FBCPS
Sermons, teachings, and podcasts from First Baptist Church in Powder Springs, Georgia.
FBCPS
The Testing of Temptation | Luke 4:1-13
What does it mean to truly experience a vibrant community of faith? Join us as we recount the energy of a recent Sunday morning at First Baptist Church, Powder Springs. We celebrated our devoted volunteers, including the 130 attendees at the Dream Team rally, and relived the success of a women's conference spearheaded by Karen Darnell. Christian Henry, our dynamic new student pastor, steps into the spotlight as he invigorates our student and young adult ministries. And we can't forget the joy of Baptism Sunday, where 12 individuals took their newfound faith public. Through these stories, we invite you to feel the palpable excitement and gratitude that fuels our community's journey with God.
Temptation is a universal struggle, and our latest episode helps you navigate these murky waters with insights drawn from biblical stories and real-life anecdotes. Whether facing the lust of the flesh, eyes, or pride, we shed light on the spiritual battles that challenge us to choose between a path of sin and a life following Jesus. With humor and candor, we share a pastor's amusing encounter with a donut shop — a lighthearted reminder of the everyday temptations we all face. Discover strategies for aligning your life more closely with God’s presence and finding strength through spiritual disciplines like fasting and prayer.
Finally, we reflect on the transformative power of baptism and the importance of spiritual fortitude. Stories of triumph, like David's defiance of a grim prognosis and Tom's bravery in overcoming his fear of water, illustrate the profound impact of embracing faith. As we celebrate new believers and guide them towards the next steps in their spiritual journey, we ensure that nothing stands between them and baptism. With the assurance of community support and a heartfelt prayer for guidance, we encourage everyone to pursue a life fully committed to Jesus.
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Welcome to First Baptist Church, powder Springs. Put your hands together if you're excited to be in church this morning, man, the worship was incredible. God's already moving. We're so thankful for every single person that's here. Maybe you've been here for a long time, maybe you've just been here for a little while, maybe it's your first time, maybe you're online. Whoever you are, we're just thankful that you are here or you are tuned in, because we believe that God wants to speak to you this morning. Out of all of the places that you could be, this is where God brought you today, and I believe that God's got a word for you.
Speaker 1:It's just been amazing to watch and to see how God's hand has been on our church. We've been going through just like a little time, a little season of revival together, and we are just getting what God can give out of his grace, out of his mercy Nothing we deserve, nothing we earn. We are not great. He is great, and we're just thankful for everything that God is doing. Just for a few things that you can see what God's doing. First of all, we had last Sunday. We had a dream team rally. This was a lunch for all of our volunteers. We had some 130 different volunteers there for that lunch. Would you put your hands together for all of our volunteers that make Sunday mornings happen and Wednesday nights happen and all of our ministries happen, and we believe that every believer, god has a ministry for them, and so if you're not serving in some way and you wanna get more involved, that's a great way to be able to do it. Also, I want you to know that yesterday we had our women's conference. Yesterday morning and afternoon we had some over 300 ladies registered because of sickness or whatever. I think we had like 280, 290 who were here, including my five-year-old daughter, brooklyn, and my eight-month-old daughter, eliana, and so we're just super thankful for all that God did. I wanna say daughter Eliana, and so we're just super thankful for all that God did. I want to say thank you to Karen Darnell. She's not here today, she's homesick, she's watching right now. Can we just put our hands together for Karen Darnell, for our ladies, her team, all the ladies that served, and it's just amazing to watch them plan, watch them prepare, and I've never seen a conference more prayed over and God worked, god moved. I wanna say thank you to all of our deacons. As I told Larry Darnell, our chairman of deacons yesterday that we couldn't pay you hourly because we couldn't afford all of our deacons and all that they do. But we are incredibly thankful, karen, if you're watching, we've got some flowers for you and we've got a gift card for a facial for you from your church, our way of appreciating it's my favorite face, my place to get my facial. Just kidding, I don't get facials, but it's my wife got it for you and it's from your church. We love you and we are super thankful for all that you did. I want you to know that we have a D now coming up.
