Satan’s Plans for 2026

Introduction

Good morning. I want to ask you to please get your Bible out this morning and go into your New Testament, either paper form or digital form. Just get a Bible out, please. You’ll need that today. And I want to ask you to please go into your New Testament to 1 Peter chapter 5. First Peter chapter 5 in your New Testament. I want to read some verses from 1 Peter 5 in just a moment. As you turn to 1 Peter chapter 5, let me just say it is a blessing to be together today. It is a blessing to be able to be assembled together on this first Sunday of 2026. God has blessed us to be together on this Lord’s Day. And I pray for nothing but good things for you and your family this year.

I pray that you will especially prosper spiritually, that we will all grow and become more like Jesus.

He says in 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse 6, therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you at the proper time. Casting all of your anxiety or care on him because he cares for you. Be of sober spirit. Be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour, but resist him firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world. As you ponder on those verses for just a moment or two, I want to begin by asking you have you by any chance seen the movie The Passion of the Christ. You see the movie The Passion of the Christ before?

I’ve seen that movie on several occasions. And one of my favorite things about it is its portrayal of the devil. Do you remember how the devil is portrayed in that movie? Remember, throughout that movie, the devil really doesn’t say a lot. He really doesn’t have a lot of dialogue, interaction with people. Instead, he just mostly lurks around in the background. He mostly roams and stalks and instigates the terrible scenes that unfold. That’s how the devil is portrayed all throughout this movie. And I really like that because that is exactly how he’s described in the Bible. You see, in the Bible, the word of God, the devil is not described as a hundred-foot tall, loud monster. He is not described as someone who wants people to believe in him and know that he is there.

He is not described as somebody who announces his intentions beforehand and pops out from behind the bushes to let us know that he’s seeking to hurt us. No, throughout the Bible, the devil is described as someone who’s lurking in the background. He’s described as a schemer and a roamer and a planner. He’s described as a roaring lion who stalks and studies and strategically seeks to hurt God’s people.

That’s how the devil’s described. Throughout the word of God, and the question is, how do we fight that? How do we fight against that? How do we combat and defeat an enemy who prefers to war to work in the darkness so that we will not know that he’s there. Well, brothers and sisters, before our elders or our shepherds lay out the goals and plans they have for us as a church family in 2026 next week. I believe we first this morning need to spend some time talking about the devil’s plans for us this year. I believe we first need to understand that the devil also has plans for the South Bumby Church of Christ, and his plans are very different than the plans of our shepherds.

You see, while our shepherds have made plans for us to grow and thrive and become more like Jesus this year, the devil has made plans to infiltrate and destroy our work. He has made plans to obstruct our efforts to be united and focused and remain a beacon of light that shines here brightly in this community. The devil has made plans to cause every single member of this church to become bitter and angry and jealous and worldly and ultimately leave Jesus. That’s what the devil wants for me. And that’s also what he wants for you. And I want to show you four ways. Four ways he plans to get what he wants. I want to show you four ways in which the devil plans to get what he wants from me and you this year in 2026.

1. The Devil Wants to Distract Us

And the first way he plans to get what he wants is by distracting us. The devil wants to distract us. And I really want you to think about that. I want you to think about how the devil wants to distract us from the work we’re going to do this year. In fact, I want you to think about all the work that’s already being done here in this church. I want you to think about all the evangelism that is done in this church. I want you to think about all the preachers who are supported in this country and around the world because of the giving done by members in this church. I want you to think about how even in this past year a lot of souls repented of their sins and were baptized into Christ.

And a lot of Bible studies with the lost were conducted, and a lot of opportunities for spiritual growth were offered outside this building. I want you to think about that. I want you to think about all the evangelism that is done in this church, and I want you to think about all the worship that’s done here each and every Lord’s day. I want you to think about all the wonderful singing, all the wonderful singing to God that is done here in this place every Lord’s day. And I want you to think about the giving. And I want you to think about the prayers and the preaching and the fellowship we enjoy together when we eat the Lord’s Supper and we remember the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

I want you to think about that. Think about all the worship that’s done here. And then think about all the Bible classes.

Think about all the wonderful Bible class teachers we have in this place and all the good that is accomplished by the work they’re doing with our young people. And then think about all the other opportunities we have for learning and growing as a spiritual family here. Think about that teen weekend that this church has been doing for so long. Think about the vacation Bible school. Think about the gospel meetings and the women’s classes and the prayer breakfasts and the youth devotionals and the young men’s training classes. Think about all the people we’re reaching across the globe right now with the sermons and classes that we post on our YouTube channel. And then think about our updated, our new and updated website. And think about all the people we have visiting our worship assemblies every Sunday because of where we’re located in this country and how people come here and they hear the word of God and they learn and they then take that information with them back to their home congregations.

