Sermon

The Tackle of Temptation

Gateway Church's Podcast

Open publisher episode ↗

Publisher transcript

Transcript

View source ↗
  1. Welcome to Gateway Churches Podcast.

  2. Wherever you're tuning in from, we hope you're encouraged by today's message.

  3. I feel like I can uh already see that some eyes are looking past me at just kind of the background.

  4. There's a boat, there's a mannequin.

  5. So let me just go ahead and say there is a fishing theme to this message.

  6. And the title of the message is The Tackle of Temptation.

  7. And when I say the tackle of temptation, I'm talking about like the tackle, like the tackle box of temptation.

  8. The tackle that temptation uses.

  9. But first, let me introduce my family, my most amazing family.

  10. It looks like my four-year-old daughter is asleep and my wife is holding her.

  11. This is Bridget.

  12. And then my son, the peace of God just put her right to sleep.

  13. Then my son Parker, who will be nine next week, and actually my wife has a birthday next week.

  14. Mitchell, who is six.

  15. So that's my family, and we are excited to be here.

  16. So I recognize that not everyone just has this love for fishing.

  17. But either way, I believe that it's going to be fun, and there's a lot of scripture and a lot to that the Lord will fill us up with.

  18. So with this, I see that there's this boat here and this mannequin.

  19. I want to go ahead and explain that.

  20. So this mannequin is here to represent Fisherman James.

  21. And I'd like the opportunity to talk to you a little bit as Fisherman James and then Pastor James.

  22. And I'm going to share the methods of temptation and through that share how the uh the principle of fishing as well as the principle spiritually that happens.

  23. And so this guy, of course, he's wearing all gateway attire.

  24. And that's what I do when I go fishing, of course.

  25. In fact, I have a picture here.

  26. And so if you look at this picture, this was about two weeks ago.

  27. It's my wife and I.

  28. But if you notice, we actually are wearing a gateway shirt.

  29. I'm wearing a gateway shirt, Bridget's wearing a women's gateway shirt.

  30. So I guess it just it brings a blessing.

  31. I don't know.

  32. Uh there's another picture here.

  33. Okay, uh, that's no gateway attire.

  34. I just wanted to show my big fish that I caught, so that's it.

  35. But what I love to do is bass fishing.

  36. And so uh I was actually going to put a vest on this guy, and then every time I talk to you as fisherman James, put on the vest.

  37. But honestly, bass fishermen don't w really wear the fishing vest.

  38. If I'm gonna give you a little education, the way bass fishermen dress, I'm telling you about the dress code, is typically just casual.

  39. Unless you're like a professional bass fisherman, and then it looks like a NASCAR car ran into a shirt and it's just peppered with advertisements all over it.

  40. So that's what a professional bass fisherman looks like.

  41. If you're a trout fisherman, you would typically wear waders with a fishing vest.

  42. And then if you're a dude going catfishing, you basically don't wear a shirt.

  43. So I'm not picking on him.

  44. I love catfishing, but it makes sense why I'm not talking to you as cat fisherman, James, today, because that would get a little awkward.

  45. So this boat here is meant a lot to me.

  46. So when I was about 10 years old, somebody knew that I just had a passion for fishing and gave me this boat.

  47. And it meant so much for me.

  48. It was like the first thing that was like, this is mine.

  49. And now it's been so many years, and I've caught probably thousands of fish out of this boat and spent tons of hours in this boat.

  50. So as we talk about the tackle of temptation, something I want to share with you is you see my tackle box here.

  51. And when I go fishing, I have lots of baits.

  52. There's all kinds of baits in there.

  53. That's actually my tackle box.

  54. But when I go fishing, there's a lot of different baits I use, but there's four primary methods that I use when fishing.

  55. And I'm going to show how those four methods are the same methods that the enemy uses with us.

  56. And so the enemy has lots of baits.

  57. Greed, selfishness, fame, popularity, all of these different things that the enemy uses, but yet there's four primary methods that the enemy uses against us.

