Matthew 4

Matthew 4 is jam-packed so I can't possibly touch on it all, so read Matthew 4 you'll be glad you did.  I do, however, want to point out a few things:

1) What is Jesus' message?
We, as I mentioned in the post 'Hijacking Jesus', have answered this question many times on our own; but let's look at what Matthew says Jesus' message is.  Matthew says Jesus preaches, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven in near."  Jesus' main subject when preaching was repentance.  Christians many times want to get The Kingdom of Heaven without repenting.  Jesus says because The Kingdom of Heaven is certainly coming (near can be translated 'certain' from the Greek) we need to repent. Repenting is not fun and in fact many Baptist like myself shy away from the word because it makes grace sound works based.  Grace isn't, but true repentance produces fruit.

2) How can we be a disciple of Christ?
When we read about Jesus calling his disciples we will find some truths.  First, if you are a disciple of Christ you will value him.  The disciples valued Jesus so much that they left everything for him.  Is God calling you to leave everything?  I don't know.  But ask yourself: are you willing to leave anything to follow Jesus?  Many times we are not.  Secondly, to be a disciple of Christ you must have a heart for other people.  One thing that obviously appealed to the original disciples was the idea that they would be 'fishers of men'.  They wanted to save people.  Do you want to save you friends and neighbors and give them The Kingdom of Heaven?

3)  How do we beat the devil?
Quickly, the devil used many things to tempt Jesus.  One of those was scripture.  Satan knows how to use the Bible to trick us into sin.  How do we combat this?  We must know scripture too and be in tune with the Holy Spirit.  Know scripture in context.

4) Why was Jesus tempted?
The Spirit led Jesus into the desert TO BE tempted.  It was the Holy Spirit's goal that Jesus be tempted by Satan.  Why?  I'm not sure, but God is all about using tough times to grow us.  Before one of Jesus' greatest works (preaching) he endures one of the worst times in his life.  Before he preaches he battles Satan.  Later before he conquers death his is killed.  What's this mean?  The night is darkest right before dawn... hold on daylight is coming (to steal a Remedy Drive lyric).

God uses our tough times.  Hold on... daylight is coming.  We are running a race.  Endurance is key when running the race!  Rejoice when we are tested because through endurance and holding on to Jesus we will prevail!  We will do mighty, awesome work for The Kingdom of Heaven.

Endurance is key when running he race... hold on to Jesus today!