The Book of Matthew • Matthew 4:1-11

Welcome to the Willow Ridge Sermons Podcast, where you can listen to audio from our most

recent sermons and more. Thanks for listening, and be sure to add this show to your library

if you'd like to automatically receive new episodes each week.

Well, good morning. If you have your Bible, and I hope you do, I want to invite you to join us in

Matthew chapter 4 is where we will be today. If you don't have a Bible, we do have some free ones

Matthew 4 · chapter mention

that are available. They'll be back at the connection table. You could get up and go right

now. You can stop by after the service, and please want to invite you to grab one of those. They are

ESV Bibles, which is 99.9% of the time the translation that I use on Sunday mornings, and so even if you

have a Bible that maybe like you have a difficulty reading the translation that's there, you can go

by and grab one of those. We would love for you to be able to have a copy of God's Word if you don't

already have one. Well, as we get started, one thing really quick before we get going. I'm going to grab

this because some of us ADHD, we're going to latch on to something, all right? So, Alex, if you don't

know what this is, I'll explain what this is at the very end of the message. If you know what this is,

and you're wondering why in the world is this up on stage, then at the end of the message, I'll explain

it, all right? So, put it right back down right here, all right? And now we're going to ignore

that it's there. So, I'm going to read Matthew 4, verse 4 to you this morning.

Matthew 4:4

But he answered, it is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from

the mouth of God. Would you join me in prayer? God, what a privilege and honor it is to come and

gather together as your people. Lord, I pray that as we open your Word this morning, Lord, that we would

leave every preconceived notion and assumption about what we want, Lord, and we would dive and desire

into what the heart of God is and what you have for us. So, Lord, be with us as we study your Word this

morning. Speak to us, convict us, and draw us close to you. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Amen. Well, we are continuing on in our new series in Matthew. We're going to look at Matthew 4,

Matthew 4:1–11

verses 1 through 11 this morning of the temptation of Jesus. And I think this is a very interesting

passage of Scripture, a very common passage of Scripture. If you've grown up in church,

you've been around church for a while, this is probably something that you've heard. But something

that I thought about this week for the very first time, I've never thought about this, and I think

it's what makes this passage unique, that in most of the Gospels, right, of what we see, it is Jesus'

encounter. It's an encounter with Jesus, and disciples are with Him. Outsiders are with them. And so when

the Gospels were written, they were writing based off of the firsthand knowledge of what they had seen

Jesus do or heard Jesus say. But here in Matthew 4, verses 1 through 11, what we find

Matthew 4:1–11

of the temptation of Christ is it's Jesus and the devil. So at some point in time, Jesus sat down

and said, guys, let me tell you what happened. Because I'm going to tell you what took place.

And with vivid and clear and precise language, He recorded, or He spoke this, I'm sorry, He spoke

this. And then a disciple like Matthew, through the power of the Holy Spirit, as He's inspired to write,

shares with us these words. So I just think it's a remarkable, remarkable account of what we get,

because Jesus says, of all of the things that Jesus leaves out in His interaction with the disciples,

He looks and says, let me tell you about this. Let me tell you about this. And so this is what we get.

Let me read Matthew 4. I'm just going to read the first two verses as we get started.

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

And after fasting 40 days and 40 nights, He was hungry. All right, let's pause there for a minute.

There are certain verses and passages in Scripture that we can just skip over them and not begin to

understand the impactful complexity that they offer. And I think Matthew 4 verses 1 through 2 are a couple

Matthew 4:1–2

of those, right? It says that Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan.

That's a lot. That's a lot. Jesus led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

And all of this happens and takes place after His 40 days and 40 nights of fasting.

But also, right remember what we talked about last week, the baptism of Jesus.

You see, you and I, if we're not careful, we can think that because we're being obedient to God,

that we will then be free from temptation.

You know, I'm doing all things. I mean, I'm reading my Bible.

I'm praying. I'm going to church. I'm in a small group.

