Pastor Ashwin preaches about the third key to overcoming temptation: the power of worship. Who or what are you worshipping? In Matthew 4:8-11, Satan tempted Jesus with a more “glamorous” life plan than God’s, and asked Jesus to worship him. Yet Jesus did not compromise. He remained determined in His surrender to God’s plan, and in the end – He won the ultimate victory on the cross!

Jesus’ second temptation is found in Matthew 4:5-7 where Satan wanted Jesus to manipulate His Father God by using the privileges of His Sonship to twist God’s hand. Pastor Ashwin preaches on the second key to overcoming temptation: having an identity rooted in Christ. If we don’t know our identity, we will manipulate God and others in order to gain approval and acceptance.

In this first sermon of a three-part series, Pastor Ashwin examines Matthew 4:1-11 when Jesus was tempted by Satan to act independently from God. The subtle suggestion to act on our own outside of God, to take what is within our reach, is at the heart of temptations we face today as well. There is a lot to learn from how Jesus countered Satan’s strategies with Scripture and walked away from the temptation trap.

The second part of a two part series, ‘Holy Spirit: How He Guides’ examines the questions: “How can we be more receptive to hearing God’s voice?” and “How can we discern whether we have heard from the Lord?”