Three Tempters Waiting for You and Me

Last day of Unleavened Bread, I can't wait to get back to that leaven! Actually, it's been a wonderful day. I thank you for all the wonderful food. I thank you for the great fellowship, the special music, the messages that we have heard. Thank you. Thank you. We love coming down here and visiting you, the special music that we heard just now. We appreciate you. You're a talented church. Now you need to pray for God to give you more, now that you're getting ready, now that you're getting a good handle on yourselves.

Now you need to pray to God, God, open the door, bring more people in, let them see. There are lots of people out there looking for answers. I know we're not as Christian a nation as we used to be, but there are a lot of people out there looking for answers in a world of confusion, a world that doesn't know where it's going. So we're going to be grateful that we understand the truth.

That doesn't mean we're perfect at living it. But you know what? You are Holy Brethren. Also Paul, he writes to the people, Holy Brethren, righteous Brethren, beloved. He loved God's people. He saw in their beauty. It was a beauty of their own. It's beauty because God gives them that spirit, his spirit in them, to give them strength and power, to give them his fruits. See, if we're not bearing the fruits of the Holy Spirit as much as we ought to, we need to pray for that one.

God helped me to have more because our trees should be loaded with love, joy, peace, love, suffering, gentleness, kindness, witness, meet, misdemprance. We should be loaded with that. Now I'm not loaded as much with patience. I know I need that. I'm trying to work on that. And I need to ask God for more help in having more patience, and I need to work on that.

But it doesn't mean I'm still flying off the handle all the time. 90% of the time, it's not all the time. That's my excuse. But it's not an excuse. We're all babbling, we're all striving to be a part of God's kingdom. You know what? You'll never strive enough to be in the kingdom yourself. Strive as you may. You can't earn the kingdom. Strive as you may, you can't earn the reward of eternal life.

Strive as you may. It's going to take the gift of God, the grace of God at the end, which you accept in baptism if you're a baptized Christian. If you're not, one day you will be, you young people.

But you're learning the truth, and you're seeing your folks live it. And when other people see you live it, they'll wonder, what's so special about you? And I hope everywhere we go, people say, there's something special about that man that works here. There's still something special about that man who works over there. There's something special about them. They may not know what it is yet. One day they will. That would be a great time. So here we are at this last day. Although I remember, you know, my first Passover, I worried that I was going to be struck dead in case I didn't do things right.

Sat in the auditorium in Pasadena. It wasn't the auditorium I have now. It was in Shakespeare Club. And Mr. Armstrong was up on the stage going to do the... I brought my towel, and they usually provided the basins of the water. I brought my towel on. I'm sitting there. Well, I was listening to the first part. I sure hope, I sure hope that I've watched this person's feet. But what's it going to be like to watch somebody's feet?

I've never watched somebody else's feet. Well, I watched my little brother and sisters. I watched them when I was 11 and 12 and 13 years old. I watched them. They were babies. So I watched their feet. Yeah, I knew it. I liked to watch somebody's feet. But not an adult's feet. Certainly not stinky feet, although we don't have those stinky feet. One night we'd probably wash our feet more than any other time before Passover. I don't want people to see my feet dirty.

The disciples had no choice when they walked in sand. It was open toed sandals, and their feet sweated as feet do. And they got to the place where their feet were dirty. So that water had been dirty. That's all. They were clean otherwise, both spiritually, at least as spiritually as they could be, not converted yet. So again, that first Passover were very special. I'm living with Brad. I remember sitting out on the tennis courts and all over trying to get a meal. I fed hundreds of people that were there in Pasadena at that time. We sat where we got playful.

Whenever we was left over, we sat and had some of that. And usually students kind of waited for other people, deferred to them, let them get through. That was my first experience. And that was in 1960. So what is this? 63 years?

It doesn't get old. It gets somewhat repetitious because you're not going to hear about fat and unfat foods. You're going to hear about clean and unclean meat. You're going to hear about what? Lemon and unleavened during this time. And you're mostly, hopefully, you're hearing about unleavened. But the Israelites, going back to the Old Testament examples, the Israelites in Exodus 12, I'm not going to read it. Just tell a quote to the cyclist, 12 verses 15 to 19. They were supposed to put the lemon on for seven days. During those seven days, lemon pictures, hypocrisy of the Pharisees, which is sin. During those seven days, they had pictures living in Egypt and following their ways of being trying and not being allowed to worship their God the way they wanted to because they were slave people. So for that period of time, they didn't understand. They weren't able to get out of there. And they were eating lemon all the way through them until God told them, get ready to leave after midnight. Don't leave until after, basically, until the morning, of course the morning comes after the dawn or whatever. So don't leave until then. Moses actually went right after midnight, you remember? And while the death angel came through and Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron, and they came to him. And he said, get your people out of here. Come on, get out of here right after midnight that night. The death had passed through already. So he went. And he said, get out of here, we're all dead men. So Moses, after they had the blood on the doorposts and then on their lentil above it, the sideposts, the doorposts, the sideposts, they were protected, the Israelites. So they had to mobilize them. They probably were already sort of ready. But how do you move hundreds of thousands of people, maybe even millions? How do you move them strategically? So they had to leave, they had to get out. They didn't have time. He said, don't make lemon bread. You don't have time to wait for the whatever yeast you put in sourdough, whatever they have, however they did it back then. You have to wait for that to ferment and to work on the bread and the flour. And so they had time, don't worry about that, just make it water and flour. And that's what they did. They get ready to go. So they left Egypt. And Egypt's pictured like sin, Hosea 813. And again, as I quote in Luke 12, 1, it'll be wearing 11 of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. And what is hypocrisy? Not being truthful, living a false life, a fake life, as you were. That's hypocrisy, Luke 12. 1. What did they do? After they left, they're free! Where they were? They were out of this land! They weren't really out of the land. They were probably out of the land. They were on their way out. So they were joyful when out of the high end. However, what did they do along the way? Well, they were afraid they were going to die. No, here comes Pharaoh. We're going to die! That's why they were wandering in the wilderness, all before they came to the Pranis land.

