Jesus Guys: What temptations did Jesus avoid? (week seven)

Week 7 – What temptations did Jesus avoid?
Welcome to Jesus Guys, a ten week series on following Jesus. This is a discipleship lifestyle. Here are the seven scriptures for reading this week.

1. Matthew 4:2-4 Food.
2. Matthew 4:5-7 Strength.
3. Matthew 4:8-10 Idols.
4. Matthew 7:1-4 Don’t judge.
5. Matthew 6:19-21 Don’t store up treasures on earth.
6. James 1:13-17 God does not tempt us.
7. 1 Corinthians 10:11-13 Stand firm.

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Transcript

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This is Tim D.S. Welcome to Jesus Guys, a discipleship lifestyle, brought to you by menofbravery.com. This is week number seven in a ten-part series, and you can invite anyone to join you in this journey at any time. Daily, we have scripture reading, and you can see the entire list of scriptures in the show notes or visit Jesusguise.com. This week, the emphasis and focus is around this question: what temptations did Jesus avoid? And it will be very interesting for each of us to kind of look into the life of Christ and how he avoided them by remaining focused on the vision that was greater than the temptation. Let me say that again. As we look at how Jesus was focused on the vision greater than the temptation. For you and me, each and every day, temptations are coming toward us. And we may think of temptations as some of those, you know, bad sins and things that really can derail someone's life. But are we missing out on being fully aware of the subtle temptations that cause us to drift, cause us to be distracted, or maybe just simply discouraged. We have to be aware of how temptations can come in many levels of influence. And we have to be on guard and be aware. And then later in this week's readings, there's some great observations from Christ on things that we're not supposed to do. Like don't judge, don't store up treasures on earth. And then also a tremendous reminder that God does not tempt us. And then lastly, we'll read about how we need to stand firm, which is how I want to kind of dismount today's podcast. And it's in relation to how Jesus was standing firm and his journey of surrender that really required him to grow through suffering. And this is something in regards to temptations that I believe each of us have to observe in the life of Christ. Even he went to his heavenly father and asked, Would you please take this cup away from me? The burden was heavy. And for many of us, when we face temptations, we think we're going to bypass them by seeking pleasure. When in reality, we have to grow through the pain. We have to endure the suffering. We have to stand firm. You see, life in following Jesus as a disciple, guys, is not all about pleasure. It's really about obedience, surrender, and commitment. Will we be Jesus, guys? Will we be disciples? Will we follow Christ's example? That even in his life he showed us his resolve, his strength, and his commitment, even through pain and suffering, he would avoid the temptations. One moment in Jesus' life that really speaks loudly to me about avoiding temptations is that he did not look at the journey in a specific moment, but he looked at the journey as a specific purpose. The purpose was to obey his father. Think about that. If we are going to avoid temptations, we're really answering a single question, will we obey our heavenly father? Let me make it personal. I'm a father of two. And if I wanted to force one of my kids to obey when they were children, they're adults now, but there's still moments of calls and conversations. But technically you could force. You could require them out of duty to do something. Or as a parent, would you just be amazed at their obedience? Because they understood that they wanted to please their heavenly father. I mean, for you and me, yes, make parents proud. Make wise choices. That's what we would want our children to do. So what does our heavenly father want you and me to do? As Jesus, guys, let's make God proud. It's not so much pleasing the Lord, it's surrendering and obeying, even if it costs us some pain and suffering, or even obedience. So thanks for listening today to Jesus Guys Week number seven. And until next time, remember God has you on this journey right where you are for a purpose to follow Jesus. Thanks for listening.