Think about all of that.

Do you think he watches that and goes, ooh, way to go? I really like what they’re doing right now. You know what? I’m just gonna leave them alone. I’m not gonna mess with them. I’m not gonna bother them. I’m gonna just let them keep doing what they’re doing. Do you think the devil thinks that stuff? When he notices all the work that’s being done here in this place? Absolutely not. Absolutely. The devil doesn’t cheer us on when he watches and observes all this work that’s being done here in this place. Instead, he wants to stop us. He wants to hinder us, he wants to distract us from doing the work that God wants us to do. In fact, one of the ways in which he will do that, one of the ways in which he will try to distract us is by first causing us to major in the minors.

You ever heard that expression before, major in the minors? You ever been part of a church that majored in the minors? I’ve been part of a couple of churches like that. I’ve been part of congregations without scriptural leadership. And in men’s business meetings, they spend a couple of hours talking about carpets and talking about the patent of pews and talking about what we’re gonna, what color we’re gonna paint the nursery, and they don’t even spend five minutes talking about souls. They don’t even spend five minutes talking about evangelism and how we can be more effective and winning the loss in our community with the gospel and how we’re gonna restore brethren who have left the Lord and left Jesus. We majored in the minors. We focused on trivial things and we allowed those things to distract us from doing the main work that God has given us to do.

The work that Jesus talks about in Matthew 28 and verse 19. The work where Jesus told his people to go into all the world and make disciples of the nations. And that is echoed in Mark 16 and verse 15, where Jesus told his people to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. And then in Acts chapter 8 and verse number 4, we see that the early Christians, even though they were being persecuted, even though they were suffering, even though they were forced to leave Jerusalem because of a great persecution led by Saul of Tarsus, the Bible says they still went out teaching the word. Don’t misunderstand. Don’t misunderstand. While maintaining a meeting place is important, and it is an authorized work in the Bible, we can never become so distracted by this building that we lose sight of this.

That we lose sight of the gospel and our need to win souls with the gospel. But the devil, he wants to distract us by majoring in the minors, and a second way he wants to distract us is by getting us to focus only on ourselves. Just focus on me and what I want. And we see this when we look at the gospel of Mark, because the apostles fell into this trap. And if the apostles could fall into this trap, and they had Jesus right in front of them, they saw his miracles, they heard his preaching. If they can fall into this trap, you know we can. We definitely can. And so go in your Bible to Mark chapter 10, and Mark the 10th chapter, and in verse number 35.

In Mark the 10th chapter and in verse number 35. The Bible says, James and John, two apostles, two sons of Zebedee, came up to Jesus saying, Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask you. That’s a problem right there. That’s not good. We want you to do for us whatever we ask of you. And he Jesus said to them, What do you want me to do for you? And they said to him, Grant that we may sit one of your right and one of your left in your glory. What do we find going on in those verses? Well, in those verses, we find a problem. This is a problem. This is a bad request. This is an example of how not to talk to the Lord.

This is a bad request being made by the apostles. This is a request that is rooted in selfishness and pride and ego. They want Jesus to give them whatever they want. They want Jesus to focus on fulfilling their desires and their ambitions. They want Jesus to exalt them to a high place of position and status in the kingdom of God. They are focused solely on themselves. And that is exactly the kind of mindset the devil wants us to have in 2026. Like James and John, the devil wants me. He wants you. He wants all of us to be selfish. He wants all of us this year to desire position and praise and status in the kingdom of God. He wants us to focus only on ourselves.

He wants us to do things like keep track of the number of times someone has called a check on me. Or giving me a compliment or a pat on the back. He wants us to live with a mindset that says, Well, you know what? The church, this church, exists to serve me. It exerts, it exists to do the things that I want it to do. Worship assemblies should be tailored to give me what I want. I’m not going to be happy unless the songs that I want to sing are sung every Sunday. And the preacher preaches on my favorite subjects, and the elders always make decisions that are in the way that I want to go. That’s how the devil wants us to think. Solely focus on ourselves.

