Skip to content Stand Alone Messages: Staying Strong After Your Fast Jan 29 · 56 min ...more
Stand Alone Messages: Staying Strong After Your Fast
January 29, 2023 · 56 min
This week as a church we ended our 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting. It was such a joy to know that so many different people had participated in a variety of ways. Seeking the Lord is such a blessing, but as we know, for every spiritual high there can be an equal spiritual low. The more you desire to see the face of the Lord the more opposition, resistance and temptation you will experience. For these reasons we studied what Jesus experienced after His forty day fast in the wilderness. Although Jesus Christ is God and it would have been impossible for Him to sin, we can learn much about how He handled temptation. As believers, we now have Christ living in us and therefore can allow Christ to live in and through us when we experience temptation. As you study the strategic work of our enemy, it is important to learn when, where and how you are personally most vulnerable for attack. Also, it will help to know what to do when you experience temptation and opposition. Speaking God's Living and Active Word is a cure for all that comes your way. May this week's message be a strong encouragement to you. Speaker: Jeff Schwarzentraub
Series BRAVE Church January 29, 2023 · 56 min · BRAVE Church
This week as a church we ended our 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting. It was such a joy to know that so many different people had participated in a variety of ways. Seeking the Lord is such a blessing, but as we know, for every spiritual high there can be an equal spiritual low. The more you desire to see the face of the Lord the more opposition, resistance and temptation you will experience. For these reasons we studied what Jesus experienced after His forty day fast in the wilderness. Although Jesus Christ is God and it would have been impossible for Him to sin, we can learn much about how He handled temptation. As believers, we now have Christ living in us and therefore can allow Christ to live in and through us when we experience temptation. As you study the strategic work of our enemy, it is important to learn when, where and how you are personally most vulnerable for attack. Also, it will help to know what to do when you experience temptation and opposition. Speaking God's Living and Active Word is a cure for all that comes your way. May this week's message be a strong encouragement to you. Speaker: Jeff Schwarzentraub ...more Show the full description Show less This week as a church we ended our 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting. It was such a joy to know that so many different people had participated in a variety of ways. Seeking the Lord is such a blessing, but as we know, for every spiritual high there can be an equal spiritual low. The more you desire to see the face of the Lord the more opposition, resistance and temptation you will experience. For these reasons we studied what Jesus experienced after His forty day fast in the wilderness. Although Jesus Christ is God and it would have been impossible for Him to sin, we can learn much about how He handled temptation. As believers, we now have Christ living in us and therefore can allow Christ to live in and through us when we experience temptation. As you study the strategic work of our enemy, it is important to learn when, where and how you are personally most vulnerable for attack. Also, it will help to know what to do when you experience temptation and opposition. Speaking God's Living and Active Word is a cure for all that comes your way. May this week's message be a strong encouragement to you. Speaker: Jeff Schwarzentraub
Series BRAVE Church Support this leader Liking this video? Support this ministry.
Support this leader
Liking this video? Support this ministry.
Give
Support this leader Liking this video? Support this ministry.
139K followers
Pastor Jeff Schwarzentraub serves as president of Pastor Jeff Ministries, a national and global ministry designed to equip believers and challenge them to take
139K followers
0:00 Our father in heaven, we give you all the glory, honor, and praise. And Lord, we praise you as a church for all that you continue to do in our lives. You are so worthy. And Lord, we gather today as0:11 a congregation to give you glory and to tell you that you deserve all of our praise. Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you that every time that it is studied, memorized or faithfully0:23 and accurately proclaimed, Lord, that you have a word for us And Lord today, we pray that you would do your work in and through us. And so for now now for all those who have gathered, who desire to hear the0:35 Lord speak, who will believe exactly what he says to you and who will by faith put into practice what he shows you. Will you agree with me very loudly by saying the word amen.0:48 Today I wanna talk to you about staying strong after your fast. I wanna talk to you about staying strong after your fast. If you're visiting with us today, may not know but we spent 21 days of prayer and fasting and what1:00 that has meant is different people in our congregation have taken different amounts of time to seek the Lord in prayer. Some people have chosen to fast all 21 days from food. Some people have chosen to fast 1 meal during1:11 the 21 days from food. Some people have done juices. Some people have gone away from social media for a period of time but the whole purpose has been so that we as a church can seek the face of God more1:23 clearly, so that we can hear from him and so that God can direct us, show us what he's been wanting to tell us both individually and corporately. And I just wanna tell you as your pastor, it's been such an honor just1:35 to hear back from so many of you that have just taken a step or some steps by being more intentionally about seeking the Lord in this season. I believe when God looks down from heaven and he sees a church that
1:47 says, Lord, we wanna depend more upon you. We wanna be more obedient to you. We wanna do what you want. Lord, our hearts are wide open to receive everything you have that God looks down with great delight and says, now
