Standing Strong

Back in 1958, a small community in northeastern Pennsylvania built a little red brick building that was to be their police department, fire department, and city hall. They were proud of that building. It was a result of sacrificial giving and careful planning. When the building was completed, they had a ribbon cutting ceremony and more than 6,000 people were there, nearly all the town's residents. It was the biggest event of the year.

Within less than two months, however, they began to notice some concerning cracks on the side of this red brick building. Sometime later, it was noticed that the windows would not shut all the way. Then it was discovered that the doors would not close correctly. Eventually, the floor shifted and left ugly gaps in the floor covering and corners. The roof began to leak. Within a few more months, it had to be evacuated to the embarrassment of the builder and the disgust of the taxpayers. A firm did an analysis shortly thereafter and found that the blasts from a nearby mining area were slowly but effectively destroying the building. Slightly down beneath the foundation, there were small shifts and changes taking place that caused the whole foundation to crack.

You couldn't feel it or even see it from the surface, but quietly and deep down, there was a weakening. A city official finally had to write across the door of that building, condemned, not fit for public use. Ultimately, the building had to be demolished.

The story is a wonderful illustration. It's a sad illustration, but it's a very pointed illustration that shows it doesn't take much in life for weaknesses to begin to take shape.

A small force interacting with another object can end up creating devastating results. Take temptation, for instance. It doesn't take much of a thought or an idea to take hold, which can lead us down a dangerous path. But let's talk about the flip side for a moment. Let's talk about faith.

We can be faced with a mountain of problems and challenges, but our faith in God can be that seemingly small strength that we need in order to take a stand against that challenge.

The last time I was with you, I shared a message focused on the church's overall theme, which is advance the mission. We talked about how our responsibility to be involved and help advance the mission of Jesus Christ. Another time of the year that we use a theme is the upcoming camp season that we're currently in the midst of. Two weeks ago, our first pre-teen camp in Florida got off the ground. They do that one early because of how hot it gets there in Florida. You don't want to be in Florida trying to run a camp in August. The same thing with our pre-teen camp in Florida. That one finished this last week in Texas. Excuse me. That one finishes last week and you want to be out of Texas before July hits as well. But we have in two weeks our first teen camp, which is going to be Camp Catubic in Ohio. That's where some of our teens from this congregation and others in the area head down to Ohio for and then one week later Camp Pinecrest. Whereas you guys have heard Camp Pinecrest a few times come out of my mouth as the director there. It's a very busy time of the year that we're currently in as we're preparing and putting the final pieces and points for camp. In three weeks from today, we'll be at the footsteps of, we'll be at the Sabbath service just prior to camp starting there in Missouri. So appreciate everyone's continued prayers that the camp will come together well and the organization and the people and everybody that's doing their things. And also pray for the weather. Missouri can be hot in the first week of July. It's with sometimes in the 90s. When we arrived last year, two days before camp started, it was 110 that day.

If I remember right, it was 90 degrees still at 11 o'clock in the evening. But what was a blessing and the next day was 105, I think, right around 100. And then what was a blessing is the day the camp started and all the campers arrived, it came down to a cool 85. And so, which is quite a when you're up in 105, 185 feels pretty nice. But we appreciate your continued prayers, as you know, and this is a busy time for us. And I appreciate your support in knowing that that we shift some of our attention over to the camp, a lot of our attention to camp. And we thank you guys for your continued sacrifice and those online that I know are praying and supporting the camp program as well. We thank you for that. But this is a time of the year that we focus on our theme for the camp.

And as you know, I like to share with the congregations what we'll be sharing with our campers each summer, because we have a few of our campers here, a few of our teams here that will be involved with the program this summer. They are over in Lansing for the team club today.

But this year's camp theme is Stand Strong, which is drawn from Ephesians chapter six. And if you'll turn there to Ephesians six and verse 10, we'll read the heart of the passage that we're drawing our theme from this summer. Ephesians six and starting again in verse 10.

