Pastor Mike Impact Ministries

By Michael L Grooms

A daily chat with Pastor Mike and other resources to encourage listeners to connect with the Word of God and grow in their faith.... more

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October 10, 2024 Luke 4:31-37 - Authority of Jesus Over Demons
Then they were all amazed and spoke among themselves,
saying, "What a word this is! For with authority and power He commands the
unclean spirits, and they come out." 37 And the report about Him went out
into every place in the surrounding region.

Jesus returned to His hometown of Nazareth and had been
rejected. He didn’t throw in the towel and quit, but “He went down to
Capernaum”. He went down to a dark place where demons, evil, and wickedness
abound. “Where sin abound, grace did much more abound” (Romans 5:20). And
in this region of darkness and shadow of death “a great light has sprung up”
(Matthew 4:13-17). Jesus came down to where we are so that we could be where He
is! “That where I am there you may be
also” (John 14:3).

Luke wants us to know that Jesus has authority of the
demons of this world. Jesus continues His ministry of teaching the people on
the Sabbaths in the synagogues and they are astonished because of the authority
of His word. And of all places, in the place of worship where the Word of God
is being honored and read there is a man with a spirit of an unclean demon. The
demon now speaks through this man to Jesus!

Isn’t it interesting that Luke 4 begins with Jesus being
tempted by the devil himself in the wilderness. Yes, we live in the wilderness
of sin in this world and the temptations of the devil are all around us. But
now there is confrontation with a demon in the synagogue, in the place of
worship. Even today in our churches and ministries where the Word of God is
being taught, where people are worshiping, fellowshipping and praying, there
can be demon possessed people who are going to speak up in opposition to the
truth! And I’m sure there are a lot of pastors who could name these kind people
who are in their church.

Jesus is confronted by this demon who said, “I know who
you are”. This reminds me of what James said, “Even the demons believe
and tremble” (James 2:19). And they know that the presence of Jesus with
His Word is enough to drive them away. This demon says, “Leave us alone”. That
is exactly the attitude of the lost world with their unclean spirits of selfishness,
greed, immorality, and jealousness. They don’t want to hear the truth about
their sin and judgment to come.

We need to be reminded what a demon is. From the Bible we
learn that when Satan was cast out of heaven it appears that a third of the angels
went with him (Isaiah 14; Ezekiel 28; Revelation 12:3-4). Lucifer, a fallen
angel, becomes Satan, comes to earth and takes the scepter of ruler of the world
from Adam and now with his fallen angels who are called demons, he is the
prince and power of the air (Ephesians 2:2). Demons are the “spiritual host
of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:11-13). Jesus said that hell
was created for “the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41).

Jesus rebukes this demon and tells him to be quiet and come
out of the man. The demon responded by throwing the man down in the midst of
the people. It appears that demons do have supernatural power given them by
Satan. But the power and word of Jesus is greater. The demon came out of the man
and did not hurt him.

Today we need to know that demons are real, and they can
still possess people and cause great harm and opposition to the Gospel and to
those who are in ministry. But we also should be reminded that, “For this
purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the
devil” (1 John 3:8). And, “Greater is He who in in you than he that is
in the world” (1 John 4:4).

Jesus still has authority over demons and my friend you can
trust Jesus today to protect you and provide deliverance for you!

God bless!
...more
6min
October 09, 2024 Luke 4:31-37 - Jesus First Rejection
Jesus had just preached His first recorded message in the
Gospel of Luke in the synagogue of His hometown of Nazareth. The message began
with the people in amazement at “the gracious words that proceeded out of
His mouth” but ended with the people “filled with wrath” attempting
to kill Jesus by throwing Him over a cliff on the edge of the village. Instead of
receiving Him as the Messiah that He told them that He was, they rejected Him.

Think about it! It is hard enough to be rejected and
mistreated by those we don’t know, but to be rejected by those who are longtime
friends and acquaintances in our hometown would be extremely painful. John’s
Gospel tells us that “Jesus came to His own and His own received Him not”
(John 1:11). This is the first recorded rejection we have of Jesus in Luke, and
you can imagine the heart of Jesus must have been broken. But Jesus, no doubt
knew the prophecy of Isaiah 53:3, “He is despised and rejected by men, A Man
of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from
Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.”

