From the Water to the Wilderness

Matthew 4:1 ESV

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

how many of us thought that after our baptism, we would ride off in to the sunset and live happily ever after on a Jesus cloud?

But, sadly our lives arent instantly easier after we commit our lives to Jesus. And even more sad is that some churches will lie to the members and tell them that very thing. “give you life to Jesus and you’ll never have money problems, you;ll get the job you want, everything will get better” sometimes it will, but its definetly not promised.

In fact, how many of yall have come off choir tour, not to find that everything was swell and dandy, but your life actually got harder? it wasnt all rainbows and sunshine, it was full of stuggle, pain, temptation and dissapointment

But the Bible warns us of this - you see, it was the Spirit that lead Jesus in to the wilderness. So often we think God is not going to let anything hard or difficult happen to us, but what we see actually see in Scriptue is that often God is the very one leading us into these hard situiation.

why?

the view is great on the mountain top, but fruit grows in the valley

Understanidng the Schemes

The enemy wants you to question your identity

dont let Satan try to unconvince you of what God has spoken over you

The enemy wants us to put our immediate needs over the will of God

Having verses doesn’t always make it right

Satan will offer you everything in this world, but he will rob you of everything in the world to come

How do we fight temptation? Fighting like Jesus

Listen to the voice of you Father, not the voice of the enemy or the world

Know scripture in it’s context, don’t just pick and choose verses

Put God first in everything