and also 1st John Chapter 2 verses 12 to 14 the passages that Pastor Chris read earlier. We're going to begin in Matthew for. Which is a very famous scene where Jesus faces Satan is a very powerful scene it's a message in and of itself and I'm going to do my best to not say everything I'd like to say so that we can get into the other past them using it as an introduction and some of you wonder why we always do this and here's why I'll say it again I'm going to keep saying it because I want us to think this way I want us as Christians to think this way you always start with Jesus and then you go to wherever else you're going to go and whatever else you're going to think you have to start with Jesus you're a Christian you live inside the gospel so you start with Jesus and that doesn't mean you always have to open every Bible study that way I open a lot of the bible studies that way to kind of set the Tom but you have to be thinking in the gospel before you interpret any other passage of Scripture Old or New Testament you have to think within the gospel and that's why we start with something from the life of Jesus and then move into 1st John which takes place 35 years later the events of 1st John take place 35 years after what we're going to read here I think Jesus 1st think the Gospel 1st and interpret everything in your life through that reality what this scene is in Matthew Chapter 4 is that Jesus has just been baptized and he's going out to be tempted by the enemy and you know how he spent that 40 days and what happened out there now I'm going to read through it and I want you to just listen carefully kind of think through it along with me I'm going to point out some things of what Jesus does here and what it means to us and then we'll see that will draw thread out of that and we'll see it repeated again in John's words to the strong young man in the poetry that we just read from 1st John Chapter 2 So Matthew Chapter 4 beginning in verse one Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness the Holy Spirit came upon Christ at his baptism and. Anointed him for his ministry in the word lead up here is a powerful word it means drove him out actually impelled him so to speak not physically but spiritually it was like if you ever had a sense in your heart I have got to spend some time alone I have got you know you're seeking the Lord whatever there are these moments Well this is what I have and Jesus right in a very beginning of his of his ministry he was led specifically by the Spirit as soon as the Spirit came upon him he went into a desert it surprises people sometimes. That when they come to Christ very shortly thereafter often there's a desert experience Jesus deals with this powerfully and yet will see there's some irony in it there's some counterintuitive realities to it so he's in the wilderness to be tempted by the devil he sent him straight out specifically to face the devil that's the whole purpose in this particular case and after fasting for 40 days and 40 nights he then became hungry again which means starvation is starting to set in after 40 days of fasting starvation is now beginning to set in and that's when the enemy comes and the tempter came and said to him. If you are the Son of God command these stones to become loaves of bread why would he say if you are well part of it is because. Jesus knew who he was but he was also completely human completely human and completely divine and in His human nature he was learning it says in Hebrews that he learned obedience through the things that he suffered so the enemy comes and tries to get him to misinterpret God's purposes for his life. And. He says I know you're hungry you half eat God the father doesn't want you to starve to death make yourself something to eat Jesus answered and said it is written man shall not live by bread alone. But by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Then the devil took him to a holy city so strike one the devil took him to a holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple he took him to Jerusalem the pinnacle the temple is thereby where the temple court or the outer court kind of came to an end and as bizarre was there and there's this huge and rebuilt temple there was a huge wall that you could see down into the ravine and probably took him he said if you're the son of God throw yourself down for it is written he will command is angels concerning you and on their hands they will bear you up lest you strike your foot against a stone so Satan now uses the Scriptures to actually tempt Jesus. Jesus said to him again it is written You shall not put the Lord your God to the test the father didn't throw himself down there. He says no don't put God to the test again the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their glory it was possibly in a vision and it doesn't matter with it was in a vision or not Satan is actually saying I will give you the thing you want I will give you the thing you want and you don't have to go to the cross just what you're looking for is to rule the earth what you're looking for is to show people that you belong to God do it this way do it this way you know all these things I will give you if you will fall down and worship me then Jesus said to him. Be gone say for it is written you show worship the Lord your God and Him only. And the devil left him and behold angels came and were minister. Now there's a lot of things that could be said here but I want you just to look with me at a couple of things I want to mention 3 things what takes place here 1st of all the context of this is absolute struggle in fact he was led directly into a struggle We'll talk about this a little bit more because we see it in John 2 where the young men who have the strength also obviously have been through some sort of struggle