  58. So we will be looking at that.

  59. I want to say I'm not the first one to parallel fishing and the attack of the enemy.

  60. In Habakkuk 1, verse 14, it says, it talks about how men and women are like fish of the sea.

    Habakkuk 1:14

  61. They take up all of them with a hook, they catch them in their net and gather them in their dragnet.

  62. And it goes on to talk about how they are treated like fish, being pulled out, and the enemy will often try to reach out and grab us with the hook and catch us in such a way.

  63. And I'm not wanting to share about the enemy to highlight anything about the enemy.

  64. I want us to be able to look at the enemy and be able to know it's simply a scheme so that we can avoid the enemy.

  65. In 2 Corinthians 2.11, it says, lest Satan should take advantage of us, for we are not ignorant of his devices.

  66. And that's exactly right.

  67. We do not want to be ignorant of his devices, so that he doesn't take advantage of us.

  68. So Ephesians 6, 10 11 says, Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, in the power of his might, put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

  69. And the word wiles there, the Greek word is methodia.

  70. It's where we get the English word method.

  71. And so you can see how the enemy has different methods that he uses to come against us.

  72. And in that word method here means the cunning arts, the deceit, the craft, the trickery.

  73. So in explaining the methods that the enemy uses against us, I want us to look at how Jesus was actually tempted by Satan.

  74. So Jesus was caught up, and it's in both Matthew 4 and in Luke 4.

  75. So in Luke, Matthew 4, verse 1, it says, Then Jesus, led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

    Matthew 4:1

  76. And so we're going to be staying in Matthew and looking at the book of Matthew and talking through that.

  77. But first I want to come to you and talk as Fishman James.

  78. And once again, I said there's four primary methods that the enemy uses.

  79. It's an acronym, it's going to spell Fish.

  80. So there's a hint.

  81. It's easy to remember.

  82. So the first one will be start with an F.

  83. So in doing so, let's just all first go underwater for a second.

  84. And three, two, one.

  85. Isn't that cool?

  86. Technology, there's a fish in there.

  87. That's amazing.

  88. Oh, that got me so excited.

  89. And so uh with that, I just want to say though, we are all underwater.

  90. It's not that you're underwater and some of us are not underwater.

  91. We're all underwater, meaning that we all get tempted.

  92. So about two weeks ago, we were driving in the car, and my son Mitchell said, You guys must have a lot of burgers in your nose.

  93. Thanks, buddy.

  94. I mean, you would think that's a pretty strange comment unless you've hung out with him, and then you're like, okay, tell me more, buddy.

  95. So he says, Well, I pick my nose all the time, so I don't have burgers in my nose.

  96. But I never see y'all pick your nose, so you must have a lot of burgers in your nose.

  97. Guess what?

  98. We're all humans, everybody gets burgers in their nose.

  99. We're all humans, everybody gets tempted.

  100. Everybody gets tempted.

  101. You're never too mature of a believer to not be tempted.

  102. You're never too much of a Christian to not be tempted.

  103. It's how you deal with the temptation.

  104. Jesus himself was tempted.

  105. And okay, so now we're gonna look at this first method that I use for fishing.

  106. So I have these four methods, and no matter what bait I'm using, I'm using one of these four methods while I fish.

  107. And so, in doing so, I have a bait to actually show you.

  108. Oh, yeah, look at that fine-looking bait.

  109. Fishermen will just love it.

  110. I mean, that is a swim bait.

  111. Now, the first method I use is I use a bait that looks as real as possible.

  112. It's not real, but it looks as real as possible.

  113. So, what I do is I find out what the fish want, and I try to mimic it as close as I possibly can.

  114. When we first moved to Keller, we moved into a subdivision that had a community pool in it, and so I used to get up early in the morning and go fishing in the community pool.

  115. Now, much to your surprise, I never caught anything.

  116. But I would do it often, and I'm sure there was like the neighbors looking through the window, be like, hey, honey, that weirdo is fishing in the pool again.

  117. Don't let the kids out.

  118. That was probably me.

  119. And so I would go out and I would just sit there and I would just cast into the water over and over and over.

  120. And I would reel it really fast and I'd reel it really slow.

  121. I'd watch how it falls.

  122. I would hold my rod tip up, I'd hold it down.

  123. I'd move it in different ways, watching the bait, so that I could learn how to make this look as real as it possibly can.

