Why Spiritual Highs Trigger Spiritual Attacks

We talk about why wilderness seasons often show up right after a spiritual high and why the pushback can feel immediate and relentless. We reframe the wilderness as a Spirit-led place where God removes distractions, grows us through trials, and teaches us to reach for help instead of isolating.
• Jesus moves from baptism to wilderness fast
• the enemy attacks momentum after we choose to change
• biblical patterns of triumph followed by testing
• why daily faith practices beat once-a-week inspiration
• the wilderness as silence, isolation, and non-distraction
• how screens and constant input shrink attention and joy
• God allows trials without tempting anyone
• growth through discomfort, training, and learning from failure
• bringing light into darkness by not staying silent
Your challenge this week is this: if you are in the wilderness, reach out to someone

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Transcript

Are You In The Wilderness?

Josh 0:00

Alright. Well, we're gonna jump into this week, and our big idea this week is this are you in the wilderness? Now, before we answer that question in our head, I understand that no, you are sitting in a building. However, the wilderness is something we see over and over and over again in Scripture. And it's a place that most of us, I'll tell you, complain about being. It's a place where we don't like all of the things going on, and it's a place that today we're gonna see Jesus being led to. So with that in mind, we're gonna look at one verse today, and that is this. It's Matthew chapter 4, verse 1, and it says this then Jesus was led by the Spirit to the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. So I'm gonna pray and then we're gonna jump into that. Father, I thank you so much for your word, and I ask and I pray that as I go through it today, that it be just your word. That Father, it is not my opinion, but it is the powerful word of God to change our hearts, to make us more like you, to be the people that you have called us to be. Father, I ask and I pray all of this in Jesus' name. Amen. Alright. So Matthew starts this phrase or this verse with this phrase, then Jesus. And it's really easy for us as we are reading through the Bible to concentrate on chapter and verse. However, what I need us to fully understand is chapter and verse was added much later, like probably around 300 years later, when we wanted to be able to make the Bible easy for us to be able to find things in. When Matthew first wrote this, it's one long letter. And that's important because a lot of us, when we see like the breakdown and then it says like a new heading, we we automatically in our mind assume that there's been a lot of time that has passed, right? Like moving from one chapter to the next. However, if we read the parallel of this verse in Mark, in Mark 1, 11 and 12, we see this, and a voice came from heaven, you are my beloved son, with you I am well pleased. Okay, that's verse 11. That's the end of the baptism of Jesus that we looked at last week. And then the very next verse in verse 12 says this the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. See, when we read it in Mark, we we get that more sense of feeling, right? Jesus comes out of the water, the heavens burst open, God's audible voice, which only happens three times in the entire New Testament, is heard, and then immediately after this amazing triumph, Jesus is led out into the wilderness. It wasn't a lot of time. It wasn't like, you know, they all got together and they had, you know, snacks and food and everybody was like, hey, congratulations and high fiving, and all of those things, like how we would do it. This was like Jesus came up out of the water and then went, boom, let's go. See, and and something we need to understand is this is when the devil attacks. Think about it. When is the devil most likely to attack you? It's when you make that decision. It's when you're riding high on something, it's when you've had an overcoming or a triumph. It's when things are going good, is when we are attacked. See, the devil waits to make till we make a decision to fight back against darkness. Think about it. When you choose, when you sit down and go, hey, you know what? Every day I'm gonna sit down and I'm gonna read the Bible. What happens? What happens on like day two? Distractions. Like something comes up. Before you can even make it a habit, before you can even make it a routine, what winds up happening is distractions start coming up. Those of you in here that like you felt that pull for a long time and you finally got to a point where you were like, you know what? Yes, I surrender. Yes, I believe. Yes, I want to take all of those steps. What winds up happening? That's when those thoughts come piling in. You're not worthy of this. You don't deserve this. Look at your life. How could Jesus forgive you of this? The moment you go, hey, you know what? I'm gonna fight my flesh. What winds up happening? You start getting these weird pop-ups. YouTube starts sending you those videos, the desires and the temptations. And