Sunday Morning Live - September 19th

[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] i searched the world [Music] but it couldn't fill me [Music] man's empty praise and treasures of faith [Music] together [Music] is [Music] better than you are there's nothing better [Music] nothing is [Music] to show you my weakness my failures and force lord you've seen them all and you still call me friends [Music] a is where your mercy and grace [Music] [Applause] [Music] is foreign [Music] you give beauty for ashes [Music] to turn shame into glory you give [Music] you're the only one who [Music] is [Music] the only one who cares [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] is [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] you're the only you're the only one [Applause] [Music] [Music] i love you lord oh your mercy never fails me all my days i've been held in your hands from the moment that i wake up until i lay my head oh i will see you of the goodness of god [Music] oh [Music] you have led me through the fire in darkest night you are close like no one i've known you as a father i've known you as a friend and i have lived in the goodness [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] i am [Music] your goodness is is i'll give you everything your goodness is [Music] is [Music] is [Applause] [Music] oh my life you having faith [Music] oh [Music] [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] [Music] for the tears [Music] [Music] to save [Music] foreign [Music] without [Music] [Music] jesus [Music] jesus of all the glory [Music] [Music] [Music] peace [Music] [Applause] is jesus jesus [Music] [Music] jesus [Music] jesus [Music] [Applause] [Applause] the [Music] says jesus [Applause] [Music] jesus [Music] [Applause] jesus [Music] jesus [Music] is [Music] amen you guys happy to be in the house of the lord worshiping him and spirit and truth this morning yeah cool uh you guys can grab a seat that's for the benefit of the front row who's the only row who's standing right now so the uh one time i had somebody come up to me and uh they said hey why don't you ever let us sit down anymore and i said hey i never told you to stand in the first place so here's the thing if the lord has called you to stand and honor him and worship him do that if he has called you to sit and contemplate the words do that just do it at a posture of heart just as much as you do an outward posture amen he desires us to worship him uh not only with uh singing or playing in fact you might have noticed i i finally went through the change of life and my voice is now nice and deep and so uh i lost my voice last week and you know i was praying over the men's retreat that's coming up this next weekend i'm like because i'm leading worship for that and the lord said i'll just lower your voice a whole octave so you could finally sound like a man and then you could lead the men in worship so and so uh i'll go into that but it's interesting when you when you lose something that you rely on so often like i rely on my voice to sing and do things and when parts of that goes away it's like whoa that's jarring to you right and i'm convinced that if if jesus required only singing only music for us to worship him he would not have allowed deafness to fall in the world he would not allowed stuff like this to happen but what he really desires is our heart and uh some of you might be in a place where like i can't sing i can't carry a tune in a bucket i'm not good at that well what he's looking at is your heart and you can sing these songs even if it don't sound very good even if it sounds two octaves too low like me this morning as long as your heart is postured towards him he desires a living sacrifice and i'll even do you one one better many of you have come to this place you walk through those doors i'm ready for worship right but what did he tell the woman at the well what did jesus tell the woman at the well it's like no longer on the mountaintop no longer in the temple but i'm i'm desiring people to worship me in spirit and truth and so he's saying look vicinity is less important than your intention to glorify me and so worship started before you walk through those doors and what we're doing here this morning is we're putting a soundtrack to hopefully what you're doing all the time as it says in romans chapter 12 to offer yourself as a living sacrifice and so we want to do that here this morning so whether you're a good singer a bad singer uh hard of hearing or super sonic hearing whatever it is uh we want to do everything for the glory of god here this morning so hey if you're at home watching online and you're thinking well i'm not in the sanctuary so how could i worship look no longer just at calvary chapel east anaheim no longer just sitting in your room watching online but he wants you to worship him in spirit and truth and so you need to posture your heart towards jesus make him the most important part of this moment right now put him as the forefront die to yourself and offer yourself as a living sacrifice and basically just lay yourself on the altar and say lord i am everything i do i do for you and for your glory and then he will meet you there and so we're going to sing we're going to open god's word and then we're also going to offer him our tithes and our offerings right now so i'm going to pray for us if you're watching online or if you're in the room there's a link that'll pop up on the screen that's where we facilitate giving and then there's also an app in our app store you might have it on your phone we can facilitate giving through that as well and there's agape boxes on the wall as you leave and so just different avenues in which we can do it but we want to do it not out of obligation but of intention to worship him just as much as we sing or open the word and all these things and so i'm gonna pray for us and then we're gonna continue to worship and then we're gonna get into god's word lord we're thankful to be here and we're just grateful for your provision and we know that every good and perfect gift comes from you and so it's not as if we need to repay you but we want to recognize that you've given us our portion and then we want to take a portion of that and say you know what we want to honor you with it we want to worship you with it and so whether we're eating drinking or whatever we do we want to glorify you in this place and so help us to do that now we love you we look forward to singing songs to you singing songs about you reminding our hearts just as much as our minds these truths about you that you are indeed faithful so we love you in jesus name amen [Music] god of abraham you're the god of covenant faithful promises [Music] time and time again you have proven you do just what you said though the stones may come and the winds may blow i remain steadfast and let my heart learn when you speak a word it will come to passing it out [Music] to me is [Music] great [Applause] to me [Music] god forbid you age though the earth they pass away your word remains the same [Music] history will prove there's nothing you can't do a faith [Music] [Music] when you speak [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] he'll never let me [Music] my hope is [Music] foundation [Music] my he'll never let me down [Music] to me from the rising sun [Music] [Music] my hope he'll never let me down [Music] [Applause] he'll never let me [Music] he'll never let me [Music] he'll never let me you'll never let me [Music] from the rising sun [Music] rising sun [Music] [Music] is a faithful [Music] [Applause] [Music] amen thank you worship team dion in the back good morning cowboy chapel how are you guys good to see you guys you sound good out there i have some announcements for you that i want you to know about that i believe will help you live and love the lord if you have a bulletin i'd encourage you to use it it's got many announcements much of which i cannot cover in my span of time here so take it home with you you can you don't gotta study it but at least look at it uh we we have a feeling in there that you can study but take a look at the bulletin it'll be very helpful to you but here are some announcements number one is we have missionaries here uh many missionaries and one group family is the alvarado's they've been sent out to into japan and it's incredible out there because um incredibly dark out there though they're nice people i myself in japanese so i know a little bit about the culture less than one percent in fact less than half a percent of people out there are professing evangelical christians all right so we need the light to shine out there and they've willingly gone out there to share the gospel and they're using technology to do so what they're doing is they're filming testimonials of the few believers out there and they're spreading it through technology really a great way to leverage the technology god's given us to steward so really incredible ministry out there we have our care team uh pastor ryan as well will be out in the courtyards if you have questions about who they are what they're doing go see them after service really an interesting powerful ministry i'd encourage you to get to know and get involved with all right number two is we have our men's retreat right around the corner and it's coming up next weekend i'm very excited who's going who's going you guys out there going yeah i'll see you guys up there should be fun and if you if you didn't raise your hand you can still sign up to go we'd love to see you come on out i'd encourage you proverbs 27 says it's iron sharpens iron one man sharpens another and one key thing is if you got iron if you get iron and hit it against wood it would not sharpen the blade it would dull the blade right because it's different material but we had the same material at the right angle you can sharpen each other and that's what's so important that we as male believers get around other male believers who sharpen each other in the lord so if you're feeling a little bit dull a little bit weak in the lord you might just need some sharpening i'd encourage you come on out to our men's retreat an incredible place to meet men you can trust grow with and be vulnerable with and therefore be less vulnerable to the devil so this is coming weekend sign up online we'd love to see you guys there really an incredible weekend we have chad williams and gary beetle going to be speaking to us really blessed come on out and then we also have blast fest right around the corner in fact it's only 67 days till bless fest you guys bless fest is right around the corner who was involved in bless fest two years ago very exciting yes so if you raised your hand i hope you would again raise your hand you signed up to serve uh but we have a little video of actually uh another church calvary chapel las vegas did this started this years ago and pastor mike williams williams has brought helped us bring it here but we actually have a video of some testimonials of people who were blessed by in vegas a few years ago so take a look at this and then i'll completely announce it you guys want to do this again next year yeah [Music] i've only been here five months in vegas doing a bus transfer and a guy walked up to me and said this is a dangerous neighborhood people carry knives and he opened his night and the other fellow said though won't you give us over your wallet so we can hold it for you until your bus gets here it was interesting because they were robbing me but they didn't make it look like they were robbing me and i've been stuck here ever since i've been stuck here ever since five months trying to get out of vegas it's been an ordeal but i did find jesus a guy who's preaching was in a harley davidson jacket he said no matter what you've done in your life that how horrible person you've been he said whatever you've done you can walk up the side right now and you get amnesty for it who wants to take that walk i said i do i've been a horrible human being and uh this guy robbing me was probably the best thing ever happened to me i didn't think there was going to be an event like this i saw the bus pulling up and picking up people in a long line i had to wait four buses and it's great the church coming and leaving their families and coming here and going to work for god that's that's awesome really incredible so ima in matthew 25 jesus said uh when in the separation of the goats and the sheep he talked about how when i was hungry you fed me when i was thirsty you gave me something to drink when i was naked without clothes you clothed me when i was a stranger you welcomed me in and then just and the in the there was when did we do that he said we needed to do the least of these he did it for me and it's all right opportunity on thanksgiving to serve the lord by doing just that by simply by clothing him by feeding by giving out water so i encourage you guys be a part of it we we serve last two years ago over 650 pounds of turkey because we give them all thanksgiving meals we offer dental services optometry hair makeup nails we all know all the work so we need a lot of hands to do that so i want to encourage you to be the hands and feet of god and to be those who give as you give you'll find it's more blessed to give than to receive so i encourage you guys to be a part of blessfest sign up online if you get a shirt in the courtyard all the proceeds go towards supporting that as well so even if you have an old one i'd encourage you to get a new one just so that we can support the work god's gonna do on thanksgiving so sign up to serve and get his shirt anyway on to god's word pastor bob [Applause] thanks josh david wanted a place to build a temple for the lord in the jebusite city that he would rename jerusalem and he was offered a location for free and he said oh no he said i'm paying full price for it he said i won't i won't sacrifice to the lord that which cost me nothing can i tell you something you will not know the pleasure of giving to god until it frankly costs you something and i believe that with all my heart and i found the greatest joy not just in myself but in this body who came out two years ago at thanksgiving most of us that's our family day that's a day to be with our relatives and we understand if you can't come but so many people 800 people signed up from this church to say you know what i can take part of my day and give that to the lord to minister to needy people and if you were here you already know it was one of the greatest events we've ever had not just in terms of people wanting to volunteer but in terms of the joy it was just to be a part of what god was doing the message that we were trying to send as a church to that community please take advantage of we need everyone actually we need every person that can sign up so you can go on the app and say hey i want to be a part of bless fest pick up one of the shirts i think we still have some of those support the event but we want you there and be praying for it obviously kovit is in the area and what happens with that uh with the health department affects our ability to put on that event so pray that these homeless shelters will be available to us we're trusting god for that can't wait to see what god has for us this year but we want you there we are in the book of james if you would make your way there james chapter 1 beginning in verse 12. blessed which means happy is a man who perseveres under trial for once he's been approved he will receive the crown of life which the lord has promised to those who love him let no one say when he is tempted i'm being tempted by god for god cannot be tempted by evil he himself does not tempt anyone but each one is tempted when he's carried away and enticed by his own lust then when lust has conceived it gives birth to sin and when sin is accomplished it brings forth death father we are a people who until you send your son to pick us up we are going through tests and we are tempted it is almost a daily uh issue for all of us and we want to know how our faith can be expressed in these two areas lord thank you for the instructions that james has been giving us by your spirit you tell us that we should count it joy and our flesh will never do that but i thank you that we can rejoice in your sovereignty in your goodness and that you are governing what you allow in our lives but lord would you teach us more how to honor you how to protect ourselves from falling into sin and giving ourselves to it we love you thank you for your word in jesus name amen have a seat so we've been talking about tests and every week i if i talk on trials it fits uh because there's not a week that doesn't go by or that goes by that you are not facing some trial or you will so whenever we talk about it this is a very practical book and i'm grateful for that it's not just theology to understand which is extremely important because our faith rests on the truths of god's word but it's very practical what are we supposed to do in the midst of our difficulties and how do i