August 8, 2025, 12:00 PM
Greetings in Christ! I pray the week has been a good one so far for you.
We all face temptations. I am more tempted to do some sins and others are more tempted by other things.
We all, however, have the option of not yielding to temptation.
That is not easy, though. I fall to temptations a lot. I know we all do.
I believe the only hope we as humans have in dealing with temptation is to get help from the Holy Spirit given to us as followers of Jesus.
Jesus, after all, came to earth as a man and faces every temptation known to man. He did all this and yet remained sinless. Hebrews 4:15 says this about Jesus, "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are - yet he did not sin."
When the devil tempted Him in the wilderness, Jesus quoted scriptures to him in defeating the temptations. Using Jesus' example, let's remember that the Bible - God's Word - is another weapon we have in our arsenal against the devil's attacks. Let's not only read God's word, but let's use it, too!
Jesus, thank you for enduring temptation and being victorious over it. When we are tempted, bring to our hearts and minds to passages of Scripture that will help us turn away from temptation and back toward you. Amen.
This coming Sunday (08.10.25), we'll be talking about spiritual strength being greater than physical strength.
When we think of great physical strength in regards to people from the bible, we always think first of SAMSON.
He led Israel as a "judge" for 20 years, having been set apart to serve God from birth. God gave him supernatural strength to help battle the enemies of Israel, the Philistines.
Samson, though, lived a life of great contradiction. While he had great strength, he was very weak in regards to dealing with "fleshly" temptations.
Samson was a womanizer and a vengeful man. Yet, God STILL worked through Him! Sin, however, does have consequences.
We'll talk more about the life and times of Samson and how it mirrors (in some ways) the life of Jesus.
Come hear more and how it relates to us today -- I hope and pray we'll see you this Sunday at FCC!
In Him,
Greg H.