Speaker 1:Where is Christian Henry? Is he in the house? Our brand new student pastor? Y'all put your hands together for Christian Henry, our brand new student pastor, is here. Man praise God for the Henry family.
Speaker 1:This is his first Sunday here with us, my man Christian. He played linebacker in college but now he's tackling the devil for teenagers. Can I get an amen? And so God is so good. His wife was actually Miss Kentucky for Miss America and I just love that. They are people of high achievement but their identity's in Jesus right, like who they are, and what they're all about is not what they've done, but what God has done in their life and they believe. What God wants to do in teenagers, what God wants to do in young adults, he's over our student ministry, he's over our young adult ministry. So anywhere between the ages of 11 to in your 30s, right man, he wants to be a pastor in your life. Let's praise the Lord for Christian, for the Henrys. Love you, bro, so thankful that you're here, a part of us. He's going to be leading an event and taking students to an event that we're calling our D-NOW weekend. So if you're a teenager sixth through twelfth grader that's February 7th through 9th we would love to have you a part of that because of all the amazing things that God is doing in our student ministry.
Speaker 1:And I am just so excited for today, because today is Baptism Sunday. We got to baptize three in our first service. There are nine to get baptized today and maybe God is going to work in your life this morning and maybe he's going to call you to get baptized today. And maybe God is gonna work in your life this morning and maybe he's gonna call you to get baptized. No pressure, we're not rushing anybody ever. We just want you to be faithful to what the Lord calls you to do. Let's pray, heavenly Father. We love you, god, thank you for all that you're doing and, as we love to just proclaim every Sunday, god, this is your word, we are your church. Every Sunday, god, this is your word, we are your church, we are your people, we're going to talk about your son and God. We pray for a move from your spirit for your glory. In Jesus' name, we pray and all God's people said amen, amen.
Speaker 1:Well, I remember hearing a story several years ago about a church and a church. Actually, they were without a pastor and they wanted a young pastor. So they called a seminary president saying, hey, we need a young pastor. Send us your best young pastor to maybe come and be the pastor of our church. So he came. He came and he preached on a Sunday morning so that the church would vote on him and he preached so good that Sunday morning a family actually came to join the church. The problem was they got halfway down the aisle and a deacon went and met them halfway. The family was a different ethnicity of the entire rest of the church and a deacon said something to them. The family hung their heads, turned around, went out the back door. The young pastor went over to the deacon. The young pastor said what did you just say to that family? And the deacon said well, I told them that there was a church for them down the road that we thought that they would be a better fit in. The young pastor said I'm not coming to this church. He went back to the seminary president. He said you won't believe what happened. Seminary president said I'll handle it.
Speaker 1:The church ended up calling the seminary president back, said sorry, things didn't work out with the young pastor. Would you bring us somebody else? Seminary president said nope, you've already got a pastor. They said no, we're the church without a pastor. We want you to know if you'd bring us another pastor. And he said no, you heard me, you've already got a pastor. They said no, we're the church without a pastor. We need a pastor. And he said nope, your pastor's the devil, and as long as the devil is pastoring your church and you don't wanna become a multi-ethnic church, then I don't want to bring you any more young pastors to pastor your church. Put your hands together.
Speaker 1:I love man when people are bold with the word of God, because here's what we believe. We believe that every tribe, every tongue, every what we believe. We believe that every tribe, every tongue, every language, every nation is going to be wrapped around the throne of Jesus. We're all going to be worshiping him together forever. So why can't we do it together now? Can I get an amen? So that's what God is calling us to do.
Speaker 1:And I love how that pastor handled that situation. He didn't just say, hey, your church is going through a little phase right now. Your church has got a little struggle right now. He didn't say you know your church right now. You know you've got a little, just a little problem. No, he called it out for what it is. He called it sin. And what is sin? Sin is anything that Satan brings to us that we want to do so. Temptation is when we want to sin. Sin is when we give into temptation and we do sin. We're in the series right now.
Speaker 1:That's called your Best Year. You Ever Look at somebody and say I hope you have your best year? You ever Go and tell them that right now, I hope you have your best year you ever? Hey, y'all, I have never, have you ever met the person I have yet to meet, the person that said you know what my New Year's resolution is I wanna have the worst year I've ever had in my life. Right, I've never met that person before in my life. No one wants to have their worst year. I believe you wanna have your best year ever. I believe you want your family to have their best year ever.
