And Lead Us Not Into Temptation, But Deliver Us From Evil - Part 6 - 11/21/2021

November 21, 2021 Front Porch Meetings Readying for Return - No pressure Thurs Evening Bible Holiday Donations Goods or Dollar / Earmark funds Holiday Needs: All Hands on Deck: Clothing Racks Guest Speaker: 1 Sunday December; All Virtually Happy Thanksgiving College Students And Lead Us Not Into Temptation, But Deliver Us From Evil Matthew 6:13 Matthew 9:13 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen. James 1:2 - 4 2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience (endurance/perseverance). 4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. James 1: 13-15 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. Start Here Today we're continuing message, entitled, And Lead Us Not Into Temptation, But Deliver Us From Evil - Matthew 6:13, will serve as a new weapon of warfare in your spiritual arsenal against the threat temptation. Began with Step 1 The FIRST thing that must be established in understanding how not to be taken advantage of by temptation is to apply God's four golden words spoken to James in James 1:2 Count It All Joy. (Conditioning for Consistency) What is this saying to us? The operative word here is COUNT. Count means to stop and observe, stop and evaluate, consider, or establish. To COUNT is what I call a Pre-Trial requirement that must be applied first if we are to ever triumph in trials and overcome temptation. Hypothetically, when James says COUNT, he is telling Believers to ask themselves of the trial OR trials they are facing: Is this trial from God or is this trial from Satan? Pause . . . Can Satan bring a trial or trials? I don't think so! Trials are designed to develop our faith, build endurance for the Christian journey, strengthen our walk with God, and to mature us in Hallowing God's name, seeking His Kingdom, and doing His will - in earth as it is in heaven. Is that what the devil is trying to do: develop our faith, build endurance for the Christian journey, strengthen our walk with God, and to mature us in Hallowing God's name, seeking His Kingdom, and doing His will - in earth as it is in heaven. No! He is the adversary. His goal is to tempt us and lure or draw us away from God and the very vehicle God has put in place to complete His work in us. The devil is the evil one. He is the Tempter. We are to conclude or bathe every trial that comes our way in this mindset: That This trial is only intended to test my faith in order to bring me to maturity. Nothing more. Trials are not punishment from God. The greatest temptation for believers regarding trials is to blame the devil. That's exactly what the devil wants you to do so you won't see God's loving hand insulating you through trials and building faith muscle that will allow you to decode and destroy Satan's schemes. In 1 Corinthians 11:24 - 33 ... Paul gives us a snapshot of how he handled many of the trials of his life. 24 Five times I received the forty lashes minus one from the Jews. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I received a stoning. Three times I was shipwrecked. I have spent a night and a day in the open sea. 26 On frequent journeys, I faced dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my own people, dangers from Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers at sea, and dangers among false brothers; 27 toil and hardship, many sleepless nights, hunger and thirst, often without food, cold, and without clothing. 28 Not to mention other things, there is the daily pressure on me: my concern for all the churches. 29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation? Look at Paul's trials - not one time did he blame the devil. [He wants you to blame him for trials and to give him credit for it so that you never submit to God who alone allowed the trial in order to grow you. Satan does not want you to grow. He wants you to flunk every trial. That's a clear read on God's Pre-Trial Golden Rule. What are TRIALS? Trials are defined as trouble or something that breaks the pattern of peace, comfort, joy, and happiness in someone's life. They are an interruption that hold our attention when they happen. They sober us up in our walk with God by showing us how badly we need Him. As believers, we must come to a place of knowing the purpose of TRIALS in our lives before we can fully grasp the role and work of temptations. Trials is the place where faith is developed and matured. Let's move on . . .to one of the most revealing aspects of trials. Take Note: Every TRIAL is accompanied by a TEST. The believer's concern ought to be to pass every test. And as we say at GP, "Pass every test with straight praise." James 1: 3 says 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. Knowing is key. We must come to know that the trials we face are only a TEST. A test designed to surface your true heart, and to develop your faith in God. TRIALS are not intended to bring you down but to make you whole, and more mature in the things of God. Satan's intent is to bring you down, God's intent is to develop you. The testing of our faith is not for God, but for us. God already knows what we can and cannot bear. He already knows how much faith we have or don't' have. He tests our faith to show us us; To show us ourselves -- how strong or how weak or undeveloped our faith is. [Sometimes we are stronger in our faith in God than at other times. "Sometimes we have to pray: Lord, help my unbelief". Sometimes we're like Peter and we bite off too much: That's when we claim to have more mouth or talk than actual faith. Peter said to Jesus, I'm ready to die for you; within a few hours he had denied he even knew Jesus. [Oh, well back to the drawing board for Peter]. To TEST also means to reveal the strength of our faith as to what proof our personal faith is. It's like alcohol. Recall during the height of the Pandemic, people learned not all alcohol was the same. It generally smelled the same but it effectiveness was worlds apart. 50 proof was vastly different than 70 proof; and 70 was different than 90. The testing of your faith is not to judge whether you have enough faith or not, rather to show us how ready we are to experience or endure more responsibility in our faith walk. In other words, is your faith ready to take you into the lion's den or simply up to the lion's cage? Or "Is your faith able to take through serving a prison sentence like Joseph and Paul, or is your faith only at a level of just visiting the imprisoned? (Both are noble, but at different levels of development). God gives us tests for the same reasons school teachers do: To reveal to the student where they stand in their personal development and readiness to either go to the next level, stay at the same level, or repeat the lesson in order to achieve mastery of basic concepts. There is no such thing as "social promotion" in God's School of Faith Testing. If we test out - as in persevere or endure, - then we go to the next level; but if we miss too many "questions" then we have to relearn, repeat, and retest. Now, we've come to place where we encounter the Test of Tests! I want to drive home the