it always happens when we're on a high. It always happens when we've made a decision. It always happens when we think we're good. Think about it, like all throughout scripture. So one of my favorite narratives throughout all of Scripture is Elijah fighting the prophets of the 450 prophets of Baal. And what I love the most about it is it shows me that sarcasm is of God, and therefore I can feel fully justified when I am sarcastic. Because, see, as Elijah is is is fighting the prophets of Baal, what does he say to them? Well, maybe Baal can't hear you, maybe you're not yelling loud enough. Maybe he's busy, maybe he's using the bathroom, maybe he's sleeping. And see, and I love that because I love trash talk. Like it's fun. And to see it throughout scripture is amazing. But what winds up happening is Elijah calls down fire from heaven, so much so that not only is his sacrifice burnt, but the rocks that built the altar are burnt, the sand around it is burnt, all of the water that they covered it is gone. Think about what Elijah just did. If any one of us in here could call down fire from heaven, would you not be immediately posting that on any kind of social media? Would you not be like, hey guys, watch this? 100%, but Elijah? No. What we see in 1 Kings 19:4 is this Elijah has this amazing thing. Then Jezbel, the queen, comes and goes, hey, I'm gonna kill you. And then Elijah goes into the wilderness and he literally asked God to take his life now. Really? After this incredible high, here's what winds up happening: God kill me now. Like I'll tell you, I went out Friday, caught an inshore slam. My first thing wasn't God take me now. My first thing was I can't wait to post these pictures. Another way we we see this in Scripture is we go all the way back to Exodus and we have the plagues, right? Israel's been in captivity, in slavery for 400 years. Israel gets to witness all of these plagues too. They get to see the awesome power of who God is. And then in Numbers 14, 1 through 4, we see Israel is out in the wilderness, and what do they do? They go, hey, we want to elect new leaders because we want to go back into slavery. You brought us into the wilderness to die. At least in Egypt we had food. Again, in 2 Corinthians 12, verses 1 through 10, Paul is talking about this amazing vision that the Lord has given him in which he sees the third level of heaven. How many of us in here even knew heaven had different levels, let alone you got to see it? Think Paul's on a high right there? I mean, the dude's been doing all of these missionary journeys. He's been seeing like demonically oppressed people being set free, he's been seeing churches get started, he is up there. He gets to see the third level of heaven, and then what happens? God sends a messenger from Satan to be a thorn in his flesh. See, it's all over everywhere we look. We can go from personal experience in your life, we can look through scripture, but everywhere you see a great triumph, it is immediately followed by a huge attack. Why? Why would the devil fight this way? I mean, when we stop and think about it, it's easy, right? It's an easy answer when you stop and really think about it. When are you actually dangerous to the kingdom of darkness? Is it why we're just sitting there playing games? Is it why we're just sitting there watching TV? Is it why we're like down and low? Is it why we're, you know, just feeling bad for ourselves? This is why I start every week with the same thing. Here was your challenge last week. How many of you actually stepped up to it? Because see, the devil is sitting here going, here's my goal. My goal is I can't take you. John 10 tells us, right? We are in the Father's hand and no one can snatch us out. So if you are in Christ, understand this, you are good. However, here's what I want to do. If I can keep you silent, then you're not gonna take anyone else either. If I can keep you distracted, then you're not gonna be on mission for God anyway. And all you're gonna do is just go through your life miserable and down, and not do anything to bring light to the darkness. So I'll keep you drunk, I'll keep you distracted, I'll keep you fighting with your spouse, I'll keep you busy at work, I'll keep you with all of these other things. And then I don't have to worry about you. Because you're too busy focused on the wrong things. And that's why the devil fights like this. Because when you have that momentum, momentum is a huge thing. I don't know if any of you like grew up playing sports, but there's a reason why you get hyped right before the game. There's a reason why, like in football, some of the hardest hits I ever had in my entire life, and I played football my entire life, was right before a game when my own teammates were like trying to hype each other up and they would headbutt you, like, and you weren't even ready for it or knew it was coming. You're just kind of standing there cheering, and it's like, ah. And it's like, why would you do that right before a game? See, but when we're on that high and we have that momentum moving, when you leave here and you're like, you know what? I'm gonna