honor the lord and how do i go through this life and put my faith into practice and so today we kind of finish on the subject of testing and move into temptation but jot down the first word trial see your troubles as trial sized because that's really what the scriptures teach us in james that we're tested we as believers i said as christians we don't have problems and of course if you just say that people say oh really well of course we have problems but we don't need to call them problems anymore because problems just mean things that are uh need to be that are difficulties but as believers there's purpose in our problems and therefore they are called in the bible tests jot down again first corinthians 10 13 and this is our go-to verse whenever we talk about trials temptations no temptation let me stop there the greek word remember for temptation is also the word for trial or test it's the same word because if you're going through a hard time it's a test but it's also a temptation not to trust god and if you're being tempted well that's a test if you'll trust god so you can see how that works no trial or no temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man and here's the promise god is faithful he will not allow you to be tempted or tried beyond what you're able but with the temptation or the trial will provide the way of escape also that you may be able to endure it now in our text today you're to count at joy when you go through trials and he told us why we studied that but now he says blessed are happy is the person who well gets through the trial who perseveres and is the test uh put this down treat your difficulties as tests not pissed is what i want you to think about this difficulty that's in your life that there's value in it look we all know it's really nice when the tests are over pass them right i mean i remember i i wanted to be a police officer and i saw the big billboard it said out of a hundred applicants only one percent even get through and i thought wow that was out there a little staggering and so i remember taking you know filling out the paperwork and taking my oral examination and i was thinking there's just no way i mean the the the guys behind there's three cops on the table asking you all kinds of questions to make you feel like you don't know a thing which is what you know and uh and you come away definitely convinced i i didn't pass that test there's just no way and then to get in the notice you passed your examination you know i was like wow it's wonder it's terrible to be tested at times but it's also wonderful as verse 12 says blessed is the man who perseveres under chest that is you get to the end of it i remember my my last day of high school i was 17 i was graduating a year early because i was so smart as to get out of my last year of high school i wasn't so smart i was just wanting to be out and to start working i you know when you've when you your whole life that you can remember is just school every summer is wonderful and graduation is finally like you're you're free now right sort of i'm never going to school you remember those kinds of thoughts of course they don't work out that way but you just think it at the time and i remember you know what when we were little kids it was what no more pencils no more books no more teachers dirty looks and by the time of the 70s i'm now 17 long on the radios school's out forever right you remember that one you don't remember anyway so uh we were so excited me and my friends i met the people that were graduating they were out in the in the school parking lot and they were burning rubber and doing donuts out there you know it was so stupid i just had to participate but uh when you're done when the test is over when the school's over it's like all right this and this is the idea of the text blessed happy is the person who's looking back on the trial but has come through uh successfully pain with purpose can be endured some dentists in our church and i won't point them out um i'm not be happy to give them business they're good people and they have a a noble job um it's hard to have a job when people hate you i i was a police officer so i know this but i'll be honest with you uh it's i you know there is some part in my opinion of the experience of hell that probably includes dental work that's all i can say i just that is perhaps the most miserable pain you can experience in the world is not the dentist fault that's why you go to a dentist i'm willing to go and even have more pain that i'm already in because the pain has purpose right to get me out of it if you're going through something and you see no purpose in it then you're going to get very frustrated you'll that'll move you to despair and hopelessness there's no end of it and there's no reason for it that's why as believers we can have joy in the midst of our trials that's verse one and two because you see we're his bond servants he's in charge and he's doing something counting all joy my brethren when you encounter various trials knowing the testing of your faith it produces endurance it's going to change me and you when i broke my arm in sixth grade and i had to go to the doctor he had to set my arm same thing it was horrible pain but it was purposeful pain it's an old saying and i like it pain is a process for the believer not an address god is not calling you to live forever in that but there is a purpose in there and growing up many of us at least back in last century you know on on tv every once in a while it would break into a um a test pattern and then you would hear this everybody would stop right and then they would say this is a test of the emergency broadcast system you know and then they would go on for about a minute and at the end they said this has been a test of the emergency broadcasters had this been a real emergency you would have been instructed where to tune in to know how long your life was going to you know go or whatever but i i often think of that experience this is test it's just a test if we could actually believe that because it's true whatever we're going through like when i was a kid at disneyland and i was afraid of that jungle ride i've told you before it was terrifying to me as a little boy i was my grandson's age probably fourth my older brother and i i thought it was real i mean i was i guess gullible i went you know the the jungle cruise uh guy the captain of our little boat took out his gun and he shot the hippopotamus it was a little terrifying to me it looked like a real hippopotamus to me and i remember telling my brother he just shot i mean it was a little scary and my brother said bobby because that's my old name he said you you don't have to be afraid this this is just it's just pretend like what do you mean i saw him take out his gun he said that's not even a real gun really and he said no no no and he showed me the tracks that the boat was on tracks and he said not like that look through the trees you see they're doing it again it's happening again to the next one and i got a big smile on face all of a sudden i realized i'm safe i'm okay this is all under control some of us as adults need to see the tracks that's the sovereignty of god he's in charge of your life first corinthians 10 30 you need to claim it god nothing too great that i can't handle only what i can handle thank you for that lord put this down faith is proven precious by fire jot down james 5 verses 10 and 11 listen to what james says later in this book james 5 10-11 as an example brethren of suffering and patience or endurance he says we count those blessed who endured he says take note of job you have heard of the endurance of job and have seen the outcome of the lord's dealings with him that the lord is full of compassion and is merciful we all know about the suffering of job the bible points out that he made it to the end you see yes it was hard yes it didn't make sense to him yes by the end he actually did need to repent at the beginning he hadn't done anything wrong well by the end of his trial he had said some things he wished he could take back but faith's value is actually increased by the trials i say it this way tests in our life come to prove our faith mean to show that we have it and to improve or increase our faith jot down job 23 10 remember this statement of job in the midst of his most difficult times job 23 10 he said this but he the lord knows the way that i take when he has tried me i shall come forth as gold put down first peter 1 verses 6 and 7 on this same theme first peter 1 6 and 7 peter said this regarding these believers who are going through trials and persecution in this you greatly rejoice even though now for a little while if necessary you have been distressed by various trials in order that the proof of your faith being more precious than gold which is perishable even though tested by fire may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of jesus christ gold has to be put into fire or heat about 2 000 degrees in order for the impurities to come loose it takes a lot of fire it takes a lot of heat in the same way god will use just the right amount of heat and pressure in our lives to bring about those changes that need to happen when i was a little boy my dad used to with me make lead soldiers we had a little mold of three different soldiers a standing soldier a machine gunner down and then a guy laying prone with a rifle and we would have to go out and get these wheel weights from the various gas stations and places we come down my dad had a ladle on the stove and i remember we would we would melt the lid and even though lead is you know very cheap it was so awesome to see it when it would get heated up these wheel weights which were dirty and thrown away it would start to finally liquify and then we would take usually a butter knife or something we'd skim the top of it and there below the impurities as they got removed it was just like to me it was like pure silver that's what it looked like and if you prepared the bowl just right you have to take a candle and smoke it in there and all but once you got it just right you'd put it together and then you made sure that that molten lead was hot enough and you got the impurities out you would pour it in and if you did it right exactly right and then cooled it down you got three army men and you know i loved playing an army with my neighbors who had the little plastic green guys because you know they'd set them all up they could have a huge army and i'd set up just a handful of my guys and then we'd throw them at each other and their little army that would bounce off of my guys my guys would wipe them out but if you did not have it hot enough if you didn't prepare the mold correctly they didn't come out right my entire army looked like they were the disabled division i mean you know what i mean missing an arm and they'd fall down or the gun was actually a pistol that was drooping i mean you had to get it hot enough or it doesn't work god will only use that amount of pressure in your life that amount of heat in your life to be able to prove your faith and improve your faith put this down number three endurance results in eternal rewards we've been studying how it affects us in this life it makes us have endurance as we go through trials we can go through something else remember abram could only go up to the mountain and offer his son because it says it came about after these things in other words everything else that led up to it chuck said it everything in my life is preparation for something else god is giving you readiness for future trials he's also equipping you through your trials to have compassion on other people so god's doing stuff for this life through everything we go through but look at our text in verse 12 blessed is the man who perseveres under trial once he has been approved it's an interesting word dokimazo in the greek it speaks of medals being assayed as valuable once he's been tested and approved he will receive the crown of life which the lord has promised to those who love him in other words trials in our life mature us on earth presently but they also prepare us for crowns eternally listen jesus is very clear about this how you and i handle what god gives us in this life not only is a time for honoring him and obeying him and trusting him but it has everything to do with what he's going to hand you in eternity remember how you handle what he's given you will determine if he gives you 10 cities to be overseeing five cities or none it's very important that we see our tests have an impact on our eternal capacities jot down revelation 2 10 this crown of life is mentioned there revelation 2 verse 10 jesus said this do not fear what you're about to suffer i don't think i want to hear the lord say that to me i didn't know it's about suffering anything do not fear what you're about to suffer behold the devil is about to cast some of you into prison that you may be tested and you will have tribulation 10 days be faithful until death and i will give you what the crown of life very interesting this is a crown mentioned in the bible it's a very specific crown given to those who love the lord and refuse to walk away or fall away when times get tough that's the blessing and the honor that's being given here blessed are you if you persevere the crown of life will be yours put this down let it be stop getting tackled by temptation in verses 13 through 15 we move from testing or trials specifically to talking about this incitement to do evil look at the text verse 13 let no one say when he is tempted to sin well i'm being tempted by god now it's an interesting thing that we would ever blame god but we do it more often than we probably admit so put this down if you want to start dealing with temptation you got to start here stop or quit blaming god put in the word blaming number one under letter b remember this you can write it down i think you know it god tests satan tempts god test satan tempts he is the tempter we see jesus being led out into the wilderness after he was baptized specifically in order to be tested by god and tempted by the devil but god does not tempt and this is what the scripture teaches god tests his people's faith that's his purpose to bring you through something to learn from it to grow from it and to show the faith that you have but satan always has an ulterior motive for us in the very same circumstances so abraham in the old testament is called the leader of the chaldeas and by faith he comes to the land that god would show him and he gets to canaan this is where he's supposed to be but there's a famine in the land there's no food to eat folks that was a test what are you gonna do abraham now there's no food what does he do he goes to costco i call egypt costco in the old testament it has everything okay so he heads down to egypt and bad things happen in egypt more compromise she's my sister remember the whole story and hagar we'll take her along god's got a plan for her in the future too the fact is he was tempted to not trust god he was tested what will you do and so the hard circumstance god allows you to be in is also used by the enemy to tempt us well satan's goal always because remember what jesus said in john 10 10 he said he said i came that you might have life but the thief referring to the devil comes to rob kill and destroy always that's his purpose his motive it's to rob us a fellowship with the lord it's to kill our joy in the lord and it's to destroy our witness for the lord you say well who would blame god for a temptation uh it started out that way remember adam and eve were only given they could eat anything of any tree except one do you ever think about that by the way that that passage that the eating of a fruit of a tree should somehow bring about a death penalty should remind us that it's not the size of your sin that separates you from god it's sin the wages of sin any sin is death not only particular ones there was only one sin and it was eating a particular fruit off of a particular tree that they could not do and god said in the day you eat of it you will surely die literally in hebrew dying you will die it's going to happen and you remember what happened that eve was tempted by the devil and deceived by her she ate and then she gave to adam i want a video of that whole interaction by the way i want to see how that came about i mean did he say hey what you do with the snake what's going on or did she just come home and say you gotta try i don't know i don't know i just i will wait and find out but the bible's clear adam was not deceived adam is the one who willfully chose to disobey god that's a pretty radical thing for his wife by the way sometimes we are tempted to sin by people that love us they'll have a doorway into us do you think it's any mistake or coincidence that it's job's wife who says curse god and die nothing else had gotten him to disobey and dishonor or charge god with wrong but his wife had a shot at it satan knows how to get to you that's why it's peter