1:58 there's a church that I can use. There's a church I can do great things with. And prayer will always be the bedrock and foundation of who we are at Brave Church and I can tell you as your pastor, it's been an honor in
2:09 these last 21 days to help lead us through this season. For some of you, you've received incredible answers to prayers. Some of you are seeing God begin to answer your prayers. Some of you have seen absolutely
2:21 no answers to your prayers. And I know that that's true and that's okay. But I wanna tell you that there's a great return on investment anytime that you seek the face of the Lord because the purpose is not to get God to
2:32 answer our prayers. The purpose is that we can get to know God more intimately and that we can grow with him. However, as this fast comes to a close, I find in my journey with the Lord over the last 32 to
2:43 34 years, I find that every time that I walk with the Lord and God's doing something special and I'm excited and he begins to show me about, hey, this is where we're gonna move individually or this is where you're gonna
2:55 move corporately, that every time that I take steps in that direction expecting it to be easy, it actually gets harder. And how is it that you can continue to stay strong after your fast? If you're
3:06 visiting with us, you could ask this question, how can I continue to journey with the Lord when he shows me a direction that I need to go? Because I find people all the time, they go to conferences, camps, retreats, they
3:16 come back all fired up and they're like from this moment on, here's how I'm gonna live only to find that there's opposition to it. And that day or the next day or a week later, you're kinda right back where you started.
3:28 If you ever wanted to know how to continue to journey with the Lord, I believe God has a word for you today. I'm gonna invite you to open up your Bibles to Matthew chapter 4. Matthew chapter 4. We're gonna take
3:40 a week off from the book of Exodus. Lord willing, we'll be back in it next week, but I felt this was more timely. On Thursday, was sensing Exodus 21 is not where we're at with baptisms. God has a special word for us and
3:51 even yesterday as he was unfolding it for me, was like, this is where we need to be. As you're turning to Matthew chapter 4, you may find yourself very familiar with this story. This is right before Jesus begins his
4:01 public 3 year ministry prior to which he has just been baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan and the chapter ends with the father speaking out loud so that all those around can hear, this
4:13 is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Make no mistake about it, Jesus Christ is God's 1 and only son. We know that from the scriptures but we also know it from that scene where the father speaks that
4:24 word over his son in front of everyone and this is where our story picks up. Prior to Jesus starting his ministry. Here's what it says. Chapter 4 verse 1. Then Jesus was
4:36 led by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil and after he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, he then became hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, if you are the son of God command that
4:48 these stones become bread. But he answered and said, it is written, man shall not live on bread alone but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on
5:00 the pinnacle of the temple and he 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 that you will not
5:12 strike your foot against a stone. Jesus said to him, on the other hand it is written, you shall not put the Lord your God to the test. Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdom all
5:23 the kingdoms of the world and their glory and he said to them said to him, all these things I will give you if you fall down and worship me. Then Jesus said to him, go Satan for it
5:35 is written, you shall worship the Lord your God and serve him only. The devil left him and behold angels came and began to minister to him. As you heard in that read over
5:47 you this morning, just by show of hands, how many have heard some or all of that story before? Right? Very familiar and yet nestled in this story, we really learn some of the secrets about how to stay strong in our
5:59 spiritual journey as we're continuing to grow with the Lord. And I wanna highlight 4 ways, 4 truths that you can know about your enemy that will help you continue to
6:11 advance. All 4 of these truths are simple, they're clear, you'll find them all over your bible and yet I find for many Christians, they either are unaware of these truths or they don't know
6:23 how to apply them in your life. If you're looking to take a step away from your old life and step into your new life and continuing to journey, these 4 truths will be paramount for you in your
6:34 growth growth with Jesus. So let's just start. Let's talk Let's highlight all 4 of these. The first is this. If you're gonna stay strong after your fast, you're gonna continue your journey. Think about truth number 1.
6:45 The enemy is not a fairy tale of an idea, but a real being. The enemy of your soul, the devil himself, is not a fairy tale of an idea but a real being.
6:57 Here's what I would say to that. Don't be surprised that you will experience opposition and temptation when you take steps of faith. Do not be surprised. Now it's interesting because Jesus was baptized and you would
7:08 think if you were studying the scriptures, this would just go from baptism to ministry. He's baptized. Now he's getting ready, he's gonna go do his public ministry but that's not what the scriptures teach. The scriptures
7:18 teach that the spirit of God was leading Jesus to do something. Notice chapter 4 verse 1. Then Jesus was led by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
7:30 That's interesting, isn't it? Why would Jesus need to be tempted by the devil? Well, know that Jesus Christ is God. So we know that God can't sin and even though Jesus is fully human and fully divine, he cannot
7:41 sin. It is impossible for God to sin. So why would he be led by the spirit to be tempted to sin when we know that he can't sin? Because this was validating who he was before
7:53 his ministry got started. You're also gonna see in this text that this shows that Jesus Christ is the only fully human that has ever lived that is without sin.
