 Good morning church family. Good to see everyone this morning. How are we all doing guys ready to worship? Me too. Now what a gift that we get to gather. We just get to sing to Jesus and that When we sing he comes every time that It's a promise in his word that he inhabits the praises of his people and that's what we get to do this morning So all across this room. Let's just lift our hands and go before the Lord Father we thank you For who you are We thank you for what you've done We thank you For being present right here right now and Lord we just say that we desire you Lord as we sing inhabit our praise Lord increase our awareness of your presence Increase our awareness of you being in the room Or we love you we bless you and we worship you today. We honor you Jesus. He's worthy We're not gonna sing the words on the screen. We're just gonna say worthy is the lamb worthy. Are you Jesus? You're worthy of my worship. You're worthy of my praise my adoration my absence enthroned Seated with the Father in heaven is worthy. Let's just begin to tell him with our own mouth right now For you to proclaim that he's good is when it doesn't necessarily feel like that So right now as we sing as Brenda leads us into this chorus again I want you to just proclaim the goodness of God because we know who he is. He's faithful He's good. His character is always for us. He's never against us. So let's do this right now Let's go ahead and lift this up and full voice everything you got. Let's lift it up Good Lord, this is our statement this morning God our declaration that you are good and you are faithful Lord We take our place take our place in the body of Christ this morning from every nation Tribe and tongue all around the world singing songs of the goodness of God Singing songs. I just feel church this morning what we're doing. It's bigger than just this room It's more than just the songs taking place in this room We are taking place in the global family of God to release songs of praise and thanksgivings Can we just lift our hands one more time in this with with your own voice? Just begin to thank God for who he is with your own voice just simple phrases God you're faithful to me Even when I don't feel it even when it's hard God you are good You are kind do it church something happens when you use your voice your thanksgiving your praise God we lift you high in this place this morning Lord and we thank you We thank you for who you are Jesus there is none like you you are the good shepherd You are the mighty God the wonderful counselor Lord and this morning God we lift our voices We lift our voices with the saints When we say worthy is the Lord faithful is the Lord Jesus you are worthy of all our praise got all our heart all our mind all our soul all our strength today God we love you We thank you Church to today. We're gonna continue our worship and we're gonna shift into a time of prayer I've heard it said that missions exist because worship doesn't Worship exists because sorry missions exist because worship doesn't we have a conviction that Jesus is worthy of every Nation tribe and tongue we read in Revelation chapter 5 and around the throne is this mass mass crowd of believers from every point in human history from every ethnic group from every race from every language Worshiping Jesus missions exist because worship doesn't and today we're gonna take our place as the family of God and we're gonna Intercede for the nation of Thailand. We're gonna intercede for the church We're gonna intercede for the loss that the goodness of God would break in so would you stretch your hands out with me this morning And prayer is not a spectator sport I encourage you to partner your faith to partner your prayers with me this morning so Lord today We lift up the nation of Thailand God and as we stand here in the United States God We do not God take a a individual isolation view God of the gospel But we believe we are a part of a greater family the greater church and today Lord We lift up the body of Christ in the nation of Thailand and we ask holy spirit Would you strengthen your body in Thailand? Would you strengthen the believers with grace in boldness father those that are feeling persecuted God feeling God? This difficulties as they live their life We ask that you would empower them by your spirit this morning God that they would feel fresh boldness fresh faith Fresh provision from your spirit in God right now We lift up those that do not know you got those that have been blinded blinded to the gospel by the spirit of the age Well, Paul writes of the God of this age has blinded Those to the light of the gospel and we ask in the name of Jesus let a spirit of wisdom and revelation Break through the blinders and let the light of Jesus Christ God penetrate every heart God that the goodness of God would be seen even even as we are singing this morning of your goodness Love your faithfulness God I ask that through be songs of the goodness and faithfulness of Jesus Christ coming from Thailand that every nation tribe in tongue God every unreached people group Lord would begin to sing the praises of our God So holy spirit we ask God today that let your kingdom come let your will be done Let the good news of the gospel God break into the nation of Thailand strengthen your church and save the lost Lord we pray all these things in Jesus name amen amen amen can we lift our voices one more time church and just think The Lord in this place this morning. He's good. He's faithful. He's alive, and he is here amen Amen, amen. It is a good morning to be in church Radiant and I love love worshiping with you all. Take a quick second. Say hi to somebody before you take your seat How are you guys doing this morning? Little bit of snow on the ground starting off spring break, but so we signed up for guys We're Michiganders. We're ready to go and Yeah, I get why everyone that's not here in Florida watching online. We bless you this morning We're just saying an extra prayer for those guys, but Seriously, we're so glad that you guys would come and worship with us this morning if it's your first time I'm gonna say welcome. We're honored again. You come and visit and we would love to know that you are here We're not gonna make you stand up or anything But if you could do me a favor in during service in the seatback pocket in front of you We have a card if you could fill that out during service You can head on through these doors. We have a spot called guest central You can also fill