Good Morning Beloved Family!
Thank you for joining us today, it is my prayer that you will be blessed by God's Word.
Heavenly Father,
thank you for the empty tomb
and Jesus Christ, Who has risen and is alive
Thank you that death does not have
the final word, over us, ever
We say this in confidence and with faith,
knowing that devastation is not the end
You are the God of new beginnings,
new hopes and new dreams
You restore all the enemy has stolen from us
our families, our finances, our peace of mind
Your are faithful to hear our cries for help
as You have promised never to forsake us
we thank You Lord
for all this and more
Father, touch the one whose heart is broken
the one who life is spiraling out of control
put Your arms around that one who is afraid
comfort them, give them Your peace
Thank You
in the name of Jesus, we ask and pray
Amen
Today's Message: Are You Being Tempted -Tackling Temptation!
Because we are flesh and blood, sooner or later every person will be tempted to sin.
Unfortunately, there are many, many forms of temptation:
Drunkenness,
disobedience to authority,
drug abuse,
theft,
lying,
hatred,
jealousy,
embezzlement
Lies, we've all told at least one
Adultery, fornication, prostitution...there is many sexual sins, but just to naming a few.
Why is it that temptation is so hard to defeat?
Because we are born into sin, sin is in our human nature.
Abraham’s great grandson, Joseph, faced temptation when his master’s wife enticed him. In order to escape, he fled from her presence. Not only was this difficult for the obvious reasons, but Joseph knew that angering her could cost him his job. However, he defeated this temptation because he was determined to obey God.
Battling temptation can be a very difficult and at times, feeling like an impossible task.
Our fleshly desires often seem to overwhelm us. After we yield to them, we are often flooded with shame, guilt, and despair. Yes, the Scripture says that God will not allow us to be tempted beyond our limits, but how can we possibly fight temptation when it’s so very strong?
Because Satan knows your weaknesses! And he knows just what and how to use them against you!
Temptation in and of itself, is not a sin, however, giving in to temptation is!
Even Jesus was tempted!!
Reading the account of Jesus’ wilderness temptation we will find one word used over and over by the devil – IF. Look at what the devil says to Jesus…
“IF you are the Son of God…throw you yourself down..”
The devil had taken Jesus up to the highest point of the Temple in Jerusalem. The Temple was the tallest building in Jerusalem. It would be like the devil taking Jesus to the top of the Empire State building in the NYC. From the top of the Temple Jesus could see the whole city of Jerusalem.
Church we are not alone in feeling unprotected or insecure; we are not alone in emotional pain of feeling unprotected. Jesus has walked in our shoes and this is evident during this 2nd temptation recorded by Matthew…
Then the devil does something very clever, at least he thinks it is clever…Nothing is below him!
HE BEGINS TO QUOTE SCRIPTURE TO JESUS…look at this…
Matthew 4:5-7:
"Then the devil took Him into the holy city and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written,
‘He will command His angels concerning You’;
and
‘On their hands they will bear You up,
So that You will not strike Your foot against a stone.’”
So that You will not strike Your foot against a stone.’”
The devil is quoting from Psalm 91:11-12. There is only one problem with this whole scene. The devil is taking these scriptures and using them to try and get Jesus to commit sin! This is not the first time the devil has taken the Word of God and tried to use it against people.
We need only to read Genesis 3 where the devil uses what God said and then Eve eats of the forbidden fruit and mankind falls into sin.
Psalm 91 is a beautiful Psalm about how God will protect those who put their trust in Him. It is a Psalm detailing how God will be a shelter to those who will abide in Him…
Allow me read a portion of this Psalm to you...
"For you have made the Lord, my refuge,
Even the Most High, your dwelling place.
No evil will befall you,
Nor will any plague come near your tent.
For He will give His angels charge concerning you,
To guard you in all your ways.
They will bear you up in their hands,
That you do not strike your foot against a stone.
You will tread upon the lion and cobra,
The young lion and the serpent you will trample down.
To guard you in all your ways.
They will bear you up in their hands,
That you do not strike your foot against a stone.
You will tread upon the lion and cobra,
The young lion and the serpent you will trample down.
“Because he has loved Me, therefore I will deliver him;
I will set him securely on high, because he has known My name.
“He will call upon Me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble;
I will rescue him and honor him.
“With a long life I will satisfy him
And let him see My salvation."
Psalm 91:9-16
I will set him securely on high, because he has known My name.
“He will call upon Me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble;
I will rescue him and honor him.