I have heard the stories over the years of many pastors and
Christians who enthusiastically begin preaching or teaching only to almost
immediately run into conflict and opposition from the very people they are
attempting to minister to, and they are so hurt that they just throw up their
hands and give up and quit. But thank the Lord, Jesus did not give up or quit.
He quietly slipped away and walked about 30 miles to the town of Capernaum and
continued His ministry of teaching in the synagogue on the Sabbaths.

We know from previous verses (Luke 4:14-15; 23), that Jesus
had already been in this region of Galilee, preaching, teaching, healing, and
doing miracles. And that He was well known as the stories began to spread throughout
the area. Notice in verse 31 where it says, “Jesus went down to Capernaum, a
city of Galilee”.
“Jesus went down…”. Jesus came down to us from heaven. “For you
know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your
sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.” (2
Corinthians 8:9).

This region of Galilee was a region of darkness. Matthew’s
Gospel describes it this way: “And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in
Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and
Nephthalim: That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet,
saying, The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea,
beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles; The people which sat in darkness saw
great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is
sprung up. From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the
kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:13-17).

This region of Israel was indeed a dark area spiritually!
As you read the Gospels you get the idea that there was demon possessed people
everywhere. There is wickedness and evil on every hand. Hatred, violence and
conflict abound as Capernaum was at the north side of the Sea of Galilee and
was a stopping place for all the traffic of both armies and traders going from
the north to the south on their way to Egypt and other parts of Africa.

This is the region Jesus chose to make His headquarters for
His three and a half years of ministry on earth. We couldn’t come up to Jesus,
so He came down to us. And almost immediately again Jesus is opposed by a demon
possessed man.

We live in a dark, demon possessed, sin cursed world today!
We should not be surprised when we face opposition as we attempt to share the
Good News. And we should always remember Jesus who is our example and the verse
in Romans 5:20; “…But where sin abounded, grace did much more abounded”.

Thank God Jesus didn’t quit and neither should we.

God bless!
...more
6min
October 08, 2024 Luke 4:20-30 - They Wanted to See a Miracle
In this passage Jesus is preaching His first recorded
message in the Gospel of Luke in His hometown of Nazareth in the synagogue on
the first Sabbath that He was there. He begins His message by reading from the
scroll of Isaiah, one of the favorite prophets of the Jewish rabbis. In our
English Bible, Jesus was reading from Isaiah 61:1-2. Many of the people present
knew that Scripture by heart. They expected Him to complete the sentence, "and
the day of vengeance of our God." Instead, He closed the book and
returned it to the custodian. Then He sat down and began to teach them.

Every eye was fixed on Him. The whole countryside was
amazed by His miracles, the kind of miracles and the kind of ministry foretold
by Isaiah, that had just been read. The nation at large, while delighted with
His miracles, was really looking for Him to pour out the vengeance of God on
the Romans. What would He say about that? Nothing! The day for that kind of
thing had not yet come; it has still not come.

Just the same, His words exploded like a bomb when He ended
the silence and began speaking. First, He (the village carpenter) announced
that He was the Christ, the Anointed One, the One of whom Isaiah had written
these words: “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (4:21).
The people in the synagogue could find no fault. His grace and power were
evident to everyone (4:22). But a reaction was already building. The village
carpenter, is this the very Christ? Impossible! They waited. Surely some
monumental miracle would now endorse this claim. But no miracle came.

Jesus was speaking again: “You will surely say this
proverb to Me, 'Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we have heard done in
Capernaum, do also here in Your country.' " (4:23). Now Jesus had a
proverb of His own to quote: "No prophet is accepted in his own
country" (4:24). At first, they admired the way He taught, but it
didn't take long for their admiration to turn into antagonism. Why? Because
Jesus began to remind them of God's goodness to the Gentiles!