but this whole point was that Jesus would be the enemy what was he really doing here this was a do over from Adam that's what this was this was a rematch between Christ and say because Christ as the new head of the human race had to do what Adam did not do. He had to say no matter how I feel no matter what's going on inside of me I will trust with the father says instead of what I think instead of how I feel or instead of what you or my culture or anybody else around me says. Jesus is reliving Adam's challenge and yet there's a big difference isn't there I mean. Was well fed healthy happy and his wife with him but she was actually should have helped him and wasn't there to help him at the time but he at least had companionship he had everything on his side. Jesus had none of that Adam was in a garden Jesus was in the desert Jesus starts from below ground 0 to represent us Adam's helpmate was there Jesus's helpmate is the bride and the bride the Jesus came to save was already under the evil spell so Jesus was completely alone. In the desert with the enemy by the way when you face. The enemy it is almost always the feeling of being very alone I don't know if you've noticed that. And when you've done that and you then come in contact with other Christians you crave any kind of companionship spiritually that you can get. They're not alone when you feel alone Jesus Himself knows what that feels like and there's a great. Piece of wisdom that older Christians have learned and that is when they feel alone instead of trying to solve that what they do is they close their eyes and they talk to the Lord. And it's like you're not quite as alone as you were you're alone in a lot of ways you feel lonely in a lot of ways. And yet realizing that the Lord knows exactly how that feels. And that he's with you in the knowing of that gives you something that's different than if there was another physical person standing there with you to understand that if you tapped into that r.v. Ever faced loneliness that way have you ever had ever been so lonely even in a crowd of people feel so lonely Well let me tell you something that's right where God is at work with you and Jesus faced a kind of loneliness that we will never have to face so that we when we are all alone or feel all alone we can know that he really is with us does that make sense to you. So here's the Lord he's in this incredible battle he's come to rescue his bride who is under the evil spell and that's really a good way to think of it and he's really representing us I'll get back to this but I want to just plant the seed a lot of times people will look at this in those say well this is then how we're supposed to deal with say the reason for this is to show us how we should deal with Satan and that's part of it and we can learn a lot about that from this story this account however what you need to understand is that he's actually representing us as our champion before the enemy in other words when he defeats the enemy he's doing it on our behalf and I'm just going to let that sit there for a moment when Adam failed he failed on our behalf. And that's what put us into slavery deserved but I get that that when you come to Christ you actually become a part of the new race you're actually your nature changes on the inside you become part of a new human race Adam's race was represented by him in failure Christ's race the New Humanity is represented by him in victory and it's because of this this is where he actually takes the enemy to Teske we tend to think of it at the cross and it is at the cross where it's finished but really from beginning to end in Jesus as minister he's representing all of us failures he's like David killing Goliath he's got the whole army of Israel standing there and they're all going well we don't know what to do against this giant and we're just all sitting here we're basically failures we can't we've got an army we can't do anything David comes out there and he kills the giant on behalf of the entire Army and what happens the Philistines go home. And God's people go free that's exactly what Jesus is doing here so bear that in mind we'll get back to it so the 1st thing is that this is struggle and Jesus enters into it on purpose the spirit takes him directly into struggle to hold that thought especially if you're struggling. To hold that thought Secondly he's weak Jesus is weak physically and emotionally 40 days and we tend to see I mean if you see pictures of him you know people draw you know they make paintings in the movies and stuff and they have his picture he says never looks as bad as you really look if you fasted for 40 days. You fasted for 40 days in a desert in that desert is miserable hot lizards and rocks I mean there's nothing he didn't say make a tree and eat he said make a rock into something to eat because that's all that's out there is rocks 40 days and now the weakness is really setting in. Oftentimes we see Jesus as stronger then he really would have looked at the time and I really want to camp on that because here's the deal Christians very often think that Jesus didn't have the kind of humanity that felt weak. That he didn't he wasn't really tired that he wasn't really hungry that he wasn't really frustrated friends listen when you look at how he is in his really humanity on many occasions he was tired he was frustrated he was he was hungry he was emotionally and physically spent. And that's interesting only when the enemy comes is it not does he try to attack you when you're really feeling strong and close to the Lord probably not. He waits until you feel weak in Jesus felt very weak. I notice that the enemy attempts him to solve his problem by disobeying God I would have been disobeying God. To make the stones into bread because the father had told him you have to live like