who says jesus you're not going to go to the cross somebody who loves jesus somebody that jesus loves oh he will use people close to us many times to get to us if he can and it works with adam and then they realize they're naked and so they go when they hear god's walking in the cool of the garden in the in the cool of the day rather they run out to the trees there and they hide themselves and you remember they sewed fig leaves together you know the story and god says adam where are you and come out come out wherever you are you know first time of hide and go seek in history ali ali auction you're not free and they come out and adam says well we were naked so when we heard you we hid ourselves that makes sense and god says really who told you you were naked oh i shouldn't have said that god said have you eaten of the tree that i forbid you to eat now god he knows the answer he would like adam to say yes the obvious i already know just say yes it was a very simple test yes if you're gonna lie say no there is no multiple choice there is no essay question here did you eat of the tree that i forbid you and he's wanting him to say yes please help me but what does he say what are the first two words out of his mouth the woman what does that have to do with this question the woman let's get even clearer about which woman like there's a lot to choose from that thou gavest me in other words i'll plead guilty in a minute but it's guilty with an explanation you want to have fun sometimes just go down to the traffic courts and listen to people stand in front of the judge well your honor i was just going with the flow of traffic 95 yeah they were moving that day like there's a law that says thou shalt go with the flow of traffic there is no law like that all you're telling us is you're guilty with an explanation you're guilty oh but i don't want to admit that you know there's something built within us that wants to somehow blame anybody else and by the way we we learned this as children i mean literally you don't know you don't have to when i say learn it you just inherently know it i don't want to take responsibility somehow it should lessen my responsibility it should lessen my my uh consequences if if you understand that i really maybe i did it but i will not say that what i will do is focus on why i did it and why you shouldn't be so hard on me so you say to your grandson or your granddaughter did you hit your brother the answer is not yes the answer is they hit me first or their answer is they called me an idiot in other words that's why that makes sense to you and that is the nature of man from the beginning so blaming god is way more involved than simply saying it's god's fault that i sin but we can do that too we can say you know this is just my nature to get angry i'm an angry person i got you know i cussed because my dad cussed he was uh he cussed like a sailor because he was a sailor and now i'm kind of a sailor's kid and so you can convince yourself that other people should be more accepting of you and your decisions or your faults because really they're ingrained in you i've inherited them i'm this nation i won't say which ones because whenever i use one as an example people get offended but the fact is we blame our heritage we blame the people around us we pl we blame our husbands our wives our children our parents our boss our mother-in-law whatever we blame the culture but it's not our fault the bible says in proverbs foolishness the foolishness of man subverts his ways and his heart rages against the lord in other words the real problem is right inside of us i'll never forget my middle son was right at that stage when you go from training wheels to no training wheels do you remember that's when you kind of feel like you're still a little kid and all your older friends and brothers and sister all driving a bicycle with no training wheels and you're tired of these stupid baby training wheels and so you want them off well there's a big move you got to learn how to balance yourself you just thought you were doing it all along you worked but you're going to learn and so i'll never forget valor said i want my training wheels off i said okay so i was going to help him to practice on the grass been there fell there did that so i i take the training wheels off and i give him a little push and he goes a little ways and he falls down and he was young enough that when he fell it he started crying i said okay don't give up get back on here so we did it two or three times and he fell every time and the third time he was not crying he was ticked and he's he stomped off back into the house with these words why did you guys buy me a bike that always falls down [Laughter] in first samuel 15 god gave saul a commandment through samuel samuel is the spiritual leader of the nation the prophet and saul is commanded to go and utterly wipe out the amalekites the enemies of god's people who had attacked them in exodus when they came out of egypt and it was time and god said i want you to obliterate them annihilate them destroy everybody and destroy all their flocks and everything and saul goes and you remember the story he comes back and he did not kill all the amalekites he saved the king agag is kind of a war trophy and uh he didn't actually destroy all the uh the livestock either he brought some back and so uh samuel goes out the lord has told samuel that saul's not obeyed me and i'm done with him basically it's over his his kingdom's over and um but saul in his mind he had obeyed the lord he did go on the mission in fact when he sees samuel he says blessed are you like you got a great king that's just so obedient i finished the mission accomplished it said on the ship you know i did it it's over and samuel says really well how come i hear this how the lowing of the cattle tells me you you're that's not true oh those those yeah and what about again the king that was supposed to be dead oh him yeah it's true i i didn't quite completely obey the lord but i mostly obey the lord and this is where we can get into our deception self-deception well maybe there's been some compromise in my life but let's face it i did mostly obey god let's let's focus on where i obeyed god does that really work a guy robs a bank he's brought before a judge and the guy says you know you're on i just before we get into that i want you to know all the times i didn't rob banks my whole life i've been going into banks and i've i've wanted to but i haven't robbed one hundreds of times can i tell you something judge says hello i couldn't care less about any obedience to the law i care about what you did wrong you're here because of what you did wrong but our flesh wants to focus on i did a lot of good things and this is exactly what saul is trying to do let's look at what i did right that's not the problem here saul oh and by the way when he's confronted with his sin by samuel he goes on to say actually i brought back the best from the amalekites to offer as a sacrifice to the lord my motives were good you know maybe it was some compromise but my motives were good oh really yeah and by the way the real reason i did that even was because i feared the people that were with me see we have all kinds of a litany of excuses but the bottom line is this so long as you blame somebody else for your faults and your failures you prevent yourself from needing to be forgiven you don't need to be forgiven if you have a reason for why you've done what you've done you know what you need just to be understood you just need to be heard and understood but you see the calvary will never be of any value to you you come to the cross and you're barking up the wrong tree you don't need what's available why because the cross is in the uh the cross is not for winners it's for sinners and until you're one of those you keep yourself by your rationalization from ever getting all that god even has for you so stop blaming god on a national radio program bible teaching program from the beginning of the early 20th century when they had radio there was the number one question that people asked was why are we to pray jesus gave us instructions to pray lead us not into temptation why would i have to ask god to not lead me into temptation is god tempted to lead me into temptation no the idea is this the person is to pray god please don't allow me to be tested in the area that i'm weak and i'm going to fail agar in the book of proverbs prays to god says god just give me what i need don't give me riches or poverty for if i am rich you know what lord i i just might be in danger of forgetting about you and trusting in myself and if i'm poor i might be tempted to steal and blaspheme your name so just give me what i need lord i i don't want either one of those things to lead me into temptation no god never tempts you never has never will he can't put this down identify spiritual enemy number one as you look at the text look at the text he says verse 14 each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust we would expect to do said it's the devil it's the tempter isn't that what flip wilson said the devil made me do it you didn't remember that well anyway jot it down jeremiah 13 23 listen to what god says can the ethiopian change his skin or the leopardous spots then you also can do good who are accustomed to doing evil an ancient christian writer wrote this he said the baptism the waters of baptism do not drown the flesh how true that is paul said there is nothing in my flesh that does and wants to do good if there's anything about me that wants to do good that's the holy spirit working in me but paul would say oh wretched man that i am i want to obey god but i wind up not obeying god you know put this down number three stop taking the bait by seeing where it ends at the end of the day in verse 14 and 15 here is to be our encouragement why we should say no to temptation when lust has conceived it gives birth to sins kind of a life cycle of a sin in verse 15 when lust has conceived he gives birth to sin and when sin is fully accomplished it brings forth death you know fish will typically never bite a bear hook they're too smart that's why men create lures that's why they put on bait a fish will not bite a hook if they knew that they would be dead shortly the idea is this in a temptation which comes from our own flesh what do i mean by that jesus said in the gospel of john the prince of this world is coming speaking of satan then he said this and he has nothing in me he has nothing in me in other words there is no sinful nature there is no past history where satan can grab hold there's no handle in me that he can lay hold of but the fact is that's not true of all of us satan knows you and he knows me and he knows we're weak and by the way we're all weak in different areas what's a temptation for me might not be a temptation for you when it speaks of lusts we think of sexual sin it includes that it's not only that the word epithelia in the greek means just a strong desire can actually be a strong desire for what's good did you know that but this word means those inner desires many times for things that are not bad in themselves look food is good gluttony is sin sleep is good i think the older i get the more i like sleep i'm really i enjoy sleep there are times i just feel like maybe i should just stay asleep go right into eternity it'll be fine sleep is good laziness is sin sex is a gift from god that's hebrews 13. marriage and the marriage bed is undefiled it's a gift from god but fornication and adulterers god will judge you see god is placed within us desires in our physical bodies and our minds for things that aren't bad in and of themselves but when they get out of control they can become temptations to disobey god to not trust god and so this picture by the way the original language uses words of hunting and fishing words of baiting a hook and the idea is this that when you have a a trap or a baited hook there's both that which attracts and then which deceives sin has both of those elements there's an attraction to it but there's also a deception in it i suppose if i didn't have grandkids i wouldn't know uh much about frozen but i remember when it came out they memorized that movie inside out and uh there's a song for those of you who have seen it you'll remember it which is sung by olaf olaf is the snowman and olaf the snowman just imagines what it would be like to enjoy the summer yeah and so here's the there's this conversation that happens between him and two other characters he says this the snowman he says oh i don't know why i've always enjoyed the idea of summer and sun and all things hot and kristoff says really he says i'm guessing you don't have much experience with heat olaf says nope but then he says this but sometimes i like to close my eyes and imagine what i'd be like when summer does come beesle buzz kids will blow dandelion fuzz and i'll be doing whatever snow does in summer a drink in my hand my snow up against the burning sand probably getting gorgeously tanned in summer i'll finally see a summer breeze blow away a winter storm and find out what happens to solid water when it gets warm and i can't wait to see what my buddies all think of me just imagine how much cooler i'll be in summer the hot and the cold are both so intense put them together it just makes sense winter is a good time to stay in and cuddle but put me in summer and i'll be a and he sees a puddle and he says a happy snowman when life gets rough i like to hold on to my dream of relaxing in the summer sun just letting off steam oh the sky will be blue and you guys will be there too when i finally do what frozen things do in summer kristoff the man looks at anna knowingly and says i'm going to tell him and she says don't you dare don't you dare little does she know that's exactly what satan would say to me and you about the temptations as you get excited about that temptation whatever it is in the physical realm and the emotional realm in the sexual realm satan says don't even think about what might happen can i let's just be honest if david king david had looked out the window and saw his own baby dying see himself involved in the murder of one of his own brave soldiers see his daughter tamar raped see his son absalom rebel and then die in that rebellion to see the enemies of god blaspheming god in god's people because of his sin can we all agree he would have never gone for bathsheba but that's always the way sin is there's never an advertised price that has anything to do with the reality it's been said this way sin will take you farther than you want to go keep you longer than you want to stay and cost you more than you want to pay if you want to know what sins end is just go to the cross just go to the cross and look at jesus on the cross for you will not find a more perfect innocent loving lovely person who's ever graced this world in all of history but you will see what sin does to somebody because the bible says god made him who know knew no sin to be sin on our behalf and then god judged him and jesus is in agony dying in angina abandoned even by god that's where sin leads there's a way that seems right to a man but the end thereof is the way of sin and of death temptation is always a lie as to what it's going to cost you oh it's going to be so much fun the bible says sin is pleasurable for a season but you're just being baited put this down i want to give you four things from scripture about avoiding temptation and overcoming temptation we've already looked at how do i honor god how do i have faith in my tests and the keys to passing the test or knowing that god is good that god is governing and there's purpose in my trials but there are also keys in the bible that we should mention about overcoming temptation in fact start with jotting down jude verses 20 and 21 jude 20 and 21 if you're asking what chapter that one there's only one jude 20 and verse 21 listen by the way before i read this first let me remind you the book of jude is a very short book we call it a postcard of an epistle it's only one chapter written right before the book of revelation by the brother of jesus by the way and jude describes ways that people fell away from god in the old testament he talks about kory he talks about balaam he talks about cain in other words these are examples from the old testament of men who disobeyed god fell away from god and sinned and the idea in the book of jude is that apostates have always been here and there's lots of different ways to fall away from the lord how you're tempted and how i'm tempted are going to be different how you fall away that might be completely different there's lots of ways to fall away i called you there must be 50 ways to leave your lover there's lots of ways to fall away from god but then later in the book and later in that short little epistle he tells us the key or the keys of not falling away here's what he says but you beloved building yourself up on your most holy faith praying in the spirit keep yourselves in the