Bible Verses for Sunday Service January 29, 2023
Matthew 11:28
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Psalm 107:2-3
Let the redeemed of the Lord say so,
whom he has redeemed from trouble
and gathered in from the lands,
from the east and from the west,
from the north and from the south.
Announcements:
Since this is the fifth Sunday of the month of January, today’s offering goes to the Capital Improvement Fund (CIF) (formerly the Building Fund). The CIF provides the funds needed for building projects and improvements of our church facilities. We are presently installing a gas furnace and central air in the fellowship hall and classroom/kitchen area.
The church directories for 2023 are on the foyer table. Be sure to pick up your copy and use it to help keep in touch with one another.
Next Sunday is Fellowship Sunday so refreshments will be served between Sunday School and church.
On February 19, a representative from the Gideons will be with us to provide a report on their work of distributing scriptures. We will take an offering to support their work
The Awana kids will be making cars to race on Saturday, March 4. This is a great event that creates a lot of fun and excitement for the kids and their parents. We will be needing some help setting up and running the event, so consider giving a Saturday morning to help. Car kits are available for $5.
Sermon:
Covering the gospel of Luke, Pastor preached on Luke 4:1-13 today. In this section, Luke covers the tempting of Jesus. Pastor opened by considering the age old enemy of God’s plan for us, Satan. As Satan tries destroy us made in God’s image, we have a model, a template for our resistance: How Jesus handled Satan before he started his ministry on Earth.
The most important idea Pastor related was the certainty of temptation. Just like Jesus was tempted, we will continually be tempted by a common enemy. In other words, we all battle against the same enemy, which is not flesh and blood, Eph 6:12. We can be confident that Jesus knows how we feel. Besides Jesus and us having the same enemy our enemy is powerful. We must never forget that the most powerful angel Michael did not bring an accusation against him, but said, The Lord rebuke you (Jude 9). So a proper respect for our foe is crucial. Also, knowing the means he uses to tempt, lies. He used them on Jesus. He uses them against us.
In tempting us, like he tempted Jesus, Satan uses three avenues of deception. He always focuses on our weaknesses. In Jesus’ case those weren’t moral failures like we have, but physical ones. Jesus was tired. Pastor asked us to consider the soft spot in our lives where Satan might attack. In these attacks, Satan presents us with an alternative to God’s plan. These alternatives, lies, often superficially look easier and more attractive than what we have. But, we must see these lies and reject them. Sometimes this is hard because Satan appeals to our reasoning. In the temptation of Christ, we see Satan trying to twist scripture to support his plans. We must be aware of “cherry picking” scripture to support a bad or evil choice.
Jesus also provides the model on how to escape from temptation too. Pastor explained this model by looking at four words. First we must be aware. Peter reminds us (1 Peter 5:8) to aware and not be ignorant of his devices. Besides being aware, we must be dependent, not go it alone. We need to depend on Christ through prayer and connection to Him. Thirdly, we must be competent in the use of scripture. For every temptation of Christ, Jesus had a different scripture in response. Lastly, Pastor pointed out that we must be obedient. In the end, we must ask who will we obey, ourselves, our bad emotions or God’s will. Who are we going to yield to? Ultimately, we must refuse to listen to the doubts and lies, and focus on God’s truth.
Accessing the Service, Bulletin and Sermon Outline:
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If you would like to have the sermon outline, you can download it here, a pdf file.
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