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Grow in the Wilderness

Mar 1:12-13 Immediately the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness. 13 And He was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan, and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered to Him.

• Go to the wilderness

• 12 Immediately the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness.
• Jesus has just come from his baptism and is now covered by the Holy Spirit, released into ministry and the first place that the Spirit takes him is to the wilderness
• Now- wilderness in the Bible and in Christianity is a both a literal place and a figurative place (Prophetic word spoken over me and my ministry- bosnia, egypt)
• The wilderness in the Bible- The nation of Israel wandered in the “wilderness” for 40 years before coming into the promised land
• Jesus goes into the wilderness for 40 days before doing his ministry
• Of uncertain affinity; lonesome, that is, (by implication) waste: – desert, desolate, solitary, wilderness.
• In the wilderness, Jesus faced the temptation of Satan that ended with Jesus showing us a way to fight temptation ourselves
• Jesus was alone in the wilderness except for Satan and the ministering angels
• Through his process in the wilderness, it can give us assurance of victory in OUR wilderness experiences
• Jesus used his wilderness experience to prepare him for the next progression in his ministry- he spent the time praying and fasting and fighting Satan
• Jesus had to fight the basal instincts of man during this time- but through it- he grew stronger not weaker
• Jesus didn’t fight the wilderness experience- he embraced it- and took it for all it was worth

• What does it mean to you?

• Are you going through a wilderness experience? Are you embracing it or are you fighting it?
• Some of you are in the wilderness and you don’t even know it- we all go through those times
• Israel was there for 40 years- It was only a 3 day journey to the promised land from the desert, but Israel was there for 40 YEARS
• It took Israel a long time to get out of the desert because of two reasons- unbelief and rebellion
• Unbelief- God wanted to take them there in 2 years, but 10 of the 12 spies came back from the Promise Land with a evil report of unbelief (Num 14)
• What was God’s response? God waited until all those men died before they got out of the desert
• Deuteronomy 2:14 And the time we took to come from Kadesh Barnea until we crossed over the Valley of the Zered was thirty-eight years, until all the generation of the men of war was consumed from the midst of the camp, just as the Lord had sworn to them.
• Rebellion- while in the wilderness- Israel was rebellious towards God instead of embracing the wilderness Psalm 78:17  But they sinned even more against Him By rebelling against the Most High in the wilderness
• Ask the Holy Spirit right now- is there unbelief or rebellion in my heart that is keeping me in my wilderness? Is there something that you are trying to teach me in my wilderness?
• Then begin to believe and obey! Believe in God’s word. Believe in God’s goodness. Believe in what he is doing- TRUST HIM-
• OBEY his word- you don’t to fully understand what God is telling you to be obedient to it
• That’s how you get out of the wilderness faster- believe and obey- don’t fight it embrace it
• Like a parent to a child- sometimes you just do what he says- blessings follow obedience
• You can learn in the wilderness- God can do something to you and through you in your wilderness experience
• When I spent my year in Egypt- God tremendously grew me because I was away from what I loved most- my wife and son. Learned dependence on God
• Remember this- even John the Baptist was in the wilderness- “voice of one crying in the wilderness” God used him MIGHTILY to proclaim Christ as messiah
• One of my recent favorite shows is Naked and afraid- people are put out in the wilderness with nothing by a machete and they have to live for 21 days
• Maybe its just a fantasy- Crystal says she can lock me in the back yard for 21 days if I want
• It’s the reality of not wanting to depend on no one- make it on your own-
• But the goal isn’t to make it on your own- its to make it with God’s help through the wilderness
• Are you going to learn what you need to learn in the wilderness
• Here’s another part of the wilderness experience
• Temptation

• If you’re going to make it through the wilderness you must Fight temptation
• Part of the nation of Israel’s problem is that they didn’t trust God in the wilderness, they gave into temptation when they collected more manna than instructed when they were told not to
• The greatest challenge of Jesus in the wilderness was that he was not consuming food.
• The ultimate in denying the flesh- restricting food intake and not succumbing to the flesh (sidenote of the benefits of fasting- teaches you to fight the flesh and WIN)
• Jesus was tempted while in the desert by Satan Matthew gives a more in depth account

• READ Matt 4:1-11

• There were three major temptations that Jesus faced while in the wilderness by Satan
• Temptation one- Satisfy your hunger by turning the stones into bread
• Satan came to Jesus and questioned his power “if you’re the son of God” and THEN challenged him- give in to your hunger- turn these stones into bread
• It was an attempt to direct Jesus away from what he was enduring through the wilderness- hunger and dependence on God-
• When you are going through a growth track with God- Satan will come at you with EVERYTHING he has to try and get you to break your commitments that you have made to God-
• Satan wants you to fail! He doesn’t want you to defend yourself and do well- he wants you to FAIL
• But Jesus was victorious- he used the word of God to take down Satan’s schemes- even quoting the wilderness experience of the Israelites
• Deuteronomy 8:3So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.
• That’s all it took- the word of God takes down Satan every single time- he can’t go up against the word- he will always be destroyed
• Be on the attack against satan- learn to take that dude down use the WORD- anything he’s telling you or putting before you, if it doesn’t line up with the word- USE THE WORD to take away the power!
• 1 John 4:4 You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

• Second temptation- Test God and prove who you are
• Satan tells Jesus to throw himself down- in essence to try and kill himself and Satan even uses the word against Jesus to try and convince him

Satan says “‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’ and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.” From Psalm 91

• Satan tries to use the word to convince Jesus to prove who he is by seeing if he throws himself down that angels will save him
• Jesus isn’t having it- “Don’t tempt the Lord your God”
• Here was the problem- Satan was merely quoting the word- he didn’t believe it nor did he understand the context of God’s word on the life of the believer
• The scripture he was quoting doesn’t intend that we would test God’s providence by acting against his will or in disobedience and expect God to support us
• Jesus trying to kill himself and expecting that God would send angels Goes against God’s will- God doesn’t respond to disobedience or rebellion- he responds to faith and obedience
• You shouldn’t go around trying to tempt God or test him- especially not listening to deceiving spirits that are trying to convince you to do things that Go against the word of God
• You can twist a scripture-
• Jer 29:11 Behold the plans I have for you- I know a gal who is a stripper in LV quotes this scripture- says that God is giving her the desires of her heart- NO NO NO
• Isaiah 43:19Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness And rivers in the desert.
• You’re struggling in your marriage, you read that, you see someone you’re attracted to “God is doing an new thing!” No No NO NOOOOO 1
• Don’t go against the word of God- live by the word of God and see what God does with your life!
• Don’t test God- don’t put him to the test- stay connected to the word and learn what it really says and really apply it to your life
• Don’t fall into this trap as you evangelize- people will try and convince you to believe things that are not true about the word of God- they are just trying to argue with you- they don’t really want to come to Christ
• Don’t even entertain arguments with them- The ark argument, where did cain get wife, Jesus life, etc. They are detractors simply trying to get you to tempt God (Take out your eye wasn’t to be taken literally)

• Third Temptation- Stop serving God and I’ll give you everything
• Matt 4:8-118 Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you,[d] Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’”
• Satan’s plan was to try to convince Jesus that HE had the power to give him the whole world, if he would fall down and worship Satan-
• Jesus responded- Worship God only– He knew Satan was offering what wasn’t his to give
• Only through wholly serving God and worshipping him would Jesus fulfill his destiny and the world be handed into his hands
• Think about it- Jesus had only seen desolation while in the wilderness- no beauty and Satan comes and parades the kingdoms of the world to him and offers it to Jesus
• Isn’t that like Satan? In the middle of what you’re struggling with, he comes and offers to you what APPEARS to be something beautiful, but in reality it’s a counterfeit and not even HIS to offer!
• Don’t give into the lies of the enemy, saint! Satan will offer you things that on the surface APPEAR to be what you’re desiring, when in reality, he’s trying to destroy you!
• A Counterfeit, deceiving spirit sent to point you in the wrong direction and challenge you
• Not sure if I told you this- about 5 years ago, I was approached to shut down FVC and go and pastor another church- Building, people, perceived status- except I had to concede some serious parts of my theology and practices that I hold dear-
• Appeared Godly- but in the end- a detraction
• Here’s the end of it and how God delivered Jesus from the wilderness