Sermon Central
-
Don’t You Dare!
Contributed by James Stophel on May 22, 2014 (message contributor)
Summary: It is hard to resist a dare. Why even Eve was dared by the devil in the garden. Perhaps what is needed is the right type of dares.
Don’t you Dare!
1st Peter 5:8 – Genesis 2
Don’t you dare!!
How many of us this morning have ever heard that phrase! I would about guarantee that most of us have heard that….or even use that…… at one point of our life. I would even add that there is something mystical or even powerful about a dare.
We have all heard about people being dared to do something. Perhaps you can remember a time in school where someone drew a line in the sand and dared you to cross it! Now for most boys that is something hard to resist. Maybe it was a parent that dared their daughter to defy a direct command that was given….not to go on that date……not to leave the house….not to watch TV or use the computer because they were grounded. Whatever the case, there is always a temptation in being dared not to do something. May I also add that in all of the years I have worked with youth, the perception is that boys are worse about taking dares, but in reality….it is so oftern the girls!
Satan is the ultimate about daring us to do something. He knows how to dress up a challenge to you to make the temptation hard to resist. He also knows your weak spots and the weakest among us. To be dared is a form of temptation and this tool of Satan is one of the oldest he has. He even used this one on Eve in the Garden of Eden. If you will allow me to paraphrase just a little this morning, I want to remind us all of that story.
Here is Eve, in the garden…and I believe on the most part Eve was just minding her on business. But then Satan came along and begins to talk to her about that one fruit tree that God had commanded both Adam and Eve not to eat of this tree. “Notice what God said in Genesis 2:17, “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die”. In other words, God basically said…..Don’t you dare eat of that tree!
Said knowing the weakness of Eve said….once again I am paraphrasing……”Eve, why would God let you have all of the fruit in the garden and then dare you to not eat that one fruit. That is the most beautiful fruit tree here! God also knows that if you eat of that tree, you will become like him and will know what is good and evil. But I bet you are afraid to find that out now, aren’t you? IF you are that much of a woman and you are not scared to find out…Then I Dare you to eat of the tree!!!
The First Dare was a dare from God and a dare that was to be heeded. The second dare was from Satan and it should always be avoided. So how do we avoid the snare of dares that Satan sets for us? Well, I glad you asked because I also want to give you some dares this morning….and if you will heed them, they will change your life!!
1. Don’t You Dare Stray!
Psalm 119:67 Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word.
Of all of the men in the Bible who learned valuable lessons from straying, King David probably had learned as much as any man. His straying from God brought affliction for number the people when commanded not to do so. His straying brought the end of a man’s life when he strayed with Bathsheba. It brought misery in his house and eventually brought about the death of his son! We need to learn that we should not dare stray.
How do we stray? Christians most often begin straying when they….
A. Begin to neglect their prayer life – (our form of power)
B. Begin to Neglect their study of God’s Word – (our form of instruction)
C. Begin to Neglect their church attendance – (Our form of encouragement)
D. Begin to fail to say “No” to our Friends – (our form of defeat)
We must guard our devotional life from Satan’s attacks and dares! We must take our stand boldly for God, by staying away from Satan’s territory>
7Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.
II. Don’t You Dare Strut!
Proverbs 16:18 Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.
A. Some Christians lack humility!
They desire the praise and honor of people, rather than the approval of God.
41These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him.
