The Protection of Prayer

Welcome to this week's message from the church at Chelsea Westover.

Our core values are vibrant worship, intimate fellowship, fulfilling service, and clear biblical truth.

We pray that this message changes your life.

Let's tune in to today's message and see what God has in store for you.

Today, I want you to turn with me in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 6.

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

If you're here and you do not have a worship guide, would you please raise your hand?

Does everyone have a worship guide?

We want to make sure.

And one of the things uh someone was telling me up here, here go, preacher.

I've got you one right here.

You got one?

Okay.

And uh, it's been so good to just uh study God's word, and that's what we're gonna be doing again with the book of Revelation.

And one lady was telling me what she does, she takes this thing home and hole punches it and puts it in her a little notebook, and that's a great thing to do.

It really is.

I I probably ought to do that myself, but uh but I do keep the outlines.

Uh but today we're gonna be looking at Matthew chapter 6, verse 13, the last message in this tremendous series on the Lord's Prayer.

Matthew 6:13

It could not have come in a better time.

The major trials that we've been through here at the church with losing our CFO, David Wilson, my best friend, Christy's husband.

During this time, God's taken us through, and many of you going through tragedies and trials.

And God's taken us through these trials and these temptations through the Lord's Prayer.

And boys, I know I needed it.

I I really believe with all my heart I could not have gone through these last two and a half months if we hadn't been studying the Lord's Prayer.

I believe that with all my heart.

And I just want to say thank you, Lord, for taking us through.

See, Sylvester, by the way, Sylvester will be preaching too this month.

We're excited.

If you hadn't heard him preach, buckle up, guys.

He's kind of like an airplane.

He kind of eases up, and then when he gets up there, boom, he can do it.

I'm looking forward to hearing him.

I'll be back to hear you.

Even though I'm back, I'm gonna let them preach a couple weeks.

I'm kind of taking the month off and just getting ready.

Actually, I'm taking a month off the preaching, but I'm preparing the book of Revelation.

That's what I'm gonna be doing the whole month of July.

Getting ready to teach, I think, the most powerful New Testament book ever written.

It is powerful.

It's gonna be unbelievable.

I promise you.

So pray about getting in a Sunday school class.

We got the men's class.

My wife's gonna be teaching through the book of Revelation in the ladies' class.

We got the couples class, uh, and we may even have another class, a couple's class for teenagers.

And we're thinking about that, and we've been getting requested with the parents that have teenagers.

Thank you.

Thank you.

That's why I have her.

Amen.

She keeps me straight, Melvin.

Amen.

The fly fisherman.

Man, you're great.

Amen.

But uh it's gonna be a great month, a great fall semester.

I'm telling you, folks, uh, you know, just see our crowd on the 4th of July and all a lot of our faith, our people, uh faithful people gone, and I understand, and we all need those breaks, son.

I we're not legalistic around here, but this fall is gonna be standing room only.

And uh, we're already talking about how we can have an overflow.

We just trust in God because we know there's a lot of hungry people in our community that want to hear the truth.

Can I get an amen?

But I wanted to ask Susan, I said all week, and really this whole this whole teaching of the Lord's Prayer, God had one word for us.

We've looked at the paternity of God, the priority of God, the program of God, the planned of God.

And today we're gonna be looking at the protection of God.

That's the last rung in the ladder of the Lord's Prayer.

But this whole Lord's Prayer has been one thing.

And I love what he says right here: lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever.

Amen.

So the whole purpose of the Lord's Prayer is to exalt Christ.

And how do we do that?

By living a godly life.

We've we've gone verse by verse through the scriptures of that.

Presenting your body a living sacrifice.

And there was a song that came to my heart on the radio the other day, and I said, I think Susan has sung that before.

I want her to sing it for me.

You know one good thing about having a godly wife that knows the word of God, but can sing?

When I want a song, I just say, honey, can you sing this?

I've asked her to sing the title of the song.

This is what God wants for us to be able to represent the kingdom of God here on this earth.

And that's what we're to do.

It's to be clean.

To be clean.

Listen to this powerful song.

I see shadow.

You see whole, I see broken, you see beautiful yes, but you're teaching me to believe you're restoring peace by peace.

There's nothing to do, but you can make wealthy wash me in mercy there's nothing to make wealthy, wash me in mercy.

I am what once was dead now, lives again.

I'm coming alive with joy You're restoring me peace by peace.

There's nothing too dirty.

Wash me the bursen Oh, there's nothing too can't acquaint.

Wash me the burse.

I am clean.

Washed in the blood of your sacrifice.

Your blood ran red and made me white.

My turning racks now purified.

I am clean.

Washed in the blood of your sacrifice, your blood ran blood me white, my turn.

You wash me in my sermon in itself, I am clean.

Thank you, Jesus.

Thank you, Jesus.

In Matthew chapter six, and let me just say right here to Ben and all the folks that worked so hard yesterday.

By the way, Ben, I don't know if y'all really realize, Ben's got a scholarship tremendously paid for over half of school, really.

Isn't that correct, Ben?

What he has accomplished in two years here has been phenomenal.

Amen.

Headed to Montevala, studying business, and we're very proud of you, man.

We love you.

We do.

Matthew chapter 6.

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

The six petitions of the Lord's Prayer that we've been looking at have been, I think, phenomenal.

They have taught us so much.

They really have.

But the six petitions of the Lord's Prayer are structured kind of like a ladder.

If you think of a ladder.

In fact, the top three runs of a ladder, if you're thinking about the Lord's Prayer, deals with heaven.

It deals with the Father.

When we looked at the paternity of our prayer, and it deals with his name, which we looked at the priority of prayer, and it deals with his kingdom, his purpose of prayer.

And then the next three rungs we see in Vobs 1, his what?

Our daily bread, his forgiveness, and thirdly, the third run, the protection from evil.

So we've seen each of those rungs preached.

