Sermon outline Temtation

Matthew 4:1-11 – The Temptations (Genesis 3:1-7)
Temptations, temptations and more temptations. Adam and Eve, temptations that happen to you and me. Temptations that follow us for the rest of our lives. Temptations taken together, with the responses of Jesus, declare that we are to make life more than just the pursuit of our physical needs.
The test on our freedom God has given to us
If failed, blame God, the devil, or other people.

Intro: Tukforh na tong bal maw? Zeibantuk? Duh dekmak mi thil tha lo. Mah caah, mi caah. Na tei maw an tei dah.
1. Khrih tukforhnak
– Jordan tiva tipil a in khawh ka a si.
– Baptised by his cousin : “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him!”
– A real spiritual high time.
– Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. Why by the Spirit?
– He had to experience our broken humanity in its fullness. If Christ were not tempted, he could not stand with us, or stand for us.
– Eve le Adam – paw khim bu tein ah a tuk hna
– Jesuh cu rawl tam tuk lio ah a tuk: famished: he is tired, he is hungry, he is weak, he is vulnerable.
– If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.’ Jesus answered, ‘It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.
2. Now, now, now culture ah kan um (Waiting is the worst)
– Atu ka duh
– Atu ka pe
– Atu kan hman lai
“A preacher rightly said that, these days patience is no longer a virtue; it has been turned into a vice.”
– Kan duhmi tuah colh hi kan vawlei laifang ah a um

Deuteronomy 8:3 in his defence: “We do not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God’.
– Christ chooses not to pursue personal gratification but chooses instead to make the pursuit of God his top priority. He knows his mission, he knows who he is, and chooses to trust in God completely
a) Jesus resists the temptation for personal, immediate gratification.
b) If you are the Son of God, he said, throw yourself down. For it is written: He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” Satan uses: Psalm 91:11-12. It’s not just the faithful who know the word of God…
– But Jesus refuses to give in to this temptation, which is the temptation to use the sensational to attract people to you.
– Jesus uses Scripture from Deuteronomy to do that: 6:16: “Do not put the Lord your God to the test”.
Don’t we love to be loved? Don’t we want to be thought of as wonderful people? Aren’t we attracted by the thought of being attractive? Yet again, this is an example of us wanting to put the ‘Ego I’ at the centre of our world rather than God.
c) All this I will give you, he said, if you will bow down and worship me.
– Many leaders who have given in to this temptation: power and control.
– These kingdoms are not in the devil’s gift anyway. All authority in heaven and on earth are Christ’s. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords.
– Deut. 6:13
3. The Lord your God, and serve only God.”
– -It is senseless for any of us to deliberately place oneself into a threatening situation and then expect God to rescue us. Yes, God promises protection, not in the paths of our own choosing, but where God has sent us. Do not test the Lord you God. Perhaps you can think of ways that you test the Lord?
– Serve himfirst and he will protect you
– Ten chapters later we see that Jesus does use his talents to command a few loaves of bread to become enough to feed 5000, but now it for the benefit of others.
– Why not turn the stones???
– Mirum hlawknak a si lai.. (Covid bomhnak kong)
– God will guide, direct, and protect us, but we must resist the temptation of putting ourselves in such dangerous situations, and then constantly expecting God to bail us out.
– Are we tempted to fall down and give worship to the material things of this world so we can gain what we think is authority and praise? This does not fill our hunger!!!!!
– What do we worship? Or better put, what is the most important thing in your life? Money? Job? Status? Free Time? Or God? Do we accept what society has deemed as moral and acceptable, in order not to rock the boat and make sure to get ahead in this life. Try to remember my friends that Jesus has promised us all the glory and authority we could ever imagine. Worship God, and serve Only God.

Categories: Sermon, Uncategorized

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