What did they say? They said, this is wilderness country. How are we going to survive? Then they said, give us more water. Then they said, give us more food. Then they said, we don't like this kind of food. Give us other food. Then they had one more water again. Then they shouted out the land. There are giants around here! And not just on verse 14. All the scriptures like to give you. And of course, the Amorites, where they finally went in to take over the land. They had a lot of reason to wish they go back. They were all we were in Egypt. Oh, we could have cucumbers. Well, cucumbers are not a lot to live on, by the way. Don't try that. Anyway, we had cucumbers and onions. Okay, good. Cucumbers and onions aren't going to live on either. By salad, maybe. Not good to live on. They fancifully thought, well, where's this Moses? You know, they made themselves gods. And Aaron and the other guys did it, too. By the way, his children, the Levites, supposed to be taking care of them. Oh, Aaron, excuse me. I just took this gold. I threw it in the fire. Well, how came this gold? Yeah, I don't understand how that happened. He fashioned it. He knew how it happened.

They faced all types of reasons to want to go back to what was pictured by Levon.

But you know what? When we leave, Levon no longer is bad. You know, you can go back to eating, but Levon loves to go to the field to eat after sunset. You want to go shopping tonight and get some toast? Because you'd really like to have toast and breakfast tomorrow? Do it after sunset. Go buy some bread. Butter to your heart's content tomorrow or tonight. Really longing for it. Make yourself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich instead of peanut butter and jelly matcha that breaks the plate for months. But that's okay. Because now it doesn't picture that. How do I know that? Jesus Christ Himself, in Luke 13 and verse 20, landed the kingdom of God to Levon. If Levon's bad, Jesus Christ said, no, it isn't.

And Matthew does the same thing as Matthew 13 here. But Luke 13, 20, I just looked it up. But Hebrews 10, verse 38 and 39, gives us an admonition. And by the way, the sermon, that was really right up this sermon's alley. Hebrews chapter 10 verses 38 and 39. Here was the admonition of the Apostle Paul. It wasn't necessarily about, about, it wasn't speaking about, leavening necessarily, but there's a principle. He said, now the just shall live by faith.

Just shall live by faith. What do you believe? What did you believe when you went into that watery grave of baptism? You gave up all the old leaven. You wanted to. How did you believe? I believed when I went into the water, goodbye care. I believed when I went into that water, that Christ buried you on me. I believed that all my sins were forgiven.

Rotten as poor, horrible as I saw them, and saw me as at 18. I see myself worse now, because I see more about me than I did back then. But I saw enough to say I'm sorry for being the person that I am. That's all we can do. Be sorry for the person we are at the time.

And trusted God, believed God. So it says, He, at verse 38, done the just shall live by faith, but if anyone draws back, my soul has no pleasure in him. If you leave Egypt, if you leave what was pictured by the days of unleavened bread, and you go back to the old you, or let the old you come back greater, verse 39, we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but are of those who believe to the saving of the life of our lives, of the life of the soul. So we don't want to go back. And yet, as we depart from here, not just from this church, but from leaving these days of unleavened bread, there are three tempters that are just waiting for us. Waiting for all of us, each of us, waiting for you, waiting for me, begging us to go back to being the old us. There's the world, there's Satan, and the worst of all, ourselves. Why can I say that? Well, you do, you know, you realize that when the millennium comes, all the people who are alive and haven't been killed by tribulation or trouble or the seven last flags or all the, all the situation and rebellion at the end, all those human beings that are still alive will live on into the 1000 year period, a period in which God rules. Those people who live on into that period will not have a world against them. Why? The world will be gods. They will not have Satan against them. Where will Satan be? He's incarcerated. What do they have to fight? They have an easy time. Oh, no. They have themselves. You know what that tells me? That I'm my worst enemy.

