Trail Life Raven Rock Devotional #1

Friday 16 February 2024 Devotional

“Luke 4:1-13” “Matthew 4:1-11” “Mark 1:12-13”

Devotional #1

1. Introduction

Satan is an optimist- let me explain what I mean.

Welcome to Raven Rock gentlemen.

We have entered what some might call the “wilderness”.

The emphasis in that word is “wild”.

Wilderness is defined as an uncultivated, uninhabited, and inhospitable region-an unforgiving landscape.

It is a place most people do not want to go nor visit regularly.

In fact, to get here we had to hike in.

We had to leave our places of comfort and convenience to get here.

Everything here takes effort:

We turn on a faucet at home for water

We kick on the furnace for heat

We flick a switch for light

We lay down in a soft bed

We go to the pantry for food

Here- in the wilderness- nothing is easy.

Even the things that are easy are made so by the conveniences we bring with us.

1. Thoughts

As I thought about Josiah and I coming to Raven Rock my biggest concern was whether we had the right gear.

The right gear makes all the difference in the wilderness.

After being baptized by John, Jesus was immediately led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit to be tempted by Satan.

Some of you may wonder, “why bother?”

Could Jesus, the Son of God, have fallen to sin?

Satan apparently thought so-

Satan had seen the sinfulness of mankind from the very beginning- even leading Adam & Eve into the original sin.

Satan sees mankind for what we are- Sinners

And

He feels he can enlighten God that his love for us is misplaced and we are unworthy of redemption and far more unworthy of the sacrifice Jesus was willing to suffer.

This is why I said at the beginning, Satan is an optimist.

But let’s step back to Jesus going into the wilderness.

I wonder, what gear did Jesus bring?

My biggest concern for you guys in life is this:

Each of you are on the cusp of being led into the wilderness of the world.

And you WILL be tempted even as Jesus was tempted.

Satan is optimistic that he can get you to falter into sin.

I want you to have the right gear.

Jesus was tempted for forty days and forty nights after not eating or drinking and did not sin.

Let’s look at what Jesus had with him in the wilderness that you ought to have on your gear list as you prepare to enter the wilderness of the world.

3. Point #1 Gear List Item- The Word of God

“Luke 4:1-4”

“The answer to suffering cannot just be an abstract idea, because this isn’t an abstract issue; it’s a personal issue. It requires a personal response. It’s not a bunch of words, it’s the Word. It’s not a tightly woven philosophical argument; it’s a person. The person. The answer must be someone, not just something, because the issue involves someone—“God, where are you?”- Lee Strobel

Jesus did not respond to Satan with an abstract idea or philosophy.

He did not engage in a debate with Satan about whether he was the Son of God.

Jesus’ response was immediate, authoritative and based in God’s Word.

The Word of God was a critical item Jesus had with Him when he entered the wilderness.

This was on His Gear List- Know the Word of God.

Note: Jesus did not hesitate to pull out a scroll or reference something ( the Bible had not been made at that time)

3. Application

Satan attacked Jesus at His most vulnerable moments.

He will attack and tempt you at your most vulnerable moments.

When attacked we don’t have time to fumble around with a response.

It must be immediate, authoritative and based on God’s Word.

The first thing in your pack as you head out into the wilderness of the world ought to be the Word of God.

And it is so important it ought to be something you MEMORIZE

Psalm 119:11 tells us,

“I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.”

4. Point #2 Know Who You Are

1. Explanation

Jesus had no doubt about who he was- The Son of God.

Jesus did not hide behind his identity- He lived into his identity.

2. Illustration

In 1928, Jimmy Hale got lost searching for prehistoric relics in the caverns of the Ozark mountains in Arkansas. Hale fancied himself an expert archeologist because he had “read some books,” according to a 1928 article in Forest and Stream magazine. He lectured his host and guide, an experienced artifact hunter named Vance Randolph, on woodcraft, critiquing his fire-building skills and correcting his identification of woodpecker species. Two weeks into their trip, Hale left camp to hike “about three miles” through the woods to reach a nearby village and call his girlfriend. Relishing a morning free of Hale’s “putrid hokum,” Randolph urged him on his way, calling out as he entered the trees: “‘Well, don’t get lost!’” Hale failed to come back that night. Thinking the lad had decided to bed down in the village, Randolph held off searching for him until noon the next day, when he enlisted the help of a lumberjack named Lem. The searchers found where Hale had slept, a small cavern under a bluff, and in the next hollow, they spotted their man. He was marching along “shaking his head and tossing his arms wildly about.” Randolph called to him. Hale turned, glared at his guide without comprehension, and charged him, “frothing and spitting like a wounded wildcat.” .” Randolph ducked behind a bush, and the two “played hide-and-seek around a hazel thicket” until Hale spun off alone into the woods. Lem and Randolph discovered him face down in a snowbank a hundred yards away. After pouring corn whiskey down his throat to deaden his nerves, they carried him back to Lem’s cabin. The next morning, he remembered only a few details, like crossing his own trail and becoming frightened and running blindly through the forest. Randolph and Lem packed his bags and sent the humbled expert home to Massachusetts.

3. Application

Jimmy Hale didn’t recognize who he was- namely, an inexperienced archeologist

If you guys forget who you are and more importantly WHOSE you are- Satan will have you wandering the wilderness in circles.

5. Point #3 Worship Only God

1. Explanation

Satan’s second attempt at tempting Jesus was to get him to worship him.

The temptation was to take the easy path rather than face a brutal death and worse- carrying the sins of the world.

Satan offered to make it so easy- just bend the knee to him and the world and all authority would be given to Jesus.

But Jesus would not worship Satan

2. Illustration

3. Application

6. Point #4 Do Not Test God

1. Explanation

2. Illustration

3. Application

7. Conclusion

1. Summarize what you’ve taught.

2. Present a call to action—what should your congregation do, now that they’ve learned these truths from God’s Word?