Overcoming Temptation

All right.

Well, it is great to see everybody this morning.

Um at our nine o'clock, and as Jonah said, it is going to be a different feel uh from the nine o'clock and the eleven o'clock this morning.

Um, this this is you know um uh this is the service where all all the old people um come and it's kind of it's kind of quiet and I'm and I'm just joking kinda, but but I'm one of them.

And uh but uh and and next next uh at 11 you know we're gonna have all those 130 kids in here with us a little bit at the beginning, and they're gonna be jumping and praising and worshiping.

And I'm telling you, like Jonah said, when you when you uh support Church at the Grove, you are you are giving to ministry.

I'm telling you, this past weekend it was life-changing.

Our kids learned the significance of prayer.

Uh, you know, the the it we taught them if you draw near to God, God will draw near to you.

James 4, 8, and that was their theme verse.

And so um they they spent time.

They spent time not just learning that verse, but learning what it means to pray, how to pray, and they practiced.

We gave them opportunity to practice prayer.

And I'm telling you, uh, our team, Katie and Amanda down in Social Circle, and all the volunteers and all the people working, I'm telling you what they do.

It is absolutely amazing.

And I and you know what?

It's it's fun.

It's fun.

You can go to church, you can follow Jesus, and you can have fun at the same time.

Amen?

So let's don't, at nine o'clock, let's liven it up, okay?

All right, yeah, there you go.

There you go.

All right, so we're just gonna pretend there's a bunch of kids in here, um, uh a bunch of old people.

Um uh the apostle Paul says something in in chapter 7 of his letter to the Romans.

He says this, he says this, and these these are haunting words, and we're we're continuing week two.

This week two of our series on the life of Joseph.

If you want to go ahead and open your Bibles, we're gonna be in Genesis chapter 39.

Genesis 39 · chapter mention

Genesis chapter 39 is where we're gonna be.

Genesis 39 · chapter mention

Um Last week was chapter 37.

If you want to read chapter 38, you can read it on your own, and then you can come back later and ask me why that chapter is there, and we'll discuss it.

It'll be a lot of fun.

If you read through all that, you'll understand what I'm talking about.

But here's what Paul says in Romans chapter 7.

Romans 7 · chapter mention

Um, he says, I don't really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don't do it.

I do what I hate, I want to do what is right, but I can't.

I want to do what is good, but I don't.

I don't want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway.

And so today, if there's a theme, we're we're we're talking about temptation.

The big idea is this fueling our fleshly desires leads to our demise.

And we're we're focusing on this idea of temptation.

Now, the theme of Summer Jam over the last couple of days was was kind of an 80s theme.

The 1980s, it was an 80s theme.

And so, you know, that's it's right down my alley.

It's right down my alley.

And so, and so we, you know, I don't you don't see it all in here, so all the props, there's a bunch of props that was out in the lobby.

But I I remember, I remember when I I first saw a mobile phone.

It was almost as as big as this stand, right?

And my boss had that.

I was working construction going through my first two years of college, and and he he brought this phone, and I thought we were such we were so cool working out in the construction world, and we had this mobile phone, and it was it was, I mean, it was one of those bricks, you know.

And then and and then I and then I had a phone.

My f my first mobile phone was when I was a sales rep for a company, and I it came in a a nylon bag.

And you know, you probably you young people, all you young people don't don't remember those bag phones.

And and so that's that's what was going on in the 80s.

You know, uh uh you remember going to the grocery store, and and your parents would tell you, or you would tell your parents, depending on your age here, hey, keep your eyes straight ahead.

Don't look at that magazine to the right, that magazine rack to the right.

Because what and of course, what do you do?

You look over there, and there's all these magazines with with these front covers of just scantily clad people.

There's children in here today, so I'm gonna keep this more a little bit more probably PG to G than what I was kind of planning on.

But so so don't look to the right and then and then don't look to the left.

No, they didn't want you to look to the left because there were magazines that had cupcakes and bakery stuff, and and and they didn't want you to want any of that stuff because it's not healthy.

So you go to the grocery store and you just kind of I'm my mom just told me to close my eyes the whole time we're shopping.

