1 Peter 5, we're going to look at verse 8, which says,
Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.
The Bible says here that we ought to be sober and to be vigilant.
What does that mean for us? What is the Bible saying?
The Bible is saying, hey, you know what? It's wartime.
Hey, it's battle time. You need to sober up.
You need to be watchful. You need to be vigilant. Why?
Because it says, your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.
You see, the devil, he goes around, he's walking around, looking at individuals,
and he's looking for individuals in this church to devour.
And he does this through a couple of different means.
Sometimes it's obvious, you know, he brings on the persecution and the affliction, and we'll look at that.
But most of the times, it's not obvious.
And here's the thing, you're here today on a Saturday morning, you're going soul winning, you're engaging in a battle, okay?
And the thing is, is the devil, he's not going to try to attack you or to tempt you while you're here at church.
He's not going to tempt you on Sunday morning or Sunday night or Saturday soul winning,
but he's going to try to attack you maybe on Monday morning or Monday evening or Tuesday evening.
On those off times, the devil deals in more subtle ways.
You don't have to turn there, but Genesis 3 verse 1 says,
Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made.
So the devil attacks us in subtle ways.
Now, the reason I'm talking about this is because we as soul winners, you know, we are few and far between, right?
Not to pat ourselves on the back, but the Bible does say, you know, that the harvest truly is plenteous, but the labors are few.
And don't you think that the devil, you know, in his schemes and in his subtlety,
he wants to attack you as a soul winner because he doesn't want you out soul winning, right?
Wouldn't you think that? By you stepping out in faith and going soul winning,
there's a target being put on your back. And I'm not trying to scare you.
I'm trying to make you sober and vigilant because the devil is our adversary and he is going about seeking whom he may devour.
Okay, so the point of this soul winning tip is to help you to be sober and to be vigilant,
to help you to be watchful and to be ready for those attacks from the devil from those fiery darts.
So we have an enemy, the devil, who is our adversary.
He wants to devour and he does it through subtlety most of the time.
Okay, now what is subtlety? Well, subtlety means to be sly, to be cunning, crafty, insinuating, or deceitful.
So the devil, he tries to devour you through deceit. He tries to trick you.
He tries to get you to do something that's going to bring destruction in your life.
John 10 10 says, the thief cometh not but for to steal and to kill and to destroy.
So that is the goal of the devil. Okay, he wants to steal from you.
He wants to kill you. He wants to destroy your life.
He wants to destroy your marriage. He wants to destroy your family.
He wants to destroy your church life in any way he can.
And the way he does that is through subtlety. It's not obvious.
Okay, it's sneaky. It's sly. Go to Mark chapter number four.
I'll read to you Proverbs 4 verse 23, which says, keep thy heart with all diligence,
for out of it are the issues of life.
We need to be keeping an eye on our hearts.
You know, where are our hearts? Where are they going?
What are they going after? Mark chapter number four,
look down at verse 16, and this is the parable of the sower,
and this is Jesus giving the explanation here in Mark chapter four verse 16.
And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground, who,
when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness,
and have no root in themselves.
We'll come back to that in a minute. And so endure but for a time.
Afterward, when affliction or persecution arises for the word's sake,
immediately they are offended.
So this is the more obvious frontal attack from the devil.
And you know, we've experienced this at this church,
and other churches have experienced it as well,
when there's persecution and affliction.
And those that have no root in themselves, they're offended.
Okay, and what do they do? They quit the church. They quit soul winning.
So I'm trying to bring these things to you,
because there's going to come a time when, you know,
we could be persecuted and people will leave.
Well, why do they leave? Why? Because they have no root in themselves.
What does that mean? It means, you know, they heard the word of God with gladness,
but you know, it didn't take root in their hearts.
Okay, and I'm going to come back to that in a minute. Look at verse 18.
And these are they which are sown among thorns, such as hear the word,
and the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches,
and the lust of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.
So how does the devil deal most of the time? It's through subtlety, right?
And these are the things that will take you out of the race.
These are the things that will take you, maybe you're here today,
but you might be gone a year from now. So be watchful for these things.
What are they? The cares of this world.
Okay, be careful about, remember Proverbs 4 verse 23 says,
keep thy heart with all diligence. Be careful what your heart is going after.
You know, be careful what you love. Maybe you love something a little bit too much.
Maybe you love your 401k a little too much.
Maybe you love your little hobbies a little too much.
But what are the things that the world cares about?
Well, they care about politics, right?
They're just glued to the news. They're glued to their phones.
They care about, you know, YouTube. They care about money.