And if you missed any of the messages, go online, and I'm telling you, they're worth your studying.

Or listening while you're driving to it.

Because really, on the ladder of the Lord's Prayer, we descended from the contemplation of who God is, our Father, our Daddy, to who we are, sinful children who need to be protected by God.

Can I get an amen?

And that's so true.

And that's the Lord's prayer.

Proper prayer includes praying for spiritual protection.

And that's what we're going to be talking about.

This final petition has two main points that we want to look at this morning.

One is the negative, and it says, and here's the negative, and lead us not into temptation.

And then the second is a positive presentation, but deliver us from the evil one.

Or the evil, and you will see why I said the evil one, because really it's talking about Satan.

I'm going to prove that as we go.

All this goes to show, first of all, that every one of us are subject to falling into sin.

Can I get an amen?

None of us are immune from falling into sin.

And we've got to realize that.

And secondly, we need to know how to pray for spiritual protection.

Two things.

One, none of us are immune from falling into sin.

And secondly, we've got to pray for spiritual protection.

Because if it can happen to David, a man after God's own heart, it can happen to any one of us.

Can I get an amen?

And we know that's true.

So, there are two things that we see here that we must seek after.

Number one, the direction of God, and then we'll look at the, hey, the direction of God and then the deliverance from sin.

But number one, let's look at the direction of God has to be sought.

It has to be sought.

Notice what the verse says lead us not into temptation.

If we are to be the kind of Christians that bring honor and glory to God, hey, and the Lord Jesus Christ, it is vital that we seek God's direction for our lives.

There is no other way.

You and I have two choices this morning.

We can go God's way or we can go our way.

But we're gonna go one of those ways.

We're gonna go one of those ways, either God's way or our way.

And hey, our destiny is determined by which way we go.

Our life is determined by which way we go.

Our family, listen to me, is determined by which way we go.

Do you see how important that is, folks?

Everything, hey, rides on which path you take.

And no one can take that path but you.

If I could take it for you as your pastor, I love you so much, I would take it.

But I can't.

You have to make that choice.

Our attitude should be, Lord, lead me.

Show me what you want me to do.

And let me ask you, is that your attitude this morning?

If not, you need to say, Lord, please impart into my life that attitude.

Listen to what David said in Psalms 143, verse 10.

Psalms 143:10

One of my favorite verses.

In fact, uh, I when I saw this verse again, I said, I gotta read, I just gotta re dissect that verse because it's so powerful.

And if we, if if all you did was take this one verse and walk out of here today, you would have God's message for you.

And here's what it says Teach me to do thy will.

Teach me to do your will, O God.

For thou art my God.

Thy spirit is good.

What does that mean?

God has something good for you.

Can I get an amen?

His spirit dwelling in you wants to lead you into what's good for you.

And then he says, lead me into the land of uprightness.

Woo! You know what that means?

Let me be a vessel to bring the kingdom of God to heaven.

Let me, when he says, Let thy kingdom come in the Lord's Prayer, how do we bring God's kingdom to this earth?

If you remember, is we are his ambassadors, we are the habitation of the power of the Holy Spirit, so we bring the kingdom of God here by our uprightness, our righteousness, as we walk in the will of God.

Now, that's good, folks, and that's what God's called us to do.

In fact, uh Psalms 25, 5 says, lead me in thy truth.

That's so important, and teach me, for thou art the God of my salvation, my deliverance.

O Thee do I wait on thee all day.

In other words, daily do I walk with thee.

Lead us not into temptation.

What does that mean?

Let's take a look at the word temptation.

It comes from the Greek word, and the Greek word is piramas, which carries with it the meaning of testing.

Of testing.

In other words, we're gonna be tested.

In fact, what this really means, it refers to trials that test the character of a person.

Trials come to test our character.

Trials come to, hey, test our faith.

In fact, I I grew up and when my grandfather and he used to say this saying, quite often, he'd say, faith has to be tested before it can be trusted.

Faith has to be tested before it can be trusted.

And that is exactly why God allows tests and temptations to come.

He's testing our character.

Now we gotta realize God does not tempt us to do evil.

Can I get an amen?

He does not.

God did not cause Adam and Eve to sin.

He is not the author of sin.

Look at James chapter 1, verses 13 and 14.

James 1:13

Let no man say, when he is tempted, I am tempted of God, for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempt he any man.

But every man, now watch, is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed.

Why do we need to pray that hey, we will not be led into temptation or testing, even though God is not the uh instrumental uh reason for us falling into temptation?

No, he's not the author of that, but he does permit or allow it to why?

To test our character and to help us, as we saw last week, to grow in those areas where we're weak and we realize we're weak.

And that's exactly what he's saying here.

He does not permit or allow us to experience temptation, and hey, not himself, but he allows us to experience this temptation from the world, the flesh, and Satan, three areas, so that he can test our character, prove our faith, test our faith, so that we can be more like Jesus.

So he allows them, he doesn't send them, he allows them.

He's not gonna tempt you to sin.

God will not go against his character.

He can't do that.

We just saw that in James 1, 13, 14.

But he will, he will allow the temptation, and we saw that with Job.

That God allowed Job to be tempted.

But he knew that Job was made of the right stuff.

Thank God he promises right here that we will not be given more than we can handle.

Can I get an amen?

There hath no 1 Corinthians 10, 13, there hath no temptation taken you, but such as common to man, but God is faithful and just who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able, but with it make a way to escape.

Hallelujah.

The petition lead us not in temptation.

It is a request to be led in the right direction and in that righteous walk with God.

It's an intimate fellowship.

I love what David said in Psalms 141, verse 4.

Psalms 141:4

Listen to what he said.

Incline not my heart to any evil thing.

Oh, what a prayer.

Incline my heart not to any evil thing.

And then he says, or to practice evil works with men that work iniquity, and let me not eat of their dainies.