  124. Alright, so now that's the first principle, the first method I use when fishing.

  125. But now let's look at how the enemy uses that same method to tempt us.

  126. Once again, I told you that we are looking in uh Matthew, how Jesus himself was tempted, and we're going to pick up in verse 5.

  127. It says, Then the devil took him up into the holy city, 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 shall give his angels charge over you, and in their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.

  128. So here Satan is saying, Listen, it is written.

  129. Where is it written?

  130. It's in Psalms 91.

  131. This is scripture.

  132. And so what he's doing is he is actually taking scripture and tweaking it, manipulating it in such a way to make it look like truth, but it's not truth.

  133. He's perverting it in such a way, and I mean, just think about it.

  134. This is Satan and he's talking to the word of God, Jesus.

  135. In John 1, it says that Jesus is the word clothed in flesh.

  136. So he's talking to the word of God and trying to manipulate him with scripture.

  137. How crafty is that?

  138. If the enemy will use scripture and try to manipulate the word of God, how much more will he try to take a truth and try to tweak it and manipulate it so that we will bite, so that we will jump out and make an action that we don't tend to make.

  139. How much more will he do that with us?

  140. Satan is a counterfeit who promises to offer what only God can offer.

  141. He promises freedom, he promises love, joy, excitement, all these different things that only Jesus, only God can give us these things.

  142. But yet they're just looking as real as possible.

  143. It's fake.

  144. It's to mimic it.

  145. It's one of the enemy's devices, presenting something that is fake as real.

  146. 2 Corinthians 11 14 says, But I am not surprised.

  147. Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.

  148. This is Satan.

  149. He's disguising himself, tweaking something to look like something, but it's not real.

  150. So a counterfeit is an imitation passed off as something that's real.

  151. And have you guys ever paid with a$100 bill?

  152. I know that was a pretty cashless society nowadays, but if you pay with a$100 bill, it seems like you get the same response.

  153. It seems like they assume you just printed it in your basement or something to go buy groceries.

  154. And so they take it and then they check it to see if it's real or not.

  155. So they take the$100 bill and they look at it.

  156. And now, what one thing that they'll do at times is they'll hold it up to the light and they'll look at it.

  157. Listen, whenever the enemy offers us something, we can hold it up to the light.

  158. And scripture says that the word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.

  159. Jesus says that he is the light of the world.

  160. So as you're tempted, you hold it up to the light and say, Is this of you, God?

  161. Nope, it doesn't look right.

  162. That's not it.

  163. That's the enemy that's coming after me.

  164. So we can hold up to the light and see if it is truth or not.

  165. Fisherman James is coming back out.

  166. Y'all ready?

  167. We gotta go underwater though.

  168. Three, two, one.

  169. Okay, now we're almost underwater, but we're not.

  170. I think I was supposed to be coming up out of the water, and now I'd be going back underwater.

  171. My bad, everyone.

  172. But now we're going underwater.

  173. Pastor James is supposed to be above water.

  174. We're having fun, right?

  175. I told you, we're gonna have fun today.

  176. So now we're back underwater where we were supposed to be, and my bad, and I want to show you a bait here.

  177. Now there's another good-looking bait.

  178. That is a spinnerbait.

  179. And so you can see it even has some bling bling on it.

  180. It's great.

  181. So the second method that the enemy uses is instinct.

  182. Oh, that I use when fishing is instinct.

  183. It's I try to go and learn what the fish want and go again for their instinct so that there would be what's called an instinct bite.

  184. And so the way I would do this, if there was a fish here, I would take my rod and I would throw it past the fish and then just reel it as fast as I can in order to go zip right by it.

  185. And what I'm doing is I'm not allowing the fish time to think about it, I'm not allowing it to make a good, thought-out decision.