do it. Here's what happens. The devil goes, No, you're not. This is why sometimes you can leave here feeling uplifted and encouraged and ready to do it, but come Monday morning, what are you feeling? The week. And most of us, that's where we live. We live in the week. This is why we started even doing the daily uh podcast for our devotionals. It's only five minutes and it uploads every morning at 6 a.m. so that your morning can get started right. So you could sit here and go, you know what? Not today, Satan. I'm gonna do it. Because it's a daily thing. See, we always look at Luke 9 and pick up your cross and follow me daily as a bad thing, right? But understand, here's what Jesus is saying. It's daily. Every day we have to do this. This is why just Sunday doesn't work. This is why if you only ate one day a week, come Wednesday, you would be hungry. Because, see, if we're not in this daily, you know who is your enemy, the devil. He don't get tired, and he will attack and attack and attack. See, Jesus just got baptized. He has this triumphal moment. What was Jesus doing before this? Anybody? Here's the answer. I don't know. Because from the time he was born till now, the only narrative we have is found in Luke, and that's when he's 12 and he goes and he debates the religious leaders in the temple. Other than that, we don't know what Jesus was doing. Right now, he's about 30 years old, though. We know that. And we know he's about to start his earthly ministry. We know he's about to get after it. We know he's ready to go to war, and then he is immediately led into the wilderness. So, for some of you in here today, you're sitting here going, yeah, I made that decision. I put my stake in the ground, I'm ready to fight back, and I just get attacked. Understand that's not new. It's not a new tactic that the devil is feeling him. And understand that Jesus went through it. And understand this. If that is you, if you're sitting here and you're like, you know what? Yep, I'm done. Here's what that means. The devil is scared of what you're about to do. The devil is sitting here going, you're about to bring light to the darkness. And understand, when I walked in here this morning, guess what? It was in here. It was dark. But when I flip that light switch, can the darkness stay? The darkness is powerless when it comes to light. It can't choose to stay dark. Because light invades darkness. That's why God uses, or Jesus uses it as a metaphor. When he sits here and goes, bring light to the darkness. You're a city on a hill. And I get it. You're ready to do it. But every time you try to take a step out, something seems to push back on you. Every time you go to open your mouth, something just seems to close it. Every time you have that idea, something just comes up against it. Here's my advice to you is lean into it. If you need to, pick up the phone and call a brother or a sister and be like, hey, can you pray with me on this? Hey, can you push me to go do this? Like some of you, you were that kid on the high dive, right? Where you got to the edge and you're looking down and then you had those second thoughts. And if you had a good friend and they were standing behind you, what did that friend? I heard it. What did that friend do? Yeah, they would push you. And then when you hit the water, provided you didn't hit belly first, you went? What? That was fun. I'm gonna do it again. See, and this is why we gather. Because some of us we need that encouragement. Some of us, you you already know what God is calling you to. And you need someone to go, hey, go do it. Here, I love you all enough that after service, if you need someone to push you, literally or figuratively, I got you. Football prepared me for it my whole life because that's all you do is push people. And if you ask my wife who isn't here today, I can be a very pushy person. And I go, but we need that. Because some of you, the devil's got you beat down to where you ain't doing nothing. The devil's got you in a position where you aren't doing anything. Now understand this though. Jesus doesn't just wander into the wilderness. He is led by the Spirit. Here's what we gotta understand about the wilderness. The wilderness isn't a punishment. The wilderness is where the Spirit leads us to. Like, for example, when God freed the Israelites from Egypt, immediately to the wilderness. When Adam and Eve ate the fruit, to the wilderness. When Elijah couldn't handle the stress, immediately to the wilderness. When Moses killed the Egyptian, right to the wilderness. When David fled from Saul, immediately in the wilderness. Some of you are laughing because you know where that's from. And good for you. Straight to jail. But see, this is where we always want to go to the wilderness. See, it's not an accident, it's not a punishment, it's on purpose. And we see it throughout Scripture. The Spirit led Jesus to the wilderness. The question is, why? And in order to understand why the Spirit would lead Jesus to the wilderness, we have to understand what the wilderness actually is. Because most of us in this room, when we think wilderness, what do you think?