a regular human and Jesus decided to live like a regular human can you make stones into bread. No Jesus had to wait until someone else came and ministered to him someone else had to give him something to eat he couldn't just exercise his power and he knew that had he done that it would have on done the idea that he's living as a complete human. The enemy says not solve your problem by disobeying God By the way he said that to you solve your part you've got a problem you can solve this problem I have to do is disobey the Lord and you can feel it as a Christian you can feel that in your heart you can feel it in your soul well I have these needs I have this crisis I have this situation if I don't lie about this then there will come you know my career will go if I don't cheat on this well then I will lose that money if I don't it and the enemy comes on and says sure you know I mean God doesn't expect you to lose that much money so go ahead and embezzle there's always a way out and you can to always tell when it's spiritual warfare going on because the only way out of the situation is to disobey God if you're facing something like that I promise you you're in spiritual warfare you're in the struggle you tend to dissolve your problems but disobeying God or number 2 and this is the 2nd when you're tempted to try to manipulate God to solve your problem I'll throw myself off and that'll force his hand that a force God's hand and he'll take care of me then. And I can see I'm doing it by faith what a deed of faith throwing myself off this big cliff and then it'll force God to come through and then I'll get him to do what I want and then we'll know who is really the Lord. Right and who would really be the Lord under those circumstances. You Me Do we not treat got that way. Especially when he waits 40 days I am really hungry. I am really hungry another thing people think that when Jesus endured all the things he endured and endured an incredible amount of the Asli that he always knew exactly how it was going to turn out at the end but he didn't know any more than you know except that he trusted the father the father said you're not going to die of starvation in the desert Well then whatever else was going to happen Jesus wasn't going to die of starvation in the desert but even if he did die of starvation in the desert he was going to die of starvation in obedience to God he was not going to manipulate God to get him to do what he wanted and some people actually turn their back on God Once they find out he's not able to be manipulated and he's not. He's not able to be manipulated no matter what you do you can't make him do anything and that is just so frustrating for Americans but I think because we're used to being able to just make anybody do anything almost you know if we give them enough money they'll do it or if we threaten them with legal action or if we do something we ought to be able to know what we want and you find out that you can't do that with God. You're tempted to try to manipulate God to solve your problems and then the 3rd temptation in this weakness in the pin the weakness when you think oh I just can't take it anymore the 3rd temptation you're tempted to see this age is the ultimate reality about your problem and completely forget about God That's the 3rd one ah give you this whole thing this is really what it's all about isn't it it's about the kingdoms of this world it's about what this world has to offer now bear that in mind because in 1st John Chapter 2 in the weeks to come we're going to see that he has something to say about how to relate to the world so you know offers Jesus everything tempted to see this age is the ultimate reality about your problem and completely forget about God. What you see is really all that matters what you see in the world is all you need it's all you can ever know this what you see who cares how much God loves you. If you don't get what you want. Here and now today if you don't get the thing that you think you need to make yourself fulfilled Who cares how much God loves you well isn't that the big question I remember a true story from another pastor who told the stories told it several times but he was pastoring a church back east was a small church and he was doing those the pastoral counseling in a 15 year old girl came in Christian girl she was just having a terrible time in her faith she was struggling with the Lord with everything you know and he said. Well you know the Lord love yeah. Yeah yeah I know he died for your sins I mean he's got a plan for you and he's going to work it out and it's going to be yeah yeah yeah i know i know and you know you're seated with him and haven't even all the good theology stuff that young pastors all know and they just play it on you know oh yeah I know that she was raised in the church is a Christian as far as he could tell she said yeah but what good is any of that stuff if the boys won't even look at you. And that interesting 15 years old 15 year old girl and she's feeling like I'm not beautiful I'm not enough I can't get the boys to look at me and you say oh well that's kind of cute you know 15 year old girl and here she is not thinking about her faith. Really thinking about what God has done in light of what's going on in her life at that particular moment have we outgrown that. Older people have we gone that what good is God's love for me if I lose my business. What good is God's love for me if I lose my spouse. What good is God's love for me if my kids go off the rails what good is God's love for me if my nation fails my nation goes down. With good is God's love for me. Well now that's a good question isn't it. It really makes you say to yourself Do I want the kingdoms of the world is it really in my coming did I marry God for his money did I come saying Well of course