Matthew 4:4

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God’” ~ Matthew 4:4


Yesterday, I preached from the Gospel of Luke, but the words match these words written by Matthew. I will requote from my sermon:  “We live in a world where we must know the Christian story to resist the false stories that take us captive. Satan offers us through Jesus a storyline of self-indulgence, self-glorification, and self-service. Both Satan and Jesus use scripture and they both quote it. Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy, Satan from Psalms. What this tells us is that it is not enough to know scripture; it must be read rightly whilst considering God’s nature, and it must be applied. God’s story is a story of deliverance and faithful obedience to God rather than our own self-reliance. If we are to fight the foe which leads us astray with temptations, we must read the Bible everyday! If we are thinking the wrong things because we do not know His word then we are believing the wrong things and will be easily misled. There needs to be a revival in reading God’s word, there needs to be a revival in knowing how to fight the temptations which surround us in the 21st century. Jesus is our example. He fought Satan’s temptations and misuse of the scriptures by knowing God’s word and remaining faithful to it. If we proclaim the name of Christ, but fail to read our Bible, we are hypocrites. We cannot fight our temptations on unfounded information. We are an example to the world…we are the light of the world! Let your light shine with Gospel truth. It is written! Jesus said so!

Pastor Julia

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