HOOKED
Week 4 “The Upside of Temptation”
Pastor Timothy Porter
Text: James 1:2-5 1:14-17
Introduction:
Casting, that’s what we’re talking about. I don't know if you realize this or not, we discovered last week that Jesus is an expert angler. He’s an amazing fisherman. He’s the best. The ultimate.
But, there is another fisherman out there, the caster of disaster, his name is the devil and he casts…He casts to you constantly. He’s just constantly casting, constantly presenting things to you. And as he presents these things they look really much more alluring than they really are. In other words, a temptation doesn’t really seem like a temptation. It seems much greater than that, but it is. I love how the Bible talks about trials and testings and temptations. Because we discovered that God wants to use trials, testings, to make us strong. The enemy wants to take something like that and turn it into a temptation and he wants us to take the bait, bite the hook, so we’ll do wrong. He wants to get us off of God’s purpose and agenda for our lives.
*STAND*READ*PRAY*
I’m just talking about casting today. Casting. The caster of disaster.
It doesn’t take the smarest person in the world to realize that there is a dark, sinister, evil force out there named the devil. He wants you to miss the best that God has for your life, because God has something amazing. If we could see God’s agenda for our lives we wouldn’t believe it.
Everybody deals with temptation. Temptation is a part of life. And when you see this word temptation, it’s the Greek word "Peirasmos." Say peirasmos with me. It literally means to test or prove.
Again, let me say this. Here’s the phrase that pays."God tests us to make us strong. The enemy tempts us to make us do wrong".
So, even if you’re being tested on the outside or tempted on the inside, the great news is we can turn these times of trials and testings and temptations into triumphs. Isn't that great? So we don’t have to have this victim mentality, we’re victors because of who we are and whose we are. Yet, if you’re here – and I know many of you are here who have never moved from death to life – this is what’s going to happen to you once you become a believer. God can leverage these things, God can leverage and will leverage the peirasmoses in our lives for greatness if we allow him, if we lean into his grace.
There is something, though, that is alluring about sin. You know, sin is missing the mark. It’s using a God-given gift in a God-vetoed way. Everything we have comes from God. He’s given us these great desires, yet the enemy looks at your life, and goes, “Hmmm… OK.” He studies us. He knows where we’re vulnerable and valuable and he fishes for us.
I love to bass fish. I grew up bass fishing. Bass fishing is the most popular fishing in the world.The thing about bass fishing is it’s everywhere. It’s a $40 billion industry just in America.
Well, the Bible uses this whole fishing vibe when it talks about being tempted or tested or facing trials.
I.] Diffirent Types Of Temptation
ELRATON- This is one of the lures that I love. This is a very expensive lure. In fact, if this lure got hung up I would probably go diving to retrieve it. It’s called El Raton.
“You mean bass eat rats?” You better believe it. And this bait is very seductive the way it swims, bass cannot resist it. The devil is a dirty rat. He makes things look much more appealing than they really are. So we concentrate on, “Boy, look at that rat!” This is awesome! We don’t see the hooks, we don’t look past the bait to the results. We take it and we’re in serious troubl and Hooked.
You see when the enemy reels you in, you know what he does? He stuffs us on his wall. You wouldn’t believe his trophy room. You wouldn’t believe the believers, mounted. And I’m sure he says. “Look at that girl. Can you believe I tempted her and she took that bait? Look at him! They were both caught on El Raton.” .
SCUM FROG - This is a deadly bait, called the scum frog. You can throw it on any scum on a pond or lake and the fish love it. So the scum frog, This reminds me of our friends or relationships, the scum frog, if you hang out with scum, you have an opportunity to take the frog and get hooked.
As you look at your life, who are you hanging out with? Where are you swimming? With scum in the worm shallow stagnet water or are you swimming in the deep clean flowing waters?
TERMINATOR SPINNER - This is called the Terminator spinner bait. Second-most popular bass lure in the world, the spinner bait. The Terminator. The Flash. When I see the Flash I think about materialism, I think about greed. So often we think, “Wow, if I had that, that would do it.” “If I could acquire that, that would do it.” And it’s so alluring and it’s so flashy and it’s so blingy we take it. And here’s what the devil does with this temptation. When we take the bait, when we take the lure, we think it will bring security, yet it brings insecurity because you’re always one purchase away, always one trip away, always one acquisition away from Nirvana. You never get there and you end up missing the best in your life. Are you chasing this?
You know what’s so ironic about this lure is everyone is chasing this. I’m here to tell you I’ve seen it, I’ve experienced it. Money, It’s great, awesome and all that. It’s not going to take you where you need to go. So the spinner bait, the Terminator, it will terminate what God wants to do in your life.