love of god waiting anxiously for the mercy of our lord jesus christ to eternal life he actually gives us four keys to not falling away and i want to just break those down for you here on your sheet so put this down first of all be a person who's taking in the word of god god's word being taken in by us is a key to overcoming temptation jot down psalm 119 and verse 11. the psalmist says this thy word have i treasured in my heart in order that i might not sin against thee when jesus went out into the wilderness he was tempted of the devil after 40 days of fasting you remember satan came to him said if you're the son of god turn these stones into bread that was the first temptation but every one of the three temptations the first words out of jesus's mouth in answer to the temptation was what it is written it is written as jesus actually quotes scripture now the mistake a lot of christians make at that point is thinking if i just know the bible i can quote a verse at the devil and the devil go oh that's the bible i can't handle that that's not the way it works how do i know that because satan will quote the bible as part of his temptation to jesus to throw himself down from the pinnacle of the devil god is re he just comes back with scripture himself oh no the bible doesn't hurt the devil's ears rather here's the thing to remember the bible says we're to resist the devil firm in our faith he's like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour but resist him firm in your faith jude says build yourself up on your most holy faith we're given a shield of faith to extinguish the fiery missiles of the enemy what does that mean how do we get more faith faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of god that's why you need to take the word of god in it's not just enough to memorize it you need to believe it you need to apply it at the moment of temptation that's what jesus is doing you're building yourself up on your most holy faith by believing the word of god that you've taken in but you've got to take it in you can't believe what you don't know you can't rehearse what you've never even learned you've got to know the word of god thy word have i hid in my heart not just in my head the key to overcoming temptation is to love the author of the word that's why god said in deuteronomy these words which i am commanding you today shall be on your heart talk to your kids about them all through the day it's it's got to be you will not obey unless they're on your heart you see and so john writes to the young men who he says are strong i've written to you young men because you're strong and the word of god abides in you and you have overcome the wicked one oh no i get tempted from my own flesh but the enemy uses what's inside me but the word of god as i place that inside of me and i believe it i have the ability to say no so be taking in the word of god secondly be praying and walking by the spirit of god jude said we're to be praying in the holy spirit now there are those who claim that that means praying in tongues i think they're completely wrong in that passage that's not what it means it means to be praying according to the leading of the holy spirit spirit led praying remember we don't know how to pray as we ought romans 8 but the spirit intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words he leads us to pray appropriate prayers jot down matthew 26 41 listen to what jesus said to his disciples who he knew were about to be tempted in the garden keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation the spirit that is our spirit is willing but the flesh is weak or the spirit of god is willing but the flesh is weak now when he says watch and pray the word watch the word gregoretto i know we get the name greg by the way from this greek word gregor we speak of being gregarious the word in greek watch or stay awake is gregor stay awake be alert the idea is there's a battle coming there's an enemy coming alertness is key you need to have your radar up you need to expect to be attacked you know when i think about putting on the armor of god i remind myself the reason i if i'm going to be carrying a shield around is i'm expecting incoming when i put on a bulletproof vest as a cop it's like you never know when you're going to get shot at you need to be prepared so a believer needs to expect to be attacked and to have that awareness that it could happen at any time help you helps you to be ready prayer though is the key here it's very interesting jesus said watch and pray or you're going to suffer loss and that's exactly what happened jesus prayed in the garden his disciples slept and when the temptation came they ran away but jesus bore testimony i'm the one take me had no problem remember the key of prayer also when he comes down from the mount of transfiguration his disciples can't cast out the demon but jesus said this kind only comes out by fasting in prayer he's ready to go prayer is key watch and pray if you're not if you're giving in to temptation my guess is there's an issue with your prayer life why because he made a promise he didn't say watch and pray you'll never be tempted oh no no that's not what he promised he'll still be tempted but watch and pray or you'll enter the temptation you see and so the first thing is the word of god the second is to be filled with the spirits but also to be in intimate relationship with the lord it was martin luther who once said this he said you cannot regarding temptation you can't stop the birds from flying overhead but you can stop them from nesting in your hair in other words we have a responsibility in this as well is the place that i'm going going to be a place i'm going to be tempted is the activity i'm going to be involved with going to encourage me to sin am i in a relationship with somebody who i know you know it seems like we all know who we can sin with we all know who we can get away with sin with or who will encourage us in sin rather than in the lord be careful who you're hanging out with jot down galatians 5 and verse 16. this verse i believe is key for all of us i hope you memorize it help you take it to the bank paul made this promise he said walk by the spirit and here it is you will not carry out the desire of the flesh so i need to be in an intimate relationship with the lord what does that mean i have to ask him to fill me with the spirit what does paul say don't get drunk with wine listen can i just be honest with you he's telling a group of christians to stop getting drunk yeah not non-christians christians why because sometimes christians get drunk you know noah got drunk after he got done with the voyage believers can fall into all the sins of this world in their carnality every one of them and so he tells that same church in ephesus by the way you guys that are stealing stop stealing yeah there was problems in that church steal no longer in other words you are stop it and you're getting drunk stop it how do i really i hang out with people that get drunk i like to come home at my beers get a little tipsy and i like to hang out and it's just kind of fun and it kind of de-stresses me and he says don't be drunk for that's just a waste of time that's dissipation but here's the answer be being filled with the holy spirit when you're filled with the holy spirit you won't want to you'll say no to it walk by the spirit you will not gratify the desires of the flesh so take the word of god in then secondly is prayer in the ministry of his holy spirit thirdly keep yourself in the love of god and i think this is probably the greatest key of all keep yourself in the love of god this is jude's answer you want to stop sinning in the areas you're sinning this is going to be and it's such a beautiful thing he's really saying keep yourself aware of how much god loves you why because our love for the lord is always just a response to his love remember the bible says we love because well he first loved us so you can try to drum up all the love you want for the lord you're going to fail keep yourself in the love of god and guess what paul says the love of christ controls me having concluded this that one died for all and if one died for all all died that they who live should no longer live for themselves but for him and who died and rose again on our behalf do you get it paul says i'm crucified with christ you gave up your life paul yes i don't even care about my identity anymore i'm crucified with christ nevertheless i live yet not i but christ lives in me and the life which i now live i live by faith in the son of god who loved me and delivered himself up for me do you hear what he's saying in other words paul saying i'll go back to what he did for me at the cross and because of his love for me i don't want to claim my life for myself anymore keep yourself in the love of god jot down john 14 and verse 15 jesus made this promise if you love me you'll keep my commandments by the way there's a satanic version of that verse here's how satan quotes that verse to you if you love the lord you would have obeyed him that's not what jesus said jesus did not hand satan a club to club you you don't love the lord enough obviously no jesus is giving you the means whereby you can obey him just love me love me if you love me you will want to and you will obey my commandments john writes this in 1st john 2 he says if anyone loves this world now it doesn't mean loves yosemite loves traveling loves people sometimes the word world refers to the people of the world john 3 16 for god so loved the world but there john is using it in that other way that other form like it's used in ephesians 2 we're born dead spiritually walking according to the prince of this world the course of this world the world that is godless that's antagonistic to god and there john writes this he says if anyone loves the world the love of the father is not in him for all that is in the world the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life is not from the father but is of the world so if you're getting sucked into this world's temptations if you're struggling with temptation you want to see the problem the problem is lord there's not enough love for you to overcome my attraction to this world remember that old song turn your eyes upon jesus you know that one look full in his wonderful face and the things of life will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace i've shared it before but to remind you i'm not a great fisherman people always when i preach on me not doing good at fishing they always want to take me out on a half day boat so i can barf all over them i guess but uh i'm not that's not my goal in life is to be a good fisherman but anyway i've learned that repeatedly but it's because i don't feel like getting up at oh dark 30 to go catch fish so by the time i go and catch fish the fish aren't catchable why because they're not hungry they already ate and even a dumb fish using the bait that everybody else was using earlier it doesn't work why they're full they're full that's why psalm 23 the lord's my shepherd i don't need anything i am good my cup over flows i'm satisfied you want to affair proof your marriage read proverbs 5 have a healthy sexual relationship and emotional relationship with your spouse be satisfied in your marriage you will not have to work fall in love with the lord you will discover your love for the world will dry up but if you don't it won't they're tied to each other keep yourself in the love of god and then number four be looking for the coming of the son of god the fourth and last thing jude mentions is that we are waiting for christ to return we jot down luke 12 36 jesus said be like men who are waiting for their master when he returns from the wedding feast so that they may immediately open the door to him when he comes and he knocks in other words they're expecting him and then luke 12 verses 45 and 46 in that same parable jesus says but if that slave says in his heart my master will be a long time in coming and he begins to beat the slaves both men and women and to eat and to drink and get drunk the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect and in an hour he does not know it will cut him in pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers now here's the point the person who's going to overcome the temptations of this world is a person who is taking god's word in and loving the lord that's why they're spending time in the word they're spending time in prayer getting close to the lord asking to be filled with the holy spirit they're putting themselves in a place where they're refreshed in the love of god continuously bathing and reminding themselves of the object of god's love which is creating a love back but they're also one of the elements that jude mentions is they're a person who's waiting for christ to come they're like a person says my master's going to come at any time i'm standing by the door i'm waiting for him to show up i can hear his donkey outside and i'm going to open the door and say welcome and this is the picture of us as believers you know i have an app on my phone that warns me when my wife is about a mile away now that's not a lot of time but it's enough time to put a few things away clean up a little bit i i know she's coming but i want to know when she's just about there and it tells me you know all right why because i love her i do i want her to you know boy the place is clean yeah that's the way i keep it you know i i i want to be ready for her when she comes through the door and the idea is if i am gonna overcome temptation i'm a person who's living with the awareness my savior could come back at any second could be today could be to i might not do second service listen if i believe that and i do i want to live in that i pray every day thy kingdom come why he told me to why would i pray for something that can't happen the kingdom doesn't come except the king shows up don't confuse the rapture in the second coming of christ a lot of people do that the rapture is when christ comes for his church the second coming is when christ comes with his church but he's coming back for us first to take us home the bible promises us that if we say oh that's not gonna happen people have been saying that for years oh guess what the effect of that is you begin to beat the fellow slaves you begin to be gluttonous and just enjoy this life and getting drunk and all of a sudden you're in a place you shouldn't be that's why the bible says he has this hope fixed upon himself purifies himself as he is pure amen those four qualities jude points out can help you could help me overcome temptation let's pray lord we do not want to simply study temptation we're all very aware that it's a real part of our life we're tempted instead of praying to sleep or just to ignore you we're tempted to not read the bible or to rush through it we're tempted to go to church and make it our ritual that we have checked off of our box lord because we know you want us to be in fellowship the lord we read and discover today the way to overcome temptation is not by having practices that are just rituals but rather to have a relationship with you lord would you feed us your word to strengthen our faith would you invite us to prayer to come into that intimate place where we don't want to give in to temptation because we love you would you give us the ability lord to look forward to your return as though it could happen at any time because it can happen at any time and to expect you and to be waiting for you and to be excited and to be cleaning up lord if we need to to be ready to open the door to you when you come we love you teach us to have victory in our trials and in our temptations in jesus name amen let's all stand and sing together [Music] and the things of earth will grow strangely is [Music] will grow straight [Music] is [Music] [Music] real quick before you go don't forget to sign up for men's retreat we need to know the number so that we have uh meals planned up there for you and t-shirts so guys and gals encourage your husbands your sons we want them to go and then also if you are one of those who said you know what i want to serve in children's and i think about 45 people answered that call so far we're super excited one o'clock today there's a luncheon for you don't forget that and if you're saying oh i didn't know i could do that i still want to do that just show up we just want you there so i hope you'll be part of answering god's god's call to our body to help we love you guys and appreciate you thanks for all that you do have a good week [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] i searched the world [Music] he couldn't fill me man's empty praise and treasures [Music] oh that you came along and you put me back together [Music] [Applause] nothing is better [Applause] [Music] [Applause] i'm not afraid [Music] to show you my weakness my [Music] of the failures is the god of the valley there's not a place find me again [Music] [Music] [Applause] is [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] you give beauty for ashes you turn shame into glory you're the only [Applause] [Music] you give beauty crashes you turn shape into glory you're the only one who cares [Music] [Applause] [Music] you're the only one is [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] there's nothing better is [Music] [Music] you're the only one who you turn you're the only one who cares you're the only the one one [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] i love you lord [Music] oh your mercy never fails me all my days i've been held in your head from the moment that i wake up until i lay my head oh i will see you on the goodness of god all my life you have been fake [Music] [Music] [Music] father i'm telling you as a friend in the goodness [Applause] [Music] of the goodness [Music] your goodness is [Music] [Music] now [Music] [Music] [Music] i'll give you everything is [Music] all my life you have been so [Music] good [Music] oh [Music] know my life [Music] [Music] of the oh of god [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] hey [Music] to see [Music] [Music] [Music] jesus [Music] [Applause] jesus [Music] of all the glory and honor [Music] [Music] [Music] but taking every the blood that gushed and spilled to wash us clean jesus [Music] [Music] jesus you are worthy [Applause] [Music] jesus [Applause] [Music] jesus [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] jesus [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] jesus says jesus you are worthy of all the glory jesus [Music] jesus [Applause] [Music] jesus [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] yeah he's worthy and uh even when things are a little bit shaky in our lives or things aren't going the way that we had hoped him to go it doesn't affect his worthiness of our worship amen we can come into this place when we just say god you are worthy of praise and we can worship you here today i actually woke up a few days ago and my voice had dropped like three octaves and so finally i'm ready for the men's retreat i am finally worthy to lead worship for men so so if anybody needs a trailer for a movie cut in a world you know i can do it uh for the next like maybe 12 hours but you know it's funny when you you rely on something right and you think it's always going to be there like for me it's my voice and my ability to sing in the girl register you know and uh and then when i woke up and i was like wow i feel a little bit encumbered right now it's it's kind of shocking you know and it's the same thing as you know as i used to be able to run all the time then my knees start hurting right it's like well now i can't run as much as i'd like to anymore and it made me think you know if if music was the primary vehicle that god intended us to use to worship him then he would not allow bad singers on earth right he would not allow us to lose our voices he would not allow deafness to fall on certain people what he desires is our heart and our he desires this as a living sacrifice as it says in romans chapter 12. you know and even we can get into this mindset of okay we're walking through the doors of calvary chapel east anaheim it's time to worship well not really it's time to just turn up your worship because you know in in john jesus is talking with the woman at the well and she said hey you know there's confusion like where where is it that we're supposed to worship and he says no no no longer on the mountaintop no longer in the temple but those who worship me will worship me in spirit and truth he wants you on the altar not just your vicinity of where you're worshiping not just your avenue and what you feel that you've been equipped to worship him but we want to put a soundtrack here this morning on a heart's desire to glorify him in everything amen and so whether it's really high singing or really low singing and uh however god's equipped you to worship him uh this morning maybe you feel like hey i'm not the best singer well all the better all the better to pour out your heart in worship and praise to him and so we sing to him we read his word we apply it to our lives we serve him and then we also give back to him what he's so richly blessed us with not to repay him because we could never repay him but to just say you know what where our treasure is our heart is also and so we want you to have our whole heart and so we're going to transition down to a time of giving and you know if you're watching online at home that might be hitting close to home for you literally and you're thinking you know what yeah i'm not in your vicinity but you can still join us in unity you can still join us in worshiping him in spirit and truth just desire him to be glorified in what you're doing and you can join with us and so i know still a lot of folks watching at home that can't be here and uh are still waiting uh we miss you we want you to be here but you're with us and and we want you to know that god is with you and he is desiring to receive your worship then also pour out a message into your heart so that you can become a better living sacrifice and so i'm going to pray for our offering and our time together here then we're going to get into the word we're going to sing one more song about the promises of god lord we're thankful to be here and we're so grateful that you don't require us to do just rituals to worship you but lord you have a relationship with us and we can come to you freely at any point of any day on the mountaintop and the valleys wherever we stand from the rising to where the sun sets lord in the name of the lord is to be praised and so in every season in every vicinity in every area of our lives we want to glorify you and so take our tithes our offerings uh they're better in your hands than they are in ours let it be a sacrifice of praise take our songs let those be a sacrifice of worship take our whole heart lord help us to leave this place more like christ because we spent this time in your presence in jesus name amen [Music] god of abraham when you're the god of covenant faithful promises time and time again you have proven you do just what you said though the stones may come and the winds may blow i'll remain steadfast and let my heart learn when you speak a word it will come to pass greatly pray is your faithful to me great is your faithfulness to me from [Music] is [Music] your faithfulness so god [Music] though the earth may pass away your word remains the same your history can prove there's nothing you can do your faithful language storms though the storms and the winds and let my heart burn it will come to pass great is your faithful [Music] to me from the rising sun to the city my praise [Music] grace is your faithfulness to [Music] [Applause] foundation you'll never let me down i put my faith in jesus my [Music] i put my faith he'll never let me down [Music] he'll never let me let me down [Music] is [Music] is [Music] he'll never let me down is [Applause] [Music] [Applause] foundation he'll never let you down you'll never let me down [Music] is rising sun [Music] is [Music] praise your name great is your faithfulness [Music] to me [Music] [Applause] amen thank you worship team good morning cowboy chapel how are you guys doing you guys doing good whoo good to see you guys in the house of god today whether you're watching online or in person we're glad you are here today and i have a few announcements for you guys i want you to know about that i believe will help you love and live for the lord we have first of all a bulletin that we put in all of your hands there's an e bulletin that goes out via email and text but also a hard copy here and if you have one i'd encourage you to take a look at it i don't have time to discuss every announcement in the bulletin but there are many announcements that are also intended to help you serve the lord to grow in your faith so check out your bulletins online or in person here in the hard copy but here's a couple i want to highlight for you today number one is our missionaries the alvarado's uh we here at cabbage chapel he's anaheim believe in the great commission of christ which is a go and make disciples of all nations not just america not just our nation all nations and in acts 1 8 it says we should go from jesus told the disciples go to from jerusalem to judea samaria to the ends of the world so we are the avorados in japan and i'm japanese myself so i know a little bit about the culture over there i don't know why you're clapping for that i didn't do anything about ain't doing anything to do that but uh anyway uh we have some missions out there who are using technology to share the gospel um they are filming testimonies from christians out there and the christians out there is a very small community in fact less than half a percent of people in japan are professing evangelical christians so it's a very dark place and they're going to they're filming testimonials of christians and they're spreading it online it's been going crazy out there so i want to encourage you to go out to the table they're not here personally but they have their care team who represent them and you can ask them some questions and find out what god is doing out in japan through the alvarados really a great team great family and i would encourage you to um find out more information about them we also have our men's retreat coming this weekend and the man of the place going out there who are the guys going who are the guys going awesome so i will see you there come say hello to me if you have a chance and we're going to see um it's twin peaks conference center we have pastor garrett bieler and chad williams with us this weekend and i want to really encourage you guys who are not signed up if there is still time there is still time and the bible says in in proverbs 27 that ire sharp as as iron sharpens iron one man sharpens another and one key part of why iron sharpens iron is because it's the same material that's the same material if iron hits the word it dulls it it's important for us men to find other men of the same heart the same belief the same love for the lord and when we're around each other we will sharpen each other and we're not just sharpening each other for the sake of being sharp we're being sharpened for the battle of the lord to be better in this world which is not just flesh and blood but principalities and darkness we need to be sharp as men in our faith so i want to encourage you guys if you're not signed up and you've been a little bit dull in your faith maybe come out and see what god does through other men to the body of christ and be encouraged all right so it's this coming weekend there's still time we'd love to see you guys there and then also we have bless fest right around the corner it's 67 days away till blast fest everybody which means it's six seven days until thanksgiving and uh we we've been doing this thing called bless fest and we did it two years ago we had to skip last year because of 2020 but uh it actually started out in calvary chapel las vegas and they started doing this years ago and pastor mike williams our our family's pastor brought it here with with to bless us it's been amazing but we have a video uh that cowboy chapel las vegas did a few years ago uh and some testimonials from people who enjoyed a blessed by bless fest so check this video out real quick and we'll continue with our announcements again next year i've only been here five months in vegas he was doing a bus transfer and a guy walked up to me and said this is a dangerous neighborhood people carry knives and they open his knife and the other fella said though won't you give us over your wallet so we can hold it for you until your bus gets here it was interesting because they were robbing me but they didn't make it look like they were robbing me and i've been stuck here ever since i've been stuck here ever since five months trying to get out of vegas it's been an ordeal but i did find jesus a guy who's preaching was in a harley davidson jacket he said no matter what you've done in your life that how horrible person you've been he said whatever you've done you can walk up to saw right now and you get amnesty for it who wants to take that walk i said i do i've been a horrible human being and this guy robbing me was probably the best thing ever happened to me i didn't think there was going to be an event like this i saw the bus pulling up and picking up people in a long line i had to wait four buses and it's great the church coming and leaving their families and coming here and going to work for god that's that's awesome it's awesome so yeah what bless fest is is we send out buses to the homeless shelters in our area and we bring people in and what we do is we feed them thanksgiving dinner and we give them clothes and we offer dentistry we have a lot lawyers who give them legal advice we get we do everything there's makeup there's manicures pedicures so a lot of places for the body of christ to be at work and ma in matthew 25 jesus said when when i was hungry you clothed me like when i was thirsty you gave me something to drink when i was naked you gave me something to wear and it says the people ask well when did we do that he says when you did that to the least of these you did it for me and i want to encourage you guys to be people who do that for the lord on thanksgiving i know thanksgiving is the day we think it's about ourselves but really it's about the lord it's about thanking him for the blessings he's given us and what better way to thank him than do what's on his heart which is a care for those in need yeah amen we can clap for that so i want to encourage you guys to be a part of it and it's really a blessing as you be a blessing so that's all for the announcements today uh now our senior pastor pastor bob copeland will give us god's word thanks josh and do take some time to look at uh this little flyer in here um it gives you some other ways to be involved i know everybody cannot come out on thanksgiving but can i just tell you something that i learned two years ago when we did this there is a greater blessing in giving to god when it costs you something remember david said i will not give to the lord i won't sacrifice to the lord that which cost me nothing somebody offered him some land to use as a threat the threshing floor of aruna to offer uh make an altar to god and and the guy said you know i just want to give it to you and he said absolutely not i'm paying full price for it can i tell you if you didn't get a chance although a lot of you did we have 800 volunteers more than any we've ever had for any event and every one of them was giving up what they probably would have been doing with their thanksgiving although you still get to have the other half of the day it's just an amazing thing to come out and to serve the lord and to say i i kind of if i have to make a choice of doing what i've always done what maybe my flesh would prefer to do i want to do something for for the lord and the bible says he who gives to the poor lends to the lord and god will repay so i want to challenge you to be make a commitment say i'm going to be there on bless fest we still need hundreds more volunteers by the way we need some people that have some specialized skills not all of us can cut hair or not all of us can do nails or some of these things if you have one of those specialized skills and you want to be used let us know sign up on your app uh for being a part of blessfest but by the way if you um can't be there but you'd still like to be involved we have some other needs sorting out closes every saturday here you can help us with that also there's a setup the day before thanksgiving and a tear down the day after we need all kinds of hands so don't think i can't do it i'm busy that day so let us know what you can do in particular right now we're looking for dental professionals and licensed cosmetologists also you can buy a shirt the proceeds of the shirt will go to helping us put it on but we hope you'll volunteer and take part i'd like you to open your bibles now to the book of james chapter one as we continue our study through the book of james verse by verse james chapter 1 beginning in verse 12. the context has been trials one of the things that i mentioned that i love about the book of james just think new testament book of proverbs very practical you know sometimes when i teach on marriage i always feel bad for the single people because they might feel like i'm not married yet or or if i'm teaching on singleness the married people are like i'll tune out well in the book of james there's no time to tune out because it's all about every one of us uh we're talking about trials and temptations i guarantee you you're in here beginning in verse 12 blessed is a man who perseveres under trial for once he has been approved by the lord is the idea he will receive the crown of life which the lord has promised to those who love him now let no one say when he is tempted i'm being tempted by god for god cannot