Speaker 1:I believe that God wants you to have your best year ever have your best year ever, but I believe that the devil wants you to have your worst year ever. He wants you to why? Because in order to have your best year ever is not a year that's absent of difficulties, it's a year that is more present of God than any year yet before in your life. Can I get an amen, man? We want to be filled with God, and so this morning, I want you to see our last way. We've already talked about this month how to prioritize your spiritual health. We've talked about how to know your Savior and to know yourself as prophet, priest and king. Last week, we talked about how to take your next step in your journey and your walk with Jesus to have your best year yet. This morning, I want to encourage you that the last way that we want to see together to have your best year yet. This morning I want to encourage you that the last way that we want to see together to have your best year yet is that you would be able to detect what the devil wants to do in your life. Because here's what the devil wants to do.
Speaker 1:The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 4.4,. You ever heard this before? It says the God of this age, small g, speaking of Satan, that the God of this age wants to blind the minds of unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel, of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. In other words, satan doesn't just want you to do the wrong thing, satan wants you to do anything as long as you don't see the glory of Jesus, as long as you don't live for Jesus in your life. I want you to know that 2 Corinthians, chapter 2, verse 11, says that God actually shows us in his word, he shows you how Satan wants to work in your life. So the Bible says that you would not be ignorant of the evil one's schemes or designs. In other words, god gives you a spoiler alert. Everybody say spoiler alert. God gives you a spoiler alert in the scriptures so that you can see and identify and acknowledge what the devil is trying to do in your life.
Speaker 1:So here's this morning. The title of the message is the Testing of Temptation. Why am I calling it the Testing of Temptation? Because I believe that every temptation that comes to you and every temptation that comes to me is a test. Everybody say test Is a test. And here's the test. The test is will you follow Satan or follow Jesus? The test is will you follow Satan or follow Jesus? Will you worship Satan or worship Jesus? Will you obey Satan or obey Jesus? So here's what we see. We're gonna study the temptation of Jesus. Because Jesus resisted temptation for you, you can too resist temptation through him, not just for him, but it's gotta be by the power of Jesus in your life.
Speaker 1:Here's what we see in 1 John 2,. Verse 16 says this For all that is in the world, or everything that is of the world, of the world just means everything that is of the evil one, everything that is of the enemy, everything that is of sin, everything that is of evil itself, for all that is of the enemy, everything that is of sin, everything that is of evil itself, for all that is in the world, are these things. We see these three main temptations of all of life, that every temptation falls into the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. It's not from the Father, but it's from the world. So let's break it down real quick, just so we all see it together.
Speaker 1:The Bible says that there is a lust of flesh. It's temptation, and that is a temptation of pleasure. Everyone say pleasure and pleasure says I want to feel that. Then there's the lust of the eyes. Just very simply said, to pull it down into one word is a temptation of treasure. Everyone say treasure, treasure says I wanna have that. And then there's the pride of life. It's the sin of pride. Everyone say pride and the pride of life says I want to be that. So here's what's interesting these are the exact same three temptations that Satan took Eve and Adam through in the garden in the very beginning, that Satan took Jesus through in the wilderness and that Satan takes me and you through in our life. See, satan works the same way. So God can say spoiler alert let me show you how he works so you can detect it, so you can fight it, so you don't fall into sin. So here we go. Number one the temptation of pleasure. Everyone say pleasure. The temptation of pleasure, this is the lust of the flesh saying that, I want to feel that. Here's what we see in Jesus' story of the temptation In Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan River and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. In other words, last week and go back and listen to it.
Speaker 1:We talked about Jesus' baptism, and Jesus traveled on foot some 60 to 70 mile walk to where John the Baptist was baptizing hundreds, if not thousands, of people at the Jordan River, where they too were walking somewhere between 20 and 80 miles. We're talking about staying overnight, like they're walking to this revival, some two to five days just to get there. And we see that Jesus walks up to John the Baptist and says I want to be baptized. John says I can't do it. Jesus said you got to do it. John said all right, I'll do it. And John baptized him. Boom, right, there, right. And so what we're seeing then?