The Prophet Elijah bypassed all the Jewish widows and
helped a Gentile widow in Sidon (1 Kings 17:8-16), and his successor Elisha
healed a Gentile leper from Syria (2 Kings 5:1-15). Our Lord's message of grace
was a blow to the proud Jewish exclusivism of the congregation, and they would
not repent. Imagine this hometown Boy saying that Jews had to be saved by grace
just like the pagan Gentiles!

The problem was that His listeners would not believe in
Him. They saw Him only as the son of Mary and Joseph, the Boy they had watched
grow up in their own city. Furthermore, they wanted Him to perform in Nazareth
the same miracles He had done in Capernaum, but He refused. That's the meaning
of the phrase, "Physician, heal thyself." “We want to see a
miracle”!

The congregation was so angry, they took action to kill
Jesus! St. Augustine said, "They love truth when it enlightens them, but
hate truth when it accuses them." That applies well to many congregations
today, people who want "gracious words" (Luke 4:22), but who
don't want to face the truth (see John 1:17). Today, people want the excitement
of miracles and made to feel better about themselves both physically and
emotionally when they come to church, but they don’t want the truth that they
are sinners and need to repent and turn from their sin!

We don’t need to see a miracle to believe in Jesus, but we
will become a miracle ourselves when we by faith repent of our sin and trust
Him to be our Savior!

God bless!
...more
5min
October 07, 2024 Luke 4:16-22 - Jesus Came to Set us Free
These verses in Luke 4 reveal to us what happened on the
first visit Jesus made to His hometown of Nazareth since He began His ministry
in the region of Galilee. We are not told which day of the week Jesus returned so
He might have been there for a few days before Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath. I
can only imagine that the village is all excited about His visit. They have
heard all about the miracles of healing He has being doing at Capernaum and
wanted to see Him do the same here. Jesus might have walked around the village
during this time and renewed old acquaintances and spent time with His family
and friends.

But when the first Sabbath came Jesus went to the synagogue,
as was His custom, and the leader must have requested that He would read the
Scripture text for the day and give the message. The passage He read included
Isaiah 61:1-2, and He selected it for His "text." It is important to
note that the Jewish rabbis interpreted this passage to refer to the Messiah,
and the people in the synagogue knew it. The passage was a prophesy that the
Messiah would be anointed by the Spirit to preach the gospel, the good news of
deliverance to the people who were in bondage.

Remember the nation of Israel was in bondage under the
Roman rule at this time and they wanted a Messiah who would set them free and reestablish
the kingdom of David. The Messiah would heal broken hearts, He would give sight
to the blind and set free the slaves. They knew that Jesus had a healing ministry
in the other regions of Galilee and had partially fulfil some of this prophecy.

But when Jesus read this passage from Isaiah 61:1-2, He did
not complete reading verse 2 where it goes on to say, “And the day of vengeance
of our God”. I believe Jesus didn’t read that because He knew that would not
be fulfilled or happen until His second coming at the end of the seven-year tribulation.
And what Jesus did say when He finished reading this prophecy really caught their
attention: “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing”!

You can imagine how shocked they were when Jesus boldly
said that this passage in Isaiah 61 was written about Him, and that He had come
to usher in the "acceptable year of the Lord." The reference
here is the 'Year of Jubilee" described in Leviticus 25. Every seventh
year was a "Sabbatical year" for the nation, when the land was
allowed to rest; and every fiftieth year (after seven Sabbaticals) was set
apart as the "Year of Jubilee." The main purpose of this special year
was the balancing of the economic system: slaves were set free and returned to
their families, property that was sold reverted to the original owners, and all
debts were canceled. The land lay fallow as man and beast rested and rejoiced
in the Lord.

Jesus applied all of this to His own ministry, not in a
political or economic sense, but in a physical and spiritual sense. He had
certainly brought Good News of salvation to bankrupt sinners and healing to
brokenhearted and rejected people. He had delivered many from blindness and
from bondage to demons and disease. Indeed, it was a spiritual "Year of
Jubilee" for the nation of Israel!