I'm confessing. I'm repenting. I'm tithing.

Lord, I'm doing all the right things.

And temptation comes, and we wonder, well, why, if I'm doing all the right things,

why is this here?

Well, I think Matthew 4, verses 1 through 2, would point to your goodness does not free you from temptation.

Matthew 4:1–2

You and I, we're not as good as Jesus.

And it didn't free Jesus from it.

It didn't set Him free from this.

So why would we expect less when it comes to us?

Jesus comes from His baptism.

In His baptism, we see the Trinity, right?

We see all of this.

And so what I want us to look at is what we're looking at when we look at these situations.

It's tested or tempted.

Tested or tempted.

Or is it and?

Tempted.

We've seen the obedience of the Son, the anointing of the Spirit, the pleasure of the Father,

all through this, through the baptism.

As Jesus comes in proclamation of Him as King, born of the Jews,

John's heralding of the kingdom.

We go from the ultimate victory that Matthew starts off in,

victory after victory after victory,

to conflict.

This is what happened to Jesus.

And oftentimes it happens in your life and in my life.

We're walking in victory with Jesus.

And then all of a sudden we step into a time, a moment, an hour, a season of tempting.

And we begin to wonder, well, wait a minute.

What's wrong with me?

What's wrong with where I'm at to go from victory to conflict?

And it can happen like that.

I heard a great story.

I love football.

My Gamecocks let me down a little bit.

If you follow the NFL, I'm a Packers fan.

I went to bed last night, 21 to 3.

The Bears could not have looked worse.

I woke up this morning, 31 to 7, the Bears, right?

It was a tough, tough morning.

But anyway, I love football.

I read a story this week.

It's a story that John MacArthur shares about when John MacArthur was playing football in California when he was in high school.

He was an offensive lineman.

He was an offensive lineman for his football team.

And they were playing, it was the last game of his senior year.

And they were blowing the team out.

50-something to nothing in the fourth quarter.

And so the coach begins to do what most coaches do.

Let's empty out the bench.

Especially the seniors.

So they start playing him and putting him in, putting him in, putting him in, putting him in.

John MacArthur says there was a guy named Tommy.

Tommy was the fifth-string running back.

The only reason why Tommy wasn't the sixth-string running back is because there was only five running backs.

That's how bad he was.

And so with like two minutes left, John MacArthur's team gets the ball back.

They're on the 20-yard line.

They got 80 yards to go.

They're blowing them out.

The coach looks.

Tommy's sitting over there on the bench.

Doesn't even know where his helmet is.

He says, Tommy, get in the game.

So Tommy goes and he finds his helmet.

And he gets in the huddle.

Helmet's all a little crooked.

He's standing there.

The quarterback calls the play.

And it's obvious Tommy does not know what he's doing.

The quarterback looks at him and says, Tommy, I'm going to turn around and I'm going to hand you the ball.

Do you know who the right tackle is?

Tommy says, no.

He says, number 77.

What I want you to do, Tommy, is when I hand you the ball, I want you to run right at number 77.

And he's going to open up a hole for you and you'll get a couple yards and you'll be in the stat book.

Tommy says, okay.

So they line up, knees shaking, dripping sweat, nervous for what's going to happen.

Center snaps the ball.

The quarterback takes it.

He hands the ball to Tommy.

Tommy closes his eyes as he takes it.

He runs right at that tackle, expecting to be tackled.

And guess what?

There's no one there.

They've opened up a hole so big, Dave and I could walk through it holding hands.

And all Tommy sees is the end zone.

Terrible Tommy.

Tommy that doesn't get in the game.

Tommy that has never played a snap.

80 yards to pay dirt.

Tommy puts that head back.

Tommy runs as fast as he can.

And no one touches him.

50, 45, 45, 40.

I'm not going to be like Todd Ellison, get some of the numbers wrong, right?

So I'll stop there.

If you're a Carolina fan, you get it, right?

