WHY MUST I GO THERE? | Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 AMPC | Pastor David Oplinger

And just praying about what to minister on this morning.

I think the Lord's always working on me of what to speak on, but when I first started, I first started a part two of prayer.

Because we ministered on prayer a couple weeks, right?

Um uh and who knows that you start one way and the Lord's like, that's not where you're gonna go.

You're gonna go this way.

So about Friday, he said, You're going this way.

So, nevertheless, just praying is like, all right, Lord, waiting, waiting.

And sometimes who knows the waiting on the Lord is, you know, it's challenging, right?

It challenges your faith.

It challenges where are you gonna stand, what are you gonna, what are you gonna lay hold of, right?

Are you gonna lean on your own understanding?

Or are you gonna wait patiently for the Lord to reveal where he wants you to go?

Nevertheless, um with that, sometimes we just wonder why.

Why, Lord?

It's one of those questions that kind of carry weight with it, right?

We even get tired of our kids asking it continually, right?

It's like, why, dad?

Why?

Why do we this way or that way?

Why this, you know?

And just with today's title, we'll follow the same pattern, right?

It says, Why must I go there?

Hmm.

Seems like an awkward title, but in a world where we're always questioning the next move of everything ahead of us, right?

It's like, well, what about this?

Or what about this?

We question why.

We even, when something interrupts our schedule, right?

We've got everything planned out, and the Lord says, no, go this way.

And we're like, why?

Why, Lord?

So with all that, the title seems to fit in.

Not saying that we should not be discerning of things or totally negligent of things.

But when's the last time that just in faith, simple faith, we just trusted the process.

Not man's process, but God's process.

Somehow I think as we get older and we live a little bit of life and we see the twistedness of society and culture, and we enter things with a marred vision.

We entered things questioning why on everything.

And when I think of it, I when I was thinking about this, I I remember seeing the kids walk in for kids' faith.

And it just blesses my heart.

You know why?

Because those kids walk in there and they're boom, they own the place, right?

If anybody's been back there in kids' faith, they know that those kids walk in like they own the place.

And what I love about that is I see the confidence of God.

They know there's no untainted, like there's no, you know, marred, nothing like that, but they come in knowing who they are.

They come in like I'm going to the house of God, I'm going to get encouraged, we're gonna have fun, I'm gonna be blessed.

But somehow as adults, we lose that.

We lose that confidence, we lose that ability just to trust in God and simple faith, right?

And for me, it just it blesses my heart to see those kids.

And it's like, why can't we be like that again?

Why can't we gain the confidence in God to simply trust the process of God instead of questioning, right?

So, with that being said, let's go into our first scripture.

And it's gonna be Ecclesiastes 3, 1 through 8.

And I'm gonna read it out of the amplified because it brings a little richness to it.

But it says, to everything there is a season, a time for every matter or purpose under heaven, a time to be born, and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to pluck up what is planted.

A time to kill, a time to heal, a time to break down and a time to build up, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time a time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to get and a time to lose, a time to keep and a time of castaway, a time to rend and a time to sow, a time to keep silence and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.

So, Father God, I just thank you for your word today, Lord.

I pray, Lord Jesus, as we read your word, we dissect your word.

And Lord, we allow you to speak to us through your word.

That Lord Jesus, then in every season and every time, wherever we're at in life, right now, right here, that we'll use it as an opportunity to hear your voice, to obey your voice, and to walk after you in all things.

Just as the Psalm said, that we would make room for you in every season, in every time.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Alright, so Solomon here reminds us that there is a season for everything under the sun.

And we know Solomon he was rich and wealthy and had wisdom, and the guy had like 900 wives.

I don't know how he did it.

Like, probably not the best decision if you were all wise, just saying.

But nevertheless, in everything under the sun, he said there was a season.

Yes, and in every season, there is a purpose and a plan, a lesson, and even growth to be had.

That is, if we will let God work in these lives as he should already be doing.

But who knows that sometimes we get in a season and we think we know it all.

Or we build a wall, or we shut people and things out.

But if we allow it, if we allow this season to mold us and shape us, then God can get the glory through the season.

Amen?

If we just trust his process.

Each season is marked with unique struggles, even victories, mountaintops, and yes, the inevitable desert valleys.

Christian life isn't just sunny and 70 all the time, and anybody that's been walking this walk for a while can testify of that.

I've had good days, I've had bad days, and I've had really bad days.

But the beauty about it is in every season, Christ is still Lord of all.

Christ is still Lord of all.

