New Life Community Church
"Freeze" - Giving Temptation the Stick up!
Sermon Series on Temptation Part 1 - Dealing with Temptation
Locations & Times
Hub Community Centre
14090 Belmont Rd, Belmont, ON N0L, Canada
Sunday 10:00 AM
Telos: Temptation isn't a favoritism game. It's not bias or friendly. To be tempted is to understand we have a tempter. To overcome temptation is to understand Jesus as the over comer of temptation.
Interrogation time:
When will temptation stop?
Is there ever a point in your spiritual life when you can expect to be beyond temptation?
Will you ever be delivered from persistent attacks by Satan trying to destroy you?
Can you hope for rest sometime in the future from ensnaring temptations?
The answer? No.
It is no use misleading you/us. We will be continually tempted to sin through all of our lives.
When it comes to temptation, There's two things we need to know:
1. There's always more at stake than what we think
-character development
-each temptation has specific consequences
-integrity is at stake when tempted to steal
-trust is at stake when tempted to lie
-purity is at stake when tempted to fornicate
-marriage is at stake when tempted to commt adultery
-when sin is the product of temptation, it always tampers with
our character an the development of it (our favor with people)
2. Our ability to withstand temptation has a lot to do with our confidence in God
If we could understand that temptation is not only an issue of our self control, but an issue of our confidence in God, our navigation in and through temptation would be somewhat different than it was before.
This could be the reason why we can't break through at times...
because we see temptation as something we have to expend our energy on...fighting, controlling and finally defeating.
What if, when we are tempted, we said "freeze"...pressed pause and asked these two questions...
Remember a specific scene from a movie, that when you watch it you have to pause it, look at the person your watching it with and say, "that's such a great scene!"
1. What's really at stake here?
2. Am I confident that God has given me a way out?
What would it look like to demonstrate confidence in God in the middle of temptation?
In every temptation we face, can we find and demonstrate confidence in God to help us overcome.
Interrogation time:
When will temptation stop?
Is there ever a point in your spiritual life when you can expect to be beyond temptation?
Will you ever be delivered from persistent attacks by Satan trying to destroy you?
Can you hope for rest sometime in the future from ensnaring temptations?
The answer? No.
It is no use misleading you/us. We will be continually tempted to sin through all of our lives.
When it comes to temptation, There's two things we need to know:
1. There's always more at stake than what we think
-character development
-each temptation has specific consequences
-integrity is at stake when tempted to steal
-trust is at stake when tempted to lie
-purity is at stake when tempted to fornicate
-marriage is at stake when tempted to commt adultery
-when sin is the product of temptation, it always tampers with
our character an the development of it (our favor with people)
2. Our ability to withstand temptation has a lot to do with our confidence in God
If we could understand that temptation is not only an issue of our self control, but an issue of our confidence in God, our navigation in and through temptation would be somewhat different than it was before.
This could be the reason why we can't break through at times...
because we see temptation as something we have to expend our energy on...fighting, controlling and finally defeating.
What if, when we are tempted, we said "freeze"...pressed pause and asked these two questions...
Remember a specific scene from a movie, that when you watch it you have to pause it, look at the person your watching it with and say, "that's such a great scene!"
1. What's really at stake here?
2. Am I confident that God has given me a way out?
What would it look like to demonstrate confidence in God in the middle of temptation?
In every temptation we face, can we find and demonstrate confidence in God to help us overcome.
Foreign truths we so often deny:
(Matthew 3:16-4:1-3)
1. We interpret temptation as God's love being absent
2. We see love in the context of how it benefits us not God's plan
3. We feel that "pleasing God" is mostly in connection to our obedience, when in reality "pleasing God" is a position we hold, and are led out from
Being led out into the desert to be tempted doesn't seem like a thing you'd do to someone you love. seems odd, doesn't it?
Did you know God did the same thing with
1. Abraham
2. Moses
3. Peter
4. all 12 of the disciples
...And perhaps he very well may do the same thing with you...me?
vs. 1-2
The Holy Spirit led Jesus into the desert (He didn't wander into the desert himself) for the primary purpose of being tempted.