8:05 God's 1 and only son. When you see the way that he's going to tempt, the enemy's gonna tempt Jesus, you'll see how you and I have fallen to his tricks every single time. But you need to realize
8:17 this, there is an enemy and he's real and he exists and he's a spiritual being that is created by God. Now here's why I say that. Many of you at Brave Church would say, oh, I know that's
8:29 true, but I grew up in a church that didn't teach that. I grew up in a church where Satan was more of a mythological character or just a personification of evil and yeah, there's bad out there and there's good out there
8:40 but I don't know that I really believe in a real Satan that's a real being that is really active. So I'm here to tell you Satan is a real being that was created by God who is really
8:52 active in the lives of non believers and believers. Here's how he works in the minds of non believers. Second Corinthians 4 4 says, he has blinded the minds of non believers so that they cannot see the light of the
9:04 glory of the gospel. I'm paraphrasing. What it means is if you're not a believer in Jesus, he will blind your eyes to the fact that Jesus Christ is the 1 and only Lord, that he is
9:16 the way, the truth, and the life, and that he's the only hope that you have, and that he's your only salvation. Every non believer is completely blinded. That's why even if you give them facts, they're like, I'm telling
9:26 them all the truth. They just don't see it. Why? They can't. They're being blinded by the devil. It's only through Christ that those blinders can be removed and then we see Christ and who he is so clearly. So as an
9:37 unbeliever, I want you to know the devil doesn't care if you're religious or irreligious. The devil doesn't care if you're known as a good person or a bad person. The devil doesn't care if you're somewhat good in this
9:48 group and not so good in that group. He doesn't care how you live so long as you don't come to the realization that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the father. That's all he cares about with non believers.
9:59 That's why you'll meet some non believers that are seemingly moral and some non believers that are seemingly immoral. The devil doesn't care cause he owns them. Because from the time that you're born, the devil is your
10:11 daddy. That's the reality and he's a real being. Right? Now when it comes to believers, then this is how the believer Here's how it works for the believers. For those of us who have turned from our sin and
10:22 repented and believe in Jesus, the Holy Spirit comes to indwell us forever. At the moment of conversion, we belong to God forever. There is nothing we can do to sin our way out of God's hands. There's nothing
10:34 we can do where God would be like, I've had enough of you get gone. Christ paid for our sins. He paid for all of them. We're completely forgiven. The devil even knows that which is why he goes to work
10:46 on the believer and he does things in the life of the believer to keep you from living out the fullness of who Jesus wants you to be on this side of heaven. You're not blinded to the
10:58 truth. You know Jesus is the truth. He just makes it difficult for you to prioritize Jesus and to walk with him. And that's what we're gonna see in the story, that the devil is a real being. So he's led by
11:10 the spirit. He's led by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, 1 of the most brilliant truths in the New Testament,
11:23 he then became hungry. Anybody's been doing that fast with us? You know that's true. We haven't done 40 days, but 40 days and 40 nights, Jesus and his humanity was hungry. Now make
11:34 no mistake about it, the devil's a real being. I don't have time to go through all the theology of it today but I'll give you a couple passages that you can start with. 1 is in Isaiah chapter 14. Isaiah chapter 14, we
11:46 hear about who he is and what his desires are. I won't read the whole chapter. I'll start in verse 12 and read a few verses. It says, how you have fallen from heaven, o star of the morning, son of the dawn. You've been
11:57 cut down to the earth. You have weakened you have you who have weakened the nations, but you said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven. I will raise my throne above the stars of God. I will sit on the mount of the
12:08 assembly in the recesses of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will make myself like the most high. Why did Satan get booted from heaven? Because as
12:20 Satan was leading the worship in heaven and all the worship was going beyond him to the throne and God was receiving all the glory, Satan began to think in his heart, why are we worshiping him? I'm
12:32 beautiful too. Why don't I get some of this worship? Why doesn't some of this come my way? I wanna ascend to the heavens. I wanna be known as a God. I wanna be the 1 on top. And it was his pride that got
12:44 him kicked out. Keep that in the back of your mind as we understand who he is and what he's gonna do in your life. Another passage you can look at is Ezekiel chapter 28. Although talking about the king of Tyre also
12:56 highlights the personification of the devil himself starting in verse 12 of Ezekiel 28, he says, you had the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. Make no
13:08 mistake about it. When God creates, He creates beautiful things. Satan was beautifully created. You are in Eden, the garden of God, the garden of God. Every precious stone was your covering, the ruby, the topaz. He
13:20 goes on to talk about it and he says this, on the day that you were created, they were prepared. What is Satan? He's created. God is not created. There is no beginning and no end
13:32 to God. Satan is a created being. Make no mistake about it. Sometimes when it comes to spiritual warfare, we think God's the good powerful 1. Satan's the bad powerful 1 and they're both equal battling it out.