Speaker 1:At that point the Bible says that heaven opened and the spirit of God came down and rested on Jesus. And what is the point that Jesus got baptized for you so that you can get baptized for him? We see that baptism is not for our salvation. Baptism is from our salvation. So we get saved and we get baptized. In other words, the most important decision that you will ever make in your life is to give your life to Jesus, believing that he died for your sin, that he rose from the dead and that he becomes the Lord of your life and you follow him with your life and you follow him with your life. That is your salvation. And then the second most important decision in your life is your baptism. It happens after your salvation and it is that first step of obedience in your life and following Jesus. It's a public profession of faith. In other words, here's what we see.
Speaker 1:What does the Bible say about baptism? Let me just boil it down. Break it down very simply. The Bible says that our baptism is, because of our salvation, not to be saved. The Bible says that baptism happens after our salvation, not before our salvation. The Bible says that we are to be submerged in water for our baptism and then come out of the water, because that's what Jesus did. Why? Because our baptism is our public profession of faith. Picturing the gospel when we go under the water, we're saying that we believe that Jesus died for our sin. And no, I do not hold anybody under the water this long. It's a very long time for our sin and no, I do not hold anybody under the water this long, it's a very long time. But when you come out of the water momentarily, you're saying I believe that Jesus rose from the dead.
Speaker 1:Let me just tell you a few stories of a few of the people that are getting baptized today. Today we get to baptize Blake, and Blake was an agnostic. He wasn't even sure if God existed for 25 years. He just gave his life to Jesus about a month ago and he is coming forward for believers baptism today. Susan Susan, she is the head girls basketball coach at Hillgrove High School. How many of y'all are here from Hillgrove? Raise your hand. You're here from Hillgrove. Let's give Hillgrove a big round of applause. We're so thankful to have you here, hillgrove Head girls basketball coach there. She got saved earlier in life and she wants to be biblically baptized. Nick is a senior at McEachern and he's going to get baptized today. He actually won the player of the year PGA junior golf, but his greatest identity and achievement, right, is not as golf, but believing in Jesus as his Lord and Savior, this morning we're going to be baptizing Jamie and her daughter, ashanti and Jamie. Years ago she lost a two-year-old little boy. He died and Jamie told me yesterday. She said it was actually my two-year-old when he lost his life is when God worked in my life. She said my two-year-old saved my life.
Speaker 1:We baptized David this morning. In the first service. David was told that he had six months to live 15 years ago. Can I get an amen? We baptized Tom this morning and Tom was. He was scared of water and I just reminded Tom we've been a church for 183 years. We've never drowned one person, not one, not one. And so we see all throughout scripture the importance of our baptism. I just wanna say maybe you're here this morning and maybe you haven't yet been saved. I pray that today is the day of your salvation, that you'll give your life to Jesus, that the Holy Spirit will move in your life in that way. I pray today that maybe you've been saved but yet you haven't been biblically baptized since your salvation, that God would move in your life in such of a way and that today could be the day of your baptism. If you're online, I want you to know. You've got time right now to jump in the car and to drive here. I've seen it before and we'll even baptize people after the service. It doesn't need to be during the service, we can baptize you after the service. We have come to people's homes and we have baptized them there who cannot get to church for whatever reason, because we just want to be faithful to your life and your walk with Jesus.
Speaker 1:The very next verse, in verse two, it says for 40 days being tempted by the devil. Jesus ate nothing during those days, and when they were ended, he was hungry. Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist. He was. The Holy Spirit rested upon him. And where was the first place? The Holy Spirit led him to go Into the wilderness To be tempted by the devil.
Speaker 1:Why? Because Jesus wasn't looking for a cush life, he wasn't looking for comfort, he wasn't living life for himself. What was Jesus doing? He was going into the wilderness for 40 days, because that's where the Israelites spent 40 years. He was retracing, reliving the steps of the Old Testament saints, but not only them. He was also doing it for you and he was doing it for me. He was going through every temptation, every hardship of life.