That I can give temptation to myself more than anybody else can. Satan can try. It's up to me whether I want to give in or not. Oh, I give into my own lusts, if I give into my own desires, and I give it to my own wrong desires. By the way, there's nothing wrong with doing something for yourself. When I combed my hair this morning, I didn't comb my wife's. I didn't comb yours. Was I selfish? No. Why did I comb my hair? Well, pardon me, I've been a teacher. I've hardly ever looked at it since I combed it, but I came out from the outside, so I looked at my wife's mirror, and I saw a few. I ran over 432 out of place, so I fixed it. But I'm not trying to do it for me. I'm not wearing a nice suit for me. I'm wearing it because I want to honor God. Now, suits don't honor God, but I can honor God by being in no suit. I can be honored God when I'm saving a bathtub. I ought to honor Him every time. All everywhere. But for church service, I wear a suit. Do you have to wear a suit? No, I wear sport boots sometimes. And depending on your needs, your situation, your age, your circumstances, wear the best you can. That's all. Until you wear the best you can every day. Hey, I've got a tux hanging in there. It doesn't quite fit me anymore, but I have a tux. I wear a tux. That's what I am. No. Do you want to help appropriate? Do you want to honor God by how you look, how you are, how you be? That's what you want to be. So, I have me in control. I'm the one. And yet, you can do things for yourself. That doesn't make you selfish. You're selfish if you always do things for yourself. If everything is about you. That is selfish to someone. We have a good this there. Say, be tired. So, what about this world that we go back to? We're going back to the world. We're going back to Satan. And we're going back to our own selves. We've been trying to scrutinize ourselves and keep it at... Say, hey, what do I have to overcome? What do I need to overcome? As I appreciate Jesus Christ's sacrifice. So, there's a world there. It's goodsy. It's shining. It's enticing. And it's full of sin. It's a world that believes in calling evil good and good evil. In my day, we've called a lot of the things they're doing now in teaching at schools. We call that evil. We call some of it perversion.

I'm trying not to identify it because I don't want to be guilty of doing something publicly. They call it perversion. They didn't promote perversion. It was a shame to be calling it pervert. Not glorify it.

So, I'm saying to you that the world is full of sin. The world is full of sin. Proverbs talks about children. Proverbs 1 verses 10 to 15. I'm not going to read it, but I have heard you read it to your children. You children, I'm going to speak to you first. I'll speak to the adults for the rest of the sermon.

There are young people at school that will try to entice you to do what they are doing when it's wrong. Come on, take some of this chalk. And when that teacher that doesn't see well works on the board, they would get these little pieces of chalk that were left over with these chalkboards. Maybe they don't use them anymore. Rather, they throw computers. Or maybe stylists. But back then, as soon as he turned his head to start putting something on the board, kids from one side to the other side would fling one of these pieces of chalk. Boing! It bounced off. He'd look around. Who did that? I'm not going to be a narc. I'm not going to narc on kids. So, I didn't say anything. I sat there. But I wasn't doing it. I said, I don't do this. I don't do this. I was taught respect for others. But they'd had great time. He never did find out. He punished the class by not allowing us to leave until the last minute before the next class. We might have been late to the next class and be advised for that. But you will find other kids in school saying, come on, join with us. We're going to do this. This is going to be this prank. We're going to do this silly. This is not just an antics. Not just a little fun thing. It's hurtful thing. I'll give you one live example. I know it. I know about it.

A young boy, teens, started hanging with the wrong group. They said, we're going to not, we're going to go rob this old man's house. We scouted up. We're going to go in and rob him. Join us. And he, not having the backbone to say no, did. When they got in, that old man either came home, throw anything on us some time ago. Real story. No, didn't make it up. That's too much. President Biden didn't make this up. This is true. This boy joined them. While they were there, robbing this man's house, he came in, an older gentleman, and tried to stop them. And you know what they did? They stabbed him and almost killed him. Whether they, I forgot whether they murdered or nearly murdered. The police found out who those boys were.

And that young boy who was attending church with his family went to jail.

Why was he there? Proverbs says, if they entice you to do something wrong, don't do it, son! That's what Proverbs 1 verses 10 to 15. Don't do it!

The Proverbs are written for the young people to get wisdom. Don't do it, son! Don't throw in with them. You'll regret it later on. It'll be a black part on your record, not on their record. They'll get it their own. And you'll get one because you followed them. Say no. Listen to your parents. They have an edge in knowing what's right and wrong. Because they understand God's will, not the world's will. The world will tell you, run with them. Go do it. You know the Bible talks about secularism. Don't be like the world. You know what secularism is? That's what our country is becoming. A lot of people, no longer Christians, they're secularists. No, secularism means of the world.

Of the world. 1 John 2 verses 15 to 17. So please, young people, if you hear my voice, and I think you do, because I was once young, you can turn my age backwards, and I'm still older. 82 and 28. Still not a kid, but I was a kid, and I remember my childhood well. And I loved my parents, and I never wanted to do anything that was dishonor my parents until I learned I don't want to do anything that dishonors my God. Do I slip and stumble? You bet. Did I ever slip and stumble? You bet. I don't want to. From God's Spirit, I can try not to a lot harder than I could be successful in increments, because I grew in godliness. I can be successful. 1 John 2. I've got a written name. 1 John 2 verses 15 to 17. Keep James' version. Do not love the world, but of the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, that's the system. Love the people. Love the people. God so loved the world. That's why he called us. We weren't Christians, most of us, when he called us. We were in the world. We were doing our own thing.