be tempted by evil he himself does not tempt anyone but each one is tempted when he's carried away and enticed by his own lust then when lust has conceived he gives birth to sin and when sin is accomplished it brings forth death father we know what it's like to be tempted we know what it's like to be tested the lord we want our faith to be activated to be victorious in our tests and to come through them approved lord we want to face temptation and like you did say no to our flesh say no to satan say no to the temptations of this world because they rip us off and we know that so father would you strengthen us to understand the truth from this passage where our faith can grow today in jesus name amen you can be seated well for those of you that haven't been with us we began the book by james declaring himself a bond servant we said really victory over trials begins right there seeing yourself as somebody who is under god's authority somebody who is sold out to christ and because you love him you've said lord you're in charge and if you're in charge of my life then while i can't rejoice in every circumstance i can rejoice in who you are the bible says rejoice in the lord it's in who he is it's in his sovereignty what a difference it makes when you genuinely believe there's nothing that's coming into your life that hasn't been pre-planned and pre-approved by the lord you can trust him you know when i was a young boy i went to um i think was either disneyland it might have been not spray form i can't remember but it was my first time riding in the autopia that was pretty exciting for me to have a little car my size that was motorized and i was too little to actually be in there by myself so they put my brother in there with me who was older and i'll never forget i was very nervous about driving the car i thought well what if i break it i've never driven a car before what if i just crash into something you know another car in front of me or if i cruise into a wall i literally didn't understand that i was safe and i remember just going very easy on the gas and people behind me i think were a little bothered by that and my brother said just put step on the gas i said well i'm a little nervous and he said why i said i'm afraid i'm gonna crash he said you're not gonna crash i said how do you know he said look and he showed me underneath where the steering wheel was just a piece of plywood and underneath there was just a bolt head he said there is no steering mechanism you're not he goes look the wheels don't do anything when you do this he says it's all on the track you can't go off track i said really of course i didn't love that idea i thought i was in charge but he said no just relax you don't even have to touch the wheel and gas it and i realized you know what i was pretty proud of myself just gassing it not even steering the thing look mom no hands and the fact is i realize years later that's exactly what the lord wants me and you to do as we go through life we're going to face all kinds of trials if we think we're in charge if we think we're steering it we're going to be terrified but if we realize hey you're on a track god is only bringing into your life that which you can handle you're exactly ready for it it's time for it you don't have to fear and you can have god's peace well put this down see your troubles as trial sized trial sized jot down first corinthians 10 13 this is a verse to remember with regard to tests or trials because the greek word translated in our text first corinthians 10 temptation it's the same word for test or temptation no test or no temptation has ever overtaken you as a believer but such as is common to man and here's the good news god's faithful he will not allow you to be tested or tried or tempted beyond what you are able but with that temptation will provide the way of escape also that you might be able to endure it in other words as believers we can trust the lord in fact it says we're happy if we make it through the trial it's kind of this picture you know how you felt at the end of taking a test that maybe you weren't sure if you're going to pass and you found out i i passed it i remember when i applied to be a police officer and they you know gave us the statistic only one in a hundred uh guys actually make it into law enforcement and i thought oh man that's i'm not you know why do i think that's going to be me and i remember i took the oral board there were three police officers sitting on the other side of the table i'd never had an interview like that they didn't like me from the moment i walked in i could tell they didn't they were looking for they were trying to stress me out and give me all kinds of circumstances as though i had already been trained and i could i'm fumbling around i'm doing my best and i thought i don't think i passed that test and then i got the notice of the mail you have successfully passed your oral examination you know i thought wow i didn't get out those other guys must have done horrible but what a joy it is to pass i remember my last day of high school i mean i really do this was you know when you have mandatory education your whole life and you're finally not required to go to school you have this thought i'll never go back that's what you think before you start college and i thought i'm just going to go to work but i remember i was 17. i graduated a year early not because i was so smart because i actually wasn't that smart i just outsmarted the system and managed to get enough credits to get done as a junior because i wanted out and i remember on the final day of school what was the old saying we used to say as kids you know no more pencils no more books no more teachers dirty looks i think cause you're going in the summer and in my day it was the song school's out forever that we were all putting that on our radio that final day of class and i remember the guys some of the seniors and the guys that graduated were out in the parking lot burning rubber and doing donuts they were so stupid i had to join them and uh you celebrate when when you see that's when tests which are challenging become testimonies because the tests are over and this is the idea happy is the person the man or woman who stays with it under the trial for once you've been approved there is going to be a reward put this down treat your difficulties as tests not pests um you've been to the dentist and you know i i joke around a little bit sometimes because dental pain seems like it can be the worst pain you can ever experience i think some part of hell is reserved for dental pain but we we have some great dentists in our church i'm thankful for them so please don't get me wrong i love them i hate them and love them the fact is when you're in pain you don't want to have more pain in your mouth but you're willing to go have more pain why because there's purpose in it because this person is paid to fix it they better fix it believe me they better do something to make it go away and you're willing to accept pain when there's a reason for it and you know the reason purposeless pain will lead you to despair and hopelessness so that's why as a believer it's important to realize god there's a reason you're putting me through this for a christian pain is a process it's not an address it's not where you're supposed to live the rest of your life i remember as a kid there was that thing that would break into you know tv shows every once in a while it was a test pattern and then it would go beep and then a voice would come on this is a test this is just a test and then they'd go for about 30 seconds or a minute and then the voice would come out this has been a test of the emergency broadcast system if this had been an actual emergency you'd already be dead no you always kind of wonder if all of us not thankfully we never had anything but the test and in a sense as christians when things get tough it's scary it's not what i expected we need to hear the test pattern lord saying hey this is a test right now of the emergency belief system are you ready to believe me you're ready for this but if we'll see that we can actually be happy even before it's over put this down faith is proven precious by fire it's proven precious by fire the reason i use that is the greek word underlying the word approved in the new american standard blessed is the man who perseveres under trial for once he has been the word in greek as dokimonzo instead of word that speaks of as saying metal gold and silver once it has been tested which in the ancient world they didn't test it with chemicals they tested it with heat shot down james 5 verses 10 and 11. james writes as an example brethren of suffering and patience which is what we want take the prophets who spoke in the name of the lord behold we count those blessed who endured then he gives an example you have heard of the endurance of job and you've seen the outcome of the lord's dealings that the lord is full of compassion and merciful if you've read the book of job make sure you get to the end yes he went through more than just about anybody could imagine in his losses but look at the end of his life and how faithful god is and how faithful he was and he'll be faithful to you faith's value is that it really can get increased it's not just you have it or you don't and trials come into our life to do two things listen to me to show your faith that you already have and to grow your faith that you don't yet have i like to say it this way tests come to prove our faith prove that it's genuine and improve our faith or to increase it jot down job 23 10 listen to what job said in the midst of his trials he said this of the lord god knows the way that i'm taking when he has tried me i shall come forth as gold jot down first peter 1 verses 6 and 7 he brings up the same subject of refinement he said to those christians who were suffering in his day and this you greatly rejoice in your trials and persecution even though now for a little while if necessary you've been distressed by various trials that the proof the evidence the genuineness of your faith being more precious than gold which is perishable even though tested by fire may be found to result in the praise and glory and the honor at the revelation of jesus christ to refine gold you have to raise the temperature to 2 000 degrees that's the only way to bring out the impurities otherwise they don't come out it's high heat you know as a little boy we used to play with uh army men that was the whole thing we'd set up our little armies you remember little green plastic army men but my dad had this mold and i'll never forget it was so cool it would make three army men but not out of plastic out of lead and so we would go and get wheel weights because they were free and a lot of times just abandoned in fields and different things are at gas stations and dirty old pieces of lead we'd bring them home we'd put them in the ladle on the stove and then he and i would melt down the lid and it would take a while to get hot enough but it would finally melt it down and then we would take i remember like a butter knife and we would scoot it across the top of that molten lid it was filthy on top all the dirt but it would skim right off and then it looked like pure silver to me as a kid it's just lead but it looked like expensive stuff it was amazing if you got the mold right you had to smoke the mold and get it ready uh and then got the lead hot enough and all the impurities off while it was still molten lead you would pour it then correctly into this little mold and you would get a cold and you would open it up and you would have three lead soldiers a guy that was marching a guy with a machine gun down there and a guy on the ground laying prone with a long rifle and i would build my army i loved playing army with my neighbor kid friends because they all had the plastic ones they would set up their hundreds of little army men i would set up my battalion have that nighttime you go first and they would throw one of their guys it would bounce off my guys i'd throw one of my guys and kill like 10. i mean it was like this is the way to go the only thing is if when i was trying to make lead soldiers i i didn't get all the impurities off or i didn't heat it up hot enough or prepare the mold i would pour it in and i would think i'm going to wind up with these beautiful army men but sometimes i'd wind up with the division of the disabled the guy that was standing would have no leg and he would fall over every time but the guy with the long rifle had a pistol that drooped and you know see god's got to use the heat in your life because he wants to improve your ability to fight the battle and to be successful faith is proven precious by fire put this down endurance results in eternal rewards now so far we've been talking about endurance and its value in this life and that's absolutely true the bible says count it all joy this is james chapter one verse two count it joy deem it joy when you encounter various trials knowing the testing of your faith produces endurance and let endurance have it it's perfect result now in your life that you may be complete lacking in nothing but we're told there's something more in verse 12 look at it it says blessed is the man who perseveres under trial once he has been approved he'll receive the crown of life which the lord has promised to those who love him in other words trials and tests in our life mature us on earth presently but they also prepare us for crowns eternally that shouldn't surprise us jesus told the parable how we handle what the lord hands us on earth determines whether you will be given oversight of ten cities five cities or none what you do with what god allows or gives you but that's in the kingdom to come shot down revelation 2 and verse 10 jesus said this to the church in the book of revelation do not fear what you're about to suffer gee i don't even want god to ever say that to me it's like i'm about to suffer great do not fear what you're about to suffer behold the devil is about to cast some of you into prison that you may be tested and you'll have tribulation for 10 days be faithful until death and i will give you what the crown of life now the crown of life according to the bible is a specific crown given to those who love the lord who refuse to walk away from him when the times get tough that's what you and i want to be put this down letter b though stop getting tackled by temptations we go from the topic of tests into talking specifically about temptations put in the word tackled look at verse 13. let no one say when he is tempted i'm being tempted by god now you think who in the world would say that god is tempting them oh frankly it's way more common than you think in fact you and i have that same temptation though we may disguise it our own way put this down the first step of dealing with temptations according to this passage just stop blaming god quit blaming god god tests satan tempts jesus after he was baptized went out into the wilderness to be tried and to be tempted but god tests same time same circumstance satan tempts think of this abraham in the old testament is called by faith to follow the lord go to the land that i'll show you i'm going to give you the land of canaan he hasn't seen it yet he finally gets there and the bible says there is a famine in the land there's not enough food that was a test from god what are you going to do with that one abraham what does abraham decide to do i'm going to costco i'm going to egypt that's what i call that's what i call egypt as we're going through the old testament i'm going where they got plenty of everything and so without trusting the lord without asking god abraham totally fails the test it was a test of his faith it actually would wind up showing he didn't have a healthy faith because he doesn't even ask the lord or sikh lord bad things happen in egypt by the way all through scripture when people don't trust the lord no offense against egyptians it was the fact that that was the place where they could go to get their needs met without trusting god and of course remember that's where he lies about his wife oh she's my sister sort of don't kill me and that's where he picks up hagar there's a future plan for her and that's not going to be good either but the fact is this god wants to test your faith satan wants to tempt you to sin so god's trying to show and grow our faith but satan is trying to rip us off remember in john 10 jesus contrasts his own self the good shepherd with the thief he said i came that you might have life and have it more abundantly john 10 10 but the thief satan comes only to rob kill and destroy that's always satan's purpose and motive in tempting he wants to rob you of your fellowship with the lord which breaks when we sin he wants to kill your joy in the lord which we have joy in his presence but sin separates us from god and he absolutely wants to destroy your witness for the lord we go back to the first book of the bible and frankly the first sinners and