Notes from church 03.27.11

We had a substitute pastor this week and his sermon sparked quite a few pages of thought. I always take my journal with me and choose to write in it instead of in the bulletin that they provide. I won't lose these awesome thoughts this way.

I was very excited when he started talking about Jesus being in the wilderness and being tempted by the devil. That was part of this weeks Made to Crave study. And then he started talking...

(notes as I wrote them)
"And so we humbly pray, Don't even bring me close to a place where I might fail you."
Humility is where you lay yourself at God's feet
Sufferings are you being tested - they are a test of a character, a test to be faithful, a test to be willing, a chance to grow stronger
the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tested and to affirm that He had the strength to accomplish all that God had in store for Him.
The opportunity was there for Him to fail, it was a real struggle
So what the sub pastor just said is false, he told us that Jesus was tested not tempted, I agree that being tested and being tempted go hand in hand but I believe that Jesus was tempted as we have been tempted. I think that was the point that God was trying to make in the Bible,we are all human and will be tempted. He came in the form of man in order to show how we should handle our temptation, how to trust God when tempted and not rely on your own understanding. God shows us with David what happens when we're tempted and choose to follow our wants instead of relying on God's truths, promises and rules. David show what happens when we crave and rely on our own understanding rather than relying on God. Joseph shows us how we should act when tempted, how he relied on God to hold him firm to help him remain faithful and true. Jesus shows us how we should act when tempted, rely on God's word.
Spectacularism in a church when you have power point presentation and a band with a choir every week. False. This would be using your congregations skills and talents that are God given to make the service better, but only better in the fact that these few are offered the chance to show and share their God given gifts and talents. They are not showing off, they are sharing and glorifying and praising with their gifts.