And as Tommy gets to the 15-yard line, he looks to the crowd.

His mom and dad are in there.

No one's ever seen Tommy play.

Tommy running and waving.

He's in his highlight.

He's going to make SportsCenter.

He's going to have the best yards per rush attempt in the history of California high school football.

He averaged 80 yards to carry.

He's waving.

He crosses the finish line or the end zone.

He's still running.

And all of a sudden, he gets tackled by the goal post.

Gets a concussion.

Cracks his helmet.

But boy, he scored the touchdown.

We laugh at Tommy.

That's us, right?

I mean, we're walking in obedience.

We're doing the things that we feel called and led to do.

God, I love you.

I worship you.

All that I am is yours.

Then all of a sudden, we get a little comfortable.

We get a little at ease.

And temptation comes.

Verse 1.

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

If Jesus and his victory can be led into conflict,

why should you and I feel that that should not be the story of our life?

Jesus was led by the Spirit, not by the flesh.

Jesus was led by the Spirit specifically to be tempted.

Well, let's talk about this word, tempted.

Tempted in the original language is this word,

perazo.

P-E-I-R-A-Z-O.

Perazo.

And it's actually a neutral word.

And what we mean by a neutral word in the study of the original language is that

to be a neutral word, it carries with it both a positive meaning and a negative meaning.

And this is very important for you and I to understand when we walk through seasons

of temptation and testing to understand what is happening.

It's a neutral word that can mean both a positive meaning and a negative meaning.

Perazo, when translated positively, means testing.

And we see this in Scripture.

In James chapter 1, verses 2 through 3.

James 1:2–3

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds.

For you know that the testing, the perazio of your faith produces steadfastness.

A positive.

Here's what walking through difficulty, here's what walking through trials can produce in you

that there's a testing of your faith that produces steadfastness.

Endurance.

Strength in the Spirit.

But there's also the negative.

Perazo, when translated negatively, means tempting.

Here's another example.

In James, James chapter 1, verse 13.

James 1:13

Let no one say when he is tempted, perazio, I am being tempted by God.

For God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one.

So what we see is the exact same word.

The exact same word.

One used in a positive context.

One used in a negative context.

Here's the deal.

Perazio, same word.

Well, what changes the word?

What changes the word?

It's from the perspective that the situation is being looked at.

When these moments come in our life, when we take and apply James 1 to help us understand the word that is used here,

From Satan's perspective, perazio is temptation to lead you and I to sin, to sorrow, and to defeat.

But from God's perspective, it is a test to lead you to victory, affirmation, and proof of faithfulness.

In the conflict, there can be victory, there can be defeat.

The question is, how do you and I respond?

When we understand our adversary, Matthew 4 gives us some things to keep in mind as we're dealing with what Satan would like to do in your life and in mine.

And we see this in verse 2.

Satan tempts in weakness.

Satan tempts in weakness.

I want to be careful with this, and let me give some explanation for this.

But let's reread Matthew 4, 2.

After fasting 40 days and 40 nights, he was hungry.

He was hungry.

I skipped breakfast this morning.

I shouldn't have.

I'm hungry.

I went and ate Mexican food last night and ate something called a triple quesadilla.

Right?

My hunger is a little bit different than this.

Right?

Jesus has been 40 days in the wilderness.

This area of wilderness that Jesus is in.

It's a barren.

It's a harsh.

There's no shade.

There's no relief.

There's no relief.

There's no creek.

There's no anything.

So not only is Jesus is in the wilderness without food, that Jesus is in the wilderness with his body being abused and walked through and all of these things that will happen and take place.

And so what Satan does is Satan chooses this moment in time and in the sovereignty of God to come and to say, now's the time to do this.

And Satan will do that.

And Satan will do that in your life and in mine.

That Satan will both tempt you where you are weak, but also tempt you when you are weak.

Now, understand this.

Jesus is a man unlike any other man.

And the standard of what is applied for Jesus is not the same standard of what's applied for you and I.