He said, don't love the world. The love of the Father, if you do love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, what is it? The lust of the flesh. What can I do to make my flesh feel better? Those who are believing, eat. That's comforting. Eat. Eat. Eat. Stuff yourself. Believe. Those who must have... I want to be stiff. I'm stiff. Everybody will like me better, so I'm going to lose weight. Just try more pounds. Just try more pounds. Just try more pounds. That's an anorexic. I've dealt with them. I know. The therapists.

You don't tell them, eat. You help them understand they have rights to choose. You help them understand that they are worth something. They're not just a body, a shape. The lust of the flesh. The lust of the eyes. What we can see. The more we can see. You ever notice how what you can see is all flashing lights? I have some premium channels on my TV. I haven't ever watched them. Most of them are gifts. They're on HBO or not HBO. You've been watching us for a while. We're going to give you this for three months. Tell me what three months is up, but I'll cancel. Some of them I canceled before. I go through all kinds of movies. I never pick one up. Once in a while, I have an old Deon and I'll watch it. The magnificent Seven. Yes, the old Renner. Western. I like that movie.

Pillow Talk with Clark, with the Cary Grant and Doris Day. Those are old-time movies, and they're decent, and they're clean. They keep trying all of these, and most of these movies are eerie. They're weird. The weirder, they could make them the worst. And most of them, this was, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is demonic. This is that. Why do I want to watch that garbage?

If you've ever dealt with a demon, you don't want them around, and you don't even want to be reading and hearing about them. They're awful, they're miserable, they're draining, and they're corrupting. Lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh. He says, the pride and the pride of life. Why do I do this? Let us appeal to pride. If you get this, you'll be the number one person in your neighborhood, first person in your neighborhood to get this. Who cares? Are they going to give me a prize because I bought this, the first one to my neighborhood? No! They love to appeal to vanity. Pride of life. It's good to be pleased with what you do. You should be. God was pleased with his son. He was pleased that he did well. He was pleased with you when you do well. He loves you, cares for you, he was pleased with you when you didn't do well. He gave rights for you. He wasn't pleased that you did what you did, but he was pleased to do it for you.

The lust of the eyes, the pride of life. It's not of the father, but it's of the world. Secular. That's what our world is aiming towards. Secular is best. Whatever makes people happy. Let's give them what they want. That's why the movies are the way they are. That's what people want. And that's what they live to do. Give people what they want. Garbage or not?

Anybody who works in computers knows there's garbage in, garbage out. If you let garbage come in, then guess what's going to come out of you? Garbage.

He said, that's not of the father, but of this world. And the world is passing away in the lust of it. But he who does the will of God abides forever. The world promises you happiness and joy now. But this life can give you. God promises you life forever. We can't even conceptualize that. Nothing we know of, except God that we believe in, is everlasting. Cars wear out. Radios wear out. Computers wear out. People wear out.

Nothing lasts in this life. Does that mean we should just give up and quit and lie to amok and quiver all day? No, you make the best of it. You make the best of what you do. You do the best in your neighborhood. You do the best in your community. You're the best person that you can be. Notice, I didn't say better than somebody else. That's what God wants. On verse 1412, the book cannot read it. You can write it down. He says, there's a way that seems right to a man. The ends are out of the ways of death. Most people don't say, this is wrong. I'm going to do it. Most. Some are satanic. That's wrong. And they know it. But they're so Satan-bond, they do it anyway. Yeah, most people do not say, let's see, that's a wrong thing to do, but I'm going to do it. That seems right to me to have a little fun. So let's throw the chalk off the board. What's up? That little, let's see, did see teacher, math teacher, spin around because he can't see very well and not as clueless, not as into looking at clues who's doing it. Let's take advantage of him. That seems fun. Yeah, seems right to a man. And so, I'm going to make requirement of those people. In Second Timothy 4 verse 10, Demas, I'm not going to read this one either. You can write it down. Demas, who was one of the workers we're called, said, Demas is left us having loved this present world. Second Timothy 4 verse 10. Let's look at Timothy, Second Timothy 3 verses 1 to 7. Timothy, actually Paul, inspired by God, gave this prophecy through the pen of Timothy of the time in which you're living, because it's the end time. How did he say people would be? How did he say the world would be shaping people to be? Second Timothy 3 verse 1. I know this, that in the last days, perilous times will come. Fairless times are the last days. I think these are the last days. Certainly a lot closer to last days than when I was a child, more than 80 years ago. Certainly more closer, nearer to the end. Am I saying the answer tomorrow? I'm not saying that. Nobody knows the day of the hour. I don't predict that stuff. God knows. I don't think God even has a such date. I think God says when the world gets so bad, you can't disintegrate before He's ready for it too. That's when He's going to interview you. Why He doesn't know the day. Surely Jesus Christ would know. He doesn't. He doesn't want to tell me back. Neither one knows the day or the hour. But people will tell you, I know what He's going to mean. They don't know. They don't know. For men will be lovers of themselves. Listen to this. Lovers of money. Boasters. Proud. Blasphemers. No, they don't care what they say about God or anything religious. Disobedient to parents. Unthankful. Sometimes I end up thanking people for letting me give them my business. I'm not waiting for them to say thank you. Well, thank you. Well, I'm saying, then I say to myself, why did I just thank them? I just gave them money. They should be thanking me. But they don't. Unthankful. Unholy. Unloving. Unforgiving. Slander. Without self-control. Why do you think all those people are that way? That's not just a photo of human nature. That's the world system. We used to try to teach our girls when they were real little. There's a book called, At Raggedy Ann and Andy. I like it so much, I kept on having duplicated that because it's not a print now. I gave a copy of it each to my daughters. They can teach my grandchildren. It says, thank you, please, and I love you book.