13:44 No. God is the only powerful authoritative 1 and Satan is a created being that's fallen. That's totally dependent upon that God. Okay? So you need to realize because he's a liar and
13:55 John 8 says he's the father of lies and every time he opens his mouth, he's lying. He will lie to you and get you to believe that he has authority and power that he does not have but Jesus Christ holds all
14:07 authority and holds all power in this life and in the life to come. Amen? But you need to realize he's a real being. He's a real being. John 10 10 says it this way. The
14:19 thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy but I have come that you might have life and have it to the full. What Satan's desire in the life of human beings? To take away everything that God destined and
14:31 designed for them. Satan is angry because Satan wanted to be God. Satan wanted to be on the throne. And when Satan saw that God created human beings in his image
14:42 from the dust on the ground and was going to make them higher than the angels to rule over them in the life to come, that makes him mad. So what does he want to do? He wants to get us to
14:54 act like he act, hacked it. And how did he act? He tried to put himself in the place of God. How does he tempt our first parents? By trying to put them in the place of God. How does he tempt you? By trying to put you in
15:05 the place of God. You say, I don't wanna be a God. Anytime you say my life and the most important person in my life is me, you're being God and all of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Now here's what
15:17 I'm telling you about this, that Satan is real. He's not a made up character. If you begin to walk with God, you will notice more opposition, more resistance, and
15:28 more temptation than you ever have before. I say the hardest step that you'll ever have to take is the next step. But when you take the next step, you will be accompanied by more temptation, more
15:40 opposition, and more resistance which is why many Christians even when they come out of a time of this was so great, I really enjoy this, I love the Lord, here's what I'm gonna do now, they make it about a day or 2 and
15:52 then they find themselves right back to where they were before they started. And it's because it's normal to have opposition. It's normal to have resistance and it's normal to have increased temptation. I've been walking
16:04 with the Lord for 34 years. Every time I take a deeper step of faith, I can tell you temptation stronger in my life, opposition stronger in my life, and resistance is stronger in my life every time I try to get closer
16:15 to Jesus. And the same is true for me is for you. And do you know when it ends? When you take your final step of faith and you meet Jesus face to face, then there's no more temptation, there's no more opposition, there's
16:27 no more resistance, there's just pure beauty beholding our savior together forever and ever. Amen. Right? But I don't want you to be alarmed and this is why I say this because sometimes people have said to me, pastor
16:39 Jeff, I don't know if I'm a Christian anymore. I'm like, why? I'm so tempted all the time. I mean, I just have all these hard things going on in my life. I feel like I'm sinning more. I wanna stop sinning. I'm like,
16:48 that's a great sign that you're a Christian. Non believers don't wanna stop sinning. Non believers aren't aware of their sin. Non believers aren't feeling temptation. They don't even know it's temptation. They're just
16:59 swimming in it. Make no mistake about it. You have an enemy that is real and not a fairy tale so don't be surprised when you experience opposition. Let me give you 4 ways that he does it in my life. The first is
17:11 distraction. Distraction. During this fast, I mean, were so many times I sat down to journal and I'm just taking time to seek the face of the Lord and within the first 5 minutes, all I'm thinking about is what store I
17:22 need to run to and what I need to buy for my son and what I need to do for my wife today and what do I got on my calendar and next thing I know I'm 5 to 10 minutes in my prayer and I haven't even prayed because all I'm
17:31 thinking about is all the agenda on my day. I'm sure I'm the only person that's ever happened to. It's called distraction. I say I wanna focus on the Lord and Satan's got phone calls coming in. He's got emails showing
17:43 up and he's got people knocking on my door that need my attention right then, right? That's called distraction. He's always working to distract you from getting closer to Jesus. Second is this,
17:55 discouragement. Discouragement. Saint will always discourage you know why? Because he's a liar. The Bible says that you're fearfully and wonderfully made. The Bible says God loves you with unconditional love. For those
18:06 of you who have repented and trusted Jesus, you are his beloved daughter or you are his beloved son. Nothing can change that. You are loved. He cares about you. He has purpose for you. He
18:18 has joy for you. So what does the enemy want to do? Discourage you. You ever get ready to go to pray and then you get a word from a friend or from the doctor or somebody else? A total word of
18:30 discouragement. Your health is bad. Your finances are bad. You're being let go from the job. Somebody spoke bad things about you. Any way just to discourage you. Get you to think about your lot in life.
