· Today we took a look at a very familiar and seemingly straight-forward story in Luke 4—The time Jesus was tempted in the wilderness for 40 days. We faced some hard truths about how easy it is for Christians to play the old kindergarten game where everyone sits in a circle and the first person whispers a story that the second person must whisper to the third and so on until you get to the last kid. And what always happens? Well, the story ends up virtually unrecognizable by the time it gets to the end of the line.
When it comes to Jesus’ 40 days of fasting and temptation—it’s a similar situation—only kindergarteners have an excuse that we don’t. Their excuse is that everything was passed along verbally—nothing in writing. With us it’s different. We have the gospels! All we have to do to know exactly how this event unfolded is to pick up a Bible and read the first 14 verses of Luke 4!
Ok, ok, maybe it’s not quite that simple—I mean, there are some things that might take a little grey matter, as well as a slight time investment to chase down—but all in all, everything we need to know is right there. I’m so glad that Impact Church is a place filled with believers like the Bereans in the Bible—a group who didn’t even take the apostle Paul’s word for it without checking scripture for themselves. Impactors are eager to learn and grow. That’s only one of the reason God will do great things through the people of Impact!
· JV temptations—Is that what the three temptations (or, at least 2) seem like to you? Temple bungee jumping and stones to Chic-Fil-A biscuits? It’s odd, huh? Mr. Evil himself sets out to derail the Son of God and except for the kingdoms offer, the other two temptations seem about as easy to resist as someone offering gift certificates to now defunct, Blockbuster video. But remember what scripture indicates—in the first few verses of the text…
“Now Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wild. For forty wilderness days and nights he was tested by the Devil.” (The Message)
Let me draw your attention to one specific line, “…For forty wilderness days and nights he was tested by the Devil.” What’s this? Jesus wasn’t just tempted 3X at the end of 40 days? Satan hit Him with everything in his arsenal for 4o days and nights? I don’t know about you but for me, that’s a game changer!
· Other Christian Urban Legends exposed today were:
1. Satan didn’t lead Jesus into the Wilderness to be tempted—The Holy Spirit did!
2. God doesn’t ‘tempt’ but He does ‘test.’
3. The Holy Spirit didn’t lead Jesus into the desert to do Him in but rather, to show Him off!
4. All the kingdoms of earth were Satan’s to give. Yep, you heard that right—Satan is the prince of this earth. For more on this, listen to the podcast at,
· The worst god you can put on the throne before Christ is yourself.
· Praise and worship seems more anointed with each and every passing week! Way to go gang! Keep chasing God!
· If you were at Impact today then don’t forget your homework. It’s a two stepper:
1. Discover
2. Dethrone