And a life doesn't let me go to the grocery store now at all because I have an impulse problem.

And so temptation is real.

Temptation is real.

And now, now, listen, now you carry the internet.

Do y'all remember the internet coming into reality?

That's really kind of that's probably early 90s more more so than 80s, but it was probably it was around.

They were working on it.

Um, you know, I think I think one of our vice presidents invented it.

But and so they were working on it.

Y'all see, oh old people can be fine.

We can laugh because the young people don't know what we're talking about.

So um, so we so the internet was on the computer, and I remember my wife and I, you know, we got married a little older than than maybe some of you got married.

We were 30 years old, and so we had we had a lot of discussions about you know family and our values and how we're gonna do things, you know, before we got married, while we were still married before kids, and so computers came around, and we'd already discussed it.

You know, we were not gonna allow televisions or computers um except in in the family area of the house.

Why?

Why?

Because of what Paul says right here.

Temptation is real, temptation it can grip you.

You can say, I do not want to do this, but you do it.

Now, some of you are sitting there thinking that, well, I'm glad he's preaching on that because so-and-so needs to hear it.

And I know, listen, you're just as guilty because you just clicked on your shopping cart yesterday.

And there's gonna be something arrived in your house tomorrow, and you're not gonna want it by tomorrow.

And you're gonna think, by Wednesday, why in the world did I spend any money on it?

Now, is that that is a that's a reality.

Am I by myself here?

Are we all and so not to mention just culture in general, movies, television, it's so accessible.

Pornography.

Things that draw us, tempting forces, tempting forces.

And so we live in this, and we live in a society that wants to impose its values and its um cultural ideals on us, and it seems especially true.

We would call this a postmodern society where we in which we live, where there's no, they tell you that there's no such thing as absolute truth.

We're taught that we should do whatever makes us happy.

You be you.

And so and so the enemy, there really is an enemy.

The enemy is really good at knowing where your weaknesses are and your fleshly desires and getting you to buy in to where you can rationalize some of this behavior that we're talking about.

And some of it that I that I can't go into.

And so, and so we've gotta we've gotta be we've gotta be honest with ourselves and understand that temptation is fueling our fleshly desires and it leads to our demise.

And we see it in the life of Joseph last week.

We opened the story of Joseph in Genesis chapter um 37, and and we looked at really how Joseph came out of a dysfunctional family, and and there is no such thing as a perfect family.

His brothers, he was the favorite of his dad.

Dysfunction goes all the way back to Abraham, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Jacob had all had many sons.

He picks Joseph, the youngest, to be the favorite as a result.

There's just a lot of problems in the family.

All his brothers hated him.

He sent out into the field to run Aaron by his parents, and his brothers conspire.

They throw him in a pit.

They want to kill him.

One brother says, no, let's not kill him.

Let's sell him to this caravan.

Um, let's sell him into slavery to this caravan that's headed to Egypt.

And so he ends up in Egypt.

But there's this phrase.

There's this phrase.

And this phrase comes back over and over and over from Genesis 37 all the way to Genesis 50.

And the phrase is this, and the Lord was with Joseph.

And I read that, and I read that chapter, and I say, you've got to be kidding me.

And I read this next chapter, and there's that phrase, and the Lord was with Joseph.

You've got to be kidding me.

And so let's read verse 1.

When Joseph was taken to Egypt by the Ishmaelite traders, he was purchased by Potiphar, an Egyptian officer.

Potiphar was the captain of the guard for Pharaoh, the king of Egypt.

So Joseph is now in a country and a culture that he is unfamiliar with.

And he is surrounded by a foreign language that he doesn't know, maybe multiple languages, and there's no mention of how long and the amount of time, and so we don't know how long he's been there.

Nothing is said about the length of time.

But Potiphar is described as being the captain of the guard.

He's the captain of the guard, and this would have been probably a group of similar, being similar to the Navy SEALs, an elite, courageous, trained group of men able to carry out war and fight and battle.

And so Potiphar is the captain of the guards.

Jewish historian Alfred Eddersheim describes this group by telling us that Potiphar is the chief of the executioners.