No wonder Jesus told His disciples to pray this prayer...
"lead us into temptation"
vs 3a - "The tempter came to Him"
Here's what were about to discover in the verses that follow:
*Jesus is tempted in three specific ways
*All 3 of which have to do with His confidence in God
*All 3 of these temptations are the backdrop of every single thing you/I will be tempted with in our lives
Behind every temptation you and I face we will find one of these big temptations knocking on our front door.
These three areas are the big ones that fuel and give credence to all our temptations.
Temptation #1:
Jesus was tempted to meet a legitimate God given need in an illegitimate way
Temptation #2:
Jesus was tempted to try to leverage and use God for his own benefit
Temptation #3:
Jesus was tempted to take a shortcut...to do the right thing the wrong way
As we unpack temptation and peel off the layers in the coming weeks, we're going to be able to look behind the curtain to see what's really going on.
As we do this we're gonna see temptations in our lives lose their grip and lose their leverage .
(Matthew 3:16-4:1-3)
1. We interpret temptation as God's love being absent
2. We see love in the context of how it benefits us not God's plan
3. We feel that "pleasing God" is mostly in connection to our obedience, when in reality "pleasing God" is a position we hold, and are led out from
Being led out into the desert to be tempted doesn't seem like a thing you'd do to someone you love. seems odd, doesn't it?
Did you know God did the same thing with
1. Abraham
2. Moses
3. Peter
4. all 12 of the disciples
...And perhaps he very well may do the same thing with you...me?
vs. 1-2
The Holy Spirit led Jesus into the desert (He didn't wander into the desert himself) for the primary purpose of being tempted.
No wonder Jesus told His disciples to pray this prayer...
"lead us into temptation"
vs 3a - "The tempter came to Him"
Here's what were about to discover in the verses that follow:
*Jesus is tempted in three specific ways
*All 3 of which have to do with His confidence in God
*All 3 of these temptations are the backdrop of every single thing you/I will be tempted with in our lives
Behind every temptation you and I face we will find one of these big temptations knocking on our front door.
These three areas are the big ones that fuel and give credence to all our temptations.
Temptation #1:
Jesus was tempted to meet a legitimate God given need in an illegitimate way
Temptation #2:
Jesus was tempted to try to leverage and use God for his own benefit
Temptation #3:
Jesus was tempted to take a shortcut...to do the right thing the wrong way
As we unpack temptation and peel off the layers in the coming weeks, we're going to be able to look behind the curtain to see what's really going on.
As we do this we're gonna see temptations in our lives lose their grip and lose their leverage .
"Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain"
It's interesting...as soon as they saw the little guy behind the curtain, the great and power Oz wasn't so great and powerful after all was he?
Did you know that in our lives, behind the scenes and the layers of temptation we face every day, there are three little guys.
we're gonna explore who these guys are and why they do what they do.
who doesn't desire to see the affects of temptation minimized in their lives? No one wakes up anticipating walking into webs of temptation in hopes they'll get burned!
Epic Truth: The temptations we face will never go away. but as we begin to understand what's happenning in the background or beneath the surface if these temptations, hopefully we'll find the motivation to "freeze" and command temptation to put its hands up and say "woah! I know what's going on here!"
Our Unequivical Conviction:
God's will for our lives in Jesus is not to believe Sin is our master and we are its slaves.
Did you know that in our lives, behind the scenes and the layers of temptation we face every day, there are three little guys.
we're gonna explore who these guys are and why they do what they do.
who doesn't desire to see the affects of temptation minimized in their lives? No one wakes up anticipating walking into webs of temptation in hopes they'll get burned!
Epic Truth: The temptations we face will never go away. but as we begin to understand what's happenning in the background or beneath the surface if these temptations, hopefully we'll find the motivation to "freeze" and command temptation to put its hands up and say "woah! I know what's going on here!"
Our Unequivical Conviction:
God's will for our lives in Jesus is not to believe Sin is our master and we are its slaves.