it out digitally, but we would love just to connect with you answer any questions You might have enough those of you that don't know me. My name is Zach I'm the next generation pastor here at Radiant Church and I have the privilege of getting to invest into the next generation And we have some amazing crazy kids here at Radiant Church. You guys know that? We had some fiery kids this past week. We did a service with our youth ministry where it was completely student-led So students full student team leading worship preaching giving announcements I'm like I'm getting saved again in the front row is hearing these kids preach And it was powerful to seeing what the Holy Spirit is doing in the next generation and guys I have a conviction in my heart that even as we prayed for the nation of Thailand this morning I believe that today there are laborers and missionaries in our kids ministry They're gonna go out and preach the gospel to the nations of the earth where we are a generation We can see the Great Commission finish in our generation and I believe that there are kids in Radiant Church right now They're gonna be a part of that so just want to join you to pray with me for God to raise up this next generation And um guys we got a lot of exciting things coming up here at Radiant the next week We are in Easter season Easter is coming up in a few short weeks. I want to challenge every single one of us We have these Easter invitation cards in the lobby Easter invitation cards a evangelism Statistic poll came out a few years ago that shared that 80% of un-churched people if they were invited to attend church Would attend church with a friend? 80% What that means is four out of five of your un-churched co-workers your un-churched neighbors if you invited them to church would go with you So I want to challenge us this Easter season. Let's be bold Let's share our faith and let's invite people to Easter We believe it's gonna be a powerful powerful morning as we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ So I just want to challenge us Let's get some Easter invite cards and let's hand them out to our friends and our neighbors in the next coming Weeks and I'd love to invite our ushers forward as you prepare to give our tithes and our offerings this morning here at radiant There's a few ways you can give you can give in the buckets if you're here in person You can also give over text or online and and as we give our tithes and our offerings today I want to challenge us Let's give in faith knowing that we are sowing into what God is doing here in our city But also the nations of the world. I was so just inspired and moved last week We gave an update video of our big give offering where we gave so so generously and we were able to in real time meet Crisis needs around the world and specifically in the the Philippines There was a tsunami that came through Devastated so many parts of the country and as radiant church We were able to give hundreds of thousands of dollars to the need buying new roofs for churches buying Vehicles for missionaries being able to sew into the community and I just am so proud to be a part of a church that cares about what God is Doing in this city, but also in the nations of the world So let's give in faith today knowing that God is gonna take our tithe and he's gonna use it to build this kingdom So Lord we love you we thank you Holy Spirit as we worship you in our giving today God We ask God as we sow our seed into the kingdom of God We ask for kingdom increase kingdom fruit God in our city, but also the nations of the world We ask Holy Spirit that every nation tribe and tongue would hear the good news and that the gospel would go forth Around the nations of the world Lord. We love you. We worship you this morning in Jesus name. Amen Hey everybody, welcome to radiant. My name is Preston and I'm Jackie and this is radiant news Easter is coming on April 16th and 17th, and you are invited to come celebrate the resurrection of Jesus with us at Radiant we have seven total services taking place across our campuses And with so many to choose from this is an excellent opportunity to invite someone, you know to come experience Easter at radiant with you Make sure you grab an invite card on your way out to pass a while for all things Easter head to radiant dot church slash weekend Radiant students exist to disciple young people to experience life-changing Encounters with Jesus in junior high specifically one way we partner with parents is by hosting our junior high camp every summer in August Radiant camp is an experience like none other Students build friendships and experience God in a deep and brand-new way with strategically planned adventure activities and Powerful chapel services. This will be the best week of the summer for your student dates for junior high camp this year Our August 17th through the 20th for students entering sixth to eighth grade We also have radiant kids camp taking place August 14th through the 17th for children entering second to fifth grade Learn more at radiant dot church slash weekend You can find all this information and more at radiant dot church slash weekend. That's it for us. Thanks for following along Well, good morning radiant church happy spring break everybody Welcome to Michigan where December showed up and decided to spoil the party We woke up yesterday morning and saw snow on the ground and realized really quickly. We had made a mistake about spring break We should definitely be in Arizona right now, but how many know the Lord is good and his mercy endures Even in March forever. Amen Hey, can we say hello to those who are joining us online and also those who are at our portage campus? We put our hands together and welcome them. We love you guys Pastor Stefan and Candace So glad you're joining us this morning. You might notice I have a brand-new pulpit here. Isn't this beautiful? I feel like a college student who's been driving around a jalopy that's barely held together And then you get your first job and you actually go and buy a real car. I feel like after 25 years I have a real pulpit. I'm like, wow, look at this thing. It's really it's beautiful. It's gorgeous So hopefully I preach half as good as it looks But turn with me in your Bibles this morning to Matthew chapter 4 Matthew chapter 4 This is part 3 of our series entitled the suffering king and remember in week 1 We're we're basing this off of the text in Hebrews chapter 5 verse 8 that says that even though he was a son