unknown 18:07

Woods.

Josh 18:07

Woods. The desert. The ocean. And all of those things are correct. But here's what it is: the wilderness is the place where God works on you. The wilderness is a place of isolation, of silence, of non-distraction. The wilderness is the opposite of the city. See, some of you, I get it. You're like, you love the city. You love the hustle, the bustle, the go, the lights, all of that. Some of us, we love the wilderness. We love being away from all of that. Because it's the only time your mind can be quiet enough. See, we live in this distracted life. And if you don't believe me, oh man, I did some research on this that I it just blew my mind when I really stopped and thinked about it. Think is not the actual word thought about it. Now, I get it. What I'm about to say are averages. This may not be true for each specific person in here, but on average, according to the Centers for Disease Control, this is how the majority of Americans spend their lives. So the majority of Americans, on average, spend nine hours a day either at work or commuting to and from work. Okay? So nine hours of our day is spent either getting to work, working, or coming home from work. The average American spends about seven and a half hours a night sleeping. So if we took a 24-hour day, nine hours of it is gone with work, seven and a half hours is gone with sleeping. That is 16 and a half hours out of your day already. And then here's the one that really blew me away. On average, Americans spend seven hours a day in front of a screen. Whether it is your phone, your TV, or gaming. Now, for those of you that are not math people in here, 16 and a half plus seven is what? 23 and a half hours. How many hours out of a 24-hour day then do you have that is not distracted time? 30 minutes. 30 minutes to eat, go to the bathroom, relax, disconnect, spend time with Jesus, spend time in the Word. 30 minutes of non-distracted time a day. And when I heard that, I went, there it is. That's why we're miserable people. Because we will spend seven hours scrolling through our phones, watching these dumb videos that, let's be honest, most of the time now are AI generated anyway. And just guys, do you understand that WALL-E may be prophetic? And for those of you that haven't seen it, I haven't either, but I do know at some point humans become fat and they can't walk anymore, so everyone's just on scooters. JT, we were driving down the road the other day and saw a dude on a scooter, and he was like, Daddy, that's the life right there. And I went, it's already starting. Dude, just walk. And and I don't know that guy's story. He may have been paralyzed, but we have 30 minutes of non- Distracted time a day. This is why the wilderness is so important in each and every one of our lives. Because if you only have 30 minutes a day to download and get rid of all of the things that you've just soaked in throughout the day, you don't have enough time to defrag your mind. At all. And it's so funny because I tell you guys all the time, like, what I'm preaching on comes up throughout my week. Which is why I can't wait until we get to like the prosperities parts of Matthew. Might skip ahead. But last Sunday, Debbie and I were driving home from service, and we were just talking about mission sent outdoors. Because what takes up your time, you should challenge yourself with. Is it worth your time? Because understand this, once a second is gone, it's gone. You could spend all of the money in your bank account today, have a really great day, and then turn around and go to work tomorrow, and guess what you get to make more of? Money. But your time, on the other hand, once that's gone, it's gone. And for some of us, you realize you've wasted more than you have what's left in front of. And it's not like I could just like eat healthier and gain all of that time back. But see, we were talking because I was sitting here trying to really figure out what is the point of Mission Sin Outdoors? What is its mission? What is it there to do and why do we do it? Because again, if it's gonna take my time, I want to challenge it, make sure it's worth it. And honestly, the conversation was geared towards, hey, let's just shut it down. It takes, it's just something else I have to do. And as we're having this conversation, we really challenged ourselves to see why it exists. And we found that mission sent outdoors exist to get families to put down the screens and go into the wilderness to reconnect with God in nature to be spirit-led and nature-fed. And I went, uh-oh.

unknown 24:16

Uh uh.