In other words, he's saying, Don't even let me get involved with what they're doing that's wrong.

Wow.

That's powerful.

That's so powerful.

And that's David.

Therefore, James says, if what, you know this verse, James 4, 7, if we resist the devil, what?

He will flee from us.

So again, we pray God lead us not into temptation.

In fact, I really believe the Bible very clearly teaches us that testings and temptations come to strengthen and to refine our character.

If you don't get anything else, you need to write that down.

It develops our purity and our maturity and our joy and our patience.

And I don't you love James 1:3, knowing this, that the trying of your faith works patience.

James 1:3

Now, with that said, the temptation and testing of one of the greatest Bible characters in the Bible gives us how we deal with temptation.

I have had a ball this week taking apart Genesis 39.

Genesis 39 is the story of.

Of Joseph.

And we talked about him a few weeks ago, that what Joseph went through.

When we examine the trauma of the trial, and it was a trauma in Joseph's life and what he went through.

I mean, he was thrown into the pit.

We saw that.

He was sold into slavery.

And Potiphar bought Joseph as a slave and put him to work as a slave.

And Joseph was so dynamic, so righteous, serving God.

His character was impeccable.

I mean, it was unbelievable to the point that Potiphar put Joseph over everything he owned.

Not just his, hey, his crops and his business affairs, but his whole household.

Now that's character, when you have that kind of trust for some man to give you air.

In fact, the Bible says that he gave him so much, everything he had to Joseph to over, hey, oversee, that listen to this, he didn't even know what he had.

Yeah, he didn't know what he had.

I mean, he just trusted Joseph that much.

Now, folks, that's character.

I don't know if I know anybody.

Well, there was one person that I would, and he's with the Lord right now, David.

But that's the kind of character, that's the kind of character Joseph had.

He had proven himself.

Oh, what unbelievable example.

So I want you to go with me in your Bibles to Genesis 39, because that's where we're going to stay the rest of the message.

Because you're going to see some phenomenal insights.

So, what do we glean from the trauma and the temptation that Joseph went through with whose wife?

Potiphar's wife.

We glean a number of tremendous insights from this.

And let's begin and look at them.

Number one, here's what we glean.

The temptation came after a promotion.

It came after a great victory.

Now that's important to realize.

And I am a living testimony.

I have been tempted some of the worst times in my ministry after I had a mountaintop experience.

If you remember, Elijah was tempted right after he had defeated 450 prophets of Baal.

One Jezebel came after him and put him, hey, put him in flight.

Right after a mountaintop experience.

In fact, let's look at it.

In Genesis chapter 39, and let's look at verses 3 and 4.

Genesis 39 · chapter mention

Verse 1 says he's sold and bought by Potifort, an officer Pharaoh's captain, big in the army there.

And then verse 2, the Lord was with Joseph, and he was a watch, successful man.

That's a great insight right there.

If God's with you, you will be successful.

Can I get an amen?

If God is with you, you will be successful.

And he was in the house of the master of the Egyptian, Potiphar.

And his master saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord made all he did to prosper in his hand.

Another important thought.

Not only will you be successful, but you will prosper if you are following the will of God.

Wow.

In his hand.

So Joseph, verse 4, found favor in his sight and served him, Potiphar.

Then he made him overseer of his house and all that he had, he put under Joseph's authority.

Wow.

What a promotion.

But sometimes this is when we are most vulnerable.

You know why?

Because we think emotionally we're invincible.

We think we have arrived.

We think, man, we've been faithful.

You've been walking with by faith.

You've been accomplishing, you've been doing what God's told you to do.

You've been in your quiet time.

I mean, you're just you're putting your armor on, and next thing you know, God's just blessing, you're prospering, and you're up here, and then the next thing you know, bam.

Bam! You say, where'd that come from?

Where'd that thought come from?

You ever been there?

I mean, I've been studying the word of God and have a thought just come in there and say, whoa, where'd that come from?

Or are you doing something all of a sudden a temptation, bam, right there.

You're doing your income tax.

Temptation, right there.

The government gets enough of my money, he won't mind if I.

Hello.

I mean, you see where I'm coming from?

And that's exactly what happens right here.

But let me remind you, and this is a powerful statement right here, in Proverbs 16, 8 says, Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.

That's powerful, folks.

So what that happens is, we're starting to think that we are mature enough to handle it.

Can I help you please listen to me?

None of us are mature enough to handle some temptations.

None of us.

None of us.

What does he say in 1 Corinthians 10 13?

I mean 1 Corinthians 10 12, the verse before 13.

That he that thinketh he stands, take heed lest he falls.

He said, don't get there.

Number two, the most powerful temptations came to Joseph when he was caught off guard or by surprise.

Now look at here.

He's been promoted.

He's ruling over everything his master Potiphar had given to him, and he's there taking care of the house.

And next thing you know, Potiphar's wife looks at Joseph and says, wow, he was a good-looking dude.

And here she goes.

She puts, hey, she asked him, Would you come sleep with me?

Now, can you imagine?

Here you are, you're excited, you've been working hard.

The master has put all his confidence in you.

He's given you authority over everything but his kingdom.

I mean, he's given you, I meant complete authority, except, hey, over the master's wife.

No, not at all.

But all of a sudden, he's there thinking, this is great.

God, you're blessing me.

Uh, you know, what my brothers meant for evil, God, you're meaning for good.

Look what you've allowed me to do.

And next thing you know, he's probably sitting there doing the books or doing something.

Nobody's there but he and the mistress, the wife, and next thing you know, there she comes in and says, Woo, Joseph.

Hubby's gone.

And I'm looking good.

And you sure looking fine.

Why don't you come in here and let's have a cup of tea?

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

That's exactly where it went.

When you get to heaven, ask the Lord.

The Bible warns us that we are to walk carefully.

Was you think Joseph was expecting that?

Absolutely not.