speaking of Jesus He learned obedience through the things that he suffered And Jesus as we will celebrate on Easter Sunday is our victorious king But the way that he became a victorious king is first he came as a suffering king Jesus came and he suffered what it was to be humanity. He endured temptation He overcame those things so that he could go to the cross And bear our sins and then be raised on the third day one of the great preachers of england said this Good friday raised the questions of who jesus was But sunday morning god raised the son of god to answer all the questions that had been raised on good friday And I I love easter and just as you heard this morning It's an incredible opportunity to invite people to church Some people who have a background in church. I haven't been in years. This is a great opportunity for them to come back and You may have friends or neighbors increasingly So if people that don't know anything about christianity or think they know some things about jesus But have never really been in church have no religious background You know in our county of kalamazoo county the largest spiritual demographic of kalamazoo county is 60 percent Self-described themselves as none So they have no religious affiliation. You know what I call that I call that opportunity Because how many know that jesus came not to seek out the righteous But to seek out those who were far away from god in order to bring them near And so the way he's going to do that is through you and I so help us grab some invites this weekend at both of our locations Grab those invites and invite some people to come to church with you Okay, so suffering king part three look with me here at matthew chapter four beginning in verse number one It says then jesus Was led up by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil And after fasting 40 days and 40 nights He was hungry and the tempter came and said to him If you are the son of god command these stones to become loaves of bread But he answered it is written that man shall not live by bread alone But by every word that comes from the mouth of god Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple And said to him If you are the son of god throw yourself down for it is written He will command his angels concerning you and on their hands. They will bear you up lest you strike your foot against a stone And jesus said to him again it is written You shall not put the lord your god to the test Again the devil took him up to a very high mountain And showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory and he said to him All of these I will give to you if you will fall down and worship me And then jesus said to him be gone satan for it is written you shall worship the lord your god And him only shall you serve Then the devil left him and behold angels came and were ministering to him I've entitled this message suffering through the wilderness Suffering through the wilderness because that's exactly what jesus did in this moment during this 40 day period of testing And trial that he endured in the wilderness It's been said by theologians that jesus is the second atom jesus comes to Repair what was broken by the first atom And what's interesting is that the first atom was called the son of god And god placed him in paradise And by his disobedience was evicted out of paradise and had to go wander in the wilderness of the world The bible describes how when god evicted adam and eve out of the garden because of their disobedience and because of their sin That actually affected all of us according to romans chapter 5 Unrighteousness in us is the result of their disobedience. It was imputed to every single human being But when you read the account in genesis it says that god said an angel At the entry into paradise or the garden of eden To protect the tree of life And caused adam and eve to go wander Out into the wasteland of a world that was now infected by sin chaos Wickedness under the control of the devil and that's where they they went the first atom But if the first adam left paradise to wander in the wilderness What we see in jesus Is that jesus who's the second adam? He leaves paradise to go wander in the wilderness Not because of his unrighteousness But he goes there in order to bring us righteousness You see the angel was there to guard and to protect adam and eve our ancestors from eating the tree of life Why because if they were to eat the fruit of the tree of life in their sinful condition They would have remained like that forever and ever there would have been no redemption But god in his mercy sent jesus Who would go into the wilderness on our behalf retrace the footsteps of our first adam And be tempted and tried in every way that not only adam But every single one of us are you see the the wilderness Is a microcosm of the world that you and i live in and even though you and i Weren't in the wilderness like israel was for 40 years And even though you and i weren't in the wilderness that jesus was in for 40 days You and i still live in the wilderness of the world that is still Filled with snares traps temptations and a tempter You and i still are living in the wilderness that is under chaos Infected by sin. We're still confronting the very same things That adam fell in the garden that jesus overcame in the wilderness And jesus goes into the wilderness for 40 days Retraces those steps and he was tempted literally in every single way that every human being would ever be tempted You know oftentimes we can think about jesus and say well, of course he didn't give in to the temptations. He's god But the writer of hebrus says that we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize With our weaknesses because he was tempted jesus was tried in every way In his humanity in the same way that you were tempted in the same way that i am tempted and tried Nothing that you will ever experience in this world as far as a temptation Is anything that jesus was not tempted pastor lee. Are you telling me that jesus was tempted? With sexual desires. Yes Pastor lee, are you saying that jesus was tempted after power and after wealth? Yes Are you saying that jesus was tempted? To be insecure about who he was. Yes. How do you know that the bible says so the difference between jesus and us Is jesus was tempted by those things and never gave into them Jesus is sinless Spotless lamb of god That's what qualified him to go to the cross and to bear our sins on the cross and die for them Wants him for