As God is writing the BEST story for your life, Satan is luring you towards lesser alternative versions.

You can’t live out what you don’t put in.

TRANSCRIPTION

So, so one summer, this kid named Alex was trying to save his money so he could buy a new baseball bat. And he was really struggling to save his money. He was having a hard time of it. So one night, his mom overheard him praying before bed. And he was praying passionately. And this is what Alex prayed. He said, “Oh, God. Please help me to save my money so I can buy a baseball bat. And Lord. Don’t let the ice cream man come down this street.” We’ve all faced temptations, haven’t we? Things that come in front of us that is just too hard to resist. And honestly, temptations can be anything as simple as ice cream but temptations can also be sinister as well.

You and I can face temptations that seem, in the grand scheme of things, pretty small. But we can also face temptations that, when we look at the big picture, when we realize if we make this decision it will change the trajectory of our lives forever, we face a lot of temptations in this life. You know my Dad says that he can resist anything except temptation.

Jesus was also tempted. Jesus at his weakest moment, after fasting for 40 days and 40 nights, the devil came to Jesus and tempted him in three ways. And that’s the story that we’re going to be reading today. But Jesus overcame temptation. How did Jesus overcome temptation when he was at his weakest? How did he overcome it? And that’s the secret that I want to share with you today that I think will lead us back to the word of God and depends upon it. I believe if we could get this secret into our heads and into our hearts it will change the way we live.

So my contention today is that each and every one of us is being lured away from God’s best in our life. That different opportunities are presented before us that are lesser versions of what God wants for us. And if we, some of us recognize temptation right away. We recognize, “Oh, I’m being tempted right now, away from God’s best in my life.” But many of us just feel pulled and prodded and distracted away from God. Some of us have slowly drifted as we’ve given into one temptation after the next, and then we lift our heads up and we realize we’re really far from God.

And for some of us, we’ve run headlong away from what we know is God’s best for our lives. So we can deal with temptation in lots of different ways. And for those of you who are dealing with temptation, who are struggling with temptation, this message is for you. But listen, if you’re living the perfect life, this message is not for you. So you can just get up and leave now, if you want to. But for those of us who are struggling with temptation, who find ourselves not as close to God as we want to be, for those of us who are in a role in our lives and we’re not feeling like we’re measuring up to that role. For those of us who as fathers, you feel like, “I can’t do this,” or as a wife you’re struggling. If you’re an employee and you’re struggling. If you’re going through anything and you’re struggling and you feel like you’re not aligning with what is best for you, what’s God’s best for you in your life, this message is for you.

So would you open up with me to Matthew 4:1-11. So would you pass those Bibles down? Matthew 4:1-11, it’s page 829. And as we’re flipping there, I want to give you a little context for what we’re reading. We’re going to read the story of Jesus being tempted in the desert. But just before Jesus is tempted, he has this incredible experience. Jesus is baptized in Matthew 3. And when he’s baptized, he goes underwater and he comes back up and the heavens split open. And you hear this incredible voice coming from heaven w