Balancing Ministry N' Work

Last time we saw how the devil was tempting Jesus to take matters into His own hands. The ask itself was fairly simple and seemed reasonable at first. The devil tempts us to do things that seem ok on the surface but when you stop and look at it, you should be avoiding it. Jesus understood that He was not to do it on His own, and we need to remember that God is in control and that we need to trust Him. Let’s see what happens when the devil takes his second shot at tempting Jesus. Matthew 4:5-6 “ 5  Then the devil took him to the holy city, had him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, 6  and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written: He will give his angels orders concerning you , and they will support you with their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. ” In round one the devil used the fact that Jesus was hungry to tempt Him. Jesus responded with quoting Scripture. The devil being the tricky little bugge...

Last week we took a break from our series on the Life and Ministry of Jesus due to the weather, this morning we are going to continue that break. Friday morning as I was driving to work, ‘Say Amen’ by Finding Favor was playing on the radio. Some of the lyrics go: “If there’s anybody here who’s found Him faithful. Anybody here who knows He’s able, Say Amen. If there’s anybody here who’s seen His power. Anybody here brought through the fire, Say Amen. Anybody here found joy in the middle of sorrow, Just Say Amen!” The Holy Spirit spoke to me during this song. As soon as parked my car, I jotted down these questions. When we pray and say Amen, what are we saying? What does it mean for our addictions, our sickness, our fear, our depression, and our anxiety? If we have found God to be faithful to His promises. If we have found Him to be able to take care of our needs. If we have seen His power in our lives and the lives of others. If God has brought us through the fire. If He h...

As we continue our Life and Ministry of Jesus series we are picking up right where we left off last week. Open your Bibles to Matthew chapter 4. All of us struggle with this nasty thing called temptation. Some we can resist, some we cannot, and others we do not even realize we are being tempted until it is too late. Some of the sneakiest temptations do not feel like temptations at all. Our strong American work ethic can be twisted by the devil to lure us into sin. I know it can be for me. At work I can get so focused on doing my job with the knowledge and skills I have acquired that I can forget to depend on God. Not to boast but I did not get the job I have today without having some skills, so it is easy to slip into the trap of trying to do it without Jesus. The devil wants me to slip up like this. He wants me to feel like I do not need Jesus to be successful. He wants me to take charge and do it all on my own. It is a way for him to get me to think that I do not need God. ...