That in this, when I talk about the weakness of Jesus, I want to be careful.

We're not talking about his weakness and his divinity and his divine nature.

We do not serve a God who is weak.

In his divinity, he is not weak, but he's 100% God, but he's also 100% man.

And in this, the physical aspect of who he is has been broken down.

And in that, we see in his humanity the weakness of Christ.

And Satan says, in his weakness, I'm going to attack.

Be careful of Satan.

He will attack you where you are weak and when you are weak.

And he has a strategy.

Peter writes in 1 Peter 5a, he says, be sober-minded and watchful.

Your adversary, the devil, listen to these words, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.

He's like a lion.

He's like a lion.

He's on the hunt.

He's watching you well before he attacks.

He's putting forth a plan of what should happen and what should take place.

He's looking for distractions.

He's looking for pitfalls.

He's looking for moments and opportunities.

And so when we think about the different temptations, think about the temptation of alcohol.

Satan will attack you here and he'll do it with a billboard advertisement on your way home from work after a hard day.

Think about lust.

Satan will attack you here and he will do it after you've had a bad fight with your spouse.

But yet that encouraging co-worker will want to encourage you.

He'll do it with greed.

He'll do it when the bank account bottoms out and you see unaccounted cash laying around at the office at work.

He'll do it with hate.

Satan will attack you here.

He'll do it after a traumatic event in your life.

And you'll see someone on Facebook who reminds you of that and you lash out at them behind your keyboard.

Satan attacks when the moment and the timing is right.

And so we must identify where we are weak and what sin we are prone to.

And we must identify when we are weak.

When does temptation seem to come?

Where are you weak?

And when are you your weakest?

Be sober-minded.

Be ready.

Because Satan is on the prowl.

So we're going to look and see what Jesus does.

How Jesus handles this.

Let me say this.

Jesus has no reminder.

Has no weakness in being prone to sin.

However, the Bible does tell us that he relates to us even in our weakness.

The author of Hebrews says this in Hebrews 4.

Since then we have a high priest who has passed through from the heavens, Jesus the Son of God.

Let us hold fast our confession.

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weakness.

But one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

So we can look to Jesus.

So let's look at the temptations that he'll face.

Start with me in verse 3.

So what we're going to see is Jesus is going to respond to the temptations of Satan with the truth of God's word.

Not to a feeling.

Not to a strategy.

Not to a culturally acceptable standard.

But the truth of God's word.

And so what I want to do is to look and try to understand what are these temptations that he's facing.

And how do you and I face these same temptations in our life?

And how does Jesus overcome it?

And how often times do you and I fall into these pits?

Temptation number one is about the sufficiency of God.

The sufficiency of God.

The question that I have for you and I when it comes to temptations in this manner,

are we going to trust in the sufficiency of God or in the gratification of the flesh?

Is it wrong for Jesus to eat?

No, it's not wrong.

We're going to see at the end of this where Jesus' physical needs are met.

The issue is not can or cannot Jesus eat.

The question in this moment is the son going to trust in the sufficiency of the father.

And in our weakness, are you and I going to trust that God is enough?

The evidence of trusting in the sufficiency of God is shown in your life and in mine in matters of faithfulness and obedience to God.

Can I trust God and point to the obedience in my life of God's standard that he's called me to?

Even in my weakness.

I want to give you guys a real life example of this for me this past week.

Talk about my weakness, my struggle, my worry, my sin within there.

You know, Christmas was just a few weeks ago, right?

So, typically, the Bradberries are like you guys are, you know, like after Christmas, the bank account, you know,

it's a little bit lower than probably where you'd like it to be because of the expenses of Christmas, right?

It's travel, it's presents, it's food, it's the parties, it's all the thing kind of wrapped up within there.

And so, my nature, my sinful nature in this time of year is at the first of the year to be a little bit more worried,

to be a little bit more concerned.

My family would probably like say cheap, right, around the Bradberry house with different things.