  186. It's just a very quick bite.

  187. It's going, just seeing something that just goes and goes after it.

  188. And it's called an instinct bite.

  189. And so that's what I'm doing whenever I'm fishing in such a way to go after it.

  190. So you saw on it, it had all these like sparkles on it and stuff like that.

  191. You know what?

  192. Quick pop quiz.

  193. What does a bass fisherman, a bass, and my four-year-old daughter, all have in common?

  194. They all love glittering sparkles.

  195. Have you guys seen a bass boat?

  196. It looks like it was just dipped in fairyland.

  197. It's got sparkles all over it.

  198. We just love sparkles.

  199. We do.

  200. Well, the bass are the same weight.

  201. All these baits have like all these sparkles, and what it's do doing is it's just made to catch its eye so that it would be flickering through the light.

  202. If you watch a minnow swimming in the water, oftentimes you'll see it lift up and its belly will flash in the light.

  203. So that's what it's mimicking, so that it will just flash, and so there will be a quick instinct bite.

  204. Okay.

  205. So now we're coming up out of the water, and we're going to talk as Pastor James and look at how the enemy uses our instinct against us.

  206. Matthew 4, verses 3 says, Now when the tempter came to him, he said, If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.

    Matthew 4:3

  207. The enemy is preying on his humanness.

  208. It is preying on his humanity.

  209. Now in Scripture it says that he had been fasting for 40 days and 40 nights.

  210. He's hungry.

  211. And he's saying, listen, just you're Jesus, just make some food.

  212. Just whip up some food, and everything will be okay.

  213. You're starving.

  214. Just eat.

  215. And he's trying to go after his human flesh to get him to bite on it.

  216. That's what the enemy's doing here.

  217. He's trying to attack him in such a way.

  218. You know how you see people and they say they just made a quick impulse decision.

  219. It's the same thing.

  220. It was out of their flesh that they just made that decision in such a way.

  221. And so, you know, we've seen this in scripture with Jacob and Esau.

  222. So Esau was the firstborn son, Jacob was the secondborn son, and Esau sold his firstborn birthright to Jacob over a bowl of soup.

  223. I think I've been that hungry before.

  224. I mean, he but he it's because he his flesh, he was just so desiring to eat.

  225. And so he made a quick decision.

  226. And so it was probably three years ago, I did a 21-day fast.

  227. Now, every year at Gateway, we do, we start off the beginning of the year with a 21-day fast.

  228. And I've watched my dad do this multiple times where he does like a 40-day fast of only water.

  229. And I've just respected it.

  230. He's done a 21-day fast of only water, and I'm just like, that's the most amazing thing.

  231. So I decided I was going to do a 21-day fast of vegetables only.

  232. But I was gonna do the first three days with just water.

  233. So I was now on the third day, and it was night, and I was laying in bed, staring into the distance, thinking I was about to die, or whatever.

  234. So I'm laying there, and so all of a sudden my wife comes in and was like, Are you okay?

  235. I was like, uh-uh.

  236. She's like, Do you want me to get you some water?

  237. Uh-huh.

  238. And so she goes, gets me some water, and I drink it, I start feeling a little bit better.

  239. But I this is as truthful as can be.

  240. This was the thought going through my head.

  241. I think there's a 60% chance I'm going to close my eyes tonight and never open them again.

  242. I am a dead man for sure.

  243. All my organs are shutting down.

  244. I'm a goner.

  245. This is only three days in of no food, and I'm thinking I'm convinced I'm dead.

  246. So the next morning I wake up and like, oh, another day.

  247. I mean, I'm literally shocked because I didn't expect it.

  248. And so then I start telling my wife, Bridget, about this and how I had, I was convinced I was going to die that night.

  249. And she then responds with, Wait, you think it's your last day on earth?

  250. And you didn't even tell me how much you love me.

  251. It's a free tip, guys.

  252. If you think you're dying, tell your loved ones.

  253. Just start calling everyone.

  254. I'm, hey, I just want to tell you I love you.

  255. And just start telling everybody that you love them so much.

  256. And so you can just reach out to them and tell them that you love them.

  257. 1 Corinthians 9 27 says, But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.

  258. We can discipline our body, we can train up our flesh in such a way.

  259. And one way that I have been able to do this is I pray over my decisions.

  260. And it helps me from making a quick impulse decision or just responding out of the flesh.

  261. Because then whenever you stop, you take time and you pray about it, then it helps line your flesh up with the Spirit.