I'll get the kingdoms of the world. And that will actually make this whole thing worthwhile and yes eternity is fine and whatever he's going to do the new heavens the north yeah it's all fine but I can't see that I can't touch it I can't taste it I can't empirically know it but I can empirically know this. This is what I want. It really makes you ask the question that's why the enemy came to Jesus at the end of 40 days while he was on the verge of dying and it's not the last time he will come but the point of death why why is that that way well it's because the essence of idolatry is always to worship something in the world as if that thing will give you what you really want rather than worshipping God and really trusting him when you're hungry when you're hungry and you're unfulfilled and you are lonely and the world is fading and not giving you everything it's promised on the advertisements and on the movies and you say at that point no you know what I want to press into the Lord. When that is taking place when you're seeing that the sifting is really happening that's interesting because. At this point you might think you've got struggle and you've got weakness now let me ask you this if it's you and then there's a huge battle going on and you're feeling extremely weak what's the next thing you would expect to happen defeat. Right in your life in my life I mean I feel already weak now I have this immense attack from the enemy. I'm going to fall apart weakness plus struggle equals defeat and it doesn't work out that way you've got everything that looks like weakness you've got and it's definitely a struggle but he is not defeated there's a kind of strength that's in him and it brings out a victory you've got struggle you've got weakness but look at the Victory God's word and here's why it's because God's Word is the ultimate reality Jesus understands see it's not his actual straight it's not standing up I've seen pictures where you I actually saw one artist's rendition of this scene or Jesus is holding a sword the sort of the spear you know I mean the picture of the Word of God He's holding the sword in the enemy's holding the sword and they're doing this sword fight right and Jesus is physically really strong and the enemy is really strong and it looks like this sword fight like a couple of guys in a Star Wars movie with light sabers you know. Looks like that in a Didn't like they had it all it didn't look like that at all. It was Jesus simply saying I don't trust you I trust what God says no matter how hungry I am it wasn't I'm challenging you it's just fact I don't believe you I don't believe you you're lyin to me it was very simple and in the weakest possible point laying on I mean he could actually been laying down he could have been so weak he was laying down. But as the battles going on he himself isn't standing up and being strong and you get will see this again and for John to himself is standing up and being strong what he's doing is he's shifting his mind and he's saying I know what reality is and reality is what God's word reveals reality is not what you tell me and it's not what I see I you take me show me this vision you show me the world you offer to me that is not reality I don't believe you you tell me I should do this that is not reality. That is an amazing way to live and that's where the strength is but it doesn't look anything like the strength that we normally think of that's where those paintings in those pictures and stuff they kind of give us the wrong impression to give us the impression that Jesus was actually feeling strong he wasn't feeling strong he simply knew what reality is he simply said I feel weak I feel terrible. But I know what reality is you can't trick me like you tricked Adam actually didn't trick at me trick deve an atom whether. That in this case and that was radical disobedience even worse than what he did. In this case is you can't trick me. And you've already got my bride. And I'm pulling her out I'm not going you see the picture and it's it's going on the inside of him that's where the strength is. He understands God's word and he interprets it as the ultimate reality God as the supreme name and Jesus Jesus doesn't just use these verses as superstitiously like a rabbit's foot like a lot of Christians do they will just quote a verse that's not what he is quoting a verse but that's not what makes this work what makes this work is that he knows in his heart it's true he knows in his heart that God is faithful no matter what is happening in his life he knows that for an absolute fact and he's willing to live that reality no matter how he feels and he quotes it not as a sword fight with Satan but because it simply is reality he doesn't use uses things superstitiously. He knows that what God says actually runs the entire universe now Satan also knows and reinterprets the word You'll notice that the victory is because Jesus trusts God's word hop but Satan also uses it and tries to misinterpret it and we don't have time to go into it too much but he actually uses the Bible for his own purposes and by the way side bar there's a lot of folks who use the Bible for their own purposes always be careful of that people do it all the time even in Christian circles verses for their own purposes instead of saying what is God really saying here Bill use it to try and get something themselves Satan is the one who does that sort of thing we should actually copy him about it so the expression of God's mind here's what's going on is the expression of God's mind which is His word is in Christ to the point where he is saying to himself I will trust but the father says no matter what and that brings a kind of strength that isn't physically visible but it's deep on the inside. And you say what does this have to do with 1st on what