The Wilderness Removes Distractions

Josh 24:18

So we have this whole mission that's designed to get you to put down your phone. We took a group of teenagers to the beach on Thursday, and only one of them picked up a phone. And I'm gonna go ahead and tell you right now, we weren't even catching fish. So it wasn't like it was like, oh man, it was just fish after fish. That's super exciting. You know how many fish we caught? Zero. We didn't even get a bite. All we did was clean sargasm off of the line all day long. I go, it was terrible fishing. I'll be the first one to admit it. But still, it puts them in the wilderness to focus on the people that are actually there. Like if you're one of those people that talk and pick up your phone, I will tell you right now, I will immediately ignore you. Because I go, if you're not, if it's not that important to talk to me while we're face to face, I can care less who you're on the phone with. You'd be like, no, it was Donald Trump. He was asking for my opinion on what we should do, and I'd have been like, I don't care. It was that important, you'd be in front of them. See, and we we spend seven hours of our day. You understand that's almost a third of your day on a screen. In fact, the the the commandment of remember the Sabbath and keep it holy is this. Hey, I'm a priority in your life. See, it's impossible to have no gods before me, but then not have got or then have gods before him. And for some of us in this room, listen to me very carefully. Your electronics are your God. You may not bow down and worship them. I will tell you right now not to call anyone in my family out, and I'm not even gonna tell you their name, but one of my children did have to bow down and pray to their Xbox. And as they're telling me, no, no, no, no, no, I went, no, if you're gonna treat it like a God, we're gonna go all the way with it. You're gonna worship it. And I go, this is what we are doing, guys. This is why the wilderness is important. This is why we have a whole mission dedicated to getting out into the wilderness, because the wilderness is where the spirit leads to remove distractions from our lives. Think about it. Those of you that work outside, how many distractions you got going on? Some of you like it's just I'm gonna put headphones on and I'm just gonna chop. I'm just gonna mow. I'm just gonna tighten some megalugs. And here's the distractions you have going on. It's hot. I'm gonna go sit in the shade. Then my boss is gonna yell at me, and then we're gonna get into it. And I don't make enough for this and all of that. I get that. But what distractions do we have when we are out there? You know what? I've never heard from someone after a day of fishing, whether we caught fish or not, I've never heard anyone tell me that they're not relaxed. And I know that sounds confusing the way I worded that. But I've never fished with someone and not heard them say how relaxing it was. I've never heard anyone out on the boat not tell me how gorgeous this is. Guys, and in psychology, okay, even backs it up. People who spend 10 minutes, 10 minutes a day outside have lower levels of depression and anxiety. And if you take your shoes off and actually touch the dirt with your feet, it's even higher. They created a whole new thing. It's called earthing. To do something that we've been doing since we were kids, especially if you lived in Florida. See, the Spirit led Jesus to the wilderness because the wilderness is where God works. It is where you don't have distractions going on. It's where your mind has to sit here and it has to deal with this stuff. Here's the thing: it's okay. Listen, it is okay to be bored. The worst thing that has happened in the history of humanity is the supercomputer we all travel with that keeps us from being bored. Some of you, if I had to guess, have been pants half down going to the bathroom until you realize your phone was still in your room, ripped them things up and had to run to your room to get your phone because heaven forbid you spend five minutes bored on the toilet. You know what we used to have? Magazines in the bathroom. You used to have to be bored. And nowadays, you have input 23 and a half hours out of your 24-hour day. Your brain can't compete with that. And this is why our attention spans have shrunk. And this is why we can't sit here and focus on Jesus. And this is why our brains seem so scattered and anxious. Be bored. Take time and just stare. Let your brain defrag because that is what the wilderness is for. We have to stop looking at the wilderness as a bad thing because the spirit shows us the wilderness is a necessity. It is how we were designed to be. So get out there and spend time with God in the wilderness. Now, in this case, the reason the Spirit led Jesus to the wilderness is to be tempted. The whole purpose of Jesus going to the wilderness is to be tempted. And we have to understand that this temptation was given, Matthew just told us, by who? The devil. This isn't God leading Jesus to go be tempted. This is God allowing temptation to exist. See, number one, we have to understand that James 1.13 shows us that God never tempts anyone. So when you feel that desire coming on, this isn't God going, I'm gonna put you in a position. I do this all the time to Debbie. Like all the time, I will create like little scenarios