Jesus even warns us, right?

He says, Assuredly I tell you, you shall go through trial and tribulation.

But be of good cheer, for I have what?

I have overcame the world.

Amen.

You see, in every season, Christ is still Lord, whether we feel it, whether we see it, or whether we want to believe it or not, Christ is still Lord, and nothing will upset that.

He is eternal, he sits on the throne, and he will for all eternity.

And one season I want to focus on this morning is a wilderness season.

Because, like I say, any of us that has walked a while has been through some seasons.

And who knows that a season doesn't last forever.

Seasons will last for a period of time.

But the question is, is what are we willing to let happen during that season?

Are we gonna waller in the muck and the mire?

Are we gonna just lay down and let the enemy have his way?

Are we just gonna give up?

Or what can we learn through each season that we go through?

So I'm gonna dig into this wilderness season and what does it represent?

By the show of hands, who's been through a wilderness season here in this house?

Amen.

Amen.

I see several hints.

We've been through some seasons that was not pleasurable to us.

We didn't ask for those.

We didn't ask for these things to come at us.

And yet, you're still here today, right?

Because you went through the season.

You went through the season, and I pray that you got better, you got stronger, that faith rose up in it.

I praise that the God that you know came alive in you.

And you know what?

Some of you start to die away.

Because that's what starts to happen if we allow it to.

Some might even be wondering what I'm talking about.

What's a desert season?

And in a wilderness season is just as it sounds, right?

In wilderness or desert season, they parallel, whatever you want to call it, wilderness, desert, it's the same thing.

It's a season that's dry, seems unfruitful, even seems like the Lord's distant.

Temptation tries to sneak in.

It's even times where we're more prone to question why.

Why, God, is this happening?

Why me?

Even why them?

And here's a condensed definition for such a season.

It's a season of isolation, testing, and dependence where God strips away familiar comforts.

The Hebrew word for wilderness is midbar.

And it carries with it the sense of being untamed, uncultivated, a space beyond ordinary human control.

And who knows that when we've been in these seasons, we can't control them.

No matter how you try to, you can't control the outcome.

God is ultimately in control.

It's not just a physical sense of land that is uninhabitable and rugged, but also the lack of food, water, and security in these seasons.

And you might ask, why are we talking about these types of seasons?

It's like, man, Brother David, you're always, you bring the rough side of things.

The thing that I always think about it is, I would rather prepare people.

We can pat people on the back, and I love victory seasons.

I love when we're on the mountaintops, but the thing about it is, is we've got to prepare ourselves for the wilderness season as well.

And sometimes your wilderness season is about to prepare you for what you're about to go to.

But the thing about it is, is if we never learn about them, if we never talk about them, then the only thing we're gonna do is we're gonna fall on our faces when the time comes.

Amen.

So we've got to talk about some things and get real about some things to prepare ourselves for what's ahead.

So we all love those seasons where everything is well, yet we have to understand why we go through these wilderness seasons to see the benefits of them.

So let's go to Exodus 2, 11 through 15 to start out with.

And we're gonna look at three different places in Scripture where people went through wilderness seasons.

And when the people listened, they came out better on the other side.

When they didn't listen, things didn't turn out so well for them.

So, Exodus 2, 11 through 15.

Now it came to pass in those days when Moses was grown that he went out to his brethren and looked at their burdens, and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren.

So he looked this way and that way, and when he saw no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.

And when he went out the second day, behold, two men, Hebrew men, were fighting, and he said to the one who did the wrong, Why are you striking your companion?

Then he said, Who made you a prince and a judge over us?

Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?

So Moses feared and said, Surely this thing is known.

And when Pharaoh heard of this matter, he sought to kill Moses.

But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian, and he sat down by a well.

So we see Moses at this point in time fleeing the comforts of Egypt.

And we know the story of Moses' birth, and the king sent out a decree, and all the babies were going to be slaughtered, right?

And they put them in a basket and they put them in the river, and he floated down, and Pharaoh's daughter found him.

And he was raised in the king's palace, right?

He had all the luxuries of the Egyptians.

And now he's fleeing from everything that he knows: the palace, food, the esteem, status, everything that your flesh could desire, Moses had it and more.

And now, because he thought he was doing something right, here he is on the run, going into a season that he doesn't know what's ahead.

I'm sure it was never on Moses' to-do list.

Like, I'm sure he had plans of staying in the palace.

Because who would want to leave the palace when you got everything hand in foot to you?

But nevertheless, when God calls you, sometimes you're pushed into a season that you may not like.

