Sin and Temptation by Dr. Russell Moore

These are my notes from the theological development seminar Vintage 21 had with Dr. Russell Moore from Southeast Seminary. It was wonderful. 

Satan is subtle in temptation. He knows human nature and he knows us individually. He does it slowly, making it seem as if everything is normally until we are done away with. 

We all have different things that we are tempted toward, we need to know what they are and the things they are rooted in-ALL temptation is rooted in 3 things. 

1. The pull toward self provision

 "Turn these stones into bread"-is how Satan tempted in Jesus with the temptation of self provision. 

Satan is asking "Who are you?" "IF you are the Son of God," he starts off. Essentially, the temptation toward self provision and turning from God is because of a lie we believe-Your Father isn't taking care of you...

 so turn to another father. 

What is he keeping from you?, Satan asked Eve in the garden. Satan makes God out to be a liar, makes us ask ourselves

Am I really the child of God?

Is he really pleased with me?

(The temptation of Jesus comes right after the baptism where the Spirit descends and God says This is my Beloved Son with whom I am well pleased.

His next question for us-

What do you want?

By saying, Turn these stones into bread, he takes Jesus's God given desire for food and twists it to pull him toward destruction. God gave us drives to get us to do the things that are best for us. We are biologically driven toward eating and toward sexuality. No one comes to either of these by reason-it is a wild pull in humans and God Himself embedded these desires because they point us back to Him. 

We are tempted to under and over estimate our desires-giving them reign in our life or pretending that they don't exist or don't affect us. 

In order to battle with temptation, and it IS the DAILY battle of any every christian, we must know our points of vulnerability and what leads us into temptation that leads us into sin that leads us into death. 

Furthermore, Satan is seeking to destroy our appetites and desires, not to fulfill them. He cannot, only God can fulfill appetites. When a desire (any desire) is met by demonic means, met by means outside of God's will and design, the appetite or desire is stripped away and destroyed. (He talked extensively about the destructive effects of porn on marriages)

Temptation is when we hear Satan say, Is God getting you what you want? If not, I can give it to you. This was the first temptation for Jesus, this is a huge temptation for all of us. 

We battle temptation the way Christ did-Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. 

This is not simply to apply the right verses to the right situations (like some bibles have verses for anxiety, anger, sadness, joy etc.-proof texts) but to know the NARRATIVE of God. 

Knowing that God is for us no matter what. 

God prepared Jesus. He shaped him. He disciplined him. He allowed him to suffer to the point of death, even death on a cross. Satan wanted Jesus to believe that God was against him but jesus knew that God was for him. He wanted Jesus and he wants us to believe that

God does not know what we need and he is keeping it from us.

God has something BETTER than what we would have even chose for ourselves and He knows how to prepare us to be like Him so that we can steward and not crush what he gives us-whether that is a spouse or kids or money or anything-he has to shape us to be equipped for these things before giving them to us and he is GRACIOUS in doing so. Every longing will be met. Every desire will be met. None will be forgotten. That is the promise. How do we know. Jesus Christ. We are prepared to be ultimately, eternally blessed beyond anything we could ever conceive or imagine. We know that is our future. We know it because of the resurrection of Christ.

more to come on the 2nd and 3rd temptation! 

Ligon Middle

Not writing so much any more but things are great, God is really great. Wrote a prayer about Ligon. We just started Wyldlife at this middle school. Its really captured my heart. Would love your prayer for it, for the students, the staff, the parents, the community around it...that Christ is glorified, his love proclaimed.

Lord, I lift up to you Ligon Middle School. You love them. You love those 1500ish 6^th-8^th graders. Raise up your sons and daughters to invest in them and be a conduit of your grace. Pour your spirit out God. Thank you for the doors that you have opened. To be in the lunch room. To know some of the staff. To be friends with some of the students. To know their names and where they are from and what they want to be when they grow up. I know you are faithful to your promises. I know that you are worthy of glory and praise. We offer ourselves as living sacrifices. Committed to you. Committed to prayer for this particular school in this particular city where you will change lives and capture hearts. I pray that they get to see you this year, that they get to meet you. If it is us, we praise you. If it is elsewhere, we praise you. We will just keep loving on them, keep showing up, keep praying. Bring more people lord. More Christians. God, we need parent support. We need parents to know who we are and our intentions and our hearts. We don’t know how to know parents but you do lord and you know the ones who already know you and want their kids to know you and have been praying for people like us in the lives of their kids-show us those moms and dads. Lord, there are teachers who are Christian and we don’t know who they are but show us lord. God, don’t just change the hearts of students, change parents. Change teachers. Bring life out of death. Light out of darkness. Bring the weight of glory to Ligon Middle School. Bring kids together who never interact-break the stereotypes, the cliques, the judgments. God we beg you for favor. We may seem weird to them, but change their hearts to see us as friends. People who are for them. People who value them. But most of all, God, let them see you. Let them see the light of the glory of your Son. Let them see that life is in him, life to the full. Let us see it too God. We so easily forget. I love you, God.