The Church is an Umbrella

Yesterday we looked at how Ephesians 6 calls us to “link shields” in the church. This is one of the most basic tactics in resisting temptation. We need each other. But there is a spiritual component to this as well; a way that the church literally puts us into a place of spiritual protection that […]

Strategy 2 – Link Shields

Link Shields So you think you can resist temptation by yourself? All you need is your Bible and the Holy Spirit and you are set. If you believe this, then you have bought into one of the greatest deceits of the devil. We were never meant to fight the spiritual fight alone. That notion of […]

Strategy 1 – Be Strong in the Lord

So if we are going to resist temptation, we are going to have to have a strategy. Without a strategy, your strategy is to lose, and lose you will. You will continually succumb to the offers of temptation until you take seriously the need to activate a strategy. So how do we strategize? Thankfully the […]

Resisting Temptation 301 – Remember the Sorrow of Sin and the Satisfaction of Christ

Why are we so easily deceived by our temptations? Sin always makes an offer, and always reneges on its promise. Sin promises satisfaction, and gives us sorrow. That is always and only what sin does. C.S. Lewis perhaps put it best. In The Weight of Glory Lewis wrote, “It would seem that our Lord finds […]

Resisting Temptation 201 – Recognize the Source

I’ve done it, and you have to. We use phrases like “I fell into temptation,” or “I stumbled.” Nonsense! We didn’t stumble, and we didn’t fall, we walked headlong into it, fully cognizant of what we were doing. Sure, we may have been under complete self delusion at the time, but we weren’t passive victims, […]

Knowing Christ Through Suffering

Yesterday I preached on Philippians 3:8-11… 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness […]

Resisting Temptation 101 – 3 Reasons to Fight

In 2003, Aron Ralston was hiking alone in Blue John Canyon in Southeastern Utah when a boulder fell on him pinning his arm. For 127 hours he wrestled with the stone, chipping away at it with his pocketknife, when he realized that the only way to survive was to use the now exceedingly dull blade […]