But listen to what Jesus says about that. Drop down to verse 41. Because in verse 41 of Mark 10, the text goes on to say this in verse 41. Hearing this, the ten began to feel indignant. This is division. The other ten don’t like this. They know this is messed up. They’re indignant with James and John. And Jesus is about to straighten all this out now. He calls them to himself and he said to them, You know that those who are recognized as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them. And their great men exercise authority over them, but it’s not this way among you. In other words, my people, the people of my kingdom, they don’t think like the pagans. They don’t think like the people in the world.

The world is all about status. The world is all about position. The world is all about trying to climb the corporate ladder and exalt themselves over one another. That’s how the world thinks. Jesus says, That stuff doesn’t come in my kingdom. We don’t think that way in my kingdom. He says, It’s not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you should be your what? Your servant. And who wishes to become first among you shall be slave of all, for even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. Notice how the way to effectively combat the devil’s plan for us to be selfish and solely focus on ourselves is to be like Jesus.

It’s to be a servant like Jesus. It’s to have a mindset like Jesus, is to make sure that like Jesus, we focus first and foremost on the needs of those around us and what we might do to serve them. It’s to challenge ourselves to walk through those doors. Every time we come here with a mindset that says, I’m coming here today to serve God, to serve Jesus, and to serve my brethren. It’s not about me first. It’s about God, it’s about the Lord, it’s about my brethren. I’m gonna sing these songs to serve God, to praise God and to serve my brethren. I’m gonna pray these prayers to talk to God and to encourage and serve my brethren. I’m gonna be kind, I’m gonna be loving, I’m gonna be as gracious as I can today because I want to build up this body and serve God and serve my brethren.

2. He Wants Us to Dwell on Our Differences

I’m gonna come to Bible classes. Whenever I have the opportunity, as often as I can, because I want to learn and I want to encourage my brethren. I’m gonna open up my home this year for some hospitality and try to get to get to know some people here that I don’t know so well because I want to serve God and I want to serve my brethren. I’m gonna be patient with folks here who may get on my nerves and they make me angry, but I want to serve God, and I want to serve my brethren. The devil wants to distract us. But this year, and every year, let us combat that by avoiding majoring the minors and solely focusing on ourselves. But in addition to wanting to distract us, another plan the devil has for us this year is he wants us to dwell on our differences.

He wants to distract us and calls us to dwell in our differences. And I’ve said this before, but I’m going to say it again for the sake of emphasis. But one of my favorite churches to study in the Bible. And one of the most important churches, I believe, in the New Testament world was the church in Antioch. The church in Antioch that we can read about in Acts chapter 11. You see, even though there is no letter written by Paul or James or Peter or John to this church, I submitted the church in Antioch is still very significant because not only was that the church where they were first called Christians, but it also, and listen to me carefully, it also was the first racially mixed church.

It also is the first church that we can read about in the Bible that is comprised of Jews and Gentiles. It is made up of people who are so different from each other, kind of like this church. Kind of like the South Bombey Church of Christ. You see, in many ways, we’re just like the church in Antioch. And I want you to think about that. I mean, think about how different we are. We’re different. Think about how when it comes to many of us, we we come from different backgrounds. We come from different experiences. We come from different walks of life. We come from different financial statuses and cultures and colors of skin and professions and levels of education.

Many of us got different hobbies and things we like to do. Many of us got different food that we like. Some folks here like to eat tuna fish and coconut and meatloaf, and other people like me rather die and starve to death before I eat and give or even touch that stuff. We don’t all like the same kind of food. And we also don’t agree when it comes to some of us don’t agree when it comes to sports. And what’s the best sport to watch and who the greatest basketball player is of all time. Some people like to be wrong to say somebody other than Michael Jordan, that’s okay. And we don’t all like the same kind of movies and the same kind of music, and then we don’t all agree on the best place to travel and go on vacation.

We have so many differences among the people who make up this church. And you know what the devil wants? He would love for those differences to divide us. He would love for those differences to cause us to get irritated with each other and angry and bitter and resentful because some brethren don’t agree with me and they don’t like the same things that I like. He especially would love for politics to divide us. He especially would love us to be so dedicated to our favorite politician and our favorite political party that we believe that if other Christians don’t believe like us and vote like us, then you know what that means? That means they’re weaker in the faith. That means they’re not right with God. They’re in sin.