has everything to do let's turn over to 1st John and you'll see. And we will see but it'll have to wait until we Play and the name of the app is Trail fellowship if you'd like a cd with this complete message on it it's available for a donation of $5.00 and can be ordered at this toll free number 186-636-6382 extension 3 that's Pacific time and you can ask for show number 11095 thank you for joining us today for Pastor Rick Boyer and willing heart we hope you've enjoyed our time together willing heart as a production of trail Christian Fellowship helping people think like Jesus. Follow k l d c on Facebook for up to date information about our powerful Christian programs search for Kail d.c. Denver 12 20 am and 95.3 f.m. . If the makers of fortnight are being sued for it's a big design trace and Brianna shouldn't leave him resigning playing it. This is like. Parent according to writer Alexa Mae asprin a Canadian law firm has filed a class action suit on behalf of the parents of 2 kids who are allegedly addicted to the video game fortnight the suit compared fortnight to cocaine into bacco claiming the game's creator Epic Games knowingly put on the market an extremely addictive game geared toward youth the parents claim for not causes dopamine to be released in the brain the same way cocaine and other drugs are resulting in a chemical addiction after talking with 2 different men myself men who are both digital programmers by the way they both affirm their own roles in personally making video games and other digital platforms highly addictive kids gain more insight for today's culture by visiting our website licensed apparent. Messages that matter to you see 95.3 and on the 2 near them. Hi I'm content pack and I welcome you to the broadcast of knowing the word a line by line and verse by verse study in the word so many times I've told the Lord that I want to be more like. But when I say that do I want to be a giver Why can't God is a giving God John $316.00 says For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish I want to learn to give from my heart giving reflects some of the nature of God God gave freely God gave generously and his motive is love now he comes and makes us like him we sing that chorus to be like Jesus to be like Jesus or like we sing while ago take my heart Lord to make it like you what is that hard part of the nature of God. Father if we are like him we will want to freely give generously give motivated by love not by the weight and hope pression of duty we must do it that's a burden that's laid on us but because of the grace of God which is freeing if we like God if we are like him we give without an expectation of payback God doesn't give to us expecting payment in return we can never repay God for what he's done for repay God and God doesn't expect payback he wants our heart to be motivated by love not as payback for his once we grasp the concept that giving is sintered in grace we no longer feel pressed down burdened under the weight of giving because of pressure or obligation giving from grace redeemed is that it lifts the weight and the pressure off we can now give because he's given us so much and we're to be a reflection of who he is to this world life principle giving in response to a command is not a gift it's a tax. God is not taxing us he changes our heart so that our response wants to be to be like him to give in verse 8 when he says I'm not commanding you he also tells us he wants to test the sincerity of our love so we learned that sincerity of our love is measured by our giving we can't love without giving think of how much you love your children and those near to you isn't the automatic response you want to do everything in the world that you can for them that is the response of a heart of love 1st John 317 and 18 says this whoever has this world's goods and sees his brother in need and shuts up his heart from him how does the love of God abide in Him My Little children love not in word or in tongue but indeed and in action now that's pretty clear if we love we will back up our words with action 1st 9 for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich yet for your sakes he became poor so that you through his poverty might become rich Paul tells us I'm going to give you the ultimate example of love and giving that's Jesus Christ now before Jesus added the humanity to his deity by coming here to this earth he was Christ Jesus the Lord of Lords the King of Glory the Creator the Son of God and yet Jesus prayed this in John's 17 and he said this to his father glorified me. With the glory which I had with you before the world was you see Jesus the King of glory when he took on the flesh the humanity of flesh he homebuilt himself according to the Libyans to wait he home told himself when he stepped out of glory out of heaven and became like a flesh man a little babe in front bay and when he did when he laid aside the glory and the splendor of Heaven he became poor in comparison no Jesus was in a destitute beggar standing out on the streets of Jerusalem saying will work for food we don't need to exaggerate his circumstances but we don't need to ignore the fact that his life here was comparatively simple poor person in comparison to the riches of glory and the amazing thing of the whole story is not the fact that he chose to pick up and live life as a poor person but the amazing part of it is that he did it for our sake he did that for us now what does Jesus say about his own circumstances Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nest but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head Matthew 820 he didn't own his own home he didn't have so much money that he had to have a treasurer Judas to manage it when we add those fleshly ideas to the scripture where missing the clear meaning of Jesus' own