Get this, though, while in Midian, in the desert season of separation from all he knew, God started to work on Moses and reveal a greater plan and purpose in Moses' life.

In this season, in the wilderness of his life, he ends up at a burning bush.

And God himself calls him to return to Egypt to lead God's people out of bondage.

But Moses, this was not on his itinerary.

He could have questioned God why?

And you see, even as God calls him, what's he start to do?

He says, But Lord, I can't speak.

Why me?

Lord, there's obviously somebody better.

But who knows that God don't call the qualified.

He calls those who have no qualification.

And you know what?

He'll train them, he'll equip them, he'll do exactly what he needs to.

And I even look at this, even as Moses goes in there.

At first he had Aaron, and Aaron was speaking for him.

But if you pay attention to the story, the more that Moses went before Pharaoh, the more confidence that he had to speak and do what God called him to do.

And no longer do you hear Aaron speaking for him, but you see Moses going before him and speaking himself.

And this is the training ground that God starts to produce in our lives, that when we start to operate in the things of God and we start to get the confidence of God in our lives, we start to operate in the fullness of what he's called us to.

Amen.

Moses was raised in Pharaoh's palace, trained in the ways of the Egyptian, and on course to serve Egypt under the royal banner, just as he was trained to do so.

Yet when God calls us into something, sometimes he has to remove everything.

He's got to remove everything that can become idolatry.

Everything that we can place our faith in, our confidence, our assurance, everything that captivates our hearts, the things that are familiar, even relationships.

And anything that competes with pure worship for our King.

In these seasons, God does strip away things.

He starts to reveal things to us so that we can stand with clarity of mind, so that we can stand with pure hearts, and we can hear the voice of God clearly.

But if we're not made aware, we will never accept the season, even as a God-ordained season of growth.

Amen.

Get this, though, not every wilderness season is initiated by God Himself.

We make poor decisions.

I guess I'm not here to ever pat nobody on the back or sugarcoat it.

Sometimes our wilderness season is a making of our own.

Sometimes our wilderness season is because we were knuckleheads.

Sometimes our wilderness seasons is because we would not listen to God.

He loves us so much that he says, I will allow you to do whatever your heart desires because you have free will.

And you know what?

When you start landing yourself in a position that you don't like, and then you start to squirm, and then you start to call back out to God, that's a season that you created yourself, a season that you landed yourself in, and now you gotta deal with the consequences of it.

But the beauty about it is God loves you so much that in that season, even though you were Nestia or Nestio, you know, even though you were couldn't get it, right?

You put yourself in that position.

He loves you so much.

That if you're willing to look up to him, he'll grow you through that season.

He'll grow you past your childish mistakes, he'll grow you past your stinking thinking, he'll get you to a point where you know what?

Now you're starting to live in victory.

Even though you put yourself there, now I've got the wisdom to say, God, I made the stupid mistakes, but I need you to pull me through.

I need my eyes to be on you through every season, every step, my dependence, everything has to start to be on you because I know where I put myself.

Amen.

So this is where we have to start owning our decisions.

We have to start owning and taking responsibility for things.

It even becomes a season where God can mold, shape, renew, and strengthen our faith to stand strong in the next season of victory.

The season for Moses prepared him to stand in faith before Pharaoh.

And to trust what God told him would come to fruition.

It prepared him to love a people he never even used to think about.

Think about it.

He was raised in the Egyptian palace.

Does it show any stories about him serving the Israelite people?

No.

It's like the man today that came from a poor place in life.

And maybe he landed the job.

He got the bank account, and you know what?

He forgets all about where he came from.

James talks about it, right?

A man that looks in the mirror, a being a doer and a hearer of the word of God, but a man who looks in the mirror and walks away and forgets all about who he was.

So important that we keep focused.

But this prepared Moses for the next season of his life.

This season you might say, remove the Egypt out of him so that the God in him could demonstrate his power through him.

And that's worth an amen.

Because sometimes we got to go through the season, so whatever is in us, the Egypt that keeps on trying to hold us back, has to get out of us.

And sometimes we need to be stripped away from everything that could distract us, that could pull us to the side, anything that we would give our heart and our worship to.

We've got to get stripped out of that so that the God in us can start to come alive.

If not, what did he say, what pastor said a few weeks ago, right?

About the two cookie jars.

We can't have one hand in, one hand over here.

You can't have Oreos and chocolate chips.

It's like you choose one or the other, you're either going to serve the God of all creation or you're going to serve the world.