Because he had confidence in his master.

His master had confidence in him.

His master was a good man.

He had treated him fairly, helped him, supported him, given him everything.

So he in his mind's thinking, well, well, his wife's got to be a great godly woman too, or a good woman.

Instead, she was a Jezebel.

She wasn't an angel.

Yeah, she was an angel, right?

Right out of the pit of hell.

Hello.

What about?

Hey, what about Samson and Delilah?

Same thing.

I mean, Samson couldn't get her out of his mind, and she tried to kill him every time they got together.

And he kept going back.

Now, folks, that's stupid.

Amen.

Maybe once.

Maybe twice, but no, not three times, three times you have, son.

And by the way, that's one reason I don't have long hair.

I am not gonna let no Jezebel cut my hair.

Amen.

Honey just shines mine.

But the Bible warns us, look at this verse.

This is powerful.

The Bible warns us that we are to walk carefully.

Look at Ephesians 5.15.

Powerful word.

This word circumspectly is from the Greek word archibos.

Aribos.

And here's what it means.

It literally means carefully, exactly, accurately, and diligently.

That's what circumspectably means.

We are to watch out what we are doing and where we're going diligently.

Exactly.

It's kind of like walking a beam.

You've ever had to walk a beam?

A beam like walking across a height or something?

What do you do?

Hey, how y'all doing?

No, you did.

You break your neck.

What are you doing?

Especially you carpenters.

I've watched some of you.

You don't take your eyes off that beam as you're walking across it.

Especially if it's a very short narrow beam.

You're right there.

Your eyes are exactly on that beam as you're walking across it.

That's exactly what that word means.

That you are diligently watching the path of righteousness, not allowing Satan to take you to the left nor to the right.

Can I get an amen?

In fact, there's several scriptures.

The Bible says, as ye have therefore received Christ Jesus as Lord, so walk ye in him.

Colossians 2, 6.

So, you gotta be careful.

You gotta walk carefully.

Folks, let me tell you.

You know what I've learned about overcoming temptation?

I can keep from being tempted about 70% of the time if I don't put myself in the path of temptation.

Is that good or is that good?

If I don't listen to the wrong thing, watch the wrong thing, go to the wrong place.

David got himself in trouble for looking at the being in the wrong place at the wrong time, looking at the wrong thing.

That's what got him in trouble.

And we see Joseph did not allow that to happen.

Notice the third thing.

Severe temptation may come from those closest to us.

Oh.

For Joseph, it was Potiford's wife.

Adam, it was his wife.

My wife and I disagree about Adam and Eve.

We have for years.

Back, 35 wonderful years.

Adam said the woman made me do it.

He did.

That's what he said.

Now that's not what made him do it.

Adam did it.

But the woman did help tempt him.

And women have been doing that to men for a long time.

Hello.

Some in good ways, some in bad ways.

Amen.

Oh me.

Y'all didn't like that, ladies.

All my ladies are usually smiling at me and just started frowning.

But hey, and hey, what about what about Job?

Job's wife told him to curse God and die.

Wow.

So we see this temptation can come from us from those that are closest to us.

In fact, you know what Jesus said?

Jesus said, your enemies or your foes are those of your own household.

Matthew 10, 36.

So we've got to be careful here.

Joseph was not expecting it to come from Potiphar's wife.

Not at all.

What about number four?

Temptation came to Joseph.

Hey, in beautiful packages.

No doubt she probably was a gorgeous, beautiful woman.

Now listen to me.

And I really, this is so, so true.

And I really believe this.

The tempting lure here was one of the weakness for all men, and that's beautiful women.

And if you say that a beautiful woman doesn't bother you, I got a word for you.

You're lying.

Amen.

So we see Satan knows where we are the weakest.

Or let me put it this way, he'll tempt us till he finds that weakness.

Hello, boy, that's good.

That's good.

Used to speaking of that.

I couldn't help but think about when we were in the mall trying to buy you some jewelry.

I'll never forget that.

And that's far as I'm going.

Okay, I understand.

Susan said, no, you don't need to go there.

Okay.

But Susan used to tell our girls, this is good.

I promise this is safe.

She used to tell our girls to dress modestly.

And the girls kept saying, because she said, you don't want to tilt men.

And they never understood that as they were growing up in their early years.

And you know the example she used, and some of us older gentlemen may not like this example.

She said, Have you ever noticed all those old men at the mall?

Sitting there watching all the women go by.

Oh, Mama, that's not true.

Well, maybe it is.

Maybe it is.

But Satan uses beautiful packages.

And it doesn't have to be the females or the males.

It can be other things.

It can be things or whatever.

But he makes it look so good.

He really does.

So we got to be careful.

Very careful.

He really does.

Because the Bible says in James 1.15, when lust, and it becomes lust, when lust has conceived, it brings forth sin.

And when sin's finished, it brings forth death.

Number five, temptations come repeatedly.

In Genesis 39, 10, notice that Potiphar's wife kept asking him to sleep with her daily.

Daily.

Why do you think those temptations keep coming daily?

Here's why.

Because eventually, if we're not careful, we start thinking, well, I wonder what that might be like.

Maybe it's not so bad.

Maybe, and next thing you know, when you start thinking that way, you're going down.

It's kind of like a bass.

Melvin likes to go bass fishing, fly fishing for bass.

And the other day, Melvin was out there fishing.

And he's having trouble throwing the thing.

The fly.

Thank you.

I'm not a fly fisherman.

I'm not a fisherman at all.

But I've learned by what fishermen tell me.

And so Russell goes over, they're fishing in Russell's pot.

And so Russell goes over and shows Melvin.

He said, Let me show you how to fly fish.

Two, no, ten and two.

I know that much.

Melvin was going 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 15.

Yeah, one, two, boom, boom, boom, boom.

But anyway, it's supposed to be like that.

He throws it down, what, three pound?

Was it three-pound bass?