words he lived a simple light. In contrast to his existence in heaven he did this for our sake the word said this was the love of God in action he gave up splendor of Heaven to live in comparative poverty for our sake and let me give you an example of times that Jesus borrowed here on earth have you ever borrowed so to Jesus he borrowed a coing to give an illustration he rode a borrowed donkey to enter the city of Jerusalem he was very in a borrowed tomb how does his life of relative poverty benefit us he says he did it for our sake so what's the benefit what did we learn we see the giving heart of God and His love He was willing to give it all up for us so he shows us how we're to model love be willing to give away be willing to lower your circumstances be willing even to live less than your means so that you have something to give to someone else we also see for our benefit we can learn that material things are not the most important things things are not of ultimate value we also see Jesus as the model of humility because he humbled himself so low for Libyans to says Therefore God has exalted him so high he humbled himself he took on humility we also learn from this that Jesus is accessible to all you don't have to be of a certain high economic or social status in order to reach heaven. Regard less of our position here on Earth. Or he is excessive all to us now notice this final benefit he shared in our earthly poverty so that we can share and his eternal wealth Ali lujah that's it you see it in verse 9 he became poor so that you through he is poverty might be come Ridge All right finances are something that most everyone in this room could agree that we struggle with for our whole life we stress over career choices compensation packages benefits raises the cost of living all of those issues from the time that we graduate we move out into the adult world and we start where the rubber meets the road and reality is we have to meet the expenses of life we work our entire lives and and finances continue to be pressure points in our life maybe even into retirement years you're still wondering how's it going to be and what's the future going to be like then will I be able to do what I planned for and dream for that's a fact of life but because of God's great grace and His Love to us there's a coming a time when financial pressure will be no longer Christians we look forward to that time when we're going to exchange the pressures of this earth for that heavenly reward but have you noticed that right now we're still on planet earth speaking to your wallet will not make it fat big Clarine that you're a child of the king which you are will not change. Your address to Rodale drive in Hollywood calling your 5 year old Honda a b.m.w. Doesn't indicate that you have superior faith and may qualify you for psychiatric care. Saying you're well when you're sick doesn't make you a person of great faith either speak the truth trust him to do what needs to be done in your life then give him the glory someone came into my office this week and ask me if we have the power to create with our Tom Yes The tongue is powerful we can build up or we can tear down we can create a loving or hostile environment with our words we can encourage or discourage with our words but Jesus is the one that has the power to create He is the creator I am not I look to him to change the situation I look to Him to heal it doesn't happen when I speak in a certain way positively or negatively Jesus is the one who does the changing people we need to be people who are ballots we need to rightly divide the word this doesn't weaken our faith my faith is stronger because it's in him that I've placed my faith my faith is in Him not in faith alone not in faith as a concept but my faith is stronger because I realize I can't heal of fly I can't change your headache but I can look to the one who can deliver you where you would never be touched with a headache. Again but it is here who does. Today's message in the entire series to be found by going online and knowing the word dot com where you can reach us by mail at knowing the word Box 576641 but best fornia USA 95357 that's knowing the word Box 576641 but best to California USA 95357 grins as we grow in our walk with Christ it's important that we have a regular time in the word joining me each weekday at this time to study together we need your prayers and support to reach the world with the good news I want you to keep growing until he comes bringing the Word of God to illuminate your day k l d c 95.3 f.m. . Strange isn't it how everyone wants front row tickets to concerts. But they'll sure do whatever possible to sit in the last row at church. Strange isn't it for God and country across her broadcasting company. K l d c 95.3 growing in his truth. Welcome to enjoying every day life with New York Times bestselling author Joyce Meyer. On today's program Joyce will be teaching from her series pressing in and pressing on you desire everything that God has for you today Joyce invites you to press into his incredible purpose for your life receive the peace and joy you've been looking for just a quick reminder you can get to a specific outreach of your choice give to a cause that's near to your heart like water feeding medical project girl or where ever needed most Also be sure to check out Joyce Meyer dot org forward slash greatest gift a 7 week Bible study journey that you and your friends can be a part of together it was the week. Encourage me and ways to reach out to others sign up at Joyce Meyer dot org forward slash greatest gift Now here's Joyce with today's series pressing in and pressing on. People look at me and say How can you at your age how can you be in that that is shape and these are a little well I don't eat everything I want and I work out 3 