You May Already Be a Winner (1 John 4:1-6)
Gary McManus, 05/02/2021Part of the Life With Jesus is Better series, preached at a Sunday Morning service
May 2, 2021 1 John 4:1-6 You May Already Be a Winner!
Early in the history of the Church, people couldn’t read (for over a thousand years). The Church used its artists to visually depict the Bible: altar paintings, wood carvings, stain glass windows. Since so much was in pictures, so was evil—Satan, the Devil.
BEFORE the people of the church had learned to read
—and most church members couldn’t read for over 1,000 years
. . .before we learned to read, the church depended on its artists
for visual communication of the Bible. Altar paintings, wood carvings, satin glass windows—in some churches, everywhere you looked, there was the Bible in pictures
—even the ceilings like in the Sistine Chapel in Italy. Since the Bible was in pictures, there HAD to be depictions of the Devil / Satan. How might you picture evil?
G.B.Caird, Revelation (Revelation 9:7):
locusts that sting with human faces.
Conclude: Evil wears a human face.
In the details of the Holocaust, we see
human faces: factory workers, clerks, construction
workers and the guards at the camps.
Walter Rauschenbusch: Super-personal forces of evil.
Slavery is a super-personal force of evil.
Owning slaves wasn’t necessary to participate in evil.
Our own laws state the same thing:
accessory to crime.
What can be done if evil wants your face to participate?
In WW2, many had to face evil from Germany and Japan. How to fight the evil? Many ways available.
One didn’t have to be a Christian to fight evil in WW2, but many Christians were motivated by their faith.
But, first, we talk about Jesus. . .
Martin Luther King, Jr. quote; see John 5:17
The Devil At My Heels by Louis Zamperini.
Foreword by John McCain.
They both learned: “Faith in yourself isn’t enough. . .”
Faith in God is needed to face evil.
See Father Lampert’s book, Exorcism.
Jesus can help in the fight against the super-personal forces of evil. Jesus helps us in the person-to-person confrontations with evil.
Dr. Robert Jeffries, “10 Strategies for surviving in
a hostile world”
Survival training for the Christian is essential.
--Remember your training and trust it.
Church has trained you!
Jesus trained the Disciples and they returned from mission, Luke 10:17-20 “. . .authority to overcome ALL the power of the enemy.”
Snakes (Genesis 3) and scorpions (Revelation 9:7)
In The Book of Acts, Luke shows the church WINNING over Satan’s schemes.
Father Lampert: you have no need to fear the Devil.(!) See his book, p. 102.
Even when we deal with evil, there is a way to serve the Lord. See Jesus promise and blessing, John 14:26-27. Amen
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