The Temptations of Jesus & the Tactics of Satan - Matthew 4:1-11

 


This is Baker Mountain in the Rocky Mountain National Park and we were on the Coyote Trail.  The mountains are so large that you get a view of them around every bend of the trail.  The bonus is that you are walking along the banks of the Colorado River.  


The Sowma's joined us for the week and Memorial Day weekend and took in the park and also the town.  We hope to host many who come this way.  It was great to have them see the ministry first hand at SCC.  We will need to stock up on canned air!

Satan's tactics are predictable.  They are an appeal to the flesh, an appeal to the eyes, and/or an appeal to your pride.  He waits for a vulnerable moment and then shows you something comfortable, or something that puts you in control, or something that makes you compromise.  Eve saw the fruit was good to eat (physical comfort) and it was desirable to the eyes (compromised path) and Satan said with would make her wise (power control).  

Satan approaches Jesus when He is hungry after fasting 40 days and nights.  Make the stones into bread (a physical comfort move) and throw Yourself down to be caught by the angels (a power control move) and bow down and worship Satan (a compromised path).  Jesus combats each with verses from Deuteronomy.  We need to do the same when tempted.  We need to go to God's word for guidance.

Instead of the comfort move (the flesh), we should look around at all that God has provided for us to partake in and be content.

Instead of the control move (the pride), we should remember who made us and cares for us and that we are to follow His commands rather than make some of our own.

Instead of the compromised move (the eyes), we should recognize that we have created something or someone else to worship and come back to worshiping God only.

Again, Jesus seem to do this on purpose for our benefit.  It is another seemingly unnecessary event in Jesus' earthly life to us but it is very necessary so we have an example to follow.  

What will I do when tempted to go the route of comfort rather than the path of God provided contentment?  

What will I do when tempted to take control or take part in something that I think I can cover because of my goodness rather than keeping God as the Commander of my life?  

What will I do when tempted to take a compromised path that veers me away from God's path rather than looking for His footprints to keep stepping in which is the concrete way to go?

Adam



A simple man serving a great God and the local pastor of Stillwater Community Chapel (stillwater-chapel.org). We are in our 38th year of full time ministry. God directed us to this local body of believers on the Western Range of the Rockies to grow with them in mission and mindedness of Christ.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Galatians #15 - Galatians 6:11-18 - "On The Road Again..."

Image
  Another week closer and it involves some more travel for the Wolfgangs.  I feel like the Willy Nelson song, " On the road again... "  I don't know if I agree with the next line though. " ...I can't wait to get on the road again. " One of the members of the church in Wisconsin calculated that I will travel well over 10,000 miles to make this transition.  Traveling mercies prayers please. Last Sunday we will look at Paul's final words to the churches in Galatia.  He brought them the gospel (good news) message of Jesus and what resulted were churches forming throughout the region.  The letter is to defend that message that our salvation comes from and is in Christ alone.  Christ's sacrifice on the cross was sufficient for the forgiveness of our sins.  The summary statement of the letter is found in  Galatians 6:15 (LSB) .  " For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. "  Translated another way earlie...
Read more

God gave us a good weather window to travel...yeah God!!!

Image
  Berthoud Pass Here we are at the top of Berthoud Pass.  It was a whirlwind week to conduct a " hand off " service in Wisconsin on 3/17 and then preach a Palm Sunday sermon in Colorado on 3/24.  We give God all the glory for this happening.  So there are two video links at the bottom of this blog.  One is for the Wisconsin service and the other is for the Colorado service.  I racked up over 12,000 in the last 7 weeks.   I love to take these pictures sitting from the front row of chairs and listening to the one God has provided for the church I had been serving for 20 months.  I now have 3 and I am so thankful for the opportunity God gave us to serve Him in this type of ministry over the last 5 years.  It has been great to add to our daily prayer list Zach in Maine, Chris in Ohio and now Stephen in Wisconsin. This was our set up for the 2000+ mile trip.  No " hiccups " except for the strong eastern winds in Kansas.  Of course e...
Read more

Resurrection Sunday in a new space...Matthew 27.62-28.20

Image
  Resurrection Sunday has come and gone but it was a sweet day to be with the gathered saints of the Stillwater Community Chapel .  We are venturing through the Gospel of Matthew and this Sunday will take us back to Matthew 1.1 but last Sunday we were in Matthew 27.62-28.20.  It was a lot to cover so the white board was truly a help to keep me on track.  This year in my Resurrection Sunday message, I focused on the contrast of the cover-up story of the disciples stealing the body of Jesus fueled by a bride and the commission of speaking of a risen Lord fueled by boldness . After the service upstairs, we ventured downstairs to the lower level and had a great meal together.  The conversations around the tables allowed us to continue to talk about the passage of Scripture we covered upstairs.  Maybe this is a very informal picture of what happens at the  Waushara Community Church called the " Going Deeper " classes of the Come For More hour following t...
Read more