Today is the first Sunday of Lent, a 40 day journey with Christ and His Church toward Holy Week. We begin with the famous conflict in the wilderness between Jesus and Satan. Why did Satan try to tempt Jesus? How did Jesus prevail? Behold the secret of the Son of God to become more like Him and love Him more!
"temptation" Tagged Sermons
God made you to commune with Him while fulfilling His call to love the right people. Once you discern what this unique kind of life looks like for you, get ready because distractions are coming. Jesus’ friends requested that He serve more people in Capernaum, yet He was so clear on His Father’s priorities that He evaded their seemingly good suggestion in order to stay the course with His Father’s will. Good news – all followers of Jesus must, and can, learn to do the same.
Slavery, hunger, sex trafficking, addictions, broken relationships… Have you noticed how many things on our globe are not as they should be? When God decides it is time to renovate a portion of earth so it looks more like heaven He typically does so through His children. Nehemiah wept, prayed and worked with God and others to overturn the “great trouble and shame” in Jerusalem. He embraced God’s assignment for his generation. Will you listen and trust God to do the same for yours?
In our journey through The Story, this week’s chapter about Solomon is entitled, “The King who had it All.” Solomon did have it all the moment He began his relationship with God because Solomon had God. In addition, God blessed him to overflowing in the years that followed. Like the appetite of a glutton and the cravings of a drunkard the heart of man is never satisfied. Most of us spend years chasing pleasures that were never meant to be our portion. It appears that at the end of Solomon’s life he finally realized that God is enough. Do not waste another day another day of your life – God is enough!
Do you have a “secret” past or present sin? No one is immune from wandering from God into an act or habit that produces guilt and shame. While King David was “a man after God’s own heart” he was still a man. As a man he put himself in a place where he then gave in to the temptation of lust. Next, like many embarrassed children of God, he sought to cover it up. Fortunately, God loves His children, so in His grace, He pursues us to bring us to a moment of clarity in which we can confess our sin. In this text God is so good to reveal that when we confess our sin, He is gracious to restore us to our relationship with Him and to our significant role as laborers in His harvest.