the first sin we all know the story god said there's only one tree that i'm forbidding you to eat from you can eat anything else everything on the menu there's just one thing you should not order by the way that passage should remind us of the power of sin to destroy it was to eat a fruit it had a death penalty that might sound strange it wasn't murder it wasn't adultery it wasn't rape it was to eat a fruit because it doesn't really matter what sin you commit you become a sinner at the point that you break the law of god at any point and the wages of a sin is death it separates us forever so god says in the day that you eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the hebrew dying you will die you will surely die it's translated it's going to happen and then the tempter came and deceived eve into eating it by twisting the word of god by putting questions where god remember god makes statements and satan turns statements about god into questions always to put doubt there the bible says eve was deceived she really didn't know what she was getting into but she ate and then she decided to share it with my husband and adam was not deceived he did it knowingly we all want to say no adam what was that about right well when you get there you can ask him but really you wouldn't have done any better so just realize this he was sinless before you and i are not so don't be down on adam adam was the first adam bomb you know he bombed out he failed the test but the fact and the fallout is still with us but adam he disobeyed with his eyes wide open then the bible says their eyes were open and they saw that they were naked and so they heard the sound of god walking in the garden in the cool of the day and they were they were ashamed by the way that's usually one of the very first effects of sin if you still have a conscience is shame you immediately feel shame he knew they were naked the bible says they went and they hid themselves in the trees they actually sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves and then god said adam where are you adam doesn't just mean i'm only wanting to talk to the man right now adam the word adam in hebrew means man mankind god made man male and female he's talking to both of them adam and eve we would say where are you now god knew exactly where they were it wasn't like i just can't find them it's kind of like when i play hide-and-go-seek with my four-year-old grandson he'll hide it's really obvious but he is sure nobody can find him jeffrey where are you i can't find you i have to help him sometimes i hide a little better next time so it's even plausible that i can't find him god knew exactly where adam and eve were but he wants to give them a chance to come out that's always the way the lord is when we're in sin he's just wanting you take take this moment you're here at church get right with god he's asking you to come he doesn't want to deal with you he wants you to deal with him draw near to god he'll draw near to you cleanse your hands you sinners the bible says god's ready to forgive but they stay in where are you well we were we're naked and we thought we you know we were embarrassed oh god says did you eat of the tree that i forbade you to eat again god's not asking where they are and he's not really asking did they like i don't know he's saying i know you did but just tell me have you eaten of the tree that i have forbidden you now listen that's a pretty simple question that would be like a yes or if you want a lie no it's not even multiple choice it wasn't an essay question have you eaten of the tree i forbid you to eat what were the first words out of adam's mouth the woman you ever gone down to traffic court just to listen to people give their excuses as to why they're there it's kind of fun there are so many guilty within explanations we're all just driving the floor traffic my bowling ball fell off the gas pedal a guy told me that one day when yeah like oh i won't give you a ticket anyway i may be technically guilty but let's get into the reasons why so that you can not blame me or or hold me accountable that's what adam says the woman and then he goes further that thou gavest to me in other words if you hadn't done this i wouldn't have done that and so god says to the woman is that true the serpent that's flip wilson in 1970 the devil made me do it right that's what his wife was saying that's why she did all her shopping so this idea of blaming god is way more a part of our lives even still to this day than we often think we blame god or people that god has allowed in our lives it's just our nature you can talk to children my grandchildren just yesterday did did you hit your brother that's a yes or no question the answer is he hit me first or he called me an idiot oh well then let me hit him too i mean no that's what people think you know when my son valor my middle son was little you know there's this point where a child decides i'm old enough now to take off the training wheels right and everybody else that doesn't have them and i feel like i'm a little kid and so i want them off because i think i'm ready okay so we took him out front in the grass and i took off the training wheels and i studied him and i said you know it's okay if you have to fall down don't worry about it we'll help you learn to do it but try to keep your momentum up because otherwise it gets really hard to balance yourself okay daddy so i give him a little shove and he goes aways and then i don't know inside the coast or something and so he fell down and he was really little and he started crying because he fell down i said get back on we're going to do it again get him back on there we're going to go you don't want to stop then so we did it two or three times he kept falling the third time he fell down he stopped crying he was mad he was mad and as he stomped off to walk into the house he was done he used these words he said why do you and mommy always buy me a bike that falls down this was the first one the problem was the bike that we bought him we did not have to teach him to think like that when you blame your circumstances but you claim god is sovereign it's a very short line when you blame your boss your husband your wife your children your friends when you blame your heritage well i'm just greek or i'm italian or i used to say when i was a young christian people my christian friends didn't like me cussing i don't know why i would play you know head ball and i would cuss with the ball would go over the wall and had to chase it and i think they were ashamed of me rightfully so they once they came to me and they said uh based on the bible we're not sure we should be eating with you what's with that my answer to that was god accepts me just the way i am you should too and then my answer was you know what that's just the family that i was raised in my dad cussed like a sailor because he was a sailor and uh i'm just the son of a sailor and you know so i just had these reasons why it was all okay for me to act this way nothing to do with me being responsible but it all starts right here i've got to stop blaming god or for that matter anybody else if you want to do a study in contrast on this issue study saul and david saul is rejected from being king because he refuses to completely obey the lord that's for samuel 15. he was on sent on a mission to go wipe out the amalekites they had been god's enemies they had come against the children of israel when they had come out of the world uh through the wilderness out of egypt and so god said it's time i want you to go take the army of israel and go wipe them out completely don't have mercy just wipe them out ever in fact don't even save any of their animals completely annihilate them saul says yes sir he's given the mission by samuel he goes and he almost completely obeys the lord that's called being a little pregnant by the way it's all or nothing folks you can't almost be completely obedient to god that's a that's a misnomer that's an oxymoron but he saves some of the animals and he saves the king who comes in chains king ag it's kind of a war trophy and god tells samuel i'm done with him i've rejected him he's not obedient to me he's rebellious and so samuel comes and here's saul saul believes he's obeyed the lord he went on the mission killed most of them and he comes back he even says blessed are you samuel i in other words you got a good guy for king because i totally just went on the mission i'm mission accomplished it said on his battleship you know and samuel's like actually uh i think i hear cattle mooing over there how can you tell me you're obedient when the evidence is right there in front of me oh that well i got an answer for that see first of all in saul's mind he mostly obeyed this is where we get off with the lord we think doing most of what god says is obedience disobedience has to do with where we fail no one who's who i arrested for robbery 211 of a penal code gets to stand in front of a judge and say well you know honor i went into banks my whole life and i never robbed them never once a few times i was tempted to do it i didn't who cares it's irrelevant it has nothing to do with what you did wrong his partial obedience does not change the fact with god you disobeyed me but we can do that well i'm mostly obedient and then he said well my motives were good i saved the animals it's the best to offer to the lord and that's where god says to obey is better than to sacrifice you shouldn't have done that that's rebellious and insubordination and then he blamed other people it was the people i was afraid of the people they all wanted me to save the king and stuff so i did it you know what samuel does after telling saul he's done he goes and he gets a sword he walks out and the bible says he hewed a gag the king to pieces before the lord that's a bloody scene he's saying that you want to worship god you deal completely with your sin obediently anything else is a compromise but we need to stop blaming god david on the other hand when he was confronted with his sin by nathanael you are the man you've condemned the man that i described to you this this imaginary guy that took advantage of his neighbor's little you lamb and you said he should die you are the man your sin with bathsheba you're killing her husband and david said i have sinned period i have nothing more to say i'll just be i have sinned put this down identify spiritually spiritual enemy number one as you spiritual enemy number one verse 14 each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lusts will you jot down jeremiah 13 23 can the ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots god says well if that were possible you also could do good who are accustomed to doing evil an ancient christian writer wrote these words baptism doesn't drown the flesh that's true you come out of that water you have a commitment to the lord you have a new life in christ available to you but you still have your fleshly nature and capacities and temptations if you're still tying your faults and your feelings to anyone or anything else whatever it is your circumstances your family other pressures you need understanding you need to be heard you don't need to be forgiven listen to me when you misplace responsibility on anybody or anything else you don't need the cross why the cross is for sinners not for winners but you're a victim but can i tell you the man who went home justified from the temple did not say god be merciful to me the victim he said god be merciful to me the sinner and so once you satan is tricky once he can get you to blame somebody else that's why i did whatever i did you have removed from yourself the value of what christ did on the cross which is for those who admit fault put this down number three stop taking the bait by seeing where it ends in verse 14 each one's tempted when he's carried away this is a word that's used for hunting it actually speaks of a hunting trap and enticed this is a word that speaks of bait for a fish you're baited by your own lust by the way the word lust can mean sexual desire in english that's about the only way we use it but in the greek and in the bible that's not the only way it's used the greek word is epithumia which speaks of a desire or a passion that's powerful it is not even always evil in the bible but quite often it is of an evil desire it can also be sexual but not only it's of a desire that can be for something good but in the wrong quantity at the wrong time look uh food is good god created the belly for food the bible says we like food nothing wrong with eating food but gluttony is a sin sleep is good the older i get the more i like sleep you know when you're a kid it's like i don't want to go this you know you you know just it's a maturity that doesn't like sleep it is you get always like yeah i love it can't wait sleep is good laziness is a sin sex is a gift from god created by god not hugh hefner okay i think we forget that the marriage bed hebrews 13 is undefiled it's a gift from god it's holy but fornicators and adulterers god will judge the gift of god it's it's right in its right place it is absolutely destructive when it's outside the context of marriage and so here it says in verse 14 you are baited by your own lust and then that life cycle of sin is verse 15. like those pictures you remember in biology or in school you see the tadpole becoming the frog the whole life cycle is there when lust has conceived it gives birth to sin and when sin is accomplished well it brings forth death fish do not bite a bear hook and fish are not that intelligent but they know enough not to bite a bear hook and they would never bite any hook if they knew that they would immediately be hooked and dead shortly in bait for an animal or bait for a fish there's two things going on there's something to attract and something to deceive that's true of lust there's an attraction and a deception i had never seen the movie i've now seen part of this as a play but my grandchildren saw frozen so many times they had memorized the words years ago and there is a scene in the movie that those of you that saw it will remember there's a character named olaf olaf is a snowman and he is talking to two characters who are humans in this movie about summer because olaf it's winter he imagines what it would be like to enjoy a summer he says this oh i don't know why i've always enjoyed the idea of summer and sun and all things hot kristoff the man says really i'm guessing you don't have much experience with heat olaf says nope but sometimes olaf says i like to close my eyes and imagine what it be like when summer does come and he says bees will buzz kids will blow dandelion fuzz and i'll be doing whatever snow does in summer a drink in my hand my snow up against the burning sand probably getting gorgeously tanned in summer i'll finally see a summer breeze blow away a winter storm and find out what happens to solid water when it gets warm he just thinks it's going to be great and i can't wait to see what my buddies all think of me just imagine how much cooler i'll be in summer the hot and the colder both so intense put them together it just makes sense winter's a good time to stay in and cuddle but put me in summer and i'll be and he sees this little puddle he says a happy snowman when life gets rough i like to hold on to my dream of relaxing in the summer sun just letting off steam oh the sky will be blue and you guys will be there too when i finally do what frozen things do in summer kristoff looks at anna girl knowingly and says i'm gonna tell him she says don't you dare it's kind of that the temptation always has a hook in it there's always an attraction and a deception we laugh at how foolish olaf is till we become olaf it's us if david had looked out that window and saw his own baby son dying him involved in the murder of a brave soldier uriah his daughter tamar raped his son absalom rebelling against him and dying and the enemies of god blaspheming because of him do you really think he would have gone next door oh no that's not what you see you see sin and the temptation gets you there will always take you farther than you want to go keep you longer than you want to stay and cost you much more than you wanted to pay if you want to see what sin all sin does ultimately in a life go to calvary see jesus the most loving lovely beautiful innocent person who has ever walked this planet sinless but the bible says god made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf god took your sin and my sin and he judged it in christ you want to see what sin does where it takes a person that's where it takes them abandoned by everyone that used to love them alone beaten brutalized even abandoned by god and then he dies that's what sin does that's the real picture of where sin leads it's just a lie and a deception that's the lust that's the lure now we studied what it takes to overcome trials knowing god's in charge knowing we're on track knowing we're bond servants so that we can trust the lord we've