How do you overcome temptation, sometimes it feels like there is no way to get past it. Today, Kent preaches on this from the life of Jesus in Section 18 as well as Interviews Trainer Joe from Lexington. IT’S EASY TO GIVE at Harmony, text any amount to (859) 459-0316 to get started (or give online @ my.harmonychurch.cc/give ).
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OPENING ILLUSTRATION:
Do you know one of the reasons so many people make new years resolutions? It’s because we spent so much time giving into temptation over Christmas.
I always joked that I gained 2lbs for every day we were at Jenni’s mom & dad’s house over Christmas because everywhere I went there were literally piles of cookies.
What do you do when you’ve spent your whole life giving in to temptation?
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This morning, we are going to look at a snapshot of Jesus’ life when He faced temptation
then I have a special guest I want to bring out and we’re going to have a discussion around temptation.
So, if you want to open your bibles to Mt 4. This is right after Jesus gets baptized by John B. He is led out into the wilderness – this is a dry barren place in Israel with little oasis’ of springs & palm trees.
Listen to what Jesus did..
Matthew 4:1-11
Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”
4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
You get the picture? Jesus hasn’t eaten for 40 days. I fasted 11 days one time, I thought I was going to die – I was only drinking water and then I decided to add in fruit juices. I got so crazy sick from it.
Here is Jesus after 40 days – he’s not just hungry, he’s likely in a position where His body is breaking down muscle at this point.
-Satan comes and tells him to turn the stones into bread…
This is a temptation for Jesus because He COULD have done it.
He could have turned those stones to bread and just eaten them.
But Jesus resists the temptation and quotes the scripture from Duet 8 “man shall not live on bread alone” This scripture is where God is telling the Israelites he let them go Hungry and then fed them with manna so they would learn that man lives by God’s word, not by anything else.
Jesus is not willing to step past what the Father has called Him to for a quick fix…
Oof, that’s a gut punch for me… I don’t know about you.
How often do you settle for a quick fix and miss what God may be intending for us if we had just held out?
I don’t know if you can feel it, but Jesus cannot be in a good mental space right now…
People are most susceptible to temptation when they are tired, lonely, or hurting.
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Jesus is likely experiencing all three of those things
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What do you do when you experience such deep temptations? when you are at your weakest?
Jesus will go on to be tempted to test God’s love for Him and to get worship and power through idolatry, and in each of these temptations, Jesus goes the distance.
Listen to this quote from CS Lewis about temptation:
“No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good. A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. After all, you find out the strength of the German army by fighting against it, not by giving in. You find out the strength of a wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down. A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness — they have lived a sheltered life by always giving in. We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it: and Christ, because He was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means — the only complete realist.”
So, let me ask you this question…
How do you go the distance when tempted?
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Isn’t that the question? If we could figure out how to resist temptation, we wouldn’t need New Years’ Resolutions.
This morning, I want to introduce you to a friend of mine, that I’ve gotten to know thanks to David Burchfield..
You guys know I’ve struggled with my weight for most of my life. In July of last year, I was 314 lbs. I had gone to Israel and all the walking destroyed my knees – you guys don’t know this, but I had gotten to the point where I was having to sit on my butt to scoot down the stairs of our house because I physically couldn’t stand it.
I finally, after watching David lose weight, joined the program David was doing has lost over 140 lbs and my life was transformed. The difference was, I thought it was going to be a diet, but really, what I learned was to apply what I know about other temptations to the temptation that most fully grabbed my heart – you can learn more about the program tonight if you want, but this morning, I want to talk to Trainer Joe Olliges about temptation because He brings a really unique view to this…
Would you guys welcome Trainer Joe Olliges to the stage
Questions:
- I’ve heard you talk a bunch about this passage of Jesus being tempted, and you got me thinking about it in a way I hadn’t thought of it before, could you share that with us?
- What is it that you think keeps so many of us beholden to giving into temptations – I know your specialty is food, but those truths carry over into other areas?
- Why do you think so many Christians are willing to settle for lies and ignore the truth?
- What are things you think everyone needs in their life for someone to overcome temptation?
- Why do you think so many people in your program are successful? What is it that makes someone successful at resisting temptation?
CLOSER:
Will you all give it up for Trainer Joe? [Joe Exits]
Joe, thanks so much for that!
One of the things I love about Trainer Joe is he is willing to say the hard things to you.
Most of us avoid hard things because it makes us uncomfortable, but hard things are what help you grow.
I want to close by reading a passage from James 4, this is the brother of Jesus writing to us, I have to imagine he is remembering Jesus’ temptation when he says this:
James 4:7-10
7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
James doesn’t pull any punches does he – he sobers you up real quick.
Submit yourself to God, resist the devil and he’ll flee. Come near to God, He’ll come near to you… Wash your hands sinners purify your hearts, grieve mourn wail… laughter to mourning
James is calling you and me out!
He’s saying, live in reality – take ownership of the life you’ve lived and turn to God – because He can lift you up!
Listen the only way to overcome temptation is to exchange your lies for truth
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To switch your focus from pleasing yourself to pleasing God
We have some pieces of paper and pens up here at the cross. during communion, I want you to write a lie you’ve been believing that today on that paper and leave it at the cross, take another paper and write the truth you are going to embrace and put it somewhere you’ll see it everyday!
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