point that with every trial we will face a test. Simply stated: Every Trial is accompanied by a TEST. But now, I want to show you the design of the test. We know, in general, that most common test types are: Multiple Choice, True and False, Essay, Hands on Demonstration, Oral Tests, and everybody's favorite - the Pop Quiz! [From a formal standpoint, there are four types of testing in schools today - diagnostic, formative, benchmark, and summative. Each has a purpose for which it serves]. God's TEST can be said to be Multiple Choice or T or F. Here's why: When we face a trial, we also face a test. That test has two choices: God's Choice or My Choice. That is: God's Answer or My Personal Answer. Interpreted in today's terms, it means there is a Right Answer and a Wrong Answer. Here's where God's children can choose to Test Honestly or Cheat. When we face a trial, every trial, we face a fork in the road. To either go with God's answer or to disobey and go with our own. The Two Test Choices we face are: Obey God or Disobey God. Here's what obeying God looks like: a. Obeying God's Word and His Voice (The Holy Spirit) always ministers a way of escape. Our preparation for passing God's Test with God's right answers come through Praying, Fasting, Regularly reading and studying God's Word. These prepare Believers for every right response on every Test through every trial. 1 Cor. 10:12 & 13 says: 12 Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. 13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. Case 1: Joseph and Potiphar's Wife ~ In the midst of a trial, Joseph's test gave him two options: God's way of escape or Joseph's way of yielding to temptation. Here's what disobeying looks like: b. Disobeying or Ignoring God's Word and His Voice in face of a Trial opens the door to Temptation. This is the place where we turn a TRIAL into a TEMPTATION. It is here that we choose to ignore and disobey God's way of escape, lean to our own understanding, and ultimately yield to temptation in order to fulfill our own lustful desires and appetites. Don't miss this: Trials from God which are designed to grow us, all of a sudden, becomes a temptation when we elect to disobey God and follow our own understanding . . . translated: lusts, desires, passions, appetites, self-righteousness, smarts, rationale, and justifications. You who is without such a struggle cast the first stone. Case 2: David and Bathsheba; With this Trial, David was faced with a test; there were two test choices: God's way of escape (servants pleaded) or David's way of yielding to temptation. James 1: 13-15 clear warns . . . 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. In this passage, the same Greek word translated "trials" (vv. 2-12) is also translated "temptation" here. James' point is that every difficult circumstance that enters a believer's life can either strengthen him if he obeys God and remains confident in His care or become a solicitation to evil if the believer chooses instead to doubt God and disobey His Word. Remember, "A trial turns into a temptation when we disobey and or lean to our own understanding of a matter in direct conflict with God Word." Here's a Moment of Truth Question: What is it that trips us up between Trials and Temptation? It's not the test. The test is designed by God to build faith and endurance. It is our lack of trust and patience - mostly impatience. James Chapter 1 verse 4 says of us when we are facing trials and going through them: 4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. This verse is telling us to pack some divine patience when facing trials because it will serve us in the long haul. It will sustain us in accomplishing what God had intended when He assigned the trial to us to begin with. James 1: 3 & 4 from the New Living Translation says: 3 For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. 4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. So, when it comes to trials, patience must be allowed to have its complete uninterrupted, untampered with access to our lives, so that you and I may experience the full affects of its benefits - nothing lacking. (My Afro Blow Out). The trials we face, if bathed in patience and perseverance, will develop in us endurance to consistently trust God more and more as He grows our faith to the size we see exemplified in Enoch, The Hebrew Brothers, Elijah, Joseph, Esther, Peter, James and John, Rahab, (Peter's development came when Jesus allowed him to be tested by Satan who wanted to sift him.) What is the best remedy for all of God's children? Apply God's Wisdom . . . In the process of trials, tests and temptations God's Wisdom is available to help us discern and navigate every trial successfully. Just ask, sincerely. James 1:5 (5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.) Why is it important that we ask for wisdom? The reason we ask for wisdom is so that we don't prematurely disconnect from God before He finishes completing His work of perfecting our faith to the degree that we benefit from the lesson and blessing that the trial was intended by God to bring initially. A second reason we ask for wisdom is, so we don't immaturely disconnect from God for the same reasons some of us prematurely disconnect. Premature disconnection has to do with impatience. Immature disconnection has to do with undeveloped faith. Trials come to test our faith. Final Word . . . When it comes to triumphing in Trials, we must be brutally honest with ourselves about how we get from God's Golden Remedy of Counting it all Joy when faced with a Trial to yielding to Temptation and obeying the evil one. James 1: 12-15 explains how. I call this step in the process "The Truth That Makes You Free": James 1:12 says . . . 12 Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. "Approved" here means "passed the test". The believer has successfully and victoriously gone through his trials, indicating he is genuine because his faith has endured like Job's. Yet, James extends a warning to Believers to own up to their fall into temptation. This warning protects us from the temptation to blame God for our disobedience. James says: 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. God does not tempt men. He will not tempt His children, but He will subject us to trials that may expose us to Satan's assaults, as in the case of Job and Peter (sifting - Luke 22:31-32). When we pray: And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, this 6th petition reflects our desire to avoid the dangers of sin altogether. God knows what our need is before we ask (v.8), and He promises that no one will be subjected to testing beyond what can be endured. He also promises a way of escape - often through endurance (1 Cor. 10:13). But still, the proper attitude for the believer is the one expressed in the Lord's Prayer, Matthew 6:13 which is to everyday rely on God's strength to combat and triumph over imminent temptations. Only He is able to lead us not into temptation but completely deliver us from its evil. And Lead Us Not Into Temptation, But Deliver Us From Evil Matthew 6:13 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% . 1