days a week and for a long time I walked miles a day until I start having trouble with my feet and can't do that anymore so I'll just find some other way to get the double and then. I got. Al you need know what I got I got planners and then I got that taken care of and then I got some kind of tendonitis you know there's just stuff all over your body and it all wants to get some kind of an idea. I mean there are so many ideas so this is not even funny. Call a night as an bursitis and. Anyway. We all need new beginnings all the time you know we get started and we're going good for a while maybe you need a new beginning in your prayer life. Now you need a new beginning in Bible study. And I mean need a new beginning in your regular giving I don't know how those measures couldn't be for everybody in some way shape or form Ok Paul said that I may know him in the power of His resurrection Olympians 310 through 14 and they share his suffering this becoming a wine cam and his death so the Apostle Paul is telling us right there that if we will want to become a life Jesus we're going to have to share some of the sufferers. And that is not a curse word it's a bible word. That by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead not that I have already obtained this arm already made perfect. But I want. Present on to make it my own because Christ Jesus has made me his own and as friends he's saying if I think about what Jesus did for me what he went through for me. And one. Then I am determined that I'm going to press through whatever I have to press through and be the person that Jesus died for me to be. A man. Brothers I don't consider that I've made it my own but one thing I do on a statement one thing I do. It is my one aspiration it is the most important thing to meet letting go of what lies behind. And straining to see it straining forward. To what lies ahead now I don't know if this is a happy message right now tonight or not but I do know this is the people who come to hear me teach I am not going to see you desert every time you come. I'm sorry but I'm just not. God loves you you're sweet you've got a great future. There's a miracle right around the corner for you oh I can turn it on now and I can get you up on your feet screamin and yellin and I can go out of here feeling like so on top of the world. But I've got a job to do. And I'm going to be accountable to God. For doing it. And I believe that the job that God has given me is to help his people lead to are. And then. I'm very interested in your salvation if you do not receive Christ Janet will give you an opportunity tonight to do that we love to see people that's good but I don't want to see you get saved. And then just. Be a carnal believer all your life. I mean Christian should be happy. We keep we we should be infectious people should just want what we've got I should want to be around us there needs to be something different about us we're not supposed to be like everybody else and be like a world or knowing it for hard stuff is you hear me we are not going to the hard place. Where you know. We don't need to glide in everything in line is. A challenge really should just make us go on bring it on. Come on you know we'll feel much better about ourselves if we if we get a little stirred up and press 3 things and just as well as mean. As they are 61 and verse 3 says that God gives us the oil of gladness for morning. And the garment of praise instead of a faint or a heavy Spirit Jesus wants us to have. Now I yelled this in so this is important. Jesus wants us to have a present expectation of something positive instead of constantly mourning over what we've lost. You don't find something to mourn over daily if you want to it's not that difficult are you going to do is sit around and remember all the bad things that happen to you in your life and forget all the good in everybody and here you had more good things happen in you than bad. Everybody here had more good things happen to good and bad. We talk about hope and I was amazed to find out when I really did a thorough study on hope that hope is not just well I home. Now Bible hold up. And Peter says We've been born again into an ever living hope so guess what hope is something you can always have no matter what kind of problem or circumstance you've got you can always have hope but it's not just one kind of wish God would do something other than now hope is a positive expectation as something good is going to happen to you at any moment. What happens if you start getting up with that expectation I can't wait to see what God does today. But today is going to be good all things are possible with God There's no telling what he may do for me because he loves me. Not get up in the 1st thing the devil does is remind you of everything you've ever done wrong in your life. When you can hardly pray and ask God for anything because you've been so bad. Those everybody else. Look at the possibilities the future holds instead of the past with all of the disappointments Now Jesus said He came to give us joy. The things comes only to steal kill and destroy We have an enemy the devil. We need to start knowing who our real enemy is. Your battles belong to God. But that doesn't mean that he's going to do everything are you people get so excited when you preach out a lot of scripture and Chronicles that talk about how the battle belongs to God you will not need to fight in this battle you won't see this enemy anymore the battle belongs to the Lord and we just people just get why old just wild but you know what there's always going to be something that God is going to tell you to do it tells you how so that go and take your place. And his place was actually a place of worship. And so sometimes if you've got problems and to tell nobody about them in a just worship. This