Jesus also knew that for the Gospel to be complete He would
still have to go to Jerusalem and die on the cross and be resurrected so that
the people would experience this spiritual deliverance! Instead of receiving His
message the people begin to question who He was. “Is this not Joseph’s son?”
How sad!

It is my prayer today that you will believe in Who Jesus
says He is and receive Him as your personal Lord and Savior and experience forgiveness
for your sins, healing for your broken heart, and the freedom to love and serve
Him!

God bless!

...more
6min
October 06, 2024 Luke 4:14-17 - "And As His Custom Was..."
Today we want to take this chat and explain the importance of the synagogue in
the days of Christ and the early church.

First, what is a synagogue? The basic definition is a
synagogue is a Jewish house of worship. A synagogue is for Jews what a church
is for Christians, or a mosque for Muslims, or a temple for Hindus. The word
comes from the Greek roots “sun” which means "together", and “agein”
which means "to go” or “to bring together". Wuest Word Studies gives
this explanation: “It refers to the act of a group of people "going with
one another," thus congregating in one place. Finally, it came to refer to
the place where they congregated. The word was used to designate the buildings
other than the central Jewish temple where the Jews congregated for worship.”

Though some Jewish traditions claim synagogues existed
“from the time of Moses,” history notes that the practice of meeting in
synagogues emerged during the period of Israel’s Babylonian captivity. During
this time, the Jewish temple was unavailable for worship, requiring an
alternative gathering place for dispersed Jews who desired to gather for prayer
and communal worship.

By the time of Jesus and the New Testament period,
synagogues had become a common local fixture. The New Testament mentions
synagogues over 60 times, largely in connection with the ministry of Jesus and
the apostles. On the Sabbath, local Jews would meet for prayer and Scripture
reading. Of course, the Sabbath in the Bible is the seventh day of the week which
has its beginning in Genesis 2:1-3 when God rested on the seventh day of
creation and as verse 3 says, “He blessed the seventh day and sanctified it…”.
Then in the Law of Moses God makes the seventh day of the week a special
day set apart for worship for the Jews and no work was to be done. This is why
the Jews go to the synagogues on Saturday.

Jesus was fulfilling the law as He went from synagogue to synagogue
teaching the law and the prophets and worshipping with the Jews in that region.
Jesus might have argued that the "religious system" was corrupt, or
that He didn't need the instruction; but instead, He made His way on the
Sabbath to the place of prayer.
From verses in Luke 4:16-21 we can observe many synagogue
customs: First, the meeting took place on the Sabbath (Saturday). Second, Jesus
stood to read. Third, He read from a scroll. Even today, scrolls are found in
synagogues and are used for weekly readings (see also Acts 15:21). When
finished with His reading, Jesus sat down to teach, another synagogue
tradition.

Paul and the other apostles would use the synagogue as a
launching point for missionary activities. Upon arriving in a new community,
Paul would show up at the synagogue and request to speak. He would then present
Jesus as the Messiah and begin his local outreach. This sometimes resulted in
many people believing in Jesus. Historically, the synagogue has continued to
play an essential role in the practice of Judaism. After the destruction of the
Jewish temple in A.D. 70, worship could no longer take place in the temple,
making the synagogue the central place of worship. The synagogue has served as
an important fixture in Judaism and early Christianity. Its importance during
the time of Jesus and the apostles provided one of the key ways the gospel
spread in the earliest years of the church.

Today, as believers we meet on the first day of the week in
celebration of the resurrection of Jesus on that day! That is when the New Testament
believers met. It should be our custom, our regular practice, to come together
with other believers to pray, to worship, and be taught the Word of God. In Hebrews
10:25 we are exhorted: “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together,
as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as
you see the Day approaching.”

God Bless!
...more
5min
October 05, 2024 Luke 4:13-16 - Jesus Goes Home to Nazareth
16 So He came to Nazareth,
where He had been brought up.
For the past several days we have been talking about the
temptation of Jesus by the devil in the wilderness. Before we move on to the
next verses where Jesus goes home to His hometown of Nazareth, I want to mention
one more thing about dealing with temptations.