all one man who is spotless perfect His name was jesus the son of god went to the cross even though he had never sinned our sin was put on him So that when he rose on the third day his righteousness could be put on us It's called the great exchange and it's the reason that today jesus is called the savior of the world And i'm grateful for jesus's great victory I'm grateful for the grace of god. How many are grateful for the grace of god in your life? Are you grateful that you are not held To the standard of perfection of a holy god by your own merit But you're held to the standard of what jesus accomplished on the cross Well, it all starts with jesus going to the going into the wilderness Where he was tempted in all of the same ways that you and i are And there's three areas three major temptations that jesus faced And that he suffered and he endured the conflict between wanting Those things and yet deciding to go god's way And these are the very same traps that jesus not only sets us free because he overcame them But he actually sets a pattern for us of what we need to be on the watch for so that we can overcome In the same power of the holy spirit Remember that he learned obedience through suffering But even though he was always a son he became king And he became savior through the school of obedience So this morning what i want to do is i want to show you today The three areas that jesus overcame in the wilderness Because if jesus suffered through these temptations And by the way, let me remind you suffering means that when we're confronted with something that could bring pleasure Or could bring Instant satisfaction and gratification we choose to say no so that we can say yes to jesus We say no to a thousand things so that we can say yes to one So that we can say yes to jesus And these are the three arenas That the devil came and tempted jesus and he gives us a pattern for how to overcome the first one Is this jesus was tempted With the trap of being driven by his appetites and desires jesus was tempted by the trap of being driven by his appetites And his desires We all know that we're all creatures of appetites We have all kinds of desires. It's just the way that god formed us and actually sin when you take a look at What sin really is this sin is just appetites or desires misdirected because of sin in our life There's nothing wrong with desire buddhism says that enlightenment is the extinguishing of all desires That's not salvation god created human beings to be motivated by desires, but sin has corrupted desires We need the desire of god which comes from an eternal perspective in the presence of the holy spirit But in this world you and i are often tempted by the desires of our flesh That's what the bible describes it our flesh nature our own desires and our own appetites Look at what the devil does to jesus Jesus has been fasting for 40 days I have a difficult time fasting 40 hours if if the truth be told 40 out. It's like man. This is rough jesus goes 40 days in the wilderness He's by himself. It's a vast wasteland. It's a desert. He's out there with the wild animals He's just out there living in a cave who knows where he found shelter, but he has no food He's out there by himself And at the end of his 40 days or near the end of it at his weakest moment That's when the tempter came to him And what did he say to jesus he said command these stones to become loaves of bread What was he saying to jesus satisfy your appetite? Come on. You deserve it if you are the son of god tell these stones to become bread Come on satisfy your appetite jesus You deserve it. You've worked hard. You've been out here 40 days. You've done pretty good Just go ahead and satisfy your desires. What was he saying to jesus? He was saying Don't fulfill the will of god In this season of your life instead let your appetites and your own personal desires drive your decision making And jesus's response was so powerful jesus says to him You know, it's also written and i love how the devil is a master of knowing the bible In all of jesus's temptation you might notice that the devil quotes the bible just because somebody quotes the bible doesn't mean that They're a messenger of god. Can i just write that's just bonus material just recognize that just because somebody's on tiktok quoting the bible Doesn't mean that they are a messenger from god It's very possible that they are a messenger of satan dressed like an angel of light And satan comes to him he says hey, it's written come on. It's right there in the bible But jesus had the ability to discern That in this moment that was out of context and the devil was using something that was good the word of god In order to drive jesus to make a decision that would derail him from dependence On god's will and taking matters into his own hands and doing his will So jesus's response was well, it's also written That man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of god What an unbelievable response at a very weak moment And so you might think wow jesus that's amazing But you know what we're tempted with these same desires every single day To be motivated and to be driven by our own desires or our own appetites And we've got lots of different appetites. It might be food food's a big one But we've got all kinds of other appetites in our flesh and in our self that if we're not Fully and intentionally surrendered to the will of god over our life and doing things god's way Then by default we will allow ourselves to be driven by our natural desires and listen Your natural appetites will never by themselves Lead you into the will of god. It will always lead you into a place that is a dead end road Every single time how many of you have ever, you know Committed yourself to being on some sort of a diet before I mean, I don't know if it was keto if it was paleo if it was adkins if it was You know one of these shakes and bars or you know, you're just not going to eat carbs Does anybody ever done that raise your hand if you've ever committed yourself to a diet? How many of you have ever broken that commitment? I'll raise my hand. I've done it a thousand times It's like I am not eating bread I am not eating bread. No bread for me. I'm eating lean meat. I'm eating vegetables I'm drinking more water and I do good in the morning and at lunch and in the afternoon but about 8 p.m I hear a voice That says there's ice cream in the fridge freezer Little Ben and Jerry's little pint and it's like oh, I forgot we had that Well, we