  262. And so I would encourage you to just pray and ask God, Lord, what is it that you want me to do in this so that the enemy doesn't tempt us to make a quick impulse decision?

  263. Okay.

  264. So now we can go back underwater.

  265. Fisherman James is coming.

  266. So we did fake.

  267. Remember, we're spelling the word fish.

  268. We did fake and then instinct.

  269. Now we needed the S-word, so it's stress.

  270. And this is a method I use when fishing.

  271. Is oftentimes fish will have a certain log or a rock that they really enjoy.

  272. And so there's like this largemouth bass, he's sitting up underneath a log and or a bed that they're on or something.

  273. And so what you can do is you can put enough pressure on them, eventually they bite.

  274. So you know, you just have it and you know right where they are, you just cast it right out there and you just watch it and you let it sit and you just keep twitching it and twitching.

  275. You know, guys, if the great another great thing about fishing is whenever you're out fishing, if you get a phone call and you're fishing, you don't actually have to answer it.

  276. You call them back when you're done and say, I'm sorry.

  277. When you called, I was on the other line.

  278. Right?

  279. I've tried it, it works.

  280. So, this is what you do.

  281. You it the fish has its spot that it really enjoys, and then you just sit there, just like this, and you just keep dangling it in front of it over and over.

  282. And you're like, Do you want it now?

  283. Do you want it now?

  284. What about now?

  285. Do you like it?

  286. Do you want it now?

  287. And it's kind of like the little kid that is like at the store, and you're like, You hear mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, you like, it's about to go down.

  288. It's it's gonna happen.

  289. So, what do you do is you just keep it right there, and the fish might have said no one hundred times, but eventually it gives in.

  290. It may even be biting out of anger, and it will eventually give in.

  291. And so that is the way that you would put enough stress, stress on it to get it to respond and to bite, is you just you wear it out.

  292. You know, I'm I can be annoying in real life and in.

  293. Fishing.

  294. So I annoy the fish and everyone else.

  295. It just works out for me.

  296. That's my method.

  297. Okay, so now we're going to come up out of the water, and I'm going to talk to you as Pastor James.

  298. So in this, we're going to look at how there's stress and how the enemy attacks when there's stress.

  299. It's in verse 2, it says, And when he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, afterward he was hungry.

  300. And we just talked about fasting.

  301. But this is when he was weak, when his body was stressed.

  302. And Pastor Robert talked about the stress not long ago and how it's an outside force put on us.

  303. Well, there's this outside force put on his body where he is physically hungry.

  304. And there are times that we are sleep deprived, that we're spiritually worn out, that we are emotionally worn out, that we are physically worn out.

  305. And in no way does the enemy think, oh, they've had a hard time.

  306. Let's just let them rest for a little bit.

  307. That is when the enemy comes in most, saying, I can get them now because they are so worn out.

  308. That's when the enemy comes.

  309. That's when the enemy attacks in such a way with temptation and comes after us.

  310. And so we can resist the temptation.

  311. 1 Thessalonians 3, verses 4 and 5, it's talking about how we are in, we experience tribulation.

    1 Thessalonians 3:4

  312. And then it says, I sent to you, I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter has tempted you, and our labor might be in vain.

  313. And so oftentimes, when we are in tribulation, when we are in trials, that is when the enemy comes to tempt us, to bring temptation to cause us to fall.

  314. And one of the best things that we can do is Pastor Robert shared about this in his series about stress, is we can just refresh.

  315. We can soak in the presence of God and focus on the Word and Spirit.

  316. And so when we feel so much stress that the temptation will increase, we can just focus on trying to focus on the Word and Spirit and get refreshed from God.