Verse 13, tells us that the devil “ended every temptation
and departed…” and waited for another opportunity in the future. Some versions
or translations say, “he departed for a season”. I want to remind us that the
devil has to flee when we resist him. James 4:7 says, “Therefore submit to
God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” We can’t miss the order
here. Before we resist the devil, we must “submit to God”. That is
exactly what Jesus was doing as He was going into His public ministry.

Jesus submitted Himself in obedience and the will of God in
public baptism. He submitted Himself to the leading of the Holy Spirit to go
into the wilderness. He submitted Himself to fast for forty days. He submitted
His whole life, body, soul, mind, and spirit to God. Jesus as the perfect Son
of Man without sin was the only person who wholly kept all the commandments of
the Old Testament. The first great commandment is to love the LORD thy God with
all your soul, with all your might, with all your mind, and with all your strength.
Jesus fulfilled this commandment completely totally, absolutely surrendered and
obedient to the will of God!

Now, I know we are not perfect, and we are not Jesus, but
that is exactly what we should be doing if we want victory over the devil and
his temptations. We should daily submit to will of God, we should submit to His
Word, and we should submit to the leading of the Holy Spirit! That is what
Jesus did and when we do that, we can resist the devil and expect him to flee
from us.

In the name and power of Jesus, we can stand up to the
devil and remind him that he has not right to us. We remind the devil that we
are the Lord’s possession. You can tell him, “You have no right to me. I am
Christ’s. I am not my own anymore, I have been bought with a price. These are His
hands, these are His feet, these are His eyes! You must flee from me according
to the Word of God!” Don’t forget this! But remember the devil only goes around
the corner and waits for another opportunity to tempt you again. You are never
free from his attacks but every time you can submit to God and resist him.

Verse 14 now tells us that Jesus returned in the power of
the Spirit to Galilee. You might notice that the events recorded in John
1:19-4:45 took place at this time, but Matthew, Mark, and Luke did not record
them. Right after the baptism of Jesus, He meets Andrew and John, then Peter,
Philip, and Nathanael (John 1). Jesus performs His first miracle at Cana of
Galilee (John 2). He meets and talks with Nicodemus (John 3). He meets the
woman at the well in Samaria and heals the nobleman’s son (John 4).

Matthew, Mark, and John move right into the Lord's ministry
in Galilee, and Luke alone reports His visit to His hometown of Nazareth. You
can imagine that by now, the news had spread widely about the miracle-worker
from Nazareth; so His family, friends, and neighbors were anxious to see and
hear Him. Jesus, their hometown Boy was now famous, and no doubt was the talk
of the town. Jesus goes home! Jesus knew every house and shop and knew everyone
by name. He knew who baked the best bread, who shortchanged his customers, who
bullied his wife, and who helped the poor.

Luke tells us as Jesus went through Galilee He taught in
the synagogues. And now, when Jesus came home on the first Sabbath day, as was
His custom, He goes to His hometown synagogue.

If we are going to have a witness in our hometown, we need
to make sure we have a testimony of resisting the devil and living a life that
gives evidence of our faith in Jesus!

God Bless!
...more
6min
October 04, 2024 Luke 4:9-13 - Know Who You Are In Christ
Luke records three specific temptations that the Lord Jesus
was faced with by the devil in the wilderness just before He begins His three
and half years of ministry. The devil’s main focus for all his temptation is to
distract us, or discourage us, or derail us, from accomplishing God’s will and
His plan and purpose for our lives. God plan and will for our lives always involves
the ministry of redemption and reconciliation for the world of people around us
(2 Corinthians 5:17-21).

The devil’s temptations that we face are the same he has
used from the beginning of time when he tempted Adam and Eve in the Garden. They
will involve the “lust of the flesh”, “the lust of the eyes”, or “the pride of
life”. (1 John 2:15). The devil tempted Jesus to satisfy His hungry flesh by turning
a stone into bread. Next, he tempted Jesus with the “lust of the eyes” by
showing Him the kingdoms of the world and promised to give them to Him if He
would fall down and worship him. Now in verses 9-13, the devil tempted Jesus
with the “pride of life” by asking Him to do something spectacular in front of
everyone by jumping off the pinnacle of the temple in Jerusalem.