Appreciated the sermon, sermonette, and I look forward to hopefully being able to hear the sermon from last week, recognizing that we do live in a world that is being influenced strongly by our adversary, one who hates what we're doing, he hates that we're here keeping the Sabbath, he hates that we have got spirit within us. And we have to stand strong against the challenges that are around us in society. And this is what we're using and what we feel inspired to share with our teens this summer comes from this passage here that Paul shared in Ephesians six and verse 10. He says, Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil, for we do not wrestle against against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness and the heavenly places. This call for us to stand strong is not something that just has come up on us in this last 100 years, or even the last 200 years. This theme of standing strong goes all the way back to the beginning of man's walk with God. Time and time again, we can go through our Bibles and we can recount the stories of faith of people having to stand firm on that foundation that is based on God's law and his teachings. We can go through what Daniel and the lion's den, we can go through his friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, go through Queen Esther, having to take the stand and knowing that the lives of the Jewish faith rested with her in God's hands ultimately, but she was willing to take a stand and do something very difficult in order to hopefully intervene and help God's people. We can go through the New Testament, examples of Peter standing strong, the Apostle Paul battling through shipwreck and perils and being stoned. God's people throughout time have had to stand strong not in their own might, but in God's power and his ability to help them overcome. And so today we're going to start part one because on this year's theme I feel needs to be shared in two sermons to do it justice.

But so we're going to look at part one of this year's theme of standing strong in God. Now for those, if we have any teens tuning in or anybody who serves at camp that's in the room or tuning in, I'm not going to ruin it for everybody. As a camp team, every morning we get together with the teens for about 50 minutes, 50 minutes, 50 to 60 minutes going through. We take the sub-theme of standing strong and we break it into five sub-themes. So it's about five hours worth of material that we'll be covering just every morning, each morning and about an hour's worth of time with our teens.

And so I can't stand, well I could stand before you for five hours, but you guys would probably be voting on a new pastor if I did that. And so what we're going to do is kind of do a summary of this year's theme and I'm going to break it into two different sermons for us. But this theme of standing strong we know has again been present in God's people as we have continued to live our lives and we've seen the courage, the faith, the endurance of many people not only from scripture, but we've seen this even among our own family members as we have been called by God today to stand strong for him and to go forward in his faith. As a camp team again we take this theme and we break it into smaller ones and on the first day of camp, on the Monday of our camp week, we're going to focus in on this first sub-theme which is entitled, In the Power of His Might.

The power of his might. We draw this sub-theme of course from what we just read in Ephesians 6 and verse 10. Again where Paul says, finally my brethren be strong in the Lord and the power of his might put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand. And that's where we get our theme for stand strong and to be in the power of his might. There is no doubt, nobody's going to question for a moment that our ability to stand strong is only in the power of God's might. There may have been times in our own life we've tried to stand strong and then at times maybe we were able to make a little bit of a movement forward on what we felt like was our might. But I know I could speak for experience many times. I tried to take a stand on my own might only to fall very short of what I thought I could do or what I wanted to accomplish. Many times it's led to disappointment in our own weaknesses and in our own shortcomings. When we try to take a stand on our own and then fall might only short, it's really hard to do the things we know we should do.

It's really hard to stand for God's way if we try to do it on our own. This is why we need more help.

This is why we need more strength and more power. And again the apostle Paul tells us whose strength it is that we can stand. He says be strong in the Lord and then later adds in the power of his might.

As I mentioned this is just going to be an overview but I want to look at an example of someone who stood strong not in his own might. Why? Because he didn't have a lot of might in his little body.

We've got our little one among us. We got Ian with us today and granted the story we're going to look at was someone a little bit bigger than him. But if we had to count on Ian to lead us forward with strength we'd say oh he doesn't have a lot to lean on and you know what Israel at in the account we're about to look at probably felt the same way for this young teen who was about to make a stand for God. Let's turn to first Samuel chapter 17. This story is familiar to I believe most of us here and most online with us today. It's a story that we probably had read to us as a child in looking around and just you know you do some research for a sermon and looking at some different accounts looking at some commentaries. One place I found said this is the most second popular and second most second most familiar story in the Bible after the resurrection of Jesus Christ. That being number one that most people in the world know of the resurrection Jesus Christ by by some accounts this is the second most popular account that people know and then perhaps was even read to them when they were young. Everyone loves the story of the little guy beating up on the big guy and that's what we see here in first Samuel chapter 17.