Speaker 1:So the Bible says that in Hebrews 4.15, that he was tempted in every way so that you can have a savior who is sympathetic to your temptations. So Jesus was tempted in every way and the Bible says that he was fasting. He ate nothing for 40 days. So then the devil comes to him in the 40th day. Why? Because the devil thinks that Jesus is at his weakest point. But listen to me, while Jesus may be at his weakest point physically, he was at his strongest point spiritually Because Jesus was fasting physically so that he could be strengthening spiritually.
Speaker 1:In other words, often, if you want to grow in your spirituality, you need to be weakened in your physicality. Here's what I mean by that. There will be times in your life that God may call you to fast. There may be times in your life that God calls you to get up early just to get into his word. There may be times in your life that God calls you to stay up late, like Jesus, just to stay up late. Like Jesus, just to stay up late and pray. You know, god allows us to go through these times and often, even when we are experiencing anguish in our life, physical weakness, that God is blessing us with spiritual strength. So here's what we see that the devil goes to Jesus when he is in this time of greatest need.
Speaker 1:It says in Luke 4.3, for 40 days, being tempted by the devil, he ate nothing those days and he was hungry. Let me read the rest of this verse. It says the devil said to him if you are the son of God, command the stone to become bread. In other words, what's happening here in this moment Jesus without food for 40,. The longest time I've ever fasted in my life is five days. I literally do not know how Jesus did it. This is a miracle. This is only Jesus and Moses were in scripture, the only two that have fasted for 40 days that we're aware of. And Satan comes to him and he says hey, I know you're hungry. You're out here in the wilderness. You see that stone right there. Why don't you turn it into bread? Now I'll be honest with you. I'm Jesus. I'm not just turning that stone into bread, I'm turning it into a Texas roadhouse roll with some cinnamon butter. Can I get an amen? I'm turning that joker stone right there into some olive garden breadsticks, into some King Hawaiian rolls. Right, it's this temptation that we have in our life.
Speaker 1:I heard a pastor share a story one time and he said he said he was driving by a donut shop and he just felt so tempted to go in and get a donut. So tempted and he said, god, I'll tell you what, if there's not a parking space out front, I'll know it's a temptation, but if there is a parking space open in the front of the donut shop, I know it's the blessing of you and I'm going in to get a donut. And the pastor said it only took eight trips around the donut shop for God to open up a spot and for him to go in and him to get a donut. You know what Satan was doing. Satan was going after Jesus' most basic bodily need and that's what he's gonna do with you, that's what he does with me. That Satan might have said Jesus, your body needs this. Jesus, you can't live without this. Jesus, your father, he won't ever give this to you. Jesus, don't you wanna feel this pleasure? Don't you wanna feel this sensation? Don't you want to feel this pleasure? Don't you want to feel this sensation? Don't you want to feel this high?
Speaker 1:And we all go through these temptations on a daily basis. Maybe it's the temptation of gluttony that I like to call cheat day. Maybe it's the temptation of abusing alcohol, drugs, any and all sexual sin outside of marriage. It might be a temptation of man you just, you really enjoy just being lazy a lot. Nothing wrong with being lazy a little, but being lazy a lot. Maybe it's you enjoy the emotion of anger or other emotions that happen in your life. I need you to hear me say God is not against pleasure. God loves it when you experience pleasure, but not the kind of pleasure that Satan and sin want to give you, but the kind of pleasure that God and his word wants to give you. Can I get an amen?
Speaker 1:Some of you have heard me tell this story before, but I remember when I was in middle school, satan targeted me and he won. When I was in middle school, there was a TV in my house. It was before cell phones and all that, all the tablets and all the devices. There was a TV in my house that was the only TV in the entire house that got a specific channel that I should have never been watching. I found it and I watched it for two years and I remember how much it distanced me from God. I remember how much it distanced me from my family. I remember the guilt. I remember the shame. I remember my youth pastor preaching a message. God used that message to convict me.
Speaker 1:I went in my parents' room that night because I couldn't get out of my sin. And I went in the room and I fessed up and I remember my dad looking at me, not knowing what he was about to say, not knowing how he was gonna react, not knowing how he was gonna respond. But my dad looked at me and he said, chip, we forgive you and we love you and we're here to help you. And that's when I learned exactly how my heavenly father feels and reacts and responds to my sin. He doesn't stiff arm me, he doesn't just distance himself, but he's there to help us out of our sin. It's not clean up and get to me, it's get to me so you can clean up.
