February 26, 2023 Lent 1 The Sunday of Jesus’ Temptation
Lent 1
Matthew 4:1-11
February 26, 2023
Theme: We’re in a spiritual war against the devil but we have the strong Christ and strong weapons of Word and prayer.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
How many times have you said something like this, “Wow! I never realized how many….!?” When we moved to South Dakota and felt like something was really missing we said, “Wow, we never realized how many trees there are in IL.” We didn’t notice them. We’re often oblivious to things. You get glasses and you start to look around at people, “Wow, I never realized how many people wear glasses or contacts.” You buy a blue Ford Focus and say, “Wow, I never realized how many blue Ford Focuses there are around. They’re everywhere.” You decide to cut down on sugar and start looking at the nutritional labels on all the food you eat, “Wow, I never realized that sugar is added to almost everything I eat.” Many things go unnoticed by us.
And that includes the devil. Christians like you and me need continual training and instructing and encouraging so that we’ll keep seeing the devil’s work more and more and say, “Wow, I didn’t realize how many times the devil is tempting me and shooting his arrows at me. And I didn’t realize how many parts of my life are actually spiritual battles against Satan.” This Sunday of Jesus’ temptation is another Sunday to get you to notice and realize the devil working all around you. Because if you notice him working, then you can shut him up and his lies. Because you have Christ who has already taken away the devil’s power. And you have the Word of God and prayer which are weapons to drive the devil away.
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