don't want that to go to waste There are people starving Around the world. I'm supposed to be a good steward of the resources. God has given me and It's you know, I'll look over at Jane and say you want to just start tomorrow She's like, yeah one more night with the frogs just like pharaoh said let's go So you go to the fridge and you eat it and then afterwards you're like, oh god Psalm 51 created me a new heart oh god and renew a rice spirit within me cast me not away from your presence. Oh god Because I have sinned greatly Or it's like you're sitting on the couch and you're you've done great all day long and then you go Chips and salsa sound so good Or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I mean you just can't do better You can try but you can't do better than cheap Zero nutritional value wonder bread with nasty peanut butter and cheaper cheaper smuckers Jelly on that and cut that you I mean come on. You just you can't do better than that Some of you are like what I'm like. No, that's that's just how I grew up And you you are tempted in that moment at 8 p.m. Or 9 p.m. Or in the middle of the night To just cave in and what is that? It's an appetite It's like where does that appetite come from comes from the inside of us. It's not the god It's not the renewed spirit on the inside of us. What is its temptation? It is temptation that comes from our desires. James chapter one says do not let anyone say when he has tempted I am tempted by god because god does not tempt anyone with evil But everyone is led astray by their own desires Our desires and let me tell you the enemy knows your desires because the enemy is an expert in your behavior He knows your strengths and he knows your weaknesses. He knew jesus at his weakest moment. Oh, he's hungry. It's been 40 days. Hey jesus And it's not just food because that's only one small part of the thing called our appetite For some of us it's sexual pleasure For some of us it's revenge on our enemies A desire that rises up and wants to lash out at those who have injured us and those who have hurt us For some of us it's drugs and alcohol or other things that are going to lower us and just kind of Get us to be able to chill or take a load off And it's a temptation. It's an appetite to just feel good for some of us It's money that you know, I if I just had some more money If I just work for a little bit more money than I can get the things that I want It's no accident That jesus said you cannot serve god and money because money is the absolute counterfeit of god It has the ability to convince you that it can do everything for you If you have enough of it that you should be depending on god to do Galatians chapter five In verse 19 says but I said you walk By the spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh For the desires of the flesh are against the spirit and the desires of the spirit Are against the flesh for they are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things that you want to do But if you are led by the spirit, you are not under the law one of the great temptations that jesus overcame in this moment Was the ability to say I'm going to do it god's way And i'm not going to be driven by my own appetites World will tell you if you want it go for it if it feels good do it, but that's not what god says When the disciples came to jesus after he was ministering to the woman at the well and john chapter four You know, he had come to the jacob's well and this woman who's been married five times She's divorced five times. She's shacked up with a guy. She's not married to nobody wants to have anything to do with her It's noontime. She's taking water out of the well, which is not the time that anybody does this jesus engages in a conversation with her He prophetically reveals to her That he knows her heart and he begins to talk to her and said if you'd ask me I would give you water that you would drink of and once you drink of it. You would never thirst again He's talking about a relationship with god The disciples come back from being in town and buying food They run into town. They're coming back. They've got their little, you know, their little jimmy john's bag And and they're coming back into town and they look at jesus and say jesus. Why are you talking to that lady? Jesus emeritus And you're a jewish rabbi. What what are you doing? And jesus says I have food to eat that you know not of My food is to do the will of my father And you know what their response was Who gave jesus food? Because they were thinking carnally They did not realize that jesus said that there's a more significant Food for our soul that will satisfy us and sustain us And it's bread. It's bread of obedience Where did jesus learn that bread of obedience right here in the wilderness? Now all of his years prior to this were preparation and hiddenness Just like pastor garret talked last weekend about what he learned in hiddenness. It prepared him for this moment But this moment propelled him into his ability from here to the cross To be able to say not my will but yours be done and we've got to learn that Because the antidote to being self-willed And walking in obedience is being fully submitted to the will of god and recognizing that if I Satisfy the flesh for a moment In an hour from now i'm i'm going to have guilt and i'm also going to have to find something else that satisfies But if I do the will of god consistently if I submit by the power of this holy spirit And I say god your your will is the bread of my life This is what I want to feast on your faithfulness and if you'll give me strength I'm willing to endure the suffering for a moment because I know that there's glory that's going to be revealed in me That begins to sustain us You see we'll either submit to the lordship of the holy spirit in our lives or We will be led by the tyranny of the flesh We will be led by the tyranny of the flesh your flesh will dominate you and whatever you Tolerate will eventually dominate In your life jesus overcame the second thing that jesus overcame the second temptation was the snare Of seeking approval For your own significance The snare of seeking others approval In order to gain your own significance The enemy comes to jesus and says to him takes him up on the pinnacle of the temple And says throw yourself down again quoting the bible Throw yourself down because it says that if you are the son of god and notice how the devil starts he says if You are the son of god if You are the son of god throw