and then like go to Debbie and be like, hey, I think we should get a divorce, just to see how she would react. Oh, she hates it. Debbie claims that her blood pressure went up the day like we got married and has not gone down. JT was maybe five. We were in my room. I just grabbed my chest really hard and I fell down on the bed and then I wouldn't move. Just because I wanted to see what he would do if there was an emergency. And you know what he did? Nothing! Like I could have had a heart attack and died. And then when when we decided it wasn't real, he got in trouble for it. Because I went, you were just gonna let daddy die on the bed like that? You couldn't just go get mommy? I will wait till everyone is asleep at my house and then just start running through the hallways going, Fodder, just to see how they react. Because this is important in our lives. But understand, God allows the same things in our lives. It just isn't God doing the tempting. God tempts no one with evil, God allows it. God allows suffering, God allows temptation, and God allows evil. He is not the cause of, but he allows it. Now, there's a couple of reasons why. Because this is always one of those questions like when I'm talking to people and they're like, oh, this is the big gotcha. If God is such a loving God, why does evil exist? Well, easy. He's not ready to judge. He is patient. He's still got some saving he wants to accomplish. Because if God were to judge right now, guess what? Some of us aren't making it. Some of us in this room aren't making it. And see, and God goes, No, I am patient. And I'm gonna wait. Not forever, but I'm going to wait. So he allows it for that reason. Another reason he allows it, and listen to me very carefully. This is how we grow. Growth happens through discomfort and pain. Growth does not happen when you are comfortable. Why would it? Like when you are comfortable, why would you want to change anything? You're comfortable. Think about it. Those two days a year here in Florida where it gets cold. Okay? You're in bed that morning, that one cold morning. You got your blanket on. Some of you are babies, and you probably have like space heaters and stuff like that in your room, or you turn your heat on. And then the alarm goes off. And you're sitting here going, I don't want to move. I just want to stay wrapped up in my little cocoon where I'm warm and I'm comfortable. Growth doesn't happen like that. Growth happens when we are very uncomfortable and we can't take it anymore. See, you will never change anything in your life until you hate it enough to change it. This is why diets don't work. Because we don't hate being fat. We very much enjoy it, right? Because why would I not want to eat fried chicken? Why would I not want to drench it in ranch or blue cheese? Why would I not want, yes, the large French fry for only a what? Well, it's not 39 cents anymore. It used to be 39 cents the superf, I think it's like an extra$3 now. But why wouldn't I want that? Why wouldn't I want the large sweet tea compared to the medium? Because then I have to get up and walk to go get a refill. And I don't want to burn calories while I'm trying to eat them. But see, we grow through pain. This is why James 1 starts with this, just a few verses before it says this, to count it all a joy, my brothers, as you face trials of various kinds. I don't know about you, but my reaction to trials usually doesn't involve the word joy. Like when my life is blowing up and nothing seems to be going right in my life, I usually am not like, thank you, Jesus, for another challenge that I get to try to overcome. Normally, my reaction is more in line with this: like, God, I can't stand this, please take this from me. God, I can't take this anymore, please stop. God, allow this to move from me. God, fix my marriage. God, fix my wife. Like, she's the problem, God. If you could just get her mouth to shut, we could work through this. And normally, when that's my prayer, you know what's revealed to me? What about you, big mouth? Why don't you shut your mouth and listen to what she's saying? See, this is what trials do in our lives is they reveal who we really are. Like, think about it. In a time of crisis, when you are stressed, you return to your lowest level of training. Not your highest, not everything's all well and good. Like, like if you are at a firing range and you are calm and you are breathing, you may be able to hit a good tar uh uh a good, not target, a good grouping. You may be able to put all your shots into an eight-inch circle at 25 yards because you can take time and you can breathe. But you know what happens when it starts shooting back at you and you don't have time to breathe? That eight-inch circle goes to almost three feet because your brain isn't working right anymore. You revert back to your lowest level of training. This is why you could sit here all day and go, if someone breaks into my house, I'm just gonna jump behind a couch and I'm gonna do what they do in the movies, and I'm just gonna like cow cow cow cow and not look, but I'm gonna hit them somehow. God is going to guide the bullet right between their eyes, and the threat will be eliminated. But listen to me, if you're not training for that, as soon as you hear your window smash or your door get kicked in, here's what your brain's gonna do. You ready?