Here in this account to give a little bit of background the Philistines and Israel are in battle array with each other and a young David was asked to go and visit his brothers and to bring them some provisions because his brothers were serving in the army there in the military and so David was asked by his father to bring his brother some cheese and some bread and so he followed through and did what he was asked. But before David arrives on the scene we have another individual who is standing before his own nation but standing strong in his own might is what we see here in first Samuel 17 and let's start reading in verse 4 says a champion went out from the camp of the Philistines named Goliath from Gath whose height was six cubits six cubits and a span so by most accounts this is about a man about nine and a half feet tall so that's quite a man scripture also says that he was a man of war from his youth that this is the way that he'd been trained he'd been brought up you could only imagine a little kid with a sword battling and training and this is the way that Gath or that Goliath was raised you definitely want him if you were in a physical battle and in a physical trust of what you can do yourself this is the man you would want on your team right if you had a basketball team and you were looking for your ringer that's going to square all the points this is the guy that you want or would you we'll get into that here in a moment uh verse five it gets into more about Goliath's armor and said he had a bronze helmet on his head and he was armed with a coat of mail and the weight of the coat was 5 000 shekels of bronze so that's about 125 pounds just in the coat of mail that he wore and then he had the bronze bronze armor a bronze helmet and so you can only imagine how much that would weigh and he was a man who knew how to use it this was not weaponry that held him back you're we won't read in that passage but you remember when they tried to put Saul's armor on David and he's like I haven't tested this I don't know how to use this I'll be clumsy like if you put this on me I'll be clumsy Goliath was not clumsy with this weight on it was nothing for him he was able to go and be effective with 125 pounds all the brass everything else weighing on him it was not a big deal verse six says and he had a bronze armor on his legs and a bronze bronze javelin between his shoulders now the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam and his iron spearhead weighed 600 shekels so a spearhead about 15 pounds so we can probably imagine what a 15 pound weight feels like or you know those five pounds of bags of sugar or flour you multiply that times three that was just the spearhead and I can only imagine then you taking the weight of this weaver's beam the shaft of the spear and then if one of us had to put a target on this back wall and try to give that a throw you can imagine the force the power it would take not only to get it that distance but then to use it as a weapon you have to I mean we're talking strength we're talking accuracy we're talking training we're talking might but who's might this is again someone that we would view as a brute of a man someone who believed he could stand in his own might Goliath would daily come out hurling threats towards Israel mocking God he did this for both for 40 days both morning and night and this entire time no one in within Israel was brave enough to go and stand against Goliath but on the day of his demise something different occurred a boy by the name of David heard the insults that were directed towards his God and the Bible doesn't say exactly how old David was in this account by by doing some math from other accounts and based on when David became king and some other aspects most accounts bring him his age and around 13 to 15 so bigger than Ian but would you put your trust in a 13 to 15 year old teen to go battle this man named Goliath but let's see whose strength and whose might David is standing in let's continue reading in verse 45 of chapter 17 it says then David said to the Philistine you come to me with a sword and a spear and with a javelin but I come to you in the name of the lord of hosts the god of the armies of Israel whom you have defiled in verse 47 has the key scripture of this account then all these and David says then all the assembly shall know that the lord does not save with sword and spear for the battle is the lords and he will give you into our hands and as they say the rest is history David approached Goliath picking up a few smooth stones put it into his sling gave it a whirl let it go and the champion fell and he fell mightily but he did not fall based on David's might wasn't David's accuracy that he had with the stone it wasn't the right stone the perfect stone that he picked up it was God who was behind David it was through God's strength and power that the champion fell the apostle Paul talks about the spiritual power that enabled him to stand and we read this in Philippians 4 and verse 11 the account with with David is both a physical and a spiritual account and so is this and in the book of Philippians as we consider Paul having to take stands for God and in whose strength he gives the credit to Philippians 4 and verse 11 Paul talks about regardless of the situation that he was in he couldn't stand on his own power on his own might he could only stand on God's power Philippians 4 verse 11 he says not that I speak in regard to need for I have learned whatever state I am in to be content I know how to be a beast I know how to abound everywhere and on all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry both to abound and to suffer need and then he says I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me and so at times we do battle obstacles in front of us it could be a bully at school could be a bully in the workplace I've had a few of those well not within the