That means that I constantly need to go to war against them, especially on social media. You see, like in 2025. Even this year, the devil wants me and you to use our zeal for politics to divide the spiritual family and make others angry and discourage them. The question is, how do we combat that? How do we mess up the devil’s plans when it comes to that? Well, Paul gives us the answer in Ephesians chapter 4. Go in your Bible, please to Ephesians 4. Because in Ephesians chapter 4, the apostle Paul is writing to a church, maybe even several churches that are very that are different. People who make up these churches or this church, they’re very different from each other. You got Jews and Gentiles. And Paul wants to encourage them to be united and not dwell on their differences.

And so he says in Ephesians chapter 4 and verse number 1, in verse number 1 of Ephesians 4, he says, Therefore, I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you’ve been called with all humility, notice, and gentleness with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace. Verse 4. There’s one body and one spirit, just you also called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and all. There’s the answer. Do you see the answer? Notice how if we are going to effectively combat the devil’s desire for us to dwell on our differences, we first gotta be humble.

Verse 2 says we have to be humble. We got to always be mindful. I have to always be mindful of how my words and my actions are going to impact my brethren. I got to be gentle. I got to be patient. I got to show tolerance for my brethren in love. What does Paul mean when he says that? When Paul says that we got to show tolerance for one another in love, he does not mean that we ought to tolerate sin. He does not mean that we need to take a step back and ignore wicked and evil behavior that’s going on in the lives of our brethren. Instead, what Paul means is I need to accept and accommodate the various trivial differences that are found in the spiritual family.

He means I don’t need to let trivial differences like sports and food and movies and music to cause me to have ill feelings towards my brethren instead of focusing on the trivial differences that we have among us. I need to focus more on the things that bind us together. I need to focus more on the fact that we’re all part of the same spiritual body. And we believe and love the same Father and the same Son and the same Holy Spirit. And we’ve all experienced the same one baptism for remission of sins, and we share a common hope and a common faith. The way to combat the devil’s desire for us to dwell on our differences is we gotta value, we have to value more the things that make us one in Christ.

3. He Wants Us to Be Quiet About Doctrine

We have to value more our relationship and the core aspects of the gospel. The devil wants to distract us. And he wants us to dwell on our differences this year. And then the third thing he wants us to do is he wants us to be quiet about doctrine. He wants us to be quiet about doctrine. And so I’m going to my Bible to 1 John chapter 4, please. In 1 John chapter 4. Look at verse number 1. Because in 1 John chapter 4, and in verse number 1, John says to the people of God, beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. Notice how 2,000 years ago, in the time of John, there were false prophets.

There were false teachers out in the world disturbing and trying to destroy the faith of God’s people. That was going on in the New Testament world and is still going on today. Today there are false teachers and false prophets and false doctrines being promoted in the world. And you know what the devil doesn’t want us to do? The devil doesn’t want us to combat that stuff. The devil doesn’t want us to be strong and direct and sound and our teaching from the word of God. Instead, the devil will rather us be quiet. The devil doesn’t want us to say anything. Don’t say anything about doctrine. Don’t say anything about Bible authority in 2026. I don’t want to hear that. Don’t say anything about why using mechanical instruments in worship is wrong.

Don’t say anything about first principles that can help lost people gain a good understanding about what they need to become Christians. Don’t say anything against false doctrines like faith only salvation. And once saved, always saved. Don’t preach about marriage, divorce, and remarriage. Don’t preach about these controversial moral issues like homosexuality and cohabitation and transgenderism. Be quiet about that stuff. Because if you preach about that stuff, you’re not gonna feel these pews. People gonna they’re gonna leave. You’re gonna drive people away. You’re gonna cause a ruckus. People are gonna get mad. A lot of people, when they hear that kind of stuff, they consider that kind of preaching to be old-fashioned and outdated and hateful and bigoted. The devil wants us to be quiet about doctrine. But the question is, what does God want us to do?

How does God want us to combat this? Well, Jesus tells us what he wants. And Matthew 28 and verse 20. Where after Jesus told his people to go into all the world and make disciples of the nations, he says that after you baptize them by the authority of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, you gotta keep teaching them. And you gotta teach them to observe all, not some. All that I have commanded. Jesus wants all his word preached, not just some of it. And Paul said he did that. He told the Ephesian elders, hey, I did that when I was among you for three years. He says, For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole, not some, the whole purpose or counsel of God.

Paul says, I gave it all to you. And listen to what he told Timothy. Go in your Bible, please to 2 Timothy chapter 4. Because in 2 Timothy chapter 4, and in verse number 1, and 2 Timothy chapter 4, Paul told his friend Timothy this. In verse number 1, he says, I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is a judge of the living and the dead, and by his appearance in his kingdom. Verse 2, preach the word. Be ready in season and eye season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and instruction. For the time will come, we’re living in these times for sure when they will not endure sound doctrine. And they don’t want healthy doctrine. Instead, they want to have their ears tickled.