There's no gray area here.

It's black and white.

What does a wilderness season represent?

Times where God is shaping something inside of us greater than we can see.

Even times where he He may feel distant, but he's actually the one carrying us every step of the way.

You know, there's been times where I felt distant.

I was like, God, I'm not hearing from you.

Why are you not close to me?

I think as a believer, when you walk with the Lord, and anytime you start to feel that, man, it does something to your heart.

It does something to your spirit.

And yet, again and again, I see him every step of the way he was carrying me through.

Every step of the way he was encouraging me.

Every step of the way he was holding me.

Every step of the way, he was saying, Come on, son, take one more step.

Come on.

And that's the loving Father that we serve.

Even in wilderness seasons.

It may even be times where our spiritual lives may seem dry.

Our finances are in a bind.

The struggle seems to be winning, right?

Our comfort is fleeting.

Even good things that used to satisfy us, they can't even be enjoyed no more, right?

This is what this wilderness season does.

Yes, times where God is stripping away so that our hearts can be pure, undistracted.

And you know what?

Before we get to a place where we worship Him and Him alone again.

Sometimes we're so full of noise in today's world that we lose track of that.

What it is just a love.

It's like a song.

I can't get that song out of my mind of just making room for him.

Make room for him.

So the next part of a wilderness season.

Why do we have to go there?

As we dig into and reflect on wilderness season, I believe anyone who has been through this type of season, or maybe even you're recognizing now, like, hey, I might be in one now.

The question can come, why do I have to be here?

It's uncomfortable, it makes me uneasy.

And can't things just return back to normal?

We kind of want Egypt again, don't we?

Children of Israel, they came out.

And like they weren't even, they were at the Red Sea already.

And they're like, oh, let's go back.

The Egyptians are coming to kill us.

Like they were already in fear, and they hadn't even crossed over the Red Sea yet.

And so often we're the same way when we get in a season where we're binded up, where things get uncomfortable and we don't know with certainty what the next step is going to be.

And like I say, trusting the process of God and simple faith, even as a child laying a hold of the promises of God and what He's proclaimed upon your life.

And so often we get in a bind, and the first thing that we want to do is start crying about it.

The first thing we want to do is say, Lord, get me out of this thing.

But we're not trusting the process.

Tell you the truth, in my life, the most challenging seasons of my life, the seasons that I told God, get me out of.

I do not want to be here.

And you know what?

I would have been happy in that moment if he would have removed me from them.

But those were the biggest growing seasons in my life.

Those are the seasons that I look back and he was building something in me that I didn't see it right then.

But now I can see it.

I can see, Lord, you are preparing me for a season.

You are doing something in my life.

You were stripping every distractive, you were stripping every relationship, you were just stripping everything that could sway my heart.

And what I found in that season is there is no God but one.

That's when I had a personal encounter with the God Himself.

That's when He got a hold of my heart.

And I guarantee you there's no atheist that can argue against me that can convince me that my God is not real.

And that's what he did in a season in my life.

Amen?

With the thought of why can't things return back to normal?

I'm reminded of the nation of Israel when they come out of the Exodus in Egypt.

They had literally been slaves crying out to the Lord for 430 years.

We cry about stuck in traffic for 15 minutes.

Talking about 430 years stuck in slavery.

Wasn't home.

Wasn't a nice place.

And as soon as they cross over the Red Sea, the first thing they start to do is grumble.

Not long into their newfound freedom, the thing that they had been praying about, how many times have you been praying about something and the Lord gives it to you?

And the first thing you do is start complaining about it?

Because why?

It did not show up how you thought it was supposed to.

Another making of our own, right?

Another word, we ask the Lord, well, this is gonna make my life better.

And we realize that is not the thing that we needed.

But he will allow you to go through the season.

To grow you, to detach you from some things, right?

Even as they cross over the Red Sea and they start to grumble and they start to complain, this was a journey that could have been completed relatively short, right?

Could have been a lot sooner had the hearts of the Israelites just surrendered.

That's all he's asking.

The Lord said, I'll make you my people.

You'll be my own.

I'll walk with you.

All these things, right?

And they still would not surrender.

Why did it have to be lengthened?

Why did the wilderness experience have to drag on?

Why did they have to go there that way?

Simple obedience was the key.

One thing that we still struggle with today, even though we have the grace and the strength and the help of the Holy Spirit, obedience to the Lord.

So why do we have to go there?

To learn God's voice.

To learn to stand in faith and to learn the voice of the shepherd and not follow another.