  317. So now we have talked about fake instinct stressed.

  318. We're moving on to the fourth method I use when fishing.

  319. And now we can go underwater for this.

  320. Here we go.

  321. So this is, and I have a bait for this one as well.

  322. Oh yeah, look at that.

  323. It even has like some blood on it.

  324. It's looking real good.

  325. Like for fishermen, this is just a fantastic.

  326. It is a jerk bait.

  327. It's called a jerk bait, not because the fish named it.

  328. It's called a jerk bait because you end up jerking it through the water.

  329. And so what you would do is you would cast it out there and you would pop it, pop it, pop it, and let it sit.

  330. Pop it, pop it, pop it, let it sit.

  331. And then it's every time it's twitching through the water like this, and it looks like something is dying.

  332. It looks like a little fish is moving through the water and dying.

  333. And so the fish would think, oh, there's no competition.

  334. This is easy.

  335. It's not going to fight back.

  336. This is a simple meal.

  337. It's one small move I have to make.

  338. Alright, so now let's come up back out of the water and look at this from a spiritual sense and uh how oftentimes the method that the enemy will use is this hidden.

  339. It's in Matthew 4, verse 8.

    Matthew 4:8

  340. It says, Again, the devil took him up on an exceedingly high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their glory.

  341. And he said to him, All these things I give you, if you will fall down and worship me.

  342. So what he's doing is lifts him up, he shows him all these great things, says, Listen, it's all yours.

  343. We're up on this mountain, it's just you and me.

  344. That's it.

  345. We're just just you and I right here.

  346. Let's just come up with a negotiation.

  347. All of this could be yours.

  348. Every bit of it.

  349. Just one small compromise.

  350. One small, it's so easy.

  351. It's the there's like so simple.

  352. One thing and all of this will be yours.

  353. And it's the lie of the enemy to say there's just one small compromise.

  354. And we have to ask ourselves, yes, but at what cost?

  355. At what cost?

  356. At what cost is it going to cost my character?

  357. At what cost is it going to affect me, my family, and others around me?

  358. At what cost will it cost?

  359. So one thing about fish is they oftentimes don't see very well far away.

  360. They're more like near side, or it's where they see things up close.

  361. And so oftentimes fish don't see the things far out.

  362. But so often we can be just like the fish and only see instant gratification, only see the immediate gain out of something.

  363. You may be at work and there's just one small compromise, one small thing.

  364. If I just do this, then all of these things or all of that, it's just one thing.

  365. That's it.

  366. And it's the way that we are tempted.

  367. But instead, we need to have an eternal perspective to be able to look back and say, yes, but I am redeemed by God.

  368. I am set apart by God, and I'm to be used by God, and I need to have an eternal perspective.

  369. Okay, so now we've looked at the four methods that I use fishing, but also they're the same four methods that the enemy uses when he attacks us with temptation.

  370. And so I want you to imagine this.

  371. Let's say there's two fish right in the water, and I cast out a bait right in front of them, and they are both convinced, 100% convinced, it's simply a bait.

  372. There is no life it will give them.

  373. There's no nutrition value.

  374. There's nothing of benefit in that.

  375. And who knows, maybe the two fish are like, yeah, that's a bait.

  376. Oh yeah, obviously it's a bait.

  377. Look at that, that's definitely a bait.

  378. Do you see it's a bait?

  379. It's a bait.

  380. And so maybe they'll talking like that.

  381. Okay, here's my question.

  382. What are the what are the odds of them biting that bait?

  383. Very, very small.

  384. But now we can now recognize the enemy's attacks and say, listen, there's not gonna be any life that comes from that.

  385. There's gonna be no gain from that.

  386. In no way is that gonna help us.

  387. In no way is it going to give us all of these empty promises that the enemy offers us.

  388. In no way is it going to.

  389. So it's fake.

  390. I'm not gonna bite out of instinct.

  391. I'm not gonna let the enemy stress me out in such a way.

  392. I'm not going to see it as just a secret, hidden opportunity that I have to make a move.

  393. And I'm not gonna do it.

  394. And so we can look at these and recognize that.

  395. So, with this, I want to share something that's very important for us to understand.

  396. And that is that Jesus understands what it's like to be tempted.

  397. He knows what it's like to be tempted.

  398. Hebrews 4.15 says, For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.

  399. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help us in time of need.

