Matt28:18 And Jesus came and
spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and
on earth. 19 Go therefore and
make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and
of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to
observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always,
even to the end of the age." Amen.
It has always been an important strategy to “know your enemy.” After all, if you are to defend yourself from an
attack, it is wise to know your enemy well enough to be able to anticipate when
the attack may come, and also where it may come from.
Our enemy, THE enemy of all, walks about like a roaring lion,
looking for those whom he may devour. It’s good to know that about Satan, so we
are not caught off-guard by his attacks and accusations.
One of the attacks Satan likes to launch has to do with how we
think about others. If it can be shown we have a physical enemy, then we
understand the need to be at war with them until they are no longer a physical
threat. We can take that further into the Spiritual realm, especially when
those we perceive to be our physical enemies also espouse a religious
philosophy which poses a threat to Biblical Christianity, and to Christians and
Jews.
The Muslim world has been portrayed as such, and we have begun to
understand the need to “know our enemy,” and to be wise about how to defend
ourselves from a people group who seek to destroy us and our way of life.
But more important than knowing our enemy is to know our Friend. What a friend we have
in Jesus! How important it is to know His
heart, and to know His ways, and to
know His love for all – including those we have commonly
thought of only as enemies.
It is the love of Christ that, “binds the strong man.” How
important for us to understand what Jesus had to say about our enemies. We are
not free to hate them, we are called to love them and to pray for them. After
all, Jesus died for their sins as well…
Our guest speaker this morning is Samy Tanagho. Samy was born and
raised in Egypt where he worked as an attorney before he came to the United
States in 1980. He studied Islamic Law and Islamic Religion at Ain Shams
University, School of Law, Cairo, Egypt. Samy serves as the Director of
Ministry to Muslims “Good Shepherd World Evangelism - Ministry to Muslims.” He
has been involved in the Ministry to Muslims since 1976. You can visit them at
www.muslimministry.com.
He is the author of the book, “Glad News! God Loves You My Muslim
Friend.” He is currently a frequent guest speaker at various Bible Colleges. He
teaches on the topic, “How to Communicate the Good News of the Christian
Scripture Effectively to the Muslim People.” He has given seminars in
conferences and churches throughout the United States and other countries on
this subject.
- Pastor Bill
No comments:
Post a Comment