church I'll put that as a caveat I don't want anybody calling the home office saying somebody's bullying Mike Phelps in the church but we get bullies sometimes around us we have people who are difficult to work with I know of a young lady in our congregation who took a recent job working at the service desk at a one of our retailers talk about some difficult people to work with at times the stories that she has shared life isn't always easy for us sometimes trying to get off for the Sabbath getting off for the holy days we encounter a difficult boss or a difficult situation and there are many many times through our lives we have to take a stand for God but we don't stand on our own might we stand on his might when we stand strong in him we could go through the whole rest of this day looking at account after account in scripture people who stood strong for God we could compare our own lives and say the areas where we have difficulties or where we have troubles and draw encouragement from the scriptures for our own needs but again we have to move on and this would be something great for a personal study and also to remember that when you battle through difficulties and like we all have tried to do at times by standing on our own strength they're saying if I do it myself if I get the right pieces in place if I organize my life the right way if I call the right doctor if I look for the right job then then I can dictate and manage my future and so many times when we've tried to do that ourselves it just doesn't work and then through that school of hard knocks we learn if we will pivot look to God ask for his guidance ask for him to go before us ask for his wisdom and knowing what direction we should go then situation completely flips around doesn't it we realize we want God to lead our life we want to stand in his strength not in our own just as David was able to defeat the champion one that nobody else could felt could be defeated the odds were so far stacked against David it was impossible nobody would have ever said yes this little 13 15 year old with no armor no official training would be able to do what he did this is why we do not stand on our own might but we stand in the might of God the as we move into the second sub theme that we're going to share on Tuesday of camp the second sub theme as we continue to focus on standing strong the second sub theme is entitled against the darkness of this age so of course we see with the second sub theme again if we since we're in Philippians let's go ahead and flip back to Ephesians one chapter forward in our Bibles to the front of our Bibles Ephesians 6 and we'll read it one more time the passage that we're drawing from the second sub theme Ephesians 6 and verse 11 and 12 Paul says put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against who against the wiles of the devil for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against principalities against powers against the rulers of the darkness of this age against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places in the last sermon I shared with you we examined the beginning of Jesus's ministry in that sermon I reference how he was tempted by Satan before his ministry even began let's consider this temptation and how cunning and trickery and tricky our adversary is let's look at the account in Matthew 4 and verse 1 we could look at this account from some other passages or some other the gospels but I will focus in on Matthew Matthew's account today Matthew 4 and right at the beginning of verse 1 the event as you're turning to there in your Bibles the event we're going to look at took place between of course Jesus and Satan in the Judean desert which was hot and humid and especially dangerous kind of like Missouri in July hot humid and maybe a little bit dangerous but being truly man Jesus had to fully trust and rely on God to survive in this environment he had to stand strong spiritually as he avoided the temptations hurled at him temptations that he experienced that we all experience because in all ways he was tempted just like we are but without sin as we know is recorded in scripture and here in Matthew 4 and verse 1 we begin this account says in Jesus was led up by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil and when he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights afterward he was hungry in the parallel account to this one in Luke 4 verse 2 it reads be tempted for 40 days by the devil it's a little bit of a different wording and and it could lead to us to surmise that this temptation may not have just occurred right at the end of the 40 days but it could have been a continual onslaught of Satan continually tempting Christ for 40 days we're not sure exactly we're not sure if it was a continual onslaught or if it was just at the end of these 40 days but but regardless this was a temptation that that would have been difficult for anyone of full human ability to take a stand for but Christ stood not on his own strength again but in knowing and trusting that God would intervene and give him the help that he needed notice Matthew 4 and verse 3 it says now when the tempter came to him he said if two little letters boys a lot of meaning behind that if you are the son of God command that these stones become bread again Satan is using the word if here as if he could create doubt in Satan's mind or I'm sorry in Christ's minds that he was truly the son of God that he could truly overcome that who he really was was really who he really was but what a what a way to create doubt and try to create doubt and it's the same tool that Satan has used against us and against God's people forever right he wants us to doubt God's goodness he wants us to doubt that God could really forgive us of our sins he wants us to doubt that we could actually be viewed right as righteous before God that that our past could truly be left in