  400. He can help us in a time of need.

  401. Our Lord and Savior has experienced temptation to every level.

  402. Everything that we've experienced, he has already experienced in temptation, and he was able to resist it.

  403. Now we can go to him, to the throne of grace, for help.

  404. You guys see that Jesus overcame death so that we can overcome death through him.

  405. Jesus overcame sin so that we can overcome sin through him.

  406. And Jesus overcame temptation so that we can overcome temptation through him.

  407. That's the good news.

  408. We don't have to fall into temptation because he has already resisted temptation, and we have him with us along our side to come along us and help in such a time.

  409. So we can call upon him, we can go to the throne of grace and say, Lord, help me in this.

  410. So we can go to him for his help in a time of need.

  411. I want to share a story as we close.

  412. And when before I was ever working at the church, at one point I was a home builder.

  413. And so I was building houses at the time, and I had lots of construction projects all over the Metroplex.

  414. And there was this one particular city that was known for being like the hard city to build in.

  415. Inspectors like found it like their calling in life to bring challenges.

  416. And so we were building the city, and it was always a challenge.

  417. But one day I had made a mistake.

  418. I poured a foundation before I had a green tag.

  419. Well, that's a big deal.

  420. And I thought that I had the green tag, but it was a complete misunderstanding.

  421. And I'm thinking, out of all the cities, this is the worst one for this to happen.

  422. Why?

  423. And as soon as I found out, my heart sank, and I'm like, oh no.

  424. I was at home that night and I was down on my knees just praying, saying, Lord, please help me.

  425. God, give me favor, give me a way.

  426. Lord, please, God.

  427. I don't know what I'm gonna do.

  428. This could have, I mean, if they wanted to, they could have said, nope, rip up the whole foundation, start all over.

  429. I mean, it could have potentially cost me a good$30,000 personally.

  430. I'm sure the company would have just kept withholding it from my check or something.

  431. I mean, there was a huge cost, it could have cost me this mistake.

  432. And I remember being very tempted, thinking, you know, if I lie, if I if I just say this one thing, I could maybe even pass it off on them, I could do this.

  433. And the enemy was telling me all the different ways I could get out of it.

  434. And I was very tempted, but I kept just praying.

  435. But the question again was at what cost is it going to cost me?

  436. So I remember waking up early that morning, going straight to the inspector's office, and scripture says, if you humble yourself, and I humbled myself, I repented, I told him, I'm so sorry, I don't know why I did this.

  437. I'm crazy, you know that.

  438. And so who knows?

  439. I'm so sorry.

  440. I can't believe I did this.

  441. I'm as outraged as you are.

  442. And I just expected the guy to just let me have it.

  443. That that would have lined up with other stories I'd been hearing.

  444. But I also think that he had expected me to respond the other way.

  445. And that's probably what he had seen in the past.

  446. And he said, Listen, don't worry about it.

  447. We all make mistakes, no problem.

  448. Really?

  449. Are you sure?

  450. I mean, I was blown away, thinking, how?

  451. So I continued to have many friends in that same sub in that same subdivision and in that same city building.

  452. And they continued to tell me just how horrible it was to build there.

  453. But for me, that ended up being the easiest city I could have possibly built in.

  454. Why?

  455. Because they trusted me.

  456. I was gonna do the right thing when it was time to do the right thing.

  457. They knew what they could have done within their powers.

  458. Here's the thing: when we resist the temptation and we do it God's way, what the enemy meant for evil, God turns for good.

  459. I want to take a moment and pray with you.

  460. If you could just, everyone, close your eyes, bow your heads.

  461. Holy Spirit, what are you saying to us?

  462. Lord, teach us how to continue to resist temptation because you have already overcome temptation.

  463. Show us what it is that you want us to gain from this message.

  464. Lord, I pray for every person that is feeling tempted or feeling guilty for even being tempted, that they can run to the throne of grace and come to you and receive help from the helper.

  465. They can run to you, the Holy Spirit, who will help us in a time of need.

  466. Lord, I just pray that you would be with every person in this room and at every campus and online in Jesus' name.

  467. Amen.

  468. Thanks for joining us today.

  469. If you'd like to connect with us, text Connect to 71010 or visit gatewaypeople.com.

  470. We hope you have a great week.