The children of Israel wanted to turn back to Egypt several times.

The wilderness seemed hard, impossible, and even downright impassable.

But they had, but had they turned back, had they given up, had they not pressed on, they never would have laid hold of the promises of God.

Sadly enough, though, as many of them that crossed that Red Sea because of their grumbling, because of their wandering hearts, because they would not stay faithful to God, there was only two of them that crossed in and laid hold of that land flowing with milk and honey, Joshua and Caleb, because what they chose to stand in the truth in the season of preparation, in the season, even as the spies went over, right?

They could have gone with the crowd and said, you know, we're as grasshoppers in the eyes of the enemies, right?

They could have gone with the crowd, but what did they choose to do?

In that season of preparation, they learned to stand in truth.

They learned who the God of all creation was.

They learned how to lay hold of the voice of God and not follow another.

And that's what we have to do today in whatever season you're in, whether you're on the mountaintop or whether you're in the valley, you gotta learn to lay hold of the voice of God and not listen to anybody else.

Not listen to the trash that's out there, not listen to so-and-so, even though it may look good.

Don't go there.

Learn to listen to what God tells you to do.

Joshua and Caleb's obedience in the wilderness season prepared them to lead.

Just as Moses' desert season prepared him to lead, right?

It prepared him and Midian to come back and lead a nation out of bondage.

And just take note of this.

Your desert season of learning obedience, very well, may be what prepares you to lead the next generation into victory.

If you allow God to do what only God can do through it.

You may be crying through this season, you may be squirming, you may be wanting to give up, you may be asking God, get me out of this thing.

But what if instead of praying and trying to plead our way out of it, we chose just to rest in the season.

We choose just to let God do what God can do in the season.

What if we ask God, you know what, instead of getting me out, instead of delivering, instead of just getting me out of this, mold me, shape me, transform me, renew my mind.

Ask him to help us submit, right?

Because this is the problem with the children of Israel.

They wouldn't submit.

Lord, help me to submit to your plan, to your way, to your will, what you have going in this, because I know where mine leads.

If we just ask him for our faith to rise and grow.

Even quite simply, what if we just ask, Lord, make me more like you in this season?

Hallelujah.

So often we're like praying that the Lord is someplace afar off.

But actually, Christ went to that cross so that you could die and that the life that He lives is actually you living in Christ.

Amen.

But we don't live like that.

We live like we're still alive.

And you know why we deal with trash?

Because you're still living like you're alive.

But if you live like you're dead, if you live like Christ was alive, then the victory that you would have in your life would be powerful.

So in these seasons, instead of crying to get out of it, instead of Lord, deliver me, instead of Lord, get me out of this, Lord, let me have the mind of Christ, let me be like Christ in this, let me walk like Christ, let me talk like Christ, but they see me, they don't see my struggle, they see my victory because they don't see me standing defeated, but they see Christ in his victory.

It's whatever it looks like, whatever it costs.

Whatever it takes, Lord, I just want to be like you.

That's it.

That's it, Lord.

Let's go to 1 Peter 1, 6 through 7.

It's gonna be in the amplified.

You should be exceedingly glad on this account, though now for a little while you may be distressed by trials and suffer temptations, so that the what the genuineness of your faith may be tested, your faith which is infinitely more precious than the perishable gold which is tested by fire.

This proving of your faith is intended to redound to your praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ the Messiah, the anointed one, is revealed.

So, what does the testing of your faith, what does the testing or the seasons of pressure on your life produce?

It produces genuine faith.

It produces something in you that you can't get from the world, you can't get it from seminary, you can't get it from any pastor, preacher, teacher.

This is something you've got to get through the fire yourself.

The beauty that I love about this verse is it says that it is more precious than gold tested by fire.

In those times, that was the best thing you could get was refined gold.

The greatest rich of the world, right?

And nevertheless, it says that your faith when tested, your faith, you when squeezed, you when times get tough, you when you don't want to be in the situation, what God is doing in that situation is bringing something forth in you that you can't even understand.

I love how Paul puts it even Philippians 3 13.

This is not going to be on the board, but he says, Brethren, I consider myself not to have apprehended.

But this one thing I do is I forget the things which are behind, and I press forward unto the high call of God in Christ Jesus.

Who knows that in the pressing that it's not an easy walk, it's not easy breezy, the wind blowing behind you, pushing you along, but you're actually walking against the wind, you're walking against culture, you're walking against everything that could come at you.

And let's look at this.