BOOYAH JIG - You want to catch a big bass? This is called a Booyah jig. A jig has a lead head. This one is weedless. See the nice weed guard there? Razor sharp, Gamakatsu hook, and this skirt, this catches a lot of men. The lure of lust.
The skirt. It looks so harmless, doesn’t it? No big deal. It’s stealthy, it’s right there on the bottom, and it makes some noise, too. It kinda rattles. Well, guys think, “No big deal. I deserve it. I’ll be a real man.” And you look, and you’re mesmerized. You take the lure of lust. It blows up a marriage, a family, and that’s the thing about sin. Sin is not just, “OK, I sinned one time.” Sin is a process.
Go back to Adam and Eve, when they sinned what happened? It led to death and judgment. It led to our sin-etic condition. So it’s not just one sin. There is a ripple effect of sin. When God created Adam He wanted to look down from Heaven and see the ripples of Himself a mirror and when Adam sinned it busted the mirror and God could no longer see Himself in Adam
So when you throw this bait in the water and if it’s really still, you can see the ripples on the water, the rings on the water. Sin is the same. We take the bait, the hook is set. We think we’ll get away. We can't shake the hook and then you have collateral damage and it’s not very pretty.
REBEL POP R - The Rebel Pop-R. This little thing with a tiny hiney, you’d think, no way. A bass, when he eats something like that, it’s like a little piece of sushi. It’s on top of the water <pop!> and it kind of <pop!> pops <pop!> like that <pop! Pop!> The Rebel Pop-R. Rebellion, in our pop culture, is the rage. Rebellion. The Bible says rebellion, when we rebel against authority, we’re more like the enemy, than at any other time. Did you hear that? When I rebel against God, when I rebel against authority issues in my life, whether it be a manager at a restaurant, whether it be a CEO, Pastor, a boss, a coach, a teacher, a parent, when you rebel, when you have a spirit of rebellion, You are more like the enemy than at any other time. It’s amazing how many people live in rebellion. You take this little lure but the sting with this lure, whoa! It’ll hurt you.
DEVIL HORSE - An old classic, the Devil’s Horse. The Devil’s Horse. I love this lure. I’ve always been intrigued by the eyes because it floats like this. If you’re a bass that’s what you’re seeing. See those eyes? Has little props on it and those props just kick up the water. Real noisy. <whoosh! Whoosh!> and then boom! The toilet flushes beneath it. that’s how a big bass just <gulping sound effect> takes the bait. That’s what happens when you hook a really, really big fish.
Well, this Devil’s Horse kicks up all this dust and noise and I think about slander. Gossip. Talking smack. Haters. Social media. The Devil’s Horse. It’ll take you to a place where the devil wants you as opposed to where God wants you.
One more before we go a little bit deeper. This lure here, super difficult to get. I got it at Cabel's it's very expensive lure.
SILENT SWIMMER - This is called the Golden Carp. You wouldn’t believe it but giant bass love this. It’s silent, it’s deadly. The bass looks at this and thinks, “Wow, that’s me,” and takes it. This sort of represents the forerunner of all sins, Pride.
Most of us think a prideful person is the -fancy cariving , blinged out guy or girl. That’s not necessarily true. Pride, comes before every sin. You can't lust unless you're involved first of all in pride.
God, you’ve given me this desire for sex and I’m going to use it the way I’m going to use it, not you. So that’s pride. Then you have lust. Anger. “God, I’m going to rage on this person. I’m going to do what I feel I should do – pride – and I’m going to allow anger to control me.” That’s pride, then you have anger. So you see it and pride has caught a lot of people. So often quiet people, silent swimmers, are the most prideful. I know a lot of people who are prideful in their humility.
That’s some lures that I thought about that kind of relate to our lives. You can see them there. The devil casts and casts and casts. What do we do when we face trials and tribulations and testings.
II.] Facing Temptations
ENGAGE
the Bible says we should engage in the situation. Say engage with me. Engage. The Scripture says that trials come in various colors, sort of like lures.
James 1:2, “Consider it pure joy (engage the trial), my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many different kinds.”
So, many different kinds, the picture behind this is a multifaceted, multicolored presentation. And the word consider in verse 2 is a financial term. It means to evaluate your situation. I evaluate testing. I evaluate a trial.I evaluate a temptation. I evaluate the lure that’s being presented to me, whether it’s on the outside or inside. So I engage, I have an encounter, with the trial. Trials and testings and even temptations when we don’t take the bait help us, they shouldn’t hurt us. And one of the ways we turn trials and temptations into triumphs is to engage them.