The chief of the executioners.

No matter what title you get him, he is a bad dude.

He's nobody to be messed with.

He's not anybody to be fooled around with.

He's a man that is a seasoned military leader with power over people and life and death.

And so even though Joseph is put in an impossible situation, impossible situation.

We don't know how long time has passed.

Even though he's in a terrible, terrible situation, life is awful.

If anybody would have questioned the love of God, the goodness of God, it would have had to have been Joseph.

But in the midst of all of these circumstances, he doesn't just survive, he thrives.

He thrives.

Why does he flourish in captivity and enslavement?

Why does he flourish?

Why do you see Joseph come, and we'll see it over and over.

He just consistently goes through terrible circumstances and rises to the occasion to show through his life the character and the attributes of his creator.

And it's because you see that phrase over and over.

And the Lord was with Joseph.

You see it in verse 2.

Look at what it says, verse 2.

What does it say?

The Lord.

Let's say it together.

The Lord was with Joseph.

So he succeeded in everything he did as he served in the home of his Egyptian master.

And so at face value, it may not seem like Joseph was succeeding because he's been a slave.

He's living in a distant land.

But let me tell you something, everybody.

There is a grander story.

There always is.

We live in our own little world.

We live in our own little kind of our own little world where we're overwhelmed by our story sometimes.

We're overwhelmed by the events around us.

We're overwhelmed when we look at other events around the world.

And we have a limited perspective, but the beauty of this story, and reading a story that was that's thousands of years old, we are able to read it and understand that there is a sovereign God that has his hand over every detail of every person's life.

And he is a good God.

And so we look at face value, we can't understand, we can't imagine what Joseph, how Joseph could be so successful, he could thrive in such terrible circumstances.

Look at verse 3.

Potiphar noticed this.

What does he notice?

He noticed that the Lord was with Joseph.

Now he doesn't know that he probably didn't say the Lord was with Joseph, but he noticed that there's something different about Joseph.

There's a level of character, there's a there's a there's a uh ability to succeed in life.

He is blessed, he is able to prosper, whatever he touches.

Verse 3, Potiphar noticed this and realized that the Lord was with Joseph, giving him success in everything he did.

This pleased Potiphar.

So soon, he soon made Joseph his personal attendant.

He put him in charge of his entire household and everything he owned.

And from the day Joseph was put in charge of his master's household and property, the Lord began to bless Potiphar's household for Joseph's sake.

All his household affairs ran smoothly, and his crops and livestock flourished.

So Potiphar gave Joseph complete administrative responsibility over everything he owned.

With Joseph there, he didn't worry about a thing except what kind of food to eat.

Joseph was very handsome and well, a well-built young man.

Joseph was a very handsome and well-built young man.

Just to throw that in there.

Let's just go ahead and acknowledge.

Man, Joseph goes to the gym.

Joseph works out.

He's probably done a lot of manual labor.

He's probably had to work hard.

And then he's just got some God-given good looks.

And and but the most important thing to understand is that God's sovereign hand is over his life.

Joseph didn't have to tell Potiphar, hey, Potiphar, do you know the Lord?

No, he lived it out.

And Potiphar saw that the Lord was with Joseph.

Potter could see it for himself.

It makes me think of Psalm 1, where we read about a man who is like a tree that's planted by water that yields fruit in its season, whose leaf does not wither, and whatever they do, they prosper.

God was with Joseph, and not only did he bless him, he blessed Potiphar's household as well.

So God elevates Joseph into this prominent position, and he comes, he goes from being a slave to being the administrative leader over the Secretary of Defense, household, estate.

Let's say it that way.

He elevates him.

As one of my famous theologians, Uncle Ben from Spider-Man says, with great power comes great responsibility.

That was a lot funnier when I wrote it.

Greater success comes with higher levels of trust.

I'll say it that way, which inevitably lead to greater times of being vulnerable.

Listen, when we are at our most blessed, is often when we are going to be most attacked.

Those who are being used greatly by God will have a big bullseye on their back.

A church that the Holy Spirit is working in and through will face the enemy's attack.

Let me tell you, church.