the past there's so many things that Satan wants us to doubt and we could fill in all the blanks that we each have have encountered in our own life the doubt that God's Spirit can really transform us from the inside out to doubt that God would really give us his Spirit I've had to help some people work through that there's so many doubts that Satan throws and hurls at God God's people when he did this to our Lord and Savior he said if you are the son of God command that these stones become bread this temptation was also about self-preservation something we battle as well in this physical life right God has put eternity into the hearts of man that's why there's books on it living forever that's why the fountain the fountain what is the fountain of life the fountain of youth thank you trying to find it so that we can live forever klesiasities i believe it's klesiasse chapter three says that God has put eternity into the hearts of man and he did this because he wants to give us eternal life he wants us to be part of his family forever and he's placed this into our hearts part of living this physical life is we know we need food and we enjoy our food right we enjoy our food daily we get atonement or a day where we're fasting trying to draw near to God and it doesn't take long for our fuel reserves to start to drop for our legs to feel weak uh just standing up you can tell i haven't eaten in a while and that's just a few hours that might be half a day that might be 24 hours and we can feel how weak we are we need food to live and this was no different for Jesus at this time as well but the lesson in this temptation was that we must remember that God will never leave us and we must follow his word regardless the direction our lives go even if it means that our lives come to a physical end but notice what Jesus replies to satan with in Matthew 4 and verse 4 but he answered and said to him it is written man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God Jesus quotes the scripture in Deuteronomy 8 and verse 3 if you we're going to turn back and forth but we're going to keep coming back to Matthew so if you've got a ribbon in your bible and you want to put it here in Matthew chapter 4 i've done that already but let's turn to Deuteronomy 8 and verse 1 let's read the uh the account of where this passage uh where where Christ is quoting from here Deuteronomy 8 and if you've got one of the fancy bibles uh with two ribbons put your other ribbon somewhere here in Deuteronomy uh i'm saving up for that fancy bible someday with two ribbons i've just got the one um but we're going to be flipping back kind of in the these passages here in the old testament and also back to Matthew a few times as we because we could just read what Christ said and it would it would be totally appropriate right but Christ is alluding to a passage with a lot more deeper meaning and as we read through these passages you'll get more of the core of what was behind the scenes of what was in Christ's mind as he refuted Satan and as he battled this enemy of his notice the the account here in Deuteronomy 8 verse 1 the context of where Christ is quoting from uh it says every commandment which i command you today you must be careful to observe that you may live and multiply and go in the land and go and possess the land which the Lord swore to your father so this is Moses speaking to the Israelites prior to them entering the promised land we we know this from the book of Deuteronomy it's like a recap it's a re it's a reminder they've been wandering in the desert for for 40 years 39 plus the first year that they were there and they had forgotten some of the teachings they have kind of gone astray again and so Moses is reminding them this is what your god wants you to do this is the foundation he wants you to stand on and he's saying every commandment you must be careful to observe verse two and he says and you shall remember that the Lord your god led you all the way these 40 years in the wilderness why to humble you and to test you and to know what was in your heart i think that sounds like a good way to describe us today this wife that god has given to us this calling that he is in his grace extended to us he says i need to know with the information i'm giving you the my spirit that i'm going to gift you with will you go forward in faith will you go forward in strength will you listen will you heed me all the days of our lives in a similar way you and i have entered into that promised land where and we have with the indwelling of god's spirit that that spirit of that down payment on eternal life that you and i have been granted and we know the fullness of us getting to our promised land comes when we become spiritual children in his family but israel was told that that they were in this wilderness to humble you and to test you to know what was in your heart whether you would keep his commandments or not verse three so he humbled you allowed you to go hunger hungry and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your father's 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 so the lack of food and the hunger was that first real challenge that the israelis israelites faced in the wilderness again imagine they came out with a high hand they came out with their cattle and their other animals they came out with their bags of grain and maybe flour different things that they brought with them out of the land of egypt but how long would it take for that multitude of people to start to eat through those food stores and start to wonder wait where's the next rest area with the mcdonald's because i haven't seen we haven't passed one yet is there one up up ahead because i'm getting a little bit hungry they didn't have these things and so all of a sudden they started to worry they started to murmur they started to wonder if god was really that good of a god because remember him he'd