Speaker 1:In fact, here's what we see with Jesus in verse four. It says and Jesus answered him saying it is written man shall not live by bread alone. And he goes on to say this. He says, as he says, it is written man shall not live by bread alone. What Jesus is saying is he is actually quoting scripture. This scripture comes from Deuteronomy 8, verse 3.
Speaker 1:The Bible says that the word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword. The Bible says in Psalm 119, verse 11, that we're to hide God's word in our heart that we might not sin against him. It's easy for us to say I got that verse down. That word is hidden so deep in my heart I can't even find it. Amen. But God says when you read my word, then my word for you becomes a weapon, and it's a weapon to fight against sin, because Jesus listen, jesus went to the cross for you and all that sin that you've done and all that sin that I've done. The Bible says that Jesus not only bore our sin, he became our sin so that we can be forgiven of our sin when we believe in the death of Jesus. I don't know what you've done, but I know what I've done and I know what Jesus has needed to forgive me of and you know what Jesus needs to forgive you of. I believe that we are called to find Jesus as our greatest, truest and deepest pleasure, because that's what God offers us.
Speaker 1:Number two I want you to see the temptation of treasure. Everyone say treasure, treasure is the lust of the eyes. I wanna have that. Luke, chapter four, verse five, says this and the devil took Jesus, took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment in time. In other words, when the devil his first temptation, he said let me just promise you a little basic bodily need in your life. Now. That didn't work. So now Satan's gonna try everything, he's gonna throw everything at him, all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And Satan said to him to you, I will give all of this authority and all their glory, for it has been delivered to me and I will give it. Whom I will? In other words, satan is saying he says in God, says in 2 Corinthians 4.4, that Satan is the God. Small g of this age John 12.31,. That Satan is the ruler. Small r of the world. 1 John 5.19, the whole world lies under the power. Small p of the evil one. In other words, satan thinks he's in charge, but he's not. And he says Jesus, all that treasure that your father has promised to you here's what he says. And you have to go through death to get it. How about I just give it to you right now and you can have it fast and you can have it cheap and you can have it easy. Why don't I just give you all the things that God has promised you that he's not given to you?
Speaker 1:I remember when God called me to be a pastor, I was 19, 20 years old. My friend didn't know it. But my friend said Chip, can I meet with you? Came over to my house and he made me a proposal and he just said Chip man, I am now the owner of this certain business. I'm making all of this money. And he said I'm making all of this money. And he said I want you to be my business partner so we can make all this money together. And it was tempting to take the money over Jesus. But God said I've got better treasure for you in store than any money that you could ever achieve or earn in your life.
Speaker 1:Temptation is like counterfeit money it looks good, it looks real, but it's fake, it's cheap and it's worthless. Satan said it looks real, but it's fake, it's cheap and it's worthless. Satan said I'm sorry. He said Satan said to Jesus if you then will worship me, it will all be yours. In other words, what is sin? Sin is all simply the worship of Satan, a decision to follow Satan over Jesus. A decision to trust Satan over Jesus, a decision to trust Satan over Jesus, a decision to obey Satan over Jesus. He said just worship me. You know what worship means. It means to bow down. It means to give all of yourself to the one who gave all of himself for you. Luke 4, 8,. Jesus answered him. It is written you shall worship the Lord, your God, and him only you shall serve.
Speaker 1:Not only when you get into the word of God is it like a weapon for you against all of sin and temptation, but when you worship God with your life, when you play, worship music in your life and say I don't want to just live by the music of the world. I'm not against all secular music, by any means, enjoy it. I mean there's some good stuff out there. But I mean some music that is sinful, that's singing and talking about sinful things against the word of God. That if it didn't have music, if it was only the lyrics, you would never listen to that. And that we fill our life with the worship of Jesus because he is worthy of our life, that we worship him and we serve him with our life. In other words, jesus is saying Satan, you can't have my worship, you can't have my heart, you can't have my future, you can't have my obedience, you can't have my people. Satan, you can't have my family. Satan, you can't have this. Amen, satan, you can't have me.