Let me tell you, families, let me tell you, folks, that think that, man, we're we're blessed right now.

Satan is real.

The devil is real.

And he's looking to derail God's work.

And he will go to great strides to upset the work of the Lord.

Here's what Peter says.

1 Peter 5.8.

He says, stay alert.

Stay alert.

Watch out for your enemy.

The devil.

He prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

We've seen the work, the enemy at work throughout this story already.

You say, well, it doesn't talk about the devil?

Well, it doesn't have to say.

Let me let me listen, you read the whole body of scripture, you learn the story of this holy God who has holy angels, and one of those angels rebels.

The chief worship leader in heaven rebels.

He's cast down to heaven.

I mean, to earth.

He's cast from heaven down to earth.

And one third of the angelic host.

So we know this through the prophet Isaiah and through the prophet Ezekiel.

We know it through John's letter that he wrote called The Revelation of Jesus Christ.

And there is an enemy, and he's real.

And so even in stories where It is not explicitly said.

You need to know that there is an unseen world that is more real than the world that we live in.

And it is always at work, weaving the enemy.

Weaving its way.

Angels protecting and guarding you.

And so Joseph was not immune to the enemy's attack.

Look, verses six and seven.

Joseph was very handsome and well-built young man.

And Potiphar's wife soon began to look at him lustfully.

And she says, She says, Come and sleep with me, she demanded.

And so the enemy comes to attack this young man, and the enemy uses temptation.

And there's no worse temptation than this type of fleshly temptation.

Taking something that God has given as a gift and turning and using it in a way that not only goes against God's will, but will absolutely ruin your life.

It'll break you.

And so she sees him and she invites him in.

Joseph had not done anything to put himself in this position.

He's been faithful to the Lord.

The Lord has been with him and he's been blessed.

He is being faithful to his master, the Potiphar.

But temptation does not stop.

It will never let up.

And so maybe you've never been put in a situation like that.

Maybe it's not been this explicit.

But every one of us probably has experienced temptation.

I know I can speak to the men.

I know what it's like to be a man.

I am one.

Handsome and well built.

Just look at Jonah.

That's what I used to be like.

Youth pastor.

Just trying young.

So maybe it's never been this explicit.

I'm telling you, and it's not just it's not just fleshly.

Listen, it can be temptation to gossip.

It can be temptation to cheat, temptation to abuse, to abuse something, to abuse medication, to abuse alcohol, to abuse drugs.

It can be temptation to cheat or do things that are wrong in the business world.

I'm going to just change the, crunch the numbers a little bit different.

So they look a little bit more positive or negative or however you do it.

Listen, we've all probably been at a point where we've been tempted.

We know that.

But look at verse 8.

But what does it say about Joseph?

But Joseph refused.

Look, he told her, my master trusts me with everything in his entire household.

No one here has more authority than I do.

He has held back nothing from me except you because you are his wife.

How could I do such a wicked thing?

It would be a great sin against God.

She kept putting pressure on Joseph day after day.

Now, here, let me, you know, I I can't identify with Joseph in this in this setting because he's in a setting where he doesn't have the ability or the control to determine where he's going to work.

So constantly he's in the house in a very vulnerable position where it's just him and Potiphar's wife on a regular basis.

And man, he is a strong, he has a strong will.

And some men do not have that built in.

They don't have the depth of character, and they can be put in a situation like that, and they can cave.

I mean, I don't listen, I know.

That's why I don't counsel women.

I don't, I don't, I don't, I try to guard my heart, and I try to guard where I am and how I work, and and and listen, I love you and I listen, I love your family.

But if your wife is broken down and it's raining at 10 o'clock at night, and I drive by her, I'm gonna wave.

No.

I'm kidding.

But I'm telling you that I I I I don't want to be put in those situations.

Some of my ministry friends, we we we've been I've been in ministry for 30 years.

And and we get together and we talk, and we'll we'll talk about how few of us remain of the group that got to know each other at Impact Camp 30 years ago.

Our tribe keeps shrinking.

You know why?

Because of temptation.

Man, it's it's it's money or it's fleshly sin.