already done these miracles in egypt he'd already brought them through the red sea and all of a sudden they're now doubting that god is good that god is gracious and it's not very sometimes we go through life and we hit a moment of our physical wellness suffering and similar doubts can come into our minds we can wonder is god going to see us through this and forget all those other things that god has seen us through from our past but this lack of food and hunger was a real challenge and a similar temptation for jesus as he was hungry but jesus stood strong against his adversary let's continue let's look at the second temptation of verse five let's go back to matthew four and verse five says and the devil took him up into the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him if again you are the son of god throw yourself down for it is written and this time he quotes scripture 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 this second temptation was one that was a visual temptation before christ he showed him the entire the entirety of the holy city by many accounts it looks like the temple was probably about 15 stories tall so maybe 150 feet was the from the the base of the temple the the physical temple itself up to the pinnacle but we also know it was set on the temple mount right so that even elevated it higher above the city the city that god loved the city that jesus cared deeply about as he glanced and looked over this the magnitude of the people the people of god the people that that he cared about the city that he loved satan quotes psalm 91 verses 11 through 12 this time trying to use scripture out of context of course against jesus but what does he reply verse seven it is written again you shall not tempt the lord your god jesus again quoted scripture from deuteronomy but instead of turning to that scripture let's turn to exodus 17 and verse one the passage in deuteronomy uh that that christ is referencing is an interesting one because it references the events here in exodus chapter 17 when the israelites asked a question that is not one that we should if it enters in our mind we should try to push that out quickly they asked the question is the lord among us or not that's a bold statement a bold question to ask of god in any circumstance but it's sometimes in our human weakness um those that thought can enter into our mind and maybe even make it out on on the lips of our mouth after everything that god had done for them they were doubting god and his kindness and his protection over their lives here exodus 17 and verse one it said then all the congregation of israel children of israel set out on their journey from the wilderness of sin according to the commandment of the lord and camped in rafidim and there was no water for the people to drink therefore the people contended with moses and said give us water that we may drink so moses said to them why do you contend with me why do you tempt the lord and the people thirsted there for water and the people complained against moses and said why is it you have brought us up out of egypt to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst so moses cried out to the lord saying what shall i do with this people they are almost ready to stone me and the lord said to moses go on before the people and take with you some of the elders of israel and take in your hand your rod which you struck the river and go before behold i stand i will stand before you there on the rock of in harab and you shall strike the rock and water will come out of it and the people may drink and moses did so in the sight of the elders of israel so he called the name of this place masa and maraba because of the contention of the children of israel and because they tempted the lord saying is the lord among us or not is the lord among us or not going back to the events in matthew jesus did not question god's goodness and his provision in christ's response he points out that we can test god sometimes when he does not need to be tested god is always faithful he's always there we don't need to test god in the fashion that satan was tempting jesus with and so again we see that jesus stood against his adversary and then the third temptation we find again in matthew four is in verse eight matthew four in verse eight he says again the devil took him up on an exceedingly high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory and he said to him all these things i will give you if you will fall down and worship me previously we see that jesus was tempted with self-preservation he was tempted visually and with pride and now he's being tempted with power and greed talk about a one two three punch uh one two three temptation punch from an adversary that that's it each of these temptations i think were was ironic because did satan forget who he was talking with and tempting did he forget that jesus had already been given the promises of being our lord and savior he he'd already knew that all that jesus would inherit as a son of god he already remembered i mean did it just to me it's kind of ironic that in my earthly mind that that if i was going to lose sight of of who i was actually tempting in this moment was jesus but in a way when we battle through temptation from our adversary in a way that's ironic as well because similar promises that have been shared with christ have been shared and given to us as well right in some ways it's kind of ironic that satan would tempt us in a similar fashion that he tempted jesus with but we struggle in our human flesh at times often we struggle as paul says paul talks about in an axe chapter seven of or not axe but roman's chapter seven of doing the things he doesn't want to do and the things he knows he should do he he struggles with so thankful paul was open enough to have that recorded and god made sure that that would message would be passed down to us because here's a