That's a cute little rhymes about saying thank you to different people in life. Children have to be taught that to be thankful, to be respectful, to be honorable.

He said, slanders without self-control. Brutal. Despisers are good. They don't like people. Oh, you're a goody-gooshy. What do you want me to be? A baddy-gooshy? I'm trying to do what's right. That make me a goody-gooshy. If it does, call me what you want.

Despisers are good. Traders. Traders are easy as the United States now. Leaking, classic, classified information and putting it out on them. Everybody can read it. That is so damnable. Do you like people you can't trust? That's a traitor. And strong. I'm going to do it my way. That's my way of the highway. Body. Lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. Oh, they try to show a form of godliness. Some who never, and something happens, well, we should all pray. Well, tell me how you pray for that. I'll pray for the victims. Well, the victims are dead.

You mean pray for the victim's family? Okay, I can understand that. I'll be praying for you. Yeah, right. You never pray anytime. You'll be praying. What do you mean by pray? I'll think about you. You're going to beseech God in Christ's name. You don't even know what you're doing. You're going to be praying. Showing a form of godliness, but denying its power. From such people turn away. That is the world's system. That's what it trains its people to do. 2 Timothy 4 and verse 10. That's the one I read about. He referred to Demas as forsaking me, having loved this present world. He loved the world. 1 The final one, John 17, verses 14 and 15, Jesus Christ's words to this account and his final prayer to the Father before he was apprehended and taken and crucified. What he prayed to the Father about you and me. John 17, verse 14. Then immediately the brethren set a fall away to go to the sea, but both Silas and Timothy remained. My God, that's why I'm so pretty to get to John. Sorry. That the right scripture has had their wrong, but it's in the Bible. I apologize. John 17, verses 14 and 15.

I have given them—this is all red letter edition Jesus Christ's words—I have given them your word and the world has hated them because they are not of the world. Now, if I go and throw people's garbage cans on the street and dump up all the garbage and I cost their yarn and do evil by them, they have a reason they hate me. They hate me because I love God's word. That's too bad. I've given them your word and the world hates them because they are not of the world. They're not secularists. Clean and simple. Just as I am not of the world. Don't be a product of this world. You have to go along with the world. You can't bucket every step of the way as far as to be successful in the lived life. But you don't have to follow it as it lives life its way. That you don't have to do. And they will hate you for it. No reason to hate you. You're not doing anything to them. But because you are a conscience, every time you don't do what's wrong and they're doing what's wrong, you're a conscience.

Verse 15, I do not pray that you should take them out of the world. I say, don't take them out, but that you should keep them from the evil one. For in the world, we should never be of the world. For in the world, we should not be of the world. So the first one we need to be aware of, and there are pollutions that this world has, this world has no hope. Ephesians 2, 12. This world is in darkness. And God has called us out of darkness and into light. So when you leave, the days of 11 red, don't let the temptations, number one, tempter take you away. And number two is the devil. Satan is the devil. Satan. Diablos means the devil. Satan. You know what he was? He's a false accuser. He loves to accuse people falsely.

That's what he lives to do. You know how he does that? He deceives people. You know how he deceives people? Sadly, he doesn't come to you with a pitchfork and long red johns and a couple horns sticking out his head and a long red tail and say, I'm Satan. Let me deceive you. Oh, no. And he has ministers who do it the same way. With Jesus Christ warned, they're going to come in the last days and say, I am Christ. I believe in Christ. Or I am the Christ. And many of those, I'll forget how many, 800, 1500? Over the years since Christianity claimed their Christ. Some from other religions claimed their Christ. They're the real Messiah.

And even the Jews who believe in a Messiah, you know who they believe the Messiah is? A person.

A good, strong, dedicated human being. Not to Jesus Christ that you and I understand. They come to some people, look, I believe in Christ. Don't you believe in Christ? I'm not Christ. I'm Christ's minister.

A lot of them get that online. You can go online and become a minister. Not very long time, and you do weddings and other things.

That really makes you Christ's minister? Not really.