It is also interesting to note that Satan questioned the
Father's love when he tempted Jesus to turn stones into bread. He questioned
His hope when he offered Jesus the world's kingdoms this side of the Cross (see
Heb. 12:1-3). Satan questioned the Father's faithfulness when he asked Jesus to
jump from the temple and prove that the Father would keep His promise (Ps.
91:11-12). The enemy attacked the three basic virtues of the Christian life, faith,
hope, and love. Satan continues to do the same in our lives today!

The pinnacle was probably a high point at the southeast
corner of the temple, far above the Kidron Valley. Satan can tempt us even in
the Holy City at the highest part of the holy temple! Following the example of
Jesus, Satan decided to quote Scripture, and he selected Psalm 91:11-12. Of
course, he misquoted the promise and besides he omitted "in all thy
ways." The devil loves to deceive us into using passages from the Bible to
make excuses for our selfish desires to do what we want to do.

When a child of God is in the will of God, he can claim the
Father's protection and care. But if he willfully gets into trouble and expects
God to rescue him, then he is tempting God. (For an example of this, see Ex.
17:1-7.) We tempt God when we "force" Him (or dare Him) to act
contrary to His Word. It is a dangerous thing to try God's patience, even
though He is indeed long-suffering and gracious.

Our Lord's reply was, "on the other hand, it is
written" (Matthew 4:7); and He quoted Deuteronomy 6:16. Jesus balanced
Scripture with Scripture to get the total expression of God's will. If you
isolate verses from their contexts, or passages from the total revelation of
Scripture, you can prove almost anything from the Bible. Almost every false
cult claims to be based on the teachings of the Bible. When we get our orders
from God by picking out verses from here and there in the Bible, we are not
living by faith. We are living by chance and tempting the Lord. "For
whatever is not of faith is sin" (Rom. 14:23), and "faith
comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God" (Rom. 10:17).

Satan tempted Jesus to do something spectacular in Jerusalem
where the religious world was watching to get their attention to begin His ministry.
Jesus answered with God’s Word and reminded Satan that He knew Who He was.
Jesus claimed here to be “the LORD your God”. Jesus basically was saying,
“I know who I Am, and I don’t have to do something spectacular to prove it.

My friend, knowing who we are “in Christ” is our great
protection and provision for overcoming sin and all the temptations of the evil
one. (Roman 6 & 8). The Lord is not wanting us to do something spectacular but
to simply walk faithfully every day in the will of God by the Word of God.

God bless!
...more
6min
October 03, 2024 Luke 4:5-8 - Suffering Comes Before Glory

We are studying the temptation of Jesus by the devil in the
wilderness just after beginning His public ministry. To encourage us as we face
our temptations, Hebrews 4:14-16 reminds us of this about Jesus and His
temptation: “For
we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was
in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly
to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time
of need.”

In 1 Peter 2:21-22, tells us that Jesus is our example: “For
to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an
example, that you should follow His steps: "Who committed no sin, Nor was
deceit found in His mouth". Jesus shows us that we do not need to yield to
the devil’s temptations and that we can overcome them by the grace of God, by
the Spirit of God, and by the Word of God! The problem is not the temptations,
but the issue is whether or not we yield to them.

One of the best illustrations of dealing with temptation is
that of putting bait on a hook to entice the fish to swallow it. The devil
knows what will tempt us and shows us the pleasure of yielding, but never shows
us the hook and the frying pan afterwards. John tells us what appeals to us in
1 John 2:15, which is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride
of life.

The devil’s first temptation for Jesus dealt with lust of
the flesh and the will of God. Jesus was hungry because the Spirit and will of
God was for Jesus to fast, to abstain from food for a period of time. The devil
wanted Jesus to exchange God’s will for the immediate pleasure of satisfying
the flesh. Now this second temptation
deals with the lust of the eyes and worship.