Even Jesus, before he went to the cross, it says that he was where Ginnar said, we're in the Mount of Olives, right?

And it says, it's the place of pressing.

It was an olive growth.

And this is where they took the olives and they crushed them.

And Jesus, in his last days, right here before he goes to the cross, he's up there and he's praying, right?

And his disciples come and then his inner circle comes to a certain point, and he presses on into a place in the garden to pray to the point that he starts sweating drops of blood.

You want to talk about a season.

But in the present, in the present, there's an anointing that comes forth.

In the pressing, there's growth to be made.

In the pressing, in the things that you don't want to go through, if we'll continue to look towards God, even if you didn't ask for the season, even if you hate the season that you're in, if you look towards God, you'll get the victory.

Keep your eyes on the cross.

Keep your eyes on Jesus.

Keep your eyes seeking and searching after the things of God.

These seasons, they're uncomfortable.

But we've got a choice.

Do we keep going or do we give up?

Do we choose to abide in Christ?

Or do we want to get incarnated?

Do we want to get in the flesh?

Do we choose to press on?

Or be defeated.

These times do prove even refine the genuineness of our faith.

Do you want to see who you really are?

Do you want to see what you're made out of?

Or do you want to see what you have more in you of?

Go through a fire.

Go through a season.

Go through something that's gonna test you and try you.

And you know what?

You're gonna see who's in you.

You're gonna see if it's you or if it's Christ.

Amen.

Let's go on to our next point.

Wilderness seasons.

How do we overcome these seasons?

Question we all wonder, right?

We get into seasons, we're in the muck of it, and we're like, Lord, how long is it gonna last?

How do I get through this?

Lord, I'm faint and I don't my strength is failing, my faith is failing, all these things going on.

So how do we overcome these seasons?

Notice I didn't say how do we get out of this season?

How can I remove myself from this season?

Or Lord, even do anything to get me out of this season.

But how do we overcome these season?

Because right, it's a season, it lasts for a short while.

Sometimes we gotta camp out there and just let God do work on us.

Just as we've done with each point before, let's let Scripture show us how to overcome.

Who knows that as Christians, the best way to live in victory in every season is to be those who are allowing Scripture to build, wash, encourage, and strengthen us.

We have to let the Word of God be our guide.

So let's go to a familiar passage of Scripture.

This is gonna be in Matthew chapter 4.

Matthew 4 · chapter mention

And yes, I'm gonna use Jesus as an example, because he is our ultimate example.

But we're gonna see how he walked through a wilderness experience.

So Matthew 4, 1 through 10, this is gonna be in the New King James.

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

And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward he was hungry.

Now when the tempter came to him, he said, If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.

But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

Then the devil took him up to 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 the stone.

Jesus said to him, It is written again, you shall not tempt the Lord your God.

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

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

Then Jesus said to him, Away with you, Satan, for it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.

Yes, no better example than Jesus himself, right?

How to overcome these seasons that can overwhelm us.

While literally in the wilderness, this season proved to test Jesus' humanity to the limits.

After the fasting of 40 days, the tempter came, and just like in every wilderness season, we will be tempted.

We will be tempted.

Tempted to question our faith, question why it's happened to us.

And some could even question God.

I've heard people get mad at God.

Why am I in this season?

Why did this happen?

But these are all rooted, not rooted, or originated from God.

Therefore, we must be rooted.

We must be solid in Christ to recognize when doubts come, when fears come, when the season tries to overtake us.

We have to be rooted in Christ so that we know how to fight these things.

The first way Christ overcame, I know a lot of you guys are gonna say, well, he used the word of God, right?

It's like, yeah, he used the word.

I am not downplaying the word of God, but I want to look at Christ the way he approached this.

Says, the first way Christ overcame is he cut the flesh out of the equation.

Like he was literally in a fast for 40 days.

He wasn't eating, he chose to push the plate away.

He chose to push the flesh away, he chose to push everything away in his life because what?

He wanted intimacy with the Father.

Intimacy.

He wanted to stay connected, right?

So the first thing that he does is he casts the flesh down.

Instead of feeding the carnage of the flesh, he decided to feed his spirit.

We too must prepare ourselves to stand in the battles ahead.

Fasting and praying is not a should I think.

This is something that is a believer, be standing in your faith, be fasting, be praying, be taking things before the Lord, staying connected to the vine.

And what you do in those seasons, this is uh an implemented desert season where you take your flesh in a season and say, you no longer have power over me.

You need to be quiet.

My spirit man needs more of the word.