unknown 37:55

Ah!

Josh 37:55

And you're not gonna do anything. You're gonna freeze. Because, see, this is how we grow through challenge. And it's something you do routine and you practice and you go and you do it over and over and over. I used to sit in my cop car all night and just play with the locking mechanism on my holster to the point where, like, if I was talking in a conversation, my hand would just like be doing like this because my muscle memory was so good. Because I went, I need to be able to get to this. Because this could be the difference between I'm going home to see my kids, and my kids are getting a nice flag and a hey, here's one year's salary, which for a cop, let's be honest, ain't paying for nothing, especially with today's prices. See, but most of us, that's our reaction when we face trials. We just fall apart and we go, God, take it from me. God, I don't want to fall. And understand this: if you never fall, you will never learn how to walk. Does anybody in here know what walking actually is?

unknown 39:16

Controlled falling.

Screens As Idols And Sabbath Drift

Josh 39:17

It's controlled falling. It is catching your body. Like in order for you to go from a standing position to a step, you have to move your center of gravity so that your body has momentum moving forward. And you fall when you don't remember to take the other step. That is what causes falling. And if God parented the way that some of us, especially us millennials, parent, like you guys understand the term helicopter parent came from our generation. Where you sit here and hold both of your kids' hands and you're like, that's it! Put one foot in front of the other. Some of you, seriously, you send your kids like when they're a little swimming and more protection than I ever had in the military or in law enforcement. And I go, what's the worst thing that's gonna happen? Their head's gonna go underwater? You know what kids instinctively will do? Pull their head up because they can't breathe. That's how we live. And if God parented us and kept us from everything, guess what you would never be able to do? Grow. This is why we have 30-year-old little kids now. And we just call it failure to launch. Because no one ever pushed them off the high dive. Because their parents never got behind them and went, no, you gotta go. See, we see failing as a bad thing. Right? Remember when you brought home your report card? If you had an F on it, you got in trouble, right? Or you just, the teacher didn't give it to me. Do the other line with an A. But see, we look at failing as a bad thing. And I would argue with you from psychology to philosophy to theology, you learn more in failure than you ever do in success. Because when you're successful at it, what's your initial thought? What was it? I did it. I'm good. There's nothing to grow from because it was a success. But when you fail, man, you'll spend weeks going, where did I go wrong? This isn't a cop out, but this is why I don't want Uncle Joe's to go to this first competition and just blow it completely out of the water. Because then what? We'll be like, we're good. We don't need to change anything. I also don't want to come in dead last because I have um a weird sickness with winning. So it's this dichotomy that lives that allows us to grow. See, Jesus is led into the wilderness to be tempted for a very specific reason. Because see, when the first Adam was tempted, he didn't rise to that occasion. But the second, and we're gonna get into the temptations, not the temptations, but like the temptations of Jesus. But see, Jesus rose. If the Spirit didn't take him into the wilderness, he would have never been in that position to begin with. And if he wasn't into that position to begin with, he wouldn't have earned the right to become the Lamb of God. See, temptation is a thing, and it affects all of us. The question is, is are we rising to that? Or do we look at temptation? We always think, oh, this is an attack from the devil. Maybe it is God sitting here going, no, no, no, I'm gonna grow something in you. And you're gonna fall sometimes. You're gonna backslide sometimes, and you're gonna do all of those things. And you know what you do to your child when they fall? You pick them up and you go, try again. When we idolize our sin and our failure, though, you know what happens? You become paralyzed. And we go one or two ways. Complete fear where we do nothing, or I'm just gonna give into it because I'm never gonna get over it anyway. Both of them are wrong. Where Jesus is sitting here going, hey, dust yourself off, try it again. What if I fall again? Try it again. And if I fall again, try it again. Paul says a messenger of Satan was given to him to keep him from becoming conceited, and he prayed to the Lord and Asked the Lord to take it from him three times. And the Lord responded with this not, I'm gonna take it from you, but my grace is sufficient. J2, you ever wonder if you're ever gonna not be my child anymore?

unknown 44:15

No.