It's and and we've got you have to have some guardrails, and we're gonna talk about that in a second.

So she keeps she keeps pressuring him.

No one has more authority than I do.

He says he has held back nothing from me except you because you were his wife.

How could I do such a wicked thing?

It would be a great sin against God.

She kept putting pressure on Joseph day after day, but he refused to sleep with her.

He kept out of her way as much as possible.

One day, however, no one else was around when he went in to do his work.

She came and she grabbed him by his cloak and demanding, Come and sleep with me.

Joseph tore himself away, but he left his cloak in her hand as he ran from the house.

So he's he doesn't have anything to hide.

He runs off cloakless.

And so this is not one-time temptation.

It is constant, continual, and it's the same way the enemy will work in our own life.

Every one of us.

Many of us have difficult stories.

Or our family has a difficult story.

So how do we resist?

How do we look at Joseph's story and resist temptation and refuse sin?

Is number one, resist temptation, refuse sin.

Resist temptation, refuse sin.

Here's how you overcome temptation.

It seems obvious, right?

I can't overstate it enough.

Refuse temptation, refuse sin.

Here's what Jesus says.

Maybe we look at what Jesus taught.

Verse 29 of Matthew chapter 5.

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

He says, so if your eye, even your good eye, causes you to lust, gouge it out and throw it away.

It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.

And if your hand, even your stronger hand, causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away.

It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.

Now, Jesus here is using extreme language not for us to take literally, but to literally apply it to our life when it comes to temptation and sin.

He said there's a fight.

Get rid of it.

Cut off the potential temptation.

He's communicating that we should go to great extremes to fight the enemy, to fight temptation, to fight sin.

If we can't resist it, and we're gonna potentially indulge even the slightest, you don't need to have it a part of your life.

So get rid of it.

Some of you need a flip phone.

You don't know what a flip phone is?

Well, that's that's the nineties.

And so we got we've got something in our pocket that that just takes us right into the devil's game plan.

And Jesus says, cut it off.

How do you resist temptation?

How do you how do you overcome temptation?

See temptation as a sin against another person.

Joseph recognized that if he followed through with the temptation right in front of him, he would be sinning against his master.

He would be sinning against another person.

He would be sinning against the wife of his master.

He would be sinning against another person.

And here's what we must understand.

We must recognize that there's never sin never happens in a vacuum.

There are always victims.

There's always going to be somebody that's a victim.

And so I, you know, it hadn't been long.

I was I was talking to uh um uh uh a man who was sharing with me about his struggle with pornography.

Uh nothing new.

And I said, I said, can I can I just be be real with you?

I said, listen, I I've I've been where you are.

And that struggle is real.

I thought let me tell you something that that really affected my perspective is when my baby girl was born.

So I've got a 26-year-old son, I've got a 23-year-old daughter, and I've got a 19-year-old son, Abigail.

So my daughter, she was here a couple weeks ago leading worship.

And so I told this this great guy who look, I listen, I know he loves Jesus.

He's fighting this fight that Paul is talking about.

I do what, I do what I don't want to do, but I can I don't want to do it, but I but I didn't end up doing it.

He's fighting the fight.

And I said, listen, every time you look at a picture, every time you look at a person in that setting, you are looking at somebody's daughter or son.

Every time you might spend a dollar or five dollars or ten dollars or whatever you're spending, you are supporting an economy of human trafficking.

He said, no, wait a minute, wait a minute.

I don't, I don't, I believe that's wrong.

I said, those are real people.

They're real people.

They're somebody's daughter, they're somebody's son, they are not objects of somebody's pleasure, they are human beings.

Number three, resisting temptation.

See temptation as a sin against God.

Not only is a sin against a person, it's a sin against God.

Genesis verse 9.

He says, it would be a sin against God.

That's what Joseph says.

Joseph understood that sinning not only would be against his master, against his master's wife, but also against God.

All sin is against God.

David understood this.

David understood this.

David, the man called, the man that's called a man after God's own heart in the book of Acts, he's committed adultery and he's murdered to try to keep it a secret.

And he says in Psalm 51, 3 and 4, he says, For I recognize my rebellion, it haunts me day and night against you and you alone.