My spirit man needs to be connected to the vine.

I need to be led by the spirit and not by my flesh, not by my thinking, not by my desires, but it needs to be rooted and grounded in the things of God.

Amen.

So in these seasons, you start to build yourself up on the inside of you.

The inner man starts to be built up.

Because who knows, we get pretty strong in the flesh.

We miss a mill, and that whole body starts to growl at you.

Right?

Starts the stomach starts to make noises, you know.

Miss two mills.

Ah man, I'm starting to get headaches, you know.

But look how strong the flesh.

If we don't start to submit it.

And this is the thing Jesus did before the battle started.

Jesus was already fighting a battle.

Jesus was already laying the foundation.

So, yeah, did he defeat him with the word of God?

But let's look at the precursors to it, right?

First, he's spiritually minded.

He knows that the battle is a spiritual battle.

It's not a fleshly battle.

No war against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers and rulers of darkness of this age, right?

So right here, Jesus is submitting himself to the things of the Spirit.

Don't wait for the battle to get to your doorstep.

Make preparations in your heart today.

Even my mentor used to tell me, make spiritual deposits now.

Don't wait down the road.

Don't wait till the fight is right there to you.

You make spiritual deposits now.

You be fasting, you be praying, and that way when the time comes, you've got ammunition.

The enemy comes and he says, Man, this one's been praying.

This one's been fasting.

You know what?

He encounters them with the mind of Christ, not, oh man, the devil showed up at my door.

This situation showed up at my door.

No, the mind of Christ.

You already are ready to fight the battle.

You've been ready for this season.

Amen?

So fasting is key to sharpening our spirit, man, to be sensitive to the things of God.

And even quickened when the enemy tries to creep in.

Right?

Secondly, yes, Jesus used the word of God.

But before we get there, I want to key on this one thing.

Jesus didn't argue.

He didn't even entertain Satan's tactics.

And here's where most believers will fell.

Because the temptation comes, and the first thing we do is, what's that?

Right?

We start to gawk and we start to look at it, we start to entertain it.

And the beauty about what Jesus did is he did not entertain.

The moment that he sees him step up, the first thing he does is start to answer from his position, who he was.

So Jesus didn't entertain or argue about Satan's tactics.

Jesus instantly answers with authority.

So when Satan comes to him trying to tempt him, how can you tempt me with something that's already defeated?

So when you start to get through a season like this, realize the season's already defeated.

The temptation's already defeated.

If you're standing in Christ, that is, if you have the mind of Christ, if you're washing yourself with the word, if you're staying plugged into the vine, the battle is already won.

Stand in your authority, your God-given, Christ-covered authority.

You have to stand in it.

We can't entertain the temptation or anything that God has not called us to.

We must know our position in Christ and therefore make battle from that point.

We are already victorious if we're in Christ.

It says that we're even seated with Christ.

And that is a current term, seated in heavenly places with Christ.

That's where you're at currently.

If your life is dead and Christ is alive in you, you are seated with him in heavenly places.

Recognize the authority that you wield.

So when the enemy tries to creep in in whatever season, even when you're on the mountaintop and pride tries to creep in and all this junk starts to creep in, recognize your authority to cast down evil imaginations and everything that is not lined up with the will of God.

And if we're seated with Him in heavenly places, we must operate as so.

And thirdly, yes, the Word of God.

Like I say, I'm not downplaying this.

The Word of God is powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword.

It's eternal, it's life.

Man, we need this.

We need all 66 books every day.

But the key in on this is sometimes we jump into scripture.

How many of you read Matthew 4 and we just automatically know, well, Jesus defeats him with the word?

That's what we jump to.

I'm telling you what, I'm in a season in my life, but nevertheless, and when I'm in a season and God is pressing me, watch how he starts to unravel the word of God.

So quickly, I want to jump in and say, oh, yeah, man shall not live by bread alone.

You know, no.

Was the preparation of the battle.

How does the Lord start to unravel this battle?

The battle was beat before it ever started, before the tempter ever came.

Jesus already had him wiped out.

But we'll never key in on it if we don't stay attentive in the season that we're in.

There's always more to dissect in the word of God, right?

But Jesus uncompromisingly used the word of God to defeat every argument of the enemy.

You might ask, why didn't you say the word first?

One, we must know who we are in Christ.

Just to be honest with you.

But if we do not know our God-given position, if we do not know who we are in Christ, then this is just a bunch of words on paper.

The atheist will read this cover to cover and say, I got nothing out of it.