And then this past week, I got what everyone hates to get, but especially this time of year.

An unexpected expense came up.

I didn't see this coming.

I didn't know that it was happening.

And it was substantial.

And when I saw it, when I saw it, it caused me to worry.

Worries is a sin.

My weakness began to show.

How am I going to pay for this?

It's not small.

It's significant.

It's not accounted for.

It's unaccounted for.

How am I going to pay for this?

And in that moment, Satan says, I've got him.

And I'm going to share with you guys the thought that came to my mind.

Here's the thought.

You know, if I don't pay my tithe this month, then I'll have enough money to pay for the expense.

And then, what I can do is I can take what I should give, and I can divide that out over the next 11 months.

And I can give that in February, in March, in April.

And if there's a little bit extra on the way, I can just add it there.

Real life.

And then, and then, the Holy Spirit said,

Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.

Bo, do you trust me?

Yes.

Am I sufficient?

Yes.

Then be faithful.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

God is sufficient in all things.

My worry was rooted in my weakness.

For Jesus, it's not about the bread.

He is hungry.

But Jesus knows who is sufficient for life.

Don't trust the ways of the world.

Trust the ways of God.

Satan is tempting you.

And I'm going to ask you this question.

In your temptation,

is God enough?

Is God enough?

If you watch out to what Satan has to offer,

you're grabbing a hold and saying,

God, you're not enough,

but this is.

It's trusting in the sufficiency of God.

Temptation number two.

Then the devil took Him to the holy city

and set Him on the pinnacle of the temple

and 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,

lest you strike your foot against a stone.

And Jesus said to Him again,

it is written,

You shall not put the Lord your God to test.

Temptation number two.

In the presence and promises of God.

To doubt in the presence and promises of God.

Not to just doubt is God sufficient,

but to doubt the presence and promises of God.

Are we going to trust in the presence and promise of God,

or are we going to try to manipulate God?

And Satan here misquotes a passage in Psalm 91,

and this is what Satan does.

Satan is a manipulator.

Satan takes truth and he twists it.

And when he twists,

he squeezes the truth out,

and he turns the truth into a lie.

That's what he did in Genesis 3.

Did God actually say?

He twists and he manipulates.

And what he wants to do

is bring you and I into that same place.

He tells Jesus,

take yourself,

throw yourself down,

and God will send his angels to protect you.

And again,

Jesus answers with Scripture.

And with Scripture we do not test God.

And so how do you and I fall into this?

How do you fall in,

how do we fall into this pattern

of trying to take the truth of God

and manipulate it

and twist it

to try to make God the doer of what we desire,

instead of us being the doer

of what God desires?

I'm going to ask you a couple questions.

Have you ever walked through a difficult season

or situation of life

and said to God,

God,

God, I don't feel you?

I can't believe you would leave me.

I don't feel your presence in my life.

God, how dare you?

Have you ever walked through a difficult season

or situation of life

and said to God,

you know,

you promised me good,

but all you give me is struggle.

Have you ever walked through a difficult season

or situation of life

and said to God,

if you really love me,

if you really love me,

why would you allow this to happen?

Do you see what we're doing in that moment?

Is we're doubting the presence

and promises of God,

of how God works and moves

in His continual presence

in my life?

God, if you love me

and have a plan for me,

then prove it.

As opposed to saying,

God,

I know you love me.

I know you have a plan for me.

And you don't even have to reveal it to me

as I'll walk in obedience with you.

Right?

To trust

in the presence

and the promise

of God.

Not God,

if you are who you say you are,

or God,

if you'll do what you say you will do,

then be surrendered to my will,

but instead,

God,

because you are who you are

and because you do what you do,

I surrender myself

to your will.

Last temptation,

verse 8.

Again,

the devil took him to a very high mountain

and showed him all the kingdoms of the world

the world and their glory.

And he said to him,

all these I will give you

if you will fall down and worship me.