person with strong faith strong ability saw god working mightily in his life had it was taught personally by jesus christ in the wilderness and even he struggled and so it's not shocking that we struggle at times and often we struggle in these same ways about with self-preservation we struggle with pride we struggle with power we struggle with greed these temptations that are constantly being hurled at us by satan and it's ironic because god has given us the keys to the kingdom he's made us his own spiritual children even today we have his own spirit dwelling within us a spirit that very few in this world have right now and yet we do battle these same temptations that were hurled at christ but notice what jesus said in verse 10 he said to him away with you satan for it is written you shall worship the lord your god and him only you shall serve again this is a scriptural reference to the book of de doronomy chapter 6 and verse 13 i'm going to flip over there because again there's the context of the passage that jesus is quoting from should not be lost on us de doronomy chapter 6 and verse 1 notice again moses giving the instructions from god reminding the people of what they're about to inherit and notice the mindset of before this inheritance is poured out onto the nation notice the warning the reminder that is offered de doronomy 6 verse 1 now this is the commandment and these are the statutes and judgments which lord your god has commanded to teach you that you may observe them in the land which you are crossing over to possess that you may fear the lord your god to keep all his statutes and his commandments which i command you you and your son and your grandson and all the days of your life that your days may be prolonged therefore here o israel and be careful to observe it that it may be well with you and that you may multiply greatly as the lord god of your fathers has promised you a land flowing with milk and honey this was a physical land that they were about to inhabit but yet we have been promised and offered a spiritual homeland right with god one that has not been granted to us fully yet but one where our lord and savior and our god has gone before and he's preparing a place for each of us he's preparing rooms in this mansion he's preparing a home a place for you and i to serve and to help and to to just be one with god what an amazing promise that we have this spiritual homeland the spiritual promise land that we look forward to so earnestly israel was looking forward to this physical promise land and notice again what moses reminds him in in verse 10 of the same chapter de doronomy 6 verse 10 he says so it shall be when the lord your god brings you into the land which he swore to your fathers to abraham isaac and jacob to give you large and beautiful cities notice which you did not build houses full of all good things which you did not fill hewn out wells which you did not dig vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant when you have eaten and are full again moses is reminding and god is reminding his people listen i'm about to just pour out the abundance that you can't even wrap your mind around on you and things you did not lift a finger to get but who gave it to you again there's this huge spiritual connection to this that we can never lose sight of is that our god is going before us daily providing for our needs daily providing for our health daily things you and i are we struggle to be able to do for ourselves i can't change my health i can alter it maybe a little bit if i'm not doing the things i should be i can maybe curb certain things but when we look at the grand scheme of our lives we are dependent on god to allow us to wake up in the morning and to be peaceful when we lay our heads on the pillows at night and then as we look at the spiritual connection again that our father is going before us to prepare a mansion filled with rooms that we did not plant we did not build we we have not done one thing on this earth to alter and to prepare this place in heaven for you and for me just as he did for israel and he says verse 12 then beware lest you forget the lord who brought you out of the land of egypt from the house of bondage we cannot forget that we were in that bondage of sin spiritually that we have been brought out of and then verse 13 what what christ quoted and and reminded in that temptation with satan he says you shall fear the lord your god and serve him and shall take oath in my in his name you shall fear the lord your god and serve him moses was offering a large warning prior to their entrance into the promised land because he knew god would be faithful to honor his promises and to richly bless his people and this is one of the challenges with prosperity when we have abundance and all of our wants and needs are met we can become easily reliant on ourselves and the self-reliance stalls us spiritually because we feel we are okay to manage our lives ourselves as well this is one of those dual aspects to this passage and the reminder of this the the the scriptures here this is why it's so important to as as jesus shared these reminders and he's refuted satan we got to look at the context and remember there's so much more behind it than just these simple words there's behind it a way that we are to live our lives self-reliance robs us of our ability to always give thanks to god for his goodness and his blessings and so again we see that jesus stood strong against his adversary matthew 4 and verse 11 concludes by saying the devil left him and behold angels came and ministered to him our adversary is relentless he is cunning and crafty and we will battle his tactics for the entirety of our lives but again as i already referenced and the writer of hebrew said but we have a high priest who can who can uh but we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses but was in all points tempted just as