Speaker 1:These temptations of treasure in our life might be materialism or jealousy of what others have, or riches or money at any cost, or bigger and better, always nicer homes or cars or technology or devices or clothing, or addiction to shopping or Amazon, or a desire for more or discontentment with what God has given you. Hear me, it is not wrong to have nice things. It's wrong when nice things given you. Hear me, it is not wrong to have nice things. It's wrong when nice things have you. It is not wrong to have riches and money. It's wrong when they have you, when that's what you live for, when that's become your identity, when that becomes your hope, when that becomes your joy. In the same way, for me and for you, jesus died for all of the ways that I and you have fallen to the temptation of treasure, because Jesus wants to be our deepest, truest, greatest and most valuable treasure in our life.
Speaker 1:And number three, lastly, the temptation of pride. Everybody say pride, temptation of pride. It says, and Satan took Jesus to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple. That was some 400 feet in the air, overlooking the Kidron Valley. So Jesus is 400 feet in the air. He said if you are the son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written he will command his angels concerning you to guard you and on their hands they'll bear you up lest you strike your foot against the stone. In other words, satan is using the word of God against Jesus.
Speaker 1:Satan is quoting the Bible to Jesus. Did you know that Satan knows the Bible better than you do? Satan knows the Bible better than you do, and Satan will twist and distort and misinterpret even God's word in your life to try and trick you, to get him to worship him, to obey him. I think this is the most interesting out of all of the temptations, because I think here's what Satan is saying Jesus, don't you want everybody to know who you are? Don't you want everybody to know your identity? You are the son of God. You are God, the son. You have come down out of heaven and look at all of those people. This was the central worship place of Jerusalem. Look at all of those people who do not believe in you. All you have to do, jesus, is throw yourself off the temple and when you fall down to the ground, you will not hit, because angels will come and they will bear you up. They will catch you everybody watching, everybody observing and they'll say wow, he really is the son of God. Let's believe in him.
Speaker 1:The problem was it was a lie, because Satan was saying why don't you get people to believe in you without going to the cross, without resurrecting from the grave? And here's how Jesus answered him. And Jesus answered him and said it is said you shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test. In other words, we're not called to test God. We're called to trust God. We're not called to say God, if you'll do this in my life, then I will do that for you. God, if you bless me, then I will obey you. No, we're saying God, I trust you, no matter what happens. God, I worship you no matter what happens. God, I trust you no matter what happens. God, I follow you no matter what happens. God, I follow you no matter what happens. See, the question is is when it comes to temptation, the question is is how close are you to God.
Speaker 1:One of you came to me the other day and shared a story with me and I wanna share it with everybody. Little boy came to his dad and he said hey, dad, how big's an airplane? And his dad said son, do you see that airplane up there in the sky? And the little boy said dad, it's tiny. They're so small. I'm bigger than that plane. The dad then takes the boy to an airport, walks him up to a plane. He said son, how big's the airplane? The son said daddy, it's huge. And the dad said don't let your eyes deceive you on how big or small something is. It all depends on how close you are to it. In other words, the closer you are to God, the smaller the temptation will be. The closer you are to sin, the smaller God will be.
Speaker 1:It is often our pride that is holding us back, and God is not against approval. He's not back. And God is not against approval, he's not against achievement, he's not against success, he's not against identity. He's against finding all of those things in sin and not finding them in him and allowing him to be those things in our life. And we see that Satan said when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Jesus until a more opportune time. In other words, this was not the only time that Satan tempted Jesus. He tempted Jesus all throughout his life.
Speaker 1:I think that Jesus was more tempted by Satan than we are. Why? Because often it only takes a few times for Satan to tempt me until I give in. Same is true for you. Don't look at me all spiritual, that's just how we are. But hear me, every time Satan tempted Jesus, jesus repeatedly said no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Jesus resisted every single temptation to sin all throughout his life. Why? So he could go to the cross and die for my sin. Every time that I didn't resist temptation To die for your sin, every time that you didn't resist temptation.