18:42 Is this where you thought your life was gonna end up? You said you wanted to follow God and look where you are. Your life worse now than it was before you trusted Jesus. Discouragement. He uses that. How about this 1?
18:54 I say the word deflate or deflation where discouragement goes 1 more step where now it's just like, oh, I hate my life. Why do I have to go through all this? How come nobody else has to go through what I'm
19:06 going through? I'm just I just feel lousy. I mean, I'm supposed to be a Christian and be happy about all this stuff and I'm totally discouraged and everybody else seems to be okay in their marriage but I'm not. Everybody
19:15 else seems to be okay with their kids but I'm not. Everybody else seems to like their job but I don't. Everybody else seems to be doing in school but not me. Everybody else is pretty happy about their future with God but
19:24 not me. Deflates you. That's what he does. He comes to rob and his only superpower is his voice. He has no power and authority over your life but he can lie to you and tell you that he
19:36 does and if you believe him, that's when you have problems. Now Jesus has given him some authority. He's called the prince of the power of the air. He's been given some authority over this earth but know this, it's all
19:47 under the rulership of the Lord Jesus Christ. He has no power to act independently on your life. The only thing he can do is lie to you and say things like this, I'm gonna take that away. I'm gonna take that away. If you
19:58 do that, I'm gonna take that away. He can't do it. Not without God's permission. Amen? And that's what he does in our lives. If I give a fourth word, I would just be destroy. I've watched some Christians
20:09 destroy their life by bad choices after they've made bad choice after bad choice after bad choice saying they love the Lord but listening to the lie and becoming discouraged and then feeling deflated and making an even
20:20 worse choice where now all of a sudden everything's opened up and how did I get here and how do I get back and all that stuff. I have good news if that's you. Our God is a redeemer and he's able to bring you back and set
20:30 you on higher ground. Amen? But I wanna tell you this because sometimes you'll be in Christian circles, they'll be like, well, the devil's not really real. I know he's real. I'm familiar with what his voice sounds like.
20:42 I know it's what his breath feels like. I know when God tells me something and I step there, I can almost expect what I'm about ready to hear next. So don't be discouraged and don't be upset if you have more opposition
20:54 and resistance and temptation. It's a sign that you're getting ready to grow. I mean, before Jesus launches his 3 year ministry, the best ministry that will ever have been done, the best ministry on the planet,
21:06 he's taking him through this time of temptation. The enemy is not a fairy tale of an idea but a real being. Number 2 is this. Notice this, the enemy is not haphazard in his approach but timely. The enemy is not
21:18 haphazard in his approach but timely. Don't be surprised by when you are tempted. Notice this. It says that he took him in the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, he
21:29 then became hungry. It was then that we see in verse 3, the tempter came and said to him, if you are the son of God, command that these stones become bread. Now why would the tempter tempt Jesus to eat
21:41 after 40 days and 40 nights of fasting? Clue? Because he's hungry. The devil has game film on your life. He knows when you have a proclivity to
21:53 sin. He knows those times that you're most vulnerable, right? Do you know what they are for you? I know when I'm tired, that's 1. I know after I've spent myself in ministry for a season,
22:05 that's 1. I know after I've traveled for a period of time, that's 1. Are you aware of them? You share with your family what some of those times are? Do you share with your spouse what some of those times are? If you
22:17 don't know when your times are and you're married, ask your spouse, they'll be able to tell you or ask your kids. Sometimes on Saturdays, my kids will be like, dad, it's Saturday. Go back to your office and keep
22:27 studying. Nobody likes you right now. Right? Because they know, like, that's a vulnerable time for me. If you're aware then you can do battle but if you're not aware that's when the enemy comes in. He looks
22:39 for opportune times. After he leaves Jesus here, he's gonna show up again when Jesus starts telling his disciples he's gonna go to the cross. He shows up again in the Garden of Gethsemane. He times his plot perfectly.