Gives us a credential. Genesis 3.1, we read this. Genesis 3.1, Moses writings. Now the serpent was worse cunning than any beast of the field, which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, As God indeed said, You shall not eat of every tree in the garden. You mean the God that you're adoring and worshiping has not let you eat of every tree in this garden? Yeah, and if I were your God, I'd let you eat of every tree, and especially that one over there. Is he told you can't eat that one?

He said it, and she was very positive. She said, well, the Lord God said we could eat of every tree in the garden of Eden, well, except for that one.

And he said, blessed would we eat of it, we touch it, we'll die. Apparently, the way he tempts her, he's in the tree. He's a snake, right? I'm in the tree, and I'm not dead.

Say the devil's in the scenery, tries to lead you down a garden path of destruction.

He tries to schmooze you.

Don't take it. Don't believe it. All these smoother-than-butter creatures who claim the common Christ name. It really gets me that one, and I won't say that it was a lot of trying to deride other people, but it really gets me that somebody can tell you how to pray a prayer. You just say this prayer, repeat after me, these words, and you, Abby Caroll, you get to go to heaven.

Wait a minute. Is that sincere?

That's not sincere. What does God say? Pray from your heart. What's to hear from us? From the heart.

Revelation 12, verses 9 and 10. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world. I was deceived. You were deceived. I think most of us were. We were. I was going down the path. I was happy. I had my own car, full tuition scholarship, a girlfriend down the street two thousands away. Well, she thought I was her boyfriend's another matter, but I thought she was my girlfriend.

You think I wanted to give that all up? Full tuition scholarship to a credited institution. Didn't bust my parents anything, but a little bit of money. What actually was my car, too, that they bought for me, a lot of my savings over the years. Well, I worked at Bingo Nights at another church, which I didn't go to, but I worked and I got money from working at Bingo, flipping tables and selling bingo cards. And I put gasoline in my car. I had a good life! I liked basketball. I liked having nice fun, decent fun. And God called me. Out of that, I went to Ambassador College.

Satan the devil tried to deceive us all, tried to get us to follow his way. Deceives the whole world. I was deceived. I thought that's the thing. That's good for me. I followed it. His angels were cast up with him. Then I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, Now salvation and strength, this is verse 10 of Revelation 12, and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ have come for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night has been cast up. Thank God he's got to be removed, but he's deceived the whole world. He's a deceiver. What else is he? He's an accuser of the brethren.

He loves to accuse them later on in chapter 12. He accuses the brethren. You ever find yourself doing that? I find myself doing that. I say, you know what? God be their judge. I'm not their judge. I don't know their heart. Do I know their hearts? No. Only God does. 1 Kings 8 and 39. Back there in that section of the Kings is a powerful scripture. Only God knows the hearts of the children of men. 1 Kings 8 and 39.

1 Peter 5 verses 8 and 9. We already had the fruits of the flesh. We know that we were baptized. We gave up this body of sin. We know that out of the hearts, Matthew 15 verses 19 and 20. He perceives all kinds of... Well, that's... Sorry, that's another section. 2 Corinthians 11 talks about Satan being full of all subtlety. And that word subtlety in 2 Corinthians 11 and 3 means cunning, a person who is adroit at trickery, but only used in a negative way. They're not cunning. We know the difference between good and need. They try to go, not you till you're good. No. It's a person who tries to mislead you, try to hurt you, try to trick you into going a negative way. It's not used positively in the Greek. 1 Peter 5, 8, 9. We read Peter's admonitions. Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, walks about seeking whom he made like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may give out. And we know there was a lion loose out there running around the holiday, and you're gonna run out and say, come on, Ryan, I'll take you on up like David. I'll grab you by the beard, and I'll slay you. You're gonna run out and do that? I don't think so.

Take the devil like a roaring lion. He looks, he looks at the fire. For some reason, reels come up on my Facebook, and I see some of them that are about animals. You see all these animals that we don't think try to do. The hyenas try to even get a lion. To get a pack of hyenas, don't try to attack a lion. Some are coming from behind. Some are coming from a big pack of them can try to take down this lion. Lion crawls up on the slide down, take down this lion. Finally, he gets tired. Like a roaring lion.

Seeking whom he made about. He looks for the lambs. He looks for the giraffe that wasn't a lion trying to get this baby giraffe, and the mother standing over top of it was so much bigger than him, and using his heels and spooks, and boom, get that arid lance. Good lord, that lion is a good lion. So the lion is trying to dodge that and still get that little one and drag it away.

We live in a world where Satan the devil is active. He's not inactive. He's not as active as he was when I was younger. He was more in the ministry, that is. He's more overt. Now he's more subtle. More subtle. He tries to broadcast an attitude. He can get you to be jealous. He can get you to be rebellious. He can get you to be hateful. He can get you where you go to harm somebody else. Malicious. That's what he is. That's all he tries to do is get us to be like him. But all he wants to be is like God. He wants your adoration and worship. No way does he want to be the type of being. And then he would want to worship if they knew who he was. And how do his ministers appear? Yeah, 2 Corinthians 11. They appear as angels of light.

I think it's 13 to 15 verses in 7 Corinthians 11.