And they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to mids, but you be sober in all things, endure hardship.

Do you see how we combat this? According to the Bible, we combat the devil’s desire for us to be quiet about doctrine in 2026 by doing the opposite. We do the opposite of what he wants. We be bold. We be courageous. We be zealous about the truth, and we never allow the fear of ridicule and rejection and persecution to cause us to be quiet about it. We never compromise it. We focus first on pleasing God and being sound and direct and clear in our teaching because doing anything less will give the devil a foothold in this church. We speak the truth in love. Because we really love God. And we really love people. We really love people and we love their souls. We really want them to go to heaven.

4. He Wants Us to Not Take Sin Seriously

We really want them to be right with God. We really understand that only the truth can set people free from their sins, and watering the truth down doesn’t help people truly know the Lord. The devil wants us to be quiet about doctrine. And the last point goes right with that when we say that he also wants. He also wants us to not take sin seriously. That’s what he wants. And the Corinthian congregation fell for this trap. They fell right into it. I’m going to my Bible to 1 Corinthians chapter 5. In 1 Corinthians chapter 5, we learn about one of many problems going on in Corinth. When Paul says in verse 1, it is actually reported that there is immorality among you and immorality of such a kind as does not exist even among the pagans, even among the Gentiles, that someone has his fatherless wife.

And you’ve become arrogant and have not mourned instead, so that the one who had done this deed will be removed from your midst. For I am my part, though absent of the body, but present in spirit, have already judged him who has committed this as though I were present in the name of our Lord Jesus, when you are assembled, and I with you in spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus, I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. What’s Paul’s temperature as he writes those verses? You can see it. The temperature is high. The temperature is hot. Paul is mad as he writes these words because it is very clear that these brethren were not taking sin seriously.

They were actually in fellowship with a brother who was openly practicing sin. He was openly engaged in sexual immorality with probably his stepmother. And instead of turn a blind eye to that and being afraid to offend that brother and run him off and hurt his feelings, Paul tells them directly, you need to step up. You need to step up and you need to discipline that brother. You need to demonstrate real love for him and pull back fellowship. That’s what Paul tells them to do. And that may be what we need to do with some folks even this year. In 2026, if some people in the spiritual family began to openly rebel and practice sin and refuse to repent, we’re gonna have to combat the devil’s desire for us to turn a blind eye and not take action and do exactly what Paul says there.

Verse 2, Paul says, remove him from your midst. Verse 5, Paul says, deliver such a one to Satan. Verse 7, he says, clean out the old leaven. Verse 9, he says, Do not associate with immoral people. Verse 11, he clarifies what he means there when he says, Don’t associate with any so-called brother. Verse 13, he says, Remove the wicked man from among yourselves. That’s how you deal with this. Sometimes you got to pull back fellowship from brothers and sisters who refuse to repent of sin, and we may have to do that not because we hate people. Not because we hate a brother or sister or be trying to embarrass a brother or sister or control somebody’s life. No, we may have to do that because God tells us to.

Conclusion

God commands us to. We really love that person. We really want to help that person. We understand that being part of a local church means that we are accountable to each other. We have relationships with each other. We are connected to one another. And if we don’t deal with sin God’s way, the entire church could be impacted and influenced to also minimize the seriousness of sin. Now, there are many other points we could put on this, on this slide, but here’s the thing to take home. Our shepherds are not the only ones who have plans for us this year. The devil also has plans. And the goal of my lesson was very simple to expose them. To shine a light on his plans, to do what he doesn’t want me to do, and put these plans in the forefront of our minds right away so that we can be equipped to combat them as we do God’s work together this year.

As a spiritual family, and maybe there’s somebody here this morning, and you need some help defeating the devil in your own life. Maybe there’s somebody here this morning, and you’re not living for the Lord. You’re not living a life of a Christian. I can’t think of a better way to start 2026 than finally giving your life to the Lord. Repenting of sin.

And being baptized in water for the forgiveness of your sins. Begin 2026 by becoming a Christian. And if you’ve done those things in the past, but you’re not living for the Lord, come back to the Lord. Repent and begin this year with a new focus and a new desire to truly live for Jesus. If there’s anyone here who needs to respond to the gospel, we’re going to sing this song and invite you to come. Let us stand. Let us sing.