Speaker 1:It's not about how good you are that God will save you. It's about how great he is. The only thing you bring to your salvation is your sin, and God forgives it. And God brings the righteousness of Jesus, and the Bible says that he makes you a new creation. So we see these three main temptations the lust of the flesh, pleasure, the lust of the eyes, treasure, the pride of life.
Speaker 1:My question for you is which one are you struggling with the most? If you were the devil, which one would you choose to take you down? Because God says I want you to detect what the devil is doing in your life so that you can resist it, so you can fight it, so you can get help, get accountability, get honest, get counseling, get in the word of God, see what God has to say about it so that you can have power, what God has to say about it, so that you can have power. You will never have power over every temptation in this life. You'll never be perfect, but you do have power over any temptation. There is no sin that you have to say yes to.
Speaker 1:Can I ask us to bow our heads and close our eyes, with every head bowed and every eye closed? I just want to ask you this morning what's the devil doing in your life? How is he tempting you, how is he trying to take you from Jesus? What's he doing in your life? And I want to encourage you to just fix your heart on Jesus and just say Jesus, help me. Jesus, I need you.
Speaker 1:Man, I've been there before Jesus. I have no power over this. I've completely fallen. Jesus, only you can get me up, Only you can get me up. Only you can get me out. Maybe you're here this morning. You think that's nice and that's good, pastor Chip, but I've never even given my life to Jesus before and I believe that that's why God led you here today, that today can be the day of your salvation and that right here, right now, I can't pray this prayer for you and I can't save you. But right here, right now, you can say this to the Lord and I believe with all my heart, because of what the Bible says, that he will save you Just believing in Jesus' death and resurrection.
Speaker 1:You can say something like this from your own heart and your own words to God. The Bible says that you can say God, I believe in you. Tell him that right now. And God, I need you. And right here, right now, you can tell God and God, I believe that Jesus died on the cross for my sins, every sin I've ever committed, every sin I'm going to commit, that Jesus died for all of my sin. And, god, I pray and I ask that you would forgive me for all of my sin. And, god, I pray and I ask that you would forgive me of all of my sin.
Speaker 1:And the Bible says that you should believe that Jesus rose from the dead. Jesus, you're alive and Jesus, you're real and I want you really in my life. I don't want some cold, fake dead religion. Jesus, I want a real relationship with the risen Savior. You.
Speaker 1:Romans 10, nine says if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe with your heart that God raised him from the dead, you'll be saved. Confess right now and say Jesus be the Lord of my life. Jesus, I wanna follow you, jesus. I wanna live for you, jesus. I wanna worship you, jesus. I want to follow you, jesus. I want to live for you, jesus. I want to worship you, jesus. I want to obey you and God. We thank you for that truth from your word. We love you. We pray these things in Jesus' name and all God's people said put your hands together for anybody that prayed that prayer that gave their life to Jesus.
Speaker 1:This morning, the Bible says that heaven rejoices every time a sinner repents and we just want to say welcome to the family. I want to remind you that there's a next step card in front of you that you can grab. That card, you can fill it out. Let us know if you gave your life to Jesus and maybe you need to get baptized Right here, at the start of this song.
Speaker 1:I'm just going to ask anybody that wants to be baptized or any of our volunteers for baptism. You can just come forward and you can go out this door, or you can go out that door and we've got a change of clothes for you. We've got volunteers to help you. If you just got your hair done, we've got a hair cap for you. We've got underwear for you, we've got shorts and a t-shirt for you. You've got nothing stopping you. And 183 years we've done this. We've never drowned one person.
Speaker 1:You might be thinking well, I rode with somebody this morning. Well, I want you to know that they'll wait for you, and if they won't wait for you, they need to be saved and baptized too. Amen. So right here, right now, I just want to say one more prayer, and I want to let you slip out, if that's you that you can go and get baptized this morning because of what God's doing in your life. Heavenly Father, we love you. God, you're so good and, father, we just pray in your name. God, would you just move in our hearts, in our lives, because, god, you're worthy of all of our life. God, I pray that our pride would not hold us back. I pray that you would have your way, god. May we all follow Jesus in the way that you've commanded us to Father. You're so good. We love you In Jesus' name. In all God's people said let's stand and let's worship Jesus together.