Just Tell the devil NO!
Intro: Young woman--Man at the door--man returns with a knife--orders her to disrobe--- She says NO! NO! I’m a Christian and my God says NO! He says anything formed against me will not prosper. Leads the attacker to Christ.
Text:
Matt 4:1-11
1 Then Jesus was led out into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit, to be tempted there by Satan.
2 For forty days and forty nights he ate nothing and became very hungry.
3 Then Satan tempted him to get food by changing stones into loaves of bread. "It will prove you are the Son of God," he said.
4 But Jesus told him, "No! For the Scriptures tell us that bread won't feed men's souls: obedience to every word of God is what we need."
5 Then Satan took him to Jerusalem to the roof of the Temple.
6 "Jump off," he said, "and prove you are the Son of God; for the Scriptures declare, 'God will send his angels to keep you from harm,'... they will prevent you from smashing on the rocks below."
7 Jesus retorted, "It also says not to put the Lord your God to a foolish test!"
8 Next Satan took him to the peak of a very high mountain and showed him the nations of the world and all their glory.
9 "I'll give it all to you," he said, "if you will only kneel and worship me."
10 "Get out of here, Satan," Jesus told him. "The Scriptures say, 'Worship only the Lord God. Obey only him.'"
11 Then Satan went away, and angels came and cared for Jesus.
(TLB)
Jesus could have said ok to the devil but He boldly said no. There are other examples in the Bible of people who were bold enough to tell the devil NO!
1. People in the Bible who said NO!
1. Joseph- said NO when tempted by his master’s wife
2. Shemei- said No to the invading Philistines
3. 3 Hebrew Children- said No they wouldn’t bow to a
idol
4. Prodigal Son- said NO I’ll go back to my father’s
House
2. Martyrs who said no
3. Tell The Devil NO!
1. In temptation
2. In your Home
3. in your Church
4. In your friends and loved ones lives
maybe you are not strong enough to tell the devil NO! then call on PAPA.
The Big Rock
A little boy was spending his Saturday morning playing in his sandbox. He had with him his box of cars and trucks, his plastic
pail, and a shiny, red plastic shovel. In the process of creating roads and tunnels in the soft sand,
he discovered a large rock in the middle of the sandbox. The lad dug around the rock, managing to dislodge it from the dirt.
With no little bit of struggle, he pushed and nudged the rock across the sandbox by using his feet. (He was a very small boy
and the rock was very huge.) When the boy got the rock to the edge of the sandbox, however, he found that he couldn't roll it
up and over the little wall. Determined, the little boy shoved, pushed, and pried, but every time he thought he had made some
progress, the rock tipped and then fell back into the sandbox. The little boy grunted, struggled, pushed, shoved--but his only
reward was to have the rock roll back, smashing his chubby fingers. Finally he burst into tears of frustration.
All this time the boy's father watched from his living room window as the drama unfolded. At the moment the tears fell, a large
shadow fell across the boy and the sandbox. It was the boy's father. Gently but firmly he said, "Son, why didn't you use all the
strength that you had available?"
Defeated, the boy sobbed back, "But I did, Daddy, I did! I used all the strength that I had!"
"No, son," corrected the father kindly. "You didn't use all the strength you had. You didn't ask me." With that the father
reached down, picked up the rock, and removed it from the sandbox.
Do you have "rocks" in your life that need to be removed? Are you discovering that you don't have what it takes to lift them?
There is One who is always available to us and willing to give us the strength we need.