worship you get a very very. Mourning is defined as to feel grief or start to feel sad over something that did or did not happen. Jesus said The thief comes on and he kills the ill and destroy that I can that you might have and enjoy lives and have in abundance from the fall until it's over oh. I want to be a happy Christian. And then. Now I found this very interesting in the Old Covenant Dodd put a limit on how long people could morn. When someone died in Deuteronomy 347 and 8 says Moses was 120 years old when he died is I was on damned. And his vigor unabated so he was still strong still go on he didn't have to wear glasses I guess his eyes were undone and. I was trying to look at the menu in the car today to the restaurant where we're going to and I said to him pretended like I could see it for 5 minutes. And I kept trying every which way to see it and I finally thought why not just get out my glasses I know I can say without a. Doubt there are contacts one of the 2 so. When your arms are no longer long enough. That's when you got to get the glasses. But his eye was undamaged he was still strong and the people of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab 30 days then the days of weeping and mourning for Moses where end it. Now you got to realize how important Moses was to these people he did their prey and he did their confessing I mean when they would act like just ridiculous little kids Moses would pray through and get God to continue blessing omen he led them out of Asia been through the wilderness and through the Red Sea and so even though they grumbled and complained about Moses all the time I'm sure they also loved him and really depended on him and now he had died and so they didn't know what what they want in the promised land yet. I just thought about that I wonder wonder what they thought well I guess will never make it I know. Those years the good thing God is never without a plan. And I didn't know yet what God's plan was but he already planned to have Joshua take them in to the promised land I said God * has always got a plan. He's always got a plan and just because you are I don't know what the plan is that doesn't mean that God doesn't know what it is. Yeah. I heard one person shall back tears I want to share it with you. They had mourned him 30 days and the time of mourning was over now I'm not trying to be ridiculous as usual all somebody that you love and I'm not saying that you've got to get over it in 30 days but there's a principle here that. There's a turn for grieving and mourning and then there's a turn to go on with life and that doesn't mean that you ever forget are that you ever stop Nissin the person but it does name and paralyzed and breathing then God has still got a purpose for you. Thanks for listening he encouraged with today's offer pressing in and pressing on 3 cd series and free from guilt and condemnation booklet for purchase everything as a digital download this package is available now for a donation of 20 dollars or more in u.s. Funds and we do accept all major credit cards you can order today's offer from our website at Joyce Meyer dot org Or you can call us toll free at 180789008 not again the number is 180789008 not. The Bible our instruction book for life spending time in God's Word will change our lives but consistent and effective study can at times be challenging that's one reason why Joyce is here to help at Joyce Meyer dot org slash Bible study you'll find ways to make your study time come to life with helpful resources study suggestions and encouragement from Joyce get the most you can out of your time studying God's word with every day study sign it today at Joyce Meyer dot org slash Bible study. Thanks again for listening to enjoying everyday life our mission here Joyce Meyer Ministries is simple sharing Christ and loving people remember Together we can do more. Tuned into Monday through Friday to calle d.c. 12 20 am and 95.3 f.m. For c.b.c. Broadcast Christian ministries business talk and conservative talk only on the all new Kal d.c. God bless you beloved please tune into the so careful gospel center broadcast every a and born to when. You know there is such a thing as believing in God and still having your doubts I feel a little guilty about my doubts sometimes and that's the way it ought to be but at the same time the fact that a person doubts on a given point doesn't mean that he doesn't trust God a kid for example is about to launch himself into the air for his daddy to catch him has absolute trust in His dad but that doesn't mean that he's not just a little bit afraid in fact the face of a kid who's in that dilemma that he knows he trusts that you know there's going to catch him but he can't still deal with that fear of falling faces a real study of people who read the Bible and try to get it right should know this God is not offended by our doubts in fact it's our willingness to place our trust in him in spite of our doubts that constitutes faith if there were no doubts there could be no faith. Faith in that sense is trusting God instead of trusting your doubts it has to do with choices you make not with the sensations in your belly when you launch from the ladder the very fact you've done it means you trust you have faith never mind the butterflies in your belly now we know that Abraham believed God and we also know that God counted his faith for him for righteousness but that did not mean that Abraham never doubted it does not mean that Abraham had 100 percent certainty on everything that he had to deal with relative to God In fact some of the promises that God gave Abraham could only be called outrageous I would question the sanity of any man who heard the promises God gave daybreak him and didn't have his doubts for example when Abraham was 99 years old God appeared to him.