22:50 He's a lion that prowls around looking for someone to devour. He's not on you all the time. He picks and chooses. He waits until you're a little frustrated. He knows that if your child says something like
23:02 this, it is gonna set you off on this specific day. He knows just how to place the right things in your life. That's what he's good at. So what's he coming to Jesus to do? Well, when he's hungry, he's gonna tempt him to
23:14 make food. Why wouldn't he? He's not haphazard in his attempts but he's timely. Now, why do I say this? Because I find after 34 years, said that a lot today. I
23:26 have about I'm old. I find that the longer I walk with the Lord for every spiritual high, there's an equal spiritual low. I've watched guys come back from promise keepers all fired up to live a new way. I've watched kids
23:38 from camp come back all fired up to live a new way. I've watched people from retreats come back all fired up to live a new way only did not even make it a day. When I was a youth pastor, before we would come home,
23:50 I would pull the bus over to the side of the road when we were about 2 hours outside of town and I would make the kids tell me what was your biggest takeaway from the weekend? You know, we had 50 or 100 kids. It took a
23:59 long time and they would start telling me here's what I take away and here's what I do and I would tell them In the next 24 hours, you will have more temptation in opposition to everything you just decided to do than you
24:09 ever had before you left. And I would have people, you know, they'd make kind of phony promises because some kids would get fired up. You remember we didn't have digital music back in those days. We had things called
24:19 CDs. Does anybody know what a CD is? We had CDs and kids would, you know, hear that they needed to listen to Christian music and then someone vowed they're gonna come home and throw away all their secular CDs and only
24:29 listen to Christian music and after watching that for a period of time, I would say that's just poor stewardship. You're gonna throw them out and buy them back 3 years, 3 weeks later, just keep them and honor the Lord
24:39 and what you listen to, that kind of thing. But there were some people that would make serious commitments. There'll be somebody that would say, well, I'm dating this boyfriend or I'm dating this girlfriend and they're
24:48 not a Christian and we're not honoring God in our relationships and we've been immoral and I know God doesn't want that for me anymore and I wanna act pure. And I would tell them those are great decisions. God's gonna
24:59 honor that. But I'll tell you this, when you get home in the next 24 hours, your boyfriend or your girlfriend's gonna look the best they've ever looked. They're gonna be the sweetest to you they've ever been. And sure
25:08 enough, our bus would pull in about 2 hours later into the parking lot and not only would moms and dads be there to pick people up, but guess who would be there? The boyfriends and the new polished car, the girlfriends.
25:17 They'd look out the window and they're like, pastor Jeff, you were right. I'm like, was because I know how the enemy works. He's not creative. So what are you gonna do? And And here's why I'm telling you that. Because
25:27 during this fast for some of you, God may have shown you some things that he wants you to walk away from or some different ways in which you can live. And when God does that, whether it's through a fast or at any time in
25:37 your life when he says, want you to set this aside and this isn't even necessarily sinful for you but I I want you to set it aside for you because of our relationship and I want you to start walking this way. I promise
25:47 you, you'll have more opportunities for that than you've ever had in your entire life no matter what that is. For some of you, I've talked to you during this 21 days and you said, you know what? You struggle with alcohol
25:57 and you're setting aside alcohol and you don't just want alcohol to be gone now, you want it to be gone for good and you're starting to walk away from it. I promise you in the next 24 hours, you'll have more
26:06 opportunities to go out and party with your friends than you ever had before. Right? I mean, for me, as as I was doing this, Allure spoke to me on some things and I'll talk about it more later as I get victory in that
26:17 area, but but 1 of things is just the way I eat. I don't eat super well. And God started showing me this and I'm like, okay, Lord, I know what you want me to do. I started writing down the ways Lord wanted me to do. You
26:26 know I've been invited to dinner like 6 times this week? And they tell me what we're gonna go eat and I'm like, that's what I used to eat. I'm not eating that way anymore. Right? You'll have opportunity if you're gonna
26:37 walk away from immorality, which is a good thing to walk away from. You'll have more opportunities for immorality. Whatever you're gonna walk away from to get closer to the Lord, the enemy will be like, oh, seriously,
26:46 you're gonna leave me? I wanna help with that. Are you sure you wanna go? When God called me into ministry and I knew for sure he was calling me to be a pastor and I was 24 years old and
26:57 I'd left my job and I had, you know, nothing else going on. I'm like, yeah, God, I'm doing this. The day I made the decision, I had 3 job offers making twice as much money as I did the day I said I was gonna go into
27:07 ministry. It was as if the if the Lord was like, are you gonna follow me or are you gonna you see this. Every time in my life I've stepped forward in a new realm, there's always opportunity to continue to stay where I'm
27:19 at or go backwards. And the same is true for me, is true for you. That's what the enemy does. And that's why I need you to know not only is he real, but he's not haphazard. He's not haphazard. He's he's
27:31 timely. It's interesting. After he leaves this scene, he shows up the next time when? When Jesus is asking the disciples, who do you say that I am? Peter says, well, you're the son of God. You're the Messiah.