The believer will read this cover to cover and fall in love with the God who created them.

So when we wield the word of God, we must know the God of the Bible to wield it with authority.

There's a story in the book of Acts, and it says, talking about the seven sons of Skeva, and they go to cast out a demon.

And the first thing the demon does, right?

Spiritual things, interpreting spiritual things, the spiritual, the demons say, Jesus we know, Paul we know.

But you who are you?

Because we don't know you.

Because you know what?

The believer, when they stand in the authority of Christ, when they stand covered by the blood of Christ, when you wield this now, you wield power, you wield authority.

You know what?

Demons gotta cover, they gotta start to flee, things gotta start to fumble and go to the ground.

Because you know what?

Now you stand covered with the blood of Christ and you wield the word of God.

But you know what?

If you're not standing there, you'll be like the seven sons of Skiba.

Beat down, butt-naked, running out in the streets, and that's what the word of God says.

That's not my interpretation.

Read in the book of Acts, you'll figure it out.

But nevertheless, the word of God, when wielded by the believer, has the power to defeat the season.

But make preparations.

Be storing this word in your heart.

Worship team, you can go ahead and come up.

Start making preparations in this season.

Before the tempter gets to your door.

Be fasting, be praying.

Be those who are diligent to seek after the face of God.

Know your position in Christ, where you stand in authority.

Then also keep that word nigh to your heart.

One thing I want to key in on here too, it says our lives being submitted and found in Christ.

Scripture even tells us, he says, submit to God.

Resist the devil, and he will flee, right?

So often we out there trying to fight through wilderness seasons, we're just trying to resist the devil.

We're trying to be like the Egyptians or the Israelites coming out of Egypt.

We're just trying to resist.

We're like, Lord, like no devil, get away from me, right?

No, it says, submit to God.

So what's this doing?

It puts you in position, it puts you into alignment with who God is.

And it says, then resist the devil.

And he will flee.

Look at Jesus.

Let's use his example again, right?

How did he resist the devil?

He hit him with the word boom, boom, boom, three times, right?

Do you think that would have had any power?

First, he wasn't submitted unto God.

First, he was submitted unto the leadership of the Father.

He says, I do no things of myself, but all things that I do, I do because my Father.

Amen.

In the same way, we've got to be connected.

We've got to be submitted unto God.

Jesus was submitting and fasted in prayer so that when the time the temper came, he was resisted with the word.

And one thing I want you to key in on through every wilderness experience.

There's kind of a tempo, something that lays out before every wilderness season.

A lot of times we'll see a victory or even a mountaintop experience.

And then it's like the rug gets yanked out from underneath us.

And we're like, Lord, why am I here?

Like Moses was in the palace living his best life.

And then forced out into the wilderness of Midian.

Even Elijah just killed over 400 prophets of Baal, right?

And in a wilderness experience, contemplating suicide, contemplating taking his own life, saying to God, Am I the only one that is still serving you?

And God met him right there in his wilderness experience.

Jesus, he came from just being baptized.

And it says he was forced out into the wilderness.

One thing I always look about this example of Jesus.

Yes, he shows us how to fight through the wilderness season.

Shows us how to defeat the enemy.

But I love how Luke puts it.

This is not going to be on the board, you can look it up in your Bibles.

But in Luke 4.14, what it says happens through this wilderness experience.

In Luke 4.14, it says that when Jesus came out of the wilderness, he came out in the power of God's Spirit.

And in every wilderness season, if we will allow it, God's power will be revealed.

God will do a work in you.

And like I say, everybody that's been through a wilderness season, that there has been anointing placed on your life, there has been a calling placed on your life, there has been pressure that was put against you, but what happened through the season is that you grew through the season to what God is creating you to be.

And I pray that in whatever season you're in right now, whether you're being pressed, the pure oil comes out.

Whether you're in a blessed season and you're up on the mountain, you know what?

Pure oil still comes out.

I pray that in every season, in every way, my Lord my God, that your people would be a people that stand in complete victory.

Your people would be a people that will not let a season slow them down, that they recognize the season is temporary.

But to serve you is for all eternity.

I pray, Lord Jesus, that in this season you deal with each and every heart, Lord.

That we would learn to have the mind of Christ.

That we would not be a people that are swayed to and fro just because everything's not perfect.

But we would be a people who choose to stand strong in the things of God.

And Lord Jesus, that we would make room for you at all times.

For you to speak to our hearts, for you to conform us, to mold us, to shape us, for you to do the work that only you can do in our lives.