we are yet without sin and so you and i are so blessed to have a savior that gave his life for us and battled satan and his tactics head on and overcame his enemy and so you and i have god's strength and his power within us to also over come and to stand strong for god and to battle our adversary when speaking with the Pharisees jesus was critical their motivations as we know let's look at john 8 and verse 44 because in this passage of of this gospel of john um jesus refers to them uh in a in a very negative way because of their heart and what that heart looked like what that heart heart mimicked the attitude that that heart came from john 8 and verse 44 being critical of their motivation he says this about them john 8 44 you are of your father the devil and the desires of your father you want to do he was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him when he speaks of i he speaks from his own resources for he's a liar and the father of it this is our adversary that we battle later in in chapter 10 jesus says this john 10 and verse 10 one if you want to flip forward one uh one page in my bible but john 10 verse 10 he says the thief does not come except to steal to kill and to destroy this is again our enemy who comes to steal to kill and destroy yet jesus says i have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly this is why we're going to share with our campers and why we have to remember ourselves we do not battle the physical world we really don't what we battle is the spiritual enemy that we all have his influence over the physical world does cause us problems obviously but the challenge that we face is battling this adversary daily in our lives his temptations his fiery darts his tactics his evil and this is why we're sharing with the campers these reminders of who they have to stand strong against there's of course more to cover with this topic as i mentioned we'll have hopefully the next time i'm with you i believe it's going to have to be after uh the camp is over so uh you'll get the kind of the wrap up but hey i think you get to be the first congregation that hears from from me and gets a wrap up after camp so that'll be fun but we'll cover the second half of this and so as you can talk with the campers as well if they were at camp and uh on on some of these topics these first two sub themes for the summer's camp are vital in each of our walks with god there's no question since the beginning of god's interaction with man in the garden of eden people have chosen their own definitions for what is good what is true and what is godly and with their own choosing they have turned their back on god and the instructions he has given to lead that leads to a peaceful and righteous life the source of that response is the person in the source who's responsible is the same source that has always been responsible and always will be the serpent who deceived a eve in the garden which is satan the devil this is why we must stand strong against our enemy and stand in the might of the one who can equip us to withstand his evil and his temptations think back to that opening illustration again that beautiful red brick building the city was proud of that building they had pulled their resources together they they they looked forward of this being their police department their city hall their fire department the whole city came out to celebrate i'm sure there was a marching band i was in a marching band in high school when there was a big celebration we showed up played some songs you know people came out in the droves there was probably balloons some people maybe the city some people were giving out free food and free other things this was a huge celebration until those cracks started to be noticed those subtle underminings and then people started trying to figure out what's going on with our beautiful little brick red building so many times in our lives we stand strong for god because we're standing strong on his foundation that foundation that gives us the support that as satan's darts come in as his attacks hit us they don't weaken that foundation right because that foundation is secure on god with jesus christ being that chief cornerstone all these people who lived before us and and both in the bible stories putting bricks into that foundation to make it more secure with god as their strength and as those within our family have stood strong and added to that foundation a little bit over at a time that foundation wasn't made based on our strength our might the people in the bible's strength not on their might but on the might of god and unlike that little beautiful brick red building with so much hope so much maybe even blood sweat and tears that that city poured into it our foundation is secure as we continue to go forward those little subtle attacks from satan yeah they're they're gonna hit they may land and at times we do fall short but that doesn't change our foundation which is secure as we continue to build on it as we continue to invest in it and this is why this message is so important for our teens this summer but also for us not to lose sight of as well let's close in romans 8 in verse 31 it's a passage that i've shared probably a few times this past year with you it's uh one of my uh one of those i i can't help but think to when talking about a subject like this um i'm not going to apologize for turning to this passage too many times because there is so much power and a reminder that we have to always uh keep on the forefront of our mind of the god that we serve and what he's doing for us romans 8 verse 31 and verse 32 what then shall we say to these things if god is for us who can be against us he who did not spare his own son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things may we each take this message to heart and continue to stand strong not in our own strength but in the strength and the power of his might