They care about, you know, living a happy life.
But the Bible says, these cares of the world can choke the word so that it's unfruitful.
What's another thing? The deceitfulness of riches.
Now, there's nothing wrong with being rich. There's rich people in the Bible that God used,
but here's the thing, riches are deceitful. Why? Because they promise something.
It promises happiness, fulfillment. I can do all these great things for God.
I can, you know, pay people to go soul winning. I can buy a building.
No, it's deceitful. It doesn't provide happiness to you.
It doesn't provide fulfillment to you any more than, you know, a pen provides fulfillment to you.
It's a tool. That's all it is.
You know, I work with a lot of tools. I have drills and hammers.
I don't love my tools. They help me get the job done.
You know, they help me provide for my family, provide an income.
Money is just a tool.
That's nothing more than that. We need to look at it as nothing more than that.
That's something that will take you out of the Christian life.
That's something that can take you and cause you to stop soul winning is when you become covetous.
So what's another thing? The lust of other things entering in.
This could be a desire. Lust just means desire. It could be a desire to, you know,
let's random be a homesteader, right? You know, I like that stuff.
But here's the thing, you know, the lust of anything entering in can choke the words.
That's why you need to guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
That's why you need to keep thy heart with all diligence because the devil deals in subtlety.
It's not so obvious things that are going to get you to be removed
or for you to remove yourself out of this fight.
The devil doesn't want you here this morning, okay?
He's not going to attack you today. He's not going to attack you tomorrow.
He's going to attack you Monday morning.
He's going to bring those thoughts in your mind.
He's going to bring those doubts in your mind like he did to Eve.
You know, yea hath God said, causing you to doubt God's word.
So just be careful. Be sober, be vigilant because your adversary,
the devil as a royal lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour.
Go to, look at, again, verse 17 there in Mark 4.
Notice it says, and have no root in themselves.
This is referring to the Word of God taking root into your life.
And this is what we need. If you want to last,
if you want to be a sole winner to the day that you die,
and I'm not boasting about myself in any way,
I'm susceptible, you know, because, you know,
I have some sort of, you know, leadership role in the church.
I'm more susceptible to these things.
I'm more vulnerable to these things.
So for those of you that want to be leaders,
you need to just sober up and be vigilant because it's going to be harder for you.
The devil is going to try to attack you more, not less.
You know, because you have a leadership position doesn't make you invincible.
It actually makes you more weak.
It actually makes you more vulnerable to attack.
So just be aware of that.
But notice it says, and have no root in themselves. Go to Psalm chapter number one.
1 Corinthians 10 12 says, wherefore let him that thinketh he sandeth take heed lest he fall.
So here's the thing, the Word of God needs to take root in our hearts.
And the difference between soul winners that last
and Christians that last is the ones that last have the Word of God in their hearts.
They've developed a daily discipline of Bible reading.
You know, it's funny, it's not, it's just the way it works is we as just humans in general,
we just try to focus on the urgent things in our life.
And we tend to forget about the important things.
You know, there are things that are urgent that are pressing onto us,
but you know what, maybe they're not so important.
We need to sometimes just hold off on the urgent things
and focus on what's important, like Bible reading.
Bible reading doesn't seem like it's urgent, right?
You know, you can get, you can get along, you know,
scrape by with just a few verses here and there or, you know,
maybe you missed the week or something, but it doesn't happen just right away.
You know, falling away doesn't happen right away.
We need to make Bible reading a priority.
Psalm chapter 1, this is probably one of my favorite chapters in the Bible.
Psalm chapter 1, look at verse 1.
Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly,
nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful,
but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
not in the cares of this world, not in riches,
not in the lust of other things, but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and in his law doth he meditate day and night,
and he shall be like a tree, you remember the root?
He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water
that bringeth forth his fruit and his season,
that's soul winning, his life or his leaf also shall not wither,
and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
See, the key to being sober, being vigilant, is being in the Word of God.
And so you, by soul winning, you have a target on your back.
You know, we have a lot of new soul winners coming in all the time,
and you just need to wake up and realize this is a war,
the devil's out to kill you, to destroy your life,
just be sober, be vigilant.
You know what, none of us are more powerful than the devil,
but you know what, greater is he that is in us than he who is in the world, right?
So we need the Word of God residing in our hearts,
and if we're going to survive this fight, amen?
All right, let's go ahead and pray.
Dear Heavenly Father, just thank you for your Word today,
pray that you would be with us as we go out soul winning today.
Bless everyone here, in Jesus' name we pray, amen.