studied that in the first part of this chapter but i want to share a few keys to overcoming temptation because no matter who you are you face them you'll face them today i want you to jot down a passage if you would from the book of jude it's jude verses 20 and 21. if you're saying what chapter it tells me you haven't read jude because it's that chapter there's only one chapter and let me just say a word before we look at the verses that you need to know about the context of the book of jude jude is giving different ways people fell away from the lord and disobeyed god in the old testament that's where he starts out he talks about the sins of cain and of course and of balaam those are all different ways look we all sin differently and temptations are all unique what tempts you may not be a temptation to me and vice versa we all have our peculiarities you know jesus said in john 14 the prince of this world is coming and he has nothing in me he has nothing in me what does that mean there is nothing in me that he can use as a handle to tempt me jesus has been sinless forever there's nothing of his old name there's nothing there to take hold of but guess what there's something in you there's a handle in you and he studies you to figure out what will work i guarantee it he understands what works with you how do i know because he uses it again and again and again you know as a cop on a police report we have to put down what was the mo modus operandi the method of operation of a burglar how did he get into the house well he broke in this backsliding window he's slid it off the tracks and here's why because then you start to have a pattern because burglars and any criminal who do a crime they tend to do what works they see where the vulnerability is in the track of homes that has this problem and they just do it over and over and over again because they haven't gotten caught and they got away the bible says we are not ignorant of the enemy's devices literally in greek methodists he has methods that work with you and he'll keep using them he'll keep doing them so long as they work if it's to terrify you at night he'll he'll do that if it's to tempt you in some mary of sin he'll do that we all have our own uniqueness one guy was sharing this with his friend as a christian he said you know we all have our own peculiarities and his friend said i don't think that's true he said no we do he said he asked his friend he said i can show you he said do you stir your coffee with your left hand or your right hand he said my right hand he said well most of us do it with a you know a spoon so you see that's your peculiar egg we all have our uniqueness but while there are many ways in fact i like to say that if you had a subtitle for the book of jude it might be there must be 50 ways to leave your lover because there's lots of ways to fall away from the lord lots of them the the key to overcoming is not categorizing them all and so he writes later in verses 20 and 21 these words now ready but you beloved build yourself up on your most holy faith praying in the holy spirit keep yourself in the love of god waiting anxiously for the mercy of our lord jesus christ to eternal life he actually lists four things so i want to give you four things right from the book of jude about overcoming temptation first of all put this one down be taking in the word of god you will discover victory over temptation is tied to your taking in and believing the bible shot down psalm 119 verse 11 the psalmist says thy word have i hid in my not my head by the way in my heart that i may not sin against thee please understand the motive of why he's putting the word of god in i don't want to sin against the lord i because of that i'm taking in the word into my heart deuteronomy 6 god says these words which i am commanding you today shall be on your heart not your head and you'll teach them to your sons and your daughters as you walk by the way and when you rise up when you lie the only way to become obedient is to fall in love with the author of the bible and to realize he's giving you instructions on how to please him so it's not just having scripture the truth is when jesus was tempted in the wilderness every temptation all three of them which are every sphere of temptation that were ever tempted in according to the bible the bible says that his answer started with these words it is written jesus quotes scripture now one point here that a lot of christians misunderstand the idea that somehow quoting the bible makes the devil go oh ow ooh i got this guy knows the bible she's quoting the word of god that is ridiculous how do i know that because one of the temptations that satan gives to jesus includes the bible satan starts quoting the bible back to jesus misquotes it of course no no it's not that he's afraid of the bible listen to me the bible says your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour but resist him firm in your what faith firm in your faith and he will flee from you well how do i get my faith to be resisting satan how do i get strong faith ah faith comes by hearing the word of god faith is a response to the revealed will and word of god meaning i need to know the word i need to believe the word and i need to depend on the promises of god because ultimately victory over satan in this world is faith that's what first john says in chapter five this is the victory even our faith that overcomes the world so john writes to young men he says i've written to you young men because you're strong he's talking about spiritually strong and you have overcome the wicked one and the word of god abides in you it's always tied to that so your relationship to god's word is going to be a key to getting stronger in spiritual warfare and overcoming temptation so take in the word secondly be praying and walking by the spirit of god it's interesting when jesus was with his disciples they were falling asleep in the garden and he wanted them to stay awake and pray shot it down matthew 26 41 he said keep watching literally in the greeks stay awake is what the word watching means it means don't fall asleep stay literally awake watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation now this is interesting jesus did not say watch and pray and you won't be tempted oh no you're still going to be tempted but you won't enter the temptation in other words prayer is a key just like the word of god is we see jesus overcoming temptation in the garden through his time in prayer being alert means i expect the enemy's going to attack me jesus said if the good man of the house knew at what hour the house would be broken into by a robber he'd stay awake he wouldn't allow his house to be broken into this idea of being alert spiritually and then the idea is that i'm going to be ready to deal with the enemy's attack when it comes that's why we're told to take up the shield of faith you know a soldier doesn't take up a shield of faith and say or a shield and say wow this is kind of cool i like it it really matches my outfit you know it's round i wonder if we can play frisbee no you you wear a shield because you're expecting incoming that's why you take it up i'm gonna be attacked i i'm not surprised i'm absolutely ready for it when it does but it's interesting to me that jesus says then the spirit is willing the flesh is weak and we're told specifically in the book of ephesians don't be drunk with wine for that's dissipation by the way when you read things in the book of ephesians he tells people stop stealing these are christians that are stealing he says let him who steals steal no longer he's not preaching a message to some prison he's talking to christians that tells you how raw they were of the lord how young they were of the lord he also says don't get drunk in other words stop getting drunk they were getting drunk but he said that's dissipation that's a waste but instead be being filled with the holy spirit the spirit of god has come to give you victory over your temptations and so we are to seek the lord in prayer and be filled by the spirit and we're to learn to walk in the spirit jot it down galatians 5 16. this is a key verse that we need to learn what it means and live by it paul says i say walk by the spirit in other words by the leading of the spirit and here's the promise you will not carry out the desire of the flesh oh you'll still have it but you won't carry it out you'll pray you'll still have temptation martin luther put it this way you can't stop the birds from flying overhead but you can keep them from nesting in your hair we have a responsibility in terms of overcoming temptation by the way the bible says make no provision for the flesh in regards to its lusts if if if you've got a problem in an area wow i really like getting drunk and i'm trying not to probably shouldn't be hanging out in the bar well i know everybody there and everybody knows my name and you know they're glad i came and i can sing the song yeah but you are creating the problem yourself you've got an issue and you're putting yourself in a place where you're going to be tempted don't blame the devil the devil's not making you do that god's not doing that you're doing that why are you hitting yourself why that's what my brother used to say with my own hand he didn't well i'm asking you why are you putting yourself in temptation's way you have a responsibility to say that's it i'm not going to do that anymore yes i'm going to take the word of god in yes i'm going to pray and ask to be filled with the holy spirit that i might walk by the spirits you know the idea is kind of like our gps you put in you know i use ways and it tells you where you're going right or it tells you hey you missed the turn you know aren't you paying any attention might not say that but i feel it that way recalculating they used to say they at least don't say that anymore they just make me feel really recalculating walking by the spirit the implication is not that you get filled with the spirit and say see you tomorrow at my quiet time same fat channel same bad time oh no but between now and then you're walking along the spirit of god to lead you that's why romans 8 says all who are being led by the spirit of god these are sons of god so the idea is getting close enough to the lord that you know what he's saying in psalm 32 god says don't be like the horse or the mule whose trappings include bit or bridle or they won't come near to you i'll guide you with my eye upon you the only way to be guided with someone's eye is to be close enough to them to see their face so it's about intimacy with the lord so we take in the word we pray and we walk by the spirit then number three keep yourself in the love of god that was the third thing that jude gave us jot down john 14 and verse 15 listen what jesus said if you love me here's the promise you'll keep my commandments so that means this that if i am breaking his commandments i need to look at my love relationship with the lord here's what john says later do not love the world nor the things in the world if anyone loves the world the love of the father is not in him for all that is in the world the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life is not from the father but it's from the world what does that mean it means if i'm being pulled to this world there's a problem in my love relationship with god i need to keep myself in the love of god why i only love because he first loves me i can't muster up love for god but guess what if i realize what he's done for me and i keep myself aware of that my natural response is to love him that's why paul says the love of christ controls us why because we've concluded this that one died for all and if one died for all then all died that they who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died and rose again on their behalf god's love is compelling me because i see what he's done for me that's why he wrote this in galatians 2 20. i'm crucified with christ nevertheless i live yet not i but christ lives in me and the life which i now live i live by faith in the son of god who loved me in other words i wasn't there paul would say but i know when jesus died he was loving me personally and delivered himself up for me and as a result of that i just want to live for him if you love me because you know how much i love you you will then keep my commandments well finally number four put it down be looking for the coming of the son of god jude's final word there was that now after we've built ourselves up on our most holy faith which we do through god's word as we're praying in the spirit which has to do with romans 8 being led by the spirit in our prayers because of being filled with the spirit as we keep ourself in the love of god aware of what he's done for us and refreshed in that like we should we discover then that christ is coming back and as we keep aware of that the word waiting in the greek means to wait with anticipation confident that it's about to happen jot down luke 12 and verse 36 jesus said be like men who are waiting for their master when he returns from the wedding feast so that they may immediately open the door to him when he comes and knocks and then he said this in luke 12 45 and 46 last two verses but if that slave says in his heart my master will be a long time in coming well he begins to beat the slaves both men and women and he begins to eat and drink and get drunk and the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and in an hour he does not know and we'll cut him in pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers very interesting two slaves one who says my master's gonna be here any moment i can't wait to see him i'm waiting by the door i'm expecting him i'll open immediately i'm ready i have an app on my phone it tells me when my wife is within a mile of the house why good question because there's always something i would like to do to the house when i've been home alone to make it a little bit more acceptable think i'm going to enlarge it to 10 miles but anyway the fact is you know she comes back from a retreat or she's gone or whatever i want to know because there's some trash i can put away some dishes i can clean up you know she wow it looks nice oh that's just me you're not somewhere the lord wants you and i to live in expectation that he's coming at any time why because he can come at any time we're to pray every day thy kingdom come listen the kingdom comes with the king he's coming back for us in the rapture he's coming back with us at the second coming and he could come at any time but if you lose sight of that well you begin to beat the fellow slaves you begin to eat and drink with the drunkards you see that part of believing he can come at any time john put it this way he who has this hope fixed upon him purifies himself as he is pure you stay by the door you know it could happen any moment you can't wait i want my wife to come back i want to be ready when she walks in the door let's pray lord we can study temptation i can preach on it till i'm blue in the face but just talking about it itself will not make any of us more ready to have victory unless we believe it lord would you give us those who are going through trials and there's plenty of us going through tests right now would you give us the ability to believe that we're going to get through it and there's eternal rewards as well as endurance in this life and then it's all on track you're doing exactly what you need to for us and it's good but then lord for those that are facing temptations and failing and struggling lord we don't want to blame it on anyone else we accept responsibility for our decisions we need forgiveness we confess our sins wash us clean but lord would you give us more than just clean hands would you clean us it away in a place and empower us in a way to have victory we want a victory over temptation this week this day teach us how to grow in that in jesus name i pray amen let's all stand and sing [Music] [Music] and the themes of earth will grow strange [Music] is [Music] [Music] is [Music] according to the bible the way to have an affair-proof marriage is to be satisfied relationally and sexually in your marriage go read proverbs 5. that's what it says the way to be able to overcome the things the enemy brings and the enemy wants to use in our flesh that are tempting to us is to be satisfied in the lord that's why david said the lord is my shepherd i don't need anything else my cup's running over i surely goodness and mercy are chasing me i'm so blessed why would i go anywhere else i see what i have in the lord that is the key draw near to him he will make your cup overflow you will have a lessening of those desires oh you'll still be temptable but you won't enter the temptation may god bless you this week as you have victory [Applause] [Music] you

Channel: Calvary Chapel East Anaheim

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Id: bMTZARUrQQQ

Length: 218min 20sec (13100 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 19 2021