I have sinned.

I have done what is evil in your sight.

And so David, David understands that in the context of even how his sin has hurt other people, that his sin, in the most deepest sense, is against God.

Isaiah 59, 2 said, it's your sins that have cut you off from God.

Because of your sins, he is turned away and he will not listen anymore.

And so our sin doesn't allow us to stay in relationship or to have a relationship with God.

It cuts us off from God.

The Apostle Paul said this is not a dilemma that just, you know, certain people or Joseph dealt with.

It's everybody.

The Apostle Paul said, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Which is why, listen, it's why we need Jesus.

It's why we need the gospel.

It's why we need hope.

Jesus saves us.

Despite our sin, he saves us and he comes and lives inside of us through the power of the Holy Spirit.

And so, number four is flee from temptation.

How do we flee from temptation?

We depend on Jesus inside of us.

The gospel story is Jesus lived and he died and he was buried and then he was bodily resurrected.

He preached the gospel for 40 days, and he told his disciples to pray, and he said, I will send you the comforter that will empower you to flee from temptation.

Paul writes to Timothy, he said in 2 Timothy 2, 22, he says, run or flee from anything that stimulates youthful lust.

Flee from your fleshly desires, flee from sin.

That's what he says.

He says in 1 Corinthians 6, 18, 19, and 20, run from sexual sin.

No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does.

For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body.

Don't you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who lives in you and was given to you by God?

You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price.

So you must honor God with your body.

Paul understood.

Paul understood this.

Number five, how do you flee temptation?

Seek out accountability.

Seek out accountability.

I've got a group of guys that go back 30 years.

And so we 30 years ago, we put together this list.

I first wrote it on a on a post-it note.

And I got the list of questions from this pastor named Charles Swindall.

He's out in Texas.

And the questions are, are you spending time daily with the Lord?

Are you spending time daily praying?

Are you spending time in the word on a daily basis?

Are you putting yourself in a situation at any point in time where you might be tempted unnecessarily?

Are you making sure that you don't look at images, pictures, women, you guard your heart against lust.

Have you lied about any of the previous five questions?

That was the last question.

And so we we we all keep each other accountable.

And you know what?

I have another accountability partner.

Her name is Jill.

And she is, I mean, you know, she's like the godliest person I know.

I mean, just pray for me.

I'm kidding.

But she is a loving accountability partner.

Ecclesiastes says this.

Ecclesiastes 4, 9 and 10, Solomon, he says, two people are better than one, better off than one, for they can help each other succeed.

If one person falls, the other can reach out and help.

But someone who falls alone is in real trouble.

So you need you need you need accountability.

You need somebody.

Somebody needs to be asking you the hard questions in your life.

Number six, God's favor is on those that resist.

God's favor is on those that resist.

Let's finish the story right here.

Verse 13.

When she saw that she was holding his cloak and he had fled, she called out to her servants.

Soon all the men came running.

Look, she said, My husband has brought this Hebrew slave here to make fools of us.

He came into my room to rape me, but I screamed.

When he heard me scream, he ran outside and got away.

But he left his cloak behind me.

She kept the cloak with her until her husband came home.

Then she told him her story.

The Hebrew slave you brought into our house tried to come in and fool around with me, she said, but when I screamed, he ran outside, leaving his cloak with me.

So Potiphar was furious when he heard his wife's story about how Joseph had treated her.

So he took Joseph and threw him into the prison where the king's prisoners were held, and there he remained.

But here's that phrase.

And you read this and you say, You've got to be kidding me.

But the Lord was with Joseph.

The Lord was with Joseph.

In prison.

In the prison, and showed him his faithful love.

And the Lord made Joseph a favorite with the prison warden.

I'm telling you.

Read the Bible, it's the best thing you can read.

Before long, a warden put Joseph in charge of all the other prisoners and over everything that happened in the prison.

The warden had no more worries because Joseph took care of everything.

The Lord was with him.

The Lord was with him.

And caused everything he did to succeed.

Joseph is punished for doing what is right.

He does what is right, even resisting temptation, and he suffers consequences.