ENDURE
Also, endure them. God wants to build endurance, perseverance, in our lives. How do we do that? We have to let a lot of bait go by. How do we do that? We have to so feed on the real thing that when we see something fake or phony we’re like, “Oh, man. Are you kidding me? The silent swimmer again? What? That’s pathetic.”
Endure the testing. So when we endure this fish swimming by, this lure swimming by, when we endure it, it builds stuff. Because the weakest thing in the world is a virtue that’s not been tested.
James 1:3 , “You know the testing of your faith produces (what?) perseverance.”
ENLARGE
So engage the trial, endure it. Also, as we do these things here’s what’s going to happen. Our territory, our sphere of influence will be enlarged. It’s part of maturity and growth. That’s what God wants in our life. Once we become followers of Christ, he wants us to grow. And the Bible says in James 1:4 , “let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking in anything.”
James 1:5 , because we need wisdom, right? “If any of you lacks wisdom (wow.) you should ask God who gives generously to us all.”
So, I’m facing the silent swimmer, pride is the forerunner of all sin. And as I face it, as I go through it, as I build endurance, as I build it in my life as I rely on God, here’s what happens. I enlarge my sphere of influence. When I ask God for wisdom, I need to act on what he’s told me. Let me say that again. When I ask God for wisdom, act on what he’s told me!
III.] GODCENTRATION
So God wants to impart wisdom in all of our lives. We’ve got to ask him and not only do we ask him but we act upon it. But it even gets better. What do we do when we’re faces with these situations, these trials, these testings? What do we do? What do we do? These temptations? Well, first of all we need Godcentration. I made that word up. Godcentration. Again, let’s go back to the big, honkin’ lure. I’m seeing this lure and it always is more alluring than it really is. I’m looking at this lure. I need Godcentration. I need to look past the lure to the results of what’s going to happen.
You need to look beyond the lure so you’ve got Godcentration. you're not locked in on the silent swimmer, you are thinking about what God wants. And because you are feeding on his word, because you are rubbing shoulders and swimming with swimmers, you see this and you're like, “Oh man. Look at that temptation. I’m going to back off from that. I’m going to swim away from that. I’m not going to take the bait.” Because those hooks are sharp and the devil doesn’t practice catch-and-release.
The devil moves us from life to death, yet Jesus moves us, when he catches us, from death to live.
So I’m not going there. And the Bible says in James 1:14-15 , there’s that Greek word we learned, peirasmos. “Each person is tempted (and the word is to test or prove) when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed.” And this word enticed in the literal language means, to bait a hook. “After desire has conceived it gives birth to sin, when sin is full-grown it gives birth to death.”
GODSEQUENCES
Not only do we need Godcentration, we need to understand the Godsequences. The Godsequences. We choose our choices, we don’t choose our consequences. God has told us, “You follow me, you’ll have awesome Godsequences in your life.” Purpose, power, strength, freedom, a clear conscience, all those amazing things. However, we need to look at the Godsequences of our choices.
ILL. Brad Pitt
When you're jumping into bed with all the women and doing dope - running and gunning on the streets, you you have to come up with a theology that fits your life style.
James 1:16-17, “Don’t be deceived, every good and perfect gift is from above.”
GODTRABAND
Get rid of anything that bans God’s best in our lives
CONCLUSION:
1] Where are you swimming?
a. What location are you swimming in
b. Are you swimming in a small pond or the ocean
2] Who are you swimming with?
a. The “they” in your life really matters
b. Are they helping you swim better or not
3.] How are you swimming?
a. How are you living your life
b. Reflect character qualities of Jesus
4.] When do you swim?
a. Always swim regularly
b. Always be looking for the opportunity to reach out to someone
Let me just ask you. Name the trial, name the temptation that you’re dealing with. Could it be pride? Materialism? Catches a lot of people, just ask Brad Pitt. Oh, that rat looks good. A little protein… really? You hanging around with scum at your school? Scum on the team? Well, you’re hanging around scum because scum makes you feel better. “Oh, I’m a lot better than them.” Watch out. The lure of lust. What movies do you watch? Do you realize an R-rated movie can feed lust for weeks and weeks and weeks, an R-rated movie. Porn? The clubs? The flirtatious conversations? Name it, name it, name it. Rebellion, a little bit of rebellion. No big deal. Slander, gossips, from the old devil, rides his horse by. Wow.
The good news is God is going to take us through these situations. The good news is God will build character in your life and mine and he is right now as we move through those situations. Because we’re caught, we’re hooked, by God’s grace and mercy. We need to live like that. We’re not victims, we’re victors. This is not a tragedy. This message is one of triumph as we become the kind of people, the kind of fish, that he desires. Let’s pray together. As our heads are bowed and eyes are closed.