“With a long life I will satisfy him
And let him see My salvation."
Psalm 91:9-16
The Lord is not telling us we will never feel unprotected or insecure, you need to read the whole Psalm. These are natural emotions we all have because we live in a fallen world full of danger. What God is telling us is this: in times of danger He will help us! His angels will guard us when danger comes our way.
So why would the devil try to use this scripture to tempt Jesus? Basically the devil is trying to convince Jesus that God is unable to protect Him in the face of this danger.
“Throw yourself down!” screams the devil, “God will command His angels to protect you.” In other words, the devil is saying, “MAKE GOD PROVE HIMSELF TOO YOU!
Put GOD to the test and see if He will do what he says he will do!”
But Jesus does not fall for this trick of the devil.
Jesus does exactly what the devil did to overcome the 1st temptation,
He quotes the Bible!
He confronts satan's lie with truth from the Word of God, and right out of Deuteronomy!
Jesus says to the devil…
“Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”
Jesus pulls from the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy chapter 6. This is a chapter where God is reminding Israel of their responsibility to keep the commandments and teach them to the next generation. He then reminds them of how He has led them out of slavery and is leading them to a land of promise.
Remember in the Old Testament how Israel had disobeyed God and were made to wander in the Desert for 40 years? Well, one day during these 40 years of wandering, the people were camping at a place called Rephidim but there was no water to be found, Exodus 17:1. The people began to fight with one another saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?” Exodus. 17:7. God tells Moses to take his staff and strike a rock. When Moses strikes the rock water comes out and the people are satisfied.
The Israelites problem was not really water! Their problem was they were not sure if God was able to protect them in this place where there was no water. In their insecurity and feeling as if God was not going to protect them!
THEY DECIDED TO DEMAND GOD TO PROVE HIMSELF TO THEM! THEY PUT GOD TO THE TEST ... AND GOD WAS NOT VERY HAPPY ABOUT IT!
It only showed the lack of trust Israel had in God.
So when Jesus says, “Do not put the LORD your God to the test,” He is telling the devil, “I will trust in God. He is able to protect me. He is able to make water come out of a rock. If He can do this for Israel in the Desert then He will do this for me in this Desert. He will not fail me – HE IS ABLE TO PROTECT ME!”
Is it possible that in our moments of fear and insecurity we try to get God to fly in like superman and save the day? We see the insecurity of the world all around us.
The current pandemic of the Covid-19, job losses, financial crashes, rumors of war, hunger, famine and even more! Let's face it...life as we know it today, seems to be right on the verge of major meltdown.
That's why it's critical that we read and study the Scriptures, committing them to memory.
Look, I'm not trying to cause panic, but the day may very well come, and I'm not so convinced it will be way far off in the future, when we can no longer hold a Bible in our hands, or have internet access to online Bibles!!
We see these things happening and we are tempted to say, “Where is God in all of this? Why doesn’t He just show up, snap His fingers and make it go away?” We are asking the same question asked by the Israelites when there was no water, “IS THE LORD AMONG US OR NOT?”
Do not allow the devil to tell you that because suffering exists in the world that God is gone or distant! God is able to protect us.
Do we not remember the words of the Psalm 91???
Then allow me to offer this reminder...
" For you have made the Lord, my refuge,
Even the Most High, your dwelling place.
No evil will befall you,
Nor will any plague come near your tent."
Psalm 91:9-10
"NO EVIL WILL BEFALL YOU, NOR WILL ANY PLAGUE COME NEAR YOUR TENT!!!"
Beloved, there will be times in all of our lives when we are weak, just as Jesus was, and the devil will come and show us the world systems that he says can protect us. He will say things like, “You might as well put your trust in the powers of this world because you just can’t trust whether God will show up or not! You may as well find your protection in the arms of the comforts of this world.”
But I tell him, NO! I will make my dwelling with the Most High! I will find my refuge in the One who is able to keep me from falling!
What about you?
Are you ever tempted to look around at your circumstances and say, “Is the Lord among us or not?”
Are you ever tempted to look at how the world and Christians suffer and say, “Is the Lord among us or not?
Do you ever look around at the crime and the violence we all are so familiar with and say, “Is the Lord among us or not?” Do you ever just want God to somehow show up and save the day? Let me assure you this morning that God will protect you – if you abide in Him. That doesn’t mean we will never face dangers or somehow we will be exempt from the problems of this world. It simply means the Lord will be with us when we face danger, uncertainty, insecurity and more.