So he has ministers, too. Guess what those ministers are going to do at the end? They're going to show great signs and wonders.

What did Jesus say about great signs and wonders, you know?

He said, an evil and adulterous generation seems after a sign.

And I submit to you, when you saw the Red Sea open, all those pharaohs, soldiers, and probably him, Psalms, and he was in there, too. Barry. After God opened the Red Sea for them to come across the dry ground, and he let the Egyptians follow for a while in dry ground. And then he let it return to Machenire. They got bogged down, and then he let the waters come in and kill them.

If you saw that mighty miracle, would you be ready to ask God, why don't we have any more water here? Why don't you give us some more, some chicken instead of kartujal, or give us some beef instead of kartu. You wouldn't be doing that if you believed. The disciples saw Jesus Christ walk on water.

Peter even walked on water. And when the chips were done, what did they do? They rejected him and ran. His only friends left him. All of them.

Signs don't cut it.

Belief and faith. That's what that's it. Ephesians 2, verses 1-3. He made you alive, you were dead and trespassed and sinned, in which you once walked according to the course of this world. See, we were doing Satanism 101. We were doing worldliness by Satan 202. That's the course we were taking as we walked along in this world. We were taking that course of knowledge, or wherever it was. The Prince of the power of the air, the Spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted our lives in the lusts of the flesh.

He says, in fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and whereby nature to the children of wrath. Let's not say about us, but read that in a moment, just as others. But what does Satan do? He encourages you to go that way. It's his world. He makes it his way.

We need to stay away from him. He's wrathful, he's revengeful, he's lustful, and he's disobedience. And he's grasping. He wanted to be God and worship so much, and he is. All over the world, you have pagan religions that worship him and call him God. All over the world, he wants Christians to do the same. And God has them hoodweeds. They think they're worshiping the true God, and they keep Easter.

Easter. Some of my family, my relatives that are in the church, they keep Easter. Some former ambassador students that I taught, and indeed, you're welcome up like this. They keep Easter. All you have to do is look up in a non-religious book, encyclopedium, Easter, and it'll tell you it was a pagan goddess.

Now, does God want us to be worshiping him through the pagan goddess?

It's plain as hell. And what about bunnies and chocolate-covered bunnies? And eggs. What does that have to do with Christ? Oh, new life. An egg means you can ever do life. Buddies produce lots of new life. Is that what it's about?

Or is that have to do with goddess of fertility?

So, be aware. State the devils out there trying to get all of us, any of us, to buy into his moods, his attitude, and his character. The third temperature we have to face is ourselves.

The self. What is the self about? Romans 8, verses 5 to 8. Romans 8, verses 5 to 8. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh. But those who live according to the spirit, the things of the spirit. Okay. So all the ladies are going to go home tonight. They're going to think of the things of the spirit to let you guys worry about what you're going to have to eat tonight and tomorrow. I'm not focused on, hey, that does a feature flesh. I'll read a scripture to you there. I'm feeding your spirit.

Is that what it says?

So, set their mind on it. That's all they're worried about.

A lot of things of the spirit, Matt, Mary, and Martha. Which one was it? It was worried about. Martha. Martha was worried about so many things. Let me get this. Lord, don't you care that Mary's sitting here learning from you and she won't even help you serve the mighty food. Why don't you care? And Jesus said Mary's chosen the right thing.

And you could have done both, right? You could do both. She was so overly worried about what place she's going to serve on the water, what kind of food she was going to give. I don't know what she was worried about. But he had the remark.

He was on to say, we're going to be carnally minded as death, but to be spiritually minded as life and peace. Each of us was born with a carnal mind. Cleanshley, normal mind. Which David said, I'm fearfully and wonderfully made. It's a wonderfully made mind. But if that wonderfully made mind is not tempered by the Spirit of God, the Word of God, it can run amok. So the desire to one that live can turn into selfishness. If it's not her, then everything is for you. What a little baby cries there. That baby is crying, it just wants to be picked up. Yes, it does. Why don't you pick it up? Maybe it's crying out to say, I need a little love. Pick up that little baby. Don't let it cry there. Now, if you're trying to teach it a lesson, that's fine. If it really learns any lessons at that young young age. But love it. Care about it. Teach it as it's able. At its stage. Not at your stage. At its stage in life. So again, carnal minded, you know, he means fleshly minded. But to be spiritually minded is life and peace. God teaches you how to curb that human nature. Teaches you how to curb those physical desires. Teach you how to put them in balance.

The person says, I just want mediocre, dude. That's all I want to be is mediocre, Mike. I don't want to be anything bad. I just barely make it. That's pleasing to God. Is it really pleasing to God? Is it pleasing to your tithe? When you can make more if you're studying better and learning better and willing to have more tests and improve, then you make more money. You can get a better living for your children. Then you can give more to the church. That's a noble thing. God doesn't want to call a bunch of rag tags. He calls us when we're rag tags. Does he want us to stay rag tags? No. Do the best we can do. Some of us could do more. Some of us can get bring back five talents. Some can only bring back two. Some could bring back only one if they brought back one in the right attitude. But they bring it back because they didn't invest it or do anything with it. God's going to say, you didn't care to use what you have.