yourself down because the bible says if you really are the son of god God is not going to allow you to get hurt god's going to assign his angels to you to Catch you and make sure that you don't fall. It's kind of like one of those marvel movies Where you see somebody fall out of a building and you know superman or spider-man comes And they scoop them up right before they hit the hit the ground or superman comes in and grabs them or It's one of those type of moments. There's like that's what's going to happen to you But it all starts with the devil come in challenging jesus's identity. Did you catch that? He challenges jesus's identity, which i think is astounding because this moment comes 40 days after or ish After jesus being in the waters of baptism With his cousin john the baptist baptizing him And the heavens opened And the holy spirit comes like a dove and lands on jesus Anoints jesus And the father speaks from heaven how many remember what the father said from heaven over jesus. He says This is my beloved Son in whom i am well pleased Can you imagine that at your baptismal service? Like right here at radiant and we're baptizing in the front and then You know pastor zaks over here baptizing you or pastor stephens over here baptizing you and you come up out of the water And while the band's just kind of playing lightly all of a sudden we hear a voice that shakes the entire building and says This is my beloved son in whom i'm well pleased and not like there's a light that shines out of heaven Oh And the angelic choirs begin to sing over you how many would know in that moment. It's like god loves me I mean god. Whoa. Do you see that? We would post that on instagram for sure It's like whoa you you might think to yourself. Hey if god spoke that Audibly over my life. I would never be shaken in my sense of purpose significance and identity ever again But yet here's jesus Having experienced that And he's in the wilderness And the devil comes and says if You really are Who you say you are If you really are That's special Let's see what you got Prove it Prove it And here was the temptation The temptation was In your insecurity Do something or say something That will show your worth your significance and your value And do it at my request Can I tell you every single one of us are facing this challenge on a daily basis? Because the world is looking at you and saying You know what? If you are going to believe what you believe Then we're going to cancel you We're going to cut your legs out from underneath you In fact, we're going to label you as some other things We're going to label you as unkind. We're going to label you as simple minded We're going to label you as you know a That you are a hater of all kinds of people that you believe in myths that you are uneducated That you are chauvinistic there's going to be all kinds of voices that are coming against you and guys we see it All the time especially in a social media world It's not uncommon now for somebody to lose their account because they just they posted something that the world goes No, if you want significance in our world if you want a place at the table If you want us to say you're okay, you're good, then you better go along with the party line You better go along with the value system of the wilderness But can I just remind you that if you indeed are a child of god your citizenship is not in this earth It is in heaven You are a citizen of heaven You are a child of god Ephesians chapter one says that you have not only been seated with christ in heavenly places in Ephesians two that you are blessed with every spiritual blessing that is in christ jesus In Ephesians chapter one it says that you are not of this world You are an exile you are a sojourner and a stranger in this world And you are destined to rule and to reign and the only person in the universe Who has the right to define you and to affirm you is the one who created you You were created to live for an audience of one You can have a million people Applaud you and say yes, you're acceptable. Yes, you're significant. Yes, you're important and our insecurity will sit over here Go good. Good. Do you like me? Did I say the right thing? Did I post the right thing? Am I okay with everybody? Am I okay with you? Am I okay with you? Am I okay with you? And we got a whole world right now even in the church of people who are afraid walking around on eggshell So I don't know if I should say that I don't know and we're looking at the world like it's a landmine Can I just tell you Galatians chapter 1 verse 10? Paul says this Am I still seeking the approval of man? Am I still trying to Seek the approval of man if I were seeking the approval of man I would not be a servant of christ You can't live for the approval of the world and live for the approval of god You got to serve somebody. Who are you going to serve? Who are you going to obey? You got to choose it Insecurity will make you live for the world. It will make you stand on the pinnacle of the temple like Jesus and say Okay, if I do this will you say I'm the son of god? And it will cause you to jump off the pinnacle and put god to the test But if we have developed our identity in the environment of intimacy with the father in hiddenness We're able to come up out of the wilderness like John the Baptist We're able to come up into the wilderness like Jesus and when the enemy comes with his great big if say your if Doesn't matter. My father has already said this is my beloved son and daughter in whom I am well pleased And I'm willing to suffer right now in this world so that forever and ever I will have a divine Yes, and amen and well done from my father. Think about what moses said Hebrews chapter 11 verse 24 describes moses. This says by faith when moses was grown up He refused to be called the son of pharaoh's daughter. That's status That's significance in Egypt He refused choosing rather to be mistreated translation suffer with the people of god Then to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of christ Greater wealth than all of the treasures of egypt Moses is like i'd rather suffer here and reign there Than to enjoy the fleeting which means passing pleasures of this world And I tell you right now all of this stuff the thing that we have saints of god the thing that we have to keep in perspective is Suffering is temporary persecution is temporary difficulties and challenges of this life. It's temporary It is transient it is coming and it is going but eternity is