause of James 4:7 without the first. For the devil to 'flee from you' you must be resisting him by first submitting to God. The two actions go together and must not be attempted separately.
Alright, what am I saying here? Should we be afraid? Should we reconsider our dedication to pursuing God's will? As Paul would say, "God forbid!" "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." (2 Timothy 1:7) You see church, we have no real reason to fear our obedience to God, for He has given us the power -- the Holy Spirit -- to conquer when faced with spiritual attacks. Satan can hit us with anything he wants but he cannot overcome us unless we fail to fight with the power of God and try to beat him with our own efforts. This will require much prayer, Bible study, fasting, and fellowship, but it is possible to defeat the demonic forces that oppose us. God has promised it; so it must be true.
The warning for TPC is this. Get ready -- sometime in the next few days or weeks some attack will occur. Guaranteed. I can't say how it will develop but the possibilities are endless. It will probably start small. Someone's feelings will get hurt maybe. Or there will be a minor disagreement about some plan or policy. Whatever form the attack takes you can be assured of this: Satan will exploit it for all it's worth. Another thing that is pretty certain: church leadership will be the prime targets. No better way to bring down a church than to cause a pastor to fall.
As Paul told the Ephesian church elders, "Be on guard!" That's good advice for not just your pastors and other church leaders but for all who call The Pointe Church home. Let us all continually lean on the Lord, submitting to Him in every way, stay in the Scriptures, love one another solidly, and never give in to the temptations that constantly assault us. Remember: the devil is a defeated foe; let's keep reminding him of that.
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