Because if our own mind is entity against God, often by itself let loose without any controls, it doesn't like God because it does not subject to the law of God. It hates anybody to tell it what to do.

Do you hate instruction? You're a fool. You're stupid, Robert says.

You're a fool. Learn. How can I do this better? How can I do this better? Come to services. Come say, I wonder how I'm going to learn to... I've just added some sermons. I've just added some classes. This is a loser class. This is a loser class. But if I listen carefully, I might find something here that I can use. And I usually do. It all depends on my attitude, too. What am I here for? Maybe I need repetition. Peter used a lot of repetition.

Holy days around, I've been keeping these for 16. Why do I need to keep them anymore? I'm pretty smart enough, smart enough with good memory that I can remember what was... what? Days of Unleavened Brother of God. Why do I need them anymore, God? Because he wants me to learn.

He wants me to grow. He wants me to keep in mind all his purposes for them.

Neither of these can be subject to love, nor give it. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You don't have God's Spirit working with you as hard for you not to do. Your children are blessed because they're around the Spirit of God in the family. That Spirit of God helps your children to have some sanity. And by the osmosis, but by example, they see soundness and wisdom.

Matthew 15, verses 19 and 20.

For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adultery, and fornication, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man, but the eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man.

Genesis 6, 5. You know what God said just before? He's unleashed the flood that man's thoughts were only evil continually. Genesis 6, 5. Can you imagine when you get to that state of carnality that the only thing you think about is how to be evil?

Romans 6, verses 3 to 6.

Paul writes, Do you not know that as many of us who were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death? And he said, Therefore we are buried with Him through baptism into death, just as Christ raised that you from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should live in newness of life. What is buried? Notice, for if we have been united in the likeness of His death, we shall certainly be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing that our old man was crucified for a new person. May not be a great new person yet, not a fully new person, or that the body of sin, please remember that body of sin you intended to bury at baptism. Don't let it come back up. Don't let it domineer you. Oh, what a wonderful explanation that Kirby gave the handout for you, Mr. Burton did. He gave you that handout. It's wonderful. Look at that. That's what comes of the flesh. That's what we're capable of producing. John 3, verses 19-21, my last scripture. And remember, all we can ever learn, or earn, of living our way of death, that wages of sin, death. It's the quarter after four of my life. I've no longer learned. I'm sorry. I didn't think my life was worth being able to because I didn't remember to bring my time or my value charge. Still over-kicking. Maybe it'll stop now, okay? John 3, 19 tells us, this is a condemnation that the light has come into the world and men love darkness rather than light.

Do you love darkness, Ryan? I like darkness when I want to go to sleep. But I'm sure I'm happy to see the light come today. Are you happy to see the light? Is he light, sun, sunshine, and he's a? That's the way it ought to be. For everyone, practicing evil hates the light. It does not come to the light, lest his deeds be exposed.

People that are around you, you're trying to live right. They're being condemned right, left, and center. You're not trying. You're just being you, Christian you, Christ in you.

In conclusion, please, be aware of your three avenues. But if only expose them to you, what can you do to resist? I'll give you three points. How may we resist these temptors as we leave our personal Egypt behind?

First John 5 verses 3 to 5. This is the love of God. This is for the world. And we keep his commandments. His commandments are not burdensome. For whatsoever is born of God, overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world. Our faith. He who is over, he, so is he who overcomes the world. But he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. You heard a nice song about Jesus Christ, but he took a wife. Now he heals us. How we as people don't have to let the world domineer us.

We don't have to let it. Fight it, we just need to. Say to the devil, what is my admonition to us? Revelation 12, 11. They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. What they had to say, what they stood for. They did not love their lives to the death.

They weren't going to give up, Mr. Burton said, be determined. Paul said, I'll never let anything pick me away from the love of Christ. Romans 8, verses 38 and 39. James 4 says, resist Satan the devil. Submit to God that Satan will flee from you.

Satan does not like Christ. If you're in Christ, he stays away from you. You're a tribe.

But when Christ came to those demons, you know what they said? Get away from us! What if you've got to torment us? They're afraid.

For you have the Spirit of God in you, and you're trying to live a godly life. Don't worry about Satan resisting. If you feel you're trying to get yourself in a snit, they called. Quit that out of the do. That's God for help. Calm yourself down. Listen to some good music. Go sit and relax. Calm down.

And the self, it takes our determination, coupled with the power of God. Our determination, that's where I just read, and quoted Romans 8, verses 37 to 39. For more than conquers, why through Christ?

We don't have to let the self dominate us. They'll try. And remember the words of the Apostle Paul in Philippians 4.13, I can do.

All things, how? How do you win these battles through Christ, who strengthens us? Or in such need, Philippians 4.13. So, brethren, as we return, when we start eating the leavened bread, don't feel guilty. It's okay. It's no longer picture sin. But leave your old leavened behind. And don't let the three temperatures, the world, Satan, and yourself, tempt you to ever, ever go back.