Bam! But see, when he threw that fly and it hit that water, he starts making it wiggle.

See, I learned something.

When that temptation, by the way, that's exactly what the word in James means.

It means allure.

It's a lure.

Okay?

A fly.

And there, there's that fly coming through the water.

Hey, fishy see, no problem.

Fishy start circling.

Oh.

Fishy won't.

No problem.

Fishy bite.

Poop.

Big problem.

Soop.

Fishy on the wall.

Uh-huh.

And that's exactly.

Y'all understood that one, didn't you?

Amen.

And that's exactly what Satan does to us with the lures.

They come in beautiful packages.

And we see, well, hey, David saw, no problem.

David wanted, no problem.

But when David sent for Bathsheba and she came, big problem.

Big problem.

You've got to flee it.

So, temptations come repeatedly.

Jesus on the Mount of Temptations, three different times, Matthew 4.

So, anything we do, we pray God to protect us.

We have to watch the places we go.

We have to watch the things we see.

We have to be very circumspectedly careful and watchful.

That's what it means.

Number six, temptations come as opportune times.

See, no one was around in Potiphar's wife.

Satan sets you up.

He'll put you in a situation where here's what happens: you think you won't get caught.

Nobody's here.

Just me and her.

Nobody a no.

Nobody a no.

Nobody ever find out.

That is the biggest lie right out of the pits of hell.

Numbers 23, I meant Numbers 32, 23.

You can be sure your sins will find you out.

Don't be fooled.

We are to avoid temptation at all cost.

Listen to what Romans 13, 14 says.

Oh, powerful.

But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provisions for the flesh.

Now let me tell you, these verses this morning, Proverbs, I mean this week, Proverbs 4, 14 and 15.

Put a star by those on your outline.

Memorize them.

Here's what it says.

Look at what it says in Proverbs 4, 14 and 15.

Enter not into the path of wicked, of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men.

That's verse 14.

Verse 15.

Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, pass away, and the prayer of our life should be, Lord, lead me not into temptation, but take me away.

That's it.

That's exactly what he's talking about.

So that is the direction of God we should seek.

Number two, let's look at the deliverance of God and how it is sought.

Man, this is so good.

But deliver us from evil.

Our prayer should not only be, Lord, lead me and strengthen me, but also, Lord, deliver me and protect me from falling into sin.

Lord, deliver us from evil.

Now the word deliver there is ruomai.

Powerful word.

Ruomai, which means to spare, to save, or to preserve.

In other words, Lord, save me from this temptation.

Can I get an amen?

Because sometimes you're going to be in a tempting situation that you didn't control.

Most of the time you can walk away from it.

Most of the time you can keep from putting yourself in it.

If you're a reformed alcoholic, you don't go to a restaurant and sit at the bar to eat.

Amen.

You just don't do that, folks.

You know where you're weak and you just don't go there.

Don't give Satan that opportunity.

Okay?

But sometimes you're thrown in it and there's nothing you can do.

And that's when you say, Oh, Lord, preserve me, keep me, Lord, get me out of here.

Remember this there's always an exit.

Not one there.

Is there supposed to be an exit sign there?

I think there is.

Exit signs everywhere when you get tempted.

The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation and to reserve.

The unjust until the day of judgment.

2 Peter 2 9.

Amen?

Man, that's good.

So now watch.

Watch.

This is so good.

Now, you are either delivered from evil things or you're delivered from an evil person.

Okay?

In this context, it's the evil in the King James that says deliver us from evil.

But the word there is followed by a paw.

APO.

A-P-O.

It's pronounced or APO.

A Paw or APO, whichever way you want to pronounce it.

And what that means, if that follows the word deliverance in the Greek, that means you are delivered from a person.

Now there's another little Greek word, ek e-k.

That comes after the word deliver.

Okay?

And it means delivered from evil things.

The word here is a po, which means the evil one, a person, which means Satan.

So when we are praying, we're saying, Lord, deliver us from the evil one.

Lord, deliver us from Satan.

That's exactly what we're saying here.

What are we referring to?

It is a reference especially to Satan himself.

So proper prayer for spiritual protection understands that the devil is a real person and not a red-figured-looking pointed tail, pointed ear, pitchfork, hey, person.

Satan is real and Satan is alive.

And he is roaming.

Here's the scripture.

Be sober, be vigilant.

Now watch.

Satan means adversary.

Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, that's what he calls it, as a roaring lion, walks about seeking whom he may devour.

1 Peter 5.8.

And verse 9 says, and we resist him by being steadfast in the faith in the Word of God, knowing the Word of God, which is part of the armor.

In fact, it's our only offensive weapon in the armor of God, the sword of the Spirit.

So we see how important that is.

See, as a Christian, and by the way, let me say this: Satan is your adversary, and the word adversary means a person that brings accusation against you.

And he does that daily in heaven.

Trying to accuse us.

Now, watch this.

This is good.

See, as Christians, in fact, well, let me say this: the devil is your enemy whether you're saved or not.

If you're not saved, he's still your enemy.

He wants to take you to hell, folks.

See, you're either the Father.

Hey, your father's either the Lord Jesus Christ, or God the Father, and the Son Jesus Christ, or your Father is the devil.

I had somebody say, I just don't believe that.

I said, all right, let me show it to you.

Let me show it to you.

Watch this.

John 8, 44.

Here it is.

Jesus said it.

Look at what he says.

Ye are your father.

Ye are of your father.

What does that say?

Put it up there.

The devil.

That's what it says.

And the lust of your father ye will do.

He was a murderer from the beginning and about not in the truth, because there is no truth in him.

He's the father of lies and deceitfulness.

So if you're lost, your father's the devil.

People don't like that.

I know that's not political correct preaching, but I'm sorry, I'm not political correct.

I'm biblically correct.

If somebody says, I don't know if that's what it says, that's what it says.