27:43 He said, well, blessed are you because my father in heaven revealed that to you. And like great. From then on, he began to tell people he was gonna go to the cross, suffer and die. And what does Peter do? He pulls him
27:52 aside and says, never Lord. And what does Jesus say? Get behind me, Satan. You don't not have in mind the things of God but the things of men. He was looking for that opportunity to get Jesus off track to go to the
28:03 cross. He was looking to get Jesus off track in the garden when he was sweating drops of blood when he prayed for 3 hours in the garden and asked Peter, James and John just to come along and pray with them and 3 times he
28:13 goes back and they're out cold. Like, could you not stay awake with me for at least an hour? Why was he sweating drops of blood? He wasn't just thinking about the physical crucifixion he was going through, he
28:25 was thinking about the fact that God the father who he loved was gonna pour all his wrath out upon him and for the first time feel the separation of sin. Can you hear what the devil may have been saying in his ear? Sure
28:36 you wanna do that? You don't have to do that. I mean, why would you do that for all these people? They all hate you anyway. They're gonna abandon you anyway. Why not just go back to heaven? All the angels will still
28:45 worship you. Everything will be good. Can you imagine the voice of the enemy in Jesus' ear at that time? That's why he prays, dad, not my will but your will be done. Dad, I wanna do what you do. I'm only gonna do what
28:56 you do. I'm not gonna listen to that liar. And some of you need to shut the voice of the liar. Some of you are discouraged. Some of you are upset. Some of you are frustrated not because of Jesus but because you
29:08 believe the voice of the enemy who then says that that's the voice of Jesus. Our God's a good God, Amen. He loves you, Amen. He's a real being but he's not haphazard. The
29:20 more that you're aware of when the enemy might attack, the greater chance you have for success. It doesn't mean you'll always be aware but the more success that you will have. And this is why this is important.
29:33 When I was a young kid, when we had television, there were only about 13 channels. And if you wanted to watch a show, there was no such thing as recording it. So you had to watch it at the exact time that it came on and
29:45 if you missed it, you missed the show. Can you imagine that? And when I was being babysat as a little kid, there was a there was a show that I always want to stay up for. My babysitters were nice to me. It was called the
29:56 love boat. You remember that show? I don't know why I liked as a kid but everybody's all happy on this boat sailing off to paradise. Here's what I thought. I thought when I became a Christian, that's the boat
30:08 that I was getting on. Because I grew up religious and I was a religious kid and I was a good kid and I tried to keep the 10 commandments and I tried to I got confirmed in the church and I took communion and I got
30:19 baptized as an infant and all the things I thought I'd check the box and we're supposed to do. Here's the problem, I didn't have a personal relationship with Jesus. Now when I turned 18 and I repented of my sins and gave
30:30 my life to Christ, all the scripture I had memorized made sense. I knew the word and I was like, now I'm gonna live for the Lord. When the blinders removed off my life, I had never been tempted like I had been tempted in
30:42 my entire life. I went from being a good kid to a kid that was struggling between being a good kid and a not so good kid. Because the reality is when you come to Christ, you're not getting on the love boat to cruise off
30:52 into eternity. You've just gotten on a battleship for kingdom Jesus to go to war and we're at battle for the souls of ourselves and for others. Amen? And that's what I'm telling you.
31:04 Satan is real. Satan is super real. And I want to tell you the second thing that you need to know is that he's not haphazard but he's timely. Let me tell you the third 1. Number 3 that you need to know is the enemy is
31:16 not creative but boy is he crafty. He's not creative, but boy, is he crafty. He's gonna tempt you the same way he tempted Jesus. It's where you fall, it's where I've fallen, it's where we all fall when we're not paying
31:28 attention to what God wants. Now, here's why we know he's not creative. In second Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 11, we read this. Second Corinthians chapter 1
31:40 verse 11. Says it like this, so that no advantage will be taken of us by Satan for we are not ignorant of his schemes. You don't have to be ignorant of what Satan's gonna do. Well, how's he gonna get to me?
31:52 I'm gonna tell you exactly how he's gonna get to you. It will come as absolutely no surprise. You will see this in your life. But let's look at the text. So verse 3, it says, the tempter came and said, if you are the son
32:01 of God, command these stones to become bread. Really interesting here. Satan is a punk. He likes to taunt. God just got done at the end of chapter 3 saying, this is my beloved son. Satan already
32:13 knew Jesus was God's son. God spoke it so Satan's heard it and what's he coming to say? Well, if you really are the son of God and we're not so certain that you are, what's he doing? He's baiting him. It's what he
32:25 did with our first parents, Adam and Eve in the garden. He always comes to bait. If you really are the son of God, command these stones to become bread. And Jesus the first of 3 times answers with the word. He says,
32:35 Deuteronomy 8 3. He answered and said, it is written, man shall not live by bread alone but from every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. In other words, he's like, I'm not listening to your voice, I'm listening
32:45 to God's voice. Your voice means nothing to me, God's voice means everything to me. If you wanna beat the enemy, know the word of God. Store it up in your heart that you might not sin against him. Memorize it, meditate
32:57 on it, go to a church where the word is proclaimed and heralded, Study it. Write the word down. Go over and over it. And most importantly, get to a place where you speak it.
