Recreate Church, Pastor Michael Shockley—Service, Sunday, May 2, 2021

The Temptation of Jesus

Today Pastor Michael is embarking on something new and it’s about Jesus and his forty day ‘wilderness experience’ where he was tempted by the devil.  And the devil was no dummy; he knew Jesus had been fasting and was weak and vulnerable.  And that’s what the devil does: attack when you’re at your weakest!  The good news is we have an ultimate truth against the devil: God’s word!  The devil can’t do anything with that!

(CSB Baker Illustrated Bible Study Notes) Now the Spirit leads Jesus into the wilderness, where he will be tempted by the devil (also referred to here as the tempter and Satan). By indicating the setting of the temptations (4:1), Matthew ties Jesus’s temptation to the testing of Israel in the wilderness. The parallel “forty days and forty nights” (4:2) to Israel’s forty-year wilderness wanderings confirms this connection, which Matthew highlights through Jesus’s citation from Deuteronomy in response to each temptation.

The more you walk with God, the more the devil will try to trip you up!

Today’s bible verses are found in Matthew 4: 1-4, Deuteronomy 8: 3,  Romans 8: 28 and Proverbs 3: 5-6.