The Bible means what it says and it says what it means.

Amen?

Seventh, sixth, seventh grade education.

Read the Bible and understand the Bible if you're saved.

Now, if you don't understand the Bible because the Holy Spirit's not your teacher, you got to get the Holy Spirit in for it to be a teacher.

And that's another message.

So, watch.

It's powerful.

It is a reference, especially to Satan.

And Satan's out to what?

Destroy us.

That's why he says in Ephesians 6.16, taking the shield of faith where we are able to what?

And I love this word, quench.

In other words, stop in their tracks the fiery darts of the wicked one.

Powerful, powerful.

So, again, what steps can we implement in our own life to fulfill this desire to overcome this temptation?

Principles and insights for overcoming temptation.

Let's do it.

Ready?

Number one.

His character, his realness.

His realness and character helped him overcome temptation.

Joseph made the right decision because he was right with God in his heart.

Let me say something right now.

If you're not walking with God, you are wide open for Satan to take you down.

Your only hope is walking with God.

Having the word of God in you, praying, being in fellowship with God's people, being in church, being in Sunday school, Bible study, being in, and you, well, I'm oh, these are awesome.

Just watch.

He says this, and I really believe it.

He had the right behavior.

You know why he had the right behavior?

Because he had the right beliefs.

Right beliefs lead to right behavior.

Amen.

Joseph kept his heart close to the Lord and guarded it against all evil.

Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it flows the issues of life.

Proverbs 423, guard your heart.

Steve Green came out with one of my favorite songs many years ago.

We need to, somebody needs to sing that for us, Benji.

You probably could do that.

But it's called Guard Your Hearts.

For out of it flows the, hey, heart, for out of your heart flows all the issues of life.

Now, what let me interpret those issues.

In other words, your behavior, your conduct, your character.

That's what it those issues are.

Guard your heart.

Oh, guard your heart.

It's so powerful.

In fact, the word there in Proverbs 423, the word diligence, is the Hebrew word, listen to this.

Mishmar.

Mishmar.

And here's what it means.

Hey, it means to guard with extreme effort whatever it takes.

I have had to walk out of places before.

I've walked out of movies before.

I'm not going to sit there.

Now you got the thing you can check movies and the language and all that.

I don't even go.

But before you had all those technology, I've been in the movie and they start cussing or stuff, and I just walk out.

And guess what?

They gave me my money back too.

I said, I'm not going to listen to that filth.

Not going to do it.

I'm not going to pay to listen to people give me filth into my computer, my mind.

Garbage in, garbage out.

Hey, righteousness in, righteousness out.

Amen?

And then number two.

By the way, one of the best ways to deal with temptation is to rule it out before it ever comes.

Daniel purposed in his heart.

Daniel 1.8.

That he would not defile himself.

Hey, hey, not only Daniel, the three Hebrew children decided before they were thrown in the furnace, hey, that they weren't going to defy God.

Remember what they told King Nebuchadnezzar?

He said, We don't care.

Throw us in the fire.

Hey, we've already made up our mind.

We're not going to bow.

We're not going to bend.

We're not going to budge.

And bless God, they didn't burn.

Amen.

Amen.

They made up their mind.

Paul says, none of these things move me.

In Acts 20, he said, but I have finished my course, my ministry, with joy.

I meant somebody last night said, You're having fun.

Matt, Matt, and Ben.

I said, Preacher, you're in the element.

I said, Yes, I am.

Sharing the gospel, the good news.

See, my job has never been a job.

My job has been a calling in my life for 35 wonderful years.

I don't get up and say, oh, I gotta go to work.

I get up, woo! I'm gonna preach Jesus today.

Everywhere I go.

Jesus is awesome.

You ought to see him there grabbing Jesus awesome bracelets last night.

Can we have one of those Jesus awesome?

I said, is Jesus awesome in your life?

You can.

Put it right on.

I said, don't you put that on if it's not real?

And I said, don't take it if you don't wear it.

So you got a choice.

You got to get real.

Hello.

Amen.

Don't wear this if you're not living it, folks.

It'll burn your wrist.

Get them, God.

Get them.

Some of y'all get that in a minute.

But hey, he recognized sin, Joseph did, for what it was.

He assessed the situation and described it immediately.

Immediately.

Now, what are some of the common deceptions?

I'm just going to give them, throw them out at you because I got to finish this.

This is so good.

That people offer today, you know what?

Number one, hey, you have your whole life ahead of you.

Serve God later on.

I got news for you, you may not have your whole life ahead of you.

You know what the Bible says?

It says this very plainly.

Whereas you know not what shall be on tomorrow, what is your life?

Now watch.

Even a vapor peers for a little time, then vanishes away.

And we usually stop there, but don't stop there.

Add verse 15.

And you know what it says?

It says, for that you ought to say, if the Lord's will, we shall live and do this or that.

Amen?

If it's the Lord's will, not your will.

An ancient story, true story from the American Revolution War, was reported that Colonel Rahal, who was the commander-in-chief at New Jersey, at Trenton, New Jersey, he was playing cards with some of his captains, and a guy, a courier, came running in with a note that George Washington is crossing the Delaware River and gonna attack Trenton, New Jersey.

So when he got, the curator gave him the note, the message, they were in a card game.

He took it, put it in his pocket, and about an hour later, after the card game, he pulled it out and said, Oh my goodness.

But by then it was too late.

It was too late.

George Washington and his army had crossed the Delaware and was attacking Trenton, New Jersey.

You know what happened to that journal?

That excuse me, that general?

It cost him his life, it cost him his honor, and it cost him his what?

Army.

Procrastination.

And I thought to myself, my, my, my, how many lives have been wrecked or not accomplished what God wanted them to do because of procrastination?

Wow.

Wow.

What an hour can make a difference.

Wow.

Powerful.

Powerful, powerful.

Number two, sinful living is fun and fulfilling.

