Get 30 FREE sermons.

ENEMY KEY (17 OF 22)

by Steve Jones

Scripture: 1 Peter 3:13-16
This content is part of a series.


Enemy Key (17 of 22)
Series: Keys of the Kingdom
Steve Jones
Scripture: 1 Peter 3:13-16


Series Summary: This is an expository sermon series through I Peter. Jesus gave to Peter the ‘‘Keys of the Kingdom’’ (Matthew 16:19). ‘‘Keys’’ will be the uniting theme for the series.

Sermon Summary: The ‘‘Enemy Key’’ is about how to deal with our enemies. 1) Minimize, 2) Realize, 3) Galvanize, 4) Optimize, 5) Neutralize.

INTRODUCTION: Let’s play ‘‘Motto Trivia’’ today. See if you can guess the ‘‘motto.’’

1) Timon and Pumbaa from the Lion King?

Hakuna Matata. What does it mean? ‘‘No worries’’

2) Nike - ‘‘Just Do it’’

3) ATandT - ‘‘Reach out and touch someone’’

4) Florida - ‘‘In God we trust’’

5) Little Orphan Annie - The sun’ll come out tomorrow

6) Scarlett O’Hara - Tomorrow is another day

7) Marine Corps - Semper Fidelis - Always Faithful

8) Boy Scouts - Be prepared

Maybe the Boy Scouts got their motto from the Apostle Peter. I Pt.3:15 ‘‘Always be prepared’’. That verse has a specific context which we’ll talk about today but ‘‘be prepared’’ works well as a theme for the last three chapters of Peter’s letter.

In today’s passage we want to see what Peter says about being prepared for enemies. Our initial response might be, ‘‘Enemies? What enemies? I don’t have any enemies.’’ If so, that’s good. I’m glad. But the Christians to whom Peter wrote had enemies in the form of state-sponsored religious persecution. The N.T. letter of I Peter is usually dated about A.D. 64-67 and is thought to have been written from Rome. Historical study shows us that persecution of the Christians began in earnest with the Roman emperor Nero, in connection with a great fire that destroyed most of Rome in July of A.D. 64. So, Peter wanted to equip and prepare his readers to deal with their enemies.

We DO have enemies. There are 15 references to our ‘‘enemies’’ in the N.T. Five are references to Satan as a spiritual enemy. The other ten are references ...

There are 17375 characters in the full content. This excerpt only shows a 2000 character sample of the full content.

Price:  $5.99 or 1 credit
Start a Free Trial