And let me tell you, many times we'll face similar consequences when you do what is right.

I love this quote from Charles Stanley.

He says, obey God and leave all The consequences to him.

What a great line for our lives.

James says this.

He said, God, James 1, 12 through 15, God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation.

Afterward, they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.

And remember, when you are being tempted, do not say God is tempting me.

God is never tempted to do wrong, and he never tempts anyone else.

Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away.

These desires give birth to sinful actions, and when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death.

Whatever you feed will grow, whatever you starve will wither.

And so I know this sounds crazy.

But temptation is an opportunity.

Temptation is an opportunity.

We're all going to face it.

It's an opportunity.

Why is it an opportunity?

Because if we're walking with the Lord and we are in the Spirit, and we are depending on the power that Jesus has provided through his life and his death and his resurrection, and we handle temptation in the way that God has taught us in this story and throughout the rest of Scripture.

We bring glory to God and we also are models for other people to follow.

Listen, there's a hungry world out there.

There's a messed up world out there.

There are people that are out there that aren't in here, and they're looking.

They know, listen, they know what the Bible says.

They know enough to throw it back in our face.

What they're looking for is they're looking for the real deal in somebody's life.

And when they see the real deal in your life or my life, they're gonna say, hey, you've got something that is that is that is beyond just talk.

You're living it out.

Hey, tell me about it.

And so how do we respond this morning?

Some of us need the Lord.

We need Jesus.

There might be somebody here this morning that never put your faith in Jesus.

You'd never put your faith in Jesus.

So this is one of my prayers over the last two days.

Lord, would you work in some hearts?

Would you work in the hearts of some of these children over the next couple days?

And Lord, by Sunday, would you work in such a way that they would turn and give their heart to Jesus?

And how do we do that?

Jesus tells us in Mark chapter 1, verses 14 and 15, he said, the kingdom of God is come.

Mark 1:14

The kingdom of God is here.

Repent and believe the good news.

Repent and believe the good news.

Repent means to turn.

It means to turn and put your faith in something, in a person, in Jesus.

He has given his life for us that we might have redemption from sin, forgiveness from sin.

He provides us power through the Holy Spirit coming to live inside of us to resist and say no to temptation.

How do you fight temptation?

You do it depending on Jesus.

And John says this.

He says, but if we confess our sins, he will forgive us of our sins.

He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

So we put our faith in Jesus and He forgives us.

Because you said, Russ, you've been preaching to me, you've mentioned several things that pierce my heart.

I'm guilty.

I'm guilty.

I'm guilty.

How could God love me because I'm guilty?

I'm telling you, God loves you.

Even when you're guilty, God loves you, and then he provides forgiveness to cleanse you and to lead you into all righteousness, right living.

And we read the Bible, we read the words and the teachings of Jesus, we read the Sermon on the Mount, we read how Jesus led and taught, and we watched how he cast out demons and he confronted the devil.

At every turn, he has won the victory.

And so this morning, some of us, maybe some of you, for the first time, you need to put your faith in Jesus.

For some of you, you are struggling, and the struggle is real.

And listen, you need to just you need to come and pray at this altar.

And you need to confess your sins.

You need listen, you need listen, you need you need to tell somebody about your struggle.

The enemy is real.

Would you pray with me?

Let's pray together.

Father, thank you for your love for us, your goodness, your grace.

Lord, we thank you for the love of our Savior Jesus.

It's all about Jesus.

Everything, Jesus.

Nothing but Jesus.

How precious, how precious is that name.

How beautiful is that name that provides for our redemption, that provides for our forgiveness, that provides for hope, that gives us hope.

He gives us power in this battle.

God, he breaks every chain.

He breaks the bondage of sin.

God, he has the power to change history, to change our family, to change generational curses and to bring healing and forgiveness where there has been pain and hurt.

How beautiful is his name.

So if you need Jesus this morning, I want to encourage you to not to repeat a prayer, but but to simply say something like, I admit, I admit that I need you, Jesus.

Would you come and live inside of me through the Holy Spirit?

I believe and I repent.

And God, I confess you as my Lord.