I know this is not on your outline.

God gave me this about Thursday, so that's okay.

The prodigal son bought into this lie.

You remember what he told his dad?

I want my money and inheritance now.

I'm gonna go make my own way.

And he did.

Right to the bottom of the pig pen.

And he came to himself and he says, Even my servants in my father's house have it better than me.

Luke 15.

Bottom of the pig pen.

E.

V.

Hill's got a message.

The pig pen.

You're headed there.

You are headed there if you're yielding to temptation.

And you're yielding to Satan.

He will take you directly and you will not pass go to the pig pen.

Rock bottom.

Rock bottom.

And then.

And boy, that's so true.

It really is.

Number C, freedom is doing your own thing and living any way you wish.

Boy, isn't that true?

The only problem with that?

God's understanding giveth favor, but the way of transgressors are hard.

Proverbs 13, 15.

The way of you doing your own thing is hard.

It's leading to destruction.

Wow.

And that's good.

That's a wake-up call, folks.

That's what.

And then the fourth thing God taught me, and some of these things I've lived my own self before God got a hold of my heart.

You won't get caught.

David fell into that trap, and he fell into that way of thinking, and we've already dealt with that.

Blessed is the man that walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor sits in the way of the sinful, nor sits in the way of the scornful.

Blessed is the man that walked not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

Number three, back to the way we overcome temptation.

His appreciation for his master helped him overcome temptation.

His appreciation for his master.

Remember what he said?

My master has found favor in me.

My master has given me authority over everything he has.

There's no way I can hurt my master by going to bed with his wife.

He says, I can't do that.

My master has shown favor to me.

I have responsibility to my master.

And I thought to myself, is that not us?

You and I have responsibility to our master, Jesus Christ.

Every time we go our way instead of God's way.

Folks, listen to me.

We hurt him.

We are not pleasing to him.

He loves us.

He gave his life for us.

He wants us to live for him.

We want to find favor.

Keeping us from yielding to temptation is because we want to please him and not us.

Can I get an amen?

That is so true.

That is so.

Daniel again and Moses.

Moses said, I'm not going to take all the allurements of the world, hey, from Egypt.

No, I'm not going to take it.

I'd rather be and have nothing and be with the people of God, hey, and live righteously instead of worldly.

In fact, you know what he said?

Sin is only pleasurable for a short season.

Hebrews 11, 25.

Powerful.

At the Milton Cathedral Chapel, listen, there's three doors.

One on the right, one on the left, one in the middle.

Listen to this.

On the right hand door is the motto.

All that pleases is but for a moment.

On the left hand door are these words.

All that troubles is but for a moment.

And then in the center, wow.

In the center, nothing is important except that which is eternal.

Nothing is important except that which is eternal.

I thought to myself, my mind.

Number four, his awareness of God's presence and adoration for the Lord helped him overcome temptation.

Verse 3, he said, I'm pleasing unto the Lord.

Love was his motivational factor to keep him from yielding to temptation.

2 Corinthians 5.14, the love of Christ compels me, motivates me to live for him.

Is that not good?

And then listen, what else?

And boy, this is so good.

When we see, number four, was that his awareness of God's presence and adoration for the Lord.

And then there's a verse though I wanted to give you there.

And it's so good.

When our love and passion for Christ begins to cool off, now watch this.

When our love and compassion for Christ begins to cool off, now watch.

Our devotion to the Lord, his quiet time, his prayer time in the church, when that starts to cool off, we are opening the door for temptation.

And not only that, we're opening the door to fall.

Revelation chapter 2, when they lost their first love.

Revelation 2 · chapter mention

That is going to be a powerful.

I've already gotten into chapter 2.

I'm getting excited about this study in Revelation.

But you know what he said?

He said, I have somewhat against thee because you've lost your what?

First love.

How many Christians do we know that have lost their first love?

They were on fire for God.

They were hot for God.

They were working for God, and now they're doing nothing for God.

Been there?

I've been there.

Especially in my early first five to eight years of my Christian walk.

Man, I'd be on fire, then I'd let things, sports, other things kind of take me here.

Good things, not bad things.

Well, some were bad, but mostly good.

And next thing you know, those things are ruling my heart instead of God and his word.

God'd take me down, I'd repent and get back, and it happened again.

But you know what I learned?

When you really give your heart and life to Christ as a Christian, and then you allow the Holy Spirit and you start saying, hey, hey, look, I'm tired of the, I'm tired of this roller coaster life.

Can I just live radically for you?

Man, that's almost as good as getting saved.

Things just begin to happen.

You get completely controlled by the Spirit.

Unbelievable.

Unbelievable.

Peter and Aaron valued the opinions of other people.

Remember what happened to Peter?

He cursed God three times.

Remember what happened to Aaron?

He built a false calf, false God.

Woo! False worship.

Because they subsided to the peer pressure.

Can I tell you, young people, listen to me?

Let me tell you what's y'all are on fire for God right now.

You cave back, but I'm going to tell you, hey, hey, Satan's going to do everything he can to keep you from wearing Jesus' awesome bands, or people are going to start making fun of you or saying, oh, you really believe that?

They'll do everything they can to cool you down.

But I got news for you.

You stand up, and if you stand up like Joseph, you know what?

Out of all the Bible characters, who do we talk the most about of the Old Testament?

Joseph.

Because his life, his stand against sin has been talked about ever since the Old Testament episode happened.

Now that's a testimony.

That's a testimony.

Wouldn't it be great as a teenager?

You live till you're 90 years old or 100, and on your epitaph, they said, one thing we know about them, hey, they live the truth.

Wow, what a testimony.

Wow.

Number five, he answered correctly.

He answered correctly.

You know what his answer was?

Yes to God and no to sin.

He answered correctly.

Hey, hey, he even ran away.

He ran away.

It's pretty bad when a woman's after you're so bad she grabs you and rips your clothes off.