33:10 Speak the word. Speaking the word is different than just I know the word. I speak the word. Speak it in those situations. Speak it out loud. The spoken word of God is kryptonite to saint and he
33:21 cannot handle it for very long. He will flee. The bible says resist the devil and he will flee from you. So here's We'll We'll keep going through this and we'll highlight them. The second way he takes and knows what he
33:33 does next. Then the devil took him into the holy city and had him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, which is the edge of Solomon's portico. If we study this, it's the southeast side of the temple. And he said to him,
33:43 if you are the son of God, like we're not so sure yet either, throw yourself down for it is written and he's gonna quote the Bible. Did you know Satan can quote the Bible? Do you know Satan knows the Bible? That's why we
33:54 have to know the Bible Cause he'll take it out of context. He quotes Psalm 91 verses 11 and 12 and he says this, he will command his angels concerning you and on their hands they will bear you
34:06 up so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. Jesus said, on the other hand, he quotes Deuteronomy 6 16, it is written you shall not put the Lord your God to the test. Did you know Satan uses scripture to get
34:17 you off course? He uses scripture to discourage you. He gets you scripture to put God to the test. I remember when I was single and I was young and I was new in my faith, it was interesting. I always open up to first
34:28 Corinthians 7 and read that it's good for a man not to touch a woman. It's good for a man to not be married and saying to be like, see, you're gonna follow God, you're gonna be celibate for the rest of your life. That's
34:39 what he would tell me and then I would get totally discouraged and I'd be mad and be like, God, I did not wanna be a priest. I love you but I don't wanna be a priest. But that's what he did. He lied because I didn't know
34:48 all the other scriptures. Be fruitful and multiply. He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the Lord. That it's a choice that you can do that. I mean, he'll take a scripture and he'll put it in
34:58 your head but he'll twist it and use it in a way that God never intended to use the scripture. He knows the word. So anytime when you're reading the word of the Lord and you're discouraged in your obedience because you
35:09 don't think it's for your good, there's a strong possibility Satan's been all over that line to you about what that verse actually means. I find that the word of God is powerful and good and refreshing and washing and
35:21 that no good thing will he withhold from those who walk uprightly. God is not up in heaven saying, I'm gonna make your life miserable so that you'll serve me. God's the 1 who's lavish. God's the 1 that's good. Satan is
35:32 the stealer. Satan is the 1 that wants to kill, steal and destroy. So first he has him make try to make bread because he has a hunger problem. Second is to go to the top of the temple and
35:43 prove that he's God and notice this third 1. Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, all these things I will give you if you
35:54 fall down and worship me. Isn't it irony that Jesus owns all the kingdoms in the world? Isn't it ironic that after he rises from the dead, he says all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me and yet what's the
36:05 shortcut? The shortcut is this, Satan says, give me your allegiance, I'll give you everything this world has to offer. Don't live for the next life. Don't live for the coming kingdom. Don't live for
36:17 the true God. Live for me. Give me your worship and I'll give you everything you want. Now, he won't do that because he's a liar, but that's what he promises Jesus. And for the third
36:29 time, Jesus is gonna rebuke him. How? With the word, the spoken word. In Ephesians 6 where we put on the full armor of God, the sword of the spirit is the spoken word of God. Speak the word. He quotes
36:41 Deuteronomy 6 13, Deuteronomy 10 20 says the same thing. He says, go Satan for it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God and serve him only. And then the devil left him and behold angels came to minister to
36:53 him. Now let's take a look at these because for most of us during the fast, I wasn't tempted to turn stones to bread. I don't have that ability. I wasn't tempted to throw myself from a high building to prove that the God
37:04 I served is real or that I'm something special. You know, I wasn't tempted to say well all the kingdoms of the world could be mine. Never even crossed my mind for any of those. So how does this even apply? First of all,
37:16 it applies that Jesus is the 1 and only person that's been tempted in every way we are yet without sin. He's the king of kings and the Lord of Lord but let's unpack these just a little further. What was the first area
37:27 that Satan went after? He was hungry so he told him to eat. It's called the lust of the flesh. Satan always goes after the flesh. The flesh means this, it's your appetite for comfort.Show more
Comments No comments yet. Start the conversation.
Comments
Keep it kind. Comments are public.