{"id":972,"date":"2011-03-13T22:26:34","date_gmt":"2011-03-14T02:26:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onemonthofwisdom.com\/wisdomblog\/?p=972"},"modified":"2011-08-19T21:53:29","modified_gmt":"2011-08-20T01:53:29","slug":"temptation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/onemonthofwisdom.com\/wisdomblog\/2011\/03\/temptation\/","title":{"rendered":"Temptation"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

With gratitude for the teaching and preaching of Pastor Dawn Anderson of Forest Hills United Methodist Church.\u00a0 My inspiration today comes straight from Pastor Dawn’s\u00a0 sermon this morning.<\/h3>\n

I have written often \"This<\/a>that what it all comes down to in the end is one simple question.\u00a0 Who do you belong to?\u00a0 But I never really thought about it in the context of the temptation of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew until today.<\/h3>\n

The stage is set in Matthew chapter 3.\u00a0 Jesus and John meet at the Jordan River.\u00a0 John does not feel worthy to baptize Jesus, but Jesus instructs him to do so.\u00a0 Now picture this scene in your mind from verses 16 \u2013 17 \u201cWhen He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. \u00a0 <\/sup>And suddenly a voice came<\/em> from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”<\/h3>\n

\"Matthew<\/a>There is no question who Jesus belongs to as we read the last two verses of chapter 3, but the very first verse in chapter 4 lets us know that the enemy wants Him to falter and tempts Him in his weakest human moment.<\/span> Matthew 4:1-3 <\/sup>\u201cThen Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. \u00a0 <\/sup>And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. <\/sup>Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, \u2018If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.\u2019\u201d \u00a0Two more times the enemy tempted Jesus to turn away from the difficult mission of redemption the Father had set before Him, and take an easier path.\u00a0 All three times Jesus met the temptation with God the Father\u2019s word.<\/h3>\n

This is the example that Jesus set, to stand fast in the knowledge of who you are, and what God has called you to do. \u00a0Do not forget who you belong to, and do not falter and give yourself to another.\u00a0 The human condition is rich with examples, from infidelity in a marriage to a sports figure throwing a match for a handsome payoff.\u00a0 When we give in to this temptation we lose our identity and our direction in life.<\/h3>\n

\"Matthew<\/a><\/h3>\n

In the Gospel of Matthew 4:11, it ends there with angels coming to minister to a tired and hungry\u00a0Jesus, but in the Gospel of Luke 4:13 it is not so final. \u201c<\/strong>Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time.\u201d\u00a0 You see it wasn\u2019t over for Jesus, and likewise we will ever be tempted in this earthly life.<\/h3>\n

The way my Pastor said it this morning was as plain and simple as it gets.\u00a0 \u201cWhatever it is that will make you sell out, will one day be put in your path.\u201d\u00a0 Be prepared when that day comes, and be well grounded in who you are child of God.\u00a0 Keep your spirit well fed on God\u2019s word, and continue always to seek more wisdom and understanding, so that when faced with the trials and temptation that will come, you will stand firm on the word of God.<\/h3>\n

Blessings & Adventure<\/h3>\n

Lynn \u201clynnibug\u201d Rios<\/h3>\n

\ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the Gospel of Matthew 4:11, it ends there with angels coming to minister to a tired and hungry Jesus, but in the Gospel of Luke 4:13 it is not so final. \u201cNow when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time.\u201d You see it wasn\u2019t over for Jesus, and likewise we will ever be tempted in this earthly life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sfsi_plus_gutenberg_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_show_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_type":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_alignemt":"","sfsi_plus_gutenburg_max_per_row":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[42,21,67,7,84,65],"class_list":["post-972","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-shining-examples","tag-god","tag-pearls-of-wisdom","tag-purpose","tag-growth","tag-temptation","tag-who-do-you-belong-to"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/onemonthofwisdom.com\/wisdomblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/onemonthofwisdom.com\/wisdomblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/onemonthofwisdom.com\/wisdomblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onemonthofwisdom.com\/wisdomblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onemonthofwisdom.com\/wisdomblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=972"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/onemonthofwisdom.com\/wisdomblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/972\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/onemonthofwisdom.com\/wisdomblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onemonthofwisdom.com\/wisdomblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onemonthofwisdom.com\/wisdomblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}