That's how bad that Jezebel was coming.

Yeah.

She kept saying, You're gonna lie with me.

He said, No, I'm not.

Yeah, you are.

No, no.

So she grabbed him.

Can you imagine what he did?

I can see some of you.

Well, she grabbed me.

I didn't know.

What to do.

Yeah, hello.

He knew what to do.

He took off.

He ran out of his clothes.

Don't look at some.

Nothing but his Nike shoes on.

But he was getting it.

He was getting it, man.

He wasn't gonna let that Jezebel get him.

Number six, he avoided and abandoned the temptation.

He took off.

He took off.

He left it.

Number seven, he absorbed himself in the work of God.

He absorbed himself in his work, which helped him overcome temptation.

Verse five, he was so involved with the master's business that he wasn't about to allow temptation to keep him from completing what God had told him to do.

Woo! That's good.

That's good.

That's really good.

And then, number eight, the ability of God and the avenue of escape helped him to overcome temptation.

Joseph was able to flee from the home.

And I love the verses.

The Lord is my strength and my shield.

My heart trust in him, and I am helped.

Therefore, my heart greatly rejoiced, and with my song will I praise him.

Psalm 28, 7.

Pray for your situation immediately, immediately.

And then run.

Get out of there.

And then the last thing, and I'm through.

Accountability.

Accountability to another person will help you overcome temptation.

I was talking to some people this week about church.

If you're looking for a church that'll love you, teach you the truth, and shepherd you and hold you accountable, you found it.

If you don't want accountability, you probably don't want to be here.

Let me tell you what I mean by that.

If you miss three Sundays, we're going to call you.

Usually, if you miss one or two, we call you.

But we're going to come check on you and love you and want to know what's going on new with your life.

Can we help you?

What's going on?

Why?

We need that accountability.

I need that accountability.

I look forward to every week being here with you.

You holding me accountable to teach you.

You holding me accountable to love you.

Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as a man or some are, but now watch.

But exhorting one another so much more as you see the day approach in Hebrews 10, 25.

That means you can't wait to be, hey, with your family, because they're going to love on you.

They're going to encourage you.

They're going to build you up.

And when you have problems, they're going to pray with you.

They're going to help you through your problems.

Can I get an amen?

That's why they're here.

And you say, but you don't know, I got some bad problems.

Can I tell you something?

We all got bad problems.

But we need each other to help us through those problems.

If I didn't have my church family this last three months, I don't know what I would have done.

And I mean that.

Thank you for loving me during these last three months, especially the last two.

Thank you, thank you.

It's been tough.

Very tough for me.

One of the toughest things I've ever walked through in the ministry.

To lose my best friend.

More than a best friend.

Thank you.

But if I didn't have you, if I didn't know I had to come back and be with you and encourage you and help you.

I just go get them.

I'll camper and just leave.

Go around the world, do something.

But see, I knew I couldn't do that.

I knew I had to come back here.

And everything I've preached for 35 years was either true or false.

And if it was true, I had to come back, and I had to go through the worst week in a ministry I've had in 35 years to grieve and then preach my best friend's funeral and then preach the great service God gave us here on that Sunday.

Only God's grace did that.

But I knew, because I was accountable to you, because you had called me to be your pastor.

And in all these these key core pillars right there on that wall, if all this is true, you needed to see your pastor walking through one of the toughest storms he's ever walked through in his whole life in ministry and be victorious.

And if my God is real as I know he is, and I know he always has been, and he's walked me through so many storms, and you've known most of them.

I knew he would do it.

And he did.

We know! Church, what?

We know.

We know.

So thank you for letting me be accountable to you.

And thank you, Lord.

Because your grace is sufficient, and your strength is made perfect in my weakness.

That's why I can glory even in my tragedies, because when I'm weak, you are strong.

So thank you.

That's what accountability is all about, folks.

That's what Christian accountability is all about.

Accountable to him and then accountable to each other.

I don't know about you, but I thank God I have that.

Because if I didn't, it'd be easy to quit.

It'd be easy to just walk away.

I had that when my wife died in my arms at the very beginning of my ministry.

I told Susan this, and I haven't shared this with y'all.

It's amazing when I first started in ministry, Satan tried to take me out.

My wife died in my arms with asthma.

I'd only been in the open door for two weeks, right out of seminary.

Asthma attack, 28 years old.

I did everything I could to save her life, being a paramedic.

But it was God's will for her to go to be with him.

And then, now in my fourth quarter of my ministry, Satan's tried to take me out again.

But greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world.

Why?

We know.

We know.

We know.

So thank you.

Thank you for holding me accountable.

And so many new people here and are joining.

I can't think of, I can't help but Jason and Taylor and other people that just God has sent us so many good people.

And all our good people that's been here.

Y'all, I'm telling you, we're family.

So as I close this series, and as we take a few weeks off, I want you to know how much I love you.

And I thank God for you and the way I show you my love.

After at least 20 hours of preparation, I mean that.

Taking the words apart, getting the truth and the application so that we can be more like Jesus.

Together.

And holding each other accountable.

So thank you.

And I mean that.

And I thank God.

Honey, that we are clean.

You're here this morning.

You're out of the will of God.

It doesn't matter.

You can come back today.

Oh, it matters that you're out of the will of God.

Now that matters, but he's calling you back to the fold today.

Some of you, you've been lukewarm.

God's saying it's time to get back.

It's time to get back to the coals.

You know, you take one coal out of a fire, it's red hot, put it over there by himself, what happens?

But if you grab that coal and you put it back on the fire, what happens?

Lights back up.

Maybe God's telling you this morning you need to get your coal and put it back on the fire.

Amen.

Amen.

And let that flame flow.

Thanks again for tuning into this week's message.

We pray that your life has been changed.

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Send us an email at office at the church at CW.com.

We hope you have a wonderful day, and again, God bless you.