In looking at this second temptation where the devil offers
Jesus all the kingdoms of the world if He will bow down and worship him, we
need to remember that the Father had already promised to give the Son all the
kingdoms of the world (Ps. 2:7-8). But first the Son had to suffer and die
(John 12:23-33; Rev. 5:8-10). The suffering must come first, then the glory
(Luke 24:25-27). The adversary offered Jesus these same kingdoms if He would
once worship him, and this would eliminate the necessity of His going to the
cross (note Matt. 16:21-23). Satan has always wanted to take God's place and
receive worship (Isa. 14:13-14).

As the prince of this world, Satan has a certain amount of
delegated authority from God (John 12:31; 14:30). One day he will share this
authority with the Antichrist, the man of sin, who will rule the world for a
brief time (Rev. 13). Satan's offer to Christ was valid, but his terms were
unacceptable; and of course, the Savior refused.

Again, Jesus quoted God's Word, this time Deuteronomy 6:13.
Satan had said nothing about service, but Jesus knew that whatever we worship,
we will serve. Service to the Lord is true freedom, but service to Satan is
terrible bondage. God's pattern is to start with suffering and end with glory
(1 Peter 5:10), while Satan's pattern is to start with glory and end with
suffering. Satan wants us to sacrifice the eternal for the temporary and take
the "easy way."

There are no "shortcuts" in the Christian life,
and there is no easy way to spiritual victory and maturity. If the perfect Son
of God had to hang on a tree before He could sit on the throne, then His
disciples should not expect an easier way of life. Peter says it best in 1
Peter 5:10-11, “But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal
glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish,
strengthen, and settle you. To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and
ever. Amen.”

God’s promise for us is if we “suffer with Him, we will
reign with Him” (2 Timothy 2:12). And Paul reminds us to: “Consider that
the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the
glory which shall be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18).

God bless!
...more
6min
October 02, 2024 Luke 4:1-4 - "That You May Be Able to Stand..."

The night before He was crucified Jesus went to the Garden
of Gethsemane to pray with Peter, James, and John. Jesus instructed them to watch
and pray with Him: “Then He said to them, "My soul is exceedingly
sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me." He went a little
farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, "O My Father, if it is
possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You
will." Then He came to the disciples and found them asleep, and said to
Peter, "What? Could you not watch with Me one hour? Watch and pray, lest
you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is
weak." (Matthew 26:38-41).

Remember we mentioned how Jesus was praying after His
baptism (Luke 3:21) in preparation for His public ministry. If Jesus, the Son
of God, needed to pray to fulfill the Father’s will for His life, how much more
do we need to pray! When the great temptation came to avoid the cross, Jesus
prayed and accepted the Father’s will and drank the cup of our sins. Jesus was
ready and prepared for the suffering of the cross! Peter didn’t pray but was
sleeping and when he was tempted to deny Jesus he failed miserably and wept
bitterly. Peter must have learned his lesson because later he wrote: “Be
sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring
lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing
that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.” (1 Peter 5:8-9).

In this first temptation in verses 3-4, Satan suggested
that there must be something wrong with the Father's love since His
"beloved Son" was hungry. In years past Israel hungered in the
wilderness, and God sent them bread from heaven; so surely Jesus could use His
divine power to feed Himself and save His life. Satan subtly used this same
approach on Eve: "God is holding out on you! Why can't you eat of every
tree in the Garden? If He really loved you, He would share everything with
you!"

But the test was even more subtle than that, for Satan was
asking Jesus to separate the physical from the spiritual. In the Christian
life, eating is a spiritual activity, and we can use even our daily food to
glorify God (Rom. 14:20-21; 1 Cor. 10:31). Whenever we label different spheres
of our lives "physical," "material," "financial,"
or "spiritual," we are bound to leave God out of areas where He
rightfully belongs. Christ must be first in everything, or He is first in
nothing (Matt. 6:33). It is better to be hungry in the will of God than
satisfied out of the will of God.

When our Lord quoted Deuteronomy 8:3, He put the emphasis
on the word man. As the eternal Son of God, He had power to do anything; but as
the humble Son of man, He had authority to do only that which the Father
willed. (Note carefully John 5:17, 30; 8:28; 10:17-18; 15:10, 15.) As the
Servant, Jesus did not use His divine attributes for selfish purposes (Phil.
2:5-8). Because He was man, He hungered; but He trusted the Father to meet His
needs in His own time and His own way.