And then Jesus said to him,

be gone, Satan,

for it is written,

you shall worship the Lord your God

and him only shall you serve.

Then the devil left him

and behold,

angels came

and were ministering to him.

the temptation number three

is the temptation of your worship of God.

The question I have for you this morning

is do you live to exalt yourself

or do you live to exalt your Savior?

What's remarkable about this

is Satan offers Jesus

all that would become his.

He shows him all the people,

all the places of the world

and says,

you can have this.

You can have it all.

But in order to have it all,

you must worship me.

And what does Jesus say?

You shall worship only

the Lord your God.

And,

and,

this is the big one.

Sometimes we think that

Jesus stops

when you shall only worship,

but he continues,

and only him

shall you serve.

Do you worship God?

You're like,

yeah, sure,

like I'm here today, right?

Like where else do you think I am?

But do you serve him?

But do you serve him?

Did you come here today

for what you would get from him?

Or did you come here today

saying,

God,

what can I give to you?

All that I am,

all that I have.

And let's take that,

let that play out

not just what we do

when we gather in here

for our corporate worship,

but what does that look like

when we gather,

when we live our everyday life?

Is today simply a day

that you look out of God,

what can I get from you?

Or do we view our days,

our moments,

our hours,

our minutes,

my Lord,

this is what I give to you.

Every day is a blessing from God,

yes.

But does he bless you

beyond blessing?

Yes.

But the other side of this, folks,

is that he calls us

in a life of sacrifice,

and service,

and obedience to him,

to our Master,

to our King,

Jesus.

Luke 9, 23,

Jesus will say,

if anyone would come after me,

let him deny himself,

take up his cross daily,

and follow me.

Romans 12,

1,

I appeal to you,

therefore,

brothers,

by the mercies of God,

to present your bodies

as a living sacrifice,

holy,

and acceptable to God,

which is your spiritual worship.

Are you here saying,

God,

give me more of you?

Or are you here today

saying,

God,

all I have is yours.

All that I am is yours.

So do you fall into

the temptations of Satan?

Will we trust in the

sufficiency of God,

or in the gratification

of the flesh?

Will we trust in the

presence and promises

of God,

or trust in the,

or test the presence

and promises of God?

Will we worship our Savior,

or will we worship ourself?

I'm going to ask the team

if they'll come up on stage

and talk a little bit

about this.

So,

this is a retriever bumper.

It's what you use

to train dogs

that are going to retrieve.

Now,

if you're training a dog

to retrieve,

I'm not talking about

what you do with crazy dogs

like what we have

at our house right now,

Otis,

where you take a tennis ball

and throw it,

and then they grab it

and throw it up in the air

and lick and do all the things,

right?

Like,

I'm talking about

an obedience training

of a dog to retrieve.

On December 23rd

of this year,

we had to put down,

I believe,

the greatest dog

that's ever been

on this planet.

Fourteen years ago,

I came up here,

we were living in Aiken,

I came up here

and bought a black lab

from a guy.

I paid $300

for this black lab puppy.

Now,

I'd never paid more

than like the adoption fee

at a kennel before,

right?

So this was a huge step

for us.

I bought this black lab puppy

and brought him home

and we named him Vader.

Invader became my buddy.

We hunted together,

we traveled into Arkansas,

we traveled into Mississippi,

we'd go down

into Beach Island,

South Carolina,

and man,

everywhere I went,

that dog was right beside me.

If I was out there

walking through the woods,

at the end of the time

of walking with him,

I'd have a little spot

that would be dirty

worn right here

on my jeans

because he would walk

and he'd keep his head

right there

and just press against me

and press against me

and press against me.

It was a hard day

to be honest with you guys

on December 23rd

when Vader passed

and he's a dog

that I hope every one of you

has the opportunity

to have a dog

as good as Vader was.

I remember one time

things you do

when you were younger

that just aren't intelligent.

