That’s how you go undefeated

 Urban Myer coached football for seven years at Ohio state. In his tenure as the Buckeyes’ head coach, they comprised a record of 83 wins and nine loses. He won three Big 10 titles and

a national championship. But what set him apart was that he went 7-0 against their arch rival, Michigan, and the reason is he had a coach on staff whose sole job was “everything Michigan.” All he did was study, watch, listen, and learn Michigan football. He had a playbook on the big blue.

You have to know the enemy’s playbook by heart. It’s how you go 7-0 against your greatest rival. It’s important to know the enemy’s playbook because he definitely knows yours. So we must ask ourselves, “Are we equipped to fear the devil or to fight the devil? Luke 22:3 - Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat.

The sifting process is used to separate the undesirable undersized portions of the product from the correctly sized material.

Satan wanted to completely crush and defeat Peter. Satan’s very nature is to kill steal and destroy. He hates everything and anything the Lord loves. God loves you so. Satan hates you because of it. 

So why would the devil want to know everything about you - “everything you?” It’s  because he knows your potential; he studies your every move. That’s how the enemy goes 7-0 against you (undefeated). He studies everything you say - your routine - and steers you away from your Christ life, in respect sifting separates.

So what is the devil wanting to separate Peter from? Here are a few:

• Godly influence

The devil has a page in his playbook with your greatest Godly influences. He wants to separate you from the Godly and leave you connected to the ungodly. That’s how he goes undefeated against you. He wanted to separate Peter from any hope. Peter had thrown himself and his all into following Jesus and found himself standing alone, with a crucified leader and a scattered core group. Eph 2:12 tells us that without Christ we are separated from hope. The enemy wanted to separate Peter from his calling to lead. If Peter had failed, the sifting process then he would not have received the holy spirit at Pentecost and launched the international worldwide church. People would not have laid their sick in the streets for his shadow to heal them and without calling, Peter could not have preached the resurrected Jesus and the filling of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

• The enemy wants to separate “you from you.”

John 21:3, Peter sat without Jesus after the crucifixion and threatened to return to who he used to be - a fisherman. If Satan can remove you from you, then he can make you to become more like who he wants you to be rather than who God died for you to be.

• The enemy wants to go undefeated in the battle for your soul.

            He has a playbook with “all things you” written on it and everything about you logged inside. A Barna study shows that kids, ages 15 to 23, spend an average of 53 hours each week on screens. In contrast, the same age group spends three to five-and-a-half  in scriptural influence. This is what the enemy’s playbook looks like today - 53 hours per week will always choke the life out of five. If we allow it to continue, then even the hardest stone can wear down.

Let’s defend our playbook, guard our hearts, and determine who we are. Let us help you this Sunday, at 9 a.m. and 11 a.m., at Christpoint Church. We’re located on Liberty Square, in Sparta. We’re real people, living real lives, serving a real God. Welcome home.