God Allows Trials For Growth

Josh 44:15

Why not? Because nothing, nothing could separate that. Could he come home tomorrow and be like, hey daddy, you know what? I like mommy's clothes. They look more fashionable to me. I'm gonna start wearing her clothes. Yeah, he could. And would I tell him that it's okay and all of that? And they go, God, no. No, no, no, no. It's not gonna be a good conversation, I'll tell you that. But I'm also gonna end with, but you're still my child. Dust yourself off and try it again. See, and we forgot that. The reason why we can do that is because Jesus did this. Because Jesus ultimately is going to pass this. I hate to give away my future sermons, but he doesn't fall into temptation. But eventually goes to the cross. And eventually will hang on a tree for us. Because he can. Because he went, no, I got this. We can't do that. Half of us in this room won't even be able to make it through today. Because we hate the wilderness. We hate being grown. We hate the trials that God is putting in front of us. So if you are in the wilderness today, understand the devil only attacks what is about to bring light. Understand that the wilderness is not a punishment, but a growing place. Remember Jesus is walking with you through it. And number four, reach out to someone. At the end of Jesus' temptations, there's a verse that most of us overlook. It's this that the angels were there ministering to him. Now, they didn't have a choice in the matter. They couldn't sit here and go, like. But understand, some of you, you need to be angels in someone else's life. Because they're going through it. Because their life isn't easy. Because they're in the wilderness. Because they are going through it. And that is our challenge this week. And I'm going to tell you it's not an easy one. But your challenge this week is this: if you are in the wilderness, reach out to someone. If you're like alone and it's quiet and you just can't handle it, look at someone. I'm going to reach out to them this week. Now, if you're not in the wilderness, reach out to someone. Because you may have already gone through it. You may have already been there, but guess what? It's only going to be a matter of time before you're back there. But God might have brought you through so that you can reach out to someone else and walk with them through it. See, some of us, you're, you're, we're in the middle of it, and we need someone to help fight. Some of us, we just got back from the wilderness, and it's your job to help others to fight through it. Whichever one it is, understand you're equipped for it and you're strong because of it. That you're about to bring light to the darkness. But we have to show the devil he's a punk, and we gotta bring war to him. Guys, understand this. I get it. The devil attacks and it seems relentless. And it's hard sometimes. But listen to me. It is not like the Avengers vs. Thanos, where it's this even battle between good and evil. Jesus doesn't go to war in Armageddon. He simply shows up. And it's done. Whatever it is that you may be facing, I'm not trying to diminish it. I'm not sitting here going, hey, it's little, it's nothing. To you, it may be your everything. To you, you may be sitting here going, I don't know if I'm ever going to overcome it. What I'm telling you today is this. You may be in the wilderness because God is sitting here going, I'm ready to prune, I'm ready to work, I'm ready to grow. You're gonna face these trials so that you can come out of it on the other side a different person because growth is in the wilderness. And if that is you today, then reach out to someone. We don't do this life alone. The first not good we see in Scripture is when God looks and sees man by himself and goes, It is not good that man should be alone. And I get it, when you're going through it, that's where you want to be. It's like if you ever shoot an animal. Okay? You could double-ung a deer. Where is it running into? The thickest, nastiest stuff it can so that it can lay down by itself and suffer. That's where some of us try to live at. And I'm going, why? Bring it to the light. Let someone else suffer with you. It makes your suffering easier. And if they love Jesus and they love you the way they love them, they're gonna be happy to do that with you. So your challenge this week is simple. Whether you're in the wilderness or not, reach out to someone. So as we close today, leave here with a plan this week. Here's what you're not gonna do, right? We're not gonna leave and go, all right, see you next week. I hate that. That goes through me worse than anything else you guys could ever tell me. You could be like, hey, can I talk to you? I killed three people this week, and we will work through that easier than see you next week. Guys, we we put out a lot of stuff every day to help strengthen us throughout the week. Take advantage of it. I'm gonna be here till at least two, putting that all together to make sure that you have it. Because it's important. Because Monday morning challenges are gonna be different than what you feel right now.

unknown 51:06

That's right.

Josh 51:08

But reach out to someone. So, Father, I ask and I pray. That God, if there's any of us in here that are in the wilderness right now, that God, you you just walk with us through it. I pray, God, that you place on our hearts people that we need to be reaching out to. Whether it's help because we're in the wilderness or to help fight because we came through the wilderness. But God, I ask and I pray that we limit our distractions as we move through this week, and I pray, Father, that we we just are strengthened with one another. Ultimately, by you through you. So, Father, I ask and I pray all of this in Jesus' name. Amen.