The police will fail to protect
Government policies will fail to protect us
Wealth will fail to protect us
People will fail to protect us.
God however, is able to protect us!
Is there some area of your life where you have thought, “I don’t know if God is with me in this or not?”
Allow me try to paint a picture of the whole scene in Matthew 4. If you go back to the end of chapter 3 you will find where John the Baptizer had just baptized Jesus. After Jesus came up out of the water the heavens opened up and the Spirit of God like a dove descended and a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased” Matthew 3:13-17.
This event served as example to you and I of our need to be baptized but it also served to confirm that Jesus is the Son of God and not just another teacher or preacher but God manifested in the flesh.
We must understand a very important fact before all of this temptation business makes sense. Jesus is both God and man. He has both a human nature and a divine nature. We see Jesus surrendering His human will to the will of God throughout scripture. As a human Jesus is truly: hungry, tired, weary, angry, etc. As God Jesus: forgives sin, heals, calms the storms, opens blind eyes, knows the thoughts of man, etc. Nowhere do we see the dual nature of Christ more openly than in His temptation. His human nature is submitting itself to the will of God.
Do not for a moment think that God is being tempted! Just as Jesus had to surrender His will to God in the Garden of Gethsemane so too Jesus, is bringing His flesh into obedience to the will of God, that is, to preach the kingdom and be the substitutional sacrifice for the sin of ALL mankind.
As you read the account of Jesus’ temptation you must bear in mind His dual nature. Otherwise we would be saying that somehow the devil could tempt God to do evil or sin; that is not possible!
In Closing....
To the young women, maybe you have never experienced the true love of a real father. Your dad is not really a dad but a guy who shows up every now and then. You feel as if you are somehow unprotected because there is no dad. So the devil whispers, “Just find protection in the arms of another man. Find comfort in the attention men give you and the affection they show you in a sex. That’s your protection; that’s who will save the day!”
Don't buy into his lies! He will tell you anything to mislead you!
GOD IS YOUR PROTECTOR – HE IS YOUR FATHER. He will not take advantage of your weakness and exploit your vulnerability. He will pull you close to Him and love you the way a Father should love his little girls.
God is not some guy who sends you a text message pretending he has something great for you if you will just expose your body! There are a lot of misguided young men that will take advantage of you!
God is a real Father who will protect you from these things, if you will just abide in His dwelling place.
And you young men, maybe you feel hopeless in becoming a real man! Because you didn't have man to show you the proper example.. So you feel like you have to harden your heart and act like you don’t care about things because that is what other men do. You may feel that if you show your feelings or demonstrate your worship to God that others will look down on you.
GOD WILL PROTECT YOU! You can be a man of integrity and authority without being corrupt or abusive. You can have a relationship with God that sets an example of what men ought to be. Don’t be tempted to think you are out here alone.
What is it today that you fear the most?
What is that one thing you feel as if you cannot be protected from?
What is that one thing that makes you feel insecure or vulnerable?
What have others done to you that has caused you to feel unprotected, maybe you had a family member or friend that raped, molested you, your have this rage inside of you.
God can take that away and give you peace of mind!!
Or maybe someone manipulated, broke their promise too you, whatever it is...
GOD CAN HEAL YOUR BROKENNESS! Believe me!! I KNOW!
You can just bring that thing, that problem, that fear, no matter how bad you think it is and give it to Jesus today and allow Him the opportunity to show you how He will protect you as you abide in His house. And give you a peace that no one on this earth can!
Then would you make up your mind that this week when that thing tries to tempt you away from the presence of God you will simply look at it and say, “I've already given that to Jesus and do not put the Lord your God to the test.”
I have come to tell someone today no matter what the tempter says, “You can depend on a this dependable God!” Jesus has never and will never fail us as a body. Even when the tempter comes and says, “God is not with you! God has forsaken this church! You are walking through a desert and God is no longer on your side!” Just as he says to me…
If you would just stop preaching this One God message and depend on a more popular message you would see revival!
If you wouldn’t insist on baptism in Jesus Name then other churches might want to be a part of you?
If you would just depend on what everyone else is doing things might be different!
The tempter tries to paint a picture of compromise and satisfying the opinion of the day but I say to the enemy WE WILL LIVE BY THE WORD OF GOD! WE WILL DEPEND ON A DEPENDABLE GOD!
Let us always remember the sacrifice that was made for our salvation and the price that was paid for our inheritance.
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
Brian Monzon Ministries