We decided to leave

one Sunday night

at 7 p.m.

and drive to Mississippi

so we could be there

at 5 a.m.

for opening morning

of duck season.

Not smart.

Not smart.

A guy named Jacob Derrick

said he would ride

when I was driving.

I told Jacob

you got one job

keep me awake.

Come Atlanta

he was knocked out.

I pulled over

I said Jacob

get in the back

back seat

not back of a truck

get in the back seat.

He hopped in the back.

I went and got Vader

out of his dog box.

Vader came and jumped in.

Vader rode shotgun

the whole way there.

Stayed awake

the whole time with me right?

Love that dog.

When I was training Vader

you'll do something different

when you're training

a dog specifically

to retrieve.

You'll take one

of these things

and you'll take it

and you'll call him here

and you'll command him

to sit

and he'll sit.

Let me tell you this

if you're training

a retriever dog

you never tell

a retriever dog

to stay

because you told him

to sit

and sit always means stay.

Tell him to sit

and come there

and he'd sit beside you.

I'd take this bumper

and I'd stand there

and I'd spin it

and I'd throw it

and you'd start

to see him shake.

He'd sit there

I want that

I want that

I want that

I want that

I want that

and he wouldn't move

and eventually

Aaron's crying

I haven't too

I put my hand

on his head

and I said

Vader

and he'd take off

and he'd go get it

and he'd come right back

to me

I'm not going to put

this in my mouth

he'd come right back

to me

within his mouth

sitting right there

beside me

shaking

shaking

shaking

shaking

shaking

and I'd put

my hand down

and he'd just

let it go

into my hand.

As we're training

more and more

and more

I'd call Vader

to me

I'd say sit

he'd sit

I'd walk

over the other

side of the yard

I'd take his bumper

spin it

spin it

spin it

chunk it

and I'd go

inside

I'd be sitting

here

I'd stay

inside

a couple

minutes

five minutes

ten minutes

that dog

would not

move

come right

back outside

I'd yell

go

he wouldn't

move

yell fetch

he wouldn't

move

walk back

out there

put my hand

on his head

said Vader

take off

he'd go

get it

greatest dog

I ever had

I was thinking

about this

what caused

a dog

a dog

to so badly

want this

that he'd sit

there

and not go

get it

until his

master

said go

because what

he wanted

was not

this

what he wanted

was the

affirmation

of his

master

there are

lots of

things

that are

out there

calling your

name

there's lots

of temptations

there's lots

of things

that Satan

is using

he's using

that unexpected

bill

he's using

that conflict

in your

marriage

he's using

that substance

he's using

that thought

life

and he's

tempting you

and tempting

you

and tempting

you

and my

prayer is

that we

would not

find our

reward

in the

objects and

items of

this world

that we

would not

find our

reward

in the

things that

will burn

up and

destroy

but we'll

find our

reward

in the

affirmation

and in the

presence of

the

master

today

my prayer

for you

is that

you'll keep

your eyes

locked on

the

savior

the

creator

the

king

jesus

and that

in all

things

he

is

enough

would you

pray with

me

lord we

thank you

so much

for what

you've

done

for who

you are

for how

you love

jesus we

thank you

that what

we face

and what

we go

through

that you

can relate

to us

and that

in our

life

god we

would walk

in a

manner

and in

a posture

of

steadiness

with our

master

you have

not left

us

you do

love us

you are

sufficient

and we

respond to

you

in worship

and in

serving

of all

that we

have

and all

that we

are

and it

begins

with bringing

you

ourselves

laying down

our

failures

and our

sins

the foot

of the

cross

and trusting

in you

as savior

and following

you as

lord

jesus would

you be

glorified

in all

that we

have

and in

all that

we are

listen jesus

and we

pray

amen

that's it

for this

week's

message

be sure

to check

back next

week for

a new

episode

and in

the meantime

you can

visit us

online at

willowridgechurch.org

or by searching

for willowridgechurch

on facebook

instagram

and youtube

thanks again

for listening