You and I need bread for the body (Matt. 6:11), but we must
not live by physical bread alone. We also need food for the inner person to
satisfy our spiritual needs. This food is the Word of God (Ps. 119:103; Jer.
15:16; 1 Peter 2:2). What digestion is to the body, meditation is to the soul.
As we read the Word and meditate on it, we receive spiritual health and
strength for the inner person, and this enables us to obey the will of God.

My friend, it is absolutely necessary to take the time to
pray and meditate on God’s Word in preparation for the challenges each day
brings! Jesus taught us to pray: “Give us this day our daily bread…, and
lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one…” (Matthew 6:9-13).
...more
6min
October 01, 2024 Luke 4:1-4 - Our Resources for Temptations
I will never forget as a nineteen-year-old teenager struggling
under the conviction of the Holy Spirit and making the excuse that why should I
become a Christian if I can’t live the life that God demands that I should live
in the Bible. The devil was deceiving me into thinking that the temptations for
me as a teenager would be more than I could handle. For sure, shortly after I
trusted Christ as my Lord and Savior, I was very concerned and fearful about facing
all those youthful temptations.

But the next week after my salvation, on a Sunday night
service at Landmark Baptist Temple in Cincinnati Ohio I heard a message where
the pastor gave a verse from 1 Corinthians 10 that jumped out at me and gave me
the assurance that I would be able to deal with any temptation that came my
way. The verse was 1 Corinthians 10:13 (KJV), “There hath no temptation
taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not
suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation
also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”

This is the first verse that I say that I memorized, but honestly,
I don’t recall even memorizing it because I so desperately needed this verse
that it immediately stuck in my mind and heart, and I never forgot it. God will
never allow any temptation or trial to come my way that I cannot bear or deal
with because He is faithful, and He knows what I can or cannot handle. And God
will make a way for me to resist the temptation. This verse gave me the
assurance that I needed to begin my spiritual journey without the fear of
failure, and faith to trust the Lord for whatever the devil attacked me with!

Here in Luke 4, as we study the temptation of Jesus by the devil,
we find that God has also made available to us all the resources we need to
overcome any temptation. We have at our disposal the same spiritual resources
that Jesus used when He faced and defeated Satan. Remember Luke points out just
before Jesus is tempted that at His baptism Jesus was praying (Luke 3:21).
Prayer is a mighty weapon that we have been given in dealing with Satan. (2
Corinthians 10:4-6).

Jesus was assured of the Father’s love in Luke 3:22 when
the Voice came out of heaven at His baptism saying, “You are my beloved Son,
in You I am well pleased.” You and I have been given the assurance over and
over again from the Scriptures that our heavenly Father loves us unconditionally.
I could give many verses but here are several that comes to mind immediately: “Behold
what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called
children of God!” (1 John 3:1). And of course, John 3:16 is always a
reminder that the love of God is so great that He sent His Son to die on a
cross for us. Romans 5:8 tells us that God manifest and showed us His love in
that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us!

Jesus was fasting! Along with prayer, fasting is a neglected
spiritual discipline that displaces the distractions of food and other things
for a period of time so that we might focus fully on God’s grace and strength. This
also allows us to tap into the amazing power of the Holy Spirit (Luke 4:1) to guide
us and lead us in “paths of righteousness”. And to give us courage to
face whatever the devil might throw at us.

Jesus said, “It is written” and quoted the Word of
God! I love 1 John
2:14; “...I have written to you, young men, Because you are strong, and the
word of God abides in you, And you have overcome the wicked one.” God’s
Word strengthens our faith to stand (Ephesians 6:10-18).

Finally, we also have the resource of the Lord Jesus in
heaven interceding for us! “Therefore He is also able to save to the
uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make
intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25). And remember Jesus is the ultimate
overcomer! “Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

You can be an overcomer every day in Jesus too!

God bless!
...more
6min

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