forever and ever and ever And if we live for the values of this world, they it might feel comfortable today But in 10 years when it's different you're going to shift in change But there is something that is eternal that never shifts and change think about the fashion that you wear I mean 10 years ago if you if If you were dressing like kind of the fashionable way that everybody was in the mid 2000s And we we all did it. We all had faux hawks all of this guy I see pictures from like old sermon series number one I didn't have any gray hair and my hair was like in a faux hawk and back then it was like everybody did that And then I looked at it and it's like dear lord. I look ridiculous Is anybody look at your old hairstyle maybe from the 80s lady when you ladies when you had the aquanet bangs It was like a venus flytrap You just put your hand on the tv and you got reception of canadian tv channels. I mean And back then everybody's like you had wings. It was like Darth Vader's helmet around your head And you thought oh, this is it. This is cool Guys, you had your feather lee major's hair In a shonkacity if you're under 30 you're like who is that don't look it up Or you had your bell bottoms on and your little pointy shoes your members only jacket and remember all the grunge stuff of the 90s everybody's trying to look like nirvana or pearl jam and in the moment You thought oh, that's it. Well, guess what? What would you feel like today if you were still dressing like that? If you showed up and you meet some of you are like, well, I'm still dressing like that. What's wrong with that? You show up at a place that people are like, what are you doing? Listen fashions change values change in the wilderness But the kingdom of god never changes its righteousness peace enjoying holy spirit And we find our significance and our identity alone in the one who has the right to define that for us Let me give you the third one That jesus was tempted in and it was the lure of self power and determination The lure of self power And determination Satan takes him up on a high mountain Shows jesus all the kingdoms of the world Why did satan show him all the kingdoms of the world and say to him all of these are mine It's because when adam sinned in the garden The power and the authority that god had originally given adam in genesis was forfeited to satan That's why the new testament calls him the god of this age the god of this world And he rightly said to jesus I have the power to give this to anyone i want to And i'll give it to you Why was that a temptation for jesus? Because it was the very reason jesus came Jesus came To redeem the nations back and to rule and to reign Over all the nations it's all the messianic promises of the old testament that A son a descendant of david would sit on the throne and rule the nations forever and ever Psalm 2 is a prophetic psalm and it's god saying ahead of time To his son ask of me and i will give you the nations as your inheritance and the ends of the earth as your possession Satan knew that and so when satan is confronted with the son of god jesus the messiah What does he do he brings him to the highest mountain mountains are always indicative of power authority in kingdoms Takes him to the top of a high mountain and gives him the perspective of all the kingdoms of the world And he says to jesus i'll give it all to you All you have to do is bow down and worship me What was he saying to jesus You're saying jesus i know why you're here and you don't have to suffer You don't have to go to the cross You don't have to die You don't have to be humiliated. I know why you're here. You're here for those You don't have to go the way of suffering in order to be the king I can make you the king i'm a king maker It's what i do Just do it my way And it starts with you bowing the knee and worshiping me The allure of power and self-determination But jesus's answer Said it is written You shall worship the lord your god and him only shall you serve? Jesus think about this jesus was given an off ramp from suffering from pain from betrayal From being misunderstood From being abandoned From having to have sin and the curse put on him He had an off ramp i can i can do this this way All he had to say was yes The power of self-determination, you know, that's the temptation for all of us Is our are we going to be willing to endure difficulty In order to live out the purpose of god for our life Knowing that we could choose an easier way This is this by the way is Oftentimes the hang-up For the church even in america because in america it's all about victory. It's all about success. It's all about Caviar and champagne It's all about reaching the top and it's blended in saints into the gospel In a very insidious way where we've presented jesus as savior and lord and if you give your life to god Everything is going to be perfect and easy and it's going to be happy and you're going to be massively successful That's the american gospel, but it's not the new testament gospel. It's not the jesus gospel jesus said in matthew 16 If anyone would come after me Let him take up his cross deny himself And follow after me. Why would god want any of us to have to endure this this kind of suffering? Jesus didn't you suffer it so we didn't have to suffer it Let me finish this morning with first peter chapter one Verse number six says in this you rejoice Though now for a little while if necessary You have been grieved by various trials so that the tested genuineness of your faith More precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire May be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of jesus christ See when jesus comes back church, it's going to be worth it When jesus comes back the fiery trials the testing the temptation that we've said no to so we could say yes to jesus Is actually refining us It's developing us in the same way that it refined and it developed and it Grew jesus into the fullness of the stature of god's purpose for his life Into a mature son who could be the suffering king god is training us for reigning forever And the trials that we go through the testing the saying no to those things Were following in the footsteps of jesus and as we're following in the footsteps of jesus were being conformed into the image of jesus There was one character in the bible That maybe you've never thought of in regards to jesus's temptation that failed in these three things And it was the rich young ruler And matthew chapter 19 he came to jesus jesus How do i inherit eternal life jesus says you know the commandments You know the bible Don't commit adultery love the lord your god honor your mother and father Keep the Sabbath all those things i've done on tablet one I've done all of those things jesus and jesus says oh, hey One thing you lack Take everything you own go sell it give it to the poor and you come follow me And it says that the young man became sorrowful because he had great possessions He was rich Autonomy he was young Which is opportunity And he was a ruler Which is power and authority And because he wasn't willing to endure the suffering of losing those things in order to follow the lamb He went away and here's what i wonder i wonder at the end of his life If he realized that he had exchanged the temporary For what he could have given to receive the eternal my prayer for us Is that we will see through the lens of eternity The romans ate reality that says for i reckon that the Sufferings of this present age are not worthy to be compared To the great glory that is to be revealed in us You see luke chapter 4 says that jesus came out of the wilderness In the strength and in the power of the holy spirit We always go through temptation with the holy spirit and we come out of the wilderness of temptation Empowered in a greater measure by the holy spirit from glory to glory. That's god's purpose in our life I want you to stand with me wherever you're at this morning The good news is we don't overcome temptation in our own strength. We can't just will it and say all right i'm gonna be better It has to be the grace of god in our life Because if it was just something in us then we would automatically We wouldn't need god, but philippians 2 says that it's god who works in us both the will and the ability To do the will of god to desire it and then the ability to do that How do we tap into that grace? Well number one we recognize and we repent in areas in our life where we Have been driven by our flesh Instead of the will of god We choose To find our identity and what god says about us and not what other people say about us and we submit the leadership and the rulership And the pathway of our life saying god your way is my way I will not take an off ramp and take the easy way Because the road to life is narrow And i'm gonna follow you jesus and believe that at the end of the road There's gonna be a glory and a reward that i could not have imagined Would you buy your heads with me holy spirit today? We look to you and we say we need you God more than we can ever imagine we need you jesus you are worth it Thank you for leading through the wilderness And leaving behind you Footprints that we can follow in By submitting To the will and the word of god by finding our identity and what god the father says about us And choosing the difficult path And not taking the easy off ramp You did that for us you suffered for us I pray that even in the difficulties and the sufferings and the trials that we face Like you jesus we would be fully submitted to the will of the father and our face would be set like flint To the joy on the other side of our suffering today before We open our eyes and before we Dismissed this morning I just wonder what the holy spirit would say to all of us What's he saying to you today? Is he speaking to you about areas in your life where You've taken the off ramp or the easy way or the insecure way and today he's challenging you today to recognize that Surrender it and invite the grace of god into your life to strengthen and empower you to do it god's way In the midst of a dark and a twisted perverse generation. This is difficult to do but that's the wilderness God will sustain you in the wilderness If you invite him and today all over the room if the holy spirit is highlighting areas in your life where Maybe up until this moment You've given in to the tempter you've given in to the temptation But today you're saying god I want your grace so that I can overcome and walk differently before you If that's going on in your heart right now just between you and the lord Just want you to raise your hand. Just say that's me There's areas in my life that god is highlighting right now where I Am repenting and surrendering and saying god I want to do it your way Thank you. You can put your hands down. Thank you Last thing is this is today if you're here and you say, you know, I I have never truly made jesus christ the lord of my life I might have believed in jesus went to church. It's kind of a side thing But what you're talking about is a radical relationship really Choosing to make jesus christ lord of everything and being radically saved receiving eternal life and I've never really done that but today I I know I need to do that. I want to do that. I want to make jesus christ lord and savior of my life I need to be forgiven. I want to know that heaven's my home My name's written in lambs book of life passively pray for me if that's you all over the room I want you to raise your hand. I'm going to pray with you In just a moment, but I want you to take a step of faith. Thank you Here's what I'm going to do. I want our prayer team to move into place down in the front And I want everybody give me 30 seconds number one is this if you raised your hand and you said I need to make jesus the lord of my life today in a moment when I dismiss Here's what I'm going to invite you to do I want you to come down to one of these prayer partners pester ben down there on the end or Any of these that are down here in the front And you walk up to them and say today i'm giving my life to jesus or pray for me I want to get saved today and we're going to pray for you number two if you Are here and you raised your hand or maybe you didn't raise your hand and you're just going through a battle a difficulty Or maybe you feel like you're being confronted with the battle royale Of your flesh your identity and you need the grace of god to meet you in an area of your life I'm going to invite you to come when we dismiss and receive prayer today Right after I pray Because I believe that god will meet us when we take a step in his direction So lord today send us from this place Strengthened by the power of your holy spirit able to walk victorious like jesus did and lord. Thank you for your example Thank you for your presence. Thank you for your leadership in jesus name Amen, amen you're dismissed come forward if you'd like to receive prayer or if you're receiving christ This morning god bless you