Matthew 4:5–7
5Then the devil took Him into the holy city and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, 6“If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written, ‘HE WILL COMMAND HIS ANGELS CONCERNING YOU’; and ‘ON their HANDS THEY WILL BEAR YOU UP, SO THAT YOU WILL NOT STRIKE YOUR FOOT AGAINST A STONE.’” 7Jesus said to him, “On the other hand, it is written, ‘YOU SHALL NOT PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST.’”
Focused Thinking:
First, the devil attacked Him with food after forty days of fasting and prayer.
Second, the devil attacked Him by asking him to showcase His authority and power.
What is the significance of taking Him to the pinnacle of the temple?
Why did the devil want Jesus to be tempted from the pinnacle of the temple?
Why did the devil want Jesus to look over His holy city?
Why would this temptation be tempting to Jesus?
Is it just the temptation to demonstrate His authority and power?
I need to study this temptation a little more and see if I’m missing anything from a biblical perspective, from a prophecy perspective or from a historical/cultural perspective.
Besides causing Jesus to sin, from the devil’s perspective, what would have been the benefit of Jesus calling the angels to save Him?
First, if Jesus sins then He can’t be our Savior.
Second, it doesn’t matter the result of Jesus saving Himself by calling the angels, because He would have sinned by playing this testosterone game (man-up contest) with the devil.
How did Jesus respond to the devil?
Jesus said to him, “On the other hand, it is written, ‘YOU SHALL NOT PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST.’”
Does Jesus’ answer reveal what the essence of the temptation was?
Was the temptation simply challenging Jesus?
Was the temptation simply putting a test before Jesus?
Was the difficulty of the temptation not proving Himself?
Was the difficulty of the temptation waiting for the right time and right way to prove Himself?
Personal Application:
Leaders don’t really have the power of position, but we are tempted to use the power of position.
True leaders must be servant leaders and use their position as an opportunity to model servant leadership.
Leaders must lead by influence instead of position.
Positional leadership can be effective for tasks, but it is not effective for relationships.
If your leadership is position-based then you will eventually lose your position.
How am I tempted to misuse my position and power?
I am tempted to control too much instead of empowering others.
When things aren’t going well, I’m tempted to use authority to correct it.
Interactive Prayer:
Father, help me to lead Andy, Jason and Chris well. Help me to prioritize confident leadership because I’m spending time in Your Word and prayer. Give me the confidence to discern Your voice and direction. Give me the confidence to obey Your promptings of the Spirit. Give me the confidence to follow up on my thoughts about a consistent prayer time from Acts 3:1. Give me the confidence to follow up on my vision for Easter 2011, building toward Easter 2012. Give me the confidence to discern and know when my ideas and visions are birthed from Your Word and Your Spirit. Give me the confidence to lead us to be godly regardless of the fears of being legalistic. Give me the wisdom to know how to led us to be different spiritually.
What does it look like for us to be different spiritually? Show me what seeds we need to sow spiritually to reap the harvest of a revival and spiritual awakening. Give me the desire and discipline to go to the next level in my walk with You. Give me the ability to discipline myself for the purpose of godliness. Give me the ability to make the transition from leader/pastor to pastor/leader. Give me the ability to lead our church to do far more beyond all that we can ask or think according to Your power that works within us. Give me the spiritual health and holiness to lead our elders, staff, trustees and leaders to be soldiers for Christ.
Give us the ability to design in M28 in such a way that it is a true discipleship experience. Give us Your insight and wisdom. Give us the time and discipline to make this discipleship program a life-changing discipleship experience. Give us the ability to not only teach about the life of Jesus but to cause people to fall deeply in love with Jesus. Give us the ability to move from consumer Christians to contributing Christians. Give us the ability to mature and grow our core. Give us the ability to produce, develop and attract leaders. Give us the ability to be a church that truly goes into all the world and makes disciples.
Give us the ability to dramatically improve our connect and equip ministries. Give us quality leaders who are committed to make this area of our church strong for the first time ever in our church. Give people a passion for this area and a commitment to this area. Cause our people to have a commitment to the mission of Jesus Christ through the ministries of Highpoint Church. Give us the ability to truly reach a lost community and to turn them into disciples. Give us the ability to become a disciple-making